Chapter 13 - Hanson

For the first time in weeks, Hanson didn't have a patrol to go on or some other pack chore to do, and somehow, he couldn't bring himself to leave the library.

It was the last place he had been close to Elena. Her scent still lingered in the air even hours after she had stormed out. And so, he remained there, hiding. A part of him even hoped she might come back to find him, but he was certain that was merely wishful thinking.

And by the time that evening came around, he had taken more books than he could count off the shelves, flicking through them with no real interest whatsoever. It was merely an excuse in case someone caught him brooding.

His mind was truly on what Elena had said. Surely, if she had a mate, he couldn't possibly feel the way he was feeling about her. Sure, he might find her attractive, and hell, he might want to fuck her, but he so goddamn protective. He felt the urge to know where she was every second of every day, to know she was safe and happy and healthy. Just seeing her cry that night had made him want to tear heads off. He would have done anything just to make her smile.

And hell, the way he had felt inside her…

It had never felt like that before. Sure, sex had always felt good, but this was an entirely new level of good. Good didn't even come close to what this had been. It left him totally uninterested in sticking his dick anywhere else ever again, and for a werewolf, that was a huge damn thing indeed.

It was so huge he couldn't even believe it. But it was like a gnawing, uncontrollable sensation in his stomach that repulsed him any time he even tried to think of another she-wolf.

Slamming his latest book down on the desk in front of him, he leaned back in his chair and dragged his fingers through his hair. Fuck!

He should have gone after her. He had known that from the second she left, and yet, he hadn't been able to bring himself to move. Her words had been like a slap in the face and a punch to the gut in the same instant.

They couldn't be true, yet she had spoken them all the same, and the effect was so painful that Hanson felt forever changed.

There was a growing pit of pain and emptiness in his stomach, one that he feared would never stop growing.

And when he heard voices in the hallway, it only opened up further.

"Eddie, calm down. What's the matter?" Jack demanded, and Hanson was immediately on high alert.

"Have you seen Elena?" Eddie asked, and Hanson was on his feet. The concern in his packmate's tone made his skin crawl.

"Not since this morning," Jack responded. "Have you tried her room?"

Hanson crept to the library doorway and peered through where it had been left open a crack. He was just in time to see Eddie's hands tighten to fists.

"I've checked her room three times today," Eddie snapped at the alpha, making Hanson's hackles rise. "She isn't there."

"Maybe she went for a shift?" Jack suggested, but his own tone was growing concerned now.

"I've checked the woods," Eddie said. His jaw visibly clenched before he spoke through gritted teeth, "I can barely smell her scent within the borders."

Hanson's throat constricted.

"Elena has always enjoyed her alone time," Jack pointed out. "I'm sure she'll be back any minute."

Hanson wanted to believe his alpha, but the sensation in his gut was growing stronger. Elena was in trouble. He knew it right down to his soul.

Squaring his shoulders, he sucked in a deep breath and opened the library door.

At the creaking sound, Jack and Eddie turned to look at him. Elena's brother immediately glowered with a look that said, fuck off, this is none of your business, but though Hanson knew he was about to get in deep shit with him, Elena was much more important.

"Elena was upset this morning."

Eddie turned on him in an instant. He closed the distance between them before Hanson could even blink, and suddenly, they were nose to nose.

"What did you do to her?" Eddie demanded. Before Hanson could defend himself, Eddie looked at their alpha and snapped, "I told you we should have ended all Ryker's men when we had the chance."

Hanson was more than a little relieved Jack wasn't that kind of man. In truth, Eddie wasn't either. He was just angry. Or so, Hanson hoped.

"I didn't do anything," Hanson said as calmly as he was able, but she tore my heart in two.

It was painful even now, but there was no way he was about to admit any of that to his packmates. Like hell he was about to go and make himself weak in front of them when Eddie looked ready to pounce.

Keeping his head held high, he admitted, "We had a small disagreement, that's all."

He looked Eddie in the eye, waiting for whatever he might throw at him next.

He didn't even attempt to step out of the way when Eddie's fist came flying toward his face. Just seconds before it hit his jaw, it stopped, and Hanson breathed a sigh of relief.

Jack was there, holding back Eddie's fist with a strong grip on his arm. "Enough of this."

Eddie didn't look best pleased to have been stopped, but he did take a step back, dropping his hand, though he continued to stare with his teeth bared.

"Hanson, did she say anything about where she might be going after this disagreement ?" Jack asked, turning to look at him. His tone and the sympathy in his gaze suggested he knew it was something more than he was letting on.

Gritting his teeth, Hanson shook his head. "She left in a hurry."

"Why, I should skin you, you fucking—" Eddie snarled, throwing himself at Hanson again.

It was at that moment that Zander and Kane arrived, both grabbing Eddie to stop him from doing something they might all regret.

"What the hell is going on?" Kane demanded, his tattooed arms bulging with the strength it took to hold back the angry Eddie.

"This fucker did something to my sister and now she's missing!" Eddie snarled, throwing daggers at Hanson again.

Both Zander and Kane looked at Hanson accusingly.

Here we fucking go! Hanson thought. He always knew his days within the pack were numbered, but he never imagined they'd be ended because of a damn she-wolf. Even Elena.

"I didn't lay a hand on her!" Hanson growled, meeting Eddie's gaze without flinching. At least, not today.

He quivered, his lips tingling with the memory of her kiss. What if he never got to kiss those lips again?

What right did he even have to think like that if she did have a mate?

For a second, Hanson was tempted to ask Eddie whether she might have gone back to him, but something stopped him. He wasn't sure what it was, but somehow it didn't feel right.

"Like hell you didn't," Eddie growled, spitting venomously. "My sister doesn't run from nothing."

Hanson's stomach twisted. What was it she had said that night? She had been running from her emotions?

Hanson had come to learn how impossible that was over the last few weeks. He had tried to run from all he was feeling for her and look where they were now. He would never forgive himself if anything had happened to her.

"Ed, you and I both know Elena can look after herself," Jack pointed out, and Hanson was relieved to see that the tension in Eddie's shoulders did ease a little. Still, he continued to glower at Hanson, and though Kane and Zander released him, they remained openly wary.

"Why don't we quit whatever bullshit this is between the two of you and go and find her, if you're so worried?" Zander suggested, knocking Eddie with his shoulder.

Kane nodded in agreement. "I'll grab Will."

"We'll meet you outside," Jack said, he and Zander moving toward the door.

Eddie remained glowering at Hanson. "He stays here."

"Like hell I am!" Hanson snapped back before he had a chance to think about it.

Eddie stepped forward again then, squaring up as he growled low in his throat, "She's my sister, you fuckwit, don't think I won't tear your throat out for this."

It was at that second a gasp from further down the hallway distracted them all.

"Zander, are you seriously going to let him talk to him like that?" Layla growled, storming down the hallway towards them. "Jack? Seriously? After all Hanson has done for this pack?"

Hanson's skin crawled. In the eyes of his original packmates, he was something of a hero, helping Jack end Karl Ryker's tyrannical rule. But in the eyes of the others, that just made him more of a threat, and he felt that now more so than ever.

"Fuck, Eddie," Zander grumbled, reaching for his friend. "Would you cool it with the testosterone? You're gonna get me in trouble."

If not for the seriousness of the situation, Hanson might have actually laughed. The men might have been big and powerful, but when it came to their she-wolves, they knew who the real bosses were.

And mine is out there somewhere, Hanson thought, his chest tightening. It was Layla standing beside him who gave him the courage to speak up. "Think whatever you want of me, Eddie, but while Elena is a guest of the pack, she's a part of it, and I swore my oaths to this pack just as you did."

"Well said, Hanson," Layla said, placing a hand on his forearm. Though he was grateful of her support, he wasn't sure how much it was actually going to help.

"Fuck this!" Eddie grimaced angrily. "We're wasting time. Come or not, Just don't get in my fucking way or I'll slay you where you stand."

Even their other packmates looked shocked as they glanced around at each other, watching Eddie storm from the manor before following him.

Hanson was about to follow on when Layla's hand gripped his arm a little tighter.

"You care about her, don't you?" she whispered, the meaning in her gaze touching Hanson right to his core when he met her eye. All he could do was nod. "Then don't let Eddie's bullheaded brother routine get in your way."