Page 15 of Scar Bonds: The Scars That Bind Us

Finlay had a lovely chuckle, especially when he was clearly embarrassed. “One thing I’ve already learned from you is that if you disappear, not even in a puff of smoke, but just cease to be in that space in front of me, I can’t follow you. I find that disconcerting.”

Senan kept his grin to himself. “Let’s make it easy then, shall we? Put bluntly, I feel I should know something about you. I need to see how different you are from your brother.” He held Finlay’s gaze, making sure the wolf shifter knew he was serious. “This is not going to be easy for me, but I’m trying,” he added quietly.

For some reason Finlay gave the impression that Senan had given him a gift – he seemed actually happy by what Senan had said.Or maybe he’s just glad that I haven’t rejected the mating out of hand,Senan thought. That was equally possible.

“What do you do for hobbies?” Senan asked. “You told me you work as a negotiator for the Paranormal Council, and I can only imagine that’s very secretive work that I don’t need to know anything about. But what do you do when you’re not working?What do you do when you’re with your friends? Do you even have any friends?”

“I have a few.” Finlay chuckled again. “And no, not from the pack – just some of the guys I work with sometimes. Being friends with anyone in the pack wouldn’t have been a good idea, even before you and I met. After my parents died, the pack wasn’t happy with two Alphas in the pack house, and as I was the younger son, I left and started working for the Paranormal Council instead. I am part of their national task force, so I do travel all over the country. But because of the nature of the work I do, I do have a lot of down time.

“I like to barbecue – I’m considered a mean grill master. I enjoy having drinks with friends. Actually, now I’m thinking about it I’m afraid you’ll probably find me quite boring. I don’t have a hobby, although I like the idea of perhaps fixing up an old car one day. I’m not really into sports – I’ll watch a game to be sociable, but I don’t follow any particular team.”

The wolf shifter was looking down at his hands. Senan noticed he had very capable-looking hands. “I see an awful lot of bad stuff that goes on, and I work hard not to let that affect me. When I’m home, I just want my life to be normal.

“I like watching TV shows and movies. I keep the garden tidy. Even simple things like vacuuming the house can make me feel good about my day. I know it sounds weird and probably does to someone like you, but that’s who I am. I don’t have the urge to go crazy and take up skydiving, or travel to exotic locations. After leaving the pack house, all I’ve ever wanted is to have a home of my own, and I believe that’s important enough to be worked for.”

Finlay wasn’t lying. Senan had already explained to Gabby that mates couldn’t lie to each other, and he knew that to be true. “It’snot as if I do anything exciting either. If I had any worries going into this, aside from the obvious, it would be that you might have misconceptions about the fae and expect me to act in a way I probably couldn’t live up to.

“From what I remember of the fae when I was living on that realm, they were all about appearances. They spent so much time maintaining elaborate lifestyles. But none of it meant anything, if you know what I mean. Everything about the fae life was surface level because they never cared about what a person might be like on the inside. I know that’s one of the reasons why they shunned me when this happened.” Senan flicked his hand at his face. “A fae prefers it if they never have to confront ugliness – they never want to. Perhaps that’s because underneath they can be some of the cruelest people I know. They simply don’t care.”

Senan felt embarrassed and shrugged. “I’ve never been like that. I’ve always been fascinated by people. It’s not that I’m overly sociable, but I’m fascinated by how people… how they interact with each other, the things that they say, the way they express their affection, and their connection with each other. It’s always been interesting to me.”

He bit his tongue. There was no point in mentioning that was something else that Morgan took away from him. Maybe now Finlay was in his life, Senan might have the chance to be able to people-watch again. They might even do it together.

Senan quickly moved on. “You know I work – my job as a server for the Gourmet Company, and before you ask, yes, one of the key reasons I took the job was because I knew it wasn’t something a typical fae might do. Serving people, taking orders, doing a job and being paid a wage. I didn’t want to be doing something where I was a figurehead or someone who was employed just to look pretty.

“I’ve made some good friends with the other servers, and if I can ever get my wings to go down again, I imagine that I’ll probably want to continue working, at least in a limited capacity.” He glanced at Finlay who was watching him so intently it was as if Senan could feel the heat in his gaze. “From what I know about wolf shifters, they prefer to be physically near their mates most of the time. Is claiming me going to make your work a problem?”

A frown crossed Finlay’s face. “To be honest, I hadn’t thought of it. But I think it’s something that we’ll have to work on together. I don’t get sent out on cases very often, probably once a month, once every six weeks, or something like that. But when I am away, I can be away for anything up to a week. Usually it’s only two or three days, but it really does depend on where I’m going and why.

“Cases like chasing rogues for example, can take a lot of time, and in other cases, I could be in a meeting for days investigating concerns of abuse from a leader of a pride, coven, pack, or similar groups. The job isn’t easy. And that’s one of the reasons why the Paranormal Council likes people like me to have as much downtime as possible. But then I suppose I could get a regular job instead. Do you think your boss is hiring?”

That was such a surprising thing for an Alpha wolf to say Senan laughed. “You’re not exactly the sort of person to blend into the background, which is one of the chief things Jeffrey expects from his servers.”

“Your friend Gabby doesn’t look like someone who blends into the background, either. She looks like a person with an amazing sense of style. If she can do it, I could give it a try,” Finlay suggested.

“I’ll be sure to let Gabby know what you said about her. That will make her day, and with regards to the job situation, howabout we put that idea on hold for a moment?” Senan said, still chuckling. “Super quick. What sorts of movies do you like to watch? What sort of books do you read, if any? Are you on social media or do you think it’s a waste of time? What are youpassionateabout?”

Senan’s voice caught as he asked the last question. Finlay held his eyes, and it was as if Senan could physically feel the arousal, that need to be closer to him. It was so much more than a person being hot for him, or him for them. The four or five feet between the couch and the chair suddenly felt like an insurmountable separation that his body really couldn’t bear. He could see the answering heat in his mate’s eyes.

“Can we talk about this later?” Finlay said, as his tone deepened. “I really need to hold you right now.”

Senan nodded. As if that was the cue his magic was looking for, Senan’s wings melted into his back where they belonged. Which meant, when Finlay crossed the distance between them, Senan could fully enjoy the strong arms that held him firmly, wrapped right around his back.I’ve found my home,Senan realized as he sunk into the embrace.

Chapter Twelve

Finlay didn't realize until he held the trembling fae in his arms that he had spent his life searching for a purpose separate from the pack, separate from his twin. And as he held Senan as close as he dared, he realized with a thump to his heart he'd finally found it.

Somehow two people from totally diverse backgrounds had managed to find each other thanks to the Fates. And while their beginning wasn't as hassle-free as he'd been led to believe a mating should be, Finlay knew in that moment that everything in his life from that moment going forward would be focused on protecting the bubbly man in his arms.

Yes, bubbly. Senan was literally fizzing…bubbling… There was an essence covering his skin that felt like a soft form of electricity that Finlay quickly realized was his mate’s magic. As if reading his mind, Senan said, “I think my magic likes you.”

“I know the feeling.” Finlay closed his eyes a moment savoring the tingle. It was amazingly arousing. Combined with Senan’s scent which was the only thing he could smell, and the feel of his mate’s body against his, Finlay’s cock was waging a revolt against his pants. Everything in Finlay’s body was pushing him to give in to his lust – to strip the man of those offending sweatpants and fuck the man until he couldn’t remember his own name.

Finlay held back as best he could. Senan agreed to be held, nothing more. He reminded himself that Senan had been treated badly by his kind before, and he needed to take things slow.

Senan wasn't making it easy though. His arms were stronger than Finlay had imagined as they wrapped around Finlay's neck, and his supple body, cradled underneath Finlay's, was temptinghim in all manner of ways. Even the way Senan’s long hair fell over Finlay’s arms was a tease of silk and softness.

“You should kiss me,” Senan said quietly. “You look like you might want to.”

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