Free Web NovelChapter 73: Chapter 73 The Waiting
Third Person POV
Hudson’s office sat in silence until a sharp knock interrupted the stillness.
Beta Dominic entered, carrying a folder thick enough to beat someone with. "Alpha Hudson, here’s everything on Nyx Collective."
The folder landed with a heavy thud on the desk.
Hudson picked it up and began flipping through pages without comment. With each page, his jaw set a little tighter. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com
So this was what Christina had been dealing with all along. Office politics at their worst.Backstabbers undermining her designs. Colleagues stealing her concepts. Being shouted down in meetings by people who couldn’t match her talent if their lives depended on it.
"Fucking hell," Hudson muttered.
He leaned back in his chair, tapping his fingers against one particular name in the report. "Rexford Caldwell. Why does that name sound familiar?"
"He runs Titan Growth Fund, one of Nyx Collective’s investors. Not involved in daily operations. He requested a meeting last week, but your schedule was full."
Hudson rubbed his chin. "Right. The name rings a bell now. Tell him I’ll make time. Set it up."
"Yes, Alpha ."
After Dominic left, Hudson reopened the folder more carefully. The report contained far more detail than what Cassian had gathered from Ysolde. According to the final section, some minor actress was having custom jewelry created for an Italian film festival, which had sparked the entire conflict.
Hudson grabbed his phone and made a call.
"The Venice Film Festival next month. Will you be attending?" he asked directly.
The voice brightened immediately. "Of course. Why?"
"Are you wearing jewelry?"
"Obviously. I’m planning to destroy that red carpet. My dress and jewelry set are exclusive pre-season pieces from Amarante. I’m the first celebrity to wear them."
"Return the jewelry. You’ll wear mine instead."
"What?" The shriek nearly pierced his eardrum. "Since when do you make jewelry?"
"I don’t. My wife does. You’ll wear her designs."
Silence stretched so long he thought the call had disconnected.
"Hudson Laurent. Have you completely lost your mind? Or is this some elaborate joke?"
"Neither. Let’s have dinner. I’ll introduce you to Christina."
He ended the call before she could protest further.
***
10:03 PM.
Still no sign of her.
Hudson hadn’t moved from the sofa for hours. His dinner sat half-finished; a barely touched steak, three bites of salad, and enough whiskey to strip paint from walls.
Her text had arrived at six, suspiciously cheerful, [Out with Ysolde. Might be late!]
Late, his ass.
Christina didn’t just "casually" go for drinks. She didn’t approach anything casually. This was clearly strategic avoidance, and Hudson knew retreat tactics when he saw them.
He’d sent Cassian to confirm his suspicions.
"She invited Ysolde herself. Not the other way around," his friend had reported.
Exactly as he thought. A calculated escape disguised as an innocent girls’ night out.
Hudson had waited anyway, like a fool. And continued waiting.
Finally, patience exhausted, he barked into his phone, "Get Ysolde out of there. I want Christina back. Now."
Cassian laughed."Man, you two are insane. I’m not your damn errand boy. If she wants to stay out, let her."
The call disconnected.
Hudson tossed his phone aside and glared at the time again.
10:08 PM.
So she was dodging their rehearsal? Fine.
But another possibility nagged at him. A worse one.
Had she discovered his lie?There was no cousin.No pathetic story about some relative bringing a fake girlfriend to Christmas dinner. He’d invented that tale specifically for Christina’s benefit.
But she had no connections to his family. No way to discover the truth.
This sudden night out was most likely her avoiding the kiss practice he’d proposed.
Hudson wasn’t letting her off that easily, though. Not after the night he’d just experienced.
He hadn’t properly slept. Every time he closed his eyes, he found himself drawn back to that sofa where she’d fallen asleep against him. Her warm breath against his chest. Her laughter vibrating through his skin. Her legs tangled with his as if they belonged there.
"She drives me insane," he muttered.
"That’s because she’s our mate," Lycaon growled inside him. "You know it. I know it. We should just mark her as ours forever."
"No, that would terrify her. She just went through Niall’s betrayal and doesn’t seem to believe in fated mates anymore."
"You’re right. Her wolf Akira doesn’t react much to me either. She hasn’t even tried to communicate with me," Lycaon said dejectedly.
While waiting for Christina to return, Hudson fell into vivid dreams again.
In his dreams, things hadn’t stopped at innocent couch cuddling.
First came the sofa. Then his bed. Then that hotel room he’d secretly purchased after their one night together.
Dream-Christina had straddled him again, just like that night. That single, scorching encounter when she’d taken control and made him forget his own name. The pull between them had been primal, unstoppable, the kind only fated mates experience.
In the dream, Hudson flipped her beneath him. She wrapped her arms around his back, gasped his name, pulled him closer as if desperate for him to stay.
And he didn’t leave. He drove into her relentlessly while she clung to him as though she wanted him to consume her completely.
He’d awakened furious and aroused. His duvet had been kicked to the floor. Sweat plastered his skin to the sheets. Two glasses of ice water did nothing to cool him down.
Hudson ended up in the kitchen, shirtless and disheveled, glaring at the marble counter as if it had personally offended him.
Still hard. Still angry. Still consumed by thoughts of her.
If he couldn’t find peace tonight, neither would she.
Hudson called the bar. The Cider & Smoke would be closing early tonight due to some manufactured emergency; the manager could choose whatever excuse seemed most plausible.
Hudson didn’t care about the details. He just wanted Christina out of there.
Thirty minutes later, he heard tires on the driveway.
Geoffrey appeared in the living room doorway. "Alpha Hudson? Luna Christina has returned. She’s speaking with the driver, should be inside momentarily."
"Mm." Hudson didn’t look up. He kept his eyes on his tablet, one hand flicking through screens as if reading something important. freēwebnovel.com
He wasn’t. He’d been scrolling the same page for twenty minutes.
Geoffrey wasn’t fooled. The butler noticed how Hudson sat straighter, how his fingers smoothed the wrinkles from his shirt, betraying that he hadn’t just been casually waiting.
The change was subtle but unmistakable.
Geoffrey said nothing, simply withdrawing silently, wise enough to recognize when to disappear.
