Page 35 of Tangled Fates

BRODY.

The second his voice faded away, panic gripped my heart. Brody was in trouble, I just knew it. His voice sounded so weak, and his inability to strengthen his voice within groupthink had me wondering all sorts of asinine things. Had someone captured him? Was he being held hostage somewhere? Was he sick? Dying in a ditch somewhere?

The thought pushed me onward, racing me back into Bend. I clamored down the mountain with determination pumping through my veins. Dirt flew behind me in hunks as my talons dug into the earth just to propel me the smallest bit forward. I had to get to the guys. I had to tell them what I had just heard. But, out of nowhere, a moving shadow dropped right in front of me.

And as I stood there, gazing into the beady, shimmering eyes of the darkness itself, my instincts finally kicked in.

Hudson?

He gnashed his teeth together. Where do you think you’re going?

I tilted my head. Back to the pack. Something terrible has happened.

He lowered himself, almost as if he were in a fighting stance. I’m not letting you go anywhere.

WHAT?

I processed his words before I chose how to respond. Move.

No.

Move, or I’ll make you move.

They call me Demon Dog for a reason. Try it and see.

Are you disobeying your Alpha, Hudson?

That depends. Are you really assuming that you’re acting like one?

OH, SHIT.

Fine. If he didn’t want to talk, then I’d simply go around him. I stepped to the left and watched him move with me. So, I stepped to the right, and watched him move with me. I danced around, watching him move in tandem with every single step I took, as if we were somehow connected at the hip.

So, I jutted my ass into the air and projected myself over him.

Only for him to jump up and bat me back down to the ground.

Are you fucking kidding me right now? Brody’s in trouble and you’re trying to play hardball!?

Without thinking, I shifted back into my human form and puffed my chest out with pride. “You want to fight? Then fuck around and find out. But one way or another, I’m getting back to that pack.”

Hudson shifted back into his human form, clad in that all-black clothing of his. “Go ahead and try. You only just learned how to shift a few days ago. I’d love to see you attempt getting around me.”

I furrowed my brow. “What the hell has gotten into you? Is something going on in town?”

He stalked toward me, his stare never disconnecting from mine. “I think someone needs to make it very clear to you that it’s not just about you. In fact, it’s never once been about you.”

I scoffed. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me,” he glowered as his shadow cloaked my body. “You don’t get to just run off every time it gets hard. You don’t get to take off in the middle of your responsibilities. In the middle of the entire pack needing your guidance just because you feel overwhelmed.”

“I can do what I want, Hudson.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, too. You don’t get to waltz into this lifestyle, whether your father put you here or not, and act like a spoiled little brat because your life didn’t turn out the way you wanted it to. Newsflash: none of our lives turned out the way we wanted them to. So, stop acting like you’re alone in your fight.”

“Are you talking about Lila there? Or something else?”

His jaw pulsed as he ground his teeth together. “The fuck does she have to do with anything? And how the hell do you know her name?!”

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