keep your voice down, huh?”
Diego snorted. “Good luck keeping that rock under wraps.” Stepping forward, he hugged Rachel, then did the man-hug thing with Knox. “I knew you guys were perfect for each other the moment I saw you together.”
Rachel seemed a little dubious about that. “Really? Because I tend to remember you hating the idea of Knox and me working together. You didn’t trust him to watch my back. You flat out called him a player. And when you thought he was a hunter, you kicked in the door of my apartment and threatened to shoot him.”
“Well…yeah,” Diego admitted. “But other than that, I thought you two were perfect for each other.”
Bree couldn’t help but think that was the lamest thing she’d ever heard. From the look on Rachel’s face, it was obvious she thought the same thing. Something told Bree the two of them would get along perfectly.
While Diego ran off to grab something to drink for her and Brandon, Bree congratulated Rachel and Knox as her son watched people rappel on the far side of the compound.
“Diego said you and Knox met here,” Bree said. “Were you working on the same case or something?”
Rachel laughed as if the idea was the funniest thing she’d ever heard. Knox, on the other hand, looked rather sheepish. “Not even close. Knox was hanging out with some seriously bad dudes who were here trying to kill us because they didn’t like werewolves.”
Bree thought for a moment that Rachel was kidding. Then she realized the other woman wasn’t laughing.
“But don’t worry,” Rachel added. “He made up for it later by saving my life twice—first from his buddies, then from a psychotic killer clown.”
Sure Rachel was definitely messing with them, Bree glanced at her son to see Brandon staring at the couple with eyes as wide as saucers.
“Um…you’re making up that stuff about the killer clown, right?” she asked, suddenly not so sure.
Both Rachel and Knox shook their heads.
“I wish she was making it up,” Knox said. “Unfortunately, it’s all true. There really was a clown. He really was psychotic. And he really tried to kill us. Then again, I’m not sure the thing could be called a clown since it wasn’t even human.”
Bree wasn’t sure what to say to that.
“You’ll get used to all the weird stuff that goes on around here,” Rachel said, giving her a smile. “I promise.”
Diego came back with their drinks then, bottles of iced tea for him and Bree and soda for Brandon. The conversation went from how Rachel and Knox had met to how their teammates had met their significant others. Except for Gage and a few of the other guys, everyone else had met their mates—as Diego called them—in some kind of crazy situation. Not unlike how she and Diego had met, she supposed.
While Bree was having a great time laughing and talking about how people stumbled their way into relationships, one glance at her son told her he was bored out of his mind as he gazed longingly at a group of teens and young adults standing by the rappelling wall. Even though Brandon would much rather hang out with people closer to his age, she knew he wouldn’t simply walk over there and introduce himself. Her son hadn’t been shy and reserved like that when he was little, but after Dave and everything that had happened, he’d changed.
Diego must have picked up on that, too, because he motioned toward the teens. “How about I take you over there and introduce you to the beta pack, Brandon? I know they’ve been waiting to meet you.”
Bree could have kissed Diego. But from the way Brandon stood there indecisively, it was probably going to take a little more urging than that.
“And after I introduce you, I can take you up on the wall and teach you to rappel, if you want,” Diego added.
Brandon’s eyes filled with excitement at that. She, however, had to admit she was terrified at the thought of her son so high in the air, held up by nothing but a thin rope. But when Brandon looked her way with an eager expression on his face, Bree didn’t have the heart to say he couldn’t do it.
She looked at Diego. “You’re sure it’s safe?”
“I’ll be right there beside him the whole time,” Diego promised. “He’ll be fine.”
She was still nervous, but nodded. Grinning, Diego leaned over to give her a quick kiss, then asked Knox if he wanted to do some rappelling, too,