Tyler never imagined he’d be in this situation, his ass sore and wet with another man’s come. Or that he’d enjoy it so much that the frown on Quinn’s lips snagged in his chest and brought the whole moment of perfect elation to an abrupt end.
Shit. Quinn was moodier than Ken, and that was saying something.
He rinsed off his ass and thighs in the weird pool (that didn’t feel quite like water) and slumped back on the rock as the last rays of sunlight faded to darkness.
The moon rose quickly, and Quinn wasn’t harmed, well, as long as you didn’t count that fucking chain around his neck.
When Tyler wandered upon the stream and found Quinn chained like that, a stone lodged in his throat. It was worse than seeing the bag of heroin on the floor—not that the temptation was easy to deal with.
It crawled up his flesh and bore into his bones, a sick desire that sucked all the moisture from his mouth. But it wasn’t a healthy desire, not the kind he felt for Quinn. The kind that actually made him better instead of worse. The kind that made Tyler feel like he was worth something for the first time in his life.
After several deep breaths, he got over it. Then he called Rory and left a message about Bradley dealing heroin with a plea to tell the detectives everything that was going on.
Finally, Tyler made his way to Lake Orlando.
By the way Quinn acted, Tyler figured this happened every full moon. He was chained to a rock and left in the woods to deal with the elements all alone. No way Tyler would let that happen ever again.
Well, if he survived.
As long as Davis got through the barrier, everything should work out.
Tyler touched Quinn’s smooth cheek and kissed his lips, perhaps for the last time. “Bradley thinks he can do whatever the fuck he wants to me and you, and that he can get away with it. But, I’m not gonna let him win. We’re not gonna let him. I have a plan. Just trust me, okay. No matter what.”
Whatever happened, Quinn would get his freedom.
No cost was too great.
The moon rose, and Tyler felt the urge to change before he even spotted the pale silver light in the darkening sky.
“I do trust you, just remember not to look,” Quinn said sulkily. “It’d be safer if you left.”
“I said I’m not leaving you,” Tyler growled right before his body bent and twisted into his wolf form.
He sat on his haunches and watched Quinn transform.
The pale hair grew into a mane that was the same color as the moon, each strand like spun silk. His coat was just as pale and perfectly smooth. He sat with his legs folded under him elegantly, not awkwardly like a horse or a goat. Those glass green eyes with sparks of gold at the center lit up with their own internal glow, but the most astounding thing of all was the spiral horn in the middle of his forehead. It looked like twisted mother of pearl, opalescent, and the tip was a deadly sharp point that gleamed in the first shafts of moonlight.
Quinn’s tail flopped from side to side like a cat about to bite. Stop staring. You’re embarrassing yourself.
The voice raked inside Tyler’s head, and he looked around more out of surprise than anything else. No one else was in the forest just yet. The only sounds beside their beating hearts was the distant rustle of raccoons and the hoot of an owl in the trees that towered above their heads.
Great. Quinn could talk in that form too. Well, if he didn’t want Tyler to look at him, he wouldn’t. Tyler turned in a circle and settled on a bed of moss and dead leaves to wait for Davis’s arrival.
The barrier seemed to mess up his senses.
For one, he didn’t even know he’d found it until he turned and walked away from a certain area for no reason. He did that three times before he realized what he’d done. It was the stupid misdirection spell that kept turning him around. In the end, he figured it was his own stubbornness that allowed him to slip past the spell and get inside.
The weak point was heading into the barrier straight on—if he slipped in at an angle it actually worked. Although figuring that out took hours (after a night of no sleep and the temptation Bradley forced him to face), then he had to deal with Quinn trying to chase him off.
Well, he got a few good things out of the day. All in all, it was worth the trouble.
Quinn was worth the trouble.
If Quinn’s nature was to get people to look into his magic mirror, then he was already going against it by asking Tyler to leave. Hopefully, the rest of his plan worked.
If not, Tyler wouldn’t be around to live with the consequences.
He would’ve howled at the moon if he thought it would help, but she only talked to Quinn, apparently, so he didn’t bother. His nerves burned and his body buzzed. Weariness soaked into his bones, but he wasn’t about to give up.
Not until it was actually too late.
A rustle sounded in the forest.
Voices rumbled in the distance.
Feet pounded across the path in no effort to be quiet.
The distinct musk of a familiar alpha filled the air, along with the reek of rotting flesh and magic rolling together as one.
Tyler laid his ears flat to his head, and his hackles rose.
He stood and was met with the sharp tip of Quinn’s horn.
Tyler lifted his lips into a growl.
Quinn let out a breath and the silvery whiskers on his cheeks rustled. His eyes narrowed into green-gold slits and the point of his horn glinted in a ray of moonlight.
I released you from our bargain. It’s over. I trust you, but I’m not going to let you die for me. Get out of here and never come back. Go! Please!
Something shattered inside of him—like a piece of glass breaking into a hundred miniscule pieces—only it was his insides and some power he hadn’t even felt until it was gone.
Quinn really broke their bargain, just like that. Why it worked now, he didn’t know. Maybe it had something to do with the binds that held the unicorn and the power of the full moon.
No time to think about it.
Tyler growled and turned away. He leapt over the rocks and fallen logs that clogged the forest around them. His paws felt like they hardly touched the ground as he moved, slipping past ferns and moss covered trees.
He skidded to a stop when the reek of Bradley overwhelmed him.
When they rounded the corner—Tyler’s blood froze.
If this didn’t work, he’d have to break the spell the only way he knew how—looking into that damn mirror himself.
If Bradley was right, and that sick memory that flooded his veins when he saw that asshole’s present was anything to go by—he was fucked.
But—no! He didn’t want that as badly as he wanted Quinn.
His limbs froze, but Bradley trudged closer with Davis snarling behind him. The man looked worse than ever, his skin drawn and ashen on his gaunt cheeks. Like Tyler thought, Bradley was the type of guy who talked big but cowered when shit got tough. Not to mention, the moon gave shifters the advantage.
Davis went easy on him. If Tyler had gotten a hold of him (and the pain wouldn’t have hurt Quinn instead), the bastard wouldn’t have been so lucky.
Tyler turned and charged back toward the clearing.
He broke through the trees and stared at Quinn, who stood now, bathed in moonlight and prouder than any alpha Tyler had ever set eyes on. He’d probably give Jin a run for his money as far as haughtiness was concerned.
I said to go! Quinn roared inside Tyler’s mind. He won’t be able to resist me, but you might not either.
Tyler sat on hunches and waited.
“You can’t force me to do anything. Soon enough, my magic will be stronger than ever and I’ll incinerate you!” Bradley huffed.
A moment later, Bradley stumbled into the clearing. He kept his eyes downcast and his face looked as pale as Quinn’s coat. “I won’t look! You can’t make me!”
Davis nudged him hard in the back, and Bradley fell forward to his knees.
Tyler was ready to sink his fangs into the man’s shirt and force him to the edge when Quinn’s voice chimed in his mind.
Do it, Bradley Montgomery. Find out the truth.
Bradley’s colorless eyes widened and his mouth dropped slack. He shook like a bag of bones, as if he wanted to resist, but the pull was too strong.
Too urgent.
He crawled on hands and knees to the edge and peered inside.
Tyler didn’t know what happened next. For one, he hadn’t expected Quinn to be able to compel that bastard to do anything. He just hoped one of them could force Bradley to look.
Tyler kept his back to the pool, his eyes on Davis’s tail. He’d warned his brother about the dangers, and Davis wasn’t dumb enough to look in it on accident.
A tense moment of silence followed.
The wind rustled the trees over their heads, and the cool air settled across his fur.
Tyler begged the moon for this to work. For Quinn to be free.
Suddenly, Bradley screamed—a high-pitched screech that rang through the clearing and shook the branches on the trees.
Then he heard the heavy thud of a body hitting the ground followed by a quiet as deep as the sea.
Nothing else happened.
He took a breath.
And another.
His ears perked to the sky and waited for Quinn to say something.
A heavy sigh.
He’s dead, but the bind holds. It didn’t work.
Tyler’s heart sunk, and he hoped everyone forgave him for this.
Somehow.
He only had one option left.
Tyler turned.
Don’t! Quinn cried.
Tyler didn’t listen.
He padded across the moss and fallen leaves and looked into the pool of water. It swirled with smoke and smoothed into a perfect mirror.
Then it showed Tyler what he wanted most.