The young Alpha jumped for the second time that morning when Garrett’s palm slammed down on the table, and he growled at his best friend. ‘You did what?’ he demanded, leaning closer to Hudson who was too shocked to force him to back down.
Pulling a hand down his face, Garrett shut his eyes tightly, ‘did you just say you not only found the future Luna of our pack . . but you rejected her?’ he hissed furiously.
Hudson gaped, unused to his best friend being this angry or disrespectful, ‘she wasn’t Luna material, she was too weak’ he growled back defensively.
Garrett laughed humourlessly, ‘she was made by the Goddess herself, how could she not be Luna material?’ he demanded, ‘she’s literally made for you, your other half!’
The teenage Alpha felt his blood start to boil, his need to be respected surfacing, ‘she was an Omega, she would have put herself, me and the entire pack in danger if I had accepted her’ he snarled.
Garrett’s face fell as he slumped back into his chair, ‘you are sure she was an Omega?’ he asked.
Hudson nodded mutely, his own anger receding.
‘Maybe she was special, just because of what happened . . ‘ he started before Hudson cut him off.
‘I can’t take that risk’ he growled, ‘there are too many lives that will be under my protection, I have to do what’s best for them.’
Garrett dropped the subject, instead turning his attention to the story that Hudson had told him, ‘So’ he said, tapping his fingernails on the table as he pondered. ‘go over what you remember about each rewind, lets try and see if there is anything that connects each week.’
Hudson let out a slow breath before launching into each week, walking his beta through every day and how each decision he made had played out to an attack on the pack.
Garrett sat back in his chair, a low whistle coming from his lips, ‘wow’ he muttered, ‘OK, so even though you didn’t go to the party last time, they still attacked us?’
The Alpha nodded, taking a sip of his now cold coffee, ‘didn’t even wait for the weekend, hit us on the Friday, setting fire to the pack house was new though, they never did that before’ he ground out.
The beta nodded, ‘did you speak to any of the pack?’ he asked, have contact with any of them?’
Hudson furrowed his brow, thinking, ‘well I know that they are connected to Quinn’ he mumbled, ‘asshole black haired Alpha guy. He is always so handsy with her, always appeared by her when she was hurt, looked at her with love, I fucking hate that guy’ he added under his breath.
Garrett nodded, ‘OK, so is this to do with the rejection? Is it a punishment?’ he asked.
The young Alpha rubbed his eyes tiredly, ‘I can’t see how, I mean it’s nearly a week after I reject her that they attack, why wait so long if it was retaliation for a rejection? And why would they care if I rejected one of their Omegas anyway?’ he added confusedly.
The Beta gulped some of his milkshake as he contemplated the situation, ‘OK, so not the rejection, did you and the black haired guy have a run in at all? Maybe you offended him accidentally?’ Garrett offered.
Hudson shook his head, ‘not that I know of, never seen him before the attack on the pack.’ He ran over every moment he had spent with the guy, wondering if he had maybe met him at the party and done something there whilst drunk. Suddenly his eyes widened as he looked over at his friend who raised an eyebrow, ‘that looks like an epiphany wrapped in horror’ Garrett observed, crossing his arms over his chest, ‘what did you do?’
The Alpha swallowed thickly, ‘he did say something to me . . after Quinn . . you know’ he whispered, his chest clenching at the thought of her broken body. ‘He said she could feel it, my betrayal, I didn’t really think about it, more concerned about the fact my pack was dying around me. I think Quinn could feel me with the other she wolf, at the party.’
Garrett’s face darkened as his fists clenched, ‘she shouldn’t be able to feel anything after you rejected her and she accepted it’ he said flatly, his eyes narrowing. ‘She did accept it didn’t she Hudson?’
Hudson’s face drained of colour as he flicked back to each rejection, how he’d sent her away without her saying anything, how she’d run away from him without repeating the words back to him. ‘Ahh . . .no I don’t think she did’ he whispered.
He sat across from his Beta, watching as the other teenager’s face went from it’s normal colour to white to a deep red, before the boy leapt out of his chair and launched himself over the table. Grabbing Hudson by the collar, the force of the muscular man pushed the Alpha’s chair backwards, the pair of them landing on the floor as it splintered under their weight.
Reaching back, Garrett landed a punch square on Hudson’s jaw, the young Alpha’s head snapping to the side as blood spurted from his lip.
A gasp of horror drew both boys’ attention to the waitress standing by the counter, gripping their bill in her hand as she stared at them both in fear.
Pushing the Beta off of his chest, Hudson stood up, holding his hands out toward her placatingly.
‘Sorry’ he called out, ‘so sorry, I’ll pay for the damage, my friend just had some news that has upset him greatly, and lashed out without thinking.’ He glanced pointedly at Garrett who was standing across from him, arms folded over his chest as he scowled deeply at his Alpha.
Nodding hesitantly, the waitress edged closer, holding out the check in her shaking fingers. Plucking it from her hand, Hudson glanced at the total before fishing out four, hundred dollar bills and handing them back.
‘For the meal and the damage’ he said, glancing down at the broken chair behind him. ‘Again, apologies for this incident, my friend and I will leave your establishment straight away.’
Turning his back on the scared woman, Hudson waved his hand toward the door, Garrett huffing loudly before stalking over and pulling it open with force.
Walking out behind him, Hudson waited until they were by his truck before rounding on the Beta.
‘What were you thinking?’ he growled, ‘that kind of disrespect could cost you your life, even if you are my best friend! If my father had seen it . .’
‘He’s not here Hudson’ Garrett growled back, ‘are you going to tattle on me? Run to the Alpha and tell him I punched you in the face because you hurt my goddamned Luna?!’
The beta’s voice rose with each word until he was practically screaming in Hudson’s face, his fists clenched by his sides, trembling uncontrollably as if it was taking everything in the man to not reach out and hit the Alpha in front of him.
‘She’s not your Luna!’ Hudson growled back, his own anger rising, ‘I rejected her!’
‘And she didn’t accept, asshole’ Garrett shot back furiously, ‘so technically she is still my future Luna, and you, you son of a bitch, hurt her.’
Swallowing down his own anger he pointed to the car behind them, ‘get in’ he ordered.
The beta’s face scrunched as he fought between wanting to storm off and his wolf needing to obey his Alpha. Finally, with a growl of annoyance, he stormed around the truck and yanked the door open, sliding into the passenger seat and slamming it shut with all his force.
Silently hoping that his friend hadn’t damaged the door with his temper, he spoke to his wolf, ‘I’m amazed that you didn’t kick off then over that’ he commented, slightly annoyed, ‘your Beta disrespected us and you didn’t say shit.’
Harvey swished his tail as he stretched out in Hudson’s mind, ‘Beta didn’t disrespect me’ he replied cockily, ‘he disrespected my stupid human counterpart who deserved it for rejecting mate.’
Swearing under his breath, Hudson cut the link to his wolf who was smirking at him and climbed into the car with his fuming best friend.
‘Look’ he started, dragging his fingers through his hair in agitation, ‘I know you are pissed, but I didn’t mean to hurt her, it didn’t even occur to me that she hadn’t accepted, and all three times, I swear! I thought it was her!’
Garrett snorted disbelievingly, ‘because another she wolf would smell just like your own mate’ he retorted derisively.
Hudson closed his eyes, counting to ten before opening them again, ‘I was drunk the first time, the girl was a redhead, the second time I’m damn sure that same girl spiked my damn drink with drugs. I stayed away from that spiked cocktail, drank from a bottle of vodka all night! The third time, I was spaced out on relaxants that the doctor gave me and couldn’t see who was with me until she stood up again and my head had cleared.’
His beta stared at him for a moment, trying to decide if his Alpha was being truthful before finally nodding slowly, ‘OK’ he mumbled, ‘but you are still an asshole and I don’t regret punching you’ he added defiantly, making Hudson chuckle.
‘Honestly’ he replied, ‘I don’t begrudge you the punch either’ he admitted, ‘I deserved it for being stupid enough to not think about her acceptance.’
The two sat together silently for a moment before Garrett broke the silence, ‘so what triggers the attack is you fucking another girl whilst still connected to the Luna. Maybe what you need to do’ he offered, ‘maybe you need to not sleep with anyone else this weekend. Then she won’t feel any pain caused by you being with someone else, which will mean there will be no attack, no-one dies and that will break whatever it is that is going on.’
Hudson mulled over his words, ‘how will I know it worked?’ he asked.
‘You’ll not have a huge war on Sunday and get to see Monday morning’ his friend replied, clapping him on the shoulder as he started the car finally and pulled away from the curb, heading toward their territory.