Eclipsed Hearts

Reserved

[Ian]

The host announced dinner and people made their way to the tables. There had been three choices for this dinner and the last dinner of the event as part of the reservation packet. They didn’t have assigned seats, but we had cards we’d gotten in our rooms with our meal choices. We would put that on a little card holder in front of us, showing the waitstaff who had what.

It was good. Goddess only knows who I would have gotten seated with. Gino urged me to sit with him, even though I wanted to go sit with Mari and Alpha Black. I knew the Alpha wolf wouldn’t appreciate a rogue like me squeezing in before he was ready for me. He wanted to talk to me later, and it seemed like he wanted me to see him away from Mari.

Gino dragged me off to a large, round table. As I seated myself and arranged my card, I attempted to hide my surprise as other werewolves filled the seats. It made me nervous. I hadn’t been around many werewolves who weren’t the kids for a long time.

“Ian, this is Melo, Faaro, and Davian. They’re assassins who used to be rogues,” Gino told me.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“Our Alphas sent us here for the conference. We didn’t realize there’d be a big payday in residence. Too bad Alpha Black is here,” Melo grumbled.

With her dark hair pulled back into a sleek ponytail, Melo was a captivating presence, her sharp features and piercing gaze drawing attention to her and her natural gracefulness. The dress, which somehow looked out of place on her, tightly clung to her lean and muscular body. The fabric of the dress was too delicate and fragile for the fierce woman wearing it. I wondered if she deliberately wore it, or if someone had given it to her to make her appear softer.

I wouldn’t say anything about it. I was fairly certain something like that would land me in a lot of hot water and I wanted to fly under the radar as much as possible. The attention I was already getting wasn’t good.

“You used to be rogues?” I asked.

She nodded. “Yeah, Storm Moon offered a place for rogues who wanted to travel safely. We joined their pack and help take care of it, but we can roam wherever we want. If we’re called back or ordered to do something, we have to do that. It’s a good deal.”

There had been a rumor from some hunters I’d gotten involved with a few years ago about a new pack. One where the two most dangerous werewolves in the country ruled and killed anyone who opposed them. I never involved myself in the chatter about going to find the pack lands.

If those were the stories leaking to the hunters, then it could be even more dangerous than they realized. It meant that the Alphas wanted everyone to know they existed, without a doubt. There wasn’t a single Alpha I ever heard of who didn’t care about that. They were either overconfident or downright deadly. Since I never heard of any hunters bragging about knowing someone or being part of a group that attacked the pack, deadly was the only option.

“All three of you are from that pack? Why would they send assassins to a conference like this?”

“We can’t be killers forever. Our Alphas are thinking of our future. Think of how safe the pack would be if the pencil pushers were ex-assassins?” Faaro replied.

That made sense. Most packs wouldn’t accept rogues, but it seemed like this one was different. If not for the fact that a pack like that was a huge target, I would take the kids there.

“You’re not thinking of challenging our Alphas, though, right?” Davian asked.

I stared at him and did my best to mask my shock. With a concerned expression, Davian’s dark eyebrows furrowed. He had a firm jaw that made him look confident, even in this situation. He pressed his lips together in a determined line.

I scoffed, the notion of challenging Alphas as powerful as theirs was ludicrous.

“No, I have no intention of challenging anyone,” I assured them, taking a sip of water to ease the tension that had settled around the table. Gino shot me a knowing look, as if he could read the inner turmoil swirling inside me.

Melo leaned forward, her eyes narrowing at me. “Good. Because that would be suicide.”

That was obvious. I frowned at her.

“What makes you think I’ll challenge them?”

“You’re obviously a dominant and you have that Alpha air about you. So you’re not just a dominant, but there are wolves who regard you as their Alpha. You have a pack.”

I glanced at Gino. I didn’t have a pack, but I had created that pack structure for the kids. We didn’t have the numbers to create a pack. They didn’t need to know that. None of them seemed interested in trying to challenge me.

We focused on other things. They shared how they met Gino. Each was on a job and he was involved with the target or hunting them himself. He may have known who I was, but they didn’t show any signs of knowing about me pretending to be a hunter and killing other werewolves.

As the conversation flowed and laughter filled the room, I couldn’t shake off Melo’s words about me having an Alpha air. It was true that I had taken on a leadership role with the kids, but I never considered myself an Alpha. The responsibilities weighed heavily on me, but I couldn’t afford to show any weakness in front of these seasoned werewolves.

“So, what was up with you and Gino confronting Alpha Black and his target?” Melo asked.

“I have a long history with that girl,” Gino said, turning to look at Mari and Alpha Black.

My eyes followed his, and I saw her catch my eye and blush again. She’d done it earlier, but I’d had to focus on Gino, so he didn’t see her. There was no stopping him from seeing her now.

“What’s weird is that I don’t think he really plans to kill her. Obviously, he’s not going to do it here and he’s stopping others from trying to kill her here. Can you imagine if the human authorities came up in here and started looking too close?” she whispered, leaning in. “That’s why we gotta back up his play, plus the fact that our pack is allied with his.”

“Alpha Livy’s grandpa was friends with Alpha Keaton’s grandpa. They’re the golden children and pure Alpha. Strongest wolves in the country. For the first year of their command, they killed every single challenger, just to make a point,” Faaro said with a grin. “I joined because I knew they were Alphas who meant business. They weren’t soft and weak.”

Melo laughed. “You should’ve seen Faaro’s face when he met them for the first time and they were handing out snacks and putting temporary tattoos on kids. I thought he was going to explode, then they turned to us, and the pure danger vibes…. Goddess, it was like being doused in fire.”

“They were pissed,” Faaro added.

I chuckled at the thought of the formidable Alphas engaging in such playful activities. It was hard to reconcile the image of tough, lethal leaders with temporary tattoos and snacks for kids. But that was the beauty of werewolf society—layers upon layers, blending strength with compassion.

“Alpha Keaton is really going to keep protecting that hunter b***h,” Davian growled.

“What? You want the cops out here trying to figure out what happened to her? Plus, she’s a Damson. That means her family will track down everyone here and take out every single werewolf pack they can. They’ll save the stronger ones for last. How many families do you want to see destroyed like the Silent Forest Pack? You saw what they did to them. Even the children. Hanging them in bags from trees to starve to death. She’ll die, but not in a way that be traced back to us,” Melo growled.

Gino looked at me. That was my pack. I must have taken a different path that led me away from where the other kids were hung, just like Fern and Jaden. Goddess, I failed all of those kids. I took a cautious route, skirting the edges of the pack, as I made my way to the packhouse and back. They must have had the kids in the south part of the pack lands.

I didn’t hold his gaze. I wouldn’t let him be more than a target. He couldn’t be something more than that or I’d feel bad when we killed him. I couldn’t let myself feel bad about some nasty pedo who wanted to force one of my kids to mate with him. Remembering that kicked me back into work mode.

“Damn, little Alpha might be stronger than he seemed,” Melo whispered to Faaro.

He looked at me in an assessing way, then nodded. I could tell that he was linking Melo, but didn’t try to get information. Instead, I glanced over at Mari and how she was happily chatting with the people sitting with her and Keaton Black.

How the hell was I going to save her from this?