A SEAL in Wolf's Clothing

Chapter 13

Finn locked the door to the master bathroom and started the bathwater for Meara, but she still wasn’t certain what he intended to do.

“Is Anna jealous of you with me?” Meara asked, still bothered by the notion because she’d felt like she was beginning to bond with Anna like she had with her brother’s mate, Tessa. She didn’t often develop relationships with other women. Partly, she figured, because she’d never had a sister. “Is that why she sent Paul after you?”

“She’s afraid of what Hunter will do to me if he learns what I’ve been doing with his sister.” Finn barely concealed a smirk.

“I’m a grown woman,” Meara said caustically, hating how much her brother tried to take charge of her life.

Finn helped her out of her tank top and pressed his mouth against her bare shoulder. “As well I know.”

“You don’t think I really have a thing for Allan, do you?” she asked, hoping Finn didn’t think so as he helped her step out of her khakis.

She groaned with the effort as her sore legs and the bruise on her hip reminded her how it felt to be at the bottom of the heap when two alpha male wolves fought.

Finn’s expression turned concerned as he gave her a hand into the tub. “No, I’m not worried about you and Allan. He’s only the one for you for the moment because he’s not here. I’ll be right back.” Finn gave her a knowing wink, then headed out of the bathroom and closed the door.

She turned on the jets in the tub and noticed a container of lavender bubble bath that must have been left behind by the people who’d had to leave in a hurry so Finn could move her in. She’d never had a bubble bath because they seemed too prissy and pampering. Eyeing it, she finally gave in, seized the bottle, and poured some of the bubble bath into the heated water. Nothing much happened, so she kept pouring until the bubbles began to surface.

“How is she?” Meara heard Paul ask Finn from the living room a couple of minutes later.

“Bruised and sore, but she’ll be fine.”

“Is she mad at us?”

She couldn’t believe that Paul would be worried how she felt about them and not angry with her for causing all the trouble by taking a run on the wolf side. She realized then that they didn’t consider her as a civilian but part of the extended family, so to speak. That made her appreciate Hunter’s team members all the more.

The water from the jets was stirring up the lavender bubbles something fierce, and the cloud of bubbles was growing and growing and growing. She stared at the massive, building foam and hoped it would stop any second now.

“I’m going to look around the area and make sure the guy didn’t have a buddy or two with him,” Meara could hear Bjornolf saying. “And take care of the body.”

“Good idea,” Finn agreed.

The back door closed with a clunk as Bjornolf headed out.

“No, she’s not mad at us,” Finn assured Paul. “Is Anna all right?”

“Yeah, she’s making a sweep of the area in her car.” Paul let out a harried sigh. “Hell, man, you know we all were interested in Meara. But none of us would approach her because of how much we respect Hunter.”

“I’m protecting her,” Finn said, as if defending his honor.

Paul snorted. “Yeah, well, if I hadn’t been in southern Florida, I would have been protecting that sweet body of hers, not you.”

Now Meara knew why Paul had been wearing the palm-tree shirt. She quickly turned off the jets, but the foot-high bubbles were stretching over the tub walls and boiling onto the tile floor. She groaned.

“Watch the place, will you?” Finn said, sounding more like he was giving an order than asking a question.

“What are you going to do?”

“Take Meara some Epsom salt. The brute strained her muscles and bruised her, making her pretty sore.”

“Oh.”

Epsom salt. Would it mix well with the bubble bath? She really didn’t want Finn to see the mountains of lavender she’d created. Footfalls headed down the hall toward the bathroom, and Meara sank under the foam still bubbling to the surface of the warm water, hating that he would see the mess she’d made.

“Finn?” Paul said.

Finn stopped in the hallway halfway to the bedroom. “Yeah?”

“You know Hunter’s going to be pissed with all the attention you’ve been paying her, don’t you?”

Finn harrumphed and headed back down the hall toward the master bedroom.

Meara assumed her brother wouldn’t like how cozy she and Finn had become when there was no way a mating would follow. But then again, Finn was keeping her safe, and Hunter would have to appreciate that. Nothing else would happen between Finn and her. Once they discovered whoever was ordering the hits on them, he’d go back to his secret missions, and she’d work on bringing alpha males to the cabin rentals again. End of story.

Missing the feel of the jets, she turned them on again, closed her eyes, leaned back against the numbing pulses of water aimed at strategic parts of her back, and purred.

“I love it when you do that,” Finn said, closing the bathroom door behind him, a slight smile on his lips as he stared at the huge mound of bubbles half hiding her.

Her eyes shot open. “You love it when I do what?” she asked innocently. She had no idea what he meant.

“Purr.” He mixed some Epsom salt into the water. Testing the warmth, he dipped his hand lower until he found her thigh and then ran his fingers not so innocently over her skin, and nodded. “Just the right temperature. But you could probably use some more bubbles.”

“You’re so funny,” she said sarcastically.

He chuckled and stood. She thought he might join her, but he probably wasn’t interested in smelling like lavender. The scent had a calming effect, though, and smelled divine.

He handed her a washcloth. “If you need me for anything, just holler. I’ll be talking with Paul in the living room, trying to sort out what’s going on.”

Then after one more longing look at the water—she wasn’t sure if it was because he wished he could see the part of her buried under the bubbles or if he just wished he could soak his muscles in the warm water, too—he left and closed the door behind him.

She figured that Paul had made Finn come to his senses. That Finn realized he shouldn’t have been with her like he’d been. She knew Paul was right, but she couldn’t help feeling a bone-deep disappointment.

She wasn’t sure what she liked so much about Finn. Maybe how after she’d expected him to really be angry with her, he had acted chivalrously instead by taking the blame for not protecting her better. Or how he’d been ashamed that he hadn’t been doing what he was supposed to while watching her. Or maybe the way he had come for her last night, worried that she was leaving him and sleeping in another room, and he wasn’t having any of it. She still didn’t know if he had wanted to make sure she was well protected or to prove to her he could keep his hands off her the rest of the night. Not that he had, but at least they had slept the rest of the evening and hadn’t pleasured each other again.

But even so, she had dreamed a fantasy scenario of having him all over again in the middle of the night, only that time he was fully inside her. She sighed. All good things must come to an end, she told herself.

With that disconcerting thought, she closed her eyes and considered what she might have done that would make anyone think she’d somehow managed to save Hunter and his team on their last mission. That could be the root of all the trouble they were in now, she thought as the jets continued to shoot pulsating columns of water at her tender muscles.

All she could think of was Hunter’s leaving, and how he wouldn’t let her date Cyn Iverson while he was away on that final SEAL mission.

What had Finn said? Only that Bjornolf had told him she’d saved them. But what had she done? She envisioned the day the men had left. Hunter packing his gear. Her glowering at him. Probably having a heated word or two. She knew he was obligated to do the mission, but she hated that he was trying to control her life so much, whether he was off on a mission or home on leave. The man she was supposed to have a date with had been such a gentleman that she couldn’t understand Hunter’s objection to her seeing him. Cyn hadn’t done one thing to make Hunter dislike him so.

Bubbles popped under her chin as she sank deeper into the bathwater, wishing it would stay hot longer. Her cell phone rang, startling her. She turned off the jets and reached over the tub to snag the phone from her pants pocket. Expecting Hunter to be calling her, she yanked the phone out, and without looking to see the caller ID, said, “Hello?”

“It’s Rourke.”

At first she was so surprised he’d called that she just sat there staring at the phone. Then, regaining her wits, she asked, “Rourke, why are you calling me?”

Since Rourke was newly turned, normally his handler, Chris, would have called her. If anything was going on with the pack that she should know about, one of her long-term pack members would have gotten in touch with her. Rourke should have gone through Chris.

“I’m a reporter,” he said, sounding annoyed, as if he knew just what she had been thinking.

“So?”

The bathwater was beginning to grow uncomfortably cool, and she was starting to wrinkle, so she had intended to get out and wanted him to get to the point.

Rourke said hotly, “An investigative reporter. Nobody in the pack will let me write about anything but the most unimportant drivel. But one of my watchdogs—”

“Watchdogs?” Meara said, annoyed.

“Watch-wolves, whatever. I can’t believe lupus garous have such a hang-up about being referred to in any way as dogs. They are loyal and man’s best—”

“Rourke, what do you have to tell me that’s so important you didn’t wait to tell Chris?”

A heavy pause followed as if Rourke was trying to forget the issue of being referred to as dogs or wolves. Then he said, “Chris mentioned something about a card being left with one of Hunter’s SEAL team members, Allan, when he was wounded in Pompano Beach. The card was the Knight of Swords. I asked if Chris had talked to you, and he said he didn’t want to bother you with it. Do you know what it means?”

“No, I’ve never heard of it.” Why hadn’t Chris wanted to tell her about it? Even if she didn’t know what it meant, if a sub-leader of the pack knew, then she should have been informed.

“It’s a tarot card picturing a young man riding a white horse, sword raised, as he’s charging into battle. The card symbolizes taking risk, rushing headlong into danger. It represents an impulsive reaction, without a lot of thought given to the course of action that needs to be taken. The individual is full of passion, nearly blinded with the drive to accomplish the mission without regard for his own safety.”

All of a sudden Meara felt as though Rourke was talking about her. “We are talking about whoever left the calling card, right?”

“Yes. If the card is turned upside down, it means becoming a loner—taking risk, trying to show one’s own independence.”

Hell, it still sounded like Rourke was talking about her. “So which way was it turned?”

“When Allan was discovered in his injured state, the card had been inadvertently turned sideways. One of your pack members said that if the man was acting alone, the card was probably turned upside down. If he enlisted a pack, the card was probably turned right side up.”

Meara considered the way she took risks, impulsively and determinedly. She’d never endangered anyone but herself. So where was the wrong in that? Immediate action had been needed to protect lives in peril. Well, the lady whose purse had been snatched hadn’t been in danger, unless she’d had nitroglycerin pills in her bag for a heart condition. But she might have!

Meara lifted her chin higher. If she was like the Knight of Swords and whoever was in charge of this operation was also, he’d met his match.

Rourke continued to speak. “Hunter feels it has to do with his final SEAL mission, the botched rescue mission. With three of the hostages dying before Finn pulled two others to safety.”

She stared at the bubbles covering the water, trying to envision Finn rescuing two of the hostages alone while the others on the team were injured and unable to help. She hadn’t thought any of the hostages had made it, and a mixture of disbelief and relief filled her. “Are you certain?”

“It’s classified.”

“But you have knowledge of the details!” She only knew that Hunter and the others had been wounded, that Finn had managed to avoid any injury, and that he’d helped them all to safety. A Navy SEAL buddy never left his own behind. But still, she hadn’t known he’d accomplished part of their mission. That he alone had further risked his life to save the remaining hostages. She’d thought the whole thing had been a total disaster.

“I told you. I’m an investigative reporter and a damned good one at that.”

“What happened that day?”

He was quiet, then before she could demand that he tell her, he said, “One of the women who’d been taken hostage and died during the rescue mission had a brother who was in the Navy.”

“A Navy SEAL,” Meara whispered, guessing at the truth.

“Yeah,” he said darkly.

“What was his name?” she asked, barely able to get the words out, her skin chilled with anticipation at hearing what it was, figuring the man was on some kind of vendetta now.

“Cyn Iverson.”

“Cyn Iverson,” she said, choking on the words, never in a million years having thought it would be someone she’d known, albeit briefly. Or that he was the same man who had wanted to date her but Hunter had said no. Or that he was trying to track her down now. A chill swept over her wet skin.

She’d never considered that he might be a Navy SEAL. Did he hold a grudge against Hunter and the team for his sister’s death? He must have cared very much for her.

“Did you know him?” Rourke asked.

“Ah, briefly.” And then Meara’s lower lip dropped. Did Cyn mean to kill her because Hunter hadn’t saved Cyn’s sister in time? For revenge?

“What’s this all about?” Rourke prompted.

“He seemed so mild-mannered, not in the least bit impulsive or headstrong. Not like the Knight of Swords, if he was supposed to fit the description from what you’ve told me. Unless he was a chameleon, acting one way but hiding his true character. Still, from what I’ve seen of him, I can’t imagine he might be involved in any of this.”

Rourke made a scoffing noise. “Someone sure as hell is involved in this. And from the sound of it, he could feel he has a very good reason.”

She thought back to the day she’d met Cyn. He had acted impulsively by taking her out, realizing that she was with a pack and that they wouldn’t like her going to dinner with a wolf they knew nothing about. What if he had taken her to dinner with some other nefarious intent…

What if he’d wanted to be on the team that had tried to rescue the hostages? What if he resented not being allowed to go and felt that his not being there had meant his sister’s death? What if Meara hadn’t been Cyn’s real interest at all? And now he was hunting her down. Thank God, Chris hadn’t known where she was and couldn’t have let Cyn know, not realizing he might be behind all this.

Her stomach tied in knots, she took a deep, settling breath. “He met me in Sacramento, and we had a dinner date. You probably heard about it.”

Rourke didn’t say anything for a minute as if he was thinking about it. Then he said, “The time Chris was supposed to be watching you at a bookstore, and you got away from him, and Hunter chewed Chris out?”

“That’s the time.”

“Yeah, I heard about it. A couple of guys were saying what a handful you were and they were glad they didn’t have the job.”

Knowing that word had probably spread among the pack members and was still juicy gossip months later, she shook her head. “Thanks, Rourke. If you learn anything more, let me know.”

“I will. I meant to tell Hunter, but I can’t reach him. And no one thinks I’m important enough to be allowed to call that guy who’s watching over you, even though I attempted to locate his number anyway.”

“Finn.”

“Yeah. Chris won’t let me talk to you, saying everything has to go through him. But I thought you should know, and you could pass the information along to Hunter and whoever else has a need to know.”

“No one else knows but you and me?”

“No. I dug up the information on my own. Cyn’s sister had been married three times, changing names each time, so it took some digging to learn her birth name. She wasn’t a wolf.”

Meara stared sightlessly at the bubbles in her bath. “He was a wolf.”

“Yeah, well, she wasn’t. He was changed a few years back, but she was still human.”

That didn’t make sense. Either Cyn hadn’t had the heart to change her or he had felt she wouldn’t want to be a wolf. In Tessa’s case, she’d refused to leave her brother the way he was, as close to him as she was. Meara knew that despite her differences with Hunter, if she’d been turned, she would have turned him, too.

“I’ll… I’ll pass along the information. And, Rourke, even if I haven’t said it before, you’ve been a welcome addition to the pack. No trouble at all.”

And she meant it from the bottom of her heart. When she’d learned Hunter had turned the reporter by accident, she knew it would be a disaster. But Rourke had readily accepted his role, and even shape-shifting hadn’t seemed to be much of a problem for him. Most of the time. Still, he had to be watched over, like any recently turned, mateless werewolf, to ensure he didn’t make a mistake, and if he did, so it could be rectified quickly.

Rourke was quiet and then said, “Thank you.”

In that small bit of thanks, she heard a world of appreciation for what she’d said. That made her wish she’d said it earlier. She wasn’t in a habit of doling out praise for any little thing, which would make the praise not worth giving or receiving. Still, she should have said something before this.

She’d make it up to Rourke and show her appreciation to him somehow later, when assassins weren’t out to get her. She frowned. If Cyn was behind this, was it because Hunter’s sister was alive when his own was dead? But if he had been that close to his sister, Meara couldn’t understand why he hadn’t bitten and changed her. As a human, she would grow old and die, and he’d lose her eventually while he’d live on for eons. Something wasn’t right.

Goose flesh erupted on her arms, and she felt another chill race through her.

“I’ll talk to you later. I’ve got to tell Finn what you’ve learned. Thanks again.” She ended the call, but before she could lift the phone over the tub and set it on the floor away from the bubbles, the phone slipped from her soapy hand and landed in the bathwater.

Frantically, she grabbed for it, searching for the phone at the bottom of the tub. She grasped it, fished it out, and tried to turn it on. No sign of life. “Damn it all, anyway.” She dropped the dead phone on her pants outside the tub.

“Finn!” she called out, trying to get out of the tub. Oh, oh, oh. Her muscles reacted with twinges of pain in her hip and thigh when she tried to stand, reminding her that she was still sore and bruised.

She was reaching for a towel, her skin dripping with water and soap bubbles, when Finn and Paul barged into the bathroom with guns drawn. She gave a startled squeak, not expecting to see Paul with Finn, or that Finn would come that quickly. As she drew the sunny yellow towel around her, she said, “I’m all right. I just think I might know who was involved in that fiasco of a last mission of yours.”

“Who?” Finn asked, holstering his gun, while Paul took in way too much of her towel-clad but mostly naked body.

“The guy Hunter wouldn’t let me date when he was going on the mission. Although the card that was left behind with Allan doesn’t seem to represent Cyn’s behavior in the least.”

“Sin?” both Finn and Paul said at once.

“Do you know him?” she asked, climbing out of the tub and the much-too-cool water as Finn quickly grabbed her arm to steady her.

“No,” Finn said with a snort. “I just wondered how he ever came up with the name ‘Sin,’ and how anyone let him get near you. For that matter, how the hell do you know about the tarot card?”

“Cyn. C-Y-N, Cyn, short for Cynric, which he said comes from his Anglo-Saxon roots. He said it means powerful.”

Finn narrowed his eyes at her.

“Well, I thought he was referring to…” She gave a slight cough. “You know, the way he gave me this wickedly sinful look, like… well…” She couldn’t help the blush warming her cheeks and sliding all the way down her skin. “But then he explained his name was Anglo-Saxon in origin and…” She shrugged.

Finn’s expression was still rigid as ice, and Paul was staring at her just as hard.

“Who told you about the card?” Finn asked.

“Rourke, the reporter, newly turned. You met him at the morgue.”

“How the hell did he know?”

“Well, hell, Finn, it seems everyone in the pack knew about that but me. Chris told him.” She glowered at Finn.

“And you know what it means?”

“Of course.” Rourke had told her, but she wasn’t letting Finn know that she hadn’t had a clue before that.

Finn gave her an elusive smile. “When I learned the meaning of the Knight of Swords, someone came immediately to mind.”

“Let me guess.” She looked at the sparkly ceiling and then eyed Finn with annoyance. “You?”

He chuckled and shook his head. “What did he look like?”

“Let me get dressed, and I’ll describe him the best I can.”

Finn and Paul didn’t budge from the bathroom as Finn asked, “Did Hunter see him?”

“No.”

“Then why didn’t he want you seeing the man?” Finn asked, frowning again at her.

She gave him the same annoyed look back, not caring for his harsh tone. “He didn’t like his name, or what he said it meant, if you have to know.”

The way Finn was scowling at her, she could tell he didn’t like Cyn, either. Although she thought there was a deeper reason for Hunter not liking Cyn, but he wouldn’t disclose it.

“If you’ll both leave, I’ll get dressed, and then I’ll tell you more.”

“Tell me what, Meara?”

“He was a Navy SEAL, one of you guys. His sister was one of the hostages that died on the island during your last mission.”

Finn stared at her in disbelief, but she figured he was coming to his own conclusions about what that might mean. Paul was looking just as stunned.

“Go,” she said, motioning to the door with her free hand. “I’ll tell you what else I know after I get dressed.”

Finn gave her a stiff nod, fearing the worst—Bjornolf had been right. Meara was the one the assassin had been targeting, and now they might just have the reason.

He ushered Paul toward the door, already pulling his phone out and punching in a button. “Hunter?” he said, closing the bathroom door behind him. “What do you know about the guy Meara wanted to date named Cynric Iverson, Cyn for short. Yeah, besides that you didn’t like his damn name or what he said it stood for.”

“He called me and wanted to be on our team before I asked Allan to join us, and I said no to Iverson.”

“So what was the problem?”

“He wanted Meara, and he wasn’t good enough for her. But I suspected he was just using her to make points with me, thinking that if she fell in love with him and vouched for him, I’d let him join my team. He didn’t have the training that we needed to get the mission done. Hell, if this has to do with him, I’ll kill the son of a bitch.” Hunter didn’t say anything for a couple of heartbeats as Finn wondered how close Cyn had gotten with Meara before Hunter put an end to it.

“Did you know that Cyn’s sister was one of the hostages that died during our last mission?”

More silence, then Hunter asked, “Who told you that?”

“Rourke, your resident reporter, newly turned.”

Hunter let out his breath. “How the hell did he learn of it?”

“He’s a reporter,” Finn said, guessing Rourke was used to doing investigations.

“Hell. Then if Cyn is the one behind this, it’s damned personal.”

“Yeah, that’s just what I thought,” Finn agreed, not liking the scenario one bit.

“How’s Meara holding up?”

“She’s doing fine. I’ll make sure she’s taken care of.”

“I’m coming home,” Hunter abruptly said.

At first, Finn thought Hunter didn’t trust him to protect her, maybe even thinking that the incident with Bjornolf at the inn proved that. But then Anna’s warning that she’d tell Hunter what Finn had been up to with Meara flashed through Finn’s mind. “Don’t believe everything Anna has to say.”

A significant pause followed. Then Hunter said, “What has Anna got to do with anything?”

Finn was totally thrown off kilter by Hunter’s question, certain that Anna had already talked to Hunter about Finn’s relationship with Meara. “Didn’t Anna call you?”

“No,” Hunter said tersely.

Finn rubbed the stubble on his chin. Shit.

“What was Anna going to tell me?” Hunter asked in none too friendly a manner.

“Nothing. Why are you coming home then?”

Hunter said, “Bjornolf just called me.”

“Hell.”

Hunter waited for Finn to say something more, but when he didn’t, Hunter said, “So is there something you want to get off your chest with me?”

“No. What the hell did he call you about?” Finn really hadn’t expected Bjornolf to stoop so low as to inform Hunter of Finn’s business with Meara, but well, hell. Finn knew the bastard was more than a little interested in Meara.

“He thinks Meara is the focus of this operation. That she’s the one the assassins are targeting. And if this is true about Cyn’s sister dying during our mission, I believe Bjornolf is right. Which is why I’m coming home.”

Finn’s mouth dropped open. Hell, chalk it up to feeling damned guilty about his handling of the situation between him and Meara when Hunter’s plan to return home didn’t have a thing to do with that.

“Yeah, so what did you think Bjornolf was calling me about? The same thing you thought Anna might be reporting back to me about?” Hunter asked, his tone stony.

“Hell, Hunter, she’s a grown woman.”

“You’d damn well better be talking about Anna, Finn. Meara is my sister. And grown or not, the same rules don’t apply.”

Finn wasn’t sure why, maybe because of the respect and admiration he’d always felt for Hunter, but at that moment, he felt like a schoolboy who was in serious shit and standing before a stern-faced, pissed-off principal.

A prolonged silence lapsed between them. Then Hunter said, “I’m boarding the flight now. I take it you want to talk to me about joining the family. If not, just let this be a warning.”

The phone clicked off and Finn found himself listening to dead air space.

Damn it all. Finn would have taken Meara for a mate in a heartbeat if he’d been wired differently. She was fun and courageous and a treasure for any male who could win her hand. Even if she was very much like the Knight of Swords. Maybe that was what he liked so much about her.

When he was all in the planning, considering every possible action and reaction like a chess player contemplating his next move, Meara would have lunged forward and played the move without regard to what could happen. In a way, he wished he was more impulsive like that. Actually, he had to admit he had been more spontaneous in dealing with Meara. He realized that she was rubbing off on him—which he found wasn’t a bad thing.

But if they became mated, she’d throw a conniption as soon as he told her he was going on a dangerous mission. He didn’t need the aggravation, and he wasn’t willing to give up that lifestyle yet.

He glanced up to see Paul watching him, looking like he knew just what had happened and truly sympathized with Finn. Paul threw up his hands and said, “I didn’t call Hunter, either. I wouldn’t have. Maybe threatened to a few more times to make you come to your senses. But I wouldn’t have actually done it, knowing how angry Hunter could get.” He tried to look like he felt Finn’s pain, but somehow the effect wasn’t quite sincere. “So what happens now?”

“We keep Meara safe and catch the bad guys while we’re at it.” Finn’s personal life wasn’t the issue at the moment. Or shouldn’t be anyway.

“What about you and Hunter?” Paul persisted. “What are you going to do when he gets here?”

Finn let out his breath. “We’ll work out our differences. We always do.”

“And Meara?”

Finn didn’t have a ready answer for that. The problem was that he liked Meara too damned much. The thought that any other male would have her didn’t set well with him. But more than that? He just didn’t want to give her up.

Paul stared at him in disbelief, and then the corners of his mouth rose. “My God, you’ve fallen for her. Hard.” He shook his head. “I don’t want to be you when Hunter returns. But I have to admit I’m glad it’s you that fell for her and not someone who wasn’t one of the team.”

Now what was Finn supposed to do? Tell Meara that Hunter knew about them or suspected something had gone on between them? Or just drop the subject and keep this on a strictly professional basis for the rest of the mission like he should have done from the start? When this was over, Meara could shop for her perfect mate again. Finn would stay far away from the temptation that was Meara and the whole Oregon coast where he might run into her anytime and want to take up where they had left off. “Might” wasn’t the word for it. He knew if he saw her again after having a taste of her, he could never go back to the way they’d been.

Anna shoved the back door open, her face red with annoyance, and fisted her hands on her hips. “Hunter just called me. He said you thought I’d phoned him about something that was going on between you and Meara. And he wanted to know what that was all about. Care to explain?”

“I’m going to check the perimeter of the house for a while,” Paul said, smiling at Finn. He took off by way of the back deck, leaving Finn to dig himself out of the deepening quicksand he found himself in.

“Yeah, well, it was a misunderstanding,” Finn said, hating to have to explain himself further to anyone else.

“We both figured that, but I don’t like having to lie to Hunter to protect your ass, even though you and Meara are a big boy and girl. Hunter is still her brother.”

“He reminded me of that. All right?”

Anna shook her head. “Fine, but the game plans have been changed, and now Hunter’s setting the rules. I told you I should have stayed with Meara. Now that’s just what’s going to happen. And you get outdoor patrol.”

Finn heard movement behind him and turned to see Meara walking down the hall toward them. Her eyes were wide, and her sexy mouth was parted in surprise, her cheeks lightly flushed. He wondered how much of the conversation she’d heard before she’d let them know she was joining them.

“I have to hear what Meara has to say about the ‘date’ she nearly had with Cyn,” he said to Anna without taking his eyes off Meara.

“A date with sin? That should be an interesting tale.” Anna shook her head. “Hunter said I should talk with her and pass the info along.”

Finn stood firm. He was the one who’d come to warn Hunter and his sister about the danger, and Paul, too, and had arranged for Anna to be here to help watch their backs. He wasn’t giving up protecting Meara for anything or anyone.

“Hunter learned about us, didn’t he?” Meara asked softly.

As reluctant as Finn was to admit it, he did. “Yeah.”

She shot an accusing glance in Anna’s direction, but Finn quickly said, “By my admission, Meara. No one else told Hunter.”

“Oh, well, terrific. So you went and told him all the sordid details?” Meara said, her tone of voice caustic.

Anna’s eyes grew big.

“Well, just fine. Do as Hunter ordered,” Meara snapped at Finn, her eyes fiery with indignation. “I’ll talk to Anna, and she can relay what little I know to whomever she’s working for.”

“Hell, Meara, I…” Finn ran his hands over his head in frustration. “It was a mistake.”

“A mistake?” she asked shrilly. “Oh yeah, how well I know. That’s how it always ends up—one big mistake. Do me a favor and don’t make it any worse than it already is, okay?” She strode past him, her delectable scent piquing his hormones, and he wondered how any woman could smell as mouthwatering as she did, making him want her as much as he did, when she was ready to bite his head off.

She entered the kitchen and started heating water in the teakettle.

“Fine.” He hadn’t wanted a mate. He had told her he wasn’t into romance or anything of the sort. He wasn’t ready to give up his work.

He stormed out of the house. This was the kind of job he knew how to do well. Going after the bad guys and protecting the innocents.

Dealing with relationships? He totally sucked at that.

“Hey, if it’s any consolation,” Paul said, joining him out front, “you’re the first SEAL on the team that Meara’s ever shown any real interest in. If you ever decide to settle down, I’m sure she’d go for you.”

The way she’d looked at Finn in the house with that hurt expression once she’d learned he’d told Hunter what was going on between them—not in so many words, but Hunter had to have known what had happened—Finn imagined she’d just as soon feed this SEAL to the sharks than do anything as foolish as consider him for her mate.

Yep, on the list of prospective mates back at her cabin, his name would definitely have been crossed off with big letters stating “NO WAY in hell!” written beside it.

“Are you all right?” Anna asked Meara as they sat down at the kitchen table over steaming mugs of mandarin-orange-flavored tea.

Meara frowned. “Sure.”

“Finn didn’t do it on purpose, by the way. He didn’t talk to Hunter about the two of you. I imagine it was more of a case of feeling guilty about your relationship and letting it slip with Hunter when Finn hadn’t meant to.”

Meara still couldn’t help feeling perturbed about it. She’d thought they could keep what had happened between them secret from Hunter so he wouldn’t throw a fit. Deep down, she didn’t want Finn to lose his longtime friendship with Hunter over the situation. “I thought you wanted to talk about Cyn,” she said curtly, not mad at Anna, but she couldn’t quash her annoyance with Finn for letting the situation slip.

Anna took a deep breath. “I’ve known Finn for six months now and worked really closely with him on a few missions, and I’ve never seen him so wrapped up in a woman. Kind of nice to see. I was beginning to think he was a eunuch.”

“Finn?”

Anna smiled. “Yeah, really. Because of the kind of work he does and not wanting to worry about a bad guy grabbing someone he cares for, Finn just hasn’t bothered with relationships. So when I saw him with you and the way he was acting all smitten, I figured something more was going on.”

“A big mistake,” Meara said. “Sure.”

Anna studied her for a moment, then said, “I wouldn’t let your brother come between you and Finn.”

Meara let out her breath. “My brother has nothing to do with this.”

“Oh yeah, he does. He means well. And he’s got your best interests at heart. But this is truly between you and Finn. For the first time, I believe he’s considering giving up this line of work.”

Meara sipped some of her hot tea. “Don’t be absurd.”

“No, really. I’m not very good at relationship issues, either. When I get mad at a man, I’m ready to use my whole arsenal of weapons on him.”

Meara finally smiled. “I like you, Anna.”

“The feeling’s mutual or I wouldn’t say any of this to you.” Anna reached over and patted Meara’s hand. “Give Finn a chance. Believe me, if I don’t let him in the house to watch over you tonight, he’ll be some wolf to deal with by morning. And I’m not about to put my ass on the line. Now, what do you know about… sin?”