35. Finn
Finn
T he silence that followed my question wasn’t promising.
Bailey was the one who broke it, sitting back in his chair and folding his arms over his chest before addressing his mate. “You can’t still be pissed at me about this.”
“I can,” Harlow said, his lips pursed. “Stupid fucking demonic laws.”
Chester’s hand found mine under the table. “Is Matt still alive?”
I didn’t like the clammy feeling of his palm, or the way his hand was trembling. “Not for long if I get my way,” I muttered.
“Unfortunately, it’s not that simple.” Cal glared at his brother. “Harlow made an idiotic deal with his mate, which means we can’t allow physical harm to come to someone who’s hurt Bailey.”
I stared at Harlow in confusion. I hadn’t spent much time with him over the centuries, but what I did know was that his level of unhinged was rivalled only by Logan’s. “Why on earth would you make that kind of a deal? ”
Harlow huffed. “Let’s just say Bailey caught me at a moment of weakness.”
“It was midway through giving him a blow job.” Bailey smirked wickedly. “Gotta pick your moments with Low.”
The demon scowled, but that didn’t stop him getting up and plopping himself on the bigger man’s lap. “It’s not my fault your mouth is like magic. I would’ve agreed to anything to get you to continue.”
Chester cleared his throat, red rushing up his neck and into his cheeks. “Not that I’m condoning murder, but what kind of deal is that unbreakable?”
“The demonic kind,” Cal sighed. “It’s magically binding, and to break it would mean immortal death for us. I have one with my mate where I can’t lie to him.”
Chester’s brows twitched. “I’d hope you wouldn’t lie to him regardless.”
“Obviously not, but this covers everything.” Cal rubbed a hand over his face in frustration. “I can’t even throw him a surprise party because if he asked me outright, I’d have to tell him.”
“To be fair, Oscar would hate that,” Bailey said. “You know he doesn’t like being the centre of attention.”
Harlow laughed. “I don’t know why. Being the centre of attention is fabulous.”
“Which is why you spend all your time there,” Cal said drily.
Suddenly it made a lot of sense that Danny felt so at home with these supes. In a lot of ways, their banter and easy kinship reminded me of what I shared with Calan, Logan, and Evan.
Knowing that though, I suspected they’d continue in this vein for a while if not redirected back to the original topic. “Does that mean Matt’s alive and well? ”
Harlow flashed me a dangerous grin, one I was used to seeing on Logan’s face. “Oh, he’s alive, but I wouldn’t say he’s well .”
A slow smile formed on my lips. No one knew how to fuck with someone better than a demon. “Do share.”
“First, we made him move to the middle of nowhere, Siberia to rent a one-bed flat. He’ll never be able to sleep for more than a few hours at a time, and when he’s awake, he’ll always be scared but never know why.
” Harlow ticked off each item with relish.
“Every pair of shoes he buys will be a size too small, and whenever he looks at a burger he’ll feel sick but won’t know why.
And, my particular favourite, he won’t be able to get an erection unless he’s handling raw chilli. ”
Chester was shaking under my arm. I glanced at him to see tears pouring down his face. For a second, I was horrified. Until I realised he was silently laughing.
“That’s brilliant.” Chester swiped away the tears. “Utter fucking genius.”
“Thank you.” Cal bowed his head modestly. “Coming up with that was one of my prouder moments.”
Chester sobered suddenly. “It’s great that you compelled all of that to happen, but I know Matt. He has enough savings hidden away to keep himself happy despite everything.”
Harlow’s smirk was evil. “Ah, bless. You think we left him a single penny? No, hun. All of his money went into the ‘Chester’s new life starter fund.’”
Chester’s jaw dropped. “What?”
“It didn’t cover everything,” Harlow added. “We topped up the rest, but it made us ridiculously happy to know his money was helping you get a fresh start.”
I squeezed Chester’s shoulders. “It makes me feel happy too. He made you suffer, so it’s right that he should be the one to pay to fix his mistakes.”
“You think I was a mistake?”
“Nae, m’eudail.” I kissed his temple. “His mistake was treating you how he did. Trust me, it’s not one I’ll ever make.”
“I know.” He smiled. “I love you, Finn.”
“Aww.” Harlow’s clapping made us both jump. I think we’d forgotten we had an audience. “Honestly, this is just the best news.”
Cal was grinning widely too. The only one who wasn’t participating to the celebratory atmosphere was Bailey. He was watching Chester with pensive eyes, his thumb stroking back and forth over his lips as he contemplated something.
Could he see himself in Chester? There was certainly a physical similarity between them. Matt obviously had a type, which proved just how twisted he was. He chose bigger men so he’d have something to hold over them. A derogatory tool to wield to make them feel small and give him the power.
“Chester, would you mind if we went somewhere quieter to talk?” Bailey asked suddenly.
Chester shot a look at me before shrugging. “Sure, I guess.”
Harlow frowned at his mate and grabbed his arm. “Why can’t you talk in front of us?”
Bailey got to his feet and bent down to kiss the top of Harlow’s head. “Because you’d interrupt too much. What I want to talk to Chester about doesn’t require an audience.”
“Should I be worried?” Chester said, and I knew he was only half joking. Unlike Harlow, I didn’t do anything to stop him standing .
He wasn’t my mate—a reminder that didn’t ache as much as it usually did. Because, even if he were my mate, I wouldn’t stop him doing what he wanted.
Apparently, Harlow wasn’t going to either. He let go of Bailey’s arm with a dramatic sigh. “Fine, but I expect to be filled in on any juicy tea later.”
Bailey rolled his eyes before smiling at Chester. “Fancy getting some fresh air?”
“Sure.” Chester turned to me. “Will you be okay here for a bit?”
“Aye. I’ve got to talk to Danny, so I’ll do that while you’re gone.” Something occurred to me and I turned to the demons with a frown. “They will be safe, right? I know there’s a high concentration of supes in this area.”
Cal nodded. “They will. All of them know Bailey is mated to Harlow.”
“And none of them have a death wish.” Harlow rocked back on his chair. “If there’s any problems, the bond will let me know instantly.”
“Okay.” I bit my lip and got to my feet opening my arms to Chester. “D’yer mind, m’eudail?”
He slid into my hold with practised ease. “I’ll never say no to a cuddle from you.”
“Technically that’s not what I’m doing,” I said, rubbing my cheek against his neck and up along his face. My hands went into his hair too, carding through it repeatedly until I was satisfied. “Although the cuddling is a very nice side effect.”
Chester had a bemused smile on his face as I let him go. “What was that?”
“I was scent marking you.” I rubbed the back of my neck, aware of all the eyes on us. “Now any supes you come across will know you’re…well, they’ll know you’re with me.”
Something unbearably soft crossed Chester’s face. “You’re always looking out for me.”
I thumbed at his chin. “Always, m’eudail.”
I waited until they’d left the club before turning back to the demons. “Okay, so you can’t kill Matt, but what’s to say I can’t?”
Cal and Harlow exchanged a look before the latter sighed. “Unfortunately, you can’t because you’ve told us about it. And because we can’t let physical harm come to him, we can’t let you.”
“Balls.” I slumped in my seat in annoyance. “I really want the fucker dead. Don’t get me wrong, what you guys have done is great, but I won’t be satisfied until he’s downstairs being tortured on a daily basis.”
“The trick with demonic deals,” Cal said lightly, “is to find the loophole.”
Harlow nodded rapidly. “Yes. Our mates love a loophole.”
I stared at them both, a plan starting to form. “Are you saying if you didn’t know?—”
“We’re not saying anything,” Cal said firmly, cutting me off. “And neither are you. Harlow and I cannot know that there are any plans afoot that may lead to Matt’s untimely death.”
A wolfish grin crossed my face. “Understood.”
It seemed Calan would be travelling overseas in the near future .
Before long, Danny and Riley returned. Cal and Harlow said their goodbyes, leaving the three of us alone.
“Okay,” Danny said, his mouth set in a grim line. “Lay all the bad shit on me. We’ll get that out of the way and then I can rave some more about how happy I am for you and Chester.”
I sighed. “It’s a long story.”
I started with Evan’s attendance at the diplomatic conference thirteen years ago. Riley interrupted before I got more than a few sentences in. “Hasn’t Evan only just been promoted to the inner circle? Why didn’t one of you go?”
Danny tensed and I gave Riley a tight smile. “The Clarkson Clan were hosting. They’re the clan responsible for Sarah and Maria.”
The blood drained from Riley’s face. He moved his chair closer to his mate’s, lacing their fingers together. “Yep, I can see why none of you wanted to go. Even with the ones involved long dead, I’m sure there must be others there who knew about it.”
“Yes,” Danny said. “You can’t ever clean house completely, not without risking the innocents.”
Silence fell over the table, and I knew all of us were thinking of that incident last year. The one where the traitors in our clan had made themselves known, and Riley’s life had almost been lost in the process.
“So Evan went to the meeting,” Riley said eventually. “What happened then?”
I explained about Reid, the human child who’dfollowed Evan around like a puppy. The injuries on the last day. That he’d asked Evan to take him away.
Riley swore under his breath while Danny shook his head slowly. “I take it Evan didn’t realise he was being abused? ”
“No. Evan was made to believe that Reid had been injured falling out of a tree. He did take his concerns to the boy’s father, Clyde, but he brushed them off. Said the boy was prone to lies and dramatics.”
Riley’s nostrils flared. “And he believed him? Is he a fucking moron?”
Danny sighed. “It’s not as simple as that, Ry. In clans, the innocent are the most protected members, especially children. It makes sense that Evan wouldn’t have thought anything more of it.”
“Given they were the clan responsible for what happened to Maria, I can’t believe he’d have bought that.”
Danny and I both flinched. Riley was right—they hadn’t respected Maria’s innocent life, so why would they have cared about Reid?
“Evan didn’t know about the Clarkson Clan’s involvement,” I said heavily. “That information is only disclosed once someone joins the inner circle.”
Riley stared at me in disbelief. “Why the fuck doesn’t everyone know?”
It was Danny who answered him. “For clan harmony, Ry. We have to coexist with other clans peacefully. Making an enemy of the Clarksons among our people would’ve led to nothing but fear and animosity.”
He sniffed. “Still think it’s stupid, but go on.”
The two stayed quiet through the rest of the story as I explained how Reid came back into our lives via Chester. His reunion with Evan, which went so painfully wrong. The guilt Evan carried thanks to everything he’d learned since.
I got all the way up to Clyde going to Chester’s home before Danny interrupted. His bones were cracking ominously, and I could’ve sworn I could see his wolf staring back at me. “Before you finish the story, please tell me Clyde’s dead.”
“Oh, very,” I said. Danny relaxed back in his seat, his wolf retreating. “Logan even performed his new favourite trick.”
Riley shuddered and turned a delicate shade of green. “How someone so lovely and funny can enjoy skinning people is beyond me. Dude’s one of my best friends, but…gross.”
“Gross but effective,” Danny said. “Sends a message.”
“Aye, that’s part of the problem.”
Danny’s brows drew together. “What do you mean?”
“The Clarksons have used Clyde’s death as an excuse to declare war.”
Danny’s confused expression didn’t shift. “But he violated the treaty. He came onto our land and threatened a human. Worse, he tried to kidnap him with the intent of holding him hostage. What the fuck were they expecting to happen?”
“No idea,” I said honestly. “They’re also determined to get to Reid still, and we don’t understand what they want with him either.”
“Fuck.” Danny carded his hand through his thick chestnut waves. “Okay. What can I do to help?”