Hudson stilled when he heard that something was after Amanda. He could feel his wolf getting angry and protective of their mate. He looked into Amanda’s eyes, seeing the fear in her eyes as she continued to tug on him. He pulled her arms off him as he started to move in the direction that she was running from.
“Stay here, I’ll be right back,” he told her.
“Hudson, please, don’t.”
It didn’t stop him from checking the area. His wolf was on alert as he sensed and sniffed the area. Once he got to the corner, he couldn’t sense anything close by, but there was a lingering scent of a shifter in the area. His wolf let out a low growl from their chest.
He turned to look at Amanda who had her arms wrapped around herself. She must be freezing. Hudson started making his way back over to Amanda.
“There’s nothing there.”
“You don’t believe me do you?” she asked in annoyance.
Hudson started at Amanda before answering. Of course, he knew there had been something, but there was nothing there now. And he wouldn’t be able to explain to her that the reason he knows there was something there was because of his wolf. Amanda was human. He still had no idea how he was going to introduce her to his world where it was true that there were things that go bump in the night. He ran his hand through his hair and let out a breath.
“With the recent animal attack, there could have been something following you. I’m just glad that it didn’t try to attack you.”
Amanda stood there for a moment, not knowing how to take his answer. She still didn’t know if he believed him or not. But did it really matter? A part of her desperately wanted him to believe her so that she knew that she wasn’t seeing things or being dramatic.
“Well, thank you for checking. Good night, Hudson.”
She turned and started to head to her dorm.
“Wait.”
Amanda stopped but didn’t turn around to look at Hudson. She continued to rub her arms since the night started to get colder, and, of course, because she barely has anything on.
Hudson walked over to her.
“I know I’m not your favorite person. But would it be okay if I walked you to your dorm? Just so I know you got there safe.”
With Amanda’s back still turned, she gently nodded.
“Hold on a minute,” he said as he put one hand on her shoulder. She turned to look back in his direction.
Hudson slipped his hand off her shoulder and let it drop to the bottom seam of his sweatshirt. He then started to pull it over his head and accidentally lifted the shirt up underneath, allowing Amanda to see his stomach.
Her eyes widen as she stared at his lean, firm, eight-pack stomach. A part of her wanted to run her fingers up and down that stomach. Just to feel his skin burn beneath her touch. Once he had it off, he looked down at her and smirk as he pulled his shirt back down.
“See something you liked?”
Amanda rolled her eyes.
“No.”
Hudson shook his head.
“Here,” he said as he handed her his sweatshirt.
Looking down at the gestured item, she glanced back up at him with a question, “What?”
“Put it on. You’re cold.”
Amanda hesitantly grabbed his sweatshirt and replied with a quiet, “Thank you.”
She pulled the sweatshirt over her head and was able to smell the cologne that was lingering on the sweatshirt. She closed her eyes as she continued to smell the garment before pulling her head through the top and pulling it down.
“Better?” he asked.
She nodded and then started to walk, keeping a reasonable distance away from him.
It was bad enough that she was able to smell him on the sweatshirt; she didn’t need to feel the heat he caused her to have every time they were close and touched. She didn’t understand why her thoughts and body were brought so traitorously. He emotionally and verbally abused her every day. There was only one time that he had caused her physical harm, but deep down, she knew that it was an accident. She knew he regretted it the second he had done it. She brought her hand up to the scar on her neck that she had received from the incident.
“I’m sorry.”
Amanda halted and looked up at Hudson in confusion.
He let out a sigh as he looked at the mark that her fingers were currently covering.
“I don’t think I ever truly apologized for hurting you that day.”
Amanda blinked repeatedly. Was Hudson actually apologizing to her? She rubbed the mark and shrugged.
“It was an accident, right?” she questioned with one brow raised.
Hudson nodded. Slowly, he reached up, gently pulling her fingers away from her scar, so that he could get a closer look. He leaned closer to her neck, brushing his lips across the scar as a way to heal the pain from the past.
Amanda suck in a deep breath and froze, causing her to stiffen beneath his touch.
Hudson could sense her tenseness and pulled away, allowing her some space to breathe and regain her bearings.
Amanda released the breath that she had been holding, focusing on the up and down movement of her chest. She was confused by this whole interaction and did not know how to handle the situation. The constant back and forth of her feelings for him was making her dizzy.
She had still a way to go before getting to her dorm and decided it was best to continue walking and not talk about what just occurred. Her head was full of thoughts, not only confusion about this whole situation with Hudson but worry for her thoughts lingering back to what happened earlier at the party, what she said, what he said. And then him kissing her on the scar he gave her. It was too overwhelming for her to understand.
They walked back to the dorm in awkward silence until they were at the front door to her dorm hall.
Amanda turned slowly towards Hudson. Slowly, she lifted her head to glance at him and said, “Thank you for walking me back.”
“Thank you for letting me.”
Amanda smiled softly. As much as she didn’t want to, she was beginning to like this new version of Hudson. Maybe she will be able to let go of her jaded past with him, and they could start with a clean slate.
Hudson stared deeply into Amanda’s hazel green eyes, wanting to wrap his arms around her, pulling her close to him and meeting his lips to hers. But he needed to wait.
He walked over and wrapped his hand on the back of her neck, pulling her forward as he leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. He whispered softly, “Good night, Amanda.”
Hudson pulled away from her, turned, and started to walk away quickly.
Amanda breathed out, “Good night.”