Page 35 of Finlay

He shook his head and relief flooded me. “No, it’s Reid. And me. I canna fucking believe this.”

“Okay,” I said slowly, calming now I knew Chester wasn’t involved. “Start at the beginning.”

Evan took a deep swig of his drink. “Remember the diplomatic summit I had to attend?”

My brow furrowed. “The one, like, ten years ago?”

“It was thirteen,” he said quietly, staring into the glass. “Thirteen years ago.”

I remembered. Evan hadn’t been part of the inner circle then, but the summit had been held somewhere Calan, Logan, and I couldn’t go.

Not unless it was war instead of diplomacy on the agenda.

“The one hosted by the Clarkson Clan, right? The jaguar shifters.”

The ones who were responsible for Sarah and Maria’s death. For our alpha leaving us. Although Danny had wipedout those immediately involved, none of us harboured any illusions that some there had known. They might not have had a hand in it, but that didn’t make them innocent.

It was why we’d sent Evan. It wasn’t just a meeting with the Clarkson Clan, but with all the British shifters. We needed to be represented there. Evan had been born after everything happened, and while he knew our past, he didn’t carry the same prejudices we did.

“Aye.” He took another swig of his drink. “There was a boy living there. A child.”

“A jaguar shifter?”

He shook his head once. “A human.”

My brow furrowed. “Why did the Clarkson Clan have a human living with them?”

His eyes met mine and the weariness in them was endless. “Because his parents are both shifters. His father is the clan alpha.”

I stared at him in shock. “That’s not possible.”

“I didn’t think so either.” Evan turned the now empty glass around in his hands. “They tried to keep him hidden, but he saw me playing football with a few of the other shifter kids. He snuck out and asked if he could join in.”

Alarm bells began to ring in the back of my mind. The Clarkson’s were a prideful bunch. Birthing a human child, keeping him hidden…

“He was the image of his dad,” Evan continued, “but there wasn’t a lick of scent on him. He was just a kid. A normal human kid. Bit scrawny but feisty as fuck.”

Reid.It was Reid. It had to be. Oh fuck.Fuck.

I stayed silent, sensing there was more of the story to come. Somehow, I knew the horror of it was lurking in the corner of the room, waiting for Evan to unleash it.

“He followed me around for the whole conference. Thealpha tried to insist he return to his quarters, but I told him I didn’t mind. The kid was funny. And he seemed kind of lonely, ye know?”

My chest ached. Yes. I thought I did know. I thought I knew exactly where this story was going.

“On the last morning of the summit, he turned up with bruises on his wrist and a black eye.” The glass cracked in Evan’s hands. “Told me he’d fallen out of a tree the night before. Several of the other kids corroborated his story, so I didn’t think anything of it.”

“Why would you?” I said gently. “That’s not the sort of thing you would’ve come across here. You were brought up to believe that all children are sacred and to be protected.”

“Don’t make excuses for me,” Evan said harshly. “Don’t. I don’t deserve them. You’ve not even heard the worst part yet.”

I nodded for him to continue. “Go on. I’m here. Whatever you’ve got to tell me, I’m here.”

“The child…he asked me to take him away. To bring him back here.” The glass shattered. Tiny shards embedded themselves in Evan’s hands, drawing droplets of blood. He didn’t seem to notice. “I thought he was joking, Finn. I swear, if I’d thought for a second?—”

I cut him off. “Even if you did know he was serious, you couldn’t have just taken him, Evan. It would’ve sparked a war between our clans.”

“But we would’ve fought it, right?” His lower lip trembled. “Right, Finn?”

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