Hudson and his wolf were conflicted. They were both excited to have their mate staying with the pack but also anxious about what had happened with the Alpha and their pack and were having a hard time trying to stay calm. He needed to get home and check on his family.
Ruby felt Hudson’s anxiousness, they all could. Ruby leaned over to Amanda, “You need to try and calm him down.
Amanda looked at Ruby like she had two heads.
“What am I supposed to do?” She tried to ask quietly but it came out louder than she intended it to.
“Sometimes it takes just a touch to calm a mate down.”
Amanda looked at Hudson. Hudson was looking out the window, but she noticed that his leg was bouncing, and he was rocking in his seat. It saddened her to see him this way. The Hudson she always saw was tough and nothing rocked him. Amanda slowly moved her hand over and gently started to rub her hand back and forth on the top of his leg. The bouncing stopped almost immediately. Hudson let out a breath and he stopped rocking. She giggled when she started to hear a soft purr coming from him.
Hudson turned and looked at her.
“Thank you,” He said with a small smile.
Amanda gave him a small nod as she continued to rub his leg to comfort him, but she couldn’t look away from those blue eyes. They were sucking her in. Something inside her was egging him to continue the electric current that was running between them. But Amanda was still scared. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes as she pulled back her hand from Hudson’s leg and turned to face forward. When she opened her eyes, she refused to look at Hudson. She knew he would be hurt and didn’t want to see the pain in his eyes. She had to put herself first and she was still trying to make sense of all of this.
Amanda felt Hudson’s leg start to bounce again and then the rocking. Amanda didn’t know what to do. There was an internal struggle fighting inside her. There was a strong part of her that wanted to help him, but she didn’t want to lead him on until she knew how she truly felt for him.
The second they pulled up the border gate, Hudson was going crazy and couldn’t wait for a second longer.
“I’ve got to get out of here, I’ll meet you at the pack house,” he told them as he jumped out of the car and sprinted away.
“Alpha!” Stan yelled but Hudson didn’t stop.
Stan turned and glared at Amanda but felt a tap on his shoulder by Ruby who said, “You do realize you’re glaring at your future Luna.”
Stan lifted his eyebrow before he turned back to the front of the car and drove into the pack territory.
Amanda was familiar with the gated town. She drove past it every day on the way to school. It looks like a normal small town. But now she knew there was so much more. She thought she was relieved when Hudson jumped out of the car, but now she was missing him. She didn’t want to meet anyone without him beside her. She didn’t know how they were going to like a human staying in their town.
Ruby sensed her tension and patted her hand.
“Don’t worry, you’ll be safe here.”
Amanda let out a sigh, she didn’t feel safe. She was ready to run. Her parent’s house wasn’t far from there, if she could just slip away she wouldn’t have to worry about any of this. She could just go back to being a normal girl and forget any of this happened. She would see about transferring to another college, one that was much farther away, and wouldn’t have to worry about seeing Hudson or anyone else ever again.
As she thought about this plan the anxiety in her chest increased and her heart began to hurt. Amanda’s shoulders dropped. As scared as she was, she knew that she would never forgive herself if she just ran away like a coward.
Hudson ran as fast he could, he needed to see his dad and know that he was going to be ok. He knew Amanda was safe with his head of security and Ruby. He just needed to see with his own eyes how bad the situation was with his dad.
Plus, he needed a moment to lick his wounds as he and his wolf felt rejected by their mate when she pulled away after trying to calm them for just a moment. He knew he shouldn’t be upset but being an Alpha, his emotions ran higher than a normal wolf.
He made it to the pack house and slowed to a stop when he reached the front steps to the door. He slowed his breath to calm himself down. He needed to be calm for his mom when he walked in there. He walked up the steps slowly and opened the pack house door. When he walked in it seemed quieter than usual. Normally there were younger wolves walking around and usually a lot louder in some parts of the house. But it was eerily quiet.
As Hudson continued to make his way through the house he didn’t run into anyone. His wolf heightened their senses and remained guarded in case this was a trap. He couldn’t smell anything out of the ordinary but that didn’t mean he was out of the woods. He approached his parent’s door and knocked.
“Come in.”
Hudson opened the door and found the pack doctor next to his parent’s bed checking his Dad vitals as his Dad sat straight up in the bed.
“Dad?”
Ben looked up and smiled.
“Hey kid, your back.”
Hudson walked over to the bed and stood at the foot of the bed confused.
“You’re okay?” He asked his Dad.
Ben nodded.
“Charlie called and said you were hurt bad.”
“We didn’t mean to freak you out,” Ben told him. “We assumed that the Lycan was watching you and we needed to make it look convincing that the pack was hit hard. I did get hit harder than I’d like to admit but I’ll be okay. But we need to keep all this low-key.”
“Why?” Hudson asked.
Ben looked at his mate and then the doctor who both nodded before Ben proceeded to tell his son what they thought.
“We think there might be a spy within the pack.”
Hudson’s eyes widened when he heard this. He was shocked to think that one of their pack members would be working with the Lycan.
“What makes you think this?”
“It’s how he attacks us. He knew where all our weaknesses were and hit us hard and quickly.”
“How many did we lose?”
“A few but most are just badly wounded and will heal within a day or two.”
Hudson was trying to keep his cool but could feel his wolf getting angrier by the minute. He needed to get out of there and let his wolf loose but now wasn’t the time.
“So, what do we need to do?”
Kevin the pack doctor stepped in and said, “We need everyone to think that the Alpha is in serious condition and that you’ve been called home to look over the pack.”
“Who knows the truth?”
“Just Charlie, Kevin, you, and your mom,” Ben answered.
“Is that why the house is so quiet? Is everyone gone?”
They all nodded.
“Just until we can figure out who the spy is.”
“Do you have any clues?”
“Not yet. But Charlie is gathering intel with the Warriors and hopefully, we’ll hear something soon.”
Hudson nodded. His wolf started to get excited, which only meant one thing.
“Well, I need to get downstairs, I believe Amanda just pulled up,” Hudson explained.
Cynthia jumped up with a smile. “Ooh let me go down with you. I’m excited to officially meet her.”
“Lucky,” Ben said with envy.
Hudson and Cynthia both looked over at Ben. Hudson lifted his eyebrow at his father’s remark and Cynthia smiled and shook her head.
“You’ll meet her soon enough. Just get some rest. I’ll be in to see you after I get her all situated.” Cynthia told her mate as walked over and kissed her mate. “Behave for the doctor.”
“Yes, dear.”
Hudson and Cynthia made their way to the front of the house and out the front door when the SUV pulled up.
Ruby hopped out and walked up to Cynthia.
“Luna, good to see you,” Ruby said with a bow.
“Oh Ruby, stop with the formality and give me a hug. It’s been a while old friend.”
“Old! Who are you calling old?” Ruby laughed as she gave Cynthia a hug.
“I’ve missed you. How’s the café?”
“It’s doing good.” Ruby answered before walking back to the SUV and pulling Amanda out from it.
“You have to meet with the Luna,” Ruby whispered as she pulled her up the steps.
Hudson let out a whine as he watched his mate walk up the steps toward him and his mom. He wanted to wrap her in his arms and take in her scent to help calm him down. But he knew he couldn’t.
“Amanda, I would like you to meet Cynthia, Hudson’s mom, and Luna of our pack.”
“Luna Cynthia this is Amanda, Hudson’s mate.”