Hudson had been chasing after his mate for three days but the she wolf was always one step ahead of him, leading him on a wild goose chase that left him frustrated.
Storming out of school on Friday, he marched over to his truck, about to open the door when he saw Quinn on the other side of the parking lot, walking toward the main road.
Locking his vehicle again, the Alpha took off after her, hurrying along the sidewalk trying to keep her in view as she moved through the crowd of students all heading home for the weekend.
Dodging between the chattering teenagers, Hudson inched his way closer, his gaze trained firmly on the she wolf who was walking with purpose toward the town.
As the crowd thinned, Hudson trailed his mate from a distance, trying to figure out how to approach her when she took a sharp right and disappeared into an undercover market.
Hurrying his steps, the Alpha entered the area a few seconds later and looked left to right, trying to spot Quinn through the throngs of people that were visiting the various stalls that were crammed into the small space.
‘Ten dollars? Are you crazy?’ a woman huffed at a stall holder near by.
‘Ma-am, this is hard to come by now, the price reflects that’ the man behind the table replied wearily as he held a small bottle of liquid in his hands.
The woman grumbled as she reached into her large bag and pulled out her wallet. ‘It’s snake venom, I’m pretty sure that there are millions of snakes in this country, it can’t be that rare’ she muttered under her breath.
Moving past the pair, Hudson tried to decide which direction to take to find the she wolf who seemed to have vanished.
‘Left’ Harvey growled from inside his head.
Turning immediately to the left, the Alpha hurried through the narrow walkways cursing the fact he could no longer scent her due to the rejection.
‘But she can scent you, maybe that’s how she’s so good at avoiding you’ Harvey offered with a smirk as he swished his tail cockily.
Forcing a wall up between himself and his wolf, Hudson weaved through the crowds, ignoring the tuts and comments about his rudeness as he pushed people out of his way.
Stumbling out the other end of the market, he looked around wildly, trying to figure out where Quinn had gone.
‘Why are you following me?’ suddenly came a voice from behind him making him jump before spinning around to find his mate stood behind him, her arms crossed as she glared at him angrily.
‘I uh . . ‘ he started, unsure what to say.
‘You’ve been trailing me since school’ Quinn continued, talking over his stumbling. ‘If you are a tracker for your pack, Goddess help them because you can be heard for half a mile’ she added sarkily.
Hudson straightened up, bristling from her tone whilst his wolf chuckled behind the wall in his mind, his pleasure at their mate sassing his human evident.
‘I wanted to talk to you’ he growled out in annoyance.
Quinn rolled her eyes at his words, ‘you’ve already talked to me’ she replied firmly, ‘and I denied your request, nothing has changed just because you’ve decided to stalk me.’
Trying to keep a handle on his rising anger, the Alpha took a deep, calming breath. ‘I know that, it’s just, I think it would also be good for you to break our bond’ he said slowly, ‘don’t you want to find your real mate?’
Quinn tilted her head, considering his words, ‘nope’ she replied simply after a moment.
Hudson snapped his gaze to hers, ‘what? Why not?’ he asked in shock.
Quinn shrugged, ‘well let’s be honest, my first one is a bit of a douche, why on earth would I want to do this a second time?’ she questioned.
Smiling widely as the Alpha gaped at her, she turned to walk away again when he shook himself out of his stupor and grabbed her arm.
Quinn jumped, glancing down at where he was holding her before bringing her gaze back up to his slowly and pulled her arm from him.
‘Please do not touch me’ she said stiffly, ‘you do not have the right.’
‘Yeah, uh, sorry’ Hudson mumbled, drawing his hand back and fisting it by his side. Sighing, he glanced down at his feet momentarily, ‘look, I know you don’t owe me anything and I am a bastard for asking, but please, accept the rejection’ he said softly.
The she wolf studied him for a moment biting down on her lip, ‘why are you so desperate for me to accept?’ she asked finally, ‘it’s not like it’s affecting you other than the no second chance mate. You can’t feel me, scent me or suffer from my choices, why are you rushing this?’
Hudson dragged his hand down his face in frustration, ‘you wouldn’t believe me if I told you’ he replied with a hoarse laugh.
Quinn tapped her fingers against her other arm, ‘try me’ she challenged.
Taking a deep shuddering breath he opened his mouth to explain it to her before snapping it shut again. Telling his beta was one thing, the guy had known him since they were in diapers, he knew his crazy story was real. Quinn had no idea who he was or what he was like, and the story was ludicrous.
‘I . . have found a chosen mate’ he blurted out quickly, immediately wishing he could reel the words back when the she wolf’s posture stiffened at his words.
‘A . . a chosen mate?’ she repeated, her voice unnaturally high, ‘you rejected me, your Goddess gifted mate for a CHOSEN mate?’
Shaking her head in disbelief, Quinn took a shaky step backwards before turning on her heel and darting back into the market, Hudson swearing as he took off after her.
‘Quinn! Wait!’ he yelled as he chased after her, watching her dodge through the heavy crowds with the grace of a ballet dancer.
‘Wait! I’m sorry!’ he yelled again, pushing past shoppers roughly trying to reach her.
Breaking through another exit, Quinn, ran down the alleyway toward the main road, her eyes streaming as she sped away from her mate.
‘Quinn . . ‘ he called out desperately just as exited the alley and stepped off the sidewalk into the road.
The world slowed down as Hudson stormed out of the alleyway just a few steps behind her, just in time to hear the squealing of brakes before a silver truck slammed into his mate. Her body crumbled from the force, rolling up the bonnet into the windscreen and over the roof before falling from the rear onto the road in a heap.
‘No!’ Hudson screamed, racing toward her and sinking down beside her broken body. ‘Quinn?’ he whimpered reaching out to brush a hair from her face. ‘Quinn? Wake up?’
In his mind, Harvey was howling loudly, hating to see his mate in that state.
‘Why isn’t her wolf healing her? Harv, can you reach out to her wolf?’ Hudson rambled as he gently took the she wolf’s hand in his as people around them were shouting, someone calling an ambulance.
‘Can’t feel wolf’ Harvey howled, ‘you rejected her, can’t reach her wolf.’
As the crowd grew around them and the distant sound of an ambulance could be heard. As the ambulance pulled to a stop beside them, two paramedics jumped out, rushing toward Quinn’s body and pushing Hudson out of the way as they checked her vitals.
‘Do you know her Alpha?’ the blonde male paramedic asked as his partner stood up and hurried to get stretcher.
‘Yes, she goes to school with me’ Hudson replied numbly, ‘her name is Quinn.’
Nodding, the paramedic checked her eyes before the pair tried to stablise her before getting her onto the stretcher and into the ambulance. Hesitating for a second, Hudson strode after them, climbing into the spare seat next to the man who was tending to her. ‘I’m coming too’ was all he said to the raised eyebrow as he settled back, his eyes only on Quinn’s blood streaked face.
Just as the vehicle started to pull away in the distance a howl of grief and fury echoed from miles away, carrying across the breeze.
Freezing, Hudson shuddered, knew that howl, it was the black wolf and he was coming, he knew something had happened to Quinn.
The she wolf was hooked up to various monitors that were beeping erratically, her face grey as they sped toward the local werewolf hospital that dealt with any wolf that needed medical aid and couldn’t be treated by a pack doctor for any reason.
Roughly a mile from the hospital a sudden continuous beep filled the space causing the paramedic to start yelling to the driver as he pulled open her shirt and started chest compressions.
‘She’s crashing’ he shouted loudly.
‘We’re still six minutes out!’ the driver replied, as he swerved through the traffic trying to get them to the ER.
‘Come on Quinn’ the paramedic gritted out as he crushed her chest under his joined palms. Pressing his ear to her mouth, he cursed, grabbing a container with a mouthpiece and thrusting it at Hudson. ‘Over her mouth, keep squeezing the bottle’ he ordered tersely, returning to his compressions.
Climbing over the back of the man, Hudson did as he was instructed, sending up prayers to the Goddess to save her.
Grabbing his stethoscope from around his neck, the paramedic placed it in his ears, and listened to her chest, shaking his head sadly as he sat back.
‘What are you doing?’ Hudson cried, ‘keep going!’
The man looked over at him sadly, reaching out to still his hands that were still squeezing the bottle just as they screeched to a stop outside of the ER. ‘I’m sorry Alpha, she’s gone’ he said softly, taking the breathing apparatus from his grip and placing it on the bench beside them.
‘No! She isn’t’ Hudson growled desperately, ‘she just needs to get inside and they can fix her.’
The blonde man shook his head, standing up to place a blanket over Quinn’s face as the back door opened and his partner started to help remove her from the vehicle.
‘Come on Alpha’ the paramedic called as he stepped outside, taking his place at the head of the stretcher.
Standing up, Hudson’s legs wobbled as he made his way out of the ambulance and onto the parking area just outside of the ER.
A firm hand gripped his shoulder, ‘I’m sorry Alpha, was she important to you?’
Hudson nodded, ‘yeah . . she was my . . friend’ he finished weakly before his eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed, the world darkening around him.