Page 3 of Finlay

Calan knew what I was going through. He was here for me.

Neither of us ever discussed that night. We stayed there until the sun rose before walking silently back home. Calan stood at my side as the newlyweds fell giggling from their front door. As I clapped Danny on the back, forcing out the expected bawdy joke. As I planted a chaste kiss on the blushing cheek of the bride.

I had believed it to be the worst moment of my life.

But as I skidded into the clan lands.

As I saw Calan waiting…

My stoic brother, his green eyes red and swollen, his dark hair standing on end, like he had dragged his hands through it repeatedly.

Tears tracking down his cheeks.

I knew this was about to top it.

Shifting back into human form, I strode straight up to him. “What is it?”

Calan opened and closed his mouth silently. His whole body shook as his wolf tried to take over. My own started to howl in response, trying to force me to shift. Thinking that doing so might save me from what was coming.

But it had already happened. Whatever Calan was going to tell me, I had been too late to stop.

“Sarah…” Calan’s voice cracked and broke. “She’s…”

No.My heart began to bleed in my chest. “Do not say it, Calan. No…”

Steel flashed through Calan’s eye, like he realised the extent to which I was about to shatter. That he would need to be strong to get me through this. “Finn, I am so fucking sorry. Sarah…she is dead. A Jaguar clan attacked while we were on the Tully lands. It was a trap for Danny.”

The world tilted sideways, and there was a strange ringing in my ears as I forced myself to ask the question. Toconfirm that my worst nightmares were really coming true. “Maria?”

Calan’s composure broke, a sob heaving up from his chest as he nodded. “Maria too.”

A baby. Maria was a baby.

Dozens of memories flashed through my mind. Sarah waving at me through the window. Maria squealing with delight as I spun her through the air. The tiny yellow blanket she toted everywhere. Her joy at the little wooden chair I had carved, just right for her size. Falling asleep in Danny’s arms as he rocked her.

Danny.

I was falling apart, but I could not. Not yet. I had to be strong for Danny.

He would need me now more than ever.

It hit me then, that he was not there. The thought of losing him too hit me like a sledgehammer. I dropped to my knees, clutching my chest as I looked up at my brother. I had to blink several times before my vision finally focused on him. “Danny?”

“Alive.”

I sagged towards the floor at the word, my hand shooting out to catch myself.

I could not speak as Calan filled me in on the whole wretched tale. How our council had lured Danny, Logan, and Calan from the lands. How they had tricked members of a jaguar clan, the Clarksons, into attacking. How Sarah and Maria had been the ones to pay the price.

And Danny. In one fell swoop, he had lost everything.

So had I.But that knowledge was something I would take to my grave. It did not matter what I felt, the pain I was in.

Danny needed me.

“Where is he?” I croaked, head hanging low as I remained on the ground. “I need to go to him.”

“Gone.” My head snapped up at that, the sense of foreboding returning. “We cleaned house, killed all those we could prove were responsible. Then he left. He has left the clan.”

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