“Trust me, little girl, I’ve got the balls.” To her surprise, he grudgingly held out his arms. “Bring ’er here.”
Hudson’s smile broke free, but she masked it quickly by pressing her lips together. She walked toward him and plopped the wolf pup in his arms, and damned if her heart didn’t melt when she watched the wolf snuggle against Pike’s big, muscular chest.
“Does she have a name yet?” he asked gruffly.
“Yes. But you’ll probably hate it.” Hudson beamed at him. “It’s Hope.”
Pursing his lips, he gently stroked the wolf’s head. “That’s a pussy-ass name for a wolf.”
“I don’t care,” she said stubbornly. “I like it.”
“Well, then,” he mocked. “If you like it, then I guess it’s all right.”
15
Training a wolf wasn’t as hard as Hudson thought it would be. She was copying the techniques she’d seen the Enforcers use with their dogs, only while Dominik’s men had relied on stern words and punishment-based tactics, she used a love-and-treats reward system. The only downside was that Pike kept interfering with the process, because somehow the wolf had become “theirs,” and for the past few days they’d been acting like parents bickering about their child’s upbringing.
They were arguing again that morning, because Pike had decided Hope listened only when Hudson dangled treats under her nose. He was now insisting they needed to take the treats out of the equation.
“What if we’re out in the woods and we need her to lie down, and she ignores us because we don’t have a fucking treat to give her?” he demanded with more emotion than Hudson had ever heard him voice. Granted, the emotion was a combination of anger and annoyance, but still.
“This is the initial part of the process,” she shot back. “Eventually she’ll listen because she thinks she’ll get a treat, and after that, she’ll just do it on instinct.”
Footsteps caught Hudson’s attention, and she turned to find Connor on the porch. His expression conveyed absolutely nothing, but she could tell he wasn’t happy. He hadn’t said more than a handful of words to her since she’d brought Hope back to camp. Forget sex – the man barely looked at her these days. And yeah, it bothered her, but not enough to give the wolf up, which was probably what he was hoping would happen if he continued to freeze her out.
Their gazes locked for a moment, and then he abruptly marched over, addressing Pike without even sparing a glance at the adorable wolf pup sitting at Pike’s feet. “I’m driving out to Lennox’s at sundown.”
Pike stiffened. “What for?”
“To give him one of the sat phones. It makes more sense for us to use them to keep in touch with Lennox. We can use our radios around camp.” A pained look etched into Connor’s face. “I’m going to track down Tamara too, see if she can get her hands on more phones.”
“I’ll go with you,” Pike said immediately.
Connor shook his head. “I’m going alone.”
Pike shook his head right back. “You’ll need backup.”
“I’ll be fine. I won’t be staying long.”
Hudson hedged in. “I can go with you, if you want. I actually wouldn’t mind talking to Tamara myself. I’m hoping she can get a few things for me too.”
He wrinkled his forehead. “Like what?”
Her cheeks heated. “You know, clothes, toiletries. Girly stuff.”
Connor didn’t ask for more details, and she was glad, because there was one item she wanted Tamara to procure that she didn’t want him knowing about yet.
“All right. You can come.”
His total lack of enthusiasm was more than a little insulting. Fine, so he was pissed that she’d adopted the wolf, but couldn’t he get over it already?
Maybe he has.
The uneasy thought made her body go cold. What if he was over it? Over her? What if they’d reached the point he’d mentioned in his ground rules? That if one of them wasn’t interested in the sex anymore, it would end, no argument, no tears.
Her heart clenched. She didn’t want it to end. They might be at odds right now, but she still wanted him. She was still as addicted to him as she’d been from the moment they’d met.
Oblivious to her inner turmoil, Connor turned to Pike and said, “Everyone else stays here.” Sarcasm dripped from his voice. “Including your little pet.”
Hudson sighed as he stalked off without another word. The man drove her crazy sometimes. It was like he was actively going out of his way to not create a life for himself at this camp, doing the bare minimum to survive and refusing to give everyone what they yearned for – a safe place to call home.
And yet at the same time, his presence alone made Hudson feel safer than she’d ever felt in her life. She understood why Rylan and the others had joined up with him, why they’d forced their way into his life in spite of his reluctance to accept them. Connor was compelling without even trying to be. He was a man you looked at and thought leader.
It marveled her to think what he could accomplish if he actually embraced the role instead of shunning it.