Chapter 15

ALEXIS

Hudson didn't slow his pace once, even after carrying me for three hours. I wasn't sure if I should say something or not, so I decided to wait for a bathroom break, which was definitely going to be soon from the look on Boston's face.

As if he read my thoughts, Boston looked at Hudson and shook his head, "I have to take a quick break."

Hudson sighed and called for break loudly. Boston and a few of the warriors ran further into the woods to relieve themselves privately. I took this chance to lean closer to Hudson's ear, "You can put me down now. You carried me for three hours, I'm sure your back hurts."

"You'll slow us down. Besides, you're not even heavy," he muttered.

"I'm not?" I asked incredulously.

As if to prove a point, he let go of my legs and yanked my right arm so I was leaning to the side. He gripped my waist and adjusted his arms so he was suddenly carrying me bridal style.

How the hell did he do that?

I stared at his face in disbelief as he raised an eyebrow nonchalantly.

"You just– how did you–what?"

He started moving me up and down as if I was a weight of some sort and pursed his lips in thought, "I say you weigh about 130 pounds? Give or take a few."

My mouth fell open, making him smirk a little. "How did you guess?"

"I benchpress 130 on an extremely lazy day."

I swallowed and looked away for a moment. If 130 was for an extremely lazy day as he put it, I wasn't quite sure if I wanted to know what he did on a regular day.

"Well, I still want to walk. My feet are almost asleep," I mumbled, trying to loosen his grip around my body. He sighed and put me down gently, making sure I was steady before letting go, "Are you sure you can keep up? I'm not going to slow our pace just for you."

I rolled my eyes, "I'm fine, Hudson."

"Okay, but if you ask me to carry you again later on, I won't."

"Excuse me? I didn't ask anyone to carry me. In fact, you demanded me to get on your back."

"That was because Boston offered to carry you."

My eyebrows furrowed, "So?"

He gave me a look as if I was stupid and walked off to talk to the other pack warriors. A few seconds later, Matthew emerged from the woods, carrying a compass.

"How far have we gone?" I asked, leaning over to grab my water bottle from my backpack. He glanced at me and turned back to the compass, "Far enough. I think if we walk for another hour at the same pace, we should hit the twenty-five mile mark. Think you can handle that?"

"I'm sure I can," I said firmly, slinging my backpack over my shoulder.

I would practically have to run next to the group to keep up with their werewolf speed, but I didn't feel like being carried for another hour. I was sure my feet would turn purple if I didn't get the blood flowing in them.

"Alright! We're leaving!" Hudson yelled and started walking deeper into the woods. Matthew, Boston, and I fell into a line behind him and Matthew started discussing where we could stop for the night.

"We can stop at this stream. It's near the edge of the woods and the Venus Pack border," he said, pointing at the blue line on his map. Hudson took the map from his hands and nodded in approval, "Fine. We will stop there and hunt. If I remember correctly, the valley had a lot of elk and deer."

"Are we hunting for dinner?" I asked, slightly worried. I wasn't about to eat raw meat in my human form.

"Obviously," he said in a 'duh' tone. I held back a sigh and started to pray that one of the warriors had a lighter or matchbox so I could cook whatever meat I could catch in human form.

***

"We can stop here. I can hear the stream close by," Hudson said, dropping his bag on the grassy area. The warriors immediately dropped their things and started stripping themselves so they could shift into their wolves. I averted my eyes and rummaged through my backpack for the thin blanket I had packed. Hopefully, it wouldn't get too cold and this blanket would suffice.

There was a soft patter of footsteps as everyone started shifting into their wolves and rushing into the valley, where there was apparently a herd of deer and a couple of rabbits. I sighed and plopped on the ground, staring at the evening sky.

I didn't really know how to feel. Hudson carried me for three hours without me even asking, so that must mean he cared to a certain extent. And if I was being completely honest with myself, I was definitely hoping this trip would bring us closer together. If not, I wasn't quite sure how to go through this mate-ship at all.

There was a low rustle from behind me, causing me to stiffen. I turned my head and trailed my eyes over the line of trees, trying to figure out where the noise was coming form. I reached forward quietly and gripped my baseball bat tightly.

Suddenly, a grey wolf came into view, carrying a piece of blood meat. A sigh of relief escaped me as I recognized Devin's wolf. He stopped before me and placed, what I assumed was a rabbit foot, in front of my feet.

Although I was a bit surprised by his actions, I gave him a kind smile, "Uh, thank you for the..... rabbit foot."

He gave me a wolfish grin and bent his head, making me chuckle. I leaned over and scratched the back of his ears gently as he almost seemed to sigh in content. A loud growl broke the silence, and Devin immediately straightened and perked his ears. I turned around in time to see a familiar large brown wolf growling with a large piece of meat between his teeth.

Devin backed up cautiously, and Hudson approached me warily. He dropped the deer meat at my feet and barked.

"Oh...wow," I said, staring at the bloody meat, "Thanks Hudson."

I wasn't quite sure whether he was comfortable with me petting him or not, so I took his furry head into my hands and gave him a soft kiss on the side of his muzzle, which was not bloody thankfully. His wolf seemed startled by my kiss and looked into my eyes curiously, tilting his head.

My eyes widened when I realized that even though Hudson's wolf was out, Hudson was still in control.

And I had just kissed him.

Hudson backed away slowly and shifted back into his human form. My cheeks flushed as he continued to stare at me in surprise and another emotion I couldn't place. He noticed my pink cheeks and gave me a small smirk before turning to put his clothes on.

It was a good thing my wolf was busy recovering or else she would have made me jump him right then and there. His muscles flexed as he put his shirt over his head and I couldn't look away. There was just something about the way his muscles moved that was breathtaking.

I was never one to pay attention to other males when they walked around naked, but Hudson was a completely different story.

"You need to stop staring," Hudson said roughly, running his fingers through his hair. My eyes immediately changed course and landed on the deer and rabbit meat.

"Why did Devin bring you that rabbit foot? Did you ask him to?"

My eyes snapped back up to Hudson, who had turned around and was leaning against the tree.

"No, he just brought it to me. I didn't ask why."

Hudson muttered something under his breath and glared at the rabbit foot as if it would attack him.

"Don't fall for his tricks. He likes to flirt with anything that doesn't have balls," Hudson snapped, glaring at Devin, who was trying to camouflage into the group of warriors.

"So he flirts with you?"

The words left my mouth before I could even stop them.

There was a sound of someone choking on their laughter behind me, and I turned my head to see Matthew and Boston watching us with great amusement.

"I'll make you swallow those words soon."

My heart nearly skipped a beat at his insinuation.

I stiffened as his lips brushed against my ear and his nose tickled my hair. Goosebumps formed on my arms as I tried to ignore the tingles that erupted everywhere our skin made contact. I suddenly felt very hot as his body heat radiated through his shirt and practically burned my skin.

However, before I knew it, he was gone and I suddenly felt very cold. Boston whistled lowly, "That was something. He looked like he wanted to eat you alive."

Boston's words made me pause. Was that what the look on his face was? It didn't really seem like it though. He just looked irritated to me.

"Come on now, you can fantasize about Hudson later. We're cooking the meat now."

I sighed and picked up the pieces of meat carefully.

I was probably overthinking everything. Hudson wouldn't change that quickly.

The next hour and a half was a complete blur. Everyone was cutting, cooking, and eating all at the same time so we could go to sleep early. Hudson had said that we were starting at three in the morning so we could make up for any lost time. By the time it was completely dark and the stars were out, the pack warriors on duty were circling the small camp and everyone else was either spreading their blankets to sleep or already asleep.

I laid down on my blanket and covered myself up with a small throw that I had bought with me. Unfortunately, it was a lot colder than I had anticipated it to be. I was pretty much shivering against the thin blanket that did nothing to protect me from the bitter cold.

My head popped up to see how everyone else was faring. They all looked extremely comfortable with their thick furry blankets. I turned my head to the right and saw Hudson sleeping peacefully under his bear skin blanket that looked extremely comfy.

One half of me was telling me to just go slide under the blanket with him and the other half was telling me to go steal the blanket from him. Eventually, I decided it was better to slip under the blanket and hope that he wouldn't notice me than steal it and face his wrath in the morning.

I scooted closer to him and inched my foot under the blanket, looking at his face a few times to make sure he wasn't stirring in his sleep. When my body was halfway under the blanket, I turned onto my side so I didn't take up as much space. However, as I was turning, an arm clamped around my waist, causing me to let out a squeak.

I was so screwed.

The arm tugged me closer, and I finally gathered the courage to roll onto my other side and face him. He raised an eyebrow as if to ask what I was doing.

"Hi," I whispered, giving him an extra sweet smile and praying he wouldn't kick me out. It was so warm under here.

"Hi," he said slowly, as if he was talking to a child, "What are you doing under my blanket? In my space?"

"I was cold," I grumbled, mentally cursing myself for not bringing an extra blanket. He rolled his eyes and pushed me back gently. I sighed and rolled out of the wonderfully heated blanket. It was good as long as it lasted.

Just as I was about to sit up and crawl back to my abandoned blanket once again, Hudson gripped my hand and yanked me back down.

"What the–?" He cut me off by shushing me loudly. I frowned and whispered quietly, "What? I'm leaving."

I couldn't see his face, but the next thing I knew, I was back under the warm blanket with my back against his chest, my body flush with his.

"You're so stupid sometimes. I was trying to turn you over," Hudson muttered, his breath tickling my neck. I stayed silent as I tried to come to terms with what just happened.

Hudson was spooning me.

We were cuddling.

Kind of.

"Go to sleep, Alexis. You're overthinking this," he grumbled, tightening his arm around my waist. I closed my eyes with a small smile on my face as I relaxed against him.

Maybe we were making progress.