Hudson was beside himself as he waited for the fireman to evacuate the house that was burning in front of him.
Everything else blurred around him as he just sat and watched the house burn. His wolf was howling and raging to come to the surface. He wanted to find their mate. Hudson closed his eyes as he tried to picture Amanda’s face, her smile, her eyes, all of it. For a moment it seemed to calm both him and his wolf down, but only for a moment. Hudson could hear the others talking around him, but he didn’t take notice of what they were saying.
Marco walked up behind Hudson and put his hand on his shoulder, “Steven says that the fireman didn’t find anyone else in the house.”
“Then where is she?” He growled out.
Marco dropped his hand and looked down.
“We’ll find her Alpha,” Marco said softly.
He turned to look at his longtime friend, he wanted to yell at him about losing his mate, the future Luna of their pack. But he knew it wouldn’t do anyone any good.
Hudson let out a breath, “When did you and Tab find out that you were mates?”
Marco looked up at Hudson surprised but then nodded and answered, “The night at the movies.”
Hudson wanted to ask why they didn’t tell him, but if he were being honest he should have seen the signs except he was so wrapped up in the dealings of his own mate that he didn’t notice anything.
“Congratulations man.” Hudson huffed out.
Marco shook his head, “I’m sorry Alpha.”
It was Hudson’s turn to put his hand on Marco’s shoulder. “You chose your mate, there’s nothing wrong with that. I should’ve brought her out of there myself. She’s my mate, my responsibility and I chose my anger over her.”
“He deserved what he got.” Marco chimed in.
Hudson chuckled and then shook his head.
“Not at the cost of my mate.” Hudson sighed.
Hudson and Marco walked back towards the group and decided to head over to Ruby’s to regroup and come up with a plan to find Amanda.
Ring, Ring.
“Did you get her?” The voice that answered the phone sounded impatient.
“Someone else pulled her out before we could get to her.” The nervous voice responded.
“You idiot! You had one job and that was to get the girl.”
“My apologies.”
“The King will not be happy about this.”
“We will find her.”
“See to it that you do, or the king will make an example out of you.” the angered voice ended the call.
She walked back into the room she had left to take the call.
“Troubles my sweet?” The sexy voice asked from the bed.
“Nothing that my king needs to worry about right now. Let’s go back to bed, I want to please my king.”
“If that’s what my sweet wants,” he growled.
Amanda started to stir and slowly woke up. She was having a hard time trying to remember where she was or what happened. Her heart started to palpitate, and her breath quickened as foggy pieces of the night appeared to her.
Her eyebrows scrunched as she recognized the voice but couldn’t remember seeing him at the party. Amanda slowly opened her eyes and saw Deak’s face staring at her.
“Deak?” She whispered as she continued to try and wake up.
“Yes, small girl. Take time, you don’t have to be in rush to wake.”
“What happened?” She asked him.
Deak leaned back and grabbed the cloth that was sitting on Amanda’s forehead and dipped it back into the bowl of cold water, then ringed it out before putting it back on Amanda’s forehead.
“You’ve had a bad night.”
“Where’s Hudson?”
“He still back at the house.”
Amanda closed her eyes as she continued to put together what happened before she passed out.
“But why did you take me?”
Deak let out a sigh.
“I had to take you before they did.”
“Who’s they? Hudson?” Amanda was so confused.
“We should wait. You’re not fully better for us to talk.”
“Deak, please.” She begged.
Deak ran a hand through his hair as he got up from the chair that was beside Amanda.
“Thirsty? I can make a drink for you.” Deak tried to change the subject.
“Deak?”
“I don’t want to say anything until your mate is here with you.”
Amanda’s eyes widen when she heard him use the word mate.
“Wait, you know?”
Deak nodded as he poured some hot water into a mug.
“Are you?”
Deak shook his head.
“I can’t say what I am until I explain things to your mate first.”
Amanda started to feel uncomfortable, she didn’t know what was going on or who she could trust. All she knew was that she wanted Hudson.
Deak put his hands up in surrender, “Easy small girl. I’m not going to hurt you. You’re safe here.” He told her.
“Amanda. My name’s Amanda.” She told him as she tried to sit up more on the couch.
Deak gives a smirk, “I know your name. I like calling you small girl.”
Amanda rolled her eyes.
Deak laughed and handed her the hot mug. Amanda took a sip and felt the soothing of the hot liquid as it went down her throat.
“That’s good. What is it?” She asked as she took another sip.
“Ancient recipe from family. Helps with fuzziness.” He explained.
There was an awkward silence between them for a few minutes before Amanda finally asked, “When can I call Hudson? I’m sure he must be worried sick about me.”
“I left a message for him with a lady at the café. I’m sure he’ll be getting the message soon.”
Hudson and the rest of the group made their way up to Ruby’s apartment. It was well after midnight by the time they got done giving their statements about what they saw happen at the party. Hudson also let Officer Steven know about what Calvin had done to Amanda. Steven said he would make sure the Fraternity and the Dean would be made aware of the incident.
Ruby opened the door to let the exhausted pack into her apartment.
“Y’all look just exhausted. I made some snacks and drinks on the counter for you.”
Hudson sighed, “Thanks, Ruby.”
She patted him on the back and gave him a small smile.” She’ll be okay.” Ruby told him with confidence.
“How do you know that? Nobody knows where she is. They asked everyone that was at the party, and no one was able to give any information about her whereabouts.” Hudson said with frustration. “None of this would have happened if that stupid girl that always gets in the way didn’t invite her.”
“Who?” Ruby asked.
“Kimmy.” Tab chimed in.
Hudson looked over at Tab and then mentioned, “Yeah that girl. She’s freaking annoying.”
Hudson collapsed down onto the couch putting his fists up to his eyes.
“Hudson, you need to try and calm down, so your wolf relaxes too,” Ruby told him.
“How can I do that?” Hudson asked. “Because I know who has Amanda,” Ruby told him.