‘So what are we watching?’ Hudson asked as he settled himself on his sister’s bed, propping pillows behind his head whilst she bounced beside him waving the remote.
There was a soft knock on the door before it opened and Garrett popped his head inside, ‘you look all ready for a night of movies’ he said to Tilly who had laid back down and was now cuddled under a fleecy pink blanket, wearing her teddy bear pyjamas.
‘We are going to watch one hundred films’ she declared excitedly, ‘do you want to watch too?’ she asked with a small hopeful smile.
‘Aww I can’t muscle in on big brother time’ the Beta replied with a shake of his head, ‘how about a rain check, next week, you and me, a huge bowl of popcorn and the whole tv room to ourselves?’
Tilly beamed as she nodded, ‘yeah! You can’t come Hudson’ she added, turning to her brother, ‘it’s just me and Garrett.’
Hudson laughed as he nodded, ruffling her hair, ‘fair enough’ he agreed, ‘we’d better get started if we are going to watch one hundred films tonight though.’
Giving them a wave, the Beta closed the door, leaving the two alone. Pointing the remote at the TV, Tilly scrolled through the listings before landing on one and pressing play.
Groaning, Hudson raised an eyebrow at her, ‘Barbie?’ he huffed, ‘really?’
‘It’s Barbie and the magical rainbow unicorn’ Tilly replied, settling back and pulling the popcorn bowl onto her lap, ‘you haven’t seen it yet.’
Smoothing out his grimace, Hudson nodded quickly, ‘true, I have not seen Barbie find a magical rainbow unicorn yet’ he agreed. ‘I’m sure it will be very different from her finding a magical horse, becoming a princess and all the other ones we’ve watched.’
Ignoring him, Tilly turned up the volume as it exploded into a pastel rainbow of cartoon colour. Reaching into the bowl, the young Alpha took a handful of popcorn, throwing it into his mouth as he concentrated on the film.
‘Look!’ Tilly said suddenly, ‘Barbie is going to go up that mountain and that’s where she will find the unicorn.’
Hudson laughed, ‘well it’s a good job you told me or I might never have known that was about to happen’ he teased, nudging her with his shoulder.
His sister blushed, ‘I like this bit’ she mumbled defensively.
‘Me to Tilly bear’ her brother replied softly, smiling down at her.
They watched the rest of the film, Tilly narrating most of it whilst Hudson leaned back and listened to her, smiling, enjoying her excitement.
‘Huds’ Tilly asked suddenly as the film came to an end.
‘Yes?’ Hudson asked warily, eyeing his sister’s hopeful expression.
Clapping her hands together excitedly, she bounced up onto her knees, ‘can we do makeovers?’ she rushed out.
Her brother’s eyes widened, ‘you want me to put your make up on?’ he asked slowly.
Tilly nodded, ‘and paint my nails and do my hair, and then I can do the same for you’ she gushed, beaming.
Hudson winced, ‘we could play a board game instead’ he offered, making as if to get up and fetch one.
‘No, I wanna do makeovers’ Tilly pouted, ‘like in my stories when they do sleepovers.’
‘But I’m a guy Tilly’ Hudson groaned, raking his fingers through his hair uncomfortably.
His sister’s eyes narrowed as she glared at him, ‘I WANT TO DO MAKEOVERS!’ she yelled forcefully, balling her fists.
‘OK, OK! We’ll do makeovers’ the teenager replied hurriedly, making his little sister squeal happily and jump off the bed, rushing over to her walk in closet and pulling the doors open before disappearing inside.
Stepping out a few moments later, the small she wolf had her arms laden with makeup, nail varnish and hair bows.
‘OK you do me first and then I’ll do you’ she babbled gleefully, plonking all her items onto the bed and climbing on beside her brother who stared at the boxes and bottles in front of him.
‘Start with my eyes, I want blue eyeshadow with silver bits’ she instructed, sitting straighter and shutting her eyes. Rummaging through everything in front of him, Hudson pulled out a small circular container that had blue powder in it. Giving it a suspicious sniff, he wrinkled his nose before picking up the tiny stick that was in the lid and brushing the end into the colour.
Reaching out, he pushed it against his sister’s closed eyelid.
‘OW! You poked me in the eye’ Tilly growled, peeking out through her lashes so she could glare at her brother.
‘Sorry! Sorry!’ Hudson muttered, as he tried again, making an awkward sweeping motion that left a thick line of blue across the younger wolf’s eyelid.
‘make sure it covers all my eyelid’ Tilly ordered, her face tilted upwards. ‘And both need to look the same, OK?’
‘Yep, you are going to look amazing’ Hudson replied, sticking his tongue out in concentration as he swooshed the small stick across the other eyelid. Snapping the container shut, he dug around until he found some silver glitter liquid that the tube proclaimed was for eyes. Unscrewing the lid, he frowned in confusion at the wand type contraption that was attached to it.
Shrugging, he dragged the bristles over Tilly’s eyelid, wincing at the strange silvery lines that were now on top of the blue.
‘Right, now you have to do my blush’ Tilly said, opening her eyes and reaching into the mountain between them, pulling out some pink powder and a large brush. Dabbing the end of the brush into the powder, she handed it to her brother. ‘Sweep it across my cheeks’ she continued to instruct, making a movement with her finger against her skin.
Nodding, Hudson followed her lead, until the child had two large pink splodges on her face.
‘Now I need lipstick!’ Tilly squealed, grabbing a bright red and holding it out, ‘this one, I want to look pretty like mum.’
Taking the lipstick, the Alpha twisted the base to lift it out of its container, rubbing it on the little girl’s lips, trying not to get too much around the outside.
‘OK, I’m done’ he said reluctantly.
‘Do I look like a pretty princess?’ she asked, her large brown eyes looking up at him expectantly.
‘The prettiest of princesses’ he replied with a smile.
‘Yay, now it’s your turn’ the she wolf sang out, pushing the older wolf to lay down so she could reach his face easier.
‘I’m not sure I need . . ‘ he started to protest.
‘Shh’ Tilly cut him off, ’I’m going to make you look beautiful.’
Laying his head on one of Tilly’s pillows, Hudson closed his eyes, staying still as brushes swept across his skin.
‘Where are my sparkles’ his sister muttered as the sound of rummaging filled the room.
‘Do I need sparkles?’ the Alpha muttered under his breath.
Tilly giggled, ‘of course you do’ she replied, ‘you need to be a sparkly princess!’ Hudson started to cough as a spray went off in his face unexpectedly, giving him a lung full of a bitter tasting mist.
‘Keep your mouth shut Huds’ his sister ordered in exasperation, ‘you are not meant to eat it.’
‘Sorry’ Hudson choked back, ‘wasn’t expecting a full on spray attack.'
‘You need to stop talking or I’m going to smudge your lipstick’ the little she wolf huffed just before something sticky was shoved against his lips.
‘OK sit up but no peeking’ Tilly finally said, grabbing his hands and pulling him up into a sitting position.
‘Ow! Tills! Why are you pulling my hair?’ the Alpha growled as pain ripped through his scalp.
‘I got sparkles in your hair, I’m trying to get it out with my brush’ Tilly replied, ‘now stop squirming.’
Muttering threats, Hudson remained still, wincing against the rough tugging on his hair as his sister gushed about his prettiness.
‘Open your eyes!’ Tilly yelled as she threw her brush over her shoulder and spread her arms wide, ‘TA DA!!!’ she added, waving him toward the mirror inside her closet.
Climbing off the bed, the teenager walked over to the mirror, his mouth falling open at the sight in front of him.
‘Well! Who’s a pretty little she wolf’ Harvey growled as he stared at his human through his eyes.
‘Bugger off’ Hudson growled back as he gently touched at the bright red blush on his cheeks. His eyelids were half purple and half pink with thick black eyeliner along the lashes. His lips were a deep purple which was matched to the two large bows that had been clipped haphazardly into his short hair.
His whole face shimmered with some sort of sparkly spray that caught the light as he moved his head from side to side.
‘Don’t you look amazing!’ Tilly gushed as she jumped up and down, clapping her hands.
‘I look . . ‘ her brother started before catching her proud face in the mirror’s reflection, ‘unbelievable’ he finished with a grin, ‘you did a great job.’
Tilly beamed widely, ‘you like it?’ she asked happily, ‘you won’t wash it off?’
Hudson shook his head stubbornly, ‘why would I wash it off, I look awesome’ he declared, flicking imaginary hair over his shoulder. ‘The guys are gonna be so jealous that they don’t look as kick ass as I do.’
His sister squealed, throwing her arms around his waist and hugging him, ‘I knew you would like it’ she yelled before backing up and grabbing his hand, ‘come on, you still need to do my hair and we need our nails done.
Laughing, Hudson allowed the little girl to pull him back toward the bed where he carefully braided her hair for her and added bows to the end, then they painted each others’ fingernails.
Hours later, Tilly had finally passed out, the last twenty minutes of their third film playing on the tv, her bright green nails digging into her teddy bear as she slept.
Pulling a blanket over his sister, Hudson placed a light kiss in her hair before settling down beside her. Silently praying he was going to be able to get his face cleaned off before the rest of the pack saw him, he let out a sigh. He hadn’t been near another she wolf, so he should wake up tomorrow to no-one dying in a war.
Waking up the next day, he was momentarily blinded by a flash before laughter filled the room. Prying his eyes open, he found himself staring up at Garrett and some of the warriors who were all grinning down at him in amusement.
‘What?’ he asked blearily.
‘You are looking good Huds’ Garrett drawled out, winking.
‘Sure are Alpha, you want to go on a date tonight? I can show you a good time’ one of the blonde warriors added with a snicker.
Frowning, Hudson sat up, ‘what are you on about?’ he asked groggily, rubbing his eye with his hand before pulling his hand away and frowning at the pink and purple that was now there.
‘You are ruining your makeup!’ Tilly shouted as she stepped out of her bathroom, placing her hands on her hips.
His gaze flickering from his hand to his friends, Hudson’s face started to heat as he realised how he had been found.
‘Uhhh . . ‘ he started uncertainly.
‘Oh don’t you say anything sweet cheeks’ Garrett crooned,’you don’t need to, a picture paints a thousand words.’
Noticing the phone in his Beta’s hand, Hudson jumped up, trying to snatch it as Garrett danced out of the way, disappearing through the warriors who closed ranks whilst laughing, blocking the Alpha from getting to his best friend.
‘Delete that!’ he roared, pushing through the warriors who tried to hold him back as long as possible to give their beta a head start.
‘Can’t hear you Hudsonetta’ his Beta’s voice sailed back to him mockingly.
Breaking through, Hudson thundered down the hall, launching himself at his friend who went down under his weight.
Wrestling the phone from Garrett’s grip, he pinned the Beta with his knees as he deleted the offending photo of him asleep, hair bows hanging from his hair and face covered in smudged makeup.
Once done, he stood up, throwing the phone back at his friend who caught it as he scrambled to his feet. ‘Spoilsport’ the Beta grumbled, pocketing his phone and straightening his clothes.
‘Why were you even in Tilly’s room’ Hudson growled as he turned to head back to his own room to remove his makeover.
Falling into step beside him, Garrett gasped, ‘oh Goddess, I totally forgot when I saw you’ he replied, grabbing Hudson’s arm and turning him to face him, ‘no war’ he beamed.
Hudson frowned for a moment before looking around them in realisation, there was no sounds of fighting, no panic or screaming. Quinn’s pack hadn’t come for them in the night. ‘Do you think it’s broken?’ he asked hopefully.
Garrett shrugged, ‘it looks like it, no-one here to kill us all.’
Nodding, the Alpha hurried back to his room to shower and get dressed.
The day passed quietly, and he was growing more and more confident that he had figured out the problem, but the time he headed to bed, he was grinning widely, looking forward to Monday morning and finally starting a new week.
As his eyes closed, his mind wandered back to Quinn, the red head swimming in his mind making him sigh. ‘I wish it could have been different Quinn’ he sighed as he drifted off to sleep.