HUNTED

[ Finn ]

Finn had been on high alert for the past few days, not relaxing once staying at Gabriel's grand hotel. Ever since Gabriel had been showing off his interest in Aila, he had been watching the vampire, observing his mannerisms, trying to catch him off guard and listen to his phone calls. He made sure to keep his thoughts focused on different subjects whenever the vampire was in the room.

There was something off about Gabriel, and he couldn't put his finger on it. When Aila first was in the master bedroom on the phone to Alpha Damon, Finn sat down with a glass of that expensive whiskey and thought back to his time in the hunter's compound. When he was first kidnapped and brought to that damn cell, he kept as far away as possible from the vampire in the cell next to him. 

That dick, Connor, put him in the middle one on purpose. He knew the hunter wanted to make their 'stay' even more unpleasant by putting the two natural enemies next to each other and see what happens.

At the time, Finn didn't know much about vampires. He had only been across two in his life; both times, he helped rip them to pieces for being in their territory and leaving human bodies from their relentless thirst. Bloody leeches either couldn't control themselves, or they didn't give a shit if the human lived or died.

For the first two weeks of his imprisonment, the vampire and werewolf didn't talk to each other. His life had changed so much; he didn't know how to organise his thoughts. If he hadn't been injected with wolfsbane so much, he knew he would have shifted from his emotional state. The silence from his wolf was too much as well; after his fifth injection, Logan had weakened so much that he could not speak to him. Leaving Finn to lie in the dank cell in silence.

But it wasn't just the new pace of his imprisonment, the beatings from Connor and the experiments, his whole pack, his family was murdered. His little brother and his parents were dead all because of the hunters and their hatred for his kind. The last thing he wanted to deal with was a vampire. But in that time, he did not interact with him, nor did he make any snarky comments when Finn would return to his cell.

After those two weeks, Gabriel was the first to speak, simply greeting him and asking if he was okay. Their friendship wasn't immediate, and it was more of a love-hate relationship, more so on Finn's side. He had consistently grown up hating his kind, but weeks felt like months, months to years, and soon it seemed he and Gabriel had been friends for ten years than three before Ajax showed up. They soon found that they could talk about anything, not that Gabriel gave much away about himself, but the discussions ranged from anything light to soulfully deep.

Finn never expected to include a vampire as one of his closest friends. But after failed attempts of escaping, the pair looked past their prejudices and natural hate for one another. So, when he saw how Gabriel started to cosy up to Aila, he knew immediately something was wrong because the one thing the vampire was adamant about was never to get in between mates. That was something he was always opposed to.

Naturally, he would speak to his Luna, to Aila about this, but his gut feeling and his wolf was telling him not to. Anytime Aila wasn't looking in the vampire's direction, Finn could see Gabriel watching her, either looking at her like she was his most prized possession or calculatedly. Her thoughts weren't safe, that was for sure.

So, when an opportunity arose for him to get in contact with Damon, he took it. He relayed his thoughts and the events happening in Chester to Alpha Damon. He lost his shit instantly. The Alpha wanted to come over with half the pack, protect Aila and kill the vampire, no matter how much he helped them. But it seemed Beta Kane was helping Alpha Damon with his mood swings, and he calmed down to the point that he wouldn't do anything rash.

The pair being apart wasn't good for either of them. The Alpha was angry, feral, and from what he heard on the phone each time he phoned- smashing up the place. With Aila, it wasn't as evident; she was very good at hiding any form of weakness. The only way they knew she was still recovering from her injury was because of the smell of blood; otherwise, from the smile on her face and the way she composed herself, they wouldn't know anything was wrong.

But with the distance between the Alpha and Luna, Finn noticed Aila occasionally wincing and hissing, stroking her mark absentmindedly before she composed herself once more. He found it interesting and worrying; Finn knew mates weren't supposed to be apart for too long, especially pack leaders such as the Alpha and Luna. They were the ones that completed the pack, kept it strong; without his Luna, the Alpha wolf becomes hard to handle.

After making his initial phone call to Alpha Damon, he was instructed to watch Gabriel and report back to him daily. He agreed to keep it from Aila until they uncovered what scheme the vampire was planning. But from what Finn had seen over the last few days, it was obvious he was after his Luna. He just wondered how far he was going to take it.

Finn paced the length of his bedroom; he was on the phone with Damon, telling him the name of the club and what they were doing. The Alpha already knew of their plans to go to the club, Aila told him in the morning.  Damon had his own plans and discussed them with Finn further and asked him to take the phone to Aila; he wanted to speak to his mate before they left. As he approached the stairs, he slowed down his steps-

"Why are you not coming with us?" He heard Aila ask, making Finn frown at this new revelation. He kept the phone to his ear and didn't make a sound as he slowly ascended the stairs. Damon was quiet on the other end of the line; Finn knew his Alpha was also listening. He stopped in the doorframe. Why was the door wide open?

Aila stood there, rooted to the spot, Gabriel standing too close for Finn's liking. The vampire had touched her too many times, the last one being that he nearly drank from her. Finn felt his chest tighten and slowly burn with rage. He would never have let that happen, but he didn't interfere; his Luna seemed to know how to handle him.

"Anything for you, Aila. Remember that. After tonight, everything changes. I want you to know how much I care for you."

After tonight, everything changes?

Finn frowned again at his words, but his eyes widened after watching the vampire kiss Aila on the cheek. Damon growled so ferociously on the other end of the line that it gave Finn goosebumps. Damon could be fricken scary when he wanted to be, Finn wasn't afraid to admit that it was a fact, and he wouldn't dare get on his bad side. Now, it looked like the vampire made it on his Alpha's hit list.

Gabriel turned around and smirked at Finn before disappearing. Finn didn't bother looking for him; he left the penthouse for sure after kissing Aila. Finn cringed; he could still hear the continuous low growl of the Alpha, it made him wonder if he shifted, but he knew Damon was still in control, barely. His wolf sounded very close to the surface.

"Take the fucking wheel," Damon snapped or was it his wolf? His voice was deep and still growling as he spoke. "Do NOT slow down."

There was some shuffling on the phone and a few curses from the Alpha. "Put my mate on the phone," Damon said bluntly, void of any emotion.

"Oh, snap. I don't know what's worse, aggressive Alpha or scary and quiet Alpha.." Logan whispered in his mind.

"My bet is the quiet version of Alpha Damon," Finn muttered back. He was lost in thought as he looked at Aila's shocked but stunning features. Finn walked towards her and reached his hand out for her to take the phone.

Aila took the phone without a word. She seemed to have recovered from Gabriel's kiss and seeing Finn catch him in the act. Pursing her lips, Aila put the phone to her ear. Finn watched her with concern and shamefully checked her out; even with the black wig, she looked amazing.

"No shame in it. She's a beautiful she-wolf with tons of power," Logan piped up. When they first met Aila, Logan was nearly drooling for her to be their mate. But Finn knew better, especially after seeing how Damon reacted to his and Ajax' presence by Aila's side. Finn was protective of Aila for other reasons, but it was nothing in comparison to how a mate was.

Right then and there, when Aila hugged them outside the mansion after their rescue, he knew Damon and Aila were mates. The electrical energy surrounding them, the way they looked at each other, even though Aila's look was a mixture of confusion and want for the Alpha.

He shook his head; he needed to focus on what was going to happen now.  Gabriel left them and is meeting them at the club after trying to get in between Aila and Damon. He didn't know what Gabriel was planning, but he couldn't understand him anymore. It made him sad and angry. Either way, Aila was his Luna, and he would protect her no matter what. If Gabriel was a threat, then he would help dispose of it.

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