‘I, Hudson Shadow of the Shadow Rock pack, reject you, Quinn Redwood as my mate and Luna.’
‘You can’t reject me, the Moon Goddess doesn’t make mistakes’
‘Well, she did this time’
‘Are you sure? You want to break our bond?’
Hudson’s eyes snapped open, the sunlight dazzling him slightly as his head swiveled to the left and right in shock.
‘So? Are you sure?’ came the melodic voice from in front of him, glancing down he stumbled back as Quinn’s face stared up at him in torment.
‘You’re dead!’ he forced out harshly, holding his hands up toward her as the she wolf’s eyes widened.
‘You’re threatening me as well?’ she whispered, ‘you hate me so much, you want me dead?’ Not waiting for his reply, she spun around and ran for the woods, not looking back at him.
Swallowing hard, he gripped at his hair, pulling it harshly before heading to his truck and sliding in behind the wheel. Starting the truck, he drove out of the parking lot, driving aimlessly, unsure where to go. Twice, he’d seen his pack die twice, and returned to this point in time.
Speeding back to the packhouse, he slid to a stop on the gravel outside of the clinic, jumping out and running as fast as he could, barreling through the glass double doors, his chest heaving with panic.
The young brunette haired nurse that was sitting behind the reception desk, bolted to her feet at his frantic expression.
‘Alpha? What is wrong?’ she asked worriedly, clasping her hands together in front of her.
‘Doctor, I need to see the doctor right now!’ he yelled, fidgeting from foot to foot in agitation as she nodded quickly.
‘Of course Alpha, come this way’ she replied, stepping out from behind the counter and beckoning him to follow her through a door leading to the examination rooms.
Opening a door to the left, she stood back to let him enter first, following him inside and gesturing toward the bed that was positioned against the far wall. ‘The doctor is just finishing with his current patient, I have already mind linked him and he will be here in a few moments’ she said.
Ignoring the bed, Hudson nodded as he pulled at his hair, pacing back and forth nervously.
‘Do you need anything else Alpha?’ the woman asked timidly, ‘some water maybe?’
Hudson laughed dryly, ‘I don’t think water is going to help me’ he grumbled back.
Nodding uncertainly, the nurse bowed her head and backed out of the room, leaving him alone.
Seconds later the door opened again to reveal a stern looking she wolf in a white coat, a clipboard clasped against her chest. The woman had long blonde hair that was pulled away from her face in a no nonsense bun, her face devoid of makeup.
Watching him pace, she frowned, ‘Hudson’ she greeted him, forcing him to still as he turned to her.
‘Hey Doc’ he mumbled, avoiding her gaze.
Raising an eyebrow, the doctor pointed to the bed, ‘sit’ she ordered.
Taking a seat, he scowled at her, ‘you don’t always have to be so annoyed to see me’ he commented.
The doctor’s face broke into a smile, ‘I am always pleased to see you Hudson’ she replied, ‘but you’ve dragged me from my rounds and so far I can not see a scratch on you. I get the feeling that this isn’t as urgent as my poor nurse was led to believe.’
The young Alpha blew out a shaky breath, ‘this is confidential right?’ he asked, not looking at her, ‘you won’t go telling my mother anything I tell you?’
The doctor frowned as she nodded, taking a seat, ‘of course, I would never discuss patients with anyone’ she replied, her voice softer.
Hudson nodded, ‘well she is your best friend’ he said with a humourless chuckle, ‘you two are known to gossip about me.’
The Doctor laughed, her face lighting up, ‘that’s because you do so many stupid things, we can’t help but discuss them’ she teased.
Hudson looked up at her, his pained expression causing the laughter to die on her lips, ‘Doc’ he started, ‘Auntie Jill’ he then corrected as the she wolf took a sharp intake of breath.
‘It must be serious if you are pulling out the Auntie card’ she murmured, inching forward, concern in her eyes.
Hudson nodded, ‘I think I’m going crazy’ he blurted out.
Jill’s brows knitted together as she stared at him, ‘OK’ she said slowly, ‘how exactly do you think you are going crazy?’
The Alpha gave her a weak smile, ‘I’ve lived this week twice already’ he replied, his voice barely above a whisper.
The doctor sat, looking at him strangely for a second, ‘déjà vu is pretty common Huds, that doesn’t mean you are going crazy’ she commented softly.
Hudson nodded, ‘I know, but this isn’t just a feeling like I’ve done something before, I mean I’ve lived the next week we are going to have already, twice.’
Seeing her skepticism, he pushed on hurriedly, ‘I go to the party at Clover pack on Friday, I come back Saturday morning and . .’ he swallowed as the images tormented him, causing him to gasp for a proper breath. ‘You all die’ he whispered, ‘everyone, the pack is attacked and everyone, dad, the warriors . . they die.’
Jill bit down on her bottom lip, studying him, ‘you are positive it’s not something you dreamt?’ she asked, reaching out to touch his hand. ‘Dreams can feel really real, almost like a memory, that doesn’t mean it will happen.’
Hudson pushed to his feet, dragging a hand through his hair, ‘you don’t believe me’ he snapped, ‘and why would you? I’m living it and even I don’t believe me.’
Making to stride out of the room, he’s stopped by Jill’s fingers wrapping around his wrist.
‘Huds’ she said carefully, ‘I believe that you believe this is real.’ She stood up, keeping him in place as she studied him, ‘I’m going to give you something’ she added, ‘something to help relax you OK?’
Hudson nodded, his eyes glued to the floor.
‘Stay here’ she ordered, before sweeping out of the room, returning a few minutes later with a small white box of pills.
‘I want you to take one of these every morning when you wake up and every night before you go to bed’ she explained, holding the box out to him.
Taking it gingerly, he eyed the tablets suspiciously, ‘what are they?’ he asked.
‘Something to help relax you’ was the only explanation he received.
‘OK’ he mumbled, placing the box into the pocket of his jeans.
Giving her a small smile, he took a step toward the door before hesitating, ‘thanks doc’ he said softly.
‘No problem Huds’ she replied, patting his arm affectionately, ‘don’t worry, OK? The tablets will help calm you which should help with your . . . situation.’
Nodding again, he moved toward the door and stepped out, hurrying back toward the entrance and out into the sunshine.
Heading toward the pack house, he snuck inside and hurried to his room, shutting the door behind him and toeing off his trainers before flopping down on the bed.
Pulling out the crumpled box, he studied the small pills before taking one out and throwing it to the back of his throat, chasing it down with some water from the bottle beside his bed.
Laying down, he closed his eyes, it took a while but suddenly his mind started to relax, his body feeling lighter as a small smile played around his lips. Letting out a contented sigh, he rolled to his side, he felt much better, sinking into the mattress the young Alpha allowed his mind to wander until he slipped into sleep.
He was jolted awake by a knocking on his door, pushing himself up, he rubbed his eyes, ‘come in’ he called out.
The door swung open to reveal his Beta who looked worried as he stormed into his room.
‘What? Why do you look so panicked?’ Hudson asked, sitting straighter.
‘Dude’ Garrett growled, ‘you’ve been missing all day, I’ve sent you like twenty messages that you ignored, and even tried to mind link you but I couldn’t get through!’
Fishing in his pocket, the Alpha pulled out his phone, cringing at the amount of unopened messages he’d received from his friend. ‘Uhh, I fell asleep’ he replied with an apologetic smile.
‘You blocked your link and then went to sleep?’ his friend repeated, crossing his arms over his chest.
‘I went to see the Doc, I haven’t been sleeping well, she gave me some pills, they kind of knocked me out’ Hudson explained, waving a hand at the white box that was still on his bed.
Garrett’s anger softened to concern, ‘you’re not sleeping?’ he asked, ‘something wrong?’
Hudson opened his mouth to answer but stopped, did he want another member of the pack thinking he was crazy? ‘Yeah, I’m fine’ he replied, looking away from his friend, ‘just under a lot of stress I think, Dad has started to hand pack duties over to me, it’s a lot of work.’
The beta nodded, accepting his explanation, ‘well you didn’t miss anything at school’ he said, taking a seat on the Alpha’s bed, ‘no sign of the new student.’
Hudson lay back down, he hadn’t expected the student to turn up anyway, he hadn’t turned up the last two times he had lived this damn week, why would he turn up now?
***************************************
Two days later and Hudson was still jittery, he’d gone to his lessons but had been unable to concentrate, worried about Saturday and the thought that he would again have to watch his friend’s and family die.
A warm body slammed into him as he walked down the hallway toward his next class.
‘Hudson, you didn’t reply to my text!’ The Alpha froze, closing his eyes as the she wolf wrapped her legs around his waist tightly.
‘I didn’t want to’ he gritted out, keeping his face turned away from Penelope who stilled in his arms.
‘What?’ she asked quietly, her face turning pink.
Removing her from his body, Hudson placed her firmly on the ground before stating loudly, ‘I didn’t reply to your text because I didn’t want to talk to you.’
Taking a nervous step back from his venomous tone, Penelope steeled herself, hitching up a confident smile. ‘Daddy says . . ‘ she started.
‘Let me guess’ Hudson cut in derisively, ‘you want to go to the Clover pack party, but your daddy won’t let you go without a big strong warrior to protect you. Despite the fact you’ve put your mouth around most of the guys in this school, he still thinks his little girl is innocent.’
Penelope licked her lips as the people around them started to whisper to each other, laughter echoing around the hallway as the Gamma’s daughter blushed.
‘You don’t have to be a dick’ she hissed, ‘you could just say no.’
‘And you could stop trying to pretend that we are something we are not’ the Alpha growled back. ‘I don’t want to be your babysitter on Saturday, get someone else to act as your lackey. Hell, if you suck hard enough, I’m sure any of the football team will volunteer.’
Glancing to his right, he spotted Quinn watching him, a shocked look on her face. Penelope turned to see what he was looking at, her lip curling when her gaze landed on the red head.
‘Oh I see’ she said loudly, ‘you are pushing me away because you found virgin meat?’ Striding over to Quinn, she placed her hands on her hips as she glanced back at Hudson vindictively. ‘Take some advice’ she said loudly, ‘he’ll chew you up and spit you out like every other girl in this school. He’ll tell you he loves you to get you on your knees and then treat you like a whore once you are finished. Don’t fall for his bullshit.’
Quinn, stared at Penelope silently before straightening her shoulders, ‘I wasn’t intending too’ she replied quietly, ‘I’m looking for a guy who respects me, not one who thinks others are beneath him just because he’s an Alpha.’
Penelope’s face broke into a smile as she turned back to Hudson who felt a pain in his chest at his mate’s words. ‘Nice to finally find someone with some common sense in this school’ she replied, her eyes narrowing at the flicker of pain in his features before she tossed her hair and walked away with her friends.