Finlay frowned at the taxi parked outside the address he’d found for Senan.
The driver was doing something on his phone, and the engine was running.
As Finlay turned into the walkway to the porch, the driver noticed him and called out.
“If you’re going in there, can you let Ms. Gabby know that I’m waiting for her?
I did toot, but clearly, she couldn’t hear me.
Honestly, when those two get chatting, they forget they’ve booked someone to pick them up. ”
“Will do.” Finlay strode up the path, his body thrumming with tension. It had taken him three long days to track down his mate’s address. Three days of dodging Morgan’s calls and emails pleading for a chance to talk to him – that was setting Finlay’s teeth on edge for a start.
Two of those days were spent waiting for the catering company offices to open.
Finlay called them first thing Monday morning, only to be told that, no, he couldn’t talk to the owner because the man was nursing an injury sustained over the weekend.
The receptionist, who introduced herself as Betty, was very nice and equally very firm when she added that the company had a policy that did not allow them to provide contact details of their servers to clients.
“Our management would tell you the same thing, sir. I’m sorry, we can’t help you. ”
So there was that. In desperation, Finlay accessed the Paranormal Council database.
His bosses would frown on him going through files for personal reasons, but the urge to find his fae was getting stronger by the hour.
Unfortunately, Finlay quickly found that the address listed for Prince Senan was the same as it was when he’d been charged for assaulting Morgan.
And didn’t I feel like the idiot when I found out the address was still the same and that my mate hadn’t moved house? A lot of fruitless searching through files for signs the fae had moved in other words, for no reason at all.
And now it seemed Prince Senan had company – a Ms. Gabby, whoever the hell that was. In the history of matings, has anyone had the amount of bad luck I have?
Finlay still didn’t know what he could even say to the fae if the man let him into the house.
He’d filed papers with the Shifter Council, breaking his ties with the Luna Pack, so hopefully that would help.
But he and Senan might have to move simply to stop Morgan from being a fucking nuisance.
Somehow Finlay didn’t think Senan would be agreeable to something like that.
I have to get him to accept me first, Finlay reminded himself as he tapped on the front door.
The house seemed nice enough from the outside.
It was small, but it had clearly been looked after.
Finlay was struck by the normality of it all.
He liked it. There’s nothing typical about this fae, that’s for sure.
“I’m coming,” a woman’s voice said as the door opened. “Senan, I don’t care what you say. When that man takes his shirt off, there is no way anyone could think he’s almost a hundred and fifty years old.” She suddenly noticed Finlay standing there. “Oops. Hello. Who are you? You’re not my driver.”
“He told me to tell you he’s waiting for you.” Finlay pointed back down the footpath at the parked taxicab. “I’m here to see P… Senan.”
“O-kay…wolf shifter?”
Finlay nodded. The woman grinned. “Wolf shifter one or two?”
“Er… I’m not sure?” Finlay had no idea what the woman was talking about.
“That’s wolf shifter two, Gabby.” Senan appeared at the door. Shirtless, his wings on full display much like when he’d lost control of his magic three nights before. “You’d better go, or Robbie is going to drive off without you.”
“Are you going to be all right?” Finlay realized Gabby was worried about her friend.
“I’ll be fine.” Senan nodded.
“I’ll be calling you first thing tomorrow, and you’d better answer, or I’ll be coming around.” Gabby turned her attention back to Finlay. “Do you know Maximus Khan? How old is he?”
“Maximus?” Finlay had to stop and think for a minute. “Oh, the movie star. I’d imagine he’s close to a hundred and fifty. I attended his birthday party a couple of years ago when I was in Orlando, and yeah, I think he was a hundred and forty-five then.”
“For the tenth time, I told you age isn’t important to shifters,” Senan said with a laugh. “Go on. Don’t keep Robbie waiting.”
“But he knows Maximus Khan,” Gabby protested.
“I will be talking to you later,” she said, poking Finlay’s chest as she hurried past. “I’m coming, Robbie.
Keep your shirt on. That man knows Maximus Khan.
” The car door slammed shut as she got in the taxi, and a minute later, the car’s headlights could be seen down the road.
This is it. Turning back to the door, Finlay bowed slightly. “Hello, allow me to introduce myself. I’m Finlay…” he hesitated, and then added quickly, “no last name. A recently made lone wolf who works as a negotiator for the Paranormal Council. I believe you and I are mates.”
“You’re not claiming an affiliation with the Luna Pack?” Senan was gripping the door as if it was holding him up.
“That was last week. The Alpha and I had words about a previous action of his, and I’m now officially a lone wolf with no pack affiliation.”
“I’m sorry. I understand that break must’ve been painful for you.” Senan stepped back from the door. “You’d better come in.”
Step one, Finlay thought as he crossed through the doorway and Senan closed the door behind him. Now don’t fuck this up.
“You’ll have to excuse the mess,” Senan said, picking up the remains of what had clearly been a pizza meal. “Gabby and I had been watching movies and lost track of time. Take a seat. Did you want a coffee?”
“I don’t suppose you have any dark beer, do you?
” Finlay had been running on coffee for the past three days.
“Just water is fine if you don’t.” He perched on the edge of a single seat, watching in amazement at the fae with brilliant wings cleaning off the trash from his coffee table and taking it over to a recycling bin in the kitchen.
“Dark beer.” Senan tapped his chin. “I think I remember what that was like.” He clicked his fingers, and two cans from a brand Finlay recognized appeared in his hands.
Coming back into the living area, he handed one to Finlay, and then curled his legs under him on the corner of the couch farthest from him.
I can’t blame him for that. Finlay inhaled sharply.
And then wished he hadn’t. Senan’s scent was so much more intense in his own living space, and Finlay’s body reacted accordingly.
“I feel I owe you an apology,” he said haltingly.
“I got pushy with you at the event on Friday, and I realize that made me no better than my brother. I am sorry for that.”
Senan opened his can and took a swig from it, highlighting the beautiful arch of his neck.
“I’ve never understood,” he said slowly as his head rightened up again, “how wolf shifters could have such amazing hearing and yet still not master the ability to listen. But apology accepted. I have no grudge with you.”
Relief flooded Finlay’s body. But he wasn’t out of the woods yet. “About my brother…”
Senan held up his hand in a classic stop signal Finlay immediately respected. “Do we have to talk about him?”
“I feel we should.” Not that Finlay was sure anything he said was going to make a difference.
Morgan had behaved like a brute and an entitled ass and nothing Finlay said was going to change that.
“As I said, you and I are mates. I realized that when I spoke to you on Friday. After you left, I waited until my brother’s meeting was over and confronted him about it. ”
“Always respectful of an Alpha’s position. The Shifter Council had a similar attitude.” Senan’s grin wasn’t a happy one. It was more like a grimace.
“Yes. No. Yes, okay, you’re right.” Finlay recognized he was floundering and hurried to explain.
“You have to realize that at that point I only had your word that Morgan was a liar, and I had no idea of how you came to that decision. While I was waiting on Morgan to finish his meeting, I used my access to criminal files and read your case notes…”
“Which would’ve taken all of five minutes,” Senan said grimly.
“Three minutes, and you were right. I was horrified on your behalf.” Finlay looked down at the can in his hands.
“I had seen Morgan act in a similar way before his incident with you and simply refused to go out with him anymore. I just thought he was a lousy date. I never imagined for a second he’d get pushy with a stranger in a bar. ”
He looked up to see Senan shrugging. “Now you know. Doesn’t change anything.”
“It could, but I’m genuinely hoping you won’t push me to seek justice on your behalf.”
Now Senan just looked confused. “I don’t understand what you mean.”
“I told you when I introduced myself I’m a negotiator with the Paranormal Council.
I could insist your case be reopened due to gross negligence on behalf of the Shifter Council and the Fae Court for that matter.
I could give testimony on your behalf and share what Morgan told me about that night, and there is a good chance if I did this, that Morgan would be stripped of his position and jailed for life. ”
Senan’s head tilted slightly to one side, his eyes narrowing. “And you don’t want to do that because Morgan is your brother?”
“Yes, but not for the reason you might be thinking. I believe you deserve justice, you deserve to have your name cleared and for your banishment to be lifted. But if Morgan is put away for what was very definitely a crime, then…”
Rubbing his hand over the back of his neck, Finlay added, “Up until last Friday I was Alpha-heir of the Luna Pack. Despite my breaking pack ties that same night, there’s a good chance the Shifter Council will insist I take over Morgan’s position as Alpha if Morgan goes to jail.
There’s no one else from our family line, nor any other up-and-coming Alphas in the pack that could take over.
I really don’t want to run that pack – I never did and definitely don’t want to now. I truly don’t want that life for us.”
“Well, shit. That adds a wrinkle to our dilemma that I hadn’t seen coming. It’s just as well I never thought getting any sense of justice would be a possibility then, isn’t it? Good old Morgan gets to continue to live his life without consequence, and as for us…”
Senan didn’t finish his sentence. He just lifted his can to his mouth and had another long drink. After a moment’s hesitation, Finlay did the same.
“So,” Senan said as he leaned forward a few moments later, resting his empty can on the table.
“Now we’ve got that pesky business about your brother out of the way, what can you tell me about you?
I guess I should know something about you personally if we’re going to do this mating thing.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve had a rough three days, it’s late at night, and I could do with some sleep.
For starters, give me a good reason why I should be sleeping with you instead of alone. ”
Finlay choked on the dregs of his drink and used his coughing fit as a chance to think of something semi-intelligent to say.