Page 113 of Finlay

Okay, so maybe I’d been flirting with him a little…teasing him by washing myself really thoroughly. But it had been his idea to take things further.

Mostly.

Darkness had well and truly fallen by the time we entered the clan house. We were clinging to each other, whispering and giggling like a couple of teenagers. The events of earlier in the day seemed so far in the past they weren’t even on our radar.

All that changed as we stepped into Finn’s office. Calan, Logan, and Evan were all there sitting in silence. Calan was wearing a look of thunder and Logan was frowning as he sharpened a wicked looking dagger.

And Evan? He was slumped against the windowsill, staring unseeing into the woods. He was running his thumb repeatedly over his lower lip as he scowled into the darkness. Wherever his mind was right now, it wasn’t in this room with us.

Finn tensed immediately. “What’s happened?”

“Oh, just declarations of war and devastated humans,” Logan said, his chipper tone at odds with the murder in his eyes. “You know, the usual.”

Finn went eerily still. “Explain.”

“You do it,” Logan huffed, gesturing at Calan. “I’ll get too angry if I have to say it out loud.”

“This arrived an hour ago,” Calan said, handing a piece of paper to Finn.

Finn’s eyes raced over it, getting narrower with every sentence. “The Clarkson Clan is declaring war because we killed Clyde?”

Calan nodded curtly. “Appears so.”

“But he broke the treaty. His life was ours to take.”

“Bingo,” Logan said, pointing his dagger at Finn. “See,this is why we’re the dominant clan. The brain cells over there are severely deficient.”

“Shit.” Finn pinched the bridge of his nose. “This is going to be a clusterfuck to sort out.”

I swallowed hard, eyeing the paper still clutched in Finn’s hand. “Are they going to invade tonight?”

“What? No.” Finn put his arm around my shoulders, pulling me close to his side. “That’s not how it works in shifter conflicts. This is basically the opening shot in a diplomatic war that’ll likely last years. It won’t escalate unless they’re really stupid.”

Logan hummed. “True. They are stupid, but notreallystupid. Our warriors outnumber theirs three to one. Plus we have Danny. He’ll come back if needed.”

Some of the tension left me, but not all of it. I hadn’t seen the fight today, but I’d heard it. The thought of Finn having to do that…

My stomach pitched.

“I’ll have to speak to Danny.” Finn slid his hand under my shirt, stroking my skin soothingly. Even while trying to figure out how to save his clan, he was still trying to comfort me. “Have you tried calling him already?”

“Aye,” Calan said. “Says the number’s been disconnected. Logan’s tried Riley a few times but it’s the same.”

Finn frowned. “That’s fucking odd.”

With everything Finn had told me about Danny over the past couple of months, I had to agree. “He wouldn’t just go silent on you, right?”

“Nope,” Finn said. “He wouldn’t. Do you think something’s happened to them?”

None of them answered him. The ominous silence and loaded looks said it all though.

Finn ran a hand through his hair and blew out a breath. “Guess I’ll be taking a trip down to Southampton then.”

Logan raised a brow. “Want me to go instead?”

Finn shook his head. “No. I need the three of you here to keep the clan safe. And Reid. I know Clyde’s dead now, but I don’t trust any of them. Whatever plans he had for his son, I’m willing to bet they’re still in motion.”

“Wait a minute,” I said suddenly, my mind circling back to the second part of Logan’s earlier statement. “When you said ‘devastated humans,’ did you mean Reid?”

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