Chapter 24

ALEXIS

I stood there awkwardly for a few minutes before I snapped out of my daze and put the wooden spoon down.

Was it going to be awkward between us again?

I shook my head and sighed. There was really no point in crying over spilled milk– it was best to continue as if nothing happened so I could protect my heart. I wasn't going to allow myself another heartbreak.

My wolf was quiet this whole time, and I knew she didn't want to say anything that would make me feel worse. I felt her happiness the whole time we kissed, and now, she seemed disappointed and angry.

Angry with Hudson.

"Alexis?"

I plastered a smile on my face when my eyes found Boston's, "Hey Boston."

He scratched the back of his neck, "Sorry to interrupt your thinking, but um, Hudson decided to change the meeting time and it's now at eleven."

My eyes widened and I flipped around to check the time on the microwave.

It was ten-thirty. I only had half an hour to get ready!

"So what do people wear to these meetings?" I asked Boston, quickly making my way to the front door.

"It's very formal. Everyone wears suits and dresses."

"Great," I muttered and thanked him before I left the house.

I was praying that either Lucy or Dorothy were at home so they could help me out. I had brought enough clothes to last me until today, so I pretty much had nothing to wear now, not to mention that my spares had mostly consisted of jeans and t-shirts.

When I knocked on the door to his parent's house, Lucy opened it with a smug smile, "I thought you would come. I have the perfect dress for you."

I let out a relieved sigh, "Lucy, you're a lifesaver."

"I know."

She led me up to her room where she had two dresses laid out on her bed. She picked up the black one and handed it to me, "I've never worn this one because it was a size too big, but I think it will fit you just fine."

The smile on my face grew as I studied the dress carefully.

It was perfect.

"You can change in the bathroom," she said, pointing at one of the doors to her right. I slipped into the bathroom and pulled the dress on carefully, making sure I didn't pull it roughly. The last thing I needed was to rip the dress.

Once I had it on, I turned to the mirror and adjusted the straps a bit. It was a good thing I decided to not wear a bra today because it definitely would show under the dress.

There was knock on the door, "Hurry up, Alexis. Stop staring at yourself in the mirror. We all know you're gorgeous."

I laughed and open the door, "Look who's talking. Has anyone told you that you look like Audrey Hepburn with black hair?"

She rolled her eyes, "Believe me, they have. At one point, some of the pack members called me Audrey just to annoy me."

I chuckled and stepped outside, "I'll see you downstairs."

"Don't forget to be confident. You're the Luna so you better show those she-wolves that pine after my brother that they have nothing on you."

"She-wolves pine after your brother?" I asked slowly, and for the first time this morning, my wolf stood up and shook her fur out as if expecting to fight.

My mate.

Lucy laughed, "Now, now. No need to get jealous. Hudson only has eyes for you. Have you seen the way he looks at you?"

"Not really," I muttered, tracing the hem of the dress.

She clucked her tongue and pushed me forward, "Well, I'm not going to explain. Just catch him staring and you'll know the look. Now, shoo, we only have twenty minutes."

I rolled my eyes amusedly and made my way downstairs. To my surprise, Hudson and his parents were standing in the foyer ready to go.

"Why, don't you look beautiful? Lewis, look, our grandbabies are going to be models," Dorothy exclaimed, squeezing my cheeks.

"Thank you," I said, but it sounded more like "Honk ou."

"Mom, let her be," Hudson chuckled, saving me from his mother's grip. He wrapped his hand around my waist and squeezed it. I kept the smile on my face even though I was very confused.

What happened to his cold mood from before? Was he going to act like that never happened? Why did he look so good in a suit? Why was his hand moving closer to my ass?

I quickly clasped his hand to stop it from moving any closer and turned my head to glare at him. He had a barely visible smirk on his face, but he moved his hand back up to the middle of my back again where it was much more appropriate.

"Well, Alexis and I are going to head out. We'll see you all in the meeting hall," Hudson said to his parents, interrupting their banter. They nodded at us and Hudson pulled me gently toward the front door. Once we were outside, I turned to him and cocked my head, "Are you feeling okay?"

He didn't say anything and held my hand as we walked down a wide pathway towards a tall building. I walked beside him silently but made sure to give him pointed looks at times to show him that I wasn't letting up.

I wanted answers and he was going to give them to me.

"I want to talk to you after this meeting," he said quietly, breaking the tense atmosphere.

"I would think so," I muttered.

He sighed and stopped me from walking any further. I blinked and gave him a curious look to which he stared at me with a long look, "Alexis."

"Yes?"

He pursed his lips and leaned forward, covering my mouth with his. I squeaked in surprise before I cupped his cheeks and kissed him back. His lips curved into a smile as he nipped my lip and pulled back.

"What was that for?" I breathed out, wiping the bottom of my mouth to make sure my lipstick didn't smudge. He rubbed the corner of my mouth and grabbed my left hand in his right one again.

"I believe there's a saying that a kiss speaks more than words," he said, raising an eyebrow.

I looked at him amusedly as we started walking down the empty pathway again, "That's silence, not kisses."

He rolled his eyes, "Be quiet, Alexis. You're ruining the moment."

I burst into laughter at the irony of the situation while Hudson just watched me with a grin on his face. His eyes had little laugh wrinkles around them that for some reason, reminded me of Lucy's words.

"Have you seen the way he looks at you?"

The way he was looking at me right now made me feel like I was the only one who could make him smile like that. Like I was the best thing in the world to him.

His smile made my day brighter because it gave me hope. Hope that perhaps we weren't going back to square one and we were finally moving forward with our relationship. Maybe we were on the same page.

He opened the door to the building and let me go in first like a gentleman.

"So," he said, pointing to the stage where there was a large podium, "You will be standing onstage beside me with Boston and Matthew. The pack may have questions, and I figured that you would want to answer a few yourself."

I nodded, "Sounds good."

Just as we made our way up the stairs, the door opened and pack members started to trickle into the room one by one. Ten minutes later, there was a huge crowd gathered in the hall where they took their seats and stared at us expectantly.

Boston and Matthew stepped onto the stage and gave Hudson a nod, fixing their suits.

"Who's the pretty lady?" Boston joked, giving me a smile.

I grinned and looked up at the man standing beside me, "He's right, Matthew. You clean up very nicely."

Matthew rolled his eyes and unbuttoned his collar, "Shut up you two."

I shook my head with a smirk. Whoever was Matthew's mate had their work cut out. He was a tough cookie to break. I had hardly seen him smile or laugh more than five times.

"We're starting," Hudson muttered to us quietly, making us straighten up. He stepped forward toward the podium and cleared his throat into the mic, causing silence to spread through the room immediately.

"My fellow pack members, we are gathered here today to discuss a very serious issue. As many of you may have already heard, there was a griffin on our land yesterday. He has threatened the safety of our Luna and our pack. It is confirmed that there will be a war with the griffins unless we surrender our Luna and I'm sure all of you are against the idea."

I expected at least one person to stand up and say they wanted to turn me in, considering the fact that there were about five hundred people in this pack, but they all looked at me with concern instead.

"For that reason," Hudson continued, "There will be adjustments to the pack. Everyone is required to train two times a day now, unless you are, of course, pregnant or sick. Next, there will be twice as many wolves assigned to border patrol. Everything must be reported directly to me, you will not report to Gamma Boston any longer. If there is anything suspicious, contact me and I will be there immediately. However, if any of you screw up or think it is funny to play around, there will be consequences. Beware, these next two months are going to be rough. Are there any questions?"

A hand shot up in the back, and a young woman stood up confidently. She looked at me with a small smile before addressing Hudson, "Alpha, I'm just curious, what's so special about our Luna that the griffins want her?"

Hudson looked down at me as if to ask whether I was comfortable with him talking about my blessing. I gave me him a tiny smile before stepping closer, telling him that I would like to answer the question myself. I cleared my throat softly, "I'm sure all of you want an explanation, after all, you are all graciously putting your lives on the line for me which I'm so thankful for. As for the reason why this is all happening, I have a blessing. From the Moon Goddess."

There was a pin-drop silence– even the man sniffling in the corner stopped. I waited a few seconds for my statement to sink in before I continued, "Unfortunately, my blessing makes griffins immortal and that is why they want me."

I was pretty sure at least two hundred mouths fell open at that, while the rest had wide eyes. I stepped to the side again and let Hudson come forward once more.

He cleared his throat, "Are there any other questions?"

Everyone seemed to be in a daze so Hudson nodded slowly, "Okay then, thank you all for being here. If you have any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to ask. Dismissed."

The pack members got up slowly and made their way out the door, a few giving me kind smiles and nods as they walked by. Hudson's family walked by and gave us a thumbs up as they left as well.

"Well, that went well," Hudson muttered, watching as his pack left the building in a rush. He turned to me and put his hand out for me to grab, "Now if you two will excuse us, we are going to have a little talk."

I took his hand slowly and waved to the two men as we made our way offstage and exited through the back door.

"What did you want to talk about?" I asked, not missing a beat once we were all alone outside.

He scratched the back of his head and chuckled nervously, "This is a lot harder than I thought it would be."

"What do you mean?"

He swallowed hard, "Remember how when we first met I said that I wanted you to meet my expectations before I accepted you?"

"Yes?" I trailed off, trying to understand what he was getting at.

He licked his lips and took my other hand in his as well, making my heart skip a beat. There were so many possibilities racing through my head, but I kept my mouth shut so he could finish whatever he was planning on saying.

"Well, to put it sweet and simple, I'm an idiot." He stated bluntly, making me blink hard in shock. I was not expecting that.

He let out a short snort and shook his head, "I don't know what I was thinking. How could I have asked you to live up to some stupid list when you are so much more than that? You are the most wonderful mate I could have ever asked for and there's not a single fucking list in the world that will ever compare to you. I don't give a fuck that you have flaws because we all do, and I like the Alexis that I've come known. She's sweet, funny, adorable, and extremely patient. I have no idea how you waited this long for my stupid ass to man the fuck up."

I didn't even realize tears were filling my eyes until Hudson's face became blurry.

"You're not supposed to cry yet, I didn't even ask you the question," he said as he noticed the tears that were about to overflow. I gave him a watery grin and shook my head, "Then get to the point, you idiot."

He chuckled and traced his thumbs over my knuckles, "I will, but let me finish. I still have a lot to say. But anyway, back to what I was saying before. After we kissed this morning, I realized that if anything ever happened to you..." he trailed off and swallowed hard, "I would never forgive myself. You're the best thing that has ever happened to me and I fucked it up by being a stubborn asshole."

He looked me in the eye and gave me a small smile, "I used to think my mate would worship me, but I was completely wrong. You've managed to get me on my knees."

He paused to exhale deeply and clear his throat, "Alexis, will you be my mate? Officially?"

"Yes," I choked out and wrapped my arms around his neck as he swept me into a passionate kiss.

There was nothing that could match this feeling of euphoria as we stood there in each other's arms.