Wolf Untamed (SWAT - Special Wolf Alpha Team #11) - Paige Tyler Page 0,43

experienced all of that as the son of a mother who’d dealt with that same dilemma, Diego didn’t see anything odd about what Bree had said, but from the chagrined look on her face, it was obvious she thought she’d said something wrong.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “That sounded harsh, didn’t it? I wasn’t trying to scare you off or anything like that when I said I always have to put Brandon first. It’s just—”

“It’s okay,” he said. “You don’t ever have to apologize for putting your son first. It’s what makes you a good mother. I already knew that before you invited me over for dinner, and as you might have noticed, it didn’t stop me from coming.”

Bree opened her mouth, then closed it again. A moment later, she smiled. “I guess I’ll just say thank you and leave it at that then.”

Diego finished the last of the cake and set the plate on the table, then picked up his wineglass and took a sip before sitting back and looking at Bree.

“Speaking of the divorce, I get the feeling Dave isn’t happy about it.”

Bree stared at him, her fork halfway to her mouth, and Diego wanted to kick himself for circling around to her ex-husband again. But something about the guy made his werewolf side leery. Even if talking about Bree being with another man made his stomach clench.

Finishing her cake, Bree placed the empty plate on the table, then picked up her wine and sat back with a sigh, sliding off her shoes and curling her legs under her like a cat, revealing a breathtaking glimpse of thigh and making Diego’s heart beat faster than ever.

“Talking about my ex,” she murmured. “Not exactly what I had planned for tonight. But if you’re going to be in our lives, I guess you should know what kind of jackass he is.” She sipped her wine. “When I first met Dave, I was barely out of high school and thought it was true love. He’s seven years older than I am, and at the time, I believed he was charming and mature. He’d already graduated from college with a degree in financial management and my family loved him, even when he took a job here in Dallas and we moved from back East only a few days after we got married.

“I got pregnant with Brandon a few weeks after we arrived here, and that’s when Dave changed. He made snide little comments on how much time I spent with Brandon after he was born and didn’t like when I decided to get a job. He didn’t want me going out to lunch with my coworkers and hated when I spent time with my friends. By the time Brandon was halfway through elementary school, Dave was the poster child for anger management and extremely possessive when it came to me.”

Diego bit back a growl. “Did he hurt you or Brandon?”

She shook her head. “No. Thankfully, he never got physical, but Brandon was still terrified of him. I tried to get Dave to go to counseling, but he wouldn’t. That’s when I went to see a divorce lawyer.”

“What did Dave say when he found out?” Diego asked.

“Actually, he didn’t know about it,” Bree said, then quickly explained. “I was still working with the lawyer to make sure I’d get sole custody of Brandon and didn’t want to say anything to Dave.”

“That makes sense.”

“I didn’t want to make him suspicious, so when his firm had their annual Christmas party, I went with him.” The hand holding the wineglass shook a little and Diego almost told her to stop, not wanting to upset her, but she was already continuing. “Dave was on the other side of the room with some people when he saw me talking to one of his coworkers. It set him off and he came over and told the poor guy to get away from me. All we were doing was talking and Dave lost his mind. The next thing I knew, he hit the guy over the head with a full champagne bottle right there in front of everyone. It cracked his skull and he died. It happened so fast nobody could do anything.”

Diego did a double take. Okay, he hadn’t seen that coming. “Damn.”

She nodded. “I know. I couldn’t believe it. Dave blew through every penny we had with lawyers, but still got twelve years in prison. Somehow, he got out in six. Apparently, he was extremely persuasive at his parole