Page 76 of Finlay

I was silent. I couldn’t disagree with him, not when he was right.

The question was, where did that leave me? Us? Did I even want there to be an us?

“Okay,” I said finally. “I’m not kicking you out, yet, but can we move somewhere more comfortable? My bum’s going numb.”

“Feel grateful you have clothes on,” Finn grumbled as we got up. “Mine froze a good five minutes ago.”

I surveyed his naked frame, every inch as delicious as I remembered. “Where are your clothes?”

“They don’t shift with me,” he said. “Pain in the arse. In this case, quite literally.”

I still wasn’t sure I believed him. Had I actually died choking on those tablets and this was some warped afterlife? It wouldn’t be that bad if that were the case. At least Finn was here with me.

“You don’t believe me.”

I folded my arms. “It’s hard to wrap my head around. Werewolves are supposed to be fictional.”

“Wolf shifter,” he corrected me.

“What’s the difference?”

“For a start, werewolves need the full moon to shift, whereas I can do so on command. We aren’t controlled by bloodlust either, nor do we go around massacring entire towns of innocent humans.”

I gave a weak smile. “No bloodlust? That’s something, I guess.”

His eyes darkened as he took a step closer. “Unless someone we care for is threatened. Then we become the beings the legends paint us as.”

I cleared my throat, stepping back and giving him some room. “Can you show me?”

He tilted his head in confusion. “The bloodlust?”

I rolled my eyes. “No, Einstein. The shift. Maybe if I see it, I’ll have an easier time believing it.”

Finn winked. That’s when I heard it; the same cracking noise that had plagued me at the shop earlier. “What the fu?—”

I cut off my own words and blinked a few times. Right where Finn had been standing, was Buddy. No. It couldn’t be.

I rubbed my eyes a few times and tried again. Nope. Still there. Wagging his tail with his tongue lolling out of his mouth.

“Holy shit.” Stunned. I was completely stunned.

There were more cracking sounds, then a naked Finn was before me once more. It happened too fast for my brain to process it.

“It’s okay,” he said urgently. “Please don’t freak out.”

“Am I dead?” I felt stupid for even asking, but it was the only logical explanation I had left. Well, the only one aside from what Finn was telling me being the truth. “Did I die while choking?”

“No, m’eudail.” Finn’s smile was kind. “You’re very much alive. There’s a whole world out there that’s hidden from humans.”

“But not all humans…” I said slowly as the realisation hit me. “Reid knows about you. That’s why he called you the ‘furry cavalry.’”

Finn groaned. “Yeah, remind me to thank the little fucker for that. Logan will be referring to us as such for the rest of time.”

“So he does know? Is Reid actually human?”

“He does and he is,” Finn confirmed. “Myself, Evan, Calan, and Logan are all wolf shifters. Reid was borninto a shifter clan, but he’s human. It’s part of why he never fit in there and was desperate to leave.”

My head was spinning now, making me regret my earlier drinking choices. “This is too much to take in.”

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