Marco sighed and rubbed his forehead as he heard his Alpha’s voice echo in his head, asking him for a favor.
Marco: What is it, Alpha?
Hudson: I need you and Tabitha to go to the movies with me and Amanda.
Marco: Really?
Hudson: I need you to help keep me in line in case I can’t calm my temper.
Marco: Why do you think that would happen, especially on a date with your mate?
Hudson: Please? Will you just help me?
Marco sighed.
Marco: Of course, Alpha.
Hudson: Thank you.
Marco pulled out his phone and texted Tabitha. He knew she would be with Amanda, and they all had made a promise not to mind-link around her.
Marco: Get ready, looks like we need to chaperone their date.
Tabitha: What? Amanda said that she didn’t need us.
Marco: It’s not Amanda asking, it’s Hudson.
Tabitha: ????
Marco: I’ll explain later. I’ll be there shortly. Hudson is already waiting downstairs.
Tabitha looked up at her friend, who was still assessing her decision in front of the mirror. She looked back down at her phone and decided to text Hudson.
Tabitha: What’s wrong?
Hudson: I don’t know. I can’t shake this irritation that I keep having and I don’t want to lose my temper while out with her.
Tabitha’s brows furrowed as she read the text.
“Is something wrong?”
Tabitha looked up and her friend was looking at her through the mirror.
Tabitha closed the phone and pushed herself off of the bed. She smiled at her friend as she walked over to her closet and pulled out an outfit to wear.
“I guess we’re all going to the movie. Marco just texted that he wanted to go after hearing where Hudson was taking you. You don’t mind if we tag along do you?” she asked her friend.
Tabitha could see the relief on her friend’s face when she asked if they could tag along. But the look left as quickly as it hit.
Amanda shrugged, “Yeah, that’s fine.”
Amanda let out a breath as she turned back to the mirror and put the final touches of her makeup on before they heard a knock on the door.
Amanda shivered.
She didn’t know, though, if it was her body telling her that her mate was near or if she was nervous about their date.
Tabitha walked over to the door and opened it.
There stood both Hudson and Marco.
“Are you ladies ready?” Marco asked.
Hudson stood quietly next to the door with his hands stuffed into his jacket pockets.
Tabitha nodded as she turned and grabbed her jacket.
“Ready?” she asked Amanda.
Amanda took a deep breath grabbed her jacket and followed Tabitha out the door. She stopped when she found Hudson leaning up against the door frame.
“You look nice,” he told her as he leaned down and kissed her on the cheek.
She smiled softly.
“Thank you.”
He offered her his arm and she slipped her hand through and held it, then she closed the door and followed Tabitha and Marco down the hall.
The night seemed a little colder as they got outside. It was the time of the year when the days were shorter, and the nights were longer. Amanda moved closer to Hudson to keep warm. He looked down at her and gave her a crooked smile.
“Everything ok?” she asked.
Hudson looked up ahead as they walked.
“Yeah, why?”
“I don’t know, you seem kind of off tonight. Do you not want to go to the movie?”
Hudson shook his head.
“No, going to the movie is fine,” he answered.
Amanda nodded and just continued to walk with him quietly. She could tell there was something wrong, but if he didn’t want to talk about it there was no use pushing him until he was ready.
Hudson scolded himself in his head. It wasn’t Amanda’s fault that he was in such a bad mood. He didn’t even know why he was acting this way. Everything was fine until he started getting ready and then little by little, everything was beginning to annoy him.
When they got to the theater they all looked up at the marquee to see what was playing.
“So what movie should we go see?” Marco asked.
“The girls will probably want to watch a sappy love movie,” Hudson answered.
“Whatever movie you want to see is fine, I don’t have a preference,” Amanda answered softly.
“Hey, I was just teasing you. Okay,” Hudson told her, in a tone she wasn’t used to hearing from him.
“Amanda, let’s go check these movie posters over here,” Tabitha said as she looked her arm into Amanda’s and pulled her away.
“Alpha, what’s going on?” Marco asked in a hushed whisper.
Hudson sighed and pulled out his hand to run it through his hair.
“I don’t know, Marco. I can’t shake this annoyed feeling I’m having,” he confided.
“Okay, but Amanda doesn’t deserve that. She’s your mate, she should be calming you down, not pissing you off.”
“I know and usually it works. I don’t know what’s changed,” he said as he turn to look over at his mate.
“Tabitha, why is Hudson so mad at me?” Amanda asked with a tremble in her voice.
“I don’t think it’s you. It’s something else.”
“Aren’t I supposed to be the very thing that calms him and helps him through? How can I do that if he’s snapping at me?”
“It will be okay. I promise. Come on, let’s just get inside and find our seats.”
Amanda nodded but she was hesitant. She didn’t want to sit next to Hudson in the theater if he was just going to be rude to her. Her heart started to palpitate, she took a deep breath and hesitantly followed Tabitha into the theater.
There was a small crowd of people that were standing in the lobby as they waited for the doors to open for the movie. Amanda and Tabitha tried to maneuver through the small crowd to get over to where Hudson and Marco were waiting for them.
Amanda, not looking where she was going, bumped into a tall figure.
“Well, look who I got to bump into,” the cocky voice said.
Amanda looked up at the tall figure.
He had dark hair with dark chocolate eyes.
“Well, if it isn’t the little hybrid,” he said in a mocking tone.
Amanda quickly took a step back and away from the tall guy.
He laughed at her.
“Are you scared, hybrid? I thought you weren’t scared of anything, the way you took down the Lycan King,” he mocked her.
“Leave her alone!” Hudson yelled from across the room.
Amanda stilled when she heard Hudson’s voice.
Her wolf inside purred at the tone of his voice, his wolf edging on the surface to protect their mate.
Amanda turned to look at Hudson. His eyes were glowing. She could tell that he was angry as his chest puffed out and his fists clenched.
“Well, if it isn’t the little Alpha himself.”
“You need to back away from my mate right now, Colson,” Hudson growled.
Mated to my Bully (Book 1)