by Katie Reus
“I can’t believe your brother let you fly all the way to the gulf coast.” Though she was pleased he’d made the effort to go see her. “Any particular reason you decided to go there without calling me first?”
“Yeah. Decided to bring you back here.”
She lifted her head at his brusque tone. “What?” She couldn’t tell if he was being serious or not.
He shrugged, a dark glint in his gaze she’d never seen before. Even without any lights on, there was enough outside illumination to see the harsh lines of his face. “We’ll talk in a while. I need sleep too.”
She wanted to push harder, but exhaustion pulled her under, making her lethargic and telling her to take advantage and get some damn sleep. She’d heard other shifters talk about what it was like to be pregnant and it was no joke.
Sleep was everything right now. Well, sleep and the very sexy man she’d wrapped herself around. She couldn’t believe he’d come straight back from her hometown after reaching his destination. And given the time, he would have had to.
What did ‘bring her back here’ even mean? Because it wasn’t an offer to mate. And she wasn’t going to drive herself crazy trying to figure him out either. Not now anyway.
No, she was going to get some rest and prep for his reaction—of which she was almost a hundred percent certain was going to be awful. He’d made it clear he didn’t want pups, had never planned for them in his life. Now…well, too damn bad. It was happening whether he wanted it or not. And if he didn’t want to be involved in their lives, then she’d deal with that if the time came.
“Hey,” he murmured, squeezing her slightly. “You just went all tense. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” She didn’t raise her head to meet his gaze, just remained where she was, listening to his steady heartbeat.
She was surprised when he didn’t push but grateful as she closed her eyes. Forcing all thoughts of later out of her mind, she let sleep take over.
Chapter Five
Hudson watched Erica across the kitchen table of the guest cabin. She’d stayed in here a few nights during that first month when she’d come to the compound. But once they’d started sleeping together she’d spent all of her nights in his cabin.
Where she belonged.
He’d missed her so much this past month, and seeing her in person, holding her for the past few hours in bed had only solidified what he’d already known.
He never should have let her go in the first place. He was going to remedy that mistake right now. “You sure you don’t want coffee?”
She paused and nodded. “Herbal tea sounds better this morning.”
He stood to start making her tea, knowing she had a stash here. He hadn’t changed anything since she’d left. “I saw your bag. It’s not big,” he said carefully, even as he wondered why the hell it wasn’t bigger. Filled with all of her things. Because she should be staying. “If you’re moving here, we can easily get everything shipped here.”
She blinked in surprise and he realized he’d been right. She wasn’t back for good. He hadn’t wanted to ask her when he’d slipped into bed with her. Not when he’d simply wanted to enjoy holding her.
“I…don’t know what my plans are yet.” She cleared her throat. “However, I’m impressed you flew out to see me.” Her tone was slightly tart, surprising him. “I didn’t think you ever left your pack’s land.”
He frowned at her words and the underlying annoyance in her tone. Before he could respond a sharp knock on the cabin door made both of them turn. He could see through the window on the kitchen door that it was Ursula, one of the sentries currently on duty patrolling their land. “Come in,” he called out.
Ursula stepped inside wearing her standard cargo pants and long-sleeved sweater. She smiled brightly when she saw Erica. “Hey girl, we missed you.”
“I’ve missed you too.” She stood and hugged the other woman tightly. Erica was about half a head shorter than Ursula, who always had her white-blonde hair in a braid down her back.
“You better stay this time. And I definitely need you to do something about this,” she pointed to her head, indicating her hair.
Hudson wasn’t sure what his packmate was talking about. Her hair was pulled back into a tight braid and looked exactly like it always did.
But Erica had charmed all of his packmates with free hairstyles and nail stuff. And she was talented. She’d gone to college to get a business degree—at her alpha’s urging—but she’d also gone to cosmetology school. She’d once told him that she loved making people feel better about themselves.
Erica smiled. “I’ll definitely set aside some time for you while I’m here.”
“Good, but even if you can’t find the time, it’s okay. And we’re definitely having a party for you tonight,” Ursula said, grinning.
Erica looked surprised by this and then looked at him for confirmation. He simply nodded because the party had been his idea. Not that he needed to take credit for it.
“Look, I hate to interrupt you guys,” Ursula said, clearing her throat. “Especially since you just got here, but a couple of our wolves got into it with a group from the Lincoln pack. All teenagers and mostly harmless. But with everything going on lately along the border, I figured this was something you and Malcolm should both take care of. He’s out for his morning run now, so there’s no way to get a hold of him.”
Hudson simply nodded, inwardly cursing at the interruption. He and Erica hadn’t been awake for very long and all he wanted to do was spend time with her, to tell her that he wanted her for a mate if she’d have him. But there were some things that he had to take care of. Especially something like this. And he wasn’t going to open up to Erica with an audience.
“Meet me by the west gate in five minutes.”
Once she was gone, he turned to Erica. “I’m sorry—”
“You don’t have to apologize, trust me, I definitely understand.”
He knew she did. There was no annoyance or recrimination in her expression. He still wanted to know why she’d traveled all this way to see him, because he knew she had a reason other than just wanting to see him. Something that depressed the hell out of him. “As soon as I get back I’ll move your stuff into my cabin.” Her eyes widened slightly, as if she was surprised by his words, but it was time for him to step up and be the wolf that he really was. To claim his female. “I’m going to grab a quick cup of coffee and head out. If you need anything, I’ll leave a list of phone numbers for available packmates.”
“I’ve got a bunch of numbers saved in my phone already,” she said softly. “I’ll be fine, trust me. Probably get roped into doing manicures.” She wiggled her own fingers, which were painted with pink and gold chevrons.
Crossing the distance to her, he bent down and brushed his lips over hers, resisting the urge to deepen the kiss. If he did, he knew himself well enough that he’d be sorely tempted to blow off his duties. Something he’d never done before, not in hundreds of years.
But Erica brought out a new side to him. And it was past time that he accepted it, hell, embraced it.
Chapter Six
“When you move here, you should open your own salon. I guarantee we’d keep you in business. And so will Alex’s pack…if things with them ever smooth out,” Chelsea added on, rolling her eyes.
For the last couple hours Erica had been hanging out with a handful of Hudson’s packmates, and now it was just down to her and Chelsea, a tough warrior who’d taken Erica under her wing pretty much the first day she’d arrived on Kendrick land. She cleared her throat, not sure how to respond to the ‘when you move here’ bit. She wasn’t sure if she was going to move here. She wasn’t sure of anything. Somehow, she still found herself saying, “Where would I open up shop? Is there office space in town?” Because if she did start her own business, she wanted a separation from the actual pack land. It would be easier to expand her business that way.
Not that she was even thinking of doing that…was she?
“There are a couple office buildings in a strip mall that the pack owns. And if you decide to join the pack, hint hint, you’ll be able to use it, no problem. One of the open spaces is next to a coffee shop, also pack owned. You’d get extra foot traffic from that alone.
It definitely gave her something to think about. “I’ll think about it,” she murmured, not remotely ready to commit to anything.
“I don’t know what there is to think about now that you’ve found your mate.”
She simply looked up from painting an intricate wolf paw on one of Chelsea’s nails and raised an eyebrow. “Seriously? Would you just drop everything and move to a new state for a guy?”
“First, I’d never move for a man. For the right woman, probably. And I would totally move to another state if my new mate’s pack was as awesome as ours is.” She grinned widely as she added, “I do understand though. Moving is such a huge thing. Besides, who says he won’t move back home with you?”
Hmm. Erica paused at that, then went back to painting another nail. She was going to add some little sparkles to Chelsea’s pinkies when the female wasn’t looking. “So say I was going to stay. Do you think I could look at that office space this week?” She didn’t want to just sit around waiting for Hudson to finish his pack business. She understood that he was second-in-command and was naturally going to be busy. Before her year of travel, she’d been busy pretty much every second of the day too. Kinda like most wolves. They had so much damn energy it was almost a given.
“As soon as you finish these wicked looking nails, I’ll drive you myself.” Chelsea smiled as Erica put the finishing touch on her pinky. She frowned once at the little jewel then shrugged.
“It won’t take long to dry,” Erica said, putting the cap on the adhesive.
“Perfect. Once we’ve checked out the space and you see how awesome it is, I’m taking you to lunch. As a thank you for this,” she wiggled her sparkly fingers. “Plus, it’s going to drive Hudson crazy when he finds out where I took you.”
“Why would it drive him crazy that you’re taking me to lunch?” It wasn’t as if Chelsea was interested in Erica romantically.
“No, he’s going to be annoyed where I took you. There’s a pretty boy wolf who isn’t part of our pack that runs a restaurant in our territory. He’s cool with the pack, but just trust me, it will totally drive Hudson nuts. The straight females in our pack go crazy over this guy. And Hudson is in that frenzied stage where he wants to claim his mate. He’s gonna get mad just on principle.”
Erica didn’t know about all that but she wasn’t going to comment on Hudson’s ‘frenzied’ state—since Chelsea was wrong. “I didn’t realize you liked poking at your packmates. I’m making a mental note of that.”
Chelsea giggled. “I would never poke you. I just like to mess with the males. Half the time they seem to have their heads up their asses. They kind of deserve it.”
Erica didn’t fight the laugh that bubbled up. Chelsea reminded her a little bit of her packmate Sarah. It sent a bittersweet spread of warmth through her chest as she thought about her pack. She missed them, but she was starting to realize she could definitely settle in here. Who was she kidding, she could settle in here even if she hadn’t gotten to know so many of Hudson’s packmates. Because Hudson was here.
Annoyingly sexy Hudson.
About half an hour later, Erica stepped into the empty office space with Chelsea who kept jingling the keys in her hand. It was chilly inside, probably because no one had thought to set the heat very high since the space wasn’t in use.
“Please put those in your pocket, you’re driving me crazy,” Erica said as she scanned the space.
“Ha, sorry.” The jingling thankfully stopped.
Erica eyed the big open room with interest. It was seriously plain and boring. Which wasn’t exactly a bad thing. She could paint it a soft robin’s egg blue and mix it with gray undertones. They could add on a private room to do waxing and potentially massages. She’d have to hire some humans likely, especially if there weren’t any wolves with experience or the right training around.
“I can literally see the wheels in your head turning.”
Laughing lightly, she glanced over at Chelsea who was watching her curiously.
“I’m just thinking about everything I can do to this place. It will be really easy to set this up as a salon as long as there’s no issue with the plumbing.” It’d certainly be expensive though, at least to start it up. New chairs, sinks…there was a lot to think about. Luckily, she’d majored in business and was a math nerd. Numbers were her thing so she’d have to start figuring things out.
“I knew bringing you here was a good idea.”
Nodding slowly, she turned back to the giant room and started to feel seriously excited. It might not work out but the thought of running her own salon… Yeah that was something she could get on board with. She’d worked with her former packmate for only a few months before Charlie had closed up shop and moved with her own mate to his territory. Now, Erica wanted something for herself. Something that was hers. And she needed to embrace this huge new adventure. Moving was scary but it didn’t have to be such a terrifying thought.
Not if she had something that was hers so she felt like a contributing member of the pack. And she would have Hudson. Deep down she knew that. Even if they never got mated, even if they just co-parented and had some sort of relationship… The thought of that made her feel blah inside so she shoved it away.
One step at a time. For all she knew, he was going to be angry at the news and send her packing. She wasn’t certain she believed that, but she had to be ready for the possibility.
Chapter Seven
“I’m getting sick of this shit,” Malcolm growled.
Hudson nodded as they both headed across the hard, cold earth toward the outdoor party being held for Erica. “I’m frustrated with Alex’s pack too. And there’s a reason you’re alpha and I’m not.” Because Hudson would have crossed territory boundaries and started kicking ass after today’s bullshit. Which was not a diplomatic way to handle anything. Especially with Alex’s pack. They’d been neighbors and friendly enough for decades. And they went back even further with Alex—about a century. He was a good alpha. “Something’s got to be going on with him.”
Malcolm nodded, his expression serious. “I’ve talked to him a few times. He’s…distracted by something. I don’t want to ruin our relationship but something’s got to be done. I’m just not sure what it is yet.”
Hudson nodded because he agreed with his brother. Today’s little skirmish between the younger wolves had been a fairly normal occurrence. Two sets of teenagers, their own, and a handful from the neighboring pack got into a scuffle near their border. Both sets of wolves had been trying to assert their dominance. Nothing weird about that. But there had been far too many instances of vandalism—stolen property and property damage—along their territory line in the last month. And that was not normal.
“If Alex can’t keep his pack in check…” Hudson lifted a shoulder.
Malcolm nodded once, his expression grim. “Yeah, that’s what I’ve been thinking too. There might be some dominance issues going on with his pack right now. It’s hard to imagine anyone strong enough to challenge him, however. At least within his own pack.”
Hudson nodded. Alex’s pack had a strong core group just as the Kendrick pack did. The other alpha had a good second in command and strong warriors. Not only that, they also had a good balance of beta wolves. Something had to be screwing up the dynamic over there.
All thoughts of pack issues faded away as they reached the edge of the party. He immediately spotted Erica, talking to one of his pretty boy packmates, Jared. Her long, dark hair was braided, draped over one shoulder, right across one breast. God, he’d been fantasizing about those breasts for too damn long.
He could see little sparkles in her hair, under the moonlight and party lights. Probably the little stick-on stars she liked t
o use. He’d gotten them stuck to his hands and even found one on his cock after a particularly wild session with her.
In snug jeans definitely designed to drive him crazy and a wraparound sweater that showed off all sorts of cleavage, the wolf standing in front of her would have to be blind not to notice how incredible she was. And he didn’t like the thought of any other male looking at her. Which he knew was unrealistic and stupid. His wolf simply didn’t give a fuck.
“Try not to kill him,” his brother murmured, no humor in his voice. “He’s just talking to her. I’m going to call Alex, see if I can make contact and set up a meeting. This shit is going to end this week. I’m tired of it.”
Hudson nodded, tuning out anything and everything as he stalked toward Erica and the male she was talking to. He ordered his wolf to not act like a jackass. She didn’t seem to be aware of him as she laughed at something Jared said. In that moment he remembered the first time he’d seen her, spoken to her. It had only taken a couple days and he’d known that she was the one. He’d fallen hard and fast. That was the way with wolves. At least the males. They weren’t like humans in that regard. When they met their mates, for the most part, they simply knew. But she didn’t seem to have fallen as hard as he had. Yeah, she wanted him, there was no denying that. The sexual chemistry they had was off the charts. But he’d asked her to stay and she’d still left. It cut deep. He wondered how he would live like that if things were so one-sided.
He tried not to think about that first meeting, but the memory wouldn’t leave him alone.
Two months ago
Hudson pulled up to the curb of the public airport a few feet back from the only person waiting, her suitcase sitting next to her as she typed something into her cell phone. He was running half an hour late and was annoyed that he was pulling babysitting duty because no one else was available. Okay, he just hadn’t slept in forty-eight hours and was cranky in general.