Chapter 148 Keep Him Useful
Alberto sat across from Rowan in the quiet garden alcove, the weight of their earlier conversation still hanging between them. He leaned forward slightly, voice low but steady.
“Who was the third friend of my father?” Alberto asked. “You mentioned two names earlier people who were there the night everything fell apart. But there was another. I remember a shadow. Someone standing apart. Who was he?”
Rowan’s expression tightened. He studied Alberto for several long seconds before answering.
“You’re asking too many questions, Vince,” Rowan said quietly. “Some answers are better left buried. Digging too deep will only bring pain—for you, for Fernando, for the pack.”
Alberto’s jaw clenched. “I deserve to know. My family was destroyed. My memories were sealed. If this third friend had a hand in it—”
Rowan stood abruptly, cloak shifting around him. “I’m leaving. I’ve said enough for one day. The rest will come when you’re ready or when fate forces it.”
Alberto rose as well, stepping into Rowan’s path. “You can’t just drop hints and walk away. You owe me more than that.”
Rowan met his gaze without flinching. “I owe you nothing. I came here to warn, not to confess. Guard your mate. Guard your pack. That’s all the advice you get from me today.”
He stepped around Alberto and walked away, cloak billowing slightly as he disappeared down the path.
Alberto stood frozen for several moments, hands clenched at his sides. His mind churned fragments of memory, half-formed images, the echo of screams from years ago. He felt dizzy, unsteady.
Footsteps approached from behind.
Fernando appeared at the edge of the garden, concern etched across his face the moment he saw Alberto’s expression.
“Alberto?” Fernando said, voice soft but urgent. “What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Alberto blinked, pulling himself back to the present. “I just… had a brief conversation with Master Rowan.”
Fernando closed the distance in two strides, hands immediately going to Alberto’s arms, then his face, checking for injury. “Did he hurt you? Did he touch you with anything? Say anything strange?”
Alberto caught Fernando’s wrists gently, shaking his head with a small smile. “No. He didn’t hurt me. He didn’t touch me. I’m fine.”
Fernando searched his eyes. “You’re shaking.”
Alberto leaned in and pressed a short, soft kiss to Fernando’s mouth. “See? Still in one piece.”
Fernando exhaled roughly, but the tension in his shoulders eased slightly. He kept his hands on Alberto’s face, thumbs brushing along his jaw. “You scared me.”
Alberto’s smile grew. “You worry too much.”
Fernando’s gaze darkened, turning playful. “Is that an invitation? Because if you’re going to kiss me like that, I might take it as one.”
Alberto laughed quietly, cheeks warming. “Maybe it is.”
Fernando’s grin turned shameless. “Good. Because I’ve been thinking about dragging you back to our room since the moment you walked out of the kitchen earlier.”
Alberto playfully shoved his chest. “Behave. We’re in the open.”
Before Fernando could respond, Darius’s voice cut through from behind them.
“Get a room, you two,” Darius said, walking up with his arms crossed and a mock scowl. “Behave properly. You’re supposed to be the alpha and Luna, not horny teenagers sneaking kisses behind the stables.”
Alberto burst out laughing, the sound bright and genuine. “I wasn’t the one who told you to be single, Darius. Maybe if you found someone, you’d understand.”
Darius clutched his chest dramatically, feigning deep hurt. “Ouch. Low blow, Luna. You wound me.”
Fernando smirked, arm sliding around Alberto’s waist possessively. “He’s right, though. Find someone to bother instead of interrupting us.”
Darius rolled his eyes. “I’m just saying there are pups around. And elders. And guards. And me. We don’t all need to witness your mating rituals.”
Alberto laughed again, leaning into Fernando’s side. “You’re jealous.”
Darius scoffed. “Of you two making eyes at each other like newly bonded idiots? Hardly.”
Fernando raised a brow. “Then why are you still standing here?”
Darius opened his mouth, then closed it. He shook his head with exaggerated exasperation. “Fine. I’ll leave you to your shameless display. But seriously get a room.”
He turned and walked away, muttering under his breath about “disgusting mated pairs.”
Alberto watched him go, still smiling. “He’s not wrong. We should probably—”
Fernando cut him off with another kiss deeper this time, lingering. When he pulled back, his voice was low against Alberto’s ear.
“Later,” he promised. “When we’re alone. I’ll remind you exactly why you’re mine.”
Alberto shivered, cheeks flushing. “Promise?”
Fernando’s grin turned wicked. “Always.”
They stood together for a moment longer, foreheads touching, breathing each other in.
Alberto whispered, “I love you.”
Fernando kissed him once more soft, slow, full of everything he couldn’t say aloud yet.
“I love you too,” Fernando murmured. “More than anything.”
They stayed like that until the first evening breeze stirred the leaves overhead, the promise of later hanging between them like a vow.
\~~~~~~~~~
In a dark room lit only by a single flickering candle, a cloaked man sat motionless in a high-backed chair, fingers steepled beneath his chin. The door opened quietly, and a lady slipped inside, closing it behind her without a sound.
She approached the chair and stopped a respectful distance away. “Master.”
The man did not look up immediately. “Report.”
The lady folded her hands in front of her. “Darius and Fernando are staging an abduction of Alberto. They plan to make it appear as though he has been taken during the half-blood moon remembrance. The goal is to keep him hidden and safe from Rowan.”
The cloaked man lifted his head slowly. A low, dark chuckle rumbled from his chest, growing into full, rolling laughter that echoed off the stone walls.
“Heaven itself is helping my plans,” he said, still laughing softly as the sound tapered off. “Beautiful. Utterly beautiful.”
The lady waited until the laughter faded completely.
“What are your orders?” she asked.
The man leaned back, the hood casting deeper shadows across his face. “Make certain Alberto is taken by them. Let their little performance succeed. Once he is in their hands away from Rowan, away from prying eyes, bring him to me.”
He paused, voice dropping to a near-whisper. “His blood is needed. We require a formidable puppet army. The Enigma essence in his veins is the final ingredient. Without it, the puppets remain weak. With it… they will be unstoppable.”
The lady inclined her head. “Understood. And Darius? Should I arrange for you to show your face to him? He is still suspicious and not willing to comply, still probing. A direct meeting might bring him fully under control.”
The man shook his head once, the movement slow and final. “Not yet.”
He leaned forward slightly, candlelight catching the faint gleam of his eyes beneath the hood. “Let Darius chase shadows a little longer. Let him believe he holds the strings. When the moment is right, he will learn who truly pulls them. Until then keep him useful. Keep him blind.”
The lady bowed her head deeper. “As you command.”
She turned and left the room as silently as she had entered.