Why would he be afraid? Finn is never afraid. Besides that time in his house.
That’s when I see Wren pinning him against the wall and this strange feeling washes over me. He isn’t necessarily hurting him, and Finn could slide past if he tried, but it’s clear Wren’s trying to intimidate him.
And Finn is afraid.
Pure anger fills me that this man dares to touch Finn. How dare he even look at him? Finn is mine, and if anyone even thinks about touching him, I will destroy them.
I rush forward and grab Wren, tearing him back as I wrap my hand around his throat and slam him into the wall. Lifting him off his feet, I growl, “He is mine and you do not touch him or I will tear your filthy hands from your body. He works here as my partner and he does what I do. You will not tell him what to do. You won’t even look at him if you don’t want me to rip your eyes from that ugly fucking face of yours, do you understand?”
The man is centuries younger than me; he holds no control over me.
“I-I am your superior,” he chokes out like he thinks some paper labeling him as such is enough to stop me.
“You won’t have to worry about any of that when I’m done with you.”
He looks away, submitting to me. “Y-Yes, I understand.”
“What the hell is going on?” Brooks growls.
I shove him at Brooks. “Keep this asshole away from Finn. If he touches him again, I’ll make good on my promise.”
Finn rushes through the door Brooks is holding open. I want to grab him and cover him to keep anyone from looking at him and… did I claim he was mine?
Holy hell. Please, please don’t let anyone remember that.
I push that thought away because I know I need to find him. Make sure he’s alright, and not worry about something stupid I might have said.
I rush after him and dodge Brooks’s outstretched arm. I see Finn slip into the first open door he comes across, which is Brooks’s office, so I hurry in just before the door shuts. He sinks down to his butt and takes a deep breath.
“Are you okay?” I ask as I kneel in front of him. “Don’t be mad that I did that. I know you think you can handle everything, and I know you can handle everything, and I wasn’t treating you like you were glass. I just… saw him, and I wanted to tear him the fuck apart.”
“Marcus,” he says.
“Yes?” I ask as I realize I’m rambling. Why am I rambling? Why does this man draw out the strangest parts of me?
“I’m not upset you did that… honestly… can I be honest?” he asks as he looks up with his rich blue eyes.
“Of course.”
“It was kind of hot.”
I narrow my eyes. “No.”
A small smile plays at his lips. “It was.”
“No. Dammit, Finn! It wasn’t hot. It was uncalled for, but why the fuck does he think he can touch you?”
“And… you… you called me yours!” he says, looking absolutely delighted.
“No, I didn’t!” Please let me forget this.
“Will you say it again? You ran in and shouted, ‘He is mine!’ with that sexy grumbly voice.”
“I would never do that,” I say.
He smiles at me, but it falls a little bit.
Now I feel like I’ve upset him because I’m denying it to my last breath, but maybe it’s something else bothering him.
“Marcus, thank you for saving me… I hate that I need someone to save me, but I’m very thankful… you did that.”
“I think I went a little overkill.”
He raises an eyebrow. “W-What? You think grabbing a superior by the throat and hoisting him straight up in the air by his neck was overkill? Really?” he asks with a teasing smile.
“I’m not going to live any of this down, am I?”
“No. It kind of made me horny.”
My eyes narrow. “No.”
“Now that I’m yours,” Finn says. At least he’s teasing again. Because when he’s not, it bothers me more than it should.
“No.”
He pushes himself toward me until I can feel his breath on my lips. It’s clear he’s hoping I’ll close the distance and claim his lips as my own. I honestly don’t know what I want to do. All I know is that he’s trying his hardest to pretend that what he was feeling in there wasn’t pure fear. But why? When he faced a venue of vampires, he didn’t bat an eye, but here? What is he hiding? What is he trying to cover up with jokes and proximity?
“You’re… kind of sucking at this,” he says, still far too close. My eyes drop down to his lips again.
“I’m a vampire, isn’t that kind of my job?”
He gives me a grin and this time it looks much more genuine. He gives up at that moment with a loud sigh before setting his forehead against my shoulder. “I like you. You’re funny.”
“No one has ever told me I’m funny before,” I say as I reach out to touch him before hesitating. It’s not fair of me to continually tell him no, yet give him gestures that say yes.
“That’s because you’ve never met the right person.”
I give up and take his face in my hand before pushing him back so I can see his eyes. “You need to find someone that’s good for you.”
He raises an eyebrow and I know he’s going to make a joke. How have I become able to read him just by his expressions? “Oh? Would you allow it? I do feel like I remember you telling everyone in the office that I’m now yours.”
Would I allow it? Would I allow some other man to come up and take this measly, tiny, scrawny human from me? To take his clothes off and touch him and kiss him and fuck him?
“You’ve got that constipated look on your face again,” he says.
“You are irritating and a human and you smell like fucking blueberries.”
“Yeah, my sister borrowed my jacket.”
There’s a knock on the door and I jerk my hand back as I remember that I’m still touching him.
I use the hand that I was just cupping his face with to jab a finger at him. “Watch your own ass from now on, I’m not saving it again.”
He smiles at me. “I like your threats. They’re cute.”
I ignore him and go to the door, which I pull open. Brooks is standing there, but he pushes past when he sees Finn on the floor. Finn tries getting up before Brooks reaches him, but Brooks pushes him back down.
“Are you okay? Karsyn said he saw Wren grab your hurt arm,” he says as he instantly starts trying to strip Finn.
“What?” I growl. “If I’d have known that I really would have hurt him.”
“Ooh, go beat him up again,” Finn says as he tries brushing Brooks off.
Brooks grabs his good arm. “You’re not leaving this room until I see your arm.”
“Lord. I can’t get Marcus to strip me, and I can’t get you to stop,” he says as Brooks unbuttons his shirt and pushes it down enough to see his arm.
There’s scarring running up it, but his stitches look good.
“See? Fine.”
“Alright, I’ll need your statement of what happened, and Church, you’ll have to have a meeting with Wren’s superior because Wren is claiming that you unjustly attacked him.”