The Tiger’s Curvy Mate: Shifter Romance

4. Quentin

4

Quentin

I had no idea why I’d come to this dive of a bar again. Their wine selection was appalling. I enjoyed a woody bourbon every once in a while, but preferred to save them for special occasions. She hadn’t been here the night before, and yet I came again. Trying to catch a glimpse of the woman who thought she could trick me with the cheap wine and her sassy mouth. Someone should wash it out with soap. Or …

I cleared my throat, hating my body’s reaction to the thought of her. She was what I liked in my women, curvy with soft features, but I wasn’t interested in a fling with her. And all I did was flings. Didn’t matter. I hadn’t come here for her.

I headed to Dominic’s usual booth and waited. Mazy approached to take my order. Something bothered my animal, and he wouldn’t leave me be until I got to the bottom of it. His anxiety started to make me twitchy, and I would do anything to ease him at this point. His tail flicked as the thought passed through our head. He and I always had been on such great terms until her.

What made her different?

“Usual?” Mazy seemed distracted tonight. She had always made small talk and always asked about Lucas, less than subtle about her interest in him. I didn’t care about their relationship. They could do as they pleased.

Mazy was a beautiful, exotic shifter with dull red hair. Her eyes, in the dim bar lighting, looked almost red, too. She was tall, agile, and a dangerous shifter in her own right and always came to work impeccably dressed. Never a strand of hair out of place. It was one of the reasons I could tolerate her presence. People who took little care in their appearance bothered me. Sort of like Winnie with her soft, frizzy curls.

Tonight, Mazy wore her hair in a hasty ponytail, small strands sticking up everywhere. Her wrinkled skirt hung askew, her sketchy makeup doing little to cover the dark circles under her eyes.

I had to ask. “What’s going on with you?”

I didn’t take a personal interest in others. Another rule of mine. It kept things easier, neater. If I hadn’t taken a personal interest in Dominic all those years ago, I wouldn’t be here.

Dominic and I had met when our jobs crossed paths. It was rare for mercenaries to team up, but we had. After some time, Lucas joined our team. We had stopped doing group missions a year or two back. Each for our own reasons, but it had been time for us to split anyway. Dominic had always been a little too full of himself, and I feared he would have gotten us killed.

She blew out a breath. “Jimmy flew the coop, Winter decided to stop coming to work, and now I have to wait on her tables, watch mine, and try to teach the backup bartender how to make rum and Coke. Rum and f*****g Coke.”

“Winter?” Her given name, finally. I didn’t know the woman, but she didn’t seem like the type to me that would walk out on her job. Her disappearance baffled me, but so did my interest in her whereabouts.

“Yes, Winnie. She was always here before her shift started, staying after. I can’t believe she would do this to me. Maybe her crazy ex swept through town. All I know is I told her to call me if she ever had trouble. And she hasn’t, so I assume she is all good. And I’m left with the mess.” Mazy walked away without taking my order. I could have called her back, but I became distracted.

My animal pressed up against me, his fur prickling my skin. I wouldn’t shift publically even if this was a shifter bar. Humans still got in, and I had control over my animal. He had reacted to the words “her ex.” I had reacted, too. Winter might talk smart, but she never once crossed the line that I saw. She was respectful even to the man who grabbed her ass. My animal growled in response to the thought.

He was already peeved with the idea of our mate. Wait. What? She wasn’t my mate. I would have known by her scent. Though I could barely catch a whiff of it through all the competing smells in the bar. And my vision was better than the sense of smell.

Mazy came back and took my dinner order. I couldn’t even enjoy my steak, though, because my animal wouldn’t stop pacing. I tried to keep my constant growl low enough others wouldn’t notice it, but I started to slip on my control. When others began to give my table a wide berth, I suspected they noted my eyes glowing with the shift. My muscles tensed and my blood filled with adrenaline. I wanted to get up and move. I needed to get up and move. Getting up from the booth, I scanned the bar. Mazy had gone missing, so I headed for the door marked Employees Only.

I didn’t have to go far before I reached the manager’s door. Mazy’s voice carried to my ears.

“Derek, I’m worried. She just disappeared. She didn’t even finish taking the trash out.”

“People are entitled to disappear, Mazy.” The male, Derek, sounded exhausted like he’d had this conversation with Mazy a couple of times.

“You’re not listening to me though! She was scared of her ex.”

“How do you know?”

“I got her a little drunk one night. She told me about him … he sounds dangerous. What if he came for her?”

I’d had enough of this. So had my beast.

I wrapped my hand around the doorknob. The metal whined in my grip.

“All right, fine,” Derek said. “Tonight, after closing, we will go to the address she gave me. If she isn’t there, then you have to drop this, Mazy. I don’t see caring this much about what happened to Jimmy.”

“That’s different and you know it,” Mazy argued. My beast was proud of her for sticking up for Winter and fighting to protect her. I eased my hand from the doorknob. Unsure they would allow me to join their little mission, I would follow them at close range. I had to change though. I was not going to get blood on my new Brioni Vanquish suit.

I made a quick stop at home and changed into my black Pierre Balmain jeans and a black V-neck shirt then returned to wait outside Lucky’s. Dominic and Lucas liked to joke about my style sense, but they dressed like rednecks. I choose to look good. My parents had raised me to be the best I could be, and I would do them proud.

After all, I had an image to uphold. I was a rare breed, a pristine breed.

Mazy emerged from the building, bundled up in her jacket. I wondered how much Dominic knew about what was happening at his club. Probably not much; he was busy with his mate. They still hadn’t finished their last minute details. Lucas had disappeared as well, claiming he would be back in time for the wedding. Well, he’d better be, because I believed he was the best man. It didn’t bother me because those two were close. They understood one another in a way I could never understand.

Derek stepped outside and he and Mazy started down the block. Neither one got into a car. Winter must live in this neighborhood. How unsettling. The area surrounding Lucky’s was a wreck, the buildings were old and falling apart, the streets filled with grime and trash.

The area smelled rank. Police sirens sounded about every five minutes at night. The walk didn’t take long, but had she walked to work? Alone? At night, on these streets?

This wasn’t a proper place for a woman like her to be living. If she still lived here. Unless she took off with her bastard of an ex-boyfriend. A growl rumbled from my chest. What in the world was with my beast?

Derek approached an apartment building and paused by the tenant list. He buzzed, but there was no answer. I listened closer and heard him buzz a different number and give them some fake story about losing his key. The other tenant believed him and the door clicked open.

Winter lived with complete imbeciles. Mazy and Derek entered the building. Quietly, I made my way across the street and managed to grab the door before it shut. I might have cheated a little and used my shifter strength to propel my legs a little faster than I should have. Something about Winter had caught my animal’s attention, and he would not be ignored.

Derek and Mazy were out of sight before I made it inside. I realized why. The building had been built like a maze. The hallways were identical, but separated by fire doors that could confuse humans. I had the scents of the two shifters I had been following all night to lead me. When I found them standing by a door on the second floor, I waited out of sight.

I was just confirming Winter’s safety. I didn’t care about anything else. This wasn’t a job. I sought peace of mind for my beast. He apparently cared for this Winter.

Mazy knocked on the door and called Winter’s name. No answer. I listened closer. I could hear her in there, and both Derek and Mazy could as well. I heard no others with her. I turned and headed out of the building, satisfied.

Inside, my solitary, strong beast cried out for me to go back to her. I didn’t trust myself around the woman. She was safe and decided to blow off work. I would go back to my penthouse and forget about the woman. She meant nothing to me.

Certainly, she was not my mate.