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

  Way worse.

  The tiger shook his head, and a bright flash of pain shot through Davis’s skull.

  Then darkness consumed him.

  “You almost broke his skull. You’ll be lucky if he doesn’t have a concussion,” a man’s voice said from far away. He sounded more put out than worried. Whoever he was talking to didn’t respond.

  Someone touched Davis’s head at that point, and he groaned and tried to move. Orient himself as he blinked his eyes. The room smelled like blood and herbs. Part of that combination calmed him. The other part didn’t.

  “He’s awake,” the man, probably a healer, said.

  “Good. Then Jin can talk to him soon enough,” the tiger said.

  A door slammed shut, and Davis twisted his wrists. They were chained above his head, which was kinky and all kinds of uncomfortable, considering. The light in the ceiling was too bright, so he squeezed his eyes shut and took a deep breath.

  “Can’t dim those,” the healer said. “Open up and tell me what day it is.”

  Davis’s head throbbed, and he swallowed the bile in his throat. “Friday. November thirtieth.”

  “Good. How many fingers am I holding up?”

  Davis had to open his eyes for that. It took three tries for them not to water under the bright glare.

  A man’s face hovered there with a blinding light. His fingers snagged Davis’s eyelids and forced them open while he shined the damn light right into Davis’s eyes. It felt like the tip of an ice pick being driven into his skull. In short, not fun.

  The healer did the same thing to Davis’s other eye, then let him go. “No concussion. But you should wake up. Jin will want to see you soon. Whatever wits you have, you’ll want them sharp.”

  Davis wriggled his wrists and tried to sit up, but the chains were too short. He stared at the healer instead. “Don’t suppose I can bribe you to let me go?”

  The man looked at him with wide green eyes. Brown hair fell across his brow carelessly. It didn’t look like he’d shaved in a week. “Oh, you’re serious, aren’t you? Ha! Look, I might be under the Dragon’s thumb, but no way in hell would I betray him. I’m not that stupid.”

  Not as stupid as you. Well, the healer didn’t say that. He didn’t have to. The words were implied by the look in his eyes.

  “Can I get some water?” Davis asked and licked his lips. Had they dragged his face through the dirt or did it just feel that way?

  “Hell no. If I do that, you might piss when he cuts off your fingers, and I get stuck cleaning that up.”

  Yeah, that didn’t sound fun, but Davis’s brain didn’t want to function properly and form a solid escape plan. From what he knew of Jin Yue (and that wasn’t much, more like a name whispered in shadows and laced with fear), the Dragon didn’t fuck around.

  “This is a bit much for a game of mahjong,” Davis grumbled and yanked at his binds again. Thankfully, they weren’t silver, but they were too strong for him to break as well.

  The healer put up his hands, as if to say he wasn’t going to get further involved, and leaned against the wall.

  It didn’t take nearly as long as it should’ve for the tiger to return. He brought several other shifters with him, all dragons, and they undid Davis’s cuffs and forced him to stand.

  His head swam, but he blinked it away quickly enough. Like the healer said, no broken bones and no concussion. In short, he’d had worse.

  “Fei, remind Jin this cancels my latest debt,” the healer said.

  The tiger flashed him a tight smile. “I’m sure he won’t argue with that. He can be reasonable, if needed.” Then Fei, looked at Davis. “You’re lucky. Your mate came to save you.”

  “What?” Davis said and bit his lip right before he blurted out that he didn’t have a mate.

  Okay, who the hell would come looking for him and claim to be his mate?

  Oh no.

  Oh fuck no!

  It had to be some sort of mistake. No way Ken would do something that reckless for him. Not uptight, perfect condo, please don’t break my washing machine or scuff my couch, Ken!

  If Davis’s heart lodged in his throat before, it was about to leap out of his mouth now. He swallowed it and walked with them. No other choice. One alpha versus three dragons and a tiger? No match, unfortunately.

  The hallway they dragged him down looked just like the other one, but this time they ushered him into an elevator. It moved up.

  “What did my mate say?” Davis ground out between gritted teeth.

  Fei looked him up and down. “He asked where you were. Honestly, I was surprised. It’s amazing someone like him would slum it for a deadbeat gambler.”

  Davis’s stomach clenched. Ken. That had to be Ken. “It’s my charm. He can’t get enough of it.”

  “I’m sure you have fun dragging him down with you, but how much does he like it?” Fei asked, like he was some high and mighty moral authority.

  “Are you lecturing me? You’re a mobster. How can you lecture me?”

  The dragons grumbled, but none of them seemed predisposed to do anything.

  Fei straightened himself, and he almost stood as tall as Davis, though his build was slender. More like Ken, really. “I’m not lecturing you for what you did, but I am lecturing you for getting caught. Before you stole money from the Triad, you should’ve learned who that money really belonged to.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Davis said, although that was a damn lie. But playing dumb was the only defense he had right now.

  Shit. Shit. Shit!

  That damn money really belonged to Jin Yue, who was obviously very much alive and now he had Ken? This is not what Davis expected when he came back to Haven. Not at all.

  Then the elevator door slid open and a cold wind slapped him in the face. Rain spattered with it, and the dark rooftop stood before them, empty and foreboding. Even the bright lights of Chinatown that sparkled below didn’t calm his nerves.

  The two dragons on either side yanked him out and shuffled over the gravel to the edge. If they threw him, he might be able to shift and make it to the lower roof. He’d break a few bones, but he’d still be alive. Well, at least he had a plan. Only, Ken was there which meant he needed a way for them both to escape.

  Dammit!

  The toes of his boots hung over, and a few pieces of gravel slipped off and disappeared into the darkness below.

  There were several moments in Davis’s life that he thought were the absolute lowest he’d ever gotten. However, none of them compared to this.

  Behind them, the elevator door dinged open, and he heard the telltale gasp of breath. He’d recognize that sound anywhere, and he hung his head. Of all the people to see him like this, Ken was the worst.

  Fuck!

  “Davis!” Ken cried. His footsteps pounded closer and skidded on the gravel. Davis flinched when he thought of Ken going over the edge. Ken’s body breaking in the alley below, and Davis not able to do anything to stop it.

  No! That wasn’t going to happen.

  “Don’t get too close. We don’t want him to fall,” the smooth deep rumble grated over Davis’s skin. That must be Jin Yue.

  “Get him away from the edge, or I’m not going to discuss anything with you!”

  Ken. Oh, Ken. What the hell was he doing arguing with the leader of the Dragons?

  Davis bit his lip.

  To his surprise, Jin didn’t order Ken tossed over the edge. Instead, he chuckled. “I like this one. He’s as feisty as your omega, Fei. Bring Mr. Harrison away from the edge.”

  The dragons pulled Davis back and twisted him around.

  He hung his head, because lifting it meant facing the thing he never knew he was afraid of until that exact moment: the look in Ken’s eyes. Shit. He was probably pissed. Furious. He’d kick Davis onto the street, which, let’s face it, Davis completely deserved, and go back to his great life in his fancy condo with that fuck-head he was dating.

  “You idiot!” Ken gr
owled and hit Davis in the chest.

  Davis flinched, lifted his head and prepared for the worst.

  Ken’s bluish eyes burned but not with hatred or fury. They were pinched with worry and hurt, just like before, and fuck! That might’ve been worse.

  “Nice to see you too, sweetie,” Davis said and smiled half-heartedly.

  What in the hell possessed Ken to claim they were mates? An ill-fated attempt to save Davis’s ass? He’d play it up if he could. There was a chance, as dim as the farthest stars, that it might work.

  Davis didn’t think Ken could get much paler, but his cheeks drained of color. His black hair whipped in the wind, catching against his sharp cheekbones, and a jolt shot through Davis. Damn. He wished his hands were free so he could brush it away.

  Strange thought to have at a moment like that.

  “What did you expect me to do?” Ken hissed, and Davis understood what he meant, even if none of the other shifters on the rooftop did.

  Davis shook his head. “I didn’t expect you to show up here. You should’ve stayed at home. Safe. I can deal with this.”

  Ken laughed. Not a humorous laugh. It was manic and biting and drifted on the wind like a murder of crows. “Stay at home? When you’re fucking around with—with—Dragons and mobsters and. . . Fuck! And you suck at dealing with it, by the way. Not sure if you noticed, honey, but you’re in deep shit!”

  His chest did this weird electric jolt when Ken called him honey, but Davis shoved that sensation to the back of his mind with all the other thoughts that involved him thinking of Ken as anything other than a friend. He gritted his teeth. “Yeah. I get that. But you being here makes this a hundred times worse. How can I protect you now?”

  Ken swept the hair from his face. Narrowed his eyes. They reflected the light. “How did you protect me before?”

  “Enough!” Jin roared and stepped toward them. “While your lover’s spat is illuminating, I have other things to do. Fei, do you have the information?”

  Davis tore his eyes from Ken and looked at the tiger.

  Fei held a cell phone in his palm. “Yes. He’s on the line now.”

  Jin took the phone from Fei, but Davis couldn’t make out the voice on the other end. The wind snatched it away. Rain dripped down his face, and he noticed a shiver travel up Ken’s back. His shoulders bunched like he was trying to control it and failing.

  “Interesting,” Jin said and handed the phone back to Fei. The tiger whispered something to the person on the other end before he hung up.

  “Well?” Davis said and stood up straight. “Let’s get this over with.”

  Jin’s golden eyes burned. “In time. First, how about I tell you both a story. It’s about two wolves who grew up together. An alpha and an omega. Sweet, really, until the alpha steals a hundred grand from me by cheating at the biggest poker tournament in Haven. Mao was furious. It just put her deeper in my debt.”

  A drop of rain slid down Davis’s nose. He looked at Ken, but Ken stared at Jin.

  “What happens at the end?” Davis growled.

  “I don’t want to skip the good part. You see the alpha has a younger brother named Tyler who owns a tattoo parlor in one of my neighborhoods. That business of his can fail or it can flourish, and that’s all up to you,” Jin said.

  Davis tried to move forward, but the shifters held him in place. “Leave Ty out of this. It’s between you and me.”

  “I don’t think so. When your mate showed up it became between the three of us. Let’s talk about this alpha’s mate. An omega who has an impressive career for someone his age. A decent income. A good home. Respectable in every way. Yet his mate is a lying cheat who owes money not only to me but also to Vinnie in Atlantic City. Oh, and I hear you’re not allowed back to Las Vegas. Is that casino related, mob related or both? I can find out with a phone call, but I don’t think you want me to do that.”

  Davis gritted his teeth. “Casino related, and that shit has nothing to do with you.”

  Jin took a step toward him. Even in the rain, he stood straight and tall. His face was draped in shadows, but his eyes glowed. Davis caught the hint of his fangs. “When you walk into my city and cheat at my casino, it has everything to do with me, Mr. Harrison.”

  “Don’t hurt him!” Ken cried and stepped in front of Jin. He shuddered profusely, from his shoulders to his toes.

  Davis wiggled in the dragon’s grip. He was the alpha, the one who should be protecting Ken, but their roles were completely reversed. Humiliating? Well, it felt more like a nice healthy serving of guilt being forced down his gullet.

  Jin smiled. “I don’t want to hurt him. Hurting him doesn’t get me anything but a momentary rush of satisfaction, and then it’s over. I’d much rather you were on my side because I can either put Mr. Harrison to work for me, turn him over to one of the organizations looking for him, or kill him myself. If you both don’t do as I ask, I will indulge in my baser instincts.”

  Davis stared, and his heart pounded. “Work for you how?”

  “I want my money back, and I want to put out a minor fire in my backyard. It’s a win-win situation for both of us,” Jin said and a drop of rain hung on the tip of his nose. He didn’t even try to brush it away.

  “If Davis does what you ask, you have to take the price off his head,” Ken said.

  Davis frowned openly at the back of Ken’s head. No matter what sort of looks he gave his best friend, the idiot wasn’t going to turn around and take a damn hint. Don’t fuck with Jin Yue!

  “You want to negotiate with me? Maybe you should’ve been a lawyer, Mr. Isben. I’ll think about it.”

  Ken shook his head.

  Davis spoke before Ken could piss Jin off further. In order to do so, he might have to piss Jin off himself. Not fun, but it was the alpha thing to do. “He’s right. I want the Jersey mob off my back if I do this. Tell them you took care of me or something. I don’t care. Now what do you want?”

  Jin glanced back and forth between them for a long moment before he spoke again.

  Rain whipped in Davis’s eyes, and he blinked it away. Swallowed the boulder that lodged in his throat. It didn’t go down.

  “There’s a group of Russians at the edge of the river that started setting up a new operation. Gambling, which is my forte, but that’s not really the problem. They’ve also got a hand in the drug trade. It’s my job to keep this city clean of shit like that. My cops aren’t any good without proof of the drugs, so that’s what I want. You can play in their games, win back my money and prove these Russians are drug runners. Do we have a deal?”

  Davis’s heart pounded like it was the only sound in the world.

  “That sounds dangerous!” Ken cried and his feet shuffled in the gravel.

  Jin shrugged. “He’s a gambler and a thief, but he might be able to clear his name. Those are my conditions. Take them or not. If not, you can leap off the roof and save my dragons the trouble of tossing you.”

  Then Jin turned back to the door, walking steadily as if the rain and wind weren’t thrashing around them.

  If Davis were alone, he’d have tried the plan he devised when the dragons led him to the edge. Jump. Shift. Hope he landed on the lower rooftop and run like hell.

  Only, he’d been running like hell for fifteen years and this is where it got him – back to the beginning. Plus, it wasn’t just his ass on the line any longer.

  They knew about Tyler.

  And Ken. . . . Ken!

  Oh, fuck!

  “Fine. I’ll do it. What game do the Russians play? Also, are they humans or not?”

  “They’re bears, and they play many different games. I hear seka is big with them, however. They’re having a tournament soon. Join it and win if you want the debt repaid,” Jin said over his shoulder, his voice rich with mirth.

  Shit. Anything that made the leader of the Dragons happy was probably the worst thing possible. But at least Davis knew how to play seka. It was sort of like blackjack without the limit on twent
y-one, and the Russians used a thirty-six card pack. Also, only one suit counted toward the total score, unless you had three cards with the same number. All in all, it was a tricky game.

  After Jin left, the remaining dragons escorted Davis and Ken outside the casino and back to Ken’s car, tucked into an alley at the edge of Chinatown. Davis didn’t ask how they figured out where Ken parked. Hell, he wasn’t sure he wanted to know. It was all some power play to prove how much information Jin had on them. How helpless they were against him.

  It worked.

  Davis needed to apologize and he knew it, but the words bunched on his tongue and stuck there. They practically choked him, or they would’ve if he tried to swallow them. Instead, his mind swam with the ultimatum.

  Bears. Drugs. Winning a seka tournament in order to repay Jin Yue.

  But if it saved Tyler and Ken, then it’d be worth it. He couldn’t think of himself at the moment. He’d done nothing but that for too long.

  Hard habit to break, really.

  Ken said nothing as he parked the car near his condo and trudged inside. His suit was soaked, and his hair dripped over his skin. He looked pale and ashen, with tight lines around his mouth and eyes. His face was etched into a frown from his brow to his slightly pointed chin.

  Davis shut the door behind him and let out a long, heavy sigh. He turned the lock, as if it even mattered! A dragon could pop in and rip both of their heads off in the middle of the night, though he doubted that.

  To Davis’s surprise, Ken didn’t move to the bathroom or the bedroom. He stood with his back to Davis, dripping all over his hardwood floors with his shoulders tense and trembling. As if all the energy Ken expended in the last few hours drained him. Left him hollow.

  Davis knew how that felt.

  “Ken?” he said carefully and wiped his boots on the welcome mat.

  Ken didn’t say anything. He didn’t turn or make a sound besides a sharp sob.

  Davis stepped around him, prepared for the worst. The moment when Ken kicked him out of his life forever, because what the hell else did he deserve after tonight? But Ken didn’t even look at him.

  The dim glow of the living room lamp illuminated his face, which turned toward the floor, and his shoulders shook with something more than the cold.