* * * *
“So, how about you shift so that we can talk a bit?” Finn looked at the small weasel he had deposited on the bed of the spare bedroom Dominic had told him to use. He needed the distraction so that he would not think about how Bryce had reacted at seeing him. Finn’s mate had never been violent like that. Usually he ignored Finn, walking out of the room if he saw him in it, but this time he had growled and tried to jump on him.
Maybe it meant that he had had enough of Finn hanging around the mansion. He probably thought if Finn stopped coming, Keenan would go back to him, and maybe he was right. Maybe Finn really was the only thing keeping them apart.
The small shifter in front of Finn squeaked and bumped his head against Finn’s arm. It was a sweet gesture that spoke of reassurance, and it brought tears to Finn’s eyes. It should be his mate doing that, not an unknown shifter. Finn raised his hand and petted the shifter’s head, snatching his hand back as he felt the fur under his fingertips ripple. It didn’t take long before Finn found himself sitting in front of a naked man.
His long white blond hair was ruffled and matted, so dirty in some places that it looked brown. It reached the middle of the man’s back and framed his lovely face. A pair of powder blue eyes was looking at Finn from a face that was so delicate that it seemed almost feminine. The blue orbs peeked from under long, dark lashes that clashed with the blond hair and the porcelain skin. Finn couldn’t be sure, but he thought the shifter might be about his height, maybe a tad smaller.
“Hey, how are you doing?”
“I—where am I?” The man’s voice was hoarse from being unused for so long. Finn couldn’t know how long the shifter had been in the scientist’s hands. He did know that most shifters stayed in their animal form in the lab, and from the way his body was emaciated and scarred, Finn could guess he had been there for a while. He could also see more than one wound, all of them stitched.
“In Whitedell, southern Wyoming. This is a feline pride in which lions, tigers and other kinds of big cats live together. There are also humans and a wolf. You’ll be safe here. Dominic is a good Alpha, and he’ll take care of you.”
“I’m sorry.” The weasel’s voice was soft.
“For what?”
“I didn’t want to put myself between you and your mate, I was just...scared. I’ll apologize to him, too.”
“I don’t have a mate.” It hurt Finn to say something like that, but the best thing he could do was to get used to it. He would never mate with Bryce.
“Oh, but that man, he reacted as if he was jealous and as if he had been challenged for his mate. I didn’t mean for it to happen, though.”
Jealous? “Look, there’s nothing between Bryce and me, so it’s okay, really. Why don’t you tell me your name? Then you can go and shower if you want to, and I’ll bring you something to eat.”
The small man’s eyes gleamed at the mention of a hot shower and food. “I’m Jayden.”
“Okay, Jayden. The bathroom is that way, and you can find clothes in the dresser. I’ll be right back with food, and once you’re clean I’ll heal you.” Finn could heal the wounds, but he couldn’t do anything for the malnutrition and the exhaustion.
“Wait! What about...what about you? What’s your name? Are you a shifter? Am I...am I really safe here? I know Craig didn’t want to come, but they didn’t do anything to hurt us.”
“I’m Finn, and I’m a Nix.”
Jayden frowned. “What’s a Nix?”
“A water fae. No one is going to hurt you, don’t worry. The Alpha will want to talk with you about the time you spent in the lab, and he will call your family, if you want to go back there.”
“What if...what if I don’t want to go back?” Jayden was looking down at his hands, but Finn could see the anguish in his eyes. It reminded him a bit of himself, and he knew somehow they would become friends.
“If you don’t want to go back for whatever reason, Dominic will help you find a new place to live.” He leaned in and patted Jayden’s hand. “You don’t have to worry about anything but getting better right now, and everything else will be solved later, don’t worry.” With a last smile Finn shimmered into the kitchen, startling a busy Casey. The cheetah was cooking at the stove and gave a loud yelp as Finn appeared next to the fridge. Nolan was sitting at the nearby table, laughing like a loon.
“Gosh, Finn, do you really have to do that?” Casey asked as he raised a hand to lean it against his chest. “You’ll give me a heart attack.”
“Sorry. I’m just too used to shimmering around.” This was something Finn would miss once he stopped coming here. Casey was one of the few who had tried to become close to Finn, and he considered the big cat a friend. Maybe Finn could find out a way to continue seeing his friends without coming here to the mansion. They could meet in town, or at the mall. Finn had never been to either, but he could manage. He didn’t want to go back to being alone, not now that he knew what having a friend was like.
He explained to Casey that he needed food for Jayden and sat with Nolan while the cheetah got it ready. Finn could cook if he needed to, but this wasn’t his kitchen, and the variety of food he saw in the fridge when Casey opened it baffled him. In his clan, they grew most of the things they ate, and they hunted the rest.
“Umm, was everyone all right once I shimmered out of the office?” Finn hoped Bryce had calmed down once he had disappeared from his sight.
“Yeah. Bryce calmed down, but Dominic asked him to stay there. I guess he wanted to have a little chat with him.” Nolan looked at Finn. “He’s still being stubborn, right?”
Finn shrugged, trying to look as if he didn’t really care. He wasn’t sure he succeeded, however, because Nolan frowned, so he decided to explain. “It doesn’t matter. I’ve tried to make him accept me for months and nothing’s changed, so I’m giving up. I can’t spend the rest of my life going after a man who doesn’t want me. I’d rather find someone else, even if it wouldn’t be my mate.” God, it hurt to say that, but it was true. Finn’s life might not be much, but maybe he could leave his clan and find another place to live. Sure, he didn’t have a job or money, but he could find a way.
Finn watched as Nolan narrowed his eyes and he waited for the cat to tell him that he should hang on, that Bryce might yet realize what he was losing, but Nolan surprised him. “Good. It might be hard in the beginning, but you deserve to be happy, and if Bryce can’t or won’t give that to you, then you should go on with your life.” He patted Finn’s hand. “You know that if you need anything you just have to ask, right? Maybe you could go and stay with my family for a while.” Nolan’s eyes lingered on Finn’s bruised face. “Or if you need money...just ask.”
Tears flooded Finn’s eyes. For all the hurt Bryce had caused him, this was the good thing that had come out of it. “I’ll...I’ll think about it.”
Before he could embarrass himself even more by crying in front of the couple, Casey handed him a tray with something that smelled like chicken broth and a slice of bread. “Here, take this up to Jayden and I’ll let Dominic know that he shifted. He’s going to want to talk to him.”
Finn nodded. He was going to have to talk to the Alpha, too. The man had been great with him and had done everything he could to help Finn given the situation. He would go once he was sure Dominic was finished with Bryce, and in the meantime he would talk with Jayden.
* * * *
“You can’t go on like this.”
“I’m doing just fine.”
“Bryce, what you just did was not being fine. We had to stop you from jumping on Finn or worse, hurt the weasel shifter. You could have seriously hurt someone, and for no good reason. You’ve been denying your cat for too long now, and I don’t think he will let you do it for much longer.”
Bryce sighed. He knew Dominic was telling the truth, but there was nothing he could do about that. “Look, I’ll try to avoid him. That way I shouldn’t have problems controlling my cat.”
Dominic scrubbed his face with his palms, a frustrated expression on his face. “Bryce, you know I usually try to stay out of personal business, but I can’t let you go on like this. You’re hurting two other people with your stubborn attitude, and they are members of the pride as much as you are. I have to be there for them as much as I am for you, and at least they let me help them.”
“Since when is Finn a member?” That would make things so much harder. How could he avoid the Nix if he started living there?
“Since I said so. Have you even noticed that your mate is being beaten at least twice a week? Have you ever looked at him in the eyes and seen the bruises and the black eyes? Have you seen how sometimes he has problems speaking or bending over? He didn’t ask to be part of this pride, but I won’t let him get hurt even more than he has already been just because you’re being an ass.”
Bryce wasn’t used to seeing his Alpha like this. Dominic was usually friendly with him, but now he was using the tone he used with those who hurt someone he cared for, cold and menacing. “I’m sorry to say that if I have to choose between the two of you, I won’t choose you. The man has lived through enough already—he deserves a bit of happiness, and he won’t get it if you keep on acting like this. You know you’re being stubborn without a good reason, and you’re driving both Keenan and Finn away from you.”
“I have a good reason for doing this! I love Keenan!” Damn, why was it that no one seemed to understand that? They all acted like he was being a bastard, but no one ever thought about how hard this was for him.
Dominic shook his head. “Look, I understand where you’re coming from. You were in love with Keenan, the two of you were in a relationship, and then Finn came around and Keenan left you. The two of you knew it was going to happen sooner or later, so why is it that he is the one acting like you should? You’re a shifter, you know what happens when you meet your mate. I’m not telling you to go and claim Finn right now, but give the man a chance and let Keenan go. You’re going to lose them both if you don’t.”
Bryce felt all the fight he had in him drain out, leaving him exhausted. He knew his Alpha was right. He knew he couldn’t keep on fighting his cougar, and that he was hurting Finn and Keenan. He just couldn’t seem to let it go. He was angry at the fact that he didn’t have a choice in this, that for being who he was he had hurt a man he loved, a man who didn’t deserve any of this.
“Keenan asked me permission to leave the mansion.”
Bryce’s head snapped up. “What do you mean?”
“He wants to stop living here. He can’t deal with this anymore.”
“What did you tell him?” This was his entire fault. He was driving Keenan away from his only family. God, what a bastard he had become.
“That as much as I would prefer for him to live here since I consider him family, I wouldn’t stop him if that’s what he wanted.”
“What do I do?” Bryce grabbed his face in both his hands, desperate for a solution.
“Let him go. Go and talk to him one last time, tell him you understand him and that you won’t ask him to take you back anymore. Then go and talk with Finn. Give him a chance to show you how good you can be for each other. Let go of the guilt and let your cat guide you. Sometimes we tend to think too much, and it only ruins things in the end.”
Something clicked in Bryce. He didn’t know what was different this time. He’d had this conversation with a lot of different people, and everyone had told him the same thing, yet it seemed to him that he was hearing it, really hearing it, for the first time today. Maybe it was the fact that Keenan was thinking about leaving, or the fact that Finn was being hurt and he should have been the one to help him and he hadn’t done anything. Bryce didn’t know, but he finally understood what everyone had been telling him.
He would continue to cherish the time he had spent with Keenan, but it was over now. Fate had given him the other part of his soul, someone who would perfectly complement both him and his cougar, and he couldn’t reject such a gift. His wasn’t the only life they were talking about, and he should cherish Finn for the gift he was.
“What if I’ve ruined everything? What if Finn doesn’t want me anymore?”
“I can’t promise you everything will be all right, but I know Finn wants you to be happy. He just thinks you’re happy when you don’t see him, and he’s been thinking about not coming to the mansion. You’re going to have to grovel and make him trust you, and it won’t be easy, but I don’t think it’s impossible.”
“He wants to stop coming here?” Bryce knew the Nix had been hanging around the house in the hope that he would finally decide to mate with him, or at least talk to him. When that hadn’t happened, he still had come to be with Jamie and, lately, with Casey and Nolan, but he had avoided trying to talk or even being seen by Bryce. Bryce had been a little disappointed, but he hadn’t wanted to confess that to anyone, stubborn ass that he was. He hadn’t even wanted to admit to himself that even though they had talked only once and that Bryce had rejected Finn, he missed seeing him around, seeing the soft smile playing on Finn’s lips when he was with his friends. Bryce longed to be the one to put it there. Yeah, it was time to embrace what Fate had given him and hope he hadn’t fucked it up beyond repair.
“Tell me about Finn. Who is hurting him?”
Chapter Two
Finn knocked on the Alpha’s office door and waited for him to answer before opening it and slipping in. He released the breath he had been holding him when he saw that Bryce wasn’t there. He’d been scared he would have to meet the man, but it seemed Dominic had already finished talking to him. Finn wondered what had happened, but he quickly scolded himself. It didn’t concern him, and it never would.
“Finn. How is the weasel shifter?” Dominic asked, indicating one of the chairs in front of his desk. Finn sat, shifting nervously in the chair.
“He’s fine. I healed his wounds, but he’s going to need a little time to get better. His name is Jayden. I’m not sure what happened to him and I didn’t want to pry, but I told him he would be fine here and that you will talk to him about it. I also told him that if he didn’t want to go home you would help him find a new place to live. I hope I didn’t assume anything, but he looked terrified when I told him he could go home.”
“No, you did well, don’t worry. As long as he’s not a danger for the pride’s security, I don’t have any problems taking him in. What about you? Are you going to move in?”
Finn fidgeted under the lion’s amber gaze. He wanted to say yes, god he wanted to, but he knew it would only end up with him being even more hurt, and he couldn’t afford that. It would be too hard to see Bryce and Keenan together once the human realized that Bryce really had no intentions to mate with Finn. It wouldn’t take long for them to get back together, and Finn didn’t think he could bear to see how happy they would be, knowing that he should be the one in Keenan’s place.
“I don’t know, Alpha. I—can I think about it?”
“Finn, I know why you don’t want to move here, but I talked with Bryce, and I know he wants to talk with you. I think I finally managed to convince him to give you a chance, and I don’t want you to be hurt because now you’re the one being stubborn. It’s obvious that you’re not safe in your clan, but I can’t force you to come here. Give Bryce a chance, please.”
Finn had never seen the Alpha so agitated. It actually made him a little warm to see the man worrying so much over him. It had to be the first time it happened in his life, and it was...nice. The man was right, though. Finn knew he would give his mate a chance to prove he had finally changed his mind, even if it scared him to death. He would forever regret it if he walked away now.
“All right, but it’s the last one. I don’t think I could survive being cast aside once more, especially not by him.” Finn’s gaze was on his hands and he knew he wasn’t being respectful. His clan leader would have already ordered to have him whipped if he had done somethi
ng like that with him, but Dominic was different. The lion looked hard and serious, but his heart was made of gold.
“I’m not asking you to give him more than one last chance. If Bryce doesn’t come to his senses, I’ll help you find another place to stay and a job. I have a few friends that I know would welcome you in their prides or packs. There’s the Gillham pack not far from here, for example.”
Finn couldn’t help but smile. He didn’t know these people, not really. Sure, he had been in and out of the mansion for months now, but the only people he’d really talked to were Jamie, Casey and Nolan. Yet they would help him without questions. “Thank you, Alpha. Nolan already told me that I was welcome at his parent’s house if I needed a place to stay, but for now I’ll stay in my clan and see what Bryce has to tell me. Only then will I decide what to do.”
Dominic nodded and Finn could see the lion wasn’t satisfied. “Fine, but if I see you coming back here with another bruise or any other wounds, I’ll go and get your things myself, and I’ll give a piece of my mind to your clan leader while I’m at it.”
Finn paled at the thought. Nix might be physically weaker than shifters, but Leold was a mean leader, and he didn’t play nice. He had many connections with dangerous people, and Dominic going there and insulting him would mean bringing danger to the pride and to Finn’s friends. “That won’t be necessary, please! I’ll go back one last time to take what I need and to say goodbye, then I’ll come back here, I swear.”
“I believe you, Finn. Come and tell me when you’re planning to go back there, and I’ll expect you to be here the day after at the most.” Finn nodded frantically and Dominic groaned. “God, I feel like a bastard forcing you to move away from you home. Do you have someone you wish to come with you? Your parents, siblings?”
Finn Page 2
