The sudden urge to protect the young beta from both the gunman and possible exposure was unlike anything Diego had ever felt before. His gums tingled as his fangs threatened to come out, and he bit back a curse. Taking a deep, calming breath, he focused on the gunman to see the guy staring at him, eyes narrowing in suspicion, as if he’d never seen Diego before. In a flash, the man lifted the weapon and aimed it at him.
Diego stiffened. A werewolf could absorb a lot of punishment, but a bullet through the heart or head would end him just as fast as it would anyone else.
“You know, this would be a lot easier if I knew what to call you,” he said calmly, ignoring the gun. “I’m Diego. What’s your name?”
“Ken,” the guy finally muttered after a long, tense delay.
Getting the guy to tell him his name was a good start, at least. Even if he kept the gun pointed at Diego.
“I know you don’t want this situation getting any worse than it already is, Ken, so maybe you can lower your weapon. Then we can talk about why you took all these people hostage.”
Ken looked at him like he was a million miles away, and Diego wondered if he’d even heard him. Hand shaking, he slowly lowered the gun, only to immediately jerk it back up. It was as if there was a fight going on inside the guy. Part of him wanted to put down the gun, while another part wanted to pull the trigger.
Just when it seemed like the guy was going to have a complete breakdown, his eyes abruptly cleared and he lowered the weapon.
“He makes people do things,” Ken said softly, the words tortured, like it was a struggle to get them out.
“Are you saying someone forced you to come in here and take these people hostage?” Diego prompted.
Even though he’d asked the question softly, the words set Ken off anyway.
“You don’t believe me!” he shouted. “Monsters are real, dammit. And I can prove it.”
Backing away, Ken swept his weapon around the inside of the diner before finally pointing it straight at the kid. The beta werewolf’s eyes went wide with fear. He looked like he was half a second from losing it.
Shit.
Diego lifted his hands in a placating gesture, desperate to get the guy’s attention back on him. “Take it easy, Ken. I believe in monsters.”
“No, you don’t!” Ken swung his weapon in Diego’s direction. “You don’t believe me. No one does. Monsters are all around us. People don’t realize it because they look just like the rest of us on the outside, but on the inside they’re ugly and evil.”
Diego opened his mouth to say something he hoped would calm Ken down before he totally went over the edge, but the guy cut him off before he could get a word out.
“You said there was someone here with a camera,” Ken said, taking a step closer to Diego. “Get them in here. I can’t hold on much longer, and the world needs to know about the monsters.”
Diego was ready to dismiss the psychotic rant for what it was, but then Ken swung his weapon away from him, leveling it at the kid again with a look in his eyes that was unsettling as hell.
The answer hit him like a ton of bricks. Shit. Somehow, Ken had figured out the kid was a werewolf. Maybe he’d seen the claws and fangs, or the glowing eyes. Either way, Ken knew, and he intended to expose that fact to the world.
From the panicked expression on the boy’s face, he knew it, too. Yellow glimmered in his eyes, a sure sign his body was trying to shift. It was a natural response when a person’s inner wolf felt threatened.
Diego slowly moved until he was positioned in between Ken and the boy on the floor. “You have to know there’s no way they’re ever going to allow that camera crew in here while there are police officers bleeding to death. You’re going to have to let the paramedics take them outside.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Diego saw both cops shake their heads, indicating they wanted to stay. Because that’s what good cops did—risked their lives for others. But Diego wanted to get everyone out of here alive, and it started with the two of them.
“Look, you’re simply giving up two injured people,” Diego pointed out when Ken hesitated. “You do that, and you get everything you want in return. You know you have to do this.”
It felt like the whole room was holding its collective breath, waiting to see what the unbalanced man with the gun would do. A few feet away, the beautiful woman on the floor looked from her son to Ken, then finally fixed all her attention on Diego.
Her brown eyes were warm, like whiskey mixed with honey, and Diego would have enjoyed getting lost in them. Unfortunately, right now wasn’t the time for that.
Sudden movement in Ken’s direction had Diego snapping his head around to see the man squeezing his temples with both hands, like he was trying to make some kind of horrible pain go away. Grip tight on the gun, he smacked the butt of the weapon against his head several times, his eyes clenched closed in obvious agony, fresh sweat beading on his forehead. But when he opened his eyes a moment later, they were clearer and more aware than they’d been since Diego had first stepped into the diner.
“Get the cops out of here now,” Ken said, breath coming in gasps as he continued to press his fists against his temples “Before he makes me stop you.”
Diego had no idea who he was talking about, but he wasn’t going to waste the opportunity while he tried to figure it out. Bringing paramedics in with gurneys would take too long, so he was going to have to improvise.
“You four,” Diego said, pointing at two big guys and two younger women huddled close to the wall near the cops. “Help me get the two officers outside.”
Diego could easily have picked up the injured cops himself, but this way, he’d be able to get the four hostages out with them. The kid moved the dish rack aside while his mom held open the door. Diego had every intention of shoving them out the door along with the others, but then Ken was there, his eyes looking positively vacant as he reached out and grabbed the kid’s shoulder, dragging him back into the diner.
And Mom wasn’t leaving without her kid.
“They stay here,” Ken said, wrapping his arm tightly around the kid as he backed away from the door, the barrel of the automatic waving around wildly, threatening everyone in the place even as he glared at Diego. “I know what you were trying to do. You don’t care about the truth, but I have to stop him. I can’t let him get away with what he’s done. Don’t you see we’re all just a bunch of puppets to him?”
The vein at Ken’s temple throbbed, and he gripped the gun so tightly his knuckles were white. The people huddled in the back of the diner must have known things were going to get ugly in a minute because they visibly started to panic, more than a few of them eyeing the door like they were going to make a mad dash for the exit.