The Rejected Luna’s Prince By Aurora Archer
Chapter 41 – The Packless
(Caspien)
Holden was working on convincing, actually bribing, their college to have them switch to online cla*s*ses. He offered to pay for anything they wanted and come and record the cla*s*ses himself. He told me if that didn’t work, he would try to sue them or buy the school itself.
I hoped he could figure out something a bit less intense.
Griffen seemed to be less tense now that he left Nora with Cali and Willa when we had meetings or had to go to the office. I think he thought she might fall and break herself if he wasn’t around, and having other ‘caretakers’ there settled his mind. A bit.
A few days later, there were still no bites on our hit.
I got a call from my private secretary from my office at The Dracos group.
“Sir, there’s someone here to see you; he says you don’t know him.”
“What’s his business?”
“He said he’s answering your call, I was unaware we were hiring, but he mentioned a job.”
“Have him wait there where you can see him. I’m on my way.” I hung up.
I didn’t like that someone felt comfortable showing up at my office, but it was better than the packhouse.
I knew taking a hit on him was risky, and I didn’t expect anyone to actually take it. No matter what amount of money was offered it was a death wish.
I was intrigued to figure out who was waiting for me. I would bet that it was one of his men to arrange a meeting.
I used the back elevator and went to my desk. The floor was empty as it usually was, and I had work to do anyway that I had been neglecting in favor of spending time with Willa and Emmett.
“You can show him in,” I buzzed my secretary.
“Very good, sir.”
After a few moments, a tall man with lightly tanned skin walked in on silent feet. The only indication he was here was when my secretary closed the door behind him.
His long hair was piled on top of his head. One golden brown curl fell over his face, the only thing that wasn’t out of place. He stood eerily still in front of me, statuesque. The only way to tell he was alive was by the steady rhythm of his heart, it didn’t even look like he was breathing. But he was a werewolf, pure wolf, that much I knew.
“Take a seat,”
“No, thank you,” he responded, meeting my stare, with one brown and one blue eye, “I’ll only be here for a few minutes.”
“What is it?” I straightened my jacket and leaned back. I couldn’t quite figure him out.
“My name is Ezra, and I’m from The Packless.”
I took a breath that sounded like another project The Silent a*s*sa*s*sin was working on.
“What does he hope to achieve with you?” I studied his motionless figure, but he gave nothing away. People were so rarely hard to read.
“Nothing, not anymore.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Me and a group decided to leave the Silent Pack. We will always be thankful for the skills we learned and for shelter.”
“You don’t have to convince me of anything,” I cut him off.
He froze for a moment; his brows tugged together slightly as if coming out of a trance, fighting against something so ingrained in him.
“You’re right,” He shook his head once, “We left them and formed The Packless.”
“Poetic,” I paused, “For a group of orphans,”
His mouth tugged up slightly to one side, “We thought so,”
“So what do you have for me? Or, more likely, what do you need from me? Protection? Because I cannot guarantee you that from him, nor will I take the risk.”
“A trade.” I was interested, “We know you took a hit on him, but I don’t understand why.”
“I need to find him. It was the only way we could set up a meeting.”
He nodded once, “I can help.”
“In exchange for?” I left the question open.
“As you can imagine, leaving him has not been easy, he’s demanding payment in trade for what he thought we were worth.”
I almost asked what their deal was, what they were owed in exchange for their upbringing, but it didn’t matter. It wouldn’t do anything besides satiate my curiosity.
“He doesn’t want you to leave. He can and will track you down.” He nodded once, so slight I thought I imagined it, “You want me to kill him.”
He averted his eyes for a short moment, taking a deep breath.
“I will give you the location where he was last operating.”
“Where is he staying?” I asked if anyone knew it would be someone from The Silent Pack.
“Where clients ask him?”
“How do I know-”
“How do you know this isn’t a trap?”
We stared at each other for a moment. He untucked his shirt and loosened his belt. Pulling down the side of his pants, a faint pale scar stood out stark against his skin. It was hard to determine what it was or was supposed to be.
“It’s supposed to be his symbol. Not even the symbol of The Silent Pack, his symbol. We belonged to him, not ourselves, not even the pack that became family,” He gave me a smile devoid of all emotion, “The thing is, if you brand a kid, they don’t sit still. Our bodies change a lot, and we are left with this. To give him credit, we were some of the first, so he didn’t think ahead past the claiming his orphans.” His face hardened, lost in his memories.
“No feelings for your captor?”
“Hatred.” His eyes flashed black, making their mismatched color the same.
“You don’t have to believe me. I want an out. Safety for my brothers and me.”
“What will you do?”
“I don’t know, I never had the option.” His face was emotionless even though his voice gave him away.
“Write it down,” I motioned to my desk, and he bent over, scribbling something.
He slid the paper to me and held my stare for a long while.
“You cannot attack the place; it won’t work. It’s a starting point for many to gain access to him. I can’t guarantee anything will come of it. It might work if you’re smart and send someone who can be trusted. Your best bet is someone outside your pack. He won’t do business with them. Crescent Moon members are off-limits. Everyone knows it, and he will know it’s a trap.”
Now, that would be difficult.
“It’s all I have. You have to take it from here. No guarantees.”
“I hope this works,” This was a lot to get in contact with one man.
“I do, too,” His gaze looked hopeful, almost longing for a moment before he slipped back into his a*s*sa*s*sin facade.
“Don’t stay in there too long; it becomes you.”
“What do you mean?” He asked.
“It’s harder and harder to pull yourself out of it. The place you build becomes you. You think it’s your protection, but it will consume you, change you into someone you don’t recognize.”
“Oh,” Understanding crossed his face.
“A mate helps,” I offered.
“We don’t get one. We found a way out of that weakness.”
I shook my head once, “They aren’t a weakness; they’re your strength.”
“Not to us,” Hurt flashed through his features, but they were cool and steady a second later.
“You sure you weren’t followed?”
“I was trained by the best,” He gave me a real half-smile now, “It’s a long shot to trust you, but I would do anything to help my brothers,”
“I’ll do my best, and if-”
“If I cross you, you’ll hunt me down and kill the people closest to me by hanging them with my entrails still hot from my gaping wound where you took them?”
“Something like that,” I smiled at him.
“Noted, Prince.” He bowed his head slightly.
“Ezra.” He turned, and I wouldn’t have known he had left if I hadn’t watched him walk out.
I looked down at the piece of paper.
The Dome – Go around back and ask for The Timber Inn.
The Dome was a nightclub on the outskirts of town, not in my territory, but well known amongst humans.
I swear this was a f*****g trap.
_______
After Loreli and Emmett were asleep, I explained to everyone my meeting today and passed them the note.
“How would they know if they were from this pack?” Griffen asked.
“No idea, but the blood oath wouldn’t let him work with them anyway.”
“Who do we trust outside of our pack besides Willa’s parents? I can’t think of many people that I knew well enough,” Holden asked.
“Absolutely not. We’re not using her parents.” I growled.
“I wasn’t suggesting it. It was an example,” Holden held his hands up.
“I’ll go,” Cali didn’t look at any of us, instead studying her drink swirling around in her glass.
“You’re a human,” Holden stated.
“Yes,” She looked at her mate with an eyebrow raised.
“I don’t know how much intel he has on us; he might already know that you’re mated to my Gamma,” I said, trying to shut it down.
“And he might not,” Cali responded, meeting my stare.
“No,” Holden growled.
“Not up to you,” Cali looked at him.
“I’m sure there are other options,” Willa stated. She looked worried, as well.
Cali shrugged, “It will be the last human thing I do,” She turned her gaze to Holden.
“What?” His eyes went wide.
“I’ll do this, and then after this ordeal is over with, you can change me,” She shrugged as if she was talking about nothing, “My last human act.”
“What?” Willa asked this time.
“Then I can be part of the pack, but for now,” She took a sip.
“Change first,” Holden said, “You don’t have to be human, and you can protect yourself better.”
Cali looked nervous for a second and chewed her bottom lip.
“That would give us an edge. If he knew about Cali, he knew she was human. No one would know that she had changed.” Griffen leaned back, thinking it over.
“It’s not the worst option,” Nora added, “I know she won’t change her mind so.” She shrugged, and Cali gave her an appreciative smile, Nora nodded back.
“No,” Holden stood up, “There are risks with you changing.
“You were begging me to do it days ago. Do you not trust me going to this place to talk to some lackey of an a*s*sa*s*sin?”
“I don’t trust them.” Holden met her gaze, Cali shrugged.
“I need to know this is dealt with. I need to do this for them,” Her voice didn’t waver as she looked at Willa.
“I can’t-” Holden started.
“You won’t,” Cali snapped her golden gaze at his, “I won’t let that happen, and I’m a*s*suming you guys will have backup,”
“We will,” Griffen said.
“Okay then,” Cali nodded once, standing up, “Let’s do it.”
“It’s painful, and you can’t go back,” I looked at her, but she didn’t move her eyes from her mate, “Fine, I’ll have the doctor here monitoring your change. We can watch Loreli, or I can if you want Willa there.”
“We have it covered,” Nora added, smiling at Cali, “Nothing to worry about here.”
“Okay,” Cali seemed worried. She tugged at a curl, “Okay,” Her shoulder straightened and she reached a hand out to Holden.
“I’ll get it set up. Go,” I urged them; better to get it over with now if this was happening.
“I’ll be back whenever, and then I’m going to go f*uc*k up an a*s*sa*s*sin.” There was a fire in her eyes.
I couldn’t have asked for a better mate for my Gamme, a friend for Willa, or a leader in my pack.