Crossing Hudson

by Mandy M. Roth

  “Oh gods, I left you on your own with our baby?”

  I paused, the energy boost I’d gotten from skin-to-skin contact with him on the way up wearing off sooner than I’d have liked. “What?”

  I tried not to show any weakness as I stood tall.

  “Jude’s good to you?” he asked, sounding pained.

  “Jude is more than good to me. He’s the reason I’m still here. He can share his energy with me to a point. He rejuvenates me enough to keep going. Basically, he does what my mate should have.”

  Hudson clutched his hand tight but hadn’t looked at the ring yet. “Your mate owes him a lot. He owes all of these people here a lot. They’ve protected you both and kept you alive this long.”

  I snorted as I thought about my mate and Jude. “Hudson, Jude was…no, is and will always be, more than a man who protected me and my son. He’s the man almost all of the dark ones believe is JP’s father. He’s the one who shared energy with me to keep me living because my life is literally in my mate’s hands. While vampires need blood to live, I need to share someone’s essence, their life force. I drain everyone but my mate. That’s one of the reasons I had to let Jude go. I was draining him unknowingly while we slept.”

  Hudson drew in a deep breath. “You and Jude were a couple?”

  “I thought Franco would have…Never mind. Yes. We were together for a couple of years.”

  The cords in Hudson’s neck popped out as he clutched his hand tighter. “You spent years with another man when you knew you had a mate?”

  “Pfft, my mate has been fucking someone else for years, Hudson. He’d spend his days hanging out with me as a buddy, a ghost, a friend, as a man who I know for a fact knew what I was to him, and had told me that he only had to wait a few more years for me. Then he’d go get cleaned up and run off to be with his new girlfriend. The same woman he proposed to and the same woman he’d been with the entire day he’d swore to me he’d come for me. The same day I lost my sister and was introduced to dark supernaturals. It was trial by fire. You see, I didn’t meet any back-alley vamps that day, Hudson. I met dark generals my first time out of the gate.

  “So, the day he should have been there, the day that I’d been told all my life that he would arrive, he spent fucking someone else, leaving me to fend for myself and his unborn child, against countless demons. While he spent the day pinning someone down in a good way, I spent the night being pinned down by eight of these generals from the darkness that everyone seems to shake at the mere mention of. Please don’t lecture me about falling in love with another man. I’d rather be lectured for having been stupid enough to ever love my mate to begin with than for falling for Jude later.”

  Disgusted, I walked away. I needed to rest. Hudson let out an odd sound. Glancing over my shoulder, I found him staring down at the ring. I didn’t care anymore if he knew Cowboy. Hell, they were probably cousins. He was related to Porter, so why not my mate too? That was the day I was having.

  Pushing the door to my room open, I headed in and eyed up my bathroom. I needed a shower and desperately wanted one. The only problem was, I knew I wouldn’t be able to stand that long. Looking up, I shook my head as I dropped to one knee. I reached under my bed and pulled a large blanket and pillow out. I didn’t even bother to unfold the blanket. I let my body crumple to the floor on it and closed my eyes.

  “I know for a fact your mate had no idea that you’re real, Ryan,” Hudson said, entering my room. “Why are you on the floor?”

  I didn’t bother to open my eyes. I just laughed. “Well then. All is forgiven. Hey, maybe if you tell him I am real, he’ll bring his significant other over. If she’s lucky, she can be here when something else shows up out of the blue and rips the skin from my back piece by piece because it’s hoping he’ll feel my pain and come for me. But thanks for the good news, Hudson. I’m so fucking happy to know he didn’t know I was real.”

  “Ry, do you think if he did know that he’d have ever let you go through all of that?” he asked, sounding closer. “Tell me why you’re on the floor.”

  Sighing, I covered my face. “I’m sorry I snapped at you. And I’m on the floor because I don’t want to get my bed dirty and I’m too drained to shower.”

  “No. I’m so fucking sorry, sweet-pea.” Hudson picked me up fast and had my legs wrapped around him before I could even blink. His mouth crashed down on mine. I couldn’t fight the urge to return his kiss. I ate at his mouth, fearful the moment might not last. As much as I’d loved Jude, I’d never been quite this hungry for him. I had been for Cowboy though. He’d made my body react with this type of fire. On top of it all, kissing Hudson left energy moving from him to me as we made skin-to-skin contact.

  My nipples puckered as moisture pooled at the junction of my thighs with each swipe of his tongue over mine. I moaned, wanting to crawl through him, and I’d only just met him. This was wrong, but it felt so right.

  Hudson pulled back slightly. I thought it was to stop. I was mistaken. The second he went to unhook his belt I knew what was about to happen and I wanted it. I wanted every bit of it.

  Somehow, he managed to get his pants worked down enough that I felt his warm cock brushing against my lower stomach. I smiled into his mouth when I realized he had no underwear on. It seemed to be a running theme among supernatural men.

  “Hudson, please,” I whispered as I pulled back from his mouth. “We need to stop. I don’t want your pity. And you don’t want to be wrapped up in all of this.”

  Hudson growled as he took a step forward, putting his legs against the end of my bed. The minute I felt his leg move higher and our bodies lifting, I knew he was climbing onto it. I clung to him and he crawled onto the bed with me still attached to him. He laid me down gently and looked down at me with lust-filled dark brown eyes. I lifted my hand and pulled on what tiny bit of power I could to try to remove the remainder of our clothes from our bodies. Hudson caught my wrist gently.

  “No, sweet-pea, I want to undress you again.”

  Again?

  Confused, I just stared up at him as he slid his large hand down my body slowly. He found the top of my panties and drew in a sharp breath as his fingers slid over my bare mound. The minute his finger brushed over my clit, I jerked as a hot wave of energy hit me. A tugging deep within me, behind my belly button, started. I was familiar with it. It was the feel of my link with Cowboy being touched metaphysically.

  Did he sense the all-consuming attraction I had to Hudson? The need to not only give myself to this man, but make him give all of himself to me in return? Could he feel that?

  The link opened more, taking me by surprise. Looking up at Hudson, I found his chocolate-brown eyes hungry, feral, and focused fully on me.

  He flicked his finger over my swollen bud. My jaw dropped as my legs began to tingle and my lower abs grew tight. A slow, cunning grin spread over his entirely too handsome face. “You like that, don’t you?”

  Oh, so he wants to play that game.

  Lowering my head a bit, I let my power out. It hit him fast, making him draw in a deep breath. It ran through him, doing as I commanded, massaging him, taking hold of his ball sac and caressing it as it stroked his frighteningly large shaft. His entire body tightened.

  Instantly, he was up and off the bed. I thought I’d chased him away, scared him by bringing my gifts into play. When I saw him taking his boots off, I smiled. The look on Hudson’s face when he pulled his black t-shirt over his head, exposing his ripped torso and chest, made my entire body tighten in anticipation of what was to come.

  My gaze traced its way from Hudson’s thick neck to his massive chest. The center of his chest was covered with a light dusting of dark hair which thickened slightly on its way down his torso, before disappearing beneath his jeans. Jeans he quickly ridded himself of, making my mouth water.

  My heart beat faster as images of Cowboy flashed before me.

  Hudson moved onto the bed and put his body over mine. Our eyes locked. He didn’t say
a word to me. Instead, he dropped his mouth down onto mine and kissed me. I surrendered to him, unable to fight the need to have Hudson deep within me. He moved his hand lower, rubbing my clit and making me moan into his mouth.

  I knew I should be resting, but for some reason I had more energy than I’d had in years. Each swipe of Hudson’s tongue seemed to give me an added boost. I clung to him, rocking my hips against his hands and giving in to the orgasm wanting to come. I arched my back and Hudson pushed his knee between my thighs, spreading my legs as he went.

  He thrust into me and it took a second for my body to adjust to his size. I clawed at his back, trying and failing not to scratch him. Hudson threw his head back and his eyes swirled to amber as he thrust into me, taking my body to new levels.

  I wrapped my legs around his waist and countered his thrusts. His lower abdomen rubbed against my clit, stimulating it and driving me over the edge. I cried out as my legs went numb and pleasure swept throughout my body.

  Hudson rooted himself to the hilt in my body as his cock twitched, spurting his hot seed deep within me. His entire body was still as he held himself there, filling me.

  Running a line of kisses along his shoulder, I couldn’t help but let out a soft laugh. “Mmm.” I nipped playfully at his shoulder and he came again in another hard wave.

  He chuckled and the sound was weak. “I don’t want to pull out, Ry-Mack. I’m scared you’ll disappear from my life again.”

  I froze. “What?”

  Hudson captured my lips with his, causing me to forget my question. His cock was still hard as he began to pump into me once again. I didn’t think I could take any more, yet the second I felt another orgasm begin building, I knew better. My body could more than take Hudson. It seemed to crave him.

  The next thing I knew, Hudson barrel-rolled our bodies, leaving him pinned beneath me. His cock seemed even larger this way. I whimpered as I stared down into his amber eyes. “Your eyes are still shifted,” I said, not minding, but missing his chocolate gaze.

  “Trust me, if I could control it at the moment, I would,” he said, taking hold of my hips and directing my movements as I began to ride him slowly. His jaw tightened. “Mmm, there, sweet-pea. There. Just like that.”

  Sliding his hands up my torso, he cupped my breasts and pinched my nipples lightly, instantly flooding my already wet core with cream. I rode him faster, taking him deep into me and finding a rhythm that worked for both of us. We came in unison, each crying out the other’s name. The minute the last of the pleasure from having Hudson in me finished wracking my body, my eyelids grew heavy. I lay down, covering his body with mine, and put my head against his chest, with his cock still buried deep inside me.

  As darkness began to come over me, Hudson held me tight in his arms and kissed my temple. “I didn’t know, Ry-Mack. I didn’t know you were real. Now that I do, you’re never getting rid of me. Never. And I’m so fucking sorry I forced you to make me forget. I thought I’d be strong enough to remember on my own—that I’d be able to fight the spell.”

  12

  Chapter 12

  “Stop giving me that look,” said Hudson, glancing at me from near the stage of the club. The look in question was one he’d been getting from me for most of the morning.

  Shona brushed by, grinning like a fool. “Leave him be. He let you sleep. You needed the rest.”

  I huffed. “I slept for two days.”

  And I had. When I’d woken to find two full days had passed, I’d been livid. Yes, my body needed sleep and had been deprived of it for far too long, but I had commitments to The Powers That Be. If I didn’t live up to my end of the deal, they could walk away from theirs—protecting my son and making sure he had at least some sort of mystical assistance to survive all the bad guys who would be gunning for him. Sleeping for two days and letting my daily requirements to The Powers slip past not once, but twice, wasn’t an option. Poor Hudson had been getting the stink eye all morning.

  The girls had celebrated moving to the next stage of slayer training without me and had already started their next level courses under Shona’s and Tess’s watchful eyes. It hurt a little to know that everything moved along fine without me, but I should have known it would.

  “I’d have let you sleep for a week,” said Hudson, unapologetically.

  Shona grinned. “Because he liked going in there and holding you. We all saw him do it.”

  My chest tightened. I wasn’t sure how I felt knowing Hudson had done that. When I’d woken he was there, holding me in the bed, and I’d first thought just a few hours had passed. When I realized he was wearing different clothes, I started to get suspicious. It wasn’t until I’d come down to check on the party only to find two days had gone by that I realized how long I’d slept.

  Just how tired and run down I’d been.

  “That was too much time from JP.”

  Shona rolled her eyes. “Try another one, honey. Ben helped with him during the day and Hudson handled him both nights.”

  That was news to me. I glanced at Hudson. He’d taken care of a toddler two nights in a row? Somehow, I doubted that was part of the Guardian training. JP was currently off with Ben enjoying another park outing, and couldn’t have been happier around Hudson.

  Another pang of guilt hit me. “Anyone heard from Jude?”

  Hudson stilled, his attention going to Shona. She nodded. “He phoned several times to check in. Even spoke to Hudson. That was a bit heated but they must have come to an understanding because when I got on the line with Jude, I was told to be sure Hudson felt welcomed here and that he’d be staying on the premises.”

  “So Jude isn’t coming back anytime soon?” I asked.

  “Guess not,” added Shona. “Seems to think everything is well in hand here and I guess he has business to still attend to.”

  I lowered my gaze. While I wasn’t with Jude anymore as a couple, I still cared and worried about him. And he’d not been acting like himself when he’d left on the trip. He’d certainly never been gone this long from home since I’d known him. Something big was going on. I just didn’t know what.

  At least not yet.

  “He spoke on the phone to JP,” said Shona. “I think he told him bedtime stories both nights. Pissed Hudson off with that. Don’t know why.”

  “That is my job,” stated Hudson evenly. “Not his.”

  “Your job?” I asked before the slayers-in-training came rushing into the area, each wearing their workout gear and laughing. They converged on Hudson and he came instantly to me, a look of desperation on his face. I laughed and considered letting the girls have at him. It would serve him right for letting me sleep so long, but I didn’t. It took us a minute, but we finally got the girls under control and settled enough to start discussing what we’d be working on as far as training for the day.

  It didn’t take long after that for the entire discussion to digress into one about my love life. The girls giggled and continued to ask Hudson if he was my new boyfriend. He seemed very pleased with the idea of being labeled as such and actually told them yes.

  “He’s not,” I stressed.

  He lifted a brow. “Then what would you call me?”

  I froze.

  Fuck buddy really wasn’t a term I’d use, especially in front of the girls, so I went with a safe option instead. “Man friend.”

  “Are you going to be nicer to this man friend?” asked Steffy, still in a sour mood. I knew she was a strong Jude supporter and I understood her dislike of seeing me becoming close to Hudson.

  “Nicer?” I asked.

  “You know, not leave him at the altar like you did Jude,” she answered back, causing the room to fall silent. Shona cast me a sideways glance and Hudson stiffened, seeming to be all ears for my response.

  Cupping Steffy’s face, I smiled as her blue eyes narrowed. “Who told you I left Jude at the altar?”

  She pointed at Shona. “A few months ago. Jude then said something in French and Wendy and I just s
tood there. It was a bit on the sad side. Jude’s normally just Jude. Then we ran into Aunt Shona in the hallway. We all…” she looked around at the twenty girls behind her, “talked about it and we don’t really understand why you didn’t want Jude to be your husband. He’s hot.”

  I jerked my hands off her as if she burned me. “You are a teenager. Men are not hot. They are…they’re…icky.”

  The group of girls all looked towards Hudson and giggled.

  Tess burst into laughter. “Oh, Ryan, every one of them thinks Hudson is hot too. There isn’t anything icky about the guy. You can’t blame them for stating the truth. You happen to attract men who look like runway models, yet could beat the living crap out of someone. The girls weren’t raised like you. They’re normal.”

  Tossing my hands in the air, I did the universal ‘I surrender’ pose. “Fine, stare at him and let me go get ready for today’s culling.” I’d missed on the previous two days’ worth of bad-guy checks. Today’s would be a big one, of that I was sure. As much as I knew the girls needed to watch the events unfold, I would have preferred to keep them sheltered from life a while longer. They had the right to be kids. To be young. To not live with the knowledge that bad shit was out there.

  Sadly, that wasn’t their reality.

  “Did you really leave Jude at the altar?” asked another girl.

  They weren’t going to let that dog lie.

  “Is it because he’s a vampire?” asked another.

  Turning away from Hudson, I looked at them all. “Girls, there is nothing wrong with Jude. He is a wonderful man. In fact, I hope that all of you find someone like him someday but—”

  “You don’t like him because he’s a vampire?” Addy asked, her black hair covering most of her face.

  “No, I have no problem with what Jude carries within him. This is hard to explain to you all because it’s hard to make sense of it myself.”