Haven City Series Books 7-9: Alpha's Gamble (Haven City Series #7), Alpha Enchanted (Haven City Series #8), Alpha's Cage (Haven City Series #9)

by Zoe Perdita

  His freedom, but Quinn couldn’t say that.

  And if he admitted the real truth to Tyler, the alpha probably wouldn’t help him.

  The lightness in his chest turned to iron chains, winding and tight. “Nothing. When you complete your promise, I’ll be sure to give you what you desire most.”

  Tyler didn’t even smile, and Quinn thought that was probably wise.

  6

  “Who the fuck is Bradley Montgomery?”

  It’s the first thing that tumbled out of Tyler’s mouth when he walked into Sullivan’s that night and stalked up to the bar.

  That name banged around in his head all day. Googling it didn’t help. Sure, he found out the Montgomery family was big in Haven City because of old political ties and a shit-ton of money. Montgomery senior had been a senator until his untimely death a year before, and Bradley, the asshole who took Quinn, was currently involved in politics too.

  However, shadow folk information wasn’t on the general Internet unless you went deep, besides those weird conspiracy websites that normal people discounted and only crazy people believed. Well, they weren’t so crazy since some of the stuff was true.

  Still, that didn’t help Tyler find out what kind of magic the Montgomery family specialized in.

  Even if Tyler had enhanced shifter senses, all magic smelled similar. Elemental mages were distinguishable from one another since the odor of the element overwhelmed everything else. Other magic only had the vague scent of burning leaves with a touch of something he couldn’t place underneath.

  Only, with Bradley Montgomery, that vague scent was overwhelmingly terrible, like a mixture between the river at its fishiest and garbage that sat out all week in the summer sun.

  Tyler had spent that day in his shop trying not to drive himself crazy with the questions that bubbled up one after another in his mind. Or the vivid memory of that suck job. Damn, crazy or not, someone knew how to use his mouth.

  What the hell was Quinn?

  Why was a rich wannabe politician holding him as some kind of magical captive?

  It’s not like the snobby ass magic users endeared themselves to shifters anyway. Rory wasn’t like that, but the old school ones were.

  After he closed up his shop, Tyler caught the tram to the north side of Haven and came to Sullivan’s to ask the one person who might know who Montgomery really was. Well, that wasn’t true. Ken and Cage probably knew, but Tyler wasn’t going to go to them for help with something like this.

  And simply calling Rory was out of the question. Tyler needed to get some fresh air. Clear his head and not go back to the apartment that still smelled vaguely like Quinn.

  Rory was in the middle of wiping down the bar. The rest of Sullivan’s was nearly deserted since there wasn’t much of a crowd on a Tuesday night. A few of the regulars hung out at the pool table, fox shifters. Tyler ignored them and stared at his friend.

  “Who?” Rory asked and raised his red brows. He was a fire mage, and his dark red hair was brushed back from his forehead. His eyes were amber bright.

  Tyler’s fingers dug into the bar. “Bradley Montgomery. He’s a rich ass magic user. Maybe from one of the old families.”

  Rory wrinkled his brow and shrugged. “Why the hell would I know?”

  “Because you used to fuck a Hayward. What was he?” Tyler asked.

  “Enchanter,” Rory said through gritted teeth. “Are you getting back at me for the other night? I really had to work. I wasn’t at home with my boyfriend.”

  Tyler snorted and leaned his forehead against the bar.

  What the fuck was he doing? Why did it matter what kind of magic user was holding Quinn captive? If that’s what was happening, which it really seemed like, unless Quinn was actually crazy.

  Well, he seemed a little off, but not certifiable or anything.

  Still, this wasn’t the kind of cause Tyler usually took up. Hell, he never took up any cause unless it was getting fucked up and stealing some shit just because – but this was different.

  “Someone needs a drink. Wait, are you allowed to drink?” Ruby asked and Tyler tilted his head to look at her.

  Rory and Ruby were twins. While Rory was a good-looking guy, Ruby was a fucking babe, the kind of girl Tyler never stood a damn chance with. Especially since she was married to a cat shifter now.

  “Yeah, I can still drink.”

  She threw Rory a questioning glance, and they did this annoying twin thing where they pretended to read each other’s minds.

  Tyler knew that it wasn’t really the case, but it felt like it sometimes.

  Like now.

  “Know anything about the Montgomery family?” Rory asked and slid a beer into Tyler’s face. It tapped his nose gently, and the condensation dripped down the side of the glass.

  Ruby pulled her red curls into a messy bun. “Ask Seth. If they’re an old family, he’ll know.”

  Tyler sat up, took a long glug and shook his head. “No cops – wait – can he do something about kidnapping?”

  Rory and Ruby shared another glance.

  “What the hell is going on?” Ruby asked and put her hands on her hips. She might’ve been married now, but she still wore the same low cut tops she always had. She said it helped with tips, and Tyler believed her.

  He tongued his lip ring and glowered into his beer. It sounded insane.

  Fuck!

  It was insane.

  Tyler took a deep breath and explained. Well, he left out the kiss and the blowjob because that didn’t matter. He also didn’t mention their bargain. Quinn was just . . . he didn’t know what Quinn was, but it was nobody else’s business that they’d messed around and made a deal for Quinn’s freedom.

  He did mention those assholes who beat up Quinn though, and what he’d done to teach them a lesson.

  “You didn’t kill them, did you?” Rory hissed and leaned over the bar. His black T-shirt was snug and he rolled up the sleeves to show off his tats, many of which Tyler did himself. He stared at the ink for a long moment before answering.

  “They were alive when I left them. I hit them each once, and they deserved it. They were going to kill the guy because he’s gay,” Tyler snarled and felt the familiar rage curl in his gut. He downed the rest of the beer to drown the sensation.

  Rory nodded, and he patted Tyler’s shoulder. “Thanks, man. Look, this sounds fucking serious. I think you should talk to Seth – he’s a detective, and his partner’s a wolf. They can probably help you.”

  Tyler flicked his tongue over his lip ring. “What about Jin Yue. Can he help?”

  Rory’s cheeks flushed, and that damn shit-eating grin slipped over his mouth even if it looked like he tried to fight it. “Jin – what do you think Jin could do?”

  Tyler rolled his eyes and slumped into a barstool. “I’m not a dumbass. He’s a goddamn dragon, and he runs Chinatown. I live there. I know! Shit, Davis works for him, and you’re his mate. I think he has enough power to take on whatever the fuck Bradley Montgomery is.”

  “I’ll ask him about it, but you should at least talk to Seth first. He probably knows more than you think,” Rory said.

  After a long moment, Tyler gritted his teeth and nodded. “But don’t tell him what I did to those assholes.”

  Rory grinned.

  Considering Tyler’s checkered past in and out of rehab and his colorful arrest record, sitting down on a Tuesday night with two detectives wasn’t his idea of a good time. He paced near the jukebox and took several long gulps of his second beer before they came in.

  It didn’t take long, maybe ten minutes, for them to arrive.

  Rory said they lived nearby, and Tyler looked up as soon as he smelled the familiar scent of another wolf.

  Another alpha.

  This one was taller than Tyler and bulkier with broad shoulders and a flannel slung over his gray T-shirt. That’s just what he needed.

  The guy with the wolf gave off the hint of magic, but Tyler had no idea what that magic was bey
ond the scent of burning leaves and autumn air. All he knew was that Seth had pale blond hair that was tied into a ponytail, and his eyes were a vivid violet. He was as good-looking as Quinn, but a little too pretty. Too perfect. Almost like an elf.

  There was an edge to Quinn’s looks that made them intriguing.

  The wolf pointed at Tyler and the two detectives weaved through the room. It was now more crowded than it had been an hour earlier. A mixture of shifters and magic users curled into the booths or leaned against the bar.

  Tyler picked the darkest corner and leaned there, lips pursed and arms crossed.

  Seth smiled warmly, and the wolf (Rory said his name was Sharp), eyed Tyler with a vague grimace. “Rory said you had some information about a kidnapping.”

  This was so stupid! Tyler never should’ve come here. He could’ve stayed at home and forgotten all about Quinn. Continued his life like normal because it was so fucking great the way it was – ha! Well, he was surviving. Each day was a new victory, that’s what they said in NA.

  Instead of coming here, he could’ve gone down the street to that Korean place and had a big bowl of bibimbap for dinner and. . . and. . . .

  That wasn’t going to happen and he knew it.

  He’d made a promise—a bargain—and he couldn’t back out of it now.

  He took a deep breath. “Yeah. Sort of. What kind of magic user is Bradley Montgomery?”

  Seth blinked, and his smile faltered. “Light mages.”

  The jukebox changed from progressive rock to some modern pop song that was just catchy enough not to drive Tyler crazy. “Are they part of the old families?”

  “Yeah, do you think they’ve been kidnapped or—” Seth started.

  Tyler cut him off. “They kidnapped someone, and they’re holding him captive with a magic necklace or something.”

  Even with the music pounding and the clack of the cues and balls on the pool table, Tyler felt like he’d just shouted it. As if the whole bar stopped and looked at him because he was the crazy one now, not Quinn.

  The only ones looking at him were the two detectives, and the rest of the bar remained blissfully unawares of their conversation.

  Sharp put a possessive hand over Seth’s shoulder and squeezed. “Who did they kidnap?” he asked carefully.

  “Quinn Winters. I met him Friday night, and Bradley Montgomery and some doctor came to my apartment to fetch him in the morning, but he never told them where he was. And he didn’t want to go with them. He was scared and asked me to save him,” Tyler muttered and pinched his lips shut.

  He’d never spilled that much to the cops before, and it felt like he was back in high school shoplifting for the first time. They’d never believed he only stole that meat because his mom needed it, and she was too sick to work or shop. He swallowed the lump in his throat and straightened his shoulders.

  The detectives looked at each other the same way Rory and Ruby did, and Tyler nearly stalked out of the bar right then.

  He knew this was pointless. Telling people the truth when it sounded like some fairytale bullshit. He may as well have slammed his head into a wall for all the good it’d do.

  “And how did you meet?” Sharp asked.

  Tyler gave them an abbreviated version that left out The Pit and simplified the fight with those dumb assholes to ‘scaring them away’ from Quinn instead of ‘beating their asses and vandalizing their car.’

  Seth’s eyes lit up after Tyler finished. “Wait. I remember a Quinn, but I never knew his last name. The Montgomery family took him in as a child. He was a few years younger. They said he was sick and kept him at the house. But Brad Montgomery was a complete asshole. My sister dated him while she was in college.”

  That didn’t do Tyler any good, besides letting him know that if Quinn was a captive, he’d been one for a long time. “Well, are you gonna do something about it? Arrest his ass or what?”

  Seth frowned. “We don’t police the shadow world. Without proof of a crime in the human world, we don’t have any way to act, legally.”

  Tyler shook his head and brushed past them. “Fucking figured.”

  His cheeks burned, and that fiery pit in his gut flared to life again. It was marginally better than the vast emptiness that stalked him at night when he tried to sleep, but he didn’t know what to do with it.

  That anger kept flaring up ever since Davis returned to Haven.

  And now this shit! He knew the cops wouldn’t be able to help before he even met them, and now it was confirmed.

  When he stepped outside, the cool air flooded his lungs and chilled his cheeks. His heart slammed, and the thought of Quinn stuck – captured – twisted his chest.

  No one, shifter or human, should have to live like that. He’d fulfill the bargain on his own.

  The street around him was silent, the only sound was the buzz of the street lamps and the far off bustle of cars down the road. Then Tyler heard Sharp charge after him, and he smelled the other alpha and the hackles rose on his neck in response.

  “Hey,” Sharp growled and grabbed his arm.

  Tyler tugged out of the grip and bared his fangs, regardless if Sharp was larger than him or not. “Don't.”

  Sharp didn’t take the warning. He grasped Tyler’s shoulder and tugged him close. “If we can’t find an angle in the human legal system, we’ll figure something else out and make this right. But I think you’re going to act no matter what I say. Just don’t kill anyone. Got it?”

  The breath clogged in Tyler’s lungs, and he stared at the crooked nose and twisted scars that ran the length of Sharp’s cheek. Sullivan’s small neon sign cast light over half his face. After a long moment, he released Tyler.

  Tyler hadn’t expected that. He figured Sharp (who was obviously older) was going to lecture him like Ken would. Or treat him like Davis did – a little kid incapable of doing shit. Instead, he got one rule. No killing.

  Easy enough.

  “Fine,” Tyler said and kept any other illegal activities he had in mind to himself. No matter how understanding, Sharp was still a cop.

  He watched Sharp nod once and head back inside before Tyler turned to trudge back home.

  Looks like he was going to group therapy, after all.

  Tyler planned to open Got Ink? late on Wednesday morning, but the creak of his door made him sit upright in bed.

  “Hope there’s nobody naked in the living room,” Davis called.

  Tyler frowned and threw off the covers. He was naked, because why the hell would he sleep with clothes on if he didn’t have to? But he yanked on boxers before Davis tried the bedroom door. Sure, he probably wouldn’t barge in without knocking first (like Ken had once or twice – he’d learned his lesson soon enough), but Tyler didn’t want to deal with that either.

  He threw the door open and scowled at his older brother.

  Davis smiled sheepishly, like he was silently begging for an apology he hadn’t earned. Tyler didn’t know if he’d ever earn it. “I brought bacon, and I came to take you to NA.”

  Fuck! His morning NA meeting, just like church for a bunch of former junkies. All the shit with Quinn made him forget about it.

  “Where’s Cage?” Tyler asked and ran his hand through his hair.

  People said they looked alike, but Tyler thought Davis’s eyes were rounder. Kinder. His own were a little too suspicious most of the time, and he frowned more than he smiled. Davis was the complete opposite. He smiled like a dumbass even when he shouldn’t.

  Like now.

  “Grading midterms. I offered to come,” Davis said and moved into the kitchen. He might be useless with most things that didn’t involve cheating at cards, but he could fix breakfast. Of course, Tyler wouldn’t say that to his brother’s face.

  Ever.

  Tyler started a fresh pot of coffee. He hadn’t done that when Quinn was there. Shit. He needed to stop thinking about Quinn.

  Davis turned on the fire and plopped a skillet on the stove – that ancient one their mo
m used to cook for them in. It was older than Tyler, but sturdy enough to have lasted that long.

  Tyler grunted and stalked toward the bathroom. “Don’t eat it all before I’m done.”

  “Don’t take forever,” Davis said, his voice tinged with humor and regret.

  He always sounded like that, and it scraped on Tyler’s last nerve like picking at an old scab just to make it bleed again.

  The hot water cleared his head, but as he reached for the soap he caught the diminishing hint of Quinn’s scent on the bar. It jumped out of his hands as he squeezed.

  A shock of desire surged to his groin, and the memory of Quinn’s lips flooded his brain. Quinn took a shower right there. Stood naked and wet and Tyler had been in the kitchen eating meatballs and wondering what the hell was going on.

  Now, it was even worse because his cock didn’t want to agree with his brain. For one, he didn’t have time for a leisurely jerk-off session. For another, he never jerked off while thinking about another man.

  Well, not until Tyler wrapped his fist around his cock and squeezed his eyes shut. The only thought that entered his mind was the sensation of Quinn’s gentle lips on his, and the strength of his biceps when Tyler grabbed them. They tensed under his grip, and that was way hotter than it had any right to be.

  Then, when Tyler kissed Quinn back, his mouth turned hard and passionate, and Tyler couldn’t help but imagine those lips on his cock right now. The way Quinn’s hands glided over his hips while they danced for that brief moment, and how those same hands, with the long tapered fingers and the smooth skin felt on Tyler’s flesh as they pumped his cock.

  He bit back a groan as he reached his peak, and panted as he watched the water and come circle the drain.

  Dammit.

  His heart slammed in his chest, and he willed it to beat like normal.

  What the fuck was wrong with him?

  Dumb question.

  Tyler knew what was wrong with him: Quinn.

  When Tyler emerged, he found Davis leaning against the kitchen counter devouring a plate of eggs and bacon with toast piled on the side. They ate in silence, and Tyler tapped his foot, his body begging for a cigarette. He’d wait until after he ate. Smoking on the balcony with a cup of coffee was one of the few pleasures he could still indulge in without pissing everyone off.