by Fall, Carly
“I really need to use a bathroom, Hudson.”
His face grew soft again and he chuckled. “Let me drive us in, okay?”
She nodded.
As she moved around him to get to the other side of the car, he wrapped her in his arms and held her. “It’s really good to see you, beautiful,” he whispered in her hair.
She let her arms snake around his waist, feeling like she was finally at home. “You too, Hudson. You too.”
***
Beverly felt apprehensive about going into the silo. She held on to Hudson’s hand as they climbed the stairs, he punched in a code, the door popped, and they were in a little entry area. He did it all again, and the door opened to the kitchen area. It was just as she had remembered it. The stainless steel Viking appliances sparkled, the black countertops were neat and tidy. She smiled as she imagined everyone gathered in the space.
She was relieved that the place seemed deserted. Yes, she was excited to see everyone, but she had important things to talk over with Hudson. What she had to say made her outwardly shake with bouncy nerves.
“Do you remember where the bathroom is?” he asked.
She nodded and headed down the hallway. When she got back, Hudson was brewing coffee.
“Would you like some coffee?” he asked.
“Just a half cup, please.” The last thing she needed was caffeine.
They waited in silence until the coffee brewed, and Hudson brought the cups over to the small table. He smiled and looked at her expectantly. “Things must not be going well for you to drive down here from Oregon,” he said.
“How did you know where I ended up?” she asked, confused.
Hudson smiled. “I had Talin keep tabs on you, just to make sure you were okay. I wasn’t stalking you or anything.”
She grinned, touched by his words. “Yes. I mean, everything is fine.”
Looking at the black liquid in the cup in front of her, coming here had seemed like the right thing to do, but now she wasn’t sure. But the fact that Hudson had kept track of her might be a good sign.
“How’s Abby? And Faith?” she asked, putting off her real reason for coming.
“They’re good. Everyone is doing well.”
They sat in silence for another minute, Beverly staring into her coffee cup, Hudson watching her while drinking his own coffee.
“Have you had any more trouble with…the Colonists?”
“No. It’s been pretty quiet. We’re actually thinking about heading up to Reno, Nevada for the winter. The snow’s always fun. We haven’t made any firm plans though.”
She took this as a good omen that she was doing the right thing. If she had waited, then she might have missed them and she never would have found them again.
“Beverly,” he said quietly, as he put his cup down and leaned forward, “it’s good to see you, but the suspense is killing me. Why are you here?”
She took a deep breath. Here it was. This was what she had driven all night for, this very moment.
“I’m pregnant.”
Chapter 54
Hudson had noticed how good Beverly looked. She sat in the chair in her regal way, her back ramrod straight. She had put on a bit of weight, and the curves looked good on her. No, not good. Absolutely fabulous. She seemed to have a glow about her, so he guessed she was happy. That was good. He wanted her happy, and he was glad her new life seemed to agree with her.
He couldn’t for the life of him think of any reason for her to show up here, except if she were in trouble or had bad news to deliver.
She looked nervous, and she wouldn’t look at him, but she was studying that coffee pretty hard.
And then she dropped her little bomb.
Pregnant?
Hudson sat back in his chair, stunned. He’d been around a long time, and pretty much nothing surprised him anymore. However, Beverly had managed to do exactly that to a caliber that was off the charts.
Hudson sat stunned, unable to say anything. To say this was a surprise might be the understatement of his lifetime. And those two words also seemed to tie his tongue in one big knot and short-circuit his brain, because there weren’t any words forming in either place.
“I know,” she said with a sad smile. “The doctor told me I most likely wouldn’t be able to have kids again after the accident, but here I am. I’m about six weeks along. I wasn’t going to tell you, but then I remembered what you had said about missing out on Abby’s life and having to watch her from afar. I didn’t want to do that to you.”
He nodded, still unable to speak.
“And also, I know Abby’s normal and she’s half human, but I didn’t know if there was some medical things I needed to know, if things would be different with...I guess a mixed-species baby?”
He nodded again.
Beverly was pregnant. With his kid.
Huh.
“Hudson?” she said after a moment. “Look, I know that we can’t be together. I understand your heart will always belong to Iris, but maybe we can work out some type of arrangement where I can live close by, and even help you guys with medical issues while Cohen’s gone, just like I did with you.”
He didn’t hear what else she said.
A baby.
His baby.
He seemed to be having some type of epiphany here. Like he was finally understanding a foreign language for the first time.
Maybe his heart didn’t always have to belong to Iris. Maybe it was possible to love people in different ways. He didn’t love Abby the same way he loved Iris, but that was because she was his daughter.
And he didn’t have to love Beverly the same way he loved Iris either. He now realized this was exactly what his heart had been telling him during her time away. It hadn’t occurred to him until just now that he had fallen in love again, and he hadn’t realized it until just now. It was very different, but it was good. Just being near Beverly, he could already feel the hauntings of his past demons fading.
“And I know you and I didn’t…end on the best of terms, but I was just frightened, Hudson. The man I saw you become after the Colonist approached me scared me. And then when I saw you actually kill him…”
Thinking back on that night, he had been determined to protect her, to make sure that Colonist didn’t get in the silo and hurt anyone. He supposed that would have been a little frightening. And then there was that little diddy his brother had dropped before Hudson killed him: “you have no idea what’s coming for you.”
And he still didn’t know what was coming for them, but he would sure as shit kill again if needed.
“Hudson, please say something.” His eyes came back into focus. She had tears in hers, and they ripped at his heart.
Yeah, that got his tongue moving. Tears on his female were not something he liked to see.
“I love you,” he said quietly. “I love you, and I love that baby.”
He watched as her face went from shock to tenderness.
“There’s not going to be any arrangement. You’ll move in with us. We’ll become parents together.”
He realized he was sounding a little overbearing and dominant, and he didn’t want be like that with her. “Unless you want there to be some type of arrangement. I can get you a house here in the Phoenix area, or wherever you want. I do have to travel sometimes, but...”
She put her hand over his.
“I love you too, Hudson. And I’ve missed you so terribly.” He watched the tears break loose and flow down her cheeks.
“Ah, Bev, don’t cry.” He stood up and took her hand in his, helping her to her feet. He wrapped his arms around her, listening to her little sniffles as she buried her face in his chest. After a few minutes, she stopped and looked up at him, and he kissed her wet cheeks, then the tip of her nose. “A baby, huh?” he whispered.
She smiled at him and nodded.
Hudson felt so much love flowing between them. The energy traveled through him, relieving the constant tension and pain that he had
lived with for so long. He felt his past being lifted from his shoulders and his demons being released. His body relaxed and he smiled. But they weren’t out of the woods and moving into that special place of happiness and contentment.
There were some things she needed to be clear on.
Pulling away, he looked down at her. “Beverly, I will do anything—and I mean absolutely anything—to protect those I care about, and if that involved killing again, it will be done. I was sent here to kill Colonists, and they are a nasty cluster-fuck of DNA. It’s why I’m here. It’s what I was sent to do. It’s what I’m best at.”
She smiled slightly. “I know Hudson. I’ve thought about it a lot, and I think I’m okay with it. It’s just hard for me to come to terms that the sweet, gentle man who I know can flip a switch and become a cold-blooded killer. However, I’m prepared to face that when it happens again.”
He was silent for a beat, and then said, “It will happen again, Beverly. There’s no doubting it. I will kill again. Just please understand that.”
She nodded.
He really needed her to get this, not just glaze it over.
“First and foremost, I love you, Beverly, and I will literally worship the ground you walk on until the day one of us dies. I will do everything in my power to make you happy and content every single day. But in my heart, I am a Warrior, and those two sides can make a scary pair. If I ever feel you’re in danger again like I did that night, it won’t be pretty. I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe. Understand?”
There was a brief pause, and she said in a strong voice as if to let him know that she meant it, “I do.”
He studied her face for a moment, and rubbed his thumb over her cheek. “You look tired, Bev.”
She nodded. “I drove all night to get here. I’m exhausted.”
“Come on, pretty lady. Let’s go to our room.”
She smiled. “I’m a little hungry as well, Hudson.”
As he looked at her, he noticed her eyes getting darker.
Yeah, he knew what that meant. He felt his own body responding. “For food or other things?” he asked in a low voice.
“Both,” she whispered.
He brought his lips to hers gently.
As their mouths moved over each other, Hudson was torn on what to do. He had to keep her and his baby nourished, but dammit, he also wanted to explore those new curves as well. He groaned and pulled away. “How about this: let’s go down to our quarters and you can take a shower, take a nap, whatever you want to do. I’ll come back up here and make you a beautiful, nutritious meal, and then we’ll see how you’re feeling, okay?”
She nodded, and they turned to go to the elevator. Hudson didn’t want to let go of her, so he didn’t. He tucked her tightly under his arm, wrapping it around her shoulder. He realized that today he was going to become fully human and begin aging as humans did. He would be making love to the woman he loved, and his SR44 form would leave him. When he had been with Beverly before, he hadn’t been in love, so he hadn’t lost his SR44 form. It took her absence for him to realize that he could love another besides Iris, and he had fallen for her hard.
Doing a quick gut check, he chuckled to himself about the ups and downs of life. Just under two months ago, he had been trying to take his life, and then Beverly had stepped in, making him vow not to end it. With her presence had also come a determination to deal with the pain he felt as well as a desire to live. When she had left, he had felt as though a piece of him was missing, yet he couldn’t quite grasp that because let’s face it, sometimes he wasn’t the brightest star in the galaxy. Now Beverly was back—he knew he loved her, and he was on his way to make love to her, and he knew he would lose his SR44 form. He would fail at his mission, but he was pretty damn sure that they would never complete it. Would it be so horrible to live a life as a human with the human woman he loved? Was he okay with it?
Yes, he was totally good with it. He had Beverly, and his child was on the way. He couldn’t imagine being any happier.
Chapter 55
As he had made love to Beverly, he saw his SR44 form shimmering on his skin. He felt a vibration within his body that he had never felt before, and he supposed that was his form getting ready to hit the road.
Great.
Just get on with it.
As he orgasmed with Beverly riding him, the vibration intensified and he saw the yellow light above his skin get brighter and brighter as it hovered about six inches above him encasing Beverly's legs. The vibration turned into a loud hum.
Beverly sank to his chest and rolled off him, lying on her back beside him.
He wished the damn SR44 form would just make its exit.
There was a sound that reminded him of electrical currents, and then his SR44 form hovered a foot above his body. It began to swirl and twist as a fire in a fireplace would, its movements becoming faster. Beverly laced her hand through his and looked over at him.
“Hudson,” she said, “what’s wrong?”
“It’s...it’s my SR44 leaving my body.”
She looked at where his gaze was. “I don’t see anything,” she whispered.
He nodded. Humans couldn’t see the glow of a SR44 form. “I wish you could,” he whispered. “It’s really beautiful.”
All of a sudden, it began to float. No longer was it above him, but it hovered above Beverly. Its movements became slower until it looked like a shimmering mist. It gently folded in on itself and floated down to Beverly’s belly, where it stayed.
“I feel something,” Beverly whispered, her eyes wide. “What’s going on, Hudson?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know.”
The form spread out until it took the shape of tendrils, slowly moving over Beverly’s belly with gentle caresses.
“It’s like there’s something lightly sweeping my skin,” she said.
He nodded. “It is.”
She looked to him as if to gauge what he was feeling, and he made sure his face didn’t show any of the worry he had brewing within him. He had absolutely no idea what was going on.
They both turned toward the form.
It slowly lifted from Beverly’s abdomen and began to swirl again. Hudson watched it float over his way, then it dropped with force, entering his body again.
What the hell was that about? He had made love to the woman he loved. He had experienced the ultimate pleasure for an SR44 male. Maybe it had something to do with the baby?
He didn’t know the how’s and why’s. It had to have something to do with the baby, but what, he hadn’t a clue.
“I don’t feel it anymore,” Beverly said quietly.
“I know. It’s back in me.”
She stared at him, and he could tell what she was thinking. She was trying to hide the hurt from showing on her face.
He propped himself up on his elbow and gazed into her green eyes. “Honey, it doesn’t mean that I don’t love you. I love you more than my own life. My guess is that it has something to do with the baby. Please don’t think I don’t love you.”
She stared at him for a moment, then nodded. “I know you love me, Hudson,” she said. “I can feel it.” She kissed him gently.
After a moment, he rolled on top of her. “You feel that?” he said teasingly.
She laughed.
“Now let me show you how much I love you,” he whispered in her ear while slowly kissing her neck.
Chapter 56
When Beverly and Hudson came up from their quarters late in the afternoon, the house was buzzing. Hudson had gotten his wish and explored all of Beverly’s new curves over and over again throughout the afternoon.
And he would have kept going if they weren’t both so damn hungry.
Noah and Talin were in the War Room going over some things, while Cohen and Rayner were sprawled out on the couch watching Spike TV. Jovan could be heard clinking the balls around on the pool table, while Abby and Faith were in the kitchen going through magazines and deciding what to o
rder for Christmas decorations, which was just a couple of months away.
When Abby and Faith saw Beverly, the shock that registered on their faces was priceless, and then the shock turned to excitement as both came over to hug her at once, pushing Hudson out of the way.
He listened to the female chatter, and Rayner and Cohen came in to see what all the noise was about. They each gave Beverly a hug, which sent Hudson’s hackles into an uproar, and he let out a warning growl. SR44 males didn’t like other males touching their females, and Hudson quickly put his arm around Beverly.
She was his.
The noise in the kitchen got louder.
Talin and Noah walked in, and Talin gave Hudson a smile. Noah greeted Beverly warmly, and the symphony of voices rose to even higher levels.
Everyone turned when Jovan cleared his throat.
“You haven’t met Beverly, have you?” Hudson asked.
Leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, Jovan gave a small smile and shook his head.
“Beverly, this is Jovan. He was gone during your last...visit.”
Hudson watched as Beverly made her way over to him and stuck out her hand, unaware of Jovan’s gift. “It’s nice to meet you,” she said.
Everyone was quiet, watching to see if Jovan would take her hand. He tried not to touch any humans—or really anyone for that matter, because he could glimpse into their emotions, and unfortunately, he found that most people weren’t that happy. He slowly took her hand and smiled. “It’s really nice to meet you, Beverly,” he said in a low voice. “Welcome.”
They all chatted a little longer, then Hudson shooed everyone out of his kitchen. Except Beverly, of course. He supposed it was now their kitchen. He smiled, liking the sound of that.
They got busy getting dinner ready. Chatting quietly and stealing kisses every now and then, they prepared some Fettuccini Alfredo. But none of that jar sauce for Hudson. He mixed up his own special recipe with a little extra garlic, special Romano cheese and real cream.
