Finn groaned, raking his fingers through his hair then gripping it and giving it a yank. “I wish to fuck I knew.”
“Whoa, there. You’re eyes are flaring again. What’s going through your head?”
“I almost killed her. Why didn’t someone jump in sooner? You just stood there and let me attack my mate!” Finn thundered.
“For one, none of us knew you were mated,” Gideon responded. “For two, none of us thought you capable of what happened.”
“Obviously, you were wrong on both counts,” he said with a growl and began pacing again.
“You smelled her on Dr. Jensen,” Gideon prompted after a long moment.
“Before today, I wasn’t sure if she even existed,” Finn admitted. “She’s been in my dreams.”
I would have loved you.
“How did you know it was her you smelled?” Gideon asked.
Finn shrugged. “I just did. I don’t know how. Maybe, it was instinct. She’s my mate.”
“You said she left you to die,” Gideon commented. “I wasn’t around when you were taken, but I’m guessing it was when you were captured.”
He nodded. “I was dying. I couldn’t feel Murphy anymore, so I knew what was happening. I shut my eyes for a moment. When I blinked them back open, she was there. I knew who she was immediately. I thought it was evil of fate to show me my mate when I was dying.”
“So you thought you were dying, too?” Gideon asked.
“I was,” Finn agreed. “She brought me back then left me there to die all over again.”
“When she found you, what happened? What did you see?”
Finn closed his eyes. God, his head hurt so fucking bad. It felt as if it would explode.
“Finn?” Gideon called to him.
“Something’s wrong,” Finn managed to mutter. “Head.” He went to his knees, cradling his head in his hands, moaning as agony ripped through him.
He heard the door open, was faintly aware of Gideon calling for help. There were footsteps, but Finn was beyond caring. He was confident his head would explode off his shoulders. Whatever was wrong with him, it would kill him.
“Finn! Finn!”
Murphy’s voice. Murphy’s hands reaching for him, holding him.
“Stay with me,” Murphy yelled. “Don’t leave me, brother. Who’ll watch over me?”
“Ma…te…”
“Don’t worry, brother. If anything happens to you, I’ll kill her for you.”
Finn’s denial was locked in his head as his body convulsed. He gritted his teeth and yanked his head back. His body was jerking, every muscle clenching as something shifted inside him. His body burned, his joints popping, sending slivers of pain all throughout him.
He cried out, the words morphing into an animalistic hiss. His vision dimmed to a pinpoint of space then widened, gaining a crispness he’d never experienced. He saw the fur of his beast covering his skin as his body twitched with each shift as the beast emerged.
Everything clicked inside him as the transformation completed. Man and beast were one for the first time. Finn gave a fierce growl, the sound vibrating through his chest and echoing in the room. He turned his head to see the awe in his brother’s gaze then he nosed past Gideon and out the door. He was back in the med center. He headed for the door and was surprised to see Dr. Jensen standing there.
“I see you found your spirit,” the doctor said. “You look good together.” Then he pushed the door open.
Finn didn’t look back. He ran, his beast fully in control as the man struggled to deal with overwhelming emotions. He hadn’t been able to control the emergence of his animal. One moment, he’d been sure his head would split in two. The next thing he knew, his recessive beast had taken control.
He realized now that was what he’d been fighting. His animal side had caused the intense pain. The harder he’d fought, the more painful it had become. So much was shifting and changing inside him as he and his lynx finally merged and became one. There was no longer an invisible barrier keeping them apart. His senses grew and expanded beyond what they’d ever been, and he roared with the full voice of the animal.
His first instinct was to find his mate and finally claim her as his. The animal fought him though. Until they’d completed the merge, they might be the greatest danger to her. With one last roar, he was gone.
Wind howled around him as he sped away from the labs and house, heading out over the plains. He felt the dirt under his paws, smelled the plethora of scents suddenly coming alive and saw it all through the sharp vision of his cat. Everything was so much clearer. He saw a mouse scurrying for shelter a little over two hundred feet away, could hear the scampering of its tiny feet.
He settled into his stride and waited for his brother to catch up to him. From the beginning, he’d known Murphy would shift and be hot on his heels.
You didn’t think I’d miss your first run, did you?
Murphy’s voice filled his head, and Finn realized their connection was even deeper in animal form. Murphy pulled up at his side and nudged him to turn with a press of his head. Finn nudged back and took the lead again.
I told you I’d be better at this than you,
Finn teased his brother.
Murphy’s laugh filled Finn’s head.
Shut up and pay attention while I show you what a real Lynx can do.
With that, Murphy surged forward, leaving Finn to follow as they ran. They hit the patch of woods that separated the majority of the land from where Isaac’s house still stood. Instead of cutting straight across, Murphy turned so they ran the full length of the area. Here it was dense, the foliage thick. There was a coolness to the air as the sun played peek-a-boo with the deep shadows. Animal instinct took over, and the hunt was on as he and Murphy found a rhythm and moved together in perfect synchronicity. The walls Finn had struggled to build between them fell down.
In those moments, he felt all his brother had held back from him and knew Murphy sensed the same from him. They’d always been close, closer than other siblings, closer than Finn was with his twin sister. Now that bond was forged in steel. Not only could they sense each other. They could communicate, and not in the same way as all shifters. There was a blending between them. Finn knew what move Murphy would make before he made it. It was a unique bond Finn had never heard of other shifters sharing outside of mates.
Dusk was falling when they stopped running. They’d gone in ever-increasing circles for the last few hours. Now, there was a cabin off to the right, and Murphy turned toward it. Finn stayed at his side, the scent telling him exactly who lived there. He had little doubt Murphy knew, as well. They shifted in the backyard, and Finn reached for the door, pushing it open with ease then stepping inside.
“How did you know?” Finn asked Murphy.
“Tah mentioned it in passing,” Murph said. “Hers is the closest cabin to Isaac’s. Your mate chose it herself. Tah wondered if she did it to keep tabs on Isaac for Gabriel and Daniel. Tah hasn’t had a chance to talk to her yet because of all that’s going on between her and Logan.” He glanced pointedly at Finn. “And now you.”
“I’d almost convinced myself she was an illusion,” Finn admitted with a sigh. “Why did you bring me here?”
“I wanted to see if you’d react with anger now that you and your beast have merged. Do you still feel the overwhelming desire to rip her throat out?”
Finn shook his head. “No. I don’t want to kill her.”
“Tell me,” Murphy urged.
Finn found a couple towels first, wrapping one around his waist and tossing the other to his brother. After covering himself, Murphy took a seat at the table while Finn looked around. There was a coffeepot on the counter while a teakettle sat on the stove. Did she drink both? Or was one here in case a visitor wanted it? The kitchen was clean. No dirty dishes in the sink. No clutter on the counter space.
He took a deep breath and started talking to his brother.
“It’s all coming back to me,” Finn muttered, rubbing his hands over his head. “I remember the call from Reno, the trip to Colorado and arriving just in time to help clean up the scum who’d tried to kill everyone and take Abby.” He paced around the kitchen. “I remember Amia. God, I was a fucking bastard, and I brought you along for the journey to hell.” He met Murphy’s gaze. “I remember taking the transponder. I wanted to lead them away from all of you, away from Colorado.”
“The hunters?”
“They found me in New Mexico. I knew they were there. There was no way for me to escape. I tried to hide my wallet and anything else they could use to find out who I was. To protect you. They couldn’t have placed me in Colorado, but I definitely would have led them to you.”
“What happened?”
“They shot me before they ever got near enough for me to see them. I saw the dart, felt the sting of whatever they injected in me then I was out cold. I came to tied to a wall, naked. I was already bleeding, but they waited for me to wake up before the real fun began.”
“They tortured you,” Murph said. “I saw the damage. The broken bones, the lacerations, the knife wounds. I don’t need you to relive that for me.”
“But I am,” Finn muttered hoarsely, tapping his head. “It’s all up here in vivid color. I hear the taunts, the laughter and jeers. I feel the blows, the way it felt as they broke my fingers one by one. They hooked cables to my chest and attached them to some huge-ass battery. Every question brought me a jolt if I didn’t give the answer they wanted. If I passed out, they threw water on me and laughed when it made each surge of electricity that much worse.”
“Jesus, God! I want to kill every bastard that was there. I wish I hadn’t been robbed of that honor!” Murphy exclaimed.
“She did it,” Finn whispered.
“What?”
“Laura. My mate. She killed them.”
Murphy’s face shone with disbelief.
“They’d pulled me off the wall and tossed me in the corner. I couldn’t move. It hurt to fucking breathe. I felt you searching for me, and I didn’t want you to feel anything I was at that moment. That’s when we heard her. This fierce growl that had the men jumping to attention. They were excited, reaching for weapons, and the leader yelled orders to take whoever it was alive.”
“How do you know it was her?”
“She’s my mate,” Finn answered. “I knew. I’m not sure how she did it, but she took out everyone who was outside. We heard their screams. The leader headed out with three men. He left one inside with me. That one came at me with one of the knives they’d used earlier to carve me up. He laughed and told me they no longer had any use for me. There was better prey now. That’s when he stabbed me in the stomach. The door flew open and several men ran in. They were bleeding and screaming over each other about the white beast. It was chaos. Then she stalked inside. I watched her methodically take them out. First, she incapacitated the one who’d been with me, making sure he was as incapable of attacking her as the others were. Then she went for the kill. She was ferocious, the most beautiful animal I’d ever seen. The hunter who’d been with me had managed to regain the knife. He caught her in the front paw before she ripped his throat out. My vision was fading at that point. I was dying, and I knew it.”
“Did she see you? Did she try to help at all?”
Finn smiled. “I watched her change. I just remembered that. I thought I’d blinked, and she was there, but I saw her the whole time. The vision of her, tangled blonde hair and big green eyes, has haunted me every night in my dreams. She came to me, crying. She used her hands to try to stop my stomach from bleeding, but it was no use. I think she felt me slipping away.”
“So she left you there? Left her mate to fucking die!”
Murphy’s anger poured off of him in waves as he stood, knocking the chair back and tipping it over. Finn had felt that same rage several times when he wasn’t sure if Laura existed. He’d wanted to find her and kill her. Hell, he’d told her when he’d seen her that he wanted to rip her throat out.
“I think I did die,” Finn said. “I think you probably felt it. I’m sure she did.”
“You were alive when Zane and I got there,” Murphy argued. “She left you there like that. She’s not a fit mate for you or any man. If you want her throat ripped out, I’ll be happy to do it for you.”
Finn hissed. “She’s my mate. You’d be smart to remember that.”
“I’m the one who saved your sorry ass,” Murphy said. “She’s the one who left you to die.”
“Don’t make me choose between the two of you,” Finn warned.
Murphy snarled. “There shouldn’t be a fucking choice to make.”
“Murph.” Finn held his hand toward his brother, but Murphy shook it off as he tore out the back door, tossing the towel behind him. He had shifted and was gone before Finn made it to the door.
“Fuck!” he exclaimed. The last thing he needed was a conflict between his mate and his brother. He couldn’t choose between them. He wouldn’t. He needed them both helping to figure out what was going on with him.
Chapter Six
“What do you mean he’s gone?” Laura demanded.
Gideon wasn’t looking at her, his gaze on Tah as he answered her question. “His animal has fully emerged. He shifted in the room and took off. Murphy followed him.”
“Three guesses who brought the beast out of recession,” Reno said, and Laura didn’t have to look to know they all stared at her.
“I’d like to ask you a few questions, Laura,” Gideon said.
“Don’t you think I should be out there? Searching for Finn?”
“I think you’re the last person he needs to see right now,” Gideon admitted. “Plus, I’m fairly certain Murphy isn’t a fan of yours right now.”
She understood why they were reluctant to let her leave. They were afraid Finn would be even more of a threat to her in his animal form.
“Do we need to keep her away from Finn and Murphy?” Logan asked.
“No,” she said before anyone else could. “Finn’s my mate. I understand that you all have concerns about that, but I don’t. We just need to deal with stuff, and we’ll be fine.”
“Which brings me back to my questions,” Gideon said. “I know you found him when he was with the hunters. I gather from what was said that you found him after the hunters had left him for dead. Where was he?”