The door of Hudson’s room opened silently as a small body crept in, inching toward the bed before leaping onto the bulky form yelling, ‘wake up . . . hey!’
Pushing her hands into the lump beneath her, Tilly’s face frowned.
‘Arghhhhh!’ Hudson yelled as he jumped out from behind the door and grabbed his sister who screamed in fright.
‘I’m supposed to wake you!’ she pouted when her brother rolled onto his back so she was sitting on his stomach.
‘But it’s swimming day’ he replied with a grin, ‘how can I sleep in when it’s swimming day?’
Tilly’s face lit up, ‘you remember!’ she squealed, bouncing on him as he pretended to groan.
‘So . . . heavy . . can’t . . .breathe’ he gasped, dropping his arms above his head and pretending to pass out.
‘Yeah! I beat the future Alpha! I’m the strongest wolf in the pack’ his sister cheered, raising her hands in victory.
Reaching forward quickly, Hudson grabbed her sides and began to tickle, ‘never! I am the strongest wolf!’ he growled playfully, ‘you will submit little wolf.’
‘Never!’ Tilly gasped out between giggles as she squirmed to get away from him, ‘an Alpha wolf never submits.’
Wrapping his arms around her, Hudson sat up and placed a kiss on her forehead, ‘that’s right Tilly bear’ he replied, ‘an Alpha wolf fights till the end.’
Letting her go, he helped her to stand up on the floor before climbing back out of his bed and heading toward his drawers for his swim trunks.
‘I’m going to get ready’ Tilly said excitedly, ‘you have five minutes Huds.’
Hudson grinned, ‘yeah, yeah, I know, five minutes and then its swimming lesson time!’
As his sister beamed and went to dance out of the room he called out to her, ‘oh and Tilly bear’ he said playfully, ‘if you practice really well, how about you and I have a movie night?’
Tilly’s eyes widened as she turned to him, ‘really?’ she asked, a glimmer of hope on her face, ‘you aren’t to busy with your friends?’
Hudson’s heart cracked at her words as he strode toward her and picked her up. ‘Nope’ he said determinedly, ‘I have nothing more important to do than watch endless princess movies with my best girl.’
The little she wolf clasped her hands together, ‘can we have popcorn and candy and soda?’ she whispered, ‘and can we do a sleep over?’
Hudson nodded as he put her down again, ‘yes’ he agreed, ‘well as long as you hurry up and get your swimsuit on so we can go practice’ he added with a wink.
Jumping excitedly, Tilly ran out of the room, her own door slamming shut a second later making him chuckle as he shut his own door and pulled off his sleepwear, pulling on his swim shorts before dragging out some jeans and a tshirt.
Picking up his socks and shoes, he walked over to the door, his clothes in his hand, opening it to find Tilly outside in her swimming costume and water wings.
Tilting her head, his sister studied him curiously, ‘aren’t you getting dressed?’ she asked.
Hudson shrugged, ‘well I thought someone might want to ride Harvey to the lake’ he mused, ‘so didn’t see the point in getting dressed to walk downstairs.’ Giving her a sly grin he added airily, ‘but if that’s not the case, I can get dressed quick so we can walk.’
Making to head back into his room, his hand was quickly grabbed by his sister’s tiny one, ‘No! I want to ride Harvey! He’s so fluffy and soft!’
‘I am no such thing’ Harvey grumbled in Hudson’s mind.
‘Aww you are kind of fluffy Harv’s’ Hudson teased making his wolf growl at him.
‘Harvey loves that you think he’s fluffy’ Hudson told Tilly, ‘and he wants nothing more than to give you a ride to the lake.’
Gripping Tilly’s hand in his, the pair made their way down the stairs, heading across the foyer and out into the morning air.
Placing his clothes onto the step in front of the packhouse, Hudson stripped out of his swimming shorts and shifted into his wolf. Beside him, Tilly clapped her hands before rushing toward the huge wolf, throwing her arms as far around his neck as she could and buried her face into his fur.
‘You are so much cuddlier than Hudson’ she said happily, as she brushed her face across the soft smooth wolf.
Harvey rolled his eyes but lay down to allow the little girl to climb onto his back.
‘Clothes Tilly bear!’ Hudson called out quickly through the mind link.
‘Oh yeah!’ Tilly replied, bending down to retrieve them, ‘don’t want you to be naked, that would be so gross’ she added as an afterthought making Harvey laugh beside her.
Climbing onto her brother’s wolf’s back and holding tightly. Seconds later, they were off, racing through the woods, Tilly shouting at the wolf to speed up as Hudson sat back and enjoyed the sound of his sister enjoying herself. The image of her clutching their mother in the Alpha’s bedroom encroached into his mind as they moved sending a shiver of fear through him.
‘What is that?’ Harvey demanded, catching the fleeting thought before Hudson had a chance to push it away. ‘Bad dream’ Hudson replied quickly, ‘one that will never ever become real.’
Harvey growled softly, ‘too right’ he agreed, ‘no-one hurts our sister Hudson, she will always be safe with us here.’
Reaching the lake, they were both soon splashing around in the cool water, Hudson teaching his sister once again to swim until she was able to move through the water alone.
‘Looking good Tilly’ came Garrett’s voice from the shore.
‘I forgot to leave a note again didn’t I?’ Hudson called back as he grabbed his sister by the waist, hauling her over his shoulder as she shrieked with laughter and strode out of the water toward his beta.
‘Yes, and she again sent me all the way out here to find you’ the teenager grumbled, scowling at him.
‘You need the exercise, you are getting a bit of a podgy belly’ Hudson replied with a grin as he set his sister on the floor who immediately sat down and started to pull her water wings off.
Garrett patted his taut stomach through his chest, ‘nothing here but muscle mate’ he replied, ‘isn’t that right Tilly, I look good.’
Tilly glanced up at him and wrinkled her nose as she studied him, ‘you are all hard and bumpy’ she replied with a frown, ‘you don’t give very comfortable piggy back rides, your wolf is better.’
Hudson roared with laughter at his best friend’s crestfallen face, ‘Tilly, you break my heart’ the Beta moaned, placing his hand over his heart.
Tilly shrugged, scrambling back up and heading to her brother, ‘carry me back, mum wants us home’ she demanded, hands on her hips.
Dragging his clothes over his wet trunks, Hudson crouched down to allow his sister to climb on his back.
‘I could carry you Tilly’ Garrett said with a pout, ‘I can run faster than this slow poke.’
Tilly giggled as she shook her head, ‘you can’t run faster than Hudson’ she replied, shaking her head, ‘only daddy can beat him in a race.’
Garrett raised an eyebrow, ‘is that a challenge?’ he asked as he stretched his arms above his head.
Hudson glanced back at his sister who wrapped her arms around his neck as she grinned widely. ‘First one to the packhouse wins’ he yelled before taking off, Tilly holding on tightly, laughing.
‘Cheaters!’ Garrett yelled after them as he started running, chasing them down.
‘Whose the slow poke now?’ Hudson taunted as he ran, gripping his sister’s legs around his waist.
‘Yeah, Slow poke, slow poke’ Tilly shouted over her shoulder in agreement.
Bursting through the treeline, Hudson slid to a stop, turning just in time to see Garrett slide to a stop beside him. ‘Yay! We won!’ Tilly yelled excitedly, sliding down her brother’s back until she was standing on the step.
‘You are both big cheaters’ the beta grumbled, pointing at them both, ‘you wouldn’t have won if you had run a fair race.’
Tilly giggled as she turned and ran into the packhouse to find her mother, waving to the two boys as she disappeared up the stairs.
Following her slowly, Garrett nudged his friend, ‘you still not coming to the party?’ he asked, ‘I can be your wingman, keep you out of trouble.’
Hudson shook his head quickly, ‘nope, I am not risking it’ he replied firmly,’ plus I promised Tilly I would have a movie night’ he added.
‘Ahh brother and sister bonding’ Garrett teased.
Hudson nodded as he swallowed the lump in his throat, ‘the way she reacted, like it was a real surprise I’d want to hang out with her, I think maybe I’ve not been giving her enough time’ he admitted sadly.
The beta stopped walking, grabbing his friend’s arm to make him stop too. ‘Hudson’ he said sternly, ‘you have a lot going on, your dad is giving you more responsibility, that doesn’t mean you are being a bad brother.’
The Alpha shrugged, ‘yeah but she’s only seven’ he sighed, ‘she doesn’t understand commitments like that, she only see’s that I don’t spend as much time with her.’
Garrett shook his head, ‘Tilly understands more than you give her credit for’ he replied firmly, ’she knows you love her Huds, and you spend every Saturday morning with her that you are not busy with pack stuff.’
His best friend nodded as he started back up the stairs again, giving his Beta a fist bump before heading toward his room to have a shower and wash off the lake water on his skin.