“Let’s go,” Jacob said. “Olivia, you should head back to the party.”
“I’m coming with you,” she insisted.
“He’s right.” Eli put a hand up, blocking her way. “You don’t need to get involved.” And he didn’t want her to know the rest of his story. If she did, she would hate him forever.
“No way, I’m not leaving?—”
“You can’t?—”
“Don’t argue with her, Eli,” Sloane interrupted. “Trust me, she needs to hear all of it.”
Eli opened his mouth, but quickly clamped it shut. How much did Sloane know about what happened between him and Olivia? Seeing the determined expression on her face, he relented. “Fine.”
They followed Jacob into the last office at the end of the hall. The lavishly decorated corner suite featured a spectacular view of the Empire State Building. The furnishings were luxurious, all modern glass and metal in muted tones of gray and brown. The space whispered professional and high-end, with no personal items anywhere as per company policy. Eli’s own desk in the larger open space office down the hall was bare, though it wasn’t like he had any knickknacks or photos to display.
“We’re here,” Killian announced as he entered, followed by two men behind him. The first was Quinn Martin, Lone Wolf’s CTO and Jacob’s father. He was pretty much an older version of his son, though his blond hair was silvering at the temples.
The third figure was a hulking man nearly seven feet tall and wide shoulders the size of boulders. While he had no formaltitle in the company, most of the employees here had a few names for him, none of which were good. Dr. Bone Breaker had been a favorite, and well deserved as no employee who trained under him finished their probation period without at least one trip to the doctor. But Connor Forrest was tough on Lone Wolf Investigations and Security’s recruits because he had to be. They were constantly putting their lives on the line, so they had to think and act fast in extreme circumstances. Eli had learned more from Forrest in the last couple of months than he had in fifteen years under the tutelage of the Boston Clan’s most cruel enforcers.
“So,” Quinn began. “What’s so important that our guests of honor have to leave their own party to have a meeting?”
Jacob cocked his head at Eli. “Tell them.”
Eli attempted to swallow, but his throat narrowed as thin as a straw. His wolf took a defensive stance, baring its teeth.
“Eli?” Killian asked. “What’s going on?”
“Just tell us,” Olivia said, violet eyes training on him. “Go ahead.”
The muscles around his throat loosened and his wolf relaxed. “I lied to you. I’m not a Lone Wolf,” he admitted. “I mean, I wasn’t always. I used to be part of the Boston Clan.”
“Boston?” Quinn glanced at Sloane. “Your old clan?”
She nodded. “Yeah. But Eli, I was told you died fighting the mages.”
“Ronan Forte sent a dozen of us to fight when the New York Alpha sent out that call for help.”
Olivia’s violet eyes widened. “You were there? At Lake Hope?”
“Yeah.”
“You were killed by a mage,” Sloane whispered.
“How did you even hear about that?” he asked. “That was after you?—”
“Tried to kill Ronan?” Sloane finished. “There were still a few people who were feeding me information after I left. Tell us what really happened, Eli.”
“I nearly did die,” he began. “A mage hit me with some kind of potion and I blacked out. When I woke up, I was under a pile of bodies and everyone from Boston was gone. I laid low in the area for a bit, then got myself a lone wolf tattoo when I saw my name published in the list of those who died.”
It was then he decided to go to New York City. Having grown up in the Boston clan, Eli didn’t have any real skills and Ronan Forte’s criminal network would have eventually found him. But the Boston Alpha’s reach didn’t extend to other Lycan clans, so Eli knew going to New York was the best play. He’d heard about Lone Wolf Investigations and Security that night in Lake Hope, how they were an all-Lycan security company under the New York clan. It was just his luck that they were looking for new recruits, having lost a couple of agents during the battle. When Killian Jones interviewed him, Eli said he was there at Lake Hope and wanted to join because he wanted to prevent something like that happening again. Killian assumed he’d been one of the Lone Wolves the mages had kidnapped for their blood magic ritual, and Eli never corrected him because he needed to a place to hide. Turns out, he wasn’t just good at being an agent, but he actually enjoyed it.
And now he would have to go on the run again. Because after living in that hellhole for two decades, there was no way in hell he was going back to the Boston Clan.
“No one thought to look for you?” Jacob said. “Not your Alpha, even your beta—your ownfather, Garret McCall?”
Sloane sent him an apologetic look, but Eli didn’t blame her for revealing his secret. She had no idea he’d been hiding out here after all.
“Wait, Garret McCall—the Boston Beta—is your father?” Quinn asked, his voice rising. “Why didn’t he bother to confirm you really were dead? Or look for your body?”
