“There have been a few cases, but there’s no telling if it’s universal. I would suggest not testing the theory.”
“I think I’m good.” Dex had no intention of keeling over on international soil just to prove he couldn’t live without Sloane. Literally.
“Now you take everything I have told you and have yet to tell you and multiply it by ten, and that is how Sloane feels about you.”
Dex stared at him.
“You aren’t the only one growing accustomed to all this. For Sloane, it’s more difficult. He’s always at war with his Therian side. He can be dangerous. Lethal. He’ll need you to take care of him, soothe him, show him you’re his and always will be.”
“But he knows that.”
“He does. His feral half is another matter. The beast inside him fears you’ll be taken from him. You’ll see him behind Sloane’s eyes when there are potential threats in sight. His instincts will be on high alert. He’ll need to reassure himself by touching you, being aware of your location in a room, who’s around you.”
That part Dex had already experienced during a night out. It didn’t go so well. Something occurred to Dex, and he forced himself to ask. “Did anything change when Seb marked you? I mean, besides everything you just said, were you changed in any way?”
Hudson cocked his head in thought. “As I said, everyone is different, but besides what we’ve discussed, I haven’t experienced any other changes, but then Seb and I are both Therians, and as rare as marking is, it’s more common among Therian pairs than pairs where one is a Human.”
That’s what Dex figured. He supposed all he could do was wait and see.
Hudson looked at his watch. “Oh, I’m terribly sorry. I promised Nina I would meet her for lunch.”
“How are things between you two?” The last time he’d seen them, Hudson had been deeply hurt to find out Nina had been in a secret relationship with Rafe. The guy had made Hudson’s life a living hell after the shooting incident that tore Seb and Hudson apart.
“It’s a bloody mess,” Hudson said with a sigh. “I feel for Rafe and his condition, but it doesn’t excuse all the years of deplorable behavior. The man tried to get me sacked after the incident and almost succeeded. He dragged my name through the mud, brought me before our superiors, questioned my integrity. How can I simply forget the campaign he launched against me? If it weren’t for Seb, Rafe would have had everyone in the department believing his tripe.
“Of course Nina feels guilty, and I’m having a dreadful time with it all. I’m trying. I truly am. But our relationship has suffered a terrible blow.” Hudson’s eyes filled with sadness. “She broke my heart and my trust. After all we’ve been through, she kept her relationship with Rafe a secret from me. The only good to come out of the whole thing is that the Hobbs brothers are united for once. Their bond seems to be healing. Julia—Seb’s mother—is overjoyed. For the first time in years, her boys are not only getting along but supporting each other. I would never take that from Seb. For all his anger at his brother, he loves him.”
Hudson stood, and Dex accompanied him to the door. “Well, I guess that’s something.” He was glad the feud between Seb and Rafe had ended. Poor Hobbs was always caught in the middle of his big brothers’ epic battles and ended up an unwitting casualty of war. Dex caught Hudson’s elbow. There was something else he was curious about.
“Tell me to fuck off if it’s none of my business, but what happened between you and Seb at the hospital? The guy barely left your side.” Dex watched as Hudson’s heart broke all over again.
“When I woke up, he took my hand and said he’d always known I loved him.” Hudson worried his bottom lip, his eyes growing glassy. He straightened and blinked a few times, a tragic smile coming onto his face. “I told him I did love him and might possibly never stop loving him, but love was not enough. There would never be an us again. I thanked him for staying with me and told him I could manage.”
“You told him to leave?”
Hudson nodded. “He was exhausted. I could see. So he listened. When he walked out, I cried for quite some time.”
Dex grabbed Hudson, most likely startling him, and hugged him tight. “I’m so sorry. If you ever need anything, if you need to talk, you call me, okay?”
“I will.” Hudson pulled back and wiped the wetness from his cheek. “Thank you, Dex. Same to you, okay?”
They exchanged a few more pleasantries before Hudson was gone, and Dex sat in his living room on the couch. He really wished things would work out for Hudson and Seb, but the way things were going, it wasn’t looking good. There had to be something Dex could do. Why was Hudson being so stubborn? It was true that love alone wasn’t always enough, but he wasn’t even giving them a chance. Love was all about taking chances, giving, taking, working through things together. Sometimes Dex didn’t understand Therians.
With a sigh, Dex went to the kitchen to make himself some lunch. He was tired and in need of a nap, but he was glad Hudson had stopped by. Between his time with Sloane, his napping, and Hudson, Dex had little time to think about Wolf, TIN, and the supposed file. That was a lie. He was purposefully avoiding thinking about it. Thinking about it meant thinking about his parents and their death. He wasn’t ready to do that. Let TIN figure it out.
“Fucking coward.” Dex stopped in front of the open fridge, staring at nothing in particular. Why was he a coward? He’d been kidnapped and tortured, for fuck’s sake. He’d been told his parents were murdered. Was it too much to ask for a mini break, some time for his body to heal before he jumped into the next fucking drama? Could he not go a few weeks without his life falling apart? Without someone trying to kill him, hurt him, make him bleed? He let out a frustrated growl and slammed the fridge door shut. The whole thing wobbled, and Dex stared at it. Shit. “All right, that’s enough of that.” He wasn’t going to go down that path. Nope.
He walked into the living room and straight to his iPod. He found one of his favorite playlists filled with his all-time favorite bands, cranked up the volume, and nodded. Whitesnake.
“Oh yeah.” Dex played his air guitar on the way to the kitchen and sang along. He knew all the words to all the songs he owned. He rocked out, danced to his eighties pop, and sang cheesy romantic ballads into his spatula as he baked. Feeling much more like himself, he propped his phone up on the counter and pulled up the empanada recipe he’d gotten from Letty. The Cuban ones were slightly different from Rosa’s Puerto Rican ones. There were no plantains in them. Dex had trouble with vegetables, so he decided all meat would be fine. Sloane loved any kind of empanada. It was the one carb-filled food he couldn’t get enough of.
Dex congratulated himself on cooking the ground-beef filling without eating too much of it. He filled the circular pastries, folded them over, and pressed the edges down with a fork to seal them. Then when the oil in his frying pan was nice and hot, he carefully slipped them in one by one. He used his metal salad tongs to turn them over, and once both sides were toasty brown, he moved them onto the paper towels he’d laid on the large tray. Once he was done, he covered the tray with aluminum foil and left it on the stove to one side. He finished cleaning the kitchen and airing it out when he heard a car door slam. Sloane was home!
The front door opened, and Sloane walked in. He’d just closed the door behind him and dropped his bag on the floor when Dex pounced. He landed on Sloane, his arms wrapped around his neck and his legs around Sloane’s ass.
“Holy shit.”
Sloane laughed against Dex’s lips as Dex kissed him. He needed Sloane so bad. Why was he wearing so many clothes? Off. It all had to come off. Dex tried pulling at Sloane’s jacket while kissing him, frustrated that Sloane was still dressed.