Brandon also admitted how scared he’d been during the hostage situation that his claws and fangs would come out and someone at the diner would see them. In his teenage mind, being called a freak would be the worst thing ever.
But as frightened as Brandon had been for himself, he’d been more concerned for Bree. The thought of the crowd turning on her for being the mother of a monster had terrified him. The words had brought tears to Bree’s eyes and done a number on Diego as well. The thought of someone going after either of them made his inner wolf’s fangs and claws come out.
He led Bree and Brandon through the gates of the compound and headed for the admin building, where the commander of the SWAT team and the alpha of their pack of alphas, Gage Dixon, was waiting for them. If anyone could help a werewolf still going through puberty, it’d be Gage. The man was a Jedi master when it came to dealing with bizarre crap like this.
They were barely halfway across the compound when Brandon paused, instinctively turning into the breeze, his nose twitching as he took in the many scents around him. Diego almost laughed both at the intense expression on the kid’s face and the baffled one on Bree’s.
“What’s that I’m smelling?” Brandon asked, turning his nose this way and that curiously. “I smelled it earlier at the diner, but it’s a lot stronger here.”
Diego grinned when he caught Bree sniffing the air, trying to figure out what her son was smelling when he knew for a fact she couldn’t smell anything.
“You’re smelling the other werewolves in the compound,” Diego told him. “There were only five of us at the diner this morning. This place serves as a second home for the eighteen alpha werewolves in my SWAT pack. Not to mention the other werewolves that frequently hang out here. It’s not surprising you’re picking up the scent even if you didn’t have a clue what you were smelling yet.”
“Alpha werewolves?” Brandon considered that. “Does that mean there are other kinds of werewolves? Am I an alpha, too?”
“Wait a minute,” Bree said, holding up her hand. “Did you actually use the word ‘pack’ to describe you and the other members of the SWAT team? As in a pack of wolves? Is that how you see yourselves?”
“Will I be able to join your pack?” Brandon jumped in before Diego could answer, practically bouncing up and down in excitement. “Can I be on the SWAT team, too?”
Bree threw Diego a look of utter panic, her dark eyes silently begging him to say something to stop her kid from starting down this path. Diego opened his mouth to say something wise and insightful only to close it again when he realized he had absolutely no idea how to start. He considered himself above average when it came to giving advice, but right then, with Brandon desperately wanting answers to all his questions, he simply didn’t know what to say.
Hopefully, Gage would.
“Let’s put a hold on the really complicated questions until we get inside,” Diego finally said, glancing over his shoulder to catch Bree’s eye and give her a little nod of understanding. “There’s someone I want you to meet who will be able to explain all of this to you better than I ever could.”
Brandon looked like he didn’t want to wait that long but nodded anyway.
When they got to the admin building, Diego held open the door for them. His gaze automatically locked on Bree’s butt as she moved ahead of him. After the day she’d had, he felt bad about looking at her that way, but his inner wolf seemed to have a mind of its own and simply wouldn’t be denied. And yeah, his inner wolf definitely liked what it saw. Bree might be wearing a simple pair of jeans and a T-shirt, but she made them look damn good. Snug enough to show off her feminine curves, making the view from behind spectacular.
At the sight of the tall, blond woman in Gage’s office, he forced his mind off the image of Bree’s incredible body and back to the subject of their new teenage werewolf. Diego had called Gage on the drive over to give him a heads-up about bringing in a young beta who was still going through his change. And Gage had called the one alpha werewolf they knew who had a whole pack of them.
That was some next-level thinking right there and one hell of a brilliant idea.
Jayna was the wife and soul mate of Diego’s teammate, Eric Becker. She was also one of the only werewolves Diego had ever heard of who started out as a beta, then went through a second change to become an alpha to take over for the one who’d done a crappy job of protecting her pack. Jayna had taken over the pack, making it her own. Even though she and Becker were a couple, it was still her pack. Becker was essentially a co-alpha. Unique, for sure, but it seemed to work for them.
Diego led Bree and Brandon through the empty bullpen and into Gage’s office. When he made the introductions, mentioning Gage and Jayna were also alphas, Bree and Brandon both nervously shook hands with them. That wasn’t surprising. Tall and muscular with dark hair and intense dark eyes, Gage could sometimes be intimidating. As for Jayna, she had a presence about her that you only saw with female alphas.
“Let’s sit,” Gage suggested, giving them a smile and motioning toward the small conference table to one side of his office. “From what Diego told me on the phone, I get the feeling things have been pretty crazy for you two lately.”
Bree laughed as she sat between Diego and Brandon. It was a beautiful sound that made Diego’s inner wolf sit up and take notice.
“‘Crazy’ would be a bit of an understatement,” she said, glancing at her son, a mix of worry and love on her face. “Like I told Diego, when these strange things started happening to Brandon after he’d been shot, I thought he was using drugs.”
“Mom!” Brandon groaned, a hand coming up to cover his face in embarrassment, but not before Diego saw him flush. It would have been cute if the subject wasn’t so scary. The thought of the kid getting shot made his stomach twist up in knots.
“Don’t ‘mom’ me,” Bree said, her lips curving into a smile. “All I knew was that something was going on with you. Something that was making you act different, and since you wouldn’t talk to me about it, what else was I supposed to think? It makes sense it would be drugs.” The smile faded and her eyes glistened with tears. “I was scared I was going to lose you, honey.”
The pain in those words about ripped Diego’s heart right out of his chest. Crap, he could barely breathe. He swallowed hard and fought through it. Why wasn’t he maintaining his usual professional demeanor in this situation?
“But you weren’t taking drugs,” Bree said softly. “You were simply turning into a werewolf. I guess I had no reason to worry. Can’t believe I didn’t think of that myself,” she added with a strangled laugh.
When Brandon looked chagrined at that, Diego assumed it was because he felt bad about hiding the werewolf stuff from his mother, but his gut told him there was more to it than that. He wanted to ask what the deal was, but bringing it up in front of everyone wouldn’t be a good idea.