us and that he wanted to make up for it by introducing us to a guy he knew.”
Diego already knew how this part ended. He thought it possible he was developing a migraine, though werewolves didn’t get headaches. “The guy from the Hillside Riders. Why would he want you and Kevin to meet a guy like that?”
The silence was much longer this time. When Brandon finally answered, his voice was so soft even Diego’s werewolf-enhanced hearing had a hard time picking it up.
“At first the guy was really cool. He gave us some weed to smoke for free. But then he told us that Wyatt said we’d be willing to sell drugs at school. Since Wyatt graduated, they need someone new and they wanted Kevin and me.”
Diego’s fangs made an appearance then, as a surge of anger—and fear—rushed through him. Shit, this was worse than he’d feared. Brandon had been a hop, skip, and a jump from being a damn drug dealer for an effing gang.
“We wouldn’t have done it,” Brandon added quickly. “Kevin and I would never do something like that. I swear.”
Thankfully, Diego could tell the kid was telling the truth. But while that definitely counted for something, it still wasn’t enough. He had to make sure Brandon understood how stupid he’d been.
“The Hillside Riders are using the back offices and kitchen of the Blacklight as a place to make and package drugs,” he said. “There were almost twenty gang members in there tonight, all of them armed and ready to kill to protect their drug trade. Do you have any idea what could have happened if a rival gang made an appearance tonight? Or if one of those gangbangers started shooting when the police raided the place?”
Brandon swallowed hard. “I could have been shot again,” he said, the words barely distinguishable over the sound of the road rushing under the truck tires.
“Yeah, you could have.” Diego didn’t want to keep piling on, but he knew he had to. “And while you’re a werewolf—and therefore hard to damage—you aren’t indestructible. A bullet through the head or the heart and you’re as dead as anyone else. That would suck for you, but how do you think your mom would handle that, huh? Think she’d be okay with losing her son because he was hoping to hang out with some people who’d make him popular?”
Brandon didn’t say anything, and in the dim light, Diego could see tears starting to run down the kid’s face. Diego wanted more than anything to pull over and yank the kid in for a hug. But he couldn’t. Not yet.
“And what about Kevin?” he demanded. “You know, the best friend who stuck with you when everyone else bailed? What if he’d gotten shot the first time in the convenience store? What if I hadn’t gotten there tonight in time to get you out before the raid and he’d gotten shot in the club trying to cover your ass again? You survived getting shot, but Kevin might not. How would his family feel if that happened? How would you feel?”
Brandon dropped his face into his hands and started to sob uncontrollably.
That was it. Diego couldn’t take any more of this tough-love stuff. He was this close to breaking down in tears himself at seeing his beta hurting like this.
Easing over to the shoulder, Diego put the SUV in park, then undid both his seat belt and Brandon’s and pulled him in for a hug.
“I’m so sorry,” Brandon mumbled against Diego’s shirt. “I don’t mean to be such a fuckup.”
“Shh. It’s okay,” Diego said, making calming sounds as he rubbed Brandon’s back. Tears stung his eyes and he blinked them back. “You’re not a fuckup. You’re a teenager. You made mistakes and you’re almost certainly going to make more in the future. But some mistakes you don’t get a chance to come back from. I want you to really think about what you’re doing before you make one of those mistakes and regret it for the rest of your life.”
They sat there on the side of the road there for a while, talking about how overrated it was to be popular, how Wyatt was likely looking at a police record, which would probably get him kicked out of college, and how Brandon was going to do things differently when he and Kevin went back to school in the fall.
“No more worrying about being with the cool kids, right?” Brandon said, his tears finally dried and his face