Page 22 of Finlay

My eyes narrowed. “What makes ye think those things are true?”

“Because I know who you are, Finlay McCarthy, leader of the McCarthy Clan.”

I froze. “But…you’re human.”

Reid rolled his eyes. “No points for astuteness, counsellor. Let’s just say I’m in the know and leave it at that. Your reputation precedes you. You’re known to be kind, just, and fiercely protective. Exactly the qualities Chester needs.”

I was completely speechless as Reid winked and walked backwards towards the shop. “Just think about it, Finn. And don’t worry, your furry secret is safe with me.”

Chapter 6

Finn

Icouldn’t get Reid’s words out of my mind. Not about Chester, and certainly not about the truth bomb he’d dropped before leaving me with my jaw scraping the pavement.

Humans weren’t supposed to know about supes unless they were mated to one. The only exception was if they were marked by an angel or demon, which was basically one step away from being mated.

That wasn’t to say it didn’t happen. I was certain Riley knew the truth about Danny long before he became his mate. But he wassurroundedby supes. Demons, vampires, mages, shifters—Riley had them all in his circle. It made sense that they’d let him into their world. It wasn’t like anyone was going to tell the former Grim Reaper, the sons of Lucifer, and Sebastian fucking LeClerc that they couldn’t do that.

Not if they wanted to keep their immortality.

What was strange about Reid was that there were no supe scents on him, let alone a mating bond. This humanwas walking around the world with knowledge he shouldn’t have, and I had no idea how he’d got it.

It’d only be a problem if he decided to talk. Given we hadn’t had any pitchfork wielding villagers knocking at the door, he’d kept it to himself so far.

Other supes would’ve compelled Reid before he’d made it back to the shop, but not me. I could’ve blamed that on the fact I’d been too shocked to process the information in time, but that wouldn’t be true.

I thought it was more because of Chester. If Reid was right, if Chesterwasstill in danger, I was glad he had someone who had knowledge of the supe world. Someone who knew he could call me and I’d come running.

Which reminded me—I needed to give Reid my phone number. Even if I wasn’t going to pursue Chester, I wanted to keep him safe.

Keeping him safe wasn’t what kept me awake all night though. No, it was the other thing Reid had asked for.

“Keep showing up. Let Chester get to know you. Show him that he can trust you.”

Normally, I’d keep this to myself, but after Calan’s talk the other day, I’d decided maybe it was best to open up about Chester. Not about all of it. Certainly not where we’d met or why I’d gone to his shop. But him possibly being in danger? That I could share. We all visited the loch near his home, and while I knew none of them would hesitate to help a human in danger, I wanted them to be vigilant.

Five minutes into doing just that and I was already regretting it. We were in my office in the clan house, and I hadn’t even got through the whole story yet. Calan was too busy fixating on our meeting in the woods.

“Are ye sure following him home was a good idea?”Calan asked, leaning back in his armchair and crossing his feet at the ankles. “Seems a bit of a creeper move to me.”

Evan, always the peacekeeper, shrugged. “Maybe he just wanted to keep the bloke safe.”

“From what?” Unlike the rest of us, Logan had chosen to sit on the desk rather than in one of the comfy armchairs. His drink was iridescent blue today. I hadn’t bothered to comment on either the drink or his seating choice. It’d send us off topic for several hours. “That loch is within our territory. Finn would’ve been the scariest and most dangerous thing there that night.”

I sighed. Why had I thought this was a good idea? Oh, right. Beingopen. “Look, I can’t explain it, but the guy was…scared.”

Calan narrowed his eyes. “Of ye?”

“I think so.” I thought back over our interactions and the information Reid had given me. Chester’s behaviour definitely suggested he’d been hurt in the past. “One minute he was okay, the next he was snapping at me, and then he shrank in on himself entirely.”

“Hmm.” Logan studied me as he took a long draw of his drink. “Something’s not adding up here. Walk us through the whole encounter.”

I did just that, omitting the reason for Chester’s ‘walk,’ instead making it sound like he was just out for a stroll. I didn’t get far before Logan was interrupting me.

“Hang on, you asked him why he was out in the middle of the night? What time was this exactly?”

“Around seven p.m.”

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