Chapter 2

HUDSON

"Devin, can you be quiet for two minutes? Or I swear to the Moon Goddess, I'm going to toss you out of the car," I snapped angrily.

Devin shut his mouth almost immediately and looked out the window to avoid my glare. I rolled my eyes and went back to reading through some pack reports.

This was supposed to be a serious meeting to discuss the borders and rival packs. I couldn't have anyone messing this up with their senseless comments. We needed all the packs we could get to form a strong alliance.

"Alpha, the Burlington Pack is coming up in T-5," One of my pack warriors called out from the driver's seat.

I nodded and carefully placed the papers back in their respective folders, before observing the land as we got closer. There seemed to be several houses that formed a giant U-shape across the lands. In the middle of the rows of houses, there was one that was larger than the rest, which I assumed was the pack house. In the middle of the U, there were several warriors training vigorously under the instruction of the Gamma.

My wolf yipped in approval as he saw how hard they were training.

They can keep up with our warriors for sure.

"So why is the pack name Burlington? Do they have an obsession with Burlington Coat Factory or something?"

I turned to give Devin another glare, causing his face to pale, "What did you say, Devin? I couldn't hear you right."

There was no reply.

"Good," I muttered just as the car came to a stop.

My pack warriors immediately got out to grab our bags while the rest of us got out of the vehicle. Almost immediately, Boston and Matthew stood behind me with their arms crossed and serious looks on their faces. Although, Boston's lips kept twitching as if he wanted to break into a smile.

I observed Alpha Horris and his Luna with a cool look. They both had dark brown hair, but Alpha Horris's eyes were silver and his Luna's were brown. He had a strong build that showed he wasn't someone people could step all over.

He was going to be hard to crack, but it had to be done. We needed this agreement.

"Alpha Horris," I nodded.

"Alpha Hudson," he nodded back, "you look exactly like your father."

I cracked a small, proud smile at that even though I had heard it a million times.

Alpha Horris gestured to his Luna, "This is my mate, Malia."

I put my hand out to shake hers, but she stepped forward and pulled me into a warm hug that caught me completely off guard. My wolf was rolling around laughing at my shocked expression, and I could hear Boston trying to muffle his laughter behind me.

Luna Malia pulled back and gave me an apologetic smile, "We're a family of huggers, or at least I am. I didn't mean to startle you."

I shook my head and smiled kindly, "No harm done."

She and my mom would get along great. My mom loved hugging random strangers, much to my dad's dismay.

Alpha Horris smiled wryly and nodded to a young man standing next to him, "This is my son, Neville."

I studied the future Alpha carefully. He had a playful glint in his eyes which told me he was much more laid-back than his father, but there was also a seriousness to his look that assured me he would be a good Alpha.

I shook his hand and turned back to Alpha Horris, who seemed to be confused as he looked around. When he saw my questioning look, he shook his head to reassure me that everything was fine.

"My daughter, Alexis, was supposed to be here as well. I could have sworn she was right behind us, but she must have ran off. No worries, you'll meet her soon anyway."

Hmm, so the Alpha's precious daughter was named Alexis. From what Devin rambled about in the car, she loved shopping and was extremely self-centered.

However, before I made my own judgements, I wanted to meet her. I had first hand experience with false rumours, so I wasn't going to believe anything anyone said until I saw for myself.

My wolf purred in content which made me frown slightly. He must have been high or something because he had never made a noise like that before. Ever.

"Well, let's not hang around here. My Beta will show you around once you've settled down. I hope you don't mind staying in our house? My mate insisted on letting you guys stay with us so she could make sure you were comfortable," Alpha Horris said, giving his mate a pointed look.

She slapped his arm, causing him to chuckle.

I shook my head, "That's fine with us."

"Alright then, follow me."

I nodded at my pack warriors, who quickly grabbed the bags and followed us. As we walked by some of the houses, many people stopped to stare at us and bow their heads in respect.

"I hope they have good food," Boston muttered in the mind-link and Matthew hummed in agreement.

Of course, Devin couldn't keep his mouth shut, "I can't wait to meet some hot girls."

I growled at him.

Desperate little pup.

Suddenly, I felt something soft run into my leg and looked down to see a small pup smelling my foot. I crouched down and scratched him behind his ears.

"And what's your name, pup?"

He blinked and shifted back into his human form. I smiled at the little boy, who couldn't be older than five. He grinned, showing off his crooked teeth.

"I'm Wex," he said, trying to make the r-sound.

I chuckled and stood up. "It's nice to meet you, Rex. How old are you?"

He grabbed my finger and started pulling me towards the Alpha's house, "I'm five years old. Daddy says that I can fight cwime now since I ate all my banananas."

Before I could correct him about the bananas, we stepped inside the foyer where the Luna and another woman were standing, looking awfully worried.

"Rex!" A woman exclaimed, "where did you run off to? I was so worried."

Rex ran towards the woman and hugged her legs, "I was playing with my wolf, mommy. He was sad."

She sighed and bent down to pick him up, whispering something in his ears that he nodded excitedly at.

Luna Malia turned to me and smiled weakly, "Horris and Neville had to check out an issue with one of the the pack borders, but they should be back soon. You can head into the kitchen. Alexis made lunch for all of you, and I'll take your pack warriors up to the bedrooms so they can drop off your luggage."

"Is everything alright with the border?" I asked gravelly. It sounded like they were having the same issues other packs were having.

The Luna sighed, "It's the same thing. Rogues trying to enter the pack grounds, but thankfully the situation is under control this time."

I couldn't help but notice how she winced when she said this time, as if last time was a huge disaster. I made a note to ask Alpha Horris later about this.

"Any how, please go eat lunch. I'm sure you are all starving."

"You got that right," Boston chirped from behind me.

Luna Malia laughed and gestured to the door in the corner, "Right this way then."

I thanked her and followed Boston and Matthew, who were pretty much running, into the kitchen. When I walked in, I was hit with the delicious smell of fried chicken, lasagna, and freshly baked cookies. My stomach growled in approval as I got closer to the island.

Boston and Matthew were staring at someone curiously, and I turned my head to stare at the back of the Alpha's daughter.

She was humming quietly as she grabbed something from the oven, which I assumed were the cookies, but the weird thing was that I couldn't keep my eyes off her.

Her light brown hair glinted in the sunlight as it tumbled forward with her movement. She looked short, but since I was 6'3", everyone looked short. To a normal person, she would be considered tall. She also seemed to have a perfect figure that she hid under a loose white tank top and a pair of black joggers.

"I hope you guys like cookies, because I made way too many," she said, turning around to face us with a warm smile on her face.

I immediately made contact with her chocolate brown eyes and inhaled sharply as something in me surged. My heartbeat escalated and my palms became sweaty as we stared at each other.

It was like there was something tugging at my heart. Something clicking together as the two of us gaped at one another. My wolf was howling and growling loudly, trying to get me to move closer to her.

But all I did was stare.

Stare at the one thing I was trying not to find.

My mate.