When He's An Alpha (The Olympus Pride #2) - Suzanne Wright Page 0,26

herself killed yet? Now that surprises me.”

“I’ll let her know you miss her.”

“Yeah, you do that.”

Still seething, Tate stalked through the antique store and jogged up the stairs to the apartment above it. He, his parents, and siblings had all lived there at one time. It was now only occupied by Vinnie and Tate’s youngest brother, Damian.

Vinnie’s mother, Ingrid, managed the store. She willfully ignored that her son smuggled money through many of the antiques—something he often did for anti-shifter extremists, who had no clue that Vinnie was a shifter. He then passed on that info to members of the Movement.

As Tate strode into the living room, Vinnie looked up from where he was sitting on the sectional sofa reading something on his phone. The older man frowned. “What dumb fucker put that look on your face?”

“A sick son of a bitch who thinks it’s acceptable to have loners drugged, kidnapped, and then put up for auction,” replied Tate.

Vinnie blinked. “Say that again.”

Instead, Tate explained, “A cougar tried to drug and kidnap Havana last night.” Too restless to sit, he stood in front of the fireplace as he brought his father up to speed. Sitting in the armchair, Luke occasionally tossed in pieces of information.

Puffing out a breath, Vinnie rested his phone on the coffee table. “Jesus.”

“Fucked up, isn’t it? I’ll reach out to our contacts. I’m not optimistic that they’ll know where Gideon is, or if they’ll have any info about the auctions—they’d surely have otherwise put a stop to them.”

Vinnie nodded. “You should give Maddie a call and warn her that the people at the homeless shelter could be in danger, just in case Havana hasn’t yet done so. How long did it take to get the cougar to confess it all?”

“Not long. He was pretty cooperative.”

“How many bones did you need to break before he became so cooperative?”

“None. He was chatty because he wasn’t eager to go through another fifteen hours of horror, apparently.”

Vinnie’s head jerked back. “Who tortured him for fifteen hours?”

“Bailey’s mamba bit him,” said Luke. “And then they all left him to suffer overnight. Havana waltzed into that basement earlier as polite and pleasant as a kindergarten teacher. She didn’t push him to talk. Just gave him the option of answering her questions honestly or being bitten again.”

As Tate had watched her interrogate Rupert, he’d gotten the feeling that it wasn’t her first rodeo. She’d been too steady and confident, too sure of her technique. And she hadn’t had a single measly issue with letting the bastard die hard, as if it wasn’t the first time that she’d had to make such a decision.

“Where’s the cougar now?” asked Vinnie.

“Still in the basement, dying a slow and painful death after Bailey’s mamba bit him three more times. Havana’s orders,” said Tate.

Humor lit Vinnie’s eyes. “Devils are seriously unforgiving, aren’t they?” He studied Tate closely. “I take it you’ll be working with her on this.”

“Of course. She’s my tenant and under my direct protection. Plus, I have an entire building of loners who could be future targets if I don’t get this operation shut down. But I would have involved myself in any case, because this shit’s just plain wrong.”

“Oh, I’m sure it has nothing to do with the none too small fact that you like her a lot more than you’re comfortable with,” Luke mocked.

Tate only narrowed his eyes.

“I suspected your fling with her was over,” Luke added. “But I was hoping I was wrong.”

“Were you now?”

“I like her. I like her for you. If you want my opinion—”

“I don’t; never do.”

“—you should have given a relationship with Havana a chance. Or would your cat have objected? Because if so, you were right to let her go. But if he’d have been interested in exploring something with her, you were dumb not to at least be open to the idea. And if you want to know what I think—”

“I don’t; never do.”

“—she’d have been willing to try a relationship with you. It really is a shame that we’ll never know if it would have worked out between the two of you. You’re thinking this is none of my business, and you’re right. I’ll say no more on the subject. But I’m always gonna think you were a fool to let her go.”

“And I’m always gonna wonder where you got the insane idea that I give a rat’s ass what you think about anything.”

Luke snickered. “Be an asshole all you want—I know you love me. You