Eclipsed Hearts

Meant to be More

[Ian]

Mari scooted closer to the end of the bed and focused on Keaton. My wolf growled. It didn’t like her paying attention to him.

“So you’re both Alpha wolves, then. And, I’m assuming since Ian needs me for his hunt and you already agreed not to kill me, that I am actually safe, for now.”

“I don’t break my promises, often. The ones I do break are ones that were made in good faith with someone acting in bad faith or ones that cannot be kept if I am to keep acting morally and ethically,” Keaton remarked, his sharp eyes studying Mari intently.

“You aren’t exactly making me feel confident in this,” she said.

“If you try to kill anyone other than who you’re supposed to kill, I might step in. If you decide to take this chance to kill me, I will kill you before you have a chance. I’m making this agreement in order to ensure the chance of a future for all of us. I believe you’re meant to be more, but you won’t know until you avenge your family.”

“I’m meant to be more?” Mari scoffed.

“Your father was the start of something. You know we have hunter clans that work with us.”

“Oh, I’m well aware of the hunters who have joined the werewolves. We all know about them. You know my father bought our way out of that life. What is it you think he was the start of?”

A lot of clans had a rule where you had to pay if you didn’t want to hunt. It was a fee for staying in the clan while others took on the work. It was one way they got more weapons and equipment. The high prices of buying completely out of the clan also deterred many people from leaving. Spouses of hunters weren’t subject to it.

Her father didn’t want to hunt werewolves. But here she was the thing he didn’t want her to be. I wondered if he watched over her. If he cried for her.

There was a chance our families could see us from beyond. I made sure that I did my best so my parents would see and so the parents of the kids I was caring for would know they were safe and loved. I never wanted any of our families that had passed on to cry for us.

“I think he was the start of the acceptance we would need in order to come out. There are cameras all over the world. Everyone is carrying one. All it takes is one person slipping up and the world will know we exist. He could’ve created so much change in the world helping to be that cushion between werewolf and human.”

“Just because he didn’t want to be a hunter, didn’t mean he wanted to support werewolves. He didn’t want us to be involved in the hard existence that comes along with a life of killing,” Mari replied.

“And yet here you are.”

“Keaton, leave her alone. This has been a long day and she needs rest,” I said, stepping between them.

I don’t know what compelled me to do it, but something said that she was more hurt and scared than she was letting on. I don’t think even she actually knew it. Given her life, she probably had to stuff way more down than anyone else.

My tragedy caused me to need to be more open and expressive, for the kids, but hers was the opposite. I’d seen it with a lot of hunters. The ones who weren’t sadistic aѕѕholes needed to push down their feelings about killing. They were the ones I saw on hunts more. The ones who were only after the werewolves that hurt people. The others were content to kill families in their homes.

“I don’t need you to defend me, Ian.”

“You two need to stop picking at each other. This isn’t good for you or for this alliance. I know you feel backed into a corner and you’ve always had to fight your way out of them, but that’s not how an alliance works, Mari. Let’s get some rest,” I answered without turning to her.

It was clear from my stance that I didn’t trust Keaton, but I did trust Mari. It would mean more to him than to her. To her, it might mean I didn’t see her as a threat. But I did. I saw her as the worst threat imaginable. The one that could take everything from me and I would be too weak to stop it.

She was my mate. My heart and my beast wanted to care for her. Even though her clan killed my pack. My mind might understand, but no other part of me seemed to. That was why I had to get out of the mate bond and kill her. I couldn’t risk it. I couldn’t lose the kids to those monsters.

“The door here is more secure than the one in her room. These old booze rooms were made to be hard to get into. It was to give them time to move the stock into the hidden room. We shouldn’t need to take turns watching, especially since we’re too far up for them to really climb. These rooms were made to be secure from any angle,” Keaton replied, heading over to the dresser. “I don’t know how comfortable you two are with sleeping in the same room as someone who was your enemy.”

“It’s not ideal, but we have no choice.”

Her words stung. I didn’t realize how much the bond had grown just because of Keaton talking to me about letting my guard down and Mari kissing me.

Why had she kissed me?

She knew I was a werewolf, but she still kissed me. This was throwing me for the biggest fuсking loop. I needed time to process everything.

I locked eyes with Keaton and looked pointedly at the bathroom door. He gave me the smallest nod possible, and then gathered some clothes from his drawers.

“I’m going to take a shower. You should get one when I’m done, Ian. I’m sure you worked up a little bit of a sweat with all that fighting.” He sauntered over to the bathroom and gave us a look from the doorway. “Don’t kill each other while I’m gone.”

When he closed the door, I sighed. Having a few minutes with her would help. We needed to talk, or I was sure this would cause us problems while we were working together.

I turned to her, but she wasn’t looking at me. Instead, she was looking at the windows across the room. I walked over to the bed but didn’t sit with her. All I did was stand there.

“You were planning to kill me, weren’t you?” she asked.

“What?”

“Don’t try to pretend. As soon as he said you were a werewolf a lot of things started clicking for me. I realized the reason you were so angry at me wasn’t just because you’re an aѕѕhole. I know why we can’t be friends. My clan killed your pack, didn’t they? You were mad I was a Damson because they’re your enemies. We took everything from you and you were pissed that you had to get help from us to protect all you have left.”

She laughed dryly. “I can see the reflection of your face in the window. That expression says it all. But you liked me even though you didn’t want to and any time you started realizing you liked me, you pushed me away with some sort of attack. That’s messed up, but exactly what I would have done. You were honest about killing the real Ianto Thornwood. What’s your real name?”

I laughed this time. “You won’t tell me your name, but you expect me to tell you mine?”

Mari nodded. “Yeah, I figured that would be the answer. How many… how many survivors were there?”

“I’m not telling you that. Just like I’m not telling you where I live. My father trusted a hunter and that ended in the deaths of hundreds of people. I can tell you that I was the only adult survivor of my group and that your family tied up two of the children in sacks, hung them in trees, and left them to die. I’m never risking their lives, no matter what. And if you know so much about me, you’ll know that is exactly why I was planning to kill you,” I replied.

“I get it, Ian,” she said softly, still looking out the window. “We’ve all suffered losses and we’re both fighting to protect whatever remains. But we can’t do that alone. We need each other.”

“Yeah. I know that. It’s the only thing that kept me from killing you earlier. I need you to help me destroy that bastard. What I didn’t know was that he would recognize your scent. He knew who you were, that’s why he tried to come talk to you at the mixer. You’re the one that got away for him and he wants to finish what he started, Mari.”

In the window, her reflection went from something almost human to a stone-cold killer. She pushed all of her feelings down so hard that her face was as cold and solid as a statue’s face. It made it seem as if her heart might be just as hard and cold.

“Good. It’s time we finished what he started,” Mari muttered as she glowered into the night.