Terry Spear - A SEAL in Wolf's Clothing

For a brief moment, Hunter seemed taken aback, as if he couldn’t see Finn courting any woman. Maybe because Finn never had.

“You aren’t right for her. She needs someone who’ll stay with her and keep her in line, not someone who is gallivanting around the continents, saving the whole wide world.”

“What about you and Tessa?”

“That’s different.”

“Really? I suppose time will tell since we haven’t been contacted for a mission since you got hitched. Then we’ll see if you’ll go or not. Then again, maybe it’s time for me to settle down.”

Hunter eyed him suspiciously. “Are you?”

Finn shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t know. She sure makes a man lose his sense of what’s important and what’s not.”

For the first time, Hunter gave him a sinister smile. Then it faded. “You haven’t met my mate. You might think I’ll run roughshod over you if you upset Meara, but you haven’t seen Tessa. She’s like a wolf with a mission when she’s got it in mind to right a wrong.”

“Anna said she wasn’t all wolf.”

“Believe me, she is.” Hunter took a deep breath and didn’t say anything for a moment as if he was coming to some conclusions of his own. Then he said, “All right, so what do we have concerning this case?”

“Two assassins who were human—run-of-the-mill guns for hire. Two others that were wolves.”

“I got a look at them. I didn’t recognize any of them, but Bjornolf’s running some prints on them.” Hunter frowned. “Because of the bruised eye and jaw that Bjornolf was sporting, I asked if he’d gotten injured when he took down one of the assassins, but he said he hadn’t. Some madly jealous wolf caught him unaware. Want to elaborate?”

“No.” Finn headed for the kitchen. “I’m getting a cup of coffee. Want one?”

Hunter followed him into the kitchen. “Sure. So what did Bjornolf do to Meara that you popped him twice for it?”

Finn knew Hunter wouldn’t take no for an answer about Bjornolf’s black eye. “He kissed her without her permission. Then he said he’d do it again with her permission.”

“Hell, Finn,” Hunter said, rubbing his hand over his jaw. “His regular job is killing assassins. And you socked him over Meara?” He shook his head, but he looked half amused and half pleased.

“Somebody had to do it.”

Hunter chuckled, and Finn figured he’d gotten into Hunter’s good graces to some extent. Hunter’s phone jingled, and he lifted it off his belt. “Hey, honey. Yeah, I got here just fine.” He looked at Finn. “No, I haven’t killed him yet. I need him still. And Meara likes him. What can I say?” He listened for some time, smiled a whole hell of a lot, looked up at Finn, and then said, “I’ll tell him. Call you later. Get some sleep. I’ll return as soon as I can. Love you, too. Bye.”

Finn handed Hunter a cup of black coffee. “Was it Tessa?”

Hunter took a swig from his mug. “Yep.”

“Did she have a word for me?”

Hunter looked sternly at him. “Yep.”

“And it was?”

“If you’re sleeping with Meara, you’re mated to her. No going back on the deal. Tessa’s words.”

“Ah.”

“Tessa’s serious.” Hunter finished his coffee, walked over to the coffeemaker, and poured himself another cup. “Her words have merit. In the old days, Meara would be a ruined woman, and to be honorable, you would have to mate her.”

“If we both wanted the same thing, yeah. In this day and age? No. That’s saying Meara even wants me. She has issues, you know.”

Looking damned surprised, Hunter stared at Finn. “Oh?”

“Yeah. Nothing that she’d talk about, but deep down she’s afraid of an alpha male who might exercise too much control over her. She would never do well with a beta who would roll over and play dead at her feet, but…” Finn shrugged.

Hunter sat down on the bar stool. “Is that what her problem has been all these years? I always thought she needed a beta to boss around.”

Finn straightened and looked Hunter in the eye. “Bjornolf said he was interested in her.” Finn studied Hunter’s expression, glad to see his eyes darkening with irritation.

“Over my dead body,” Hunter growled. “He’d be ten times worse than you.”

Amused at the comparison, Finn smiled.

“I mean, as far as his work goes.”

“I knew what you meant.” Finn refilled his coffee mug. “Bjornolf said he’d try to track down Cyn and see where he’s been these past six months. If he was in the SEALs, we should be able to come up with something.”

They heard someone walking through the living room. Hunter turned at the bar and looked to see Meara approach. Her chin was tilted up in defiance, but she still looked a bit unsure.

If Hunter took her to task for what had happened between Finn and her, Finn would give him hell right back.

To Finn’s consternation, Meara looked snappish, probably waiting for Hunter to give her hell. And she’d give it right back to him—forget about Finn getting the chance. But she looked a little worried, too, as she shot a glance Finn’s way, most likely looking to see if he was wearing bruises now like Bjornolf was.

“Hey, Hunter,” Meara said, trying for a casual greeting, but Finn noted the tension in her voice as she walked into the kitchen, twisting her hair into a knot that looked damned sexy, and then leaned over to give her brother a light, sisterly hug.

Hunter looked just as tense but gave her a perfunctory hug back. She tried to shrug off his mechanical reaction to her, but Finn noted she was bothered by it.

Finn filled the teakettle with water and started heating it for her tea, knowing she’d want some first thing and that it might make her feel more at ease. Hunter gave her a disgruntled look but then watched Finn in amusement as if he thought that a lot more was going on between Meara and Finn than his teammate had revealed.

“You didn’t have to come here and protect me, Hunter.” Meara inserted a finger though Finn’s belt loop and gave a tiny tug that made him want to haul her right back to the damned bed. But he got the distinct impression she wanted him close by to stand up for her if she needed him. Or maybe she was trying to protect him from Hunter if her brother showed hostility toward him. It would be like her to do so.

He slipped his hand into her back pocket and smiled down at her. She looked up in surprise at him, her face warming like soft sunlight on a sunny day.

“Finn’s doing a great job. Except…” She pulled his phone out of her front pocket and waved it at him. “…he keeps forgetting to take his phone with him.” She tried to hide it, but she bit her lip slightly with anxiousness. “Bjornolf wanted to talk to you.”

“ Bjornolf? ” Finn said, astonished. He figured Hunter was again running the show, and Bjornolf would have called him with any news.

“Yeah, he wanted to know if Hunter had killed you yet.”

Hunter chuckled darkly in amusement.

Smiling, Finn took the phone, kissed her cheek, and set a tea bag in a floral cup for her. He redialed Bjornolf’s number, and when he answered, Finn said, “Meara told me you called.”

“Yeah, did she tell you what about? I thought maybe I had a chance with her if you were gone now.” Bjornolf sounded like he was only half joking.

Finn chuckled. “Yeah. Hunter said he’d let you near her only over his dead body.”

Meara glanced at Hunter who gave her a small shrug. “It’s true.”

Bjornolf laughed over the phone. “Okay, well, although I told Hunter I’d get back to him, since you’re still around, you can give him the news.”

In that instant, if Finn wasn’t reading too much into the situation, Bjornolf was acknowledging that Finn was still in charge of Meara’s safety? He wondered if the way to impress Bjornolf was to catch him unaware and sock him. Or if it had to do with Finn getting the woman. Maybe a little of both.