Crossing Hudson

by Mandy M. Roth

  Shona grinned. “You rock, Ryan.”

  “How you keep your top on is a wonder to me,” Tess said.

  Grinning, I winked at Tess. “Hey, if they get the upper hand, I’ll cut the damn thing off myself if it distracts them.”

  Hudson reached out and caressed the tattoo low on my right hip that showed fully now. Heat moved through the area. I wanted his hands to caress me everywhere, and that was out of character for me.

  Tess’s eyes widened and I knew she was reading his thoughts. She tended to do that to most people, despite how rude it was. “Oh my, umm, his imagination is rather graphic. If you don’t want him, I’d say I’d take him, but he doesn’t even realize anyone but you is standing near him. And he’s taking a rather odd fascination with the tattoo on your hip. He can read the symbols on it and his heart is pounding a mile a minute. It’s exciting him and also freaking him out all at the same time. Hmm, show him the one on your back and you really will end up hitched by the end of the day.”

  Hudson gave me an odd look and moved around to stand behind me. Running his fingers over the tattoo on my shoulder blade, he drew in a sharp breath. “You have a black wolf with a moon here. Why?”

  “Not the time. And it’s a long story.”

  “It’s standing before water, why?” he asked.

  “He asks a lot of questions. Do all Guardians do that? Or did we get the nosey one of the bunch.” Groaning, I looked at Shona for help.

  None came.

  Tess laughed and I knew she was still reading Hudson’s thoughts. “Oh, this is too good. The river the wolf is standing in front is there because she freaked out at the end of getting the tattoo and wanted it added.”

  “Why?” Hudson asked. He seemed to like that question.

  “Because it popped into my head.”

  Shona snickered. “Yeah, the Hudson River popped into her head. Tell me you’re a head warrior lycan whose shifted form is a jet-black wolf and I’m arming all twenty girls with silver-tipped spikes to assure you don’t leave.”

  “I am,” he replied evenly.

  Shona stared at me with wide eyes. I shook my head. Hudson couldn’t be Cowboy. The odds were stacked against it.

  “Make them chase him off,” I said, letting out a soft laugh. The second Hudson ran his hand over the faint scars on the right side of my back I stopped laughing and cringed. Moving forward, I shook the uncomfortable memories off.

  “Ryan, you really should ask for an exact replica of Hudson. He seems to be tailor-made to your physical specifications,” Tess said, arching an auburn brow.

  Dropping my voice low, I smiled sweetly. “Tess, stop reading me. Please.”

  She covered her mouth momentarily. “Oh, sweetie, you want to get to know him, but he reminds you too much of Cowboy. He’s a Guardian, fits the bill physically and sounds like him. He even tasted like him. And the minute he called you sweet-pea…Oh, Ryan.”

  Groaning, I shook my head. “Tess, Hudson isn’t human, he just admitted to being a lycan. He can hear you and all I have to say is thanks. I’ll win the wager now.” I couldn’t go down the rabbit hole of emotions anymore. At the snap of my fingers, the song Holding out for a Hero started to play throughout the bar. “Now that the mood is set, shall we dance?”

  Tess burst out laughing. “You never cease to crack me up, Ryan.”

  “Yeah, I’m a riot. Okay, focus. The Elders are doubling the load they’re sending.”

  Shona’s mouth dropped. “Ryan, I’m beginning to think you’re right. Someone up there doesn’t like you.”

  “I know I’m right. One of those bastards wants me dead. Can’t say I blame them. I’ve met me.”

  Tess motioned for the girls to move behind her before creating a protective bubble around them. Standing on the outside with us, she smiled. “Ah, no wonder why they want you so bad. You love toying with them, hon.”

  Putting my hands out, I let my power free and smiled. “Here they come, ladies. Look down.”

  They smiled as they saw I’d equipped them with thigh strap-on stakes. It was a draw on my power that I shouldn’t have made in my condition, but I did it anyways. I glanced at my arms and my knives instantly appeared in their black leather sheaths. With a wink at Tess, her short sword appeared in her hand. I glanced at Shona and grinned as her double-edged sword appeared in hers. I was drawing on way too much power. More than I should even do at full strength and I was at anything but. I knew I was tempting fate, and a little tiny piece of me wanted to dare it to do its worst, but I already knew it had and was.

  And in the end I’d only be a story someone told to the most important man in my life. I’d be an afterthought, something he learned of through others, all because of The Powers and what they’d decided was best for me.

  Eliza was so right. The Powers were total dicks.

  “You are the coolest,” Shona mused.

  “Ah, it was nothing.”

  I glanced behind me at Hudson and found him staring at me with wide eyes. “Would you like a weapon? I’ll conjure one for you.”

  “I want you.”

  I froze. Shona snorted and Tess made a sappy sound. Nodding, I faced forward, ignoring him, unsure what to say to that. At that instant, the room filled with bad guys and I guffawed. “Do you guys ever notice all of them do the same thing when they show up?”

  The Powers That Be had sent us so many groups over the past few months that they were all starting to blend together. You could nearly set your watch by the bad guy behavior.

  Shona laughed. “Yep. Arrive. Look around wildly. Snarl. Growl. Spot us. You taunt them to tick them off. I help. They try to kill us. They fail. We keep dancing. Too bad Hudson can’t play. I’d like to see him without a shirt on, slicing through them like they were butter.”

  As Shona had stated, they began to glance around, obviously confused as to how they came to be in the club and with us. All of them took fighting stances, as if that would help, and some started looking for ways to get out of the area. They were the smartest ones. Their fight or flight response was clearly more honed than the ones snarling at us. I almost laughed at the scene—I’d seen it so many times before.

  “Oh, better yet, in black leather pants and no shirt,” Tess added.

  Against my first instincts, I did draw on my magik to change his clothes and snapped my fingers. Hudson gasped. Turning, I grinned as I found him in a pair of black leather pants and his black tee shirt.

  “Hey, you left his shirt on him.” Tess nudged me.

  I nodded and said quietly, “Yeah, I know. I’m scared to death to find a tattoo on his right shoulder blade that means ‘Guardian and mate of the Blessed One.’ I know it’s not there, but I don’t even want to chance it.”

  Shona’s eyes widened. “Cowboy has that tattooed on his shoulder?”

  “Can we not discuss this right now?” I asked. I didn’t want to get into it, and besides, we had antsy bad guys to dispose of.

  “It’s a yes or no question, Ryan.”

  I growled. “Who else do you think would have a tattoo talking about being the Blessed One’s Guardian and mate?”

  “Good point.” Shona turned and looked at Hudson. “Do you have—”

  I zapped her hard in the ass with power. She yelped and stopped bothering Hudson. Rolling my eyes, I smiled. “Sorry.”

  Tess snickered. “Hudson, should you be sporting the exact tattoo, you might want to keep that to yourself. She’s not particularly keen on the idea of certain people from her past popping up.”

  Hudson wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me back to him. Pressing his ear to my mouth, he whispered so softly that I did sigh, “I can’t just stand here and do nothing. You know that, right?”

  Reaching up, I ran my hand through his hair and smiled. “We’ll be fine. We do this all the time for the girls to see and understand what they’ll be required to kill and do. It helps them learn, and handles the slayers’ obligations to the Elders. Besides, it can be really fun at tim
es.”

  I needed this.

  To blow off steam.

  To be free and wild.

  It was do this or cry, and I was tired of tears.

  “Fun?” He growled. “You don’t understand me. I physically can’t just stand here. Normally, I’d respect the slayers’ wishes, only intervening if something went wrong, but this is different. I can’t explain it. But I can’t stand here. I have to help.”

  “Is it the Guardian thing? Because I swear I’m fine.”

  Hudson stared into my eyes and made my breath catch. “I don’t think it’s that either, Ryan. I need to be next to you.”

  “If you insist, but don’t get in the way of what we do together or one of us will get hurt. Odds are it will be me because of the way we handle things. And unless you’re planning on kissing all my boo boos, then behave yourself. Oh, and you have to be okay with the song or you can’t play. I know you think it’s crappy.”

  He chuckled. “Yes ma’am.”

  “Okay.” I wanted a white flag to wave. My hormones were very ready to surrender to the man. “We need to get this over with. JP will be here soon.”

  “JP? You’ve mentioned him several times. Who is he?” Hudson asked.

  “He is the most important man in my life.” I laughed softly, knowing I was baiting him. “And he’ll help me win our wager.”

  I looked over at the snarling bad guys and whistled. It was always easier to go against them when they were good and riled. Their tempers ran hot and that meant they’d make mistakes. Perfect. “You have been the slowest group yet. Good Lord, we’re technically immortal and I’m scared of dying of old age waiting for you idiots to figure out that The Powers That Be didn’t bring you here for drinks and dinner.”

  “Can you even imagine what it would be like to have to digest food while scanning them?” Shona asked.

  I grunted. “Uhh, wrong person to ask.”

  She made an ‘O’ with her mouth and winked. “Forgot.”

  Pumping the music up and setting it to replay, I smiled at Shona and Hudson. “Hudson won’t be able to move for the first fifteen minutes. We can’t let the Guardian have all the fun.”

  And I couldn’t avoid my duty to The Powers That Be. I wasn’t taking any chances that they’d find a loophole and drop their end of our bargain because I handed the fight over to some Guardian who was assigned to me. For now he’d be stuck in one spot.

  “I just locked his very nice-looking backside in place when I put the leather pants on him. Nothing can hurt him, so don’t try to run to help him. I did it because he was oozing the fact that he wasn’t about to let me take them on and that’s not acceptable.”

  “Hey,” Hudson protested. “Ryan, I told you I can’t just stand here. If something happens to you—”

  “Can you put something in your pocket for me?”

  He nodded, looking a bit peeved. I gave him a dimpled smile and ran back to him, knowing what my breasts looked like as I did. His body language stopped registering annoyance and started looking horny as hell, as I hoped it would.

  Giving him an impish smile, I pulled off my necklace and slid it into his front pocket, being sure to take my time and let my fingers brush against all of him. My breath caught when I bumped against his rigid shaft. If it was the size I thought it was, he’d break me in two. His body tightened and he looked down at me with lust-filled eyes. “You are playing with fire, Ryan.”

  “Not yet, but soon I might be.” Standing on my tiptoes, I went to kiss his cheek. He dropped his head down and caught my lips with his. I moaned softly as our tongues touched. There was something about this man that made me want to stay close to him, let him hold me and beg him to never let me go. Worse yet, I wanted to let him protect me.

  Hadn’t I already learned my lesson?

  Drawing off his lips slowly, I laughed and ran out to join the girls. “Hey, stop taking all the fun!” Two huge lycans charged at me. Hudson yelled, distracting me. They slammed into me, sending me hurtling high into the air. I heard the girls gasping and screaming.

  Pulling into a tiny ball, I twisted my body and did a double tuck before landing crouched in front of Hudson. I spun around and glared at him. “Don’t distract me! Geesh, and you claim to be a Guardian. Franco told you I was competent. Trust his judgment.”

  A vampire charged at me from the side.

  “Look out!” Hudson yelled, ignoring what I’d told him.

  Rolling my eyes, I dropped to the floor and the vampire went right past me. He spun around fast and charged at me. The girls all gasped. I undid the filter enough for them to hear me so long as I was PG rated. “Have a little faith, ladies. Ooo, want me to do the poor-little-me thing?”

  They all giggled.

  The vampire charged back at me. I let my lips tremble and pushed fear out at him. He licked his lips as I cowered down.

  “I can smell your fear,” he said, classic bad guy voice going for him.

  I kept my charade up, letting him get closer and closer. He grabbed hold of my neck and lifted me off the ground. I held his arm with one hand to keep myself from being strangled.

  “I shall—”

  I tucked my legs up to my chest and thrust them out at his head, sending myself flipping backwards and snapping the vampire’s neck. Landing on my feet, I snorted and then walked up to him slowly.

  He chortled, his head moving back to its normal position quickly—his healing powers that great. “Breaking my neck won’t kill me, bitch.”

  I slammed my fist out and through his chest, using my power to make it as easy as going through air. A pile of dust surrounded me. “You say bitch like there’s something wrong with being one.”

  Glancing over at Hudson, I found him staring at me with wide eyes. I turned to find four lycans rushing at me. Letting my eyes shift to ice blue, I tipped my head slightly. They stopped dead in their tracks and began to back away. Letting my power rise just a tiny bit, I shook my head no. I crooked my finger and they walked towards me.

  “What in the hell are you doing? They’re full-blooded. They’ll kill you in a heartbeat.”

  Hudson’s protest was cute. It was nice to know he worried. I looked out at Shona and Tess and laughed. Tess tossed me a piece of broken chair. I willed it to be silver coated and it was. I threw it back to her and we repeated the steps until all three of us were armed with silver-coated stakes.

  The lycan closest to me glanced down at the tattoo on my hip and gasped. “It is the Blessed One!”

  “Here we go again,” I said wryly. “I tell them over and over again that I’m hardly blessed. I’m cursed, if you ask me.”

  “How many do you think will refuse to lay a hand on you because of that thing?” Tess asked, staring at the vamps who were close to her and Shona.

  Two of the other vamps lurched back. The rest stood still.

  “There, that answers your question. Are we all staking?” asked Tess with a smile.

  Shona touched my shoulder lightly. “You keep the weres busy, Witchy Woman, and we’ll handle this bunch.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Moving backwards, I kept my power riding high, using it as a lure to the lycan men who followed me instantly.

  I stopped in front of the girls and winked. “See the men before you?”

  They nodded, soaking in the sights of the training session.

  “They were staking out an elementary school to report back to their alpha what they found. Their intention was to draw the Guardians out. Go after the most vulnerable humans first. I don’t know about you, but that’s not okay in my book. They want to get one Guardian in particular to show himself, but they can’t sense him and that ticks them off big time. He’s a good man and would never want harm to come to any innocents, let alone children.”

  “Let me go,” Hudson said softly. His dark brown eyes raked over me. The slow, sexy smile he gave me left me fighting the urge to give myself over to him fully. Something I’d only felt twice in my life before. Once with Cowboy and now w
ith Hudson. I’d had sex with Jude, but I’d never had this level of desire attached to it all. It sort of freaked me out.

  “Let me help,” said Hudson.

  “No,” I said.

  “I’ll beg,” he returned, and I knew those words were big for him.

  My power flared higher, maintaining my lure over the lycans while I took a moment with Hudson. A moment we both needed. “I’m sorry, but I can’t. Not yet anyways. I don’t want The Powers to look back on this and say I didn’t hold up my end of the deal I made with them.”

  “You made a deal with them?” he asked, looking horrified.

  I nodded.

  “Ryan.” Lifting his hand, he stroked my cheek gently. “I think I might know how and where we know each other.”

  My chest pounded at his words. The second I felt evil behind me, I realized I’d let go of my hold on the lycans. “Umm, can we talk about this later?”

  “Yes,” he whispered.

  “Good because I need to run now!” Spinning, I found the lycans crouching down. They stared at the girls and sneered. “Oh like hell! You won’t touch them.”

  One of them growled. “We know now to guard ourselves from your magik, witch. You will not draw us in again. You are not the Blessed One. You have no warrior mate. You are nothing more than a little girl with a tiny bit of power over us.”

  “You know, I try to tell you people that all the time. No one listens.” I let an overwhelming amount of the female lycan scents I’d been born with wrap around me, jacking them up full blast with my power. I couldn’t shift forms. It didn’t matter. They all sniffed the air and stared at me like I was the most fuckable thing they’d ever seen in their life.

  Hudson gasped. “Whatever you’re doing, stop! They’ll—”

  Swaying to the music, I turned to find a huge lycan standing on the ground before me. He swiped a claw out and I hopped up. He did it again and I hopped again. “Ooo, this is like jump-rope.”

  “Stop teasing them, Ryan!” Tess called out, laughing. “We have to keep trying to follow your hyper bottom around this place. You spend more time tumbling than you do on your feet when we fight. I swear that you have springs for feet.”