Chapter 5 - Hudson
I never knew the utterance of a single word could rock everything I thought I knew about the world so completely.
“What the fuck?” I whisper, then lock on to Jenny’s face.
She’s wondering too.
When did they learn to talk?
Could my brother? Wherever he’s at?
Can they be reasoned with?
It’s taken every ounce of control to stand and watch while he sliced her.
Tested her.
Now he’s locked with her, swollen in the aftereffects of his release.
I shouldn’t know as much about those moments as I do. But I know the sensitivity is unmatched, the level of pleasure nothing like what I experienced before the virus.
And I’m jealous as hell he gets to have that with her, while I stand here with the damn prod in my hand, watching.
The fact that she came while that monster violated her tears a hole in my chest.
When the creature withdraws his softening cock, the sour smell of blood mixed with her other bodily fluids stings my nose.
I’m done.
“Go on.” I wave the cattle prod menacingly. “Out!” I have no idea how much he understands, but I make sure the meaning comes out in my bellow.
His lips curl from long canines tinged pink from her wounds.
“Bastard,” I hiss. “Don’t make me use this.” I flick the button making an arc of current run in a flickering bolt between the prongs.
Amber eyes narrow as a low growl emanates from the massive furred chest.
His claws click on the concrete when he jumps from the table, his long purple cock leaving a trail of droplets as he moves towards the open steel bay door.
I hope I never have to see him again.
As soon as the room slams shut, I rush to Jenny and start tugging on her restraints. “Are you okay?” I ask in hushed tones.
The less the damn white coats behind the glass can hear, the better.
Tears stain her cheeks. “I shouldn’t have…I didn’t want to…” Her voice trembles, rubbing her raw wrists.
It only takes a moment before the abrasions heal.
But I know the pain she suffered goes much deeper than that.
“I got you.” Cradling her huddling, naked form against me, I move to the access to the hall and start kicking the plate at the bottom of the door.
“Let us the fuck out!” I yell towards the camera facing down from the corner.
With a buzz and a click, the lock releases.
Using my elbow, I push us out into the chilly corridor heading towards her room.
“I don’t know why. I hate it,” she whimpers against my chest.
“It isn’t your fault.” I understand better than most the lure of a mate.
Having their smell saturated into every fiber.
Like a rope, pulling at my chest.
I know, because I’ve felt it for years with her. The yearning, the lust, the obsession to be near her.
But I’ve never acted on it.
With my cheek, I tag the button near my jaw to activate the radio. “Ash, I need you to kill the cameras in two-forty-two.”
Jenny’s eyes flicker up, her brows furrowing over her nose.
Ash is one of the few people I moderately trust. He knows how I’ve felt about Jen forever.
It’s been a lingering promise from him to help, one I’ve never fully taken advantage of.
Until today.
Swiping my key card is second nature to her room.
I think I’m in here more than my own.
“Hud?” Her voice stammers when the door swings shut. “Why are the cameras off?” She still clings to the front of my uniform.
“Privacy,” I grunt. Striding into her bathroom, I yank the knob to turn on the shower.
It doesn’t take long for steam to fill the small space.
Clothes and all, I step under the downpour, fighting the shiver that always hits from the stimulation.
And holding her in my arms makes it twice the struggle to not come in my pants.
Her honey scented shampoo helps to dampen the wet dog smell that sticks to her skin.
My fingers bury into her golden locks, slowly massaging the soap against her scalp.
She tilts her head and looses a low moan. “God, that feels good.”
I want to erase every trace of that monster, inside and out.
“Did you mean it?” I whisper against her ear. “That you wished it was me?”
Her eyes had been so serious, free of any teasing or fire.
They were raw, begging, pleading for me to be the one to rescue her.
I need to know it wasn’t just because I was the lesser evil.
Her slippery body twists in my grasp, pressing her naked breasts against my belly.
“Hudson, every day I have to remind myself that you’re the enemy. It’s the only thing keeping this from happening.” She blinks quickly, her tears mixing with the rivulets of hot water.
“Jen—” I falter. Is this the moment where I quit everything I’ve worked for?
Her lips purse watching my indecision. When they thin and she begins to turn away, I know what I have to do.
“—I’m like you,” I say in a rush, pausing her with my thumb on her jaw. “I’m here trying to find my daughter.” It feels as if a weight lifts from my shoulders.
One I’ve carried in silence, alone, for too many years.
Her chin trembles, then she slowly reaches up through the cascade to wipe the gray from my temples. “I knew you were different. Tell me the truth, Hud. I’ll know if you’re lying.”
I take a deep breath knowing it’s no use trying to still my racing heart.
“When the virus hit, I was twenty-four.” Even that admission is terrifying.
Her eyes flicker between mine as I’m sure she’s calculating.
“Yea, I’m almost fifty.” Looking in the mirror won’t show that. It’s only been the use of shitty cover-ups that I’ve tried to look my true age.
A smile lifts the corner of her lip. “How did you make it in? They have such strict rules…”
I don’t feel the scratch until she’s staring at my neck.
Of course she’d test me.
Arching my throat, I let her watch the wound heal over and disappear. I’ve seen it happen so many times in a hurry to shave in the mornings.
“Hud,” she breathes out. “You really are.” Her wary gaze fills with wonder.
Then her brows drop. “And all this time you let them treat me like a piece of fucking livestock.”
Grabbing her wrists, I pin them against my chest before she follows through with the flash of hatred I see in her glare. “I was trying to find my daughter. They took her, Jen. She’s been here, in the system. She’s like us, maybe even faster healing.”
I watch her face run a range of emotions as all the pieces begin to fall into place.
“Why are you telling me this now?” Her palms wrap on my biceps.
That’s the question.
I pull her closer until the heat of her body soaks through my wet uniform.
“Because I can’t go another moment watching you get hurt.
That bond you always talk about? I feel it with you.
I was completely gutted having to stand there and watch that…
that…” I can’t finish. Anger feels like a pressure cooker inside of me ready to explode.
“What about your daughter?” Her blond hair plasters around her cheeks as she looks up at me.
My jaw clenches. “It’s been over two decades without a trace. You’re here. Now.”
She tugs her hands free, then snugs them behind my neck, pulling me down until her lips brush my ear. “Will you help me escape?” she says it so quietly, even with my heightened hearing I barely make out the words.
A low growl rumbles out of my chest. “Fuck, Jen. Don’t you get it? I’d do anything for you. I can’t watch you go through any more pain.”
She shifts her hands to frame my face, moving until our noses nearly touch. “Then kiss me, Hud. Make me yours and take me away.”
When my lips lower to crash into hers, the earth pauses in its rotation.
An insurmountable force swells within, spilling into the passion of my mouth.
Years of longing churn and meld into a singular moment.
This is my purpose.