She tossed her paper plate with her uneaten slice of pizza into the garbage can and brushed off the front of her t-shirt.
She should do this.
She could do this.
She was doing this.
“Rosalie?”
“Hudson, uh, hi.” She turned and stared up at the big shifter. She was standing too close to him, invading his personal space, and she took a step backward so she didn’t make him uncomfortable.
An odd look crossed his face - a combination of guilt and worry. Without thinking, she placed her hand on his arm. “Are you okay?”
He stared at her hand, and she immediately let go of him, tucking her hands behind her back and backing up another step. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have touched you.”
“I won’t hurt you.” His voice was so low she had trouble hearing him.
“What? I know that.”
“You’re afraid of me.”
She frowned. “I’m not afraid of you.”
“I scared you earlier. I’m sorry.”
She hesitated. “You didn’t scare me. I just – I’m not really around shifters very much and it was weird to hear you, um, growl. But I wasn’t afraid of you.”
He studied her with that same look of guilt and anxiety, and she smiled at him. “I swear I’m not.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.” She hesitated and then decided to ask the question. “Why did you growl at Heath?”
His cheeks turned a little red and he scrubbed a hand through his short blond hair. “It was an accident.”
“Oh, uh, okay.”
He was looking even more uncomfortable, and she finally made a conscious decision to accept the truth about why he hung out with her. He’d felt sorry for her that night at the movies and made a rash decision that he regretted. It was obvious he didn’t like being around her, but he was too polite to just ghost her. Feeling weirdly upset about losing her movie buddy but hating that he was only doing it out of pity, she decided to fix the problem.
“Hey, Hudson? Why don’t you just stop pretending and be honest about how you really feel about me, okay?”
He made a weird full-body twitch and swallowed compulsively. “What do you mean?”
She sighed. “I know you only go to the movies with me because you feel sorry for me after what happened that one time with Lincoln. I appreciate the thought, but I don’t need your pity. I’m perfectly fine to go to the movies by myself, okay? You don’t want to be my friend and I get that. So, why don’t we just, I don’t know, lose each other’s number and you can go back to enjoying the movies.”
He scowled at her. “I don’t feel sorry for you.”
“Sure, you don’t.”
“Rosalie, I don’t.” He shoved his hands into his pockets. “I go to the movies with you every Sunday because I want to. I just, I like my personal space, that’s all.”
“I know,” she said, “but I also know that polar bear shifters like to be alone and they aren’t friends with humans.”
“So, what? I can’t be different?”
“No, I’m not saying that, I just… look, I don’t want to make you do something you don’t want to do, okay?”
“You’re not.” He scowled again at her, and she gave him a look of exasperation.
“Fine. I’m not. We’ll keep going to the movies together then.”
“Good.” He took a big drink of beer. “I don’t know why you would think we aren’t friends.”
“Why I would… maybe because we don’t talk? Maybe because when I said we were friends earlier in the kitchen, you went all weird and quiet? Maybe because if I text you for something not related to the movies, you don’t even bother to text back?”
Now she was certain it was guilt on his face and that made her feel guilty. She sighed and rubbed at her forehead. “Shit. I’m sorry. I don’t mean to make you feel bad. I don’t have a lot of friends and I’m not all that great at making them so maybe I just don’t get how friendships work. You don’t have to change or be different, okay? If you say we’re friends, then we’re friends.”
“We’re friends,” he said.
“Okay.” Her cell phone vibrated, and she pulled it out of her pocket, her eyes widening when she saw who it was. “Excuse me, Hudson, I need to take this.”
She hit the answer button. “Hi, Lincoln. How are you?”
“Rosie, how’s my favourite girl doing?”
“I’m great.” Her face flushed at his warm purr. “How are you? I mean, what’s going on?”
“Well, I’m hoping my favourite girl can help me out. My car died, and I’m stuck over on the west side. Are you busy? Do you think you could come pick me up? The tow truck is going to take a few hours.”
“Of course I can.” She could hear the giddiness in her voice. “Text me where you are, and I’ll come by.”
“You’re the best, Rosie-girl. I’ll take you for drinks to say thanks, what do you say?”
“Sure, I’d love that.”
“Great. See you soon.”
“Bye, Lincoln.”
She ended the call and clutched her phone, grinning like a fool. She was about to have drinks with Lincoln. She suddenly touched her hair that was tucked into a ponytail. Shit. Did she have time to run home and change and maybe do something with her hair? She’d make the damn time. She was having drinks with Lincoln and she’d be damned if she showed up makeup-less and -
“Rosalie?”
She blinked at Hudson. “Hudson, oh, sorry. I, um, I need to go. Lincoln needs me to -”
“Yeah, I heard. See you later.” He turned and walked away, his big body stiff and one ham-sized hand curled into a fist.
She chewed on her bottom lip as she watched Hudson walk away. Why was he angry again? She started toward him when her phone vibrated. Lincoln had texted her with his location and she hesitated before turning away. She would talk to Hudson tomorrow after the movie.
Chapter Three
It’d been months since he’d had the dream. Months where he didn’t see Samuel’s bruised and battered face, hear the cracking of the bones of the men who’d killed him, taste their blood in his mouth…months of peace. Until now.
He tossed and turned, growling and whining in his sleep as the nightmare played out. His big body shuddered, and his low whines turned to angry growling as the dream drew him down into its dark depths.
“Please,” the dying shifter whispered. “Please, I’m sorry.”
His polar bear retreated, and Hudson studied the shifter held in his grasp before glancing at his own naked body. He was covered in blood. He turned to stare at the four shifters sprawled on the floor of the cabin. Their bodies were hardly recognizable, just twisted shapes of splattered blood and broken bone.
Blood was filling the small cabin. He whined when it washed over Samuel’s dead body, made it disappear like his best friend had never even existed. As the blood rose past his knees and up toward his thighs, he turned back to the dying shifter in his grip and bared his fangs at him.
“My father,” the shifter groaned. “If you kill me, he’ll never stop hunting you. He’ll kill you, man, he’ll…”
Hudson leaned close, wrapping his hand around the shifter’s sweaty, blood-soaked hair. “He can try.”
His fangs lengthened, and he bent his head and tore open the throat of his enemy with a triumphant roar. He drank down the blood, the bitter taste of it burning in his belly. He dropped the dead shifter when he heard his father’s voice.
“Hudson? Hudson, help me.”
He turned, the river of blood up to his chest now, and howled helplessly when he saw his father standing in the middle of the cabin, the thick black blood about to swallow him alive.
“Dad! No!” He reached for his father, but the blood had turned thick. It held him back, kept his feet pinned to the floor, and he screamed again when the blood swept his father under.
“Dad! DAD!”
He jerked awake, sweating and whining and grow
ling. He sat up in bed and fumbled on the nightstand for his phone as the late morning sun shone stripes of light across the far wall. Hands shaking, he stared at the screen.
The nightmare always ended the same, either his mother or father drowning in a sea of blood. He knew they were fine, knew that Corden hadn’t gotten to them, but his urge to call was too great to deny. He hit a button on his phone as panic sang in his veins.
“Hello?”
“Mom, it’s me. Are you okay? Is Dad okay?”
“We’re fine, Hudson. What’s wrong?” His mother’s voice calmed the fear that held him in a vice-like grip.
“Nothing, I just, I…” he collapsed on his back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.
“Was it the dream again?”
“Yeah,” he rasped.
“I’m sorry, honey. We’re okay though.”
“Are you sure?” Both his mother and father were powerful polar bear shifters, but the last vestige of his dream still clung to him.
“Yes. We’re perfectly safe here. Corden is strong, but he’s no match for me or your father.”
“He has shifters,” he said. “He has shifters who -”
“Yes, but we live in a community that looks after their own. We watch out for each other, Hudson. Corden can’t get to us, you know that. He’d be a fool to try.”
“I know,” he said. “I just worry.”
“You don’t need to worry about us, my love. We’re safe.”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m so sorry for -”
“You have nothing to be sorry about.” His mother’s voice was firm. “What Corden’s son did to Samuel… he deserved to die for it.”
“You and Dad don’t deserve a life of always looking over your shoulder.”
She sighed, and he could almost see the look of disapproval on her face. “We loved Samuel like a son, Hudson. He was worth it.”
There was silence and, as stupid as this was, he could feel his mother’s love radiating through the phone. He closed his eyes as she said, “You could come here.”
“We’ve talked about this before. You know I can’t do that.”
“The community will protect you as well. You’re our boy and they -”
“If I go there, Corden will attack. He has men watching you, just in case I’m reckless enough to show up. Maybe he isn’t stupid enough to try and go after you and Dad, but if I’m there, he won’t care. He’ll sacrifice as many shifters as he needs to just to get to me. I’m not putting you and Dad and the rest of the town in danger. I won’t.”
His mother sighed again. “I know. We just miss you, honey.”
“I miss you guys too. How are things there?”
“Fine. Your dad’s busy as usual. I operated on a human the other day.”
“Human? Since when were there humans living there?” Hudson asked.
“Oh, didn’t I tell you? Jed married a human. Her name’s Barbara and she’s lovely. She had a cyst that needed to be removed. Jed was worried about the others accepting her, you know how polar bear shifters are, but there haven’t been any issues. She fits in just fine with the rest of us. What about you, honey? What’s new?”
“Still working at the bar.” He paused and then said, “I’m going to the movies with a friend later today.”
“Nice. What’s his name and how did you meet him?”
He could feel himself blushing like a teenage bear. “Her name is Rosalie and I met her at the bar. She’s, uh, human.”
There was a pause and then his mother said, “I so wish your father and I could meet her.”
“We’re just friends, Mom.”
“Are you?” She said.
He didn’t reply, and she laughed. “I’m very glad you’ve met someone, my love. I worry about you.”
“We’re just friends,” he repeated.
“Of course you are,” she said in the same tone she’d used when at eleven years old, he’d tried to convince her it wasn’t him who’d broken her favourite stethoscope.
“I better go,” he said. “I gotta shower and eat before I leave. I love you, Mom. Say hi to Dad, okay?”
“I will. We love you too, Hudson. Try not to worry, honey.”
He tossed his phone on the nightstand and stared at the ceiling for a few more minutes before climbing out of bed. Despite talking to his mother, the unease from his nightmare still lingered. For a moment, he considered canceling his movie date with Rosalie. His polar bear growled in anger and he soothed it absently. He should cancel, he should stop talking to Rosalie all together.
It’s fine. Corden has no idea where you are and he’d never in a million years believe that you would move to a big city. She’s not in danger. Just fucking relax for once and live your life.
His polar bear growled in agreement with his inner voice, and Hudson sighed and headed toward the bathroom.
* * *
Rosalie turned down the street and flicked the wipers on. The rain was pouring down and lightning was flashing across the sky. Thunder boomed directly overhead, and she flinched before checking the time on the dashboard. If she didn’t hurry, she’d be late, and Hudson would be pissed. He was weird about being at the theatre exactly half an hour before the movie started.
She stepped on the gas and squinted through the windshield. It had started to get cloudy and grey about three hours ago and the weather perfectly matched her mood. She sighed and tried to forget about last night. Her brain refused to let her.
She’d been so excited when she picked up Lincoln. She had raced home and changed into a skirt and pretty top before doing her makeup and putting her hair up in a cute twist. Traffic was terrible, and it had taken her almost forty minutes to get to him, but it had been worth it when he’d climbed into her truck and given her a lazy grin.
She’d been over the moon about going for drinks with him. Until they’d gone to a bar of his choice and she realized he already had plans with a group of shifters. She’d sat in the bar, feeling awkward and like an outsider as Lincoln’s friends talked around her and Lincoln flirted with a gorgeous blonde woman. After half an hour, she’d quietly slipped away and driven home. She’d scrubbed the makeup off of her face, put on her pajamas and curled up in bed with her iPad and Mr. Pibbles.
She banged her hand on the steering wheel. She should have known Lincoln wouldn’t just want to hang out with her, so why was she feeling so sick about it. Why did it hurt to –
The loud bang and the way the truck veered into the other lane made her scream. She jerked the wheel, crying out again when the tires slid on the slick road. She took her foot off the gas, steered the truck to the side of the road and shut it off. Her heart was racing, her palms were sweaty, and she felt sick. It was just a flat tire, she was sure of it, but the noise of the tire blowing, the way her truck had careened into the other lane, had frightened the hell out of her.
She reached into the back for her hoodie and muttered a curse. How could she have forgotten her damn hoodie? After how cold it was in the theatre last weekend, she had reminded herself just this morning to bring a sweater. She should have written the reminder on her damn arm.
Steeling herself against the cold rain, she hopped out of the truck and ran to the back. The right rear tire was already completely flat, and she squinted at the hole in it. Fuck, whatever she had run over had been big. She was lucky she hadn’t lost control of the truck and driven straight into a telephone pole or something.
She ran back to the cab and climbed in, staring blankly out the windshield. She had zero idea how to change the tire. She chewed at her bottom lip before pulling Lincoln’s number up on her phone. Her finger hesitated over the call button.
Call him, Rosie. You literally just helped him out yesterday with car trouble.
She pressed the button. The phone rang a few times and she was just about to hang up when he picked up the call.
“Hey, Rosalie. What’s up?” Lincoln’s voice was raspy, like he’d just woken up.
“Hi
, Lincoln. Is this, uh, a bad time?”
“Just having a nap.”
Her imagination went into overdrive. Picturing a naked Lincoln in his bed and how it might feel to have her own naked body pressed up against his. Her cheeks were flushed, and she wiped away the rain water sliding from her temple to her chin. Maybe she could show Lincoln how grateful she was for helping her by joining him for another… nap.
Where you’ll what? Wow him with your non-existent sex skills? Reading a couple of books on how to bang a lion shifter isn’t going to magically make you relax in bed or give you the ability to give a guy a proper blow job.
“Where did you get off to last night?” He asked. “I wanted to buy you another drink and you had disappeared.”
“Oh, sorry, I had a bit of a headache and you seemed to be having fun, so I didn’t want to ask you to leave.”
“You’re a peach, Rosie-girl.” He yawned. “Thank you again for picking me up and for hanging out with me last night. I’m sorry I kind of abandoned you for a bit. It was Charlyn’s birthday and she’s a good friend, so I didn’t want to miss the party.”
His voice was warm and sincere and just like that, her anger with him was gone.
“Oh, that’s okay. I understand. I’m sorry to bother you, but,” her voice sounded breathy and uneven, “it’s just that I ran over something and it blew my tire. I’m kind of stranded on the side of the road.”
“You okay?” Warmth flooded through her at the genuine concern in his voice.
“Yeah, a little shaken up. I have a spare tire, but I don’t know how to change it. I was wondering if maybe you could help me?”
He didn’t reply, and she tapped her fingers nervously against the steering wheel. “I know it’s raining and gross out and I hate to ask, but I -”
“No, that’s okay, Rosie. Of course I can help you. You helped me yesterday, right? I owe you.”
“No, you don’t owe me,” she said hurriedly. Feeling stupid, she fibbed a little. “I just, uh, I tried calling a few other friends, but they aren’t available to help, and -”
Rosalie Undone (Book Six) Page 4
