Chapter 4
Reid
Honestly, I had the best boss ever. Not only did he not fire me for making a scene, but he hugged me while I cried and offered to ban Evan from the shop forever.
Knowing how clan politics worked, I’d told Chester that we should expect a visit from Finn, and soon. Evan would’ve told Finn what had happened. Hell, he’d likely been sent here to feel me out in the first place. It made sense, given I was a human who knew the truth of what they were.
With the close proximity in which I worked with Chester…yeah. Finn would want to know more about me and my background.
Chester might insist nothing was going on between him and Finn, but he didn’t know shifters like I did.
Once someone captured their attention, that was it.
They fell hard and fast. A human wouldn’t have been tolerated as a partner in the Clarkson Clan, let alone a mate, but the McCarthys were different.
Everyone in the community knew that their former leader, Danny, was now mated to a human.
It wouldn’t surprise me if Finlay followed in his friend’s footsteps, especially with what a softie my boss was. I wasn’t attracted to Chester, but even I felt the urge to wrap him in cotton wool sometimes.
To a wolf shifter, Chester was catnip. Someone who needed to be loved, protected, and worshipped. So while I’d known Finn would make an appearance, I hadn’t expected it to be less than an hour after Evan left.
I was out back when the bell went. I flinched, only relaxing when it was Finn’s voice, not Evan’s, that filtered back to me.
I sidled closer to the partition to listen to what Chester was saying. “Are you here to upset my assistant or excuse your friend’s behaviour? Because if so, you can turn your unfairly attractive arse around and march it right out of my shop.”
Warmth settled in my bones at the sound of Chester defending me. I had another friend. Even if he only saw me as an employee, I’d forever see Chester as more.
And I’d go to bat for him, just as he was currently doing for me.
“You think my arse is attractive? Thank you.”
Finn’s attempt to deter Chester’s ire failed. “Don’t get all cute on me now, Finn. I’m very protective of Reid, and I won’t have him upset again.”
Tears welled up in my eyes. What had I done to earn such loyalty? It was strange; I’d grown up knowing no loyalty, even from those who were supposed to protect me. Now, out in the world, I was getting it from people who had no vested interest other than liking me.
I wasn’t sure I’d ever get used to it.
“I’m not here to upset Reid or excuse Evan’s behaviour. I just want to make sure he’s okay. Can I talk to him? Please?”
“Absolutely not,” Chester said. “Tell me what you have to say, and I’ll pass the message on.”
There was a long pause and I pinched the bridge of my nose.
Finn wouldn’t be able to leave a message, not without revealing a shit-tonne of lore and backstory.
Not that I wanted him to hide it from Chester, especially if he was serious about the two of them.
But it coming out now…that wouldn’t be ideal for Finn.
Steeling myself, I went into the front of the shop. “Chester, it’s fine. I told you Finn is safe.”
Finn blinked at me in surprise. Did he think I’d tar them all with the same brush? There was no way. I’d grown up with every human stereotype imaginable thrust upon me. That I was weak. Fragile. Useless. It was hard to simply exist while carrying the weight of all that.
I wasn’t about to do the same with Finlay.
“Let’s go outside,” I said to Finn.
He nodded and opened the door. He gave me plenty of room to get around him, which I appreciated. I wasn’t skittish about shifters, but it was nice that he’d thought of it.
It also meant Evan had told him everything about my past. I bit back a sigh. Joy. This was going to be a fun conversation.
Finn hadn’t left the shop yet, saying something to Chester. I used the moment to pull out my phone and shoot off a text to my group chat.
REID
SOS. Need lots of drinks and company tonight. 7:30 at mine.
That was assuming I didn’t need to leave my home and life behind me following this conversation. It’d break my heart to do it, but I’d rather that than end up back in the Clarksons’ clutches once more.
I looked up to see Finn in front of me, pity and sadness in his eyes.
“Don’t,” I said sharply, before he could get a syllable out. “If you’ve come here to just give me platitudes and pity, you can jog on.”
“I’ve not,” Finn said quietly. “I would like to discuss a few things, if that’s okay with you?”
See, that right there was what made Finn different from my father. Clyde wouldn’t have asked if it was alright. It wouldn’t even have occurred to him that someone might not want to discuss certain topics. As far as he was concerned, his word was law. You listened and you followed.
It was evident that Finn was a very different leader.
“That’s fine. Can we walk and talk though? I get edgy if I stay still too long.” That was true even when I wasn’t anxious about an upcoming conversation. There was nothing worse than being still. I hated it.
“Of course.” Finn stepped to the side and gestured. “After you.”
I made my way down the street with Finn at my side. “I assume you’ve put up a compulsion net?”
Supes used them to hide their nature from humans. They were vital in various situations.
Imagine, for example, a crane falling from a building in a capital city. It takes whole floors of buildings with it before crashing through the road below and onto a packed tube line. Imagine the injuries. The deaths. The absolute chaos that’d erupt.
I didn’t need to imagine it. That exact thing had happened in London a few years ago, sending shockwaves throughout the United Kingdom.
Despite the carnage that had been unleashed, there were very few deaths reported, and even fewer injuries.
None of the humans interviewed could explain exactly how they’d survived, just that they had.
A miracle, the press had called it. A lucky escape.
I knew the truth. It was supes. Supes had intervened and saved as many as they could. By using a compulsion net, they’d stopped anyone outside it from picking up on what they were doing, while those inside the net were compelled to forget their existence.
I had no proof, but it was the only logical explanation. It was one of just the many examples of when supes concealed their true natures from humans.
“Yes,” Finn said in answer to my question. “Can you not tell?”
I snorted. “I might know all there is to know about shifters, Finn, but I’m still human. I can’t see or feel compulsion nets.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cause any offence.”
“None taken,” I said breezily, crossing my arms against the wind. Autumn was giving way to winter now, and there was a noticeable chill in the air. “I just wanted to make sure we could talk freely.”
“We can. And let me start by apologising, Reid. I never would’ve asked Evan to come to the shop if I’d realised the two of you shared a history.”
Called it. “He was there on your orders, then.”
Finn ran a hand through his hair sheepishly. “Aye. I’m sorry to have assumed the worst, but what with you working so close to Chester and knowing what you do…”
“It’s fine.” I waved my hand dismissively. “I totally get it. You wanted to find out how I knew about shifters without being too forward, so you sent Evan.”
He shook his head sadly. “I thought you might find it easier to open up to Evan. People usually do.”
My mind flashed back to that morning a decade ago. To the plea I’d felt comfortable enough to make to someone who was practically a stranger. “I can see that.”
“Naturally, I never would’ve sent him if I’d known what happened.”
I gave him a tight smile. “You’ve said that already.”
“Sorry. Anyway, I just want to reassure you that none of us have any intention of informing the Clarksons of your presence here.”
My spine stiffened. “What makes you think they don’t know?”
Finn gave me a knowing look. “You didn’t choose to settle here accidentally, Reid. I’m assuming you know the…history between our clans?”
I swallowed around the lump in my throat—the one that always formed when I thought about the atrocities that had been committed. “Yes.”
“Then you know about the treaties too. You know that no one, supe or human, can be removed from our lands against their will. Violence also cannot be incited.”
I stayed silent.
Finn sighed. “That’s what I thought. From what Evan told me, I can understand exactly why—”
“What would Evan know?” I demanded, facing Finn with my hands on my hips. “He didn’t take me seriously. He walked out of there and forgot I even existed.”
“Evan made a mistake. But, Reid, what were you expecting him to do? If he’d taken you from your clan, it would’ve led to open warfare. Your father would’ve been within his rights to demand Evan’s immortality as recompense.”
I knew what he was saying was true, but the hurt was too ingrained. “Maybe so, but I was a desperate kid, Finn. You can’t blame me for searching for an out.”
Finn didn’t attempt to hide the pain that flickered over his face. “For what it’s worth, we would’ve gone to war for you, Reid. We wouldn’t leave a ten-year-old in that situation. No child, for that matter.”
“Evan did,” I said bluntly. “Excuse it all you want, Finn, but the truth is he didn’t just leave me there, he made it worse.”
Finn stilled. “What do you mean?”
I opened my mouth to tell him. To explain how Evan’s conversation with my father had landed more abuse on me than anything I’d gone through before.
How he’d punished me for exposing my ‘weakness’ to a shifter from a different clan.
The ways he’d worked me harder for daring to dream of escaping.
How I’d been further ostracised from the other kids as a reminder of my place in the pack.
But then Evan’s face flashed through my mind. Not the one I’d seen in the shop, but one faded with memory. His kind eyes as he allowed me to join in the football game. The bite in his tone as he’d put Neil in his place. The genuine interest he’d taken in my hyperfixation at the time—dinosaurs.
Those memories blended with the image of his horror-struck face when he’d learned the truth today.
Suddenly, I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t tell Finn how much worse Evan had inadvertently made everything. Even if I couldn’t forgive Evan for not taking my concerns seriously, I also couldn’t make his guilt heavier. If Evan found out…if he learned what had happened next…
He hadn’t done it intentionally. That much I could accept. I was pissed and hurt, but not cruel.
“It doesn’t matter,” I said eventually. “Forget I said anything.”
The look Finn levelled me with suggested he’d do no such thing. He didn’t push me though. “Listen, the most important thing to know is that you’re safe here. You can rest assured that we’ll protect you.”
“I don’t need protecting,” I said through clenched teeth. I’d learned not to rely on anyone apart from myself. “I just want to make sure you’re not going to report my location to the Clarksons.”
“Absolutely not,” Finn said firmly. “You’ve got my word, Reid. Your presence here will remain secret. Even if asked outright by your father, we will lie. You don’t need to worry about them discovering you.”
My shoulders drooped as the weight lifted from them. “Thank you. I appreciate it.”
“It’s nothing. We’d look out for you even if you weren’t ‘supe-adjacent.’ Any friend of Chester’s is a friend of mine.”
I snorted at the ‘supe-adjacent.’ That was better than the ‘freak born human’ I’d grown up hearing. “Good to know. So you’re serious about Chester, then?”
That was when Finlay, the almighty leader of one of the most powerful clans in the world, blushed. “Um, I’m not sure…I mean, we haven’t…”
My laughter cut through the tension like a knife. I patted Finn’s arm comfortingly. “Don’t strain yourself, Finn. It’s okay. I’m rooting for you in this.”
“You are?”
“Of course. Like I said before, your reputation precedes you. You’re known for being fair, kind, and protective. All qualities someone like Chester needs in a partner. I think you’ll be great for him.”
“You know, the same could be said about Evan.”
My muscles tensed. “My experiences with him don’t suggest that.”
The memories from earlier, the ones I’d suppressed all this time, nudged at me again. Don’t they?
I shoved them away. The past didn’t matter given what had followed. I might have been able to accept that Evan hadn’t meant for me to get hurt, but I couldn’t forget that it had happened.
“Evan’s a good person,” Finn said softly. “You don’t have to hear him out, but just know that he’s sorry.”
“I’m sure he is.” I stepped back from Finn, suddenly ready for this conversation to be over. “But that doesn’t change anything.”
Finn ran a hand through his hair. “Okay, I’m not going to push the matter. I know you said you don’t need protecting, but if you need help, will ye please reach out to us?”
Guess it was true—wolf shifters really were protective. Certain ones, anyway. “Sure. Give me your number.”
He popped it into my phone and handed it back to me. “I’ve put the numbers of the whole inner circle in there. Feel free to contact any of us.”
I gave him a thin smile, reading all too well what he was hinting at—the opportunity he was giving me to reach out to Evan if I changed my mind. “I won’t. There’s only one number I’ll use, and only if I have no other choice in the matter.”
Finn rolled his eyes. “Anyone ever tell you you’re a little stubborn?”
I smiled sweetly. “Every damned day.”