by Juniper Hart
And secretly, she was pleased to know it.
8
Landon Burke was not pleased to see him, particularly in such a setting.
“What the hell are you doing here?” the Lycan hissed at Hudson. “You have no right to crash a Council meeting!”
“I’m not crashing anything,” Hudson retorted. “I was looking for you, and you haven’t answered your phone in days.”
“I’m busy! Who told you where we were meeting tonight?” Hudson would have snickered if he wasn’t so aggravated. The Council of Seven liked to think they were secretive about their meetings, but in a group that size, it was impossible to keep everyone quiet. Especially in the age of technology.
That, however, was no time for laughing. Audrey was in trouble and fighting Hudson’s protection at every move. He needed guidance on how to bring her home, short of kidnapping her.
Although, Landon might suggest I do just that, he thought warily, suddenly regretting his trip back to the States. He’d slipped out of the police station without much effort, but he knew the federal police were looking for him. When he returned to Germany, he’d need to be stealthier.
That was a matter for later, though. Right now, he needed to talk to Landon about the situation.
“Never mind how I know you’re here,” Hudson countered. “I need to speak to you about Audrey Crane.” Landon’s eyes narrowed dangerously.
“What’s the problem?” he demanded, his gaze shifting behind Hudson. Automatically, Hudson looked where the head Lycan stared, and his eyes rested on Lane Aldwin, who looked at them curiously.
“She’s trying to have me arrested,” Hudson sighed. “Every time I get near her, I’m met with resistance.”
Landon scoffed at him as Lane drew nearer. She was the Council’s witch, the most powerful of her kind, and Landon seemed uncomfortable with her nearness.
“Is there a problem?” she asked lightly. Hudson pursed his lips together, and Landon shrugged.
“Apparently, I picked the wrong alpha for the job,” he replied nonchalantly. He and the witch exchanged a meaningful look that Hudson didn’t understand, but defensiveness slid through his veins.
“If you can find anyone else who can get within a hundred feet of her,” he said, “I will happily bequeath the job to him.” It was a lie, of course. He wasn’t going to give Audrey up, not when he could still smell her in his nostrils. Being an ocean apart from her was more difficult than he had imagined.
“I asked you to do it because I thought you were capable,” Landon intoned. “My mistake.”
“She doesn’t even know she’s been turned! She thought I was insane when I explained what happened!”
Landon’s pupils constricted. “Her, too?” he murmured, casting Lane another look.
“Too?”
“Could none of them know?” Landon asked, still speaking to Lane. Hudson was beginning to get annoyed.
“This has happened before?” he demanded, and Landon was forced to turn his eyes back to him.
“I don’t know why,” he answered. “But for some reason, it seems the women have no memory of being turned.”
“None of them?”
“As far as I know,” Landon conceded.
“Why didn’t you tell me this before?”
“It’s not relevant, Hudson. All that matters is that you protect Audrey. That is your mission.”
“Yes,” Lane murmured, nodding with a wise glint in her eyes. “It is your calling.” Hudson eyed her, wondering what she knew about it.
“Well,” he sighed, “I’m looking for suggestions because I can only break out of a police station so many times before I’m chained down somewhere.”
“You had to know this wasn’t going to be an easy task,” Landon told him. “I’m surprised it’s taken you this long to connect with her.”
“There was no need before this,” Hudson said defensively. “She was safe. I had an eye on her.”
“But you never made contact with her?” Lane asked, blinking.
“She was safe until now!” The regret that he’d come was full-grown now. He should have known this would be pointless. All he had done was make Landon second-guess his abilities. “I should get back to Germany,” he grunted.
“Yes,” Lane agreed. “You should, but I don’t think you need to worry about Audrey resisting you anymore.”
Hudson’s brow shot up, and he whirled to stare fully at the witch in dismay.
“What did you do?” he growled before he could muster the respect due to her. Landon bristled at his question, but Lane didn’t seem fazed in the least.
“I didn’t do anything but help you along,” she said easily.
“You cast a spell!”
“Keep your voice down!” Landon barked, looking around the public street. It was the middle of the night, and there was no one around. Dawn threatened to break over the horizon, though a blue blackness still held over the city.
“The spell is only to help you along,” Lane insisted. “You would have found your mate eventually. This simply sped things up.”
“Well, your spell failed miserably,” Hudson snapped. “She thinks I’m her enemy.”
“She doesn’t know what to make of you yet,” Lane offered. “You laid a great deal on her. Give her some time to process. But I’m telling you, she’s already coming around.”
“So, in the meantime, I just keep avoiding the law?”
“You do whatever it takes to make sure Gabriel doesn’t get his hands on her!” Landon barked. “And if you ever surprise me at a Council meeting again, I’ll have you demoted!”
Even though it was a ridiculous threat, Hudson didn’t challenge him. He knew he’d stepped out of line coming, but suddenly, he was glad he did. Not because of Landon—because of Lane. She had just confirmed what he’d already been sensing from the minute he’d made contact with Audrey.
To Hudson’s chagrin, he lost track of Audrey when he returned to Berlin, and with some shame, he was forced to call McAvoy and put a trace on Audrey’s phone.
I’m starting to feel like an Abbott and Costello act, chasing this woman around the world, he thought wryly. Still, as he waited impatiently for McAvoy to get back to him, he knew that he wanted to be there.
He’d returned to Germany under one of his many false identities, his passport leading Interpol back to the States—if they would even bother looking. After all, it wasn’t as if they had a solid case against him, despite his irregular actions. He just needed to bring Audrey home, and then he could have his lawyers straighten up the mistaken identity.
It was after midnight when McAvoy called. Hudson had already settled into a junior suite at the Hotel Adlon Kempinski.
“What took you so long?” he snapped when he answered the call. “It was a simple trace.”
“It’s not so simple when her phone is off,” McAvoy replied evenly. “I’ll text you the address.”
“Thank you.” He disconnected the call and stared at his iPhone impatiently until it chimed. A map appeared with the coordinates, and Hudson cocked his head to the side in confusion. He didn’t immediately understand what he was looking at.
It took several seconds for him to register what he saw, and a loud guffaw escaped his lips as he put the phone at his side and shook his head. He heard Lane’s words in his head.
“The spell is only to help you along. You would have found your mate eventually. This simply sped things up.”
He wondered if that was true. He knew the old tale of how Lane’s grandmother had once cast a spell over the Council of Seven so that the ones who had not, would find their mates. The Councilmen had probably been dubious, too. Yet it was difficult to be skeptical when he was staring at the proof in his face. He had booked himself into the same hotel where Audrey was staying without having a clue that she had moved from the Hotel de Rome.
Slowly, Hudson rose and grabbed the phone from the sofa where he’d dropped it. As he left his elegant suite, he wondered how m
any times he had overlooked Audrey in the past, distracted with his own life, his business, the pack. All Landon and Lane had done was make him aware of what was happening right under his nose.
He bypassed the elevators and took the stairs two at a time until he was standing before the Royal Suite. Oddly, there were no bodyguards, although whether that was by design or sheer luck, Hudson didn’t know. Nor did he care.
He rapped on the door and waited, but it took mere seconds for Audrey to open it. Her strawberry blonde hair was a disheveled mess about her shoulders, and even though she did not wear a speck of make-up, her skin radiated a natural glow. There was no alarm on her face, only a deep sense of relief.
“I was hoping you’d come,” she said simply, holding the door open for him to enter.
That’s quite an about-face, he thought to himself, but he followed her inside without commenting.
“You want a drink?” Audrey asked, wrapping her thin red robe tightly around her waist. Hudson could see she was nervous at having him there. He could also see the gentle curves of her slender form against the satiny material, and he forced himself to look away. But he couldn’t stop the burst of heat which enveloped him in the aftermath of what he’d seen. Audrey was wearing nothing beneath her robe.
“Well?” She glanced at him over her shoulder from the bar. “A drink?” Hudson shook his head and realized he stood awkwardly at the threshold between the living room and foyer. “Come and sit down,” she urged him. He didn’t move.
“I’m not sure I should,” he said half-jokingly. “I don’t think I have the energy for another police escape tonight.” Audrey glanced at him, a glint of remorse in her eyes.
“How did you escape?” she asked.
“A Lycan never tells his secrets,” Hudson jested, but he grimaced at the memory. It had not been easy, not when he was forbidden from showing his wolf side to the mortals. Audrey caught the look and frowned.
“I didn’t ask them to arrest you,” she reminded him.
“You didn’t really speak on my behalf, either.” Audrey sighed and shook her head.
“Put yourself in my position, Hudson—may I call you Hudson?” His grin was genuine.
“We’re going to be seeing a lot of one another,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “I think it’s better to rid ourselves of the formalities, don’t you?” Their gazes locked, and a blush touched Audrey’s cheeks.
“I’m sorry you got arrested,” she said quietly, and he could see that she meant it. “I have no idea what’s going on. I have no idea what to believe. It’s fantastical, right?”
“I understand your cynicism, but I’m also standing here, invited, so something changed your mind. Unless, of course, this is a trap. Which I already know it isn’t.”
Audrey cocked her head to the side curiously. “How?”
“How what?”
“How do you know it’s not a trap?”
“Because I would sense both your fear and smell someone else around here.”
Her eyes grew huge. “You can smell other people?”
Hudson shuffled forward to finally take a seat and sat back to study her face.
“You can too, Audrey. You just need to figure out how to channel it.” She shook her head.
“Maybe it didn’t take with me,” she said quickly. “I mean, maybe—”
“Audrey, I assure you, I wouldn’t be here if it hadn’t happened. You are a Lycan, turned illegally by Gabriel. Somehow, you’ve escaped his capture, but I have reason to believe he’s the one who has been harassing you. He may even be responsible for Carrie’s shooting.”
“But why?” Audrey breathed. “What could he want with me?”
“I don’t know what the method was to his madness, or even if there was one. As I told you before, there were four of you turned.”
“Why do you care so much about me?” Audrey asked, but even as she spoke the words, Hudson could read the plaintiveness in her expression.
“I think you know why,” he told her gruffly, rising slowly from the sofa.
“Tell me,” she breathed, closing the short gap between them.
“Because we’re fated to be together, Audrey. And I will die protecting you if that’s what needs to be done.”
9
Audrey expected the kiss but not what it did to her, filling her body with an explosion of heat and cold at once in a shower of fireworks. Gooseflesh buzzed over her arms and legs, entrenching her body in the same pleasure she could feel radiating from Hudson’s body as he melted into her. Their limbs entwined, and with their kisses growing warmer, they sank to the floor as if guided by the same unseen puppet master above them.
To the faux fur rug beside the baby grand piano they fell, Hudson’ mouth exploring the delicate lines of her fair face. Audrey moaned, wondering how she could have been so mistaken about him. Never had she felt so right, the heat of his breath finding each one of her soft spots without effort.
He knows my body, she thought in awe. And I feel like I know his, too.
“I’ve been dreaming of you,” Hudson murmured in her ear, his lips moving up toward her lobes to tease and suck sweetly. “Since the moment I saw you in the forest.” He paused and stared down into her face, their eyes clashing in a blend of green and blue. “I’ve wanted to taste your freckles.” Slowly, deliberately, he placed light kisses along the bridge of her nose, and again, shivers erupted all over her.
Audrey sighed and closed her eyes, relishing the feel of his silken skin against hers. Their clothes slid off until they were a pile of molten flesh, Audrey’s hands tangled in Hudson’s thick head of blond hair. Across her chest his lips continued, tasting, licking, making her want him more with each caress.
Abruptly, they switched positions. Audrey was suddenly atop him, her long hair barely covering the tight skin of her rigid nipples as Hudson’s hands splayed on either side of her ribs. Their gazes met once more, and with a deep, fluid move, she blended her body to his, clinging to him inside and out.
In unison, they moaned, Audrey falling forward to gasp at the size of him, and she buried her face into the nook of his neck. Hudson pulled her down, sweat forming on his flesh to comingle with hers, and together, their breaths fell into even harmony, their sighs and cries matching to reach a fever pitch as they grew closer to the apex of their passion.
Audrey’s back tensed, and Hudson’s fingers dug into the smooth skin of her back as her body spasmed against him, over and over until he, too, met her release with his own.
For a long moment, they lay in each other’s arms, collecting themselves, relishing the moment they had striven so hard to find amongst the chaos. And all felt right in that fleeting instance, despite everything going on around them.
With a reluctant sigh, Audrey managed to lift her head and look at Hudson, her eyes shining as she studied his face.
“You certainly seem to possess supernatural qualities,” she teased, and he grinned.
“I could say that your body is out of this world, but I’m afraid you’ll hit me,” he joked back. She laughed and untangled herself from him, falling to the side and draping a long leg over his thighs. She felt so small and vulnerable against his massive form, but she reminded herself that she’d never been so protected.
“How did you know how to find me?” Audrey asked, the flood of questions returning in a torrent. She wished she’d had a few more minutes of utopian peace, but she couldn’t help herself from questioning him now that they were together.
“You’re going to have a lot to learn about our ways,” Hudson told her gently. “I don’t want to bombard you with things which will just overwhelm you. You might have me arrested again.”
“You’re never going to let me live that down, are you?” He chuckled and kissed her eyelids.
“I’m just bugging you. Trust me, I’ve endured a lot worse in my time.”
“In your time?” Audrey snorted. “What time is that? The ripe age of twenty-nine?” Hudson stared at her for a
long minute, the smile fading from his lips.
“I’m a lot older than that, Audrey,” he said quietly. “Lycans only stop visibly aging at twenty-seven, but you’re immortal now. Short of encountering a mishap of great proportions or being sentenced to death by the Council of Seven, you’ll live forever.”
A prickle of alarm shot through Audrey, although she couldn’t say which specific part bothered her the most. “What is the Council of Seven?”
Hudson half-grunted, half-sighed and pulled himself up. Any semblance of the magic they had shared seemed to dissipate with the motion.
“They are the ones who reign over all matters of the Enchanted.” Audrey’s perplexity must have shown clearly, because Hudson bit on his lower lip and looked away. “We are the Enchanted,” he explained. “The Lycans, witches, vampires, demons—”
Audrey bolted up and grabbed for her robe to cover her nudity as though she was suddenly embarrassed to be seen naked.
“Come on!” she protested. “Demons?”
“Fairies, dragons,” Hudson continued. “And other beings you can’t even imagine.”
“What the hell?” Audrey choked. “How can this be a real thing?”
“We’ve existed for thousands of years, hiding in plain sight with the mortals, co-existing without their knowledge.”
“How?” Audrey screeched. “How did that happen? How can you just hide around people?” Once again, she was being bombarded with a slew of unpleasant emotions she didn’t know how to process. This is unbelievable. There’s no way people could just not know!
But she thought about all the legends, the folklore. They had to have come from somewhere. They were all so similar, and yet they spanned across the world at a time where countries had no open lines of communication.
“How?” Hudson murmured. “Because we take precautions against those things happening.”
Audrey was dubious, and she shook her head. “I don’t care how cautious you are, there’s no way that you can stop these immortals from showing themselves.”
