Page 22 of Tangled in Red

“I’ll keep that in mind.” He smiled against Brett’s neck.

Brett didn’t need a mirror to know his face was bright red. He could feel the heat spreading across his skin.

“Every time you blush, it’s like watching a rose bloom in the middle of the desert.” Diablo nuzzled him.

Brett didn’t really get what that meant, but he knew he didn’t want to move. With Diablo draped around him, Brett felt safer and more cherished than he ever had before in his life.

And he never wanted that feeling to end.

* * * *

With his arms crossed, Diablo leaned his shoulder against the wall between the bar area and the pool room, his gaze locked on Brett.

His mate was sitting between Elijah and Percy at the bar, and that made Diablo uneasy.

There was no telling what those two were saying to Brett. He wasn’t overly concerned about Elijah, but Percy was another story, clinging to his drink like it might sprout legs and escape.

Matias stood behind the bar, just a few feet from Diablo, radiating a deceptive calm. The alpha was enraged about the hyenas’ presence in Blackthorn, especially so close to Sin’s.

“He was part of the ambush. The one who tranquilized me.” Diablo’s face remained impassive since Brett kept shooting glances his way, as if afraid he might vanish. “The asshole locked eyes with me and gave me a smug salute.”

With a flick of his fingers across his eyebrow, Diablo traced a scar that wasn’t there. “Deadest eyes I’ve ever seen.” He tapped above his eyebrow, his gaze never leaving Brett. “Gotta scar here. Looks like an X.”

Diablo glanced at Matias, feeling the alpha’s wrath radiating like heat. “What?”

“I had him right in front of me,” Matias’s voice was a low growl. “If I’d known he was the one who darted you, I would’ve torn out his heart.”

Pushing off the wall, Diablo stood tall, heart pounding. Maybe he still had a chance at reversing what they’d done to him.

Every hyena he’d come across claimed ignorance right before Diablo took them out. “Do you know who he is?”

Matias raised two fingers, curling them inward twice. Diablo watched Santiago approach. What the hell was going on? Why did Matias need Santiago to ID the guy?

“Yeah?” Santiago asked, joining them.

“Your lawyer,” Matias stated.

A growl ripped from Santiago. “He wasn’t my lawyer.”

“The hyena who visited you in jail?” Diablo asked, remembering Matias warning him about the guy’s stunt after Santiago’s arrest by Deputy Gilmore.

“What about him?” Santiago’s eyes flicked between them. “What did that prick do now?”

An ominous feeling sank deep inside Diablo’s gut. This wasn’t just about some hyena trying to make Santiago betray his pack.

Matias nodded once in Diablo’s direction. “Rico Diego is the one who darted him.”

Darkness fell over Santiago’s features, his canines just peeking past his upper lip. “He was right there and I didn’t gut him?”

Diablo finally had a name, but he still didn’t know who the guy was. It wasn’t as if the hyenas had a fixed base where Diablo could hunt them down. They were always on the move, making it nearly impossible to track them.

Matias walked off, jaw clenched so tight it should’ve shattered. Moments later, there was a loud crash. Men bolted out the kitchen, eyes wide with alarm.

He’d never seen his alpha lose control. Not once. Not when Diablo managed to escape his captors, not when Percy disappeared, or even when Diablo dragged Santiago, and then Miguel, to the warehouse where he’d been held.

“Tell me what the fuck is going on,” Diablo demanded, his voice a deep, threatening growl.

Santiago breathed heavily, nostrils flaring. “Rico Diego, the bastard who trapped your beasts, is the alpha of the hyenas.”

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