33. Finn
Finn
N ot wanting to waste any time, Chester and I caught the first flight out of Edinburgh the next morning. Reid had agreed to watch the shop for Chester. According to Chester, he’d been subdued on the phone but insisted he was okay.
Time would tell as to how honest he was being.
We were in the air for less than ninety minutes. It should’ve been easy, but it was by far the smallest plane I’d ever been on. I wasn’t good with flying at the best of times.
Thank fuck I’d been born a shifter and not an angel or a demon.
“Those seats weren’t built for men our size,” Chester muttered, stretching his back as we made our way down the staircase to the tarmac.
Southampton Airport was convenient for our needs, but tiny.
So tiny, in fact, that you walked from the plane directly to the terminal without the need for tunnels or buses.
“You’re telling me. I could’ve stretched out my arms and touched both sides of the plane.” I pressed my hand against my stomach, willing the nausea to subside. “Felt like we were in a tin can bobbing in the sea.”
We hadn’t bothered checking luggage. So long as Danny was fine, we planned on travelling home on the next available flight.
I’d tried him several times over the past twelve hours but his phone was still off. I knew Logan was doing the same with Riley. Every time a call failed, my anxiety notched up a little more. What if something had happened to them?
“Do you have Danny’s address?” Chester had the Uber app open and was looking at me expectantly.
“Um…” My mind went blank. “Shit. I don’t. Fuck.”
Chester sighed. “I’m making a note to buy you an address book. Okay, so how are we going to track him down?Can you sniff him out or something?”
My lips twitched. “Aye, but we don’t need to. We’re in Southampton, which means there’s only one place to go if you’re looking for a supe.”
I googled the address and showed Chester. “A bar? Finn, I don’t think that’s going to be open at ten a.m.”
“We don’t need it to be open, we just need it to be warded. Crossing the ward is a surefire way to guarantee an audience.”
“An audience with who?”
I jutted my chin towards the taxi pick up spot. “The sons of Lucifer.”
C hester grew more tense on the drive over to The Closet. He stared out of the window broodily, a perma-frown on his forehead. At first I’d put it down to the supes I was taking him to meet. I imagined most humans would feel a sense of trepidation over meeting the literal spawn of Satan.
But as we raced through the city, I knew it was something else. This tension was one I recognised in him.
One, I realised, I hadn’t seen in several weeks.
Throwing up a compulsion net so we could speak freely, I reached over and squeezed his hand. “What’s wrong, m’eudail?”
Chester shook himself and gave me a tight smile. “Nothing.”
I pursed my lips. “I’m calling bullshit.”
“Fine,” he sighed. “It’s just…the last time I was down this end of the country, I was fleeing from Matt. It’s brought back some memories. That’s all.”
Guilt rushed over me. “Fuck, that didn’t even occur to me. I’m so sorry, Chester. Is there anything I can do?”
He shook his head, his smile coming easier this time. “Nah. I’ll be fine. It’s not like we’re going anywhere near where we used to live. It’s just…”
His voice faded away as he chewed on his lip. It had me unclicking my seat belt and sliding closer to him. “Tell me, m’eudail.”
“I’m being ridiculous,” he said, the words rushing out, “but I’ve got this weird feeling that he’s going to pop up somehow. If we see him, do you think you can stop him talking to me?”
Was that what he was worried about? Running into his ex and having to interact with him?
“I know it’s daft to even ask,” he hurried on. “But I’ve only just got his voice out of my mind. I don’t want to give him any power over me ever again. The thought of having to be around him makes me want to hurl.”
“M’eudail.” I cupped his face and leaned my forehead against his. “That’s not daft at all. I imagine most people wouldn’t want to come face to face with their abuser. But you don’t need to worry.”
“I don’t?”
“Nae. If we run into him, he’ll be dead before he can open his mouth.”
Chester’s eyes widened. “Finn, you can’t just murder people for upsetting me.”
I kissed his lips once before sitting back. “Actually, I can. It’s one of the benefits of being a supe. I’m very efficient at it. And he didn’t upset you, he abused you.”
Chester’s throat bobbed. “That doesn’t mean he deserves to die.”
“Doesn’t mean he deserves to live either.” We drew up outside The Closet and I lifted the compulsion net to thank the driver. “Either way, you don’t need to worry. Matt won’t ever be allowed within a hundred feet of you.”
The car sped away, leaving us on the pavement outside the nightclub.
“It’s closed,” Chester said in dismay. “Better hope it’s warded or we’re back to square one.”
Distant footsteps thundered inside the property, like someone running downstairs. Supernaturally fast. “Oh, it’s warded all right.”
I grabbed Chester’s arm and pulled him behind me. “Stay here, just in case whoever it is decides to attack first and ask questions later.”
Chester squeaked in alarm. “Is that likely to happen?”
I hoped not, but I’d heard stories. Demons were as territorial as wolf shifters, especially if they happened to have a human mate.
Which three of Lucifer’s sons did.
But when the door creaked open, it wasn’t a demon who appeared but a water mage. He folded his arms over his chest, his steel grey eyes sweeping over me critically. “Bar’s closed, shifter.”
I took a cautious step forward. “I’m looking for Danny. Do you know where he is?”
The mage quirked an eyebrow. “Who’s asking?”
“I’m Finlay.” I extended a hand, praying the mage was in a good mood. Water mages were the last kind of supe you wanted to fuck around with. “Danny’s beta. I lead the McCarthy Clan.”
Recognition flared in the mage’s eyes as he shook my hand vigorously.
“Finlay! Ah, I’ve heard so much about you.
I’m River. It’s great to meet you. Any friend of Danny’s is a friend of ours.
Except LeClerc, of course. No idea how that bromance happened but Sebastian is currently barred for staking Mori. ”
Chester’s curious voice came over my shoulder. “LeClerc? Mori?”
River craned his neck to smile at Chester over my shoulder. “Hi! LeClerc is a dickhead of a vampire who you should hope you never meet, and Mori’s my mate. Big sexy demon.”
He gave a delighted sigh like he was picturing Mori before continuing. “Anyway, I saw you hiding back there and decided not to kill Finn. It’s a bit rude to do that in front of someone’s human.”
Chester gripped my waist protectively. “You were going to kill Finn?”
River winked. “Only temporarily. But don’t worry, he’s safe from me. Now, why don’t you come inside and we can track Danny down for you.”
He spun on his heel and stalked into the club.
Chester came to stand beside me, staring in the direction River had vanished in. “He doesn’t look like a demon.”
“That’s because he’s not.” I paused. “Mind you, the demons don’t look like demons either. You’d walk past one on the street and have no idea. River’s a water mage, which means he can control the flow of liquid.”
“Would he really have been able to kill you?”
“Aye.” I put an arm around his shoulders to lead him forwards. “Liquid includes blood. They can drain their opponents in less than a second.”
“Lovely,” Chester said faintly.
“It is a brilliant trick,” River said from the table he’d taken a seat at. “Very handy too. I took out an entire clan of wolf shifters a few years ago by doing it.”
I came to an abrupt stop. “That was you?”
River tilted his head. “You heard about that?”
“Every shifter did,” I said, reluctantly pulling out a chair for Chester. Being given a detailed example of just how lethal River was had me suddenly wanting to spirit Chester far away. “Can I ask why ye did it?”
River smiled. There was no warmth in it, just calculated vengeance. “They were attacking my mate.”
Ah. Now that I could understand. “In that case, I’m glad you ended them. None of us lost any sleep over it. They were a bunch of twats.”
“Indeed.” River pulled out his phone. “I assume you’ve been trying to call Danny and Riley and not getting through?”
The anxiety from earlier came rushing back. “Are they okay? Did something happen? ”
“They’re fine,” River said, his fingers tapping at the screen. “They went on holiday last week to Aruba and there was an incident.”
“An incident?”
“From what I gather, they were on a boat tour and Riley fell overboard,” River explained with an eye-roll. “Danny panicked and jumped in after him.”
Chester sat forward at that. “Can Riley not swim?”
“He can,” River said. “A fact I believe he pointed out as he soon as he popped up beside Danny. But supes are known to be a bit overprotective of their mates.” His eyes lingered on the tight hold I had on Chester’s shoulders. “Something I’m guessing you know about.”
“We’re not mates,” Chester said before stiffening and turning to me. “Shit, I’m sorry. That sounded really callous. I didn’t mean for it to come out like that.”
“It’s okay, m’eudail.” I kissed his temple reassuringly. His quick denial had caused a pang of hurt, but I knew it was just his fear talking. “We’re together, but we aren’t mated.”
Yet. I didn’t let myself say it, but I thought River knew all the same.
Clearing my throat, I brought the conversation back around to Danny and Riley. “I’m guessing they both had their phones in their pockets?”
“Got it in one,” River said. “They got back yesterday and picked up new phones and numbers. I suspect Danny hasn’t had a chance to let you know it yet.”
“Normally that wouldn’t be an issue,” I said, unsure how much I could trust River. “But there’s some urgent clan business I need to inform him of.”