‘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 flew open, his gaze falling on the upturned face of his mate as she watched him, her features pained.
‘Oh thank the Goddess, you are alive!’ he growled as he stepped into her and picked her up, crushing her to his chest.
‘W . .what are you doing?’ Quinn squeaked out, hanging limply against his frame, her feet inches from the floor.
Placing on the floor, Hudson stepped back immediately, ‘I’m sorry! I didn’t mean . .’ he stammered.
Quinn rubbed her arm protectively as she peered up at him through her lashes, ‘it’s OK’ she mumbled avoiding his gaze.
‘Look, um, please could you accept it? The rejection?’ he asked awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck as he watched her.
The she wolf stiffened, ‘you really mean it?’ she questioned, ‘you really want to break our bond?’
Hudson nodded, ‘yeah’ he sighed, ‘I’m pretty sure it’s meant to be this way.’
Nodding reluctantly, Quinn straightened her shoulders, ‘I Quinn Redwood, daughter of Alpha Donald Redwood of the Redwood River Pack hereby accept the rejection of Hudson Shadow, future Alpha of the Shadow Rock pack.’
Pain sliced through Hudson’s chest as the rejection registered, Harvey howling in pain in his head as he fell to his knees from the severing of the bond. Breathing through the pain, he glanced up at his ex mate as relief also flooded him, ‘thank you’ he gasped gratefully, ‘you have . . wait, what did you say?’
Quinn raised an eyebrow coolly, ‘I accepted your rejection just as you asked me to’ she replied, and turned away from him to walk away.
‘Wait! No!’ he shouted, scrambling to his feet, one fist gripping at his shirt over his heart as the other reached out to try and grab the she wolf.
Spinning back toward him, Quinn frowned, ‘what now?’ she demanded, ‘you got what you wanted, you are no longer mated to me.’
Hudson shook his head, ‘no no no, I didn’t . . I wouldn’t . . you’re dad is an Alpha’ he stammered out.’
Quinn glared at him, ‘yes, I know’ she replied angrily.
‘Why didn’t you tell me! Why don’t you have an aura . . I would never have . . ‘ Hudson gulped,
‘Never what, Alpha? Rejected me if you knew my parents' bloodline?’ the she wolf demanded. ‘Well news flash, their bloodline should never have been an issue.’ She poked at his chest, straightening herself up to her full five foot, ten inches of height, ‘my mate, my TRUE mate will accept me for me, he won’t care about my lineage or strength, he will love me FOR me!’ She glared up at him, ‘you were right Hudson, the Goddess made a mistake, she would never have willingly mated me to an arrogant prick like you.’
Turning around, Quinn walked away, hips swaying without a backward glance, leaving Hudson barely able to stand up as he reached out to his Beta.
‘Garrett, I need help’ he called out roughly, staggering his way to one of the walls of the building and using it to hold him up.
‘I’m on my way’ the beta yelled back through the mind link, worry flowing through the connection as Garrett raced toward him.
Seconds later, the teenager slammed through the door, running toward his Alpha and grabbing him, throwing his arm over his shoulders to support his weight.
‘What happened, were you attacked?’ Garrett asked, his eyes raking over his Alpha, looking for injuries.
‘Rejected’ Hudson managed to gasp out, leaning heavily on his best friend.
‘Goddess, your mate, you found her?’ the beta said as he helped Hudson toward his truck and helped him into the passenger seat before heading around the truck and sliding in behind the steering wheel.
‘What happened Huds? Your mate rejected you? Why?’ the beta asked in shock.
‘Rejected her first’ Hudson mumbled, his eyes starting to close as fatigue hit him, ‘thought she was Omega, no aura, got her to accept and she used her title.’
Swearing harshly, Garrett slammed the truck into drive and peeled out of the parking lot, heading toward the packhouse.
As they drove, Hudson leaned his head against the passenger window, his eyes closed as beside him Garrett ranted angrily.
‘Why on earth would you reject your damn mate?’ he demanded, ‘your Goddess given mate Hudson! Our Luna! She’s a damn Alpha, do you know how strong your pups would have been? How strong YOU would have been as a couple?’
‘I thought she was an omega’ Hudson whispered, not even trying to open his eyes.
Garrett snorted, ‘did she have a sign around her neck? Some sort of Omega siren that you could hear?’ he growled, sparing his friend a glance as the Alpha shook his head. ‘So why would you assume that? Why didn’t you ask her? Why the hell did it matter anyway?’
Hudson pried his eyes open to stare at the beta, ‘you know why’ he snarled, ‘you know exactly why, you were there too.’
Garrett jerked the wheel, slamming his foot down on the brake and jarring to a stop at the side of the road, ignoring his Alpha’s growls of anger as he was thrown forward from the abrupt stop.
‘You need to stop Huds’ the beta forced out, turning to face his friend in the small confines of the truck’s cab. ‘It wasn’t your fault, it wasn’t anyone’s fault!’
Hudson shook his head, ‘no’ he replied stubbornly, ‘I was the Alpha, I was the strongest, and I didn’t save her! I . . I couldn’t save her.’
Garrett took his hand from the steering wheel, reaching over and gripping his friend’s wrist to stop him pulling at his hair as his Alpha started to yank relentlessly in agitation. ‘Stop Hudson’ he soothed, keeping his voice soft, ‘Elsie wouldn’t want this, she’d tell you that it wasn’t your fault. We were just kids for Goddess’ sake, we made a decision and it was the wrong one.’
Hudson looked up at his friend, his gaze haunted as he shook his head, ‘I came up with the idea’ he whispered, ‘I convinced you both to go. If I hadn’t called you a baby, you wouldn’t have followed me and then Elsie wouldn’t have come either.’
Garrett frowned, ‘but you would have gone on your own and you would have been killed instead’ he growled.
‘Better me than her!’ Hudson exploded, ‘she was a good person Garrett! I loved her! I thought she was going to be my mate and when she needed me I failed to protect her!’
His beta’s temper rose as he pushed Hudson’s hands aside and grabbed his shirt, pulling it up to reveal the long silver scar that ran down the right side of his body. ‘You did everything you could Hudson’ he yelled furiously, ‘you damn near bled out trying to fight them off. I had to carry you until we were close enough for me to Mind Link the Alpha.
Garrett took a deep shuddering breath, his eyes closing as he tried to regain his composure. ‘Do you think you are the only one who carries guilt about that day? Do you have any idea what that was like for me? I was Ten, hadn’t even shifted yet! I had to open a link to the goddamn Alpha and tell him that his son was dying in my arms. I also had to tell him that we stupidly went out into Rogue territory, alone, with our best friend, and she had been ripped to shreds in front of us by Rogue wolves who despite being Rogues, had silver knives on some of them, and they diced her up like a damned steak!’
The beta was breathing deeply, his eyes glazed, ‘you told me to run, grab Elsie’s hand and run, that you would hold them off. Told me to get help, call your dad. The rogues surrounded us, Elsie wasn’t fast, you jumped in front of us, took that blade to your side that was meant for me. I lost my grip on her hand, they pulled her away from me, unarmed Rogues forcing me back as she screamed. I’ll never forget that sound, the sound of her terror and pain as they sliced her up whilst they laughed.’
Garrett shuddered in horror as Hudson sat up straighter, facing his friend, ‘you never told me what happened after I passed out’ he mumbled, ‘why didn’t you tell me?’
His best friend laughed humourlessly, ‘you already blamed yourself enough Hudson, if you had known that she’d been pulled out of my grip after you were unconscious, you would have gotten worse.’ Garrett raised his head, meeting the Alpha’s eyes, ‘it wasn’t your fault, we made the decision together to go out of the pack lands. Elsie made the decision to follow us, you didn’t force her and she died.
Delilah doesn’t blame us for her daughter’s death man, it’s time you stopped blaming yourself too especially as it’s now hurting the pack.’
The Alpha shrunk away from him as if he’d been slapped, staring at him, ‘I’m not hurting the pack, I’m trying to protect it’ he replied.
Garrett shook his head sadly, ‘I know dude, but you just rejected an Alpha ranked she wolf as a mate because you were worried that she was an Omega like Elsie. Your fear of not being able to protect your mate if she is a weak rank has cost our pack a strong Luna.
You’ve hardened yourself to your feelings because you are too scared to love someone after Elsie. Having an Omega mate was never going to be an issue, we would have protected her. Hell, Fernando would have dedicated his life to her protection, he’s the future Gamma, that’s his job!’
Hs best friend hung his head, ‘I’m scared’ he whispered, ‘I wouldn’t be able to go out and defend our pack knowing that my mate was unable to fight for herself. I could cost pack members their lives by being distracted.’ He bit down on his lower lip, ‘I didn’t want to reject her, not really, she was so pretty and Harvey really liked her. I was just trying to do what was right for our pack, make sure that they got a strong Luna so I could be the strong Alpha they needed.’
His best friend nodded sadly, as he threw the truck into gear and pulled back onto the road, silence falling between them, each lost in their own thoughts