I smiled kindly. “Wasn’t suggesting ye should. Just wanted to know if you needed us to pick up any slack in the meantime.”
Relief flashed over his face. “Thanks, Evan, I don’t think there’s anything—” He stopped talking abruptly, his brow furrowing. “Actually, there is. Could ye do some digging for me? There’s a human who works at the florist for Chester. Name’s Reid. He knows what we are.”
A pulse of surprise went through me. “As in?”
“As in he knows we’re shifters,” Finn said. “He’s not mated, and not carrying any other supe scents.”
How on earth would there be an unmated human who knew about shifters? That wasn’t possible.
Something nagged at the back of my mind. A foggy memory that I couldn’t quite bring to the forefront. “How can ye be sure?”
“He told me,” Finn said bluntly. “Said he’d keep it a secret, but…”
I finished the thought off for him, my brain working overtime. “But it’s suspicious, and we don’t know if he can be trusted. I got you. I’ll go see what I can find out.”
I was almost to the door when Finn called out to me, “Evan, behave. No sleeping with the human until we know he’s not a threat.”
Ah, yes. My reputation as a playboy had preceded me into the inner circle. Maybe saying that I hooked up plenty was an understatement…but what could I say? You didn’t meet Mr.Right by being chaste.
That was my excuse and I was sticking to it.
I waggled my brows at Calan. “Excellent. That means he’s hot and not straight. Off I go.”
With a task to do, I strode out of the room. I wouldn’t be going there straight away. It was late, way past when the shop would likely be open. That didn’t mean I didn’t have a long list of other things to occupy my time.
Being part of the inner circle came with a lot of respect…and a metric fuck-tonne of responsibilities. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t complaining. I fucking loved it. Taking care of the clan spoke to my wolf.He was a caretaker and protector at heart. Being part of the inner circle fulfilled both of us like never before.
Maybe, one day, we’d have our own person to take care of. Just like Finn. Just like my parents.
Until then, this was enough.
After doing a boundary pass, checking in with those on guard duty, and responding to a letter from the Stratton Clan, I was finally done with my list.
Right on cue, my stomach rumbled loudly.
Whistling to myself, I made my way to the cabin I grewup in. The one I still had a room in, even if I technically lived in the main clan house now. I greeted everyone I passed, exchanging nods or clasping hands quickly.
I knocked on the door, bouncing impatiently on the porch. Now that I’d realised I was hungry, I wasstarving.I could smell Ma’s cooking already—meatballs and spaghetti, if I had to guess.
“Come in, lad.” My father’s voice boomed out. “Don’t stand on ceremony.”
I opened the door and strode in to find my dad on the sofa, frowning at me over his newspaper. “Alright, Pa?”
“Aye.” He shook his head ruefully. “Don’t understand why you’ve started this knocking malarkey. The door’s always open. Ye know that.”
I paused, hands going to my hips. “And I think ye know exactly why I knock now. Do I need to remind ye what I walked in on last month?”
Pa flushed, lifting his newspaper higher. “Don’t know what yer talking about.”
I flicked at the edge of the paper. “You know you can just read the news on yer phone, right?”
He snorted, just as he did every time I brought up something like this. “I’ll stick to what I know, thank ye very much.”
“I forget you were born before the invention of the written word.”
Pa glared at me over the top of his paper. “I’m not that old.”
I grinned. “Could’ve fooled me, Pa.”
