Based on the date Ken had written at the top of the page, that next morning was the same day he’d taken her, Brandon, and everyone else hostage at the diner, then committed suicide.
Getting to her feet, Bree left the room and headed for the door, taking the notebook with her. This was so much bigger than she’d thought. Dave and this damn reporter weren’t merely involved in robberies. She didn’t know how, but something told her they were responsible for Ken’s death, too.
She dug her phone out of her purse, fumbling to enter her pass code as she reached for the doorknob. She needed to tell Diego about this. Now.
Bree was so focused on her phone she didn’t see someone standing on the other side of the crime-scene tape until she bumped into them hard enough to bounce off. She opened her mouth to lie about what she’d been doing inside Ken’s apartment only to gasp.
“Oh crap,” was all she had time to say before a hand reached out and grabbed her.
Chapter 16
“She’s still not answering her damn phone,” Diego growled as Hale took a sharp right turn, sliding the SWAT SUV into the parking lot of Bree’s apartment building and slamming on the brake in time to keep them from running up onto the sidewalk in front of the building.
The truck barely came to a stop before Diego jumped out and ran for the entrance. The drive over had taken forever, even with lights flashing and siren blaring. Or at least it had seemed that way as he’d desperately tried to reach his soul mate on the phone. But the call to her office got him a secretary who said Bree was out on an investigation and every call to her apartment and cell went straight to message.
While he’d sat there panicking, Trey had been talking to first Gage, then Samantha Mills, telling them everything Hobbs had said. The ME had handled the news that Dave’s blood was to blame for the delirium effect surprisingly well for a medical professional, asking intelligent questions without coming out and saying they were lunatics. Diego couldn’t blame her. He was a frigging werewolf who’d fought vampires not too long ago, and he was still having a hard time accepting Dave could turn people into puppets simply by wiping his blood on them.
“Diego, you need to stay cool!” Hale shouted at him as he charged up the stairs ahead of his pack mates, taking the steps three and four at a time. “We don’t have a clue what we’re walking into.”
Easy for you to say, Diego thought as he fought to keep his fangs and claws from extending. It’s not your soul mate and beta at risk.
The mere notion of Bree or Brandon being hurt was almost enough to send his inner wolf spiraling out of control.
He reached the fourth floor and raced for Bree’s apartment. He could pick up her scent, even out here in the hallway, but because she lived in the building, it was hard to tell yet whether it was an older scent or if she was currently in her apartment.
Diego slowed to let Trey and Hale catch up, then took a step back, ready to kick the door of her apartment right out of the frame. That was when he realized it was already slightly ajar. His heart dropped into his stomach. He threw a quick look at his pack mates before slowly pushing the door open, his fangs extending as he picked up a trace scent of blood. The only thing that kept him from losing it was the knowledge that the blood didn’t belong to Bree or Brandon. He only prayed it wasn’t Beth’s, either.
He cautiously moved into the living room, SIG drawn and ready as he surveyed the apartment. His nose confirmed neither Bree nor Brandon were there when someone hurtled out of the hallway from the direction of the bedrooms. There was a flash of silver that could have been a weapon and an angry screech; then the person was on him.
He cursed, this close to squeezing the trigger before he realized it was Bree’s sister. He barely got his arm up in time to protect himself, relieved despite the pain when the butcher knife plunged into his right forearm instead of his neck. Knocking the blade out of her hand, he dropped his weapon and focused on trying to keep Beth from hurting him without hurting her in return.
Beth continued to fight,