Chapter 46

ALEXIS

After the Moon Goddess had disappeared with her mate, I managed to figure out where I was after doing some scouting. I realized that if I ran for like ten minutes, I would reach the pack boundaries.

My heart was pumping as I shifted into my wolf and raced towards the west border.

I could not wait to see Hudson again.

And I already knew what I was going to say to him.

When I reached the border, there were a few wolves on guard so I shifted back and approached them. It took a few seconds for them to realize I was there, and I had to try not to laugh at their faces when they recognized me.

"L–Luna?"

I smiled and hugged the warriors, "It's nice to see you guys again."

They kept opening and closing their mouths as if they couldn't get words out. The smile on my face grew a little wider.

"Luna."

I turned around at the voice and felt my smile falter slightly, "Hi Denise."

She bowed her head respectively, "Should I mind-link Alpha Hudson to let him know you're here?"

I shook my head, "No thanks. I would like to surprise him. Where is he?"

"Uh," she trailed off awkwardly, looking at the other warriors for help.

My heart plummeted at the looks on their faces, and I pursed my lips worriedly, "Denise, where is he?"

"Luna, the griffins are here. They're trying to negotiate a deal of some sort."

My face hardened, "Take me there."

We were going to end this once for all. I was tired of this shit. All I wanted was a normal life with my mate, was that too hard to ask?

I guess the blessing sort of took away the normal part, but I didn't want to spend the rest of my life fighting off creatures with Hudson. Not to mention the pack deserved a normal life as well. They shouldn't have to keep their guards up for the rest of their lives because of me.

As Denise led me towards the location, I slowed my pace and stared down at the bag Diana had given me.

"When the time is right, open this bag. You'll know what to do."

I pulled the drawstring and peered inside. When I had a good look, I closed it slowly and smiled to myself.

Thank the Moon Goddess. I knew what to do now.

"Right here, Luna," Denise whispered from in front of me. I stepped past her and realized that we were standing to the side of the group so they hadn't noticed us yet.

I was actually amused by the sight in front of me.

Xavier and Hudson were in each other's faces and glaring murderously. The only funny thing was that Xavier was shorter than Hudson, so he was practically on his tiptoes to get in Hudson's face.

"She has to be here! Where else could she be?" Xavier yelled, making me roll my eyes.

I stepped forward and leaned against a tree, "I don't know. Maybe over here?"

Their heads shot to me, and my eyes met Hudson's immediately. It looked like he was having a hard time believing that I was actually standing in front of him.

I heard a few gasps from the rest of the crowd and felt the smile on my face widen. Hudson's face was slowly changing into of pure joy, and I could feel the mate bond exploding with his ecstasy.

Combined with the happiness I was feeling, all the emotions were overwhelmingly wonderful.

Tears filled my eyes as we continued our stare down before I finally said what I had been wanting to say since I left, "I love you, you bastard."

His smile was absolutely breathtaking as he turned to me and made a motion to come closer.

However, Xavier had to open his big mouth at that exact moment, "You, Alpha Sir, are not going anywhere. Your mate, on the other hand, will come with us."

Hudson growled menacingly, making everyone but me, my father, Breydon, and Lewis flinch.

I shook my head and mind-linked Hudson, "I've got a plan. Whatever you do, make sure you come with me."

Hudson didn't show a sign of being contacted, but his next words assured me that he heard me, "If you take Alexis, you have to take me. I'm as good as dead without her."

I decided to add some of my own dialogue to make it more believable, "Hudson, I don't want you to come. You have the pack to take care of."

Hudson stared at me with an adoring look, which was probably the only thing he was not faking, "I'm useless to them if I'm broken. I need you. So if you go, I go."

"Hold up," Xavier said, cutting off my next statement, "Let me talk to my advisors."

He turned to the group of men standing behind him and started whispering furiously to them. They nodded their heads a few times before Xavier turned back around, "We'll take both of you. Might as well get fame for being immortal and killing the strongest Alpha. People will fear us more when they find out."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and mind-linked Matthew, "Matthew, ask Lacey if there's any shortcut out of the mountains."

I waited for a few seconds as I saw Matthew lean over to ask Lacey the question. She whispered something back and he straightened casually.

"She said there's a trail that leads into the east. It will lead to a fork in the trail and if you take the right one, it will lead back this way."

"Got it, thanks. Let her know that we'll be blowing up the mountains."

"WH–?"

I shut off the mind-link and realized that Xavier was attaching a pair of handcuffs to Hudson's hand.

"Come here, Blessed One. We only have one pair of handcuffs so we're going to handcuff you together."

I wanted to cry from joy when I heard him say that. Handcuffing the two of us together was the biggest mistake they could have ever made.

The handcuffs wouldn't slow us down, if anything, it made us stronger. Now, we could feed off of each other.

I walked over to Xavier, pretending to be reluctant when in reality I was excited to be next to Hudson again. Once we were handcuffed together, Hudson leaned over and buried his nose in my hair, inhaling deeply. My wolf was practically jumping with excitement at being close to her mate again.

Xavier made a disgusted face and turned around to address some of his warriors, "I want five of you to escort these two back to the mountains. I'll be arriving later on once I deal with this pack."

"Hold up, I'll come willingly if you let the pack go. Otherwise, I'll continue to fight you off," I said, lifting my chin so he understood that I was serious about fighting back.

He narrowed his eyes, "How do I know your pack won't come after us when we leave?"

"I'll command them," Hudson chimed in, "They can't disobey my command."

Xavier grunted and looked at an older man standing to his right. The man nodded as if to say that he should leave the pack alone.

"Fine," Xavier muttered, "Command them."

Hudson cleared his throat and turned us around, "Pack members, I command you to stay here and not follow. Dad, take care of the pack."

Lewis seemed confused and horrified at what was going on while my dad seemed to be getting angrier by the second. I decided to mind-link the two of them so they got an idea of what was going on. As I explained the plan to them, their faces turned back to normal and there was a glint of amusement in both of their eyes as they realized the griffins were falling right into the trap.

"Come on, let's move. If you two do anything funny, I'll whip you with this silver whip I got specially made."

I could feel Hudson's anger in the bond and got on my tiptoes to kiss his cheek so he calmed down. His face softened and he smiled down at me, "I'm glad to have you back."

"Me too," I said as we started walking away from the pack.

I had to resist the urge to smile when I saw Breydon smirk at us discreetly and Boston wink. Clearly, news traveled fast.

***

Two hours later, we were finally heading into the mountains where we saw small little cottages lined up along the trail.

Xavier stopped and turned around, "Take them to the dungeon."

The five warriors surrounding us nodded and directed us to the left, where there were larger cottages. My guess was that the more affluent members of the griffins lived in these houses.

We stopped in front of a tall building and a pack warrior stepped forward to unlock the door.

"Wait," a voice interrupted, "Let us deal with them."

Behind us, a man and a woman stood there, carrying large backpacks. However, unlike the rest of the griffins, there was something about them that I liked. My gut instinct told me that we could trust them.

"Xavier told us to lock them up. Go suck some dick, Roger."

The man rolled his eyes, "Nah, that's your specialty."

"These two must be Lacey's friends. Matthew mind-linked me and said they would help us out."

"In that case, we have to lose these warriors. You thinking what I'm thinking?"

A sexy smirk grew on Hudson's face at my words. He winked at me before tugging me closer. I painstakingly adjusted my wrist in the handcuff so that I was able to stand in front of Hudson.

No one had noticed us moving yet because they were too busy arguing with Roger and the woman.

"One. Two," Hudson whispered in my ear, gripping my waist tightly, "Three."

He picked me up and swung me to the left so I kicked two of the warriors in the head. They fell to the ground unconscious at the force of the hit which caught the attention of the other three.

One of them growled and tried to punch us, but Hudson picked me up again so I could kick the man in the chest and shove him backward. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Roger and the woman knock the other two warriors out and smiled.

"Duck!" Hudson yelled. I moved my head just in time so the last warrior missed me. Hudson grabbed the man's neck, picked him up like he weighed nothing, and threw him against the wall of the building.

The man slid to the ground, blood pouring out of his head.

"Well then," Roger said, nodding in approval, "That was taken care of quickly. I'm Roger and this is Lena. Lacey sent us to help you. Apparently, you're blowing up the mountains?"

I nodded and picked up my bag that one of the warriors had dropped when he fell unconscious, "Do you guys have any way to get rid of the handcuffs?"

Lena stepped forward and let one of her claws come out. She swiped it over the handcuffs in three spots and it fell to the ground in two pieces.

I quickly dove into the bag and pulled out the contents excitedly.

Dynamite and a matchbox.

"I had no idea people still made dynamite this big. This seems like the stuff they used to blow up mines in the olden days," Hudson said, staring at the sticks in shock.

"I have my sources," I winked.

"Let's do this," Roger said, "Lena and I will shift into our griffins forms. You guys light the dynamite and jump on us. We fly away and watch everything explode."

"Are you guys going to be okay after this? I mean, this is your home," I asked worriedly.

They shook their heads.

"The mountains were never our home. We were forced to come here. We'll be going back to Ireland after we drop you guys off," Lena said, smiling excitedly.

I returned the smile, "Then let's get this show on the road."

In a matter of seconds, we were ready to go. I got onto Lena's back and lit a match before handing it to Hudson. I lit another match and nodded at him.

The dynamite caught the flame, and as soon as we dropped it, Lena and Roger took off into the sky. We made it out just in time to see the burst of flames and pieces of wood and rock flying everywhere.

***

An hour later, Lena and Roger landed on the ground and we got off their backs.

"Thank you so much for helping us," I said, giving them a hug. Hudson clapped Roger's back and gave Lena a quick hug as he thanked them as well.

"Tell Lacey we'll visit soon," Roger said, squawking happily, "We're going back home at last."

They nodded at us one last time before flying away once again.

I turned to Hudson and found him already staring at me. We just gazed at each other in silence.

"I can't believe it's over," I said, looking up at the sky. It was almost dark.

He pulled me into his chest, "I know. We should send some trackers over there to make sure the remaining griffins don't come back."

I nodded and closed my eyes as he kissed my forehead, "I forgot something."

My eyes flew open, "What do you mean–"

His lips landed on mine before the question left my mouth. I let out a quiet moan and wrapped my arms around his neck as he devoured my mouth hungrily.

Clearly, I wasn't the only one who experienced hell these past two days.

The kiss was desperate, frantic, and it almost seemed like he was trying to make sure I wasn't going to leave him again. He was letting out little growls as he shoved me against a tree and pinned my hands to the bark. I gasped for breath as his lips traveled down my neck to my mark. He bit it gently and sucked on it, making my knees weak with desire.

"Hudson," I whimpered as he kissed my collarbone. He pulled back, breathing heavily.

"I love you too," he growled.