Page 66 of Finlay

I was curt on the phone with Calan, relaying what I knew and instructing him and the others to meet me at Thistle Do Nicely. I didn’t take my eyes off Chester as I spoke. He was busying himself with wiping down the counter. My sensitive man was far more rattled than he was letting on.

Calan asked only a single question. “Including Evan?”

I turned the question over in my mind. Reid hated Evan, and seeing him again would likely drag up the baggage they shared. On the other hand, no one tracked like Evan, or knew Reid’s former clan as well.

This was too big to risk. Not when the fucker had gone into Chester’s place of business. When he’dthreatenedhim.

“Yes,” I said finally. “Warn him to be on his best fucking behaviour. He’s only to talk to Reid if he speaks first.”

“Got it,” Calan said. “We’re leaving now.”

I hung up without saying another word. Calan, Evan, and Logan would be shifting already, carrying their clothes and phones in small bags in their jaws. Travelling while shifted was faster than by car. The issue was you wound up naked at the other end unless you made accommodations.Over the centuries, we’d found a solution that worked for us.

With my inner circle on their way, I headed back into the shop. Chester’s head shot up immediately. The spray bottle he’d been holding fell to the counter with a thud. “Everything okay?”

“Everything will be.” I went around the counter and pulled him into a hug. “I’m so glad you’re okay, Chester.”

He was stiff for a moment, making me question whether I’d overstepped somehow. But before I could move back, he relaxed into me with a sigh. He wrapped his arms around me, gripping the back of my shirt tightly. “Me too.”

We stayed like that for a while, his face buried in my chest, mine in his hair. I breathed as deeply as I could, letting Chester’s scent burn away the jaguar shifter’s. God, his hair was so soft. He hadn’t used any product in it today, and I couldn’t help but rub my cheek over it repeatedly.

So soft.

Smells so good.

Make him smell like you.

Smell like you.

I froze as I realised what I was doing. What my wolf was making me do.

I was scent marking Chester.Fuck.

“Finn?” Chester pulled back and frowned up at me. “Everything okay?”

He must’ve felt me tense. “Yeah. I’m just thinking about that bloke.”

And how I was openly scent marking Chester as mine. It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. No, if Chester was my mate, I’d be making sure every inch of him smelled like me before letting him step out of the front door. Any supe worth his salt would know exactly who Chester belonged to. Whosewrath they’d incur if they so much as growled in his direction.

I wasn’t an alpha, but I was as lethal and ruthless as one, and I’d happily unleash my skills if it meant protecting my mate.

That right there was the issue. Chester wasn’t my mate. Not yet.

If I let him walk around with my scent on him but without a mating bond, I’d be putting him at risk. Hell, I may as well put a massive fucking target on him and just let the nearby shifters run riot.

If Chester was my mate, he’d share my strength and healing abilities. He’d be almost as difficult to kill as I was.

But he wasn’t. Not yet.

Our peace with the surrounding shifter clans was tenuous at best. The McCarthy territory was the largest, strongest, and most prosperous. We’d defended our borders from power hungry clans for centuries and would continue to do so for many more. We’d lost Sarah and Maria partly because Sarah and Danny hadn’t been mated. If they had been, there might’ve been a different outcome.

It was something that had haunted Danny for many years.

I wasn’t foolish enough to expose Chester to the same risk. Which meant, until he was ready and willing to commit to me permanently, I was going to have to be careful. No scent marking. No being seen with him in public. Even being here now could be too much of a risk.

He’s already at risk with Reid working here.

“He was quite creepy,” Chester admitted. “But maybe I’m reading too much into it?”

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