Hudson didn’t leave his bed until his mother came to his room on the Friday morning and forced him from under the covers.
‘Get up Hudson’ she ordered, yanking the blankets from the bed and throwing them onto the floor before poking at her son as he growled and rolled over, curling into a ball. ‘I’m not leaving’ his mother added, plonking herself down on the bed and crossing her arms. ‘Do I need to start singing?’ she threatened after a few minutes of silence.
‘No!’ the teenager muttered, pulling the pillow over his head. ‘Why are you tormenting me mother? Why can you not let me wallow in pity alone, I’m not hurting anyone.’
His mother laughed as she poked him again, making him squirm, ‘I know all your ticklish spots remember’ she warned in a low voice, ‘don’t make me use them.’
Scowling, the young Alpha begrudgingly pulled the pillow from on top of his head and rolled over to glare at his mother who was smiling widely at him.
‘Why are you so happy?’ he grumbled, sitting up and dragging his fingers through his matted hair.
‘Why can’t a mother be excited to spend time with her son?’ the Luna replied with a wink, ‘especially one that has been hiding in his room for three days and won’t tell his parents what is going on.’
Sighing, Hudson pushed himself up from the bed, heading toward his bathroom, ‘there is nothing to tell’ he muttered, ‘just not feeling so good at the moment.’
His mother watched him enter the bathroom, her gaze burning into his back as he shut the door and locked it. Rubbing a hand down his face, he glanced in the mirror, grimacing at the sight of himself. He had three days of facial hair, his head was a matted mess and there were dark purple circles under his eyes from where he hadn’t been sleeping.
Starting the shower, the teenager brushed his teeth before stripping out of his clothes and stepping under the hot water. Harvey hadn’t spoken to him since Quinn had accepted their rejection, hurting from the loss of his mate and angry with his human for costing them an Alpha female.
‘Harv’ he called out sadly, ‘come on man, you know why I did it, I should have made sure but she had no damn aura!’
All he heard in response was a huff, that at least told him his wolf was still with him.
Tilting his head back, he allowed the water to cascade over his hair, grabbing shampoo and squeezing a good dollop into his palm that he then rubbed into his scalp. Rinsing clean, he moved on to his body, washing away three days of sweat and grime. He wrinkled his nose when he found a piece of peperoni stuck to his left thigh where he had rolled onto the remains of his pizza at some point.
Finally feeling human, he turned off the water and stepped out, wrapping a thick white towel around himself and unlocking the door, preparing for his mother’s barrage of questions to start.
Surprised, he found his room empty, though his bed had been stripped and clean bedding placed at the foot for him to remake it. A note lay on top that he snatched up quickly, reading the few lines in his mother’s cursive writing.
‘Son, sorry to have to tell you this, but you stink to high heaven. This bed smells like you died in it so I have removed the offending linens to be washed, or burned, I’m unsure yet, I’ll ask Delilah.
Please put the clean bedding on and try not to get in this state again! We are werewolves remember, it’s been torture to sleep down the hall from you, even Tilly asked if she could change rooms yesterday and she doesn’t even have her full wolf senses yet. Love Mum’
Rolling his eyes, Hudson dropped the note onto his bedside table and strode to his drawers, pulling out underwear, clean jeans and a polo shirt. Drying himself, he threw on his clothing, rubbing his hair dry with the towel before throwing it into the washing basket by the bathroom door.
Turning back to the bed, he grumbled under his breath about not smelling as bad as his mother was making out but still remade the bed with fresh sheets.
Pulling on a pair of trainers, he headed out of his room, making his way downstairs to the dining room where he grabbed a plate and loaded it with sausages, bacon and pancakes. Turning to the room, he balanced his plate on one hand, snatching up some cutlery from the pile at the end of the hot plates and made his way over to the Alpha table where Garrett was sitting next to Tilly. The little girl was giggling loudly at something the Beta had said, shaking her pig tails from side to side as she made shhing sounds.
Dropping into the seat next to his best friend, he shoveled a piece of bacon into his mouth, swallowing quickly as he eyed the pair.
‘What’s so funny?’ he asked in a surly tone.
‘Nothing’ Tilly replied quickly, trying to slap her hand over the Beta’s mouth as he grinned wickedly, ‘thank Goddess you had a shower, you were stinking out the top floor’ she added as she cut into her pancake.
Hudson glared at her, ‘I was not’ he grumbled, ‘I was only in bed a couple of days.’
Tilly shook her head, waving her piece of pancake at him, ‘nuh uh’ she disagreed, ‘dad was threatening to come into your room and throw a bucket of water over you, even the guards were complaining when they had to come upstairs.’
Beside him Garrett choked back a laugh, trying to pass it off as a cough before holding up his hand for Tilly to high five him, the she wolf slapping her hand against his with a giggle.
‘Don’t make me kick your ass’ the Alpha grumbled around his food, flicking his gaze to his beta warningly.
Garrett snorted, ‘hey don’t hate on me dude, it’s not my fault you just got schooled by a child.’
‘I’m not a little girl, I’m a big strong she wolf’ Tilly pouted, glaring at Garrett who reached out and ruffled her hair.
‘That’s right Tilly bear’ he agreed, ‘is that why Warrior Stuart’s son Wayne keeps trying to kiss you?’ he added with a grin.
Shrieking, Tilly slammed her hand over his mouth again as Hudson’s fork dropped to his plate, his gaze swinging to his sister at lightning speed.
‘What?’ he demanded slowly, his eyes narrowing.
‘Nothing!’ Tilly yelled, her face bright red, ‘Garrett is a liar! Wayne is my friend, we don’t do that!’
Her brother picked his fork back up, pointing it at her, ‘you better not be’ he growled. ‘You tell that warrior wannabe that if he so much as breathes in your direction, I’ll take him to the nearest human town and leave him there with a sign saying free to a good home.’
His sister turned on the werewolf, her face darkening, ‘don’t you hurt Wayne, he’s a nice boy, he always lets me be on his team when we play tag. If you hurt him I’ll . . .’ the little she wolf cast about for the worst thing she could think of. ‘I’ll . . ‘I’ll . . I’ll scratch horrible brother onto your truck!’
Pushing back her chair, the little girl grabbed her empty plate and flounced away, turning only to point her fingers at her own eyes and then at him in an ‘I’m watching you’ threat.
‘You better point out this Wayne kid’ Hudson growled to the beta who was chuckling beside him.
‘You are going to have to accept that she’s getting older Huds’ his best friend replied as he finished his own plate. ‘One day she’s going to be eighteen and finding her mate, you can’t keep the boys away forever.’
‘Watch me’ was the young Alpha’s response, ‘she can’t get a boyfriend if I scare every male away from her. She also can’t find her mate if I send her to one of those convents that the humans have.’
The beta rolled his eyes, ‘you can’t keep her from her mate dude’ he scolded.
Hudson shrugged, ‘of course I can, I’m the future Alpha.’
Finishing up his food, the pair collected up their plates and placed them with the other dirty crockery before heading out of the pack house and toward Hudson’s truck.
Making their way to school, they were soon pulling into the Alpha’s reserved spot, the pair climbing out and heading into school together.
‘Hey Hudson’ came Penelope’s sultry voice, ‘I looked for you this week but you were nowhere to be found.
Turning toward the Gamma ranked she wolf, Hudson kept his face neutral, ‘yeah, I’ve been a bit under the weather’ he explained, ‘had a few days off.’
‘Oh no, I hope it’s not serious’ Penelope crooned as she stepped closer and ran her hand up his arm.
‘Nope, just to many late nights helping out my dad’ he replied, carefully removing himself from her as she pouted.
‘Well I was just going to ask if you were going to the party tomorrow, daddy wants me to have a strong warrior with me’ she continued, peeking up through her lashes at him.
Shaking his head, Hudson took a step back, ‘no, sorry Pel’ he replied ruefully, ‘got so much work to do with my dad, those few days off have really set him back so I’m going to be in his office all weekend.’
Giving her no time to argue, the Alpha quickly gave her a grin and started to jog toward his class, Garrett by his side.
The day passed smoothly and the day ended with the school talking excitedly about the party the next night. Heading back toward his truck, a mane of red hair caught his eye. Without thinking, Hudson took off after the she wolf, rushing up behind her and tapping her on the shoulder.
‘What is it now Alpha?’ Quinn asked in an annoyed voice without bothering to turn around.
‘How did you . .’ Hudson asked in confusion.
Spinning around, the she wolf raised an eyebrow, ‘I could smell your arrogance as soon as you stepped out of the school building. Now, again, what do you want because I have places to be.’
Biting back his desire to argue, Hudson pasted a smile onto his face, ‘I was wondering if you were going to the party tomorrow night, the one at Clover pack?’
Quinn stared at him incredulously, ‘why would I go to what is essentially a frat party of over entitled wolves?’ she demanded. Not waiting for his reply, she continued, ‘not that it’s any of your business Alpha, but I have other obligations on a Saturday. I’m sure it’s not something that the future Alpha of Shadow Rock pack would understand but some of us like to give back to our people.’
‘Oh . . um . . what do you do?’ he asked lamely, knowing he should let the girl go but was reluctant to end their interaction even with his ex mate obviously wanting to get away from him.
Quinn crossed her arms over her chest, ’why?’ she demanded, ‘want to come along? Volunteer some of your precious time being fawned over to help other wolves who are less fortunate? Wolves that weren’t blessed with an Alpha bloodline?’
The young Alpha fidgeted at the derision in her tone, ‘I help people’ he muttered, ‘I train our pack warriors every week . .’
‘Of course you do, and you do that solely for the betterment of the men and women that you train don’t you’ Quinn hissed, disgust in her tone. ‘Your honourable contribution to your pack has nothing to do with making them strong enough so that they can protect your ass in a war.’
Stamping her foot, Quinn’s face darkened, ‘you train those wolves so you can offer them up as lambs to the slaughter, to protect your own neck and those of your bloodline. Be honest Alpha, every single member of your pack could be collateral damage in a fight, and it wouldn’t matter, it would be an honourable death for them as long as the Alpha lives.’
Gaping at her, Hudson struggled to find his voice, ‘I’m sure your father does the same thing’ he finally forced out with a frown. ‘It’s the way of the pack, you protect the Alpha at all costs as he leads, protects and provides for you in return.’
Quinn shook her head, ‘yeah, that’s how it would be within my pack too’ she agreed bitterly, ‘but it still doesn’t make it right.’
Smoothing her expression, the she wolf’s face suddenly became blank, ‘was there anything else Alpha Hudson or will you finally leave me alone?’ she asked primly.
Unable to think of anything else to say, Hudson nodded numbly, taking a step back as she once again walked away from him.