Crossing Hudson (The Guardians Book 2)

by Mandy M. Roth

  I smiled, not blocking my old Tennessee twang when I spoke. “Daddy told me that every day. Momma just covered her eyes and hoped for the best.”

  “Yeehaw! There’s our girl again! I thought I was going to have to pay Hudson to piss you off again to get to hear it. Why you feel the need to fight your inner Scarlet is a mystery to me.”

  “Honey, if it wasn’t for Cowboy, I’d have such a thick accent you’d need an interpreter to understand me. He saved me from sounding too country.” I laughed at the lycan before me. “At least he saved me from one thing.”

  The lycan in front of me slashed out again, narrowly missing my leg. I kicked him in the face and his head lurched back. “Oh, sorry, did that hurt?”

  Chuckling, I flipped backwards, sensing another one right next to where I’d landed. Dropping into the splits instead of on my feet, I narrowly missed taking a claw to the head. I punched up hard, hitting his groin. He jerked back long enough for me to scramble under the table and grab my knives from my arm sheaths.

  The table lifted quickly. I put the knives up a second before the lycan dropped right down on me. I heard Hudson yell out and rolled my eyes. The lycan on me laughed. “He wishes to save you, yet you have him pinned. Why?”

  I wasn’t telling him about JP and my bargain with The Powers. “I was bored.”

  He dropped his face down and licked my cheek. I cringed. “You have no fear of me. Why? I’m older than the one who wishes to come to your aid. You should be terrified…ahh…yet…you are not,” he said, sounding very labored at the end.

  “That would be because I’m not the one with a knife through my heart. Way to hold out and converse a bit.”

  His head dropped instantly.

  “Shona! He weighs a ton!”

  The dead lycan was ripped from me fast, taking my knives with him. Looking up, I found two werewolves staring down at me. Werewolves always smelled different to me than the lycans who were natural born wolf-shifters. Not bitten or as many liked to term full-blooded. “Listen, I’m wearing some guy’s blood and not really feeling like dealing with this today, so if you are smart, you’ll run.”

  One stepped over me, smiling wickedly. “We aren’t afraid of you. If you were the Blessed One, your mate would be here with you, defending you. You wouldn’t be on your back, ready for us.”

  I lost it then, laughing so hard that I rolled onto my side. He had a point. If I were really a Blessed One and all important to the grander scheme of things, I would have a mate by my side. The Powers were mistaken and apparently, so was the rest of the supernatural community. I’d been on my own for nearly three years. No cowboy was rushing in to save the day. I’d given up that dream the night my sister had been ripped to shreds and I realized, fairytales and happily ever afters were total and utter bullshit.

  “Guys, are you going to take her laughing in your faces?” Shona asked, giving me the second I needed to position myself to strike.

  The one closest to me undid his belt and went to unzip his pants. I gave him a moment, still laughing before I kicked out hard, coming into direct contact with his “weapon of choice”. He instinctively grabbed himself and leaned forward. Extending my arm out, I took hold of his belt and yanked it free of his loops.

  Kicking up and off the ground, I wrapped it around his neck as I threw my body over his. Instantly, I was on his back, choking him with his own belt. I glared at the other one. “I will say this one last time. I do not,” I yanked harder on the belt, “need to run and hide behind some guy’s leg!” I snapped the werewolf’s neck and smiled at the other. I hopped off the dead one’s back and let him fall to the ground, keeping the belt with me. He wouldn’t recover from a broken neck. He wasn’t as badass as the other supernaturals. Werewolves never were.

  I lifted my hand and made a silver orb appear. I lowered my gaze on the remaining were. He stared at my hand with wonderment. I struck out hard with the belt, lodging the buckle deep into the side of his head. “The shiny object thing always works.” Blowing on the orb, I smirked as it turned into butterflies, catching the werewolf’s full attention. I launched myself high into the air, yanking the belt hard and taking the werewolf with me. When I dropped on the floor in a low crouched position, the werewolf’s body kept going. When it landed, his head came to a rolling stop at an odd angle.

  My stomach tightened and a wave of heat hit me. Acute awareness came over me. I knew I’d become a monster. I’d become everything I was never intended to be. I was a killing machine with an expiration date that was fast approaching.

  “Does the Blessed One not enjoy killing?” another were asked, coming out of nowhere, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

  With lightning-fast speed, I grabbed a stake from my thigh strap and thrust it through his chest. Opening my eyes, I exhaled calmly. “I’ve learned to live with my reality.”

  Sensing danger, I spun to find a huge lycan standing before me in a partial shift. He swiped his clawed hand out at me. I ducked back. Dropping back on my hands, I kicked up hard and fast. The lycan howled out as it launched into the air. Leaping up, I charged it, ramming my small but powerful frame into its legs. Not wanting to be pinned under him, I kept running, leaving him to fall on the floor face-first. Stopping abruptly, I turned and jumped onto his back. Taking hold of his head, I snapped his neck cleanly to slow him down for the kill and rolled off him, just in time for one of his buddies to ram his clawed hand through his back instead of mine.

  Always nice when the bad guys handle your work for you.

  “That was close.”

  He regarded me with ravenous eyes. His gaze moved downward. The second he caught sight of the tattoo on my hip, the color drained from his face.

  “She really is the Blessed One!” he shouted.

  Every time one of them yelled that, all of the others went nuts. Now was no exception. He shook his head and took a step back. “It is true! She is the Blessed One! The First will destroy us all!”

  Rolling my eyes, I raked my fingers down my cheeks, feigning agony. “Why do you all freak out about the tattoo? It doesn’t mean anything. He’s not showing up, people. Trust me on this one. That ship has sailed.”

  “He’ll destroy us all.”

  Folding my arms over my chest, I gave my friends a droll look. “Hey, girls, why do they always freak out?”

  Tess laughed as she killed two werewolves with her power. “Because in theory, your mate can kick their asses in like a second… Well, if he wasn’t a scum-sucking piece of crap who proposed to another woman, that is.”

  I tossed my hand out and nodded. “They all got the note about the two of us being paired up, why haven’t they got the note saying he married someone else?”

  “Married?” asked Hudson, sounding confused.

  The lycan shook his head. “He has no other—”

  He crumbled to the floor instantly, his words dying on his lips. Tess stood behind him and waved at me with a stake in her hand. “You know, you’re a walking billboard. You should get a blinking sign. Better yet, make the tattoo blink.”

  “I’m so sick of it. If I could get the damn thing off me, I would. It’s not like I haven’t tried. It just showed up when I turned eighteen and I haven’t been able to get rid of it since.” My power wavered slightly, a sign I was draining myself faster than should be.

  “Watch out!” Tess shouted, looking behind me.

  I felt the evil charging at me fast and knew I wouldn’t get out of the way in time. Bracing for impact, I found myself being swept up and off the ground. A large, warm body wrapped itself around me and twisted in midair before landing crouched with me pinned under him.

  “This is not what I consider fun,” Hudson said, staring down at me, his gaze hard. “Though I’ll admit that seeing you in action made me more terrified than I’ve ever been and also hornier than hell. Stop doing things like this and it will fix the first one. Tell me I can spend the night in your bed and that will fix the other.”

  My heart raced. His
rugged face was so close, so handsome. So close and kissable looking. Unable to do anything but stare at him, I laid there. My hormones shouted at me, wanting me to submit to this man.

  He moved his head down, coming so close to kissing me that our lips touched as he talked. “We’ll continue this when we don’t have twenty little girls watching us.”

  I sighed. Glad one of us was thinking clearly, because I sure wasn’t.

  He smiled and let his hot gaze rake over me. “Nice to officially meet you, Blessed one. I thought you were gone—dead. A myth even. I’d like to talk to you about this mate they keep mentioning, but it will have to wait.”

  My entire body reacted to him and I knew he could sense and smell the change within me. “You look really nice in those pants. I’m thinking you’ll look even better out of them.”

  A smile that promised endless nights of unbridled passion spread slowly over his face. “Words can’t describe how you look in what you’re wearing.”

  I went to answer and stopped as I saw the shadow coming down at him from above. “Hudson!”

  “It’s okay,” he whispered, rolling off me just a moment. Kicking out, he sent the vampire flying upwards again. Turning back to me, he gave me a chaste kiss on the lips and jumped off me to go after the vampire. “Duty calls, darlin’.”

  Lying there, I did my best to catch my bearings. I felt JP’s pull on me. It felt like someone was tugging gently, directly behind my belly button. It was the same pull that his father used to use when he was connecting with me. JP wanted me and that meant he’d be here any minute. Springing to my feet, I looked at Tess and Shona. “JP alert! Kill faster!”

  Instantly, we launched into ultra kick-ass mode. I charged two vampires, put my hands out, let my power rise and smiled, though it was forced as I was nearly at my breaking point and had tapped into too much juice. Conjuring two stakes at the last minute, I rammed them deep into the vampires, dusting them.

  We gathered together and stood still, watching as Hudson moved like a well-oiled killing machine. He swayed out of the reach of whatever was charging him, leaving his muscles rippling.

  “We should help him,” I said, my voice so soft it was barely there.

  Shona sighed. “Yeah, we should help him.”

  “Mmmhmm,” Tess murmured as we all tipped our heads and stared at his tight ass in the leather pants.

  “Gawd, he looks good in leather.” I felt my mouth drop open of its own accord. “Someone wipe the drool off me before he’s done, okay.”

  “Ryan, tell me you’re going to at least sleep with the guy.” Shona nudged me hard. “You will be my hero if you do.”

  I drew in a dreamy breath. “We really should help Hudson now.”

  Hudson spun and twisted like it cost him no energy, no time, no effort to do so. I bit my lip and squeezed my thighs together in an attempt to head off the moisture gathering at the apex of my thighs.

  “I am not going to survive this Guardian. I’m asking Franco for a new one. I want a different one. A less sexy one. Do they come less sexy? I’m asking to see. I can’t be—”

  Shona elbowed me hard in the ribs. “Like hell! You are not sending him anywhere, Ryan.”

  “Ouch!” I rubbed my side. “But there’s no way he can stay with me. JP won’t understand. He’ll—”

  “Be absolutely fine if he knows you’re happy,” Tess said softly as we continued to watch Hudson work his magik.

  I shook my head. “No. I swore I would not have a trail of men enter in and out of his life.”

  “I hardly call two men a trail. He’ll be okay. It could work out, Ryan.”

  I looked at Shona like she was about to sprout a second head. “I’m not looking to land a husband. I tend to run in the other direction, remember?”

  “Of course we remember, we’re the ones who tried to hold you in one place,” Tess said, tipping her head more. “Ryan, Hudson’s shirt just lifted a bit, did you see those abs?”

  “Mmmhmm.” I felt JP’s energy and sighed in relief as Hudson dusted the last bad guy. Smiling, I looked out at the dance floor and waited for JP to appear. Tess’s power raced over the club, taking any signs of bad guy bodies that might have remained. They were gone in a flash.

  I smiled at JP. In one hand, the tiny little boy who was pushing two years old held his blue blankie, and in the other he held his favorite stuffed animal—a black wolf. He smiled wide as he blinked, causing the music to change.

  “Mommy!” he squealed out as Elvis began to play.

  10

  Chapter 10

  Running over to JP, I swept him up in my arms and squeezed him tight. “I see you’re awake. And since you’re alone, I take it Uncle Ben is the one who took the nap, not you. Did going to the park to play wear him out?”

  Giggling, he gave me a big wet kiss, leaving a line of drool between the two of us. “Aww, sweetie, have I told you how much I love it when you’re cutting molars?”

  Tess released the hold on the slayers-in-training and they came running fast towards me squealing “JP” as they came.

  He looked up and his eyes widened as the music pumped out around us. “Dog-gie, I like doggie songs.”

  “Yes, I know you like this song. I used to love it but it’s kind of wearing on my nerves.” Turning it down a bit with my power, I began to dance with him, kissing the tip of his nose as I went. His big, chocolate-brown eyes made me melt and he knew it. Shaking his head as he did his ‘dance’, he made his tousled dark brown hair move.

  “Mmm, you are the cutest thing I have ever seen, and if you keep that up, Mommy’s going to be forced to start kissing those cheeks again.” Giving in to the urge, I went at him, making him giggle hard as I made tiny noises while I kissed him.

  When I pulled back, he did a long blink, showing off his dark, thick eyelashes. “Mommy, have woowoof. Want puddin’. Do you want milk?”

  Shona came up next to me and smiled. “Hey, buddy. You’ve got your stuffed wolf in your hand already.”

  JP wrinkled his nose and bobbed his head up and down to the music. “Dog-gie sing blues.”

  “Do you want Aunt Shona to get you a hound dog?” she asked.

  I shook my head. “Don’t even think about it. Jude’s been trying since he realized JP liked the song.”

  Shona snorted. “I remember when he got JP a kitten because he said kitty. That was horribly ugly.”

  My son had shifter blood in him and it was strong enough that the wolf portion he carried from his father wasn’t a fan of cats. “Yes, but thankfully Ben got to the kitty before JP did.” I closed my lips tight as JP came at me with an open-mouthed, wet, kiss. He pulled away and I laughed. “Girls, would someone grab his diaper bag? It’s back in the office.”

  I’d been working hard with him to get him fully potty trained but for every step forward, we took two steps back.

  “Yep,” Wendy yelled.

  “Thanks.”

  Hudson appeared next to me. He was quiet for a moment as he stared at me then JP. I waited for a lame excuse telling me he had to go. It didn’t come. “Ah, so this is the man in your life, huh?” he asked, smiling softly at James-Porter. “Hello there, li’l guy. I’m Hudson.”

  I glanced at Shona and winked, waiting for JP to try to bite Hudson, like he did every other man he didn’t know. “Hudson, he doesn’t take well to strangers.”

  Instantly, James-Porter’s eyes lit and he squealed as he saw Hudson. Tossing his arms out, he just about leapt out of my arms towards Hudson.

  Thankfully, Hudson had fast reflexes. He caught JP and chuckled as he pulled him to his chest. “Hmm, and your mommy said you don’t like strangers.”

  JP gave Hudson his toy wolf. Hudson held James-Porter with one hand easily. “Daddy!”

  I froze. So did Hudson. Arching a brow, he looked at me. Covering my eyes, I shook my head. “JP honey, Hudson isn’t your daddy.”

  “Leave him alone,” Shona said, walking up next to me. “They match perfect. Same color hair an
d eyes. No one will know. Okay, Hudson, get your butt in gear and propose. You get a readymade family. Just look out for a large seven-hundred-year-old vampire. I’ll, umm, need to break this to him gently.”

  “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy,” James-Porter chanted.

  Mortified, I turned red and went to take James-Porter from him. JP shook his head no and buried his face in Hudson’s chest. Confused, I drew my brows together. “He’s not acting right.”

  “Relax, I’m sure he just trusts Hudson.” Shona rubbed JP’s back gently and smiled. “He’s an excellent judge of character. Remember when he bit the guy who approached you in the park?”

  “Yeah, I’d been so sick that day I couldn’t sense a thing.”

  Shona smiled. “JP knew the guy was playing for the other team.”

  “Daddy,” JP said, crawling up higher onto Hudson.

  My entire body went rigid. “JP you will not call him daddy again. His name is Hudson.” The stern tone in my voice took me by surprise. I was never short with my son.

  Shona stared at me with a shocked look on her face. “Hon, Hudson isn’t throwing JP off him and running in the other direction. Don’t be so uptight. Oh, and don’t tell Jude. He’ll be jealous a stranger got the title before he did. Though, that black wolf JP carries has had the name for over a year. And you yourself said Hudson reminds you of—”

  I shot her a nasty look and she shut up. “Come on, JP, let’s get your pants changed. Then you can have a cookie. How does that sound?”

  Peeking out at me, he smiled. “Coo-kie. And puddin’. And a puppy.”

  Laughing softly, I nodded. “Yep, I’ll give you two if you stop calling Hudson…umm…just call him Hudson.”

  “Daddy,” he said, rubbing Hudson’s cheek and snuggling back into his chest.

  Biting my lip, I gave Hudson a sheepish smile. “I’m sorry. I won our wager though, so I guess it’s worth this moment of humiliation.” Pulling my power up, I changed all of us back into our normal clothes instantly, feeling a hundred times better in my jeans and sweater.