Wolf Untamed (SWAT - Special Wolf Alpha Team #11) - Paige Tyler Page 0,84

way into a new territory.

He bit back a growl at the thought of Brandon and Kevin getting involved with a gang. From what Bree had told him about the night Brandon had gotten shot, that wasn’t outside the realm of possibility.

Diego focused on keeping it casual as he headed for the door and the crowd of people near it. He didn’t stare, but he didn’t miss the two or three people showing off the neck tattoos he recognized as belonging to the Hillside Riders. Guess that answered his earlier question. The Riders had obviously made their move.

A few of them glanced his way as he opened the door, but other than that, no one paid him any attention. It had been a smart call to change out of his SWAT uniform T-shirt.

As he walked into the loud, packed club with its flashing strobes and strategically placed blacklights illuminating the fluorescent paint on various surfaces as well as some of the patrons, his nose was immediately assaulted by the smell of a few hundred people, along with the typical scents he’d expect in a place like this—booze, sweat, drugs, and sex. He made his way toward the chaos of the dance floor when he caught sight of another man with a Rider tat adorning the left side of his neck. The scruffy-looking guy was leaning against the wall, his attention fixed entirely on his cell phone, appearing unconcerned about Diego walking by or the chest thumping club beat coming from the sound system.

But as Diego moved past him, the guy surreptitiously lifted his hand, fingers spread, and silently mouthed the words, five minutes. Then the man he barely recognized as Dion Harbin pushed away from the wall and disappeared into the crowd.

Damn, Dion was good. If it wasn’t for the man’s familiar scent, Diego wouldn’t ever know he was the same cop he’d run into at the movie theater.

Off to the left of the dance floor was the bar area with a dozen or so high-boy tables. To the right were booths, separated by arched doorways that led off to other parts of the club—bathrooms, offices, storerooms, and probably a kitchen, based on the clanking and clatter coming from the nearest opening. The stench of drugs came from that direction. Mostly heroin and fentanyl.

Diego drifted onto the dance floor, ignoring the bodies swaying around him as he casually lifted his nose into the air and started separating out the various scents. Even through the mishmash of competing smells swirling around the place, he was still able to pick up on Brandon’s anxiety and fear. The kid was nervous as hell for some reason. Suddenly, Diego’s fangs extended, and his muscles began to spasm with the instinctive need to shift and find his beta. To get Brandon out of there no matter how many people he had to rip apart to do it.

He was halfway across the crowded dance floor, a low rumbling growl slipping from deep in his chest, when he finally caught sight of Brandon standing with Kevin and two other people by one of the hallways. One was a kid maybe a year or two older than Brandon. The other was a guy in his midtwenties with a Hillside Riders tat inked across his neck. Kevin was gazing at the strobing lights on the opposite side of the dance floor with the glassy-eyed look of someone high as a kite while Brandon talked to the gangbanger. The older kid nodded his head eagerly at whatever they were saying.

Diego headed that way, fighting for control over his shift and his anger as he let his nose tell him everything he needed to know about the gangbanger and the situation. There was a bag of weed in the guy’s left coat pocket, some kind of opioid in his pants pocket, and a gun tucked away under his coat.

What the hell was Brandon doing hanging out with the same kind of people who had gotten him shot not too long ago? After spending time with the kid and introducing him to the beta pack, Diego had been sure Brandon would leave these kinds of mistakes behind.

Apparently, he’d been wrong.

Brandon must have smelled him approaching because his head snapped up, his eyes scanning the crowd until they locked on his. For a second, Diego saw what he thought might be relief there before the anxious expression returned. Then Brandon’s gaze flicked back and forth between the gangbanger and Diego, making him wonder what