Before the thought could drag him too far down, though, Silas strode over and clapped him on the shoulder. “I’m glad you’re safe here with us, Jaime, and I’m glad you’re in the know. I know Finn has told you this already, but we will protect you.”
Jaime smiled, and patted Silas on his other shoulder. “Thank you, Silas.”
Finn growled, and then looked guilty about it.
Silas wished them goodnight with a knowing smirk, and strode for the back door, tossing off his shirt and pants in the process before walking out into the night only wearing his boxer briefs.
After a moment of stunned silence, Jaime said, “Ok. First question. Do you always have to get naked before you turn into whatever it is you turn into?”
Finn threw his head back and roared with laughter.
Chapter 14
Finn
Jaime was taking the revelation that supernatural beings exist so remarkably well that Finn was certain he was still in some prolonged state of shock.
Surely, he should take him to the hospital for a check-up? No one could handle what had happened in the past eight hours as well as Jaime was.
However, anothervery insistentpart of Finn was begging him to take the man upstairs to his bed and claim him, to bite him and fuck him and come deep inside of him so that the world would know that Jaime was his.
“You’re staring again.” Jaime said it like an observation, not a complaint.
“I’m sorry. I keep wondering if maybe you’re still in shock and I should take you somewhere. I just, uh, never expected you, or anyone really, to be so casual about learning all of this. Also you’re the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen, and it’s going to take me quite a while to get used to being in the same room as you.”
The last part sort of fell out, but, well. They were being honest, right?
Jaime blinked, mossy green eyes processing. He cocked his head at Finn. “How many people have you told? About, you know.” He waved his hands at him in the gesture he made when he was referring to Finn’s wolf.
“My shift.”
“Huh?”
Finn gave him a half smile. “We call it a shift. I’m a wolf shifter. So are Silas and Sheppard. We have a partial shift, the one you saw today, and a full one, where we look like very large wolves. But there are other shifters like us who take other forms. Foxes, bears, deer. Some other things. So, we call it a shift.”
Now it was Jaime’s turn to stare. Finn took a step toward him, bringing their chests close enough to meet with each inhale. “And, to answer your first question—no one, Jaime. I’ve told no one, because there’s never been anyone I wanted to tell. Not until you.”
“Oh.”
Finn felt Jaime’s exhale puff against his neck, and he fought to hide the canines that had refused to go away since dinner, when he’d had to rein himself in from growling at Silas to get out before bending Jaime over the kitchen counter. “Oh?”
Jaime narrowed his eyes in playful exasperation. “Yes. Oh.”
Finn laughed, but Jaime’s blink of surprise at his exposed canines had Finn snapping his mouth shut and stepping back.
But a cool, freckled hand cupped his face and halted his retreat. Jaime’s eyes were soft like new grass, and he did not look away. “Will you show me again? Your shift?”
“Jaime, you don’t have to?—”
“You don’t need to take me to the hospital, Finn. I’m not in shock. I’m not sure I have the words to explain why, or how, but I feelfree. I feel like I can see things more clearly now, like I understand more of what I have found myself involved in, andthat makes me feel better. I feel more like myself than I have in a very long time.”
He shuffled closer, closing the distance between them—a long line of warmth where they were pressed chest to chest and hip to hip. “Yes, I was scared today. But not of you. I’ve never been scared of you. And yes, I am overwhelmed, but you are helping to make that better. Whatever you have to tell me, or show me, it’s not going to scare me off. I want you, I want to see?—”
Finn kissed him.
It was hard and all consuming, his entire world centering on the softness of Jaime’s lips and the press of him everywhere,everywhere.
He cupped the nape of Jaime’s neck and leaned in, tilting the shorter man’s head back and angling his jaw, devouring his soft gasp of surprise. Finn’s lips parted, tongue searching until Jaime opened up for him. At first, he tried to keep his teeth restrained so he didn’t frighten him, not now that they werehere, but then Jaime was cupping his face in return, and darted his tongue out to lap at the tip of one of Finn’s canines.
