the right time to tell you. I didn’t think it would be a time like this,” he added, glancing at Dave’s unconscious body. “But the time and place don’t matter as much as the fact that I love you.”
Bree leaned in for another hug when Trey, Hale, and Connor ran into the room with weapons drawn. They all slid to a stop at the sight of him locked in a group hug with Bree and Brandon while Dave lay sprawled out on the floor by the wall.
“I guess that explains why the Reserve’s security guards stopped shooting all of a sudden,” Trey said, glancing at Dave. Diego wasn’t surprised his pack mates didn’t walk over to check to see if Dave was alive because, like him, they surely heard the man’s heart beating. “What’d you do to him, pound his head against the wall until he passed out?”
Diego shook his head. “I’m not sure what happened. He was trying to control both Brandon and me, and I gave him a shove. Next thing I know, he passed out.”
“I think it was because Dave overextended himself,” Bree said, sitting back on her heels. “Before you got here, he was already complaining about how much it hurt to control so many people. Controlling you and Brandon at the same time as you were shifting must have burned him out, I guess. It’s like it was too much for him.”
Beside Diego, Brandon shuddered. Diego quickly helped Bree and Brandon to their feet, then looked at his pack mates. “Let’s go into the hallway.”
No one argued with that suggestion, and a few minutes later, they were all standing outside the room. Hale stood closest to the doorway so he could keep an eye on Dave.
“What do we do with Dave?” his pack mate asked. “We can’t risk all that blood getting on innocent people.”
“Maybe get the paramedics to treat it like a biohazard situation?” Connor suggested. “We can tell them Dave OD’ed on delirium and any contact with his blood will spread the drug.”
Diego considered that for a moment. “That could work.”
At least it was the best they could come up with right now. Connor took off to get the paramedics, leaving Diego time to catch Trey and Hale up on what they’d missed while they told him about the fighting across the street.
“The two armored trucks were each carrying a pallet of cash, one hundred million in each,” Hale said. “If Dave’s crazy mind-control scheme had worked, he’d be set for life and then some. Luckily, we kept them from escaping without having to kill anyone.”
Standing beside Diego, her arm around her son, Bree did a double take. “You guys already knew about what Dave could do with his blood before you got here?”
Diego nodded. “Yeah. We cornered Ernest Hobbs and he told us everything. Turns out, Dave threatened our intrepid reporter into creating the delirium drug story as a cover for his crime spree. I hate to say it, but without Hobbs’s information, we never would have figured out what was going on. Fortunately, it’s all over now.”
Bree let out a sigh. “Actually, it isn’t.”
“What do you mean?” Trey asked.
“I’ve been investigating several robberies connected to Dave’s investment firm,” Bree explained. “I thought the guy who took us hostage at the diner was behind it, but it turns out Ken Reed was investigating the thefts and realized he was being set up. I found a journal of sorts that Ken was keeping about the robberies. He suspected Dave right away, so he started following him. Not only did Ken see the people Dave turned into puppets deliver the jewelry and stuff they stole to him, but he saw him meet with his partner in crime, which turned out to be Hobbs.”
Hale did a double take. “Are you sure about that?”
She nodded. “Ken overheard Dave and Hobbs talking about which banks and jewelry stores my ex should hit.”
Diego got a sinking feeling in his stomach. “Dammit. Hobbs played us like a freaking violin. Why didn’t any of us pick on the fact that he was lying? We’re freaking werewolves.”
“We must have mistaken his rapid heartbeat for nerves when we talked to him earlier,” Hale said.
Diego cursed silently. His pack mate was right. Still didn’t make him any less pissed.
“I’ll call Gage and tell him we need to get a BOLO out on Hobbs,” Trey said.
“While the cops are out looking for him, we might be able to recover all the stuff he and