13. Jaime
Chapter 13
“Finn?”
Of course he knew it was Finn. While the man standing before him looked, well, not human, he still looked like Finn. He still had the same shaggy blonde hair, and rich brown eyes, and he still looked at Jaime with tenderness and care. Except now, his eyes held something so vulnerable and poignant that Jaime nearly had to look away.
But he didn’t, because he had a feeling that if he looked away from Finn right now, in this moment, they would never come back from it.
“I won't hurt you, Jaime.” Finn’s voice was thick and raw, and the fluffy, pointed ears now perched on his head were drooping. But Jaime could understand his words just fine like this, even through all of those teeth.
Am I hallucinating?
Blinking a few times, Jaime unglued himself from the wall and took a step toward Finn. “I know you won't, Finn. I know that.”
The words rang true. He had absolutely no idea what was going on, or how his infuriatingly attractive bodyguard was currently standing in his room, naked, covered in hair, with enormous claws and fangs and fluffy ears, but he did know that even with all of that, Finn wouldn’t hurt him.
Oh.
Oh.
Finn was naked. Very naked. And this version of him was absolutely massive in more ways than just height. Unless Finn’s cock was that huge all the time, in which case, unfair.
But not really, though, if I’m the one lucky enough to feel it rearranging my insides later.
A large and hairy fanged man is standing in your room, naked, and you’re thinking about fucking him?
Yes, he was.
Finn took a step toward him and Jaime couldn’t help but glance back down—his cock was truly massive. Even soft, it hung heavy between his thighs, and shifted as he walked in a way that implied heft.
Jaime felt his face go hot, and he hoped the semi he was now sporting would go unnoticed among all of the other things that were happening right now. But then Finn’s ears canted forward in interest and his nostrils flared, nose still shaped like a human’s, and he looked down toward where Jaime’s own cock was lengthening in his pants.
So, not unnoticed, then.
“You’re naked.” Jaime thought that should explain things well enough.
Finn looked back up at his face and studied him in a way he knew he’d never been looked at before. Jaime took another step closer, just because he wanted to. The tension left Finn’s shoulders, and he finally stopped looking at him like Jaime had just kicked his puppy.
Puppy. Heh.
Jaime chuckled to himself, and considered that he might be in shock. Finn, the man he’d stood up a year ago and who’d walked back into his life in the most unexpected way could turn into a giant, hairy, fanged man? He had to be close to a foot taller than Jaime like this, and while most of his face remained unchanged, his ears were now furry and nestled in his golden hair, like a… wolf.
He had prominent canines that dropped down and framed his bottom lip, and the rest of his teeth seemed sharper and longer. His arms and legs were elongated too, making his current attempt to look smaller than he was even more obvious.
His fingers and toes were tipped in sharp, dark claws, and his thighs and lower torso were covered in thick, soft-looking fur, a shade darker than the sandy golden blonde of his hair. It thinned the further up it went, not entirely covering his ass and groin area, peaking in an exaggerated happy trail between his pecs where it spread back out, covering his chest.
Jaime looked back up from his appraisal, noting the cautious look was back on Finn’s face. His voice was thick when he asked, “Are you ok, Jaime? Is there someone you want me to call for you? Someone you feel safe with?”
I feel safe with you.
Finn was still reading him closely, and may have seen that sentiment on his face, but still, Jaime answered. “I think I’m ok. I’m not hurt. I may be in shock. You know, given everything.” He waved his hands in Finn’s general direction, who nodded his head as if he understood.
“You do—I mean, you are, like, huge. Right? And covered in hair? And very naked? And your teeth are pointy? That’s real, right? Because if it’s not, then no, I am not ok and should probably go to the hospital.”
Finn’s mouth tipped up in a half smile, revealing more of one fang.
That should not be cute. It should not.
“Yes, that’s all real. I know it’s… I know you may be frightened of me, like this. But I promise you, I’m still in full control of myself. I would never hurt you. Neither would Silas or Sheppard.”
His eyes were back to that earnest, vulnerable softness that made Jaime want to curl up in his arms and squeeze him for being too cute while he simultaneously figured out who hurt Finn so badly that he thought Jaime would scream and cry and hate him just for looking like this.
“There’s a lot to explain,” Finn went on. “And I will tell you everything, Jaime. Everything.” He sighed. “I need to go outside to check on Silas and talk with Sheppard when he arrives. But we will not decide anything without your input. I won’t keep you out of this, not anymore. After we’ve settled everything and found a safe place for you to stay tonight, I’ll tell you everything. If you still want to hear it.”
Jaime looked at him, all of him. He took in Finn’s claws, teeth, elongated limbs, and all of his earnest, tender words. “Yes, Finn. I want you to tell me. I want to listen.”
A shudder passed through Finn, and right before Jaime’s eyes, as if the weight of the moment had finally lifted off his shoulders, big, furry, growly Finn shifted and bunched and adjusted back into the Finn that looked like a human.
But he was still naked.
“Thank you, Jaime.” Even in his human form, his fangs remained enlarged.
Cute.
He didn’t think he was in shock anymore.
Just then, Sheppard hollered out and made his way up the stairs. Upon seeing Jaime and a very naked Finn standing so close to each other, he let out a resigned sigh. “Right, well. He knows?”
Finn said, “I’m explaining the rest to him later, but he knows the important bits. He saw both Silas and I shifted.”
Sheppard glanced down and smirked. “I don’t think that’s the only important bit he’s gotten an eyeful of.”
Seeming to remember that he was naked, Finn blushed and covered his cock with his hand. Well, gathered his cock in his hand was more like it, because even though it was soft, it was certainly big enough to not fit behind his palm.
Also, that did nothing to hide the amazing view Jaime had of his ass.
Damn.
Finn cleared his throat. “Um. Right. Let me put some clothes on, and I’ll meet you both downstairs.”
Still smirking, Sheppard walked out.
Finn shyly glanced back at Jaime. “Later. I’ll tell you everything later.”
Jaime smiled at him, a real one. “Later. I promise.”
The next couple of hours were complete chaos, and Jaime did his best to stay out of the way, tucked into the background.
The security team had reported the attack, but left out the hairier details when making their official statements. Jaime saw Sheppard talking quietly with a few of the officers who had shown up, though, and he wondered if some of them were like Finn and Silas. And Sheppard, too, apparently.
Since there was an official protective order on file between Jaime and the two men, whose names he still didn’t care to know, they completed a full investigation of the break in. A couple of the officers raised their eyebrows at the level of damage that had been done to the doors and the wall in Jaime’s bedroom, but no one argued when Silas claimed he was the one to throw the guy around in the struggle.
Hell, Jaime had no doubt he could put a man through a wall even without all the extra mass in his other form.
Dana and DA Rivera also came, both seeming genuinely concerned for Jaime’s safety and well-being, fussing over the scratches on his neck. He assured them both that he was fine, he wasn’t hurt, just a bit shaken up, but they’d still insisted that he was looked at by paramedics.
He obliged, and sat in the back of the ambulance while the medic put a couple of bandaids on him and answered the DA’s questions, Dana hovering protectively.
She had dark, sleek black hair speckled with gray that framed her prominent features in a way that reminded Jaime of a raven, and when she stared down DA Rivera for asking questions she deemed unnecessary, Jaime was again grateful that she was on his side.
But she did let a few questions get by. Yes, the security team had done their job well. Yes, he felt safe with them.
It wasn’t until after they left, promising to be in touch and reminding him they were only a phone call away, that Jaime realized—all of that was absolutely true.
He was fine. He did feel safe.
It was such a stark shift from the last time he’d parted ways with the detectives after being patched up by a medic, tucked under Sam’s arm in a daze and feeling like his life had been ripped from him.
He’d seen three men who he had thought were just normal people turn giant, hairy, and growly right in front of him, but he was ok. And it didn’t feel like shock. It felt more like, before, nothing had made sense. The way that Vera had died so quickly and violently hadn’t made sense. But now, he had a rational explanation for it. Or well, maybe not rational, but an explanation, nevertheless.
There were things going on that Jaime had been kept in the dark about, which were making him feel lost, confused, weak, and afraid. But somehow, facing the reality of who was after him made him less afraid.
Or maybe that was the three giant, growly men on his side, protecting him.
Now that he knew what to look for, it seemed obvious that Finn, Silas, and Sheppard were different. The way the three of them moved in tandem, somehow communicating without speaking, making sure that at least one of them was never out of reach from Jaime the entire time the house was swarmed by police, showed him how serious they were in doing their job well. So yes, he did feel safe with them.
He felt safe with Finn.
Finn, who wouldn’t stop staring at him every chance he got. It didn’t bother Jaime, most of the time he stared right back, giving him a reassuring smile. Jaime wasn’t sure what came next—he had no idea what he was in store for later, when Finn explained everything that was going on—but he knew he would listen. He wanted to listen.
Last night, holed up in his room, throwing his own pity party had shown him that. Yes, Finn had hurt him by not sharing what he knew about Jeffrey Dugan, but it wasn’t the same as the way Sam had made him feel this past year. And Jaime knew that Finn’s words earlier were true—he wouldn’t keep things from him anymore.
I know you may be frightened of me like this, but I’m in control. I won't hurt you.
Oh, Finn. Of course he had kept so much from him at the start. He honestly couldn’t say what his reaction would have been if Finn had tried to tell him. Finding out this way, while jarring, may have been best all around. And no matter what Jaime found out, no matter what Finn shared with him, he was very certain about one thing.
He wanted all of Finn.
This Finn, standing protectively in front of him with his arms crossed, a plaid flannel stretching across his broad shoulders. And he wanted the other one, too, the fanged and clawed and hairy one that he met upstairs. The one who’d protected him and snarled and growled at the man who tried to hurt Jaime, and then turned those big, chocolate, puppy dog eyes on him that pleaded with him not to turn away.
Yes, he wanted them both.
Jaime stood in his living room with Finn, Silas, and Sheppard, and watched as the last police cruiser trundled back down his driveway. Finn was still staring, like he expected to see the moment the shock wore off and Jaime finally realized that he was alone with three giant predators.
He’d better fix that.
“I don’t mind your staring, Finn. I actually quite like it. But please stop looking at me like you expect me to lose my marbles and bolt for the trees at any minute.” He turned to see Finn blush and shuffle on his feet, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck.
Silas smirked. “I told you to rip the bandaid off. See?” he gestured at Jaime and gave him a winning smile. “Everything worked out.”
Finn growled at him.
Sheppard gave a long-suffering sigh, and made a face at Jaime like he’d dealt with their brotherly shit for too long and had no patience for it left. “I’m glad you are alright, Jaime, and I’m sorry if we gave you a shock. Our background doesn’t usually come up in most cases. This is a unique situation. I know that Finn has offered to fill you in on everything, but I want you to know that I will keep you fully informed from this point forward, too. Now that you know about us, there’s no sense in keeping you in the dark anymore.”
Jaime heaved his own sigh, this time in relief, and listened as Sheppard continued.
“However, regarding your brother,” Sheppard looked between him and Finn, “it isn’t in our usual practice to disclose more than is absolutely necessary with people who aren’t directly involved in our lives. I’ll leave it up to you and Finn to make a final decision, but my recommendation would be to refrain from sharing certain details with him, at least for now.”
“Thank you. For now, let’s stick with what we’ve told the police,” Jaime said.
Sheppard nodded. “Good. Well, I’ve got paperwork coming out of my ears back at the office, so I’m headed out. I’ll work on sorting out the safe house. Jaime, if rooming with these two idiots gets to be too much, let me know, and I’ll get you a hotel room.”
They all chuckled, and Sheppard waved before he also got in his truck and disappeared down the end of the driveway.
The damage to Jaime’s front door was extensive enough that he would have to stay somewhere else for a few days before they could get someone out to fix it. Plus, Dana, DA Rivera, and Sheppard had all agreed that it would be better if Jaime stayed in an unknown location until the trial.
Sheppard had told him he would ready one of the security team’s safe houses that they used for clients when necessary, but it would be better if he stayed in a hotel or with Finn and Silas for tonight so the safe house could be opened up and stocked before they arrived.
Through a blush, Jaime had mumbled that he would be fine at Finn’s if he was ok with that, and then he’d laughed out loud when Finn nodded his head in agreement so vigorously it looked like it might pop off.
Silas turned to Jaime, grinning ear to ear. “Sleepover time. This is going to be so much fun!”
Finn growled again.
Finn and Silas did have a guest room, but the bed was currently covered in piles and piles of laundry.
“It’s all clean, I swear,” Silas assured him. “Let me clear it off and you’ll have somewhere to sleep.”
Finn growled some more. Had he always done that, and Jaime was just now noticing? Or had he stopped trying to control it? “Jaime can take my bed, I’ll sleep in here.”
He turned to Finn. “Are you sure? I don’t mind sleeping in the guest room. I don’t want to kick you out of your own bed.”
Finn scowled at the pile of Silas’s laundry as though it had personally offended him. “I’m sure.”
Silas smirked. Clearly, Jaime was missing something in this exchange, but he wouldn’t argue about it because he secretly liked the idea of sleeping in Finn’s bed.
Jaime dropped his overnight bag off in Finn’s room and scurried back out, lest he be caught snooping, or worse, sniffing Finn’s sheets, and found the two men in the kitchen.
The three of them fumbled their way through making dinner in the small room, and every light brush or accidental touch from Finn—or not so accidental, on Jaime’s part—made his nerves light up and heat pool in his groin. He felt drawn to Finn in a way he’d never wanted anyone else, ever.
By the fourth time Jaime casually leaned back so that Finn’s chest brushed up against him as he passed by, causing them both to inhale sharply and Finn to firmly grab his hip with one hand, Silas had clearly had enough.
Throwing his hands up, he turned and gave a pointed look to them both. “Seriously, you two. It smells like a goddamn brothel in here, not a kitchen. Let me eat my dinner, and I’ll leave you alone for the rest of the night. But until then, please cool it, because I cannot breathe.”
Finn growled again.
Jaime blushed, and mumbled an apology.
Silas waved him off, and pointed at Finn. “You. Stop it with the growling. I know you can’t really help it, but I’m not trying to steal your… Jaime. I live here, too, in case you’ve forgotten since your brain has apparently turned to soup splashing around in that hard head of yours. I can’t help it if the guest room smells like me. Because I live here.”
Finn looked sheepish, and gave Silas those sappy puppy dog eyes that should be illegal. “I’m sorry. You’re right, it’s hard to control. But I will try. We will be gone by the morning.”
Silas nodded. “And stop it with those eyes, too. A guy can’t ever be mad at you when you look like that. It’s unfair.”
Jaime was only understanding about half of this conversation, but it was enough to gather that the tension between him and Finn was detectable among the… giant and hairy.
“Oh my God!” Jaime slapped his hand over his mouth in sudden realization.
Two pairs of alert eyes whipped toward him. “What?”
Jaime pointed an accusatory finger at Finn. “You knew! The whole time! That’s how you knew what I was reading! Oh my God!”
Finn’s face was a mixture of smug guilt.
Silas asked, “Knew what? Wait, no, never mind. I do not want to know. Let’s just finish dinner so I can leave as soon as possible, please.”
Jaime was sure he was red all the way to the tips of his ears, and he shot Finn a glare as he turned back to his chopping, but it lacked any heat.
For an entire week, Finn knew that Jaime was reading smutty romance. And lusting after him nearly every chance he got.
God, how embarrassing.
Mercifully, dinner was ready a few minutes later, and they ate in companionable silence, sprinkled with small talk and familial bickering between Finn and Silas. It was so achingly domestic and wonderful, it only magnified the simmering heat pooling low in his belly. This snapshot of companionship and ease made Jaime want, and at the center of it all was the arrestingly gorgeous man sitting across from him.
After their plates were in the dishwasher and the kitchen was cleaned up, Silas stood from his seat and stretched. “Well, I’m headed out for a run, and then I’ll keep watch out there for the night. I can’t imagine that they’d try something again so soon, but after this afternoon, we can’t be too careful.”
At Jaime’s confused look, Finn clarified. “He prefers to do surveillance in his, uh, other form. It’s more comfortable for him.” He turned toward Silas. “Please, be careful. Don’t stay out all night if you get tired—come and get me, and we can trade off. I mean that.”
Silas gave him a knowing look. “I’ll be fine, brother.”
Something in Jaime’s chest ached from watching them, and he had to look away. It was too similar to the way he and Sam used to look out for each other. Or the way he’d thought they had, anyway.
Before the thought could drag him too far down, though, Silas strode over and clapped him on the shoulder. “I’m glad you’re safe here with us, Jaime, and I’m glad you’re in the know. I know Finn has told you this already, but we will protect you.”
Jaime smiled, and patted Silas on his other shoulder. “Thank you, Silas.”
Finn growled, and then looked guilty about it.
Silas wished them goodnight with a knowing smirk, and strode for the back door, tossing off his shirt and pants in the process before walking out into the night only wearing his boxer briefs.
After a moment of stunned silence, Jaime said, “Ok. First question. Do you always have to get naked before you turn into whatever it is you turn into?”
Finn threw his head back and roared with laughter.