Eclipsed Hearts

Walls and Boundaries

Ian’s breathing was deliberately slow. I could tell it wasn’t natural. It’s almost like he was savoring the air as he breathed it. He's a strange man, but I feel attracted to that part of him.

I leaned a little more without meaning to, and he leaned away. The way he moved caught my attention, and at that moment, I knew I had also changed my position. I readjusted to give him a chance to get comfortable.

With a sideways glance, I looked him over as a man, not as a hunter, an ally, or an annoyance. Ian was very handsome with a strong build and a confident air about him. It was his confidence and the way he held himself that drew me to him more than his looks and physique, though neither one was anything to sneeze at.

“I told you, we’re not lovers and we never will be,” Ian stated.

My eyes bounced back up to his face and I could see him looking at me before turning his attention back to the road. Had he caught me checking him out? Damn it.

It wasn’t as if I was going to try anything. I didn’t want to marry him or have a relationship.

“Don’t go getting sweet on me, Damson. You’re just here for the hunt. Nothing more. When it’s done, I never want to see you again.”

His words were like a knife twisting in my chest for some reason. The fact that his eyes had returned to the road, and he hadn’t even spared me a glance while telling me off, made it even worse somehow.

Working to keep my face neutral, I shrug and look out the window. There’s no way I’m going to let him think he can affect me in any way, shape, or form. If he sees no potential for anything between us, then I don’t either.

But as the car continued to speed down the winding road, I couldn’t help but feel a lingering sense of disappointment. Sure, Ian had clarified that we were just hunting partners, nothing more. But there was something about his nonchalant rejection that stung deeper than I wanted to admit.

I turned toward Ian, my eyes filled with a mix of defiance and hostility. As a hunter, my upbringing taught me to observe the minor details and notice things that others might overlook. I realized that the reason I was feeling like this was apparent. I was responding to him.

“You know what, Ian?”

“What?” he asked in a bored tone.

“You were a little too into the flirting you did back there. And you didn’t need to pin me against the car in the parking lot. I think you’re acting like an asshole because you like me and you don’t want to admit it,” I replied.

He pulled the car over, put it in park, and turned to me. I looked directly at him and crossed my arms over my chest. His eyes searched my face for a few moments before the arrogant expression I’d grown familiar with reappeared.

“Just because you’ve gotten some sort of crush on me, doesn’t mean I feel the same way.”

I smiled. “Bullshit.”

Ian’s jaw clenched, and he stared at me with a mix of frustration and disbelief. The tension in the car was palpable, crackling like electricity between us. I could see his resolve waver for a split second before he regained control.

“You’re delusional,” he replied, his voice strained. “This isn’t some silly romance novel where the hunter falls for their partner. We have a job to do, and that’s it.”

My heart pounded in my chest as I met his gaze head-on, refusing to back down. “Maybe you’re right,” I said, my voice steady. “Maybe there’s nothing there but a weird hormonal thing caused by the danger of the job. But being an asshole won’t change anything. Just be nicer and things will go more smoothly.”

He looked away. “Then what? We fall into bed at some point and I suddenly change my mind about not wanting a relationship with you? Nice dream, Damson. Nothing is going to change how I feel about you.”

“But what about how you treat me? I didn’t fuсk up the job tonight. I’m serious about this hunt. What’s it going to take for you to stop being such a jerk all the time?”

Ian sighed heavily, his grip tightening on the steering wheel. “It’s not about you, Damson. It’s about me. I can’t afford distractions, especially not in this line of work. You aren’t the only one who lost a family because of an attack.”

I watched as the tension in his face softened, revealing a vulnerability that surprised me. His guarded eyes met mine, searching for understanding amidst the chaos of conflicting emotions.

“I’ve seen things, Damson,” he continued, his voice barely above a whisper. “Things that haunt me. People I’ve loved...lost because of the monsters. The killers who don’t care about what they’re destroying. I can’t let this werewolf do that to us again. My family was safe here.”

“I think I liked it better when you used to call me Mari with that angry hiss,” I joked weakly. “It feels like you’re hammering something in every time you call me by my last name.”

“Only the point that a Damson is what you are and who you are. That won’t change. I need to keep things on track and get rid of that werewolf who is threatening my home. Let’s focus on that and I’ll try to be more civil. Deal?” he asked.

I nodded, my heart aching for the pain he carried. It was a pain similar to my own. These were the walls and barriers he created to keep people away. They were like my own enough that I almost didn’t recognize them. At least I knew now why he was being an ass. He was trying to stop himself from indulging further once he realized he was interested in me.

His boundaries made sense, and I was completely fine with abiding by them. As long as I knew why he was acting like that, I could handle him. If he was a little nicer, then it would make this job a hell of a lot easier on both of us, especially since tomorrow we were going to have to be in a fake relationship.

“Deal,” I whispered. “But remember, Ian, sometimes it’s okay to let people in. It doesn’t make you weak, it makes you human.”

“Trust me, I’m not human,” Ian answered, then turned back to the road and put the car back in drive.

His words echoed inside of me, and I practically snorted. We might not be monsters, like werewolves, but he was right, we were far from human. Ian and I were probably less human than most. There was something about losing your family to the monsters that changed a person.

I nodded quietly and focused outside the window. It wasn’t long before we arrived back at the shack where we’d met before.

Ian got out of the car and headed toward it, not even looking at me. I got out, too, and followed him. He stopped and turned around.

“Go back to your hotel, Mari. I’m just going to log the info I got tonight. We might have to change our plan for tomorrow. I want you rested and ready to go tomorrow.”

“Alright, Ian. I’ll head back to the hotel and get some sleep. Just remember to actually get some rest yourself, okay? We both need to be at our best tomorrow.”

He gave a curt nod in acknowledgment before turning to go inside the shack. I turned away from the building, sparing it one last glance.

As I walked back to the hotel, my mind was still reeling from the conversation with Ian. It was a minor victory, a crack in the fortress he had built around himself. I couldn’t help but feel a glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe, we could find some common ground and work together without constantly clashing.

A mix of emotions flooded my mind. Understanding Ian’s pain had softened my heart toward him, but I couldn’t help but feel a tinge of disappointment. A part of me had hoped that beneath his cold exterior, there might have been something less soft and broken. In a way, I kind of wanted him to be the type of asshole I could fight with. That wasn’t conducive to a successful hunt, though.

We needed to be on the same side, so having a bond through the pain of losing our families was actually a good thing. It meant we both had a reason to keep on hunting and fighting this monster.

Neither one of us was going to suffer because of this creature. Never again. This creature was going to pay for what it did to my family. I’d make sure I was the last thing the werewolf ever saw.