by Paige Tyler
Xander couldn’t argue with that. He only wished he would have realized it earlier, so he hadn’t wasted time trying to fight it.
“But what if you meet her and the stars don’t line up for you,” Cooper asked, leaning back in his chair. “What if she’s married? Or wants you to leave the Pack? What then?”
Gage shrugged. “There wasn’t anything I wouldn’t have given up to be with Mackenzie. I would have left the Pack to be with her, if it came to that. Trust me, if you’re lucky enough to find The One for you—and I hope every one of you are—grab on to her with both hands and don’t let go.”
Xander felt his heart beat faster. He wondered if Gage would be giving the same advice if he knew Xander had found The One, and that she was on the SWAT team.
* * *
Khaki wanted to hang around and wait for Xander, but she got the feeling he was going to be stuck in Sergeant Dixon’s office for a while. It might look suspicious if she sat at her desk with her eyes glued to the door for the next couple hours. She hoped the meeting didn’t run that long, because she was going crazy already. Even though it’d barely been more than twelve hours since they’d made love, she was already going insane with the need to be with him again.
So instead, she gave Mac a call to see if she could stop by.
“Definitely,” Mac said. “I want to hear how things are going with Xander.”
Khaki laughed as she squawked her tiny tires out of the SWAT compound parking lot. Mac was definitely in for one heck of a surprise.
Mac was waiting for her with a glass of iced tea and a bowl of pita chips.
“Okay, what’s the scoop?” Mac asked as soon as they sat down. “Is Xander still being his usual abrasive self?”
Khaki sipped her iced tea, then grabbed some chips. She should probably draw out the suspense a little and tease Mac with the truth, but she’d never been very good at playing games. Mac was her friend, and talking about her relationship with Xander was the reason she’d wanted to hang out with her in the first place.
“Xander and I slept together,” she said matter-of-factly, then added, “Although, if we didn’t actually sleep, does it still count?”
“You slept together?” Mac’s eyes went wide. “Last night?”
Khaki laughed, loving that she had someone she could share this with—someone who wouldn’t freak out about the fact that she’d just admitted to sleeping with her boss. A boss who also happened to be a werewolf.
“Last night,” she said. “And again this morning.”
“Okay.” Mac blew out a breath. “Maybe you should start from the beginning because the last time we talked, you were pretty sure Xander didn’t like you at all.”
Khaki shrugged. “I was wrong about that.”
“Obviously.” Mac grinned. “Spill. How did everything change so fast?”
Khaki sat back and sipped her iced tea again, then told Mac everything that had happened, starting with what had transpired down in the tunnels when they rescued Melissa Kincaide, detailing exactly what it was like to smell Xander’s attraction to her rolling off him in waves, then what it was like finally being with him, and finishing with their decision to keep seeing each other—and hide it from everyone in SWAT.
“You know that’s crazy, right?” Mac said. “If Gage finds out, he’s going to have a cow—horns, balls, and all.”
“I know, but what else can we do? Neither one of us wants to lose our jobs or our place in the Pack, but ignoring this thing between us is impossible. I know it sounds crazy, but sometimes it seems like I need Xander more than I need air.”
“It’s not that crazy. Gage went through the same thing, so I’ve seen firsthand what it’s like when a werewolf finally meets The One he’s destined to be with.”
“What do you mean, ‘when a werewolf meets the one he’s destined to be with’?”
Mac looked up in surprise, a pita chip halfway to her mouth, but then shook her head. “Xander didn’t tell you, did he?”
“Tell me what?”
Mac sighed. “Men can be so dense sometimes. Well, if you could get them to talk about it, I’m sure the guys would do a better job of explaining this, but basically, there’s this folklore that says there’s one, and only one, perfect mate out there for every werewolf. You know, like a soul mate. When a werewolf finds this one-in-a-billion person, the feeling is supposedly something akin to getting hit by lightning and cupid’s arrow at the same time.”
Khaki almost laughed at how crazy that sounded until she realized that Mac had just described how it had felt when she’d met Xander.
“You don’t really believe in that stuff, right? I mean…soul mates? Seriously?”
Mac lifted a brow. “Khaki, you’re a werewolf. You can grow claws and fangs, see in the dark, shake off getting shot like it’s nothing, and at some point you’ll probably be able to shift completely into a wolf. As amazing and insane as all that sounds, you’ve accepted it without doing much more than batting an eye. But when I tell you that werewolves can sense when they’re around the person they are meant to be with forever, that you have a problem with?”
Khaki didn’t say anything. When Mac put it that way, everything that had been going on between her and Xander made complete sense. There was more to her attraction to him than some out-of-control werewolf hormones. She’d been essentially bonded to him since the moment they’d met. Deep down, she knew he was the man she was meant to spend the rest of her life with.
“Yes, he is,” Mac said with a smile.
Khaki thought she’d missed something while she’d been daydreaming, but then she realized she’d said that last part out loud and that Mac was simply agreeing with her.
Suddenly, the obstacles she and Xander were facing didn’t seem so impossible to deal with. “It makes the prospect of losing our jobs if we slip up and give ourselves away not seem quite so bad now.”
“True.” Mac reached for a pita chip. “But why don’t we figure out a way to make sure you get to have your cake and eat it too by coming up with a plan on how you’re going to keep anyone from finding out about the two of you?”
* * *
When Xander opened the door of his apartment, it was hard not to pounce on him, but Khaki resisted the urge, instead sidling past him and walking inside.
“I was a little worried you’d still be at work,” she said.
Xander closed the door, his smoldering gaze sliding down her body like a caress. “I was a little worried about that myself, but fortunately, Gage has a fiancée to get home to. I stopped by the store after I left and picked up some things I thought you might like—in case tonight’s training runs long.”
She smiled. “Hope you picked up something for breakfast too. Because I think training might run a really long time.”
His eyes flashed gold. “As a matter of fact, I did.”
Khaki was just wondering if whatever he bought could be eaten in bed when Xander closed the slight distance between them and kissed her. She twisted her hands in the fabric of his T-shirt, pulling him closer. She felt her teeth elongate and her claws come out as his tongue slipped into her mouth. This time, she didn’t worry about them. Instead, she relaxed and enjoyed the sensation of teasing him with her sharp canines.
Xander groaned, weaving his fingers in her hair and urging her back against the wall, his mouth, and fangs, sliding down her neck. She loved when he did that. The combination of his soft, warm lips and those hard, cold fangs really did it for her.
She thought about asking him to take her to bed but decided she couldn’t wait that long. The entryway to his apartment would have to do.
Khaki dug her claws in his T-shirt, ripping it the rest of the way off. Always more in control, Xander took care with her tank top and bra. They continued kissing and nipping at each other as he unbuckled her belt and pushed her jeans over her hips, then dropped to his knees and helped her get completely naked.
She’d been ready to yank him back to his feet, but he put his han
ds on her hips and pushed her back against the wall, apparently deciding he liked being down there just fine—level with her pussy.
She leaned back, growling as he kissed his way down her stomach. She knew exactly where his mouth was going to end up and she wasn’t sure she could handle that. She’d never been licked standing up like this. Could her legs even hold up once he started?
Xander didn’t give her a chance to voice her concerns. One moment he was kissing and nibbling around her belly button, the next he put his right hand under her left thigh and spread her wide, forcing her to balance on one leg. The position was so sexy she started to tremble. Then he dragged his tongue up and down the folds of her pussy. He was doing a good job of holding her upright because she thought for sure she was going to lose it.
She reached down to bury her fingers in his hair, careful not to scratch him. Xander’s nimble tongue immediately zeroed in on her clit, alternating between little circles and broad licks.
“That’s so perfect,” she breathed. “Right there.”
Xander growled deep in his throat. Between the rumbling sound and the flicking of his tongue, Khaki thought she might come before he even got started. Not that she was complaining. This first orgasm had been building up since they’d left her place to go to work that morning, and she was more than ready to let go.
She rested her head back against the wall, held on tight, and enjoyed it.
Since she didn’t want Xander’s neighbors to call the cops, she did her best to keep her hand over her mouth and stifle the screams when she came. It worked—at first. But then Xander pushed her back against the wall even harder and lifted her off the floor as he licked her.
She said the hell with it then, and screamed.
Only after the last tremors of her climax faded did he finally set her down on the floor again. Her legs were so wobbly she had to reach down and put her hands on his shoulders to keep from falling.
Xander slowly straightened to his full height, grinning like he knew exactly how wicked he was. “I love hearing you scream like that.”
She smiled up at him. “I love that you can make me scream like that.”
The chuckle he let out was more of a growl. “Maybe we should take this to the bedroom before you fall down.”
He took her hand and turned to lead her toward the back of his apartment, but she tugged him back. “Not so fast. You don’t think you can make me come like that and just walk away, do you?”
Xander frowned in confusion, but when she pressed him up against the same stretch of wall she’d just been leaning against, he got the idea. And when she started kissing her way down his hard, muscular chest toward his belt, he definitely did.
Khaki dropped to her knees and wrestled with his belt, then the buttons on his pants. She was getting used to working with her claws. She’d just gotten her hand around his rock-hard cock when Xander’s soft, deep voice interrupted her work. “You might want to watch out, you know—for those fangs.”
Khaki laughed as she leaned forward and moved her lips slowly across the tip of his penis. “Don’t worry. I’ll be very careful down here.”
As she flicked her tongue across the broad head of his thick cock, they both let out a low growl of appreciation. She slowly moved her hand up and down his shaft, using only her tongue to tease the most sensitive parts. He had given her one hell of an orgasm, and she wanted to return the favor.
She established an easy rhythm, taking her time and working her mouth in counterpoint to the motion of her right hand. She let her left hand roam freely up and down his muscular thighs, then across his abs.
Xander buried his fingers in her hair, not to control her movements, but merely encouraging her. She didn’t need any encouragement. She could do this the rest of the night. Although she had to admit she was aching to taste him. If it was like everything else about him, she knew it was going to be amazing.
When his cock started to throb and swell under her touch, she realized she wasn’t going to have to wait long. He was getting close, which only made her go faster.
Xander growled and reached down with his other hand to cup her shoulder, trying to get her to stand up so he could drag her off to the bedroom or take her right there against the wall. She resisted. She knew what she wanted, and she wanted him in her mouth.
When he came, it was the most amazing thing she’d ever tasted, combined with the most rewarding and primal sensation she’d ever felt. It was hard to understand exactly why having Xander come so hard like this meant so much to her, but it did. It must have had something to do with the special bond between the two of them that Mac had described. It was like his pleasure was more important than her own.
Even once he was done, she kept him pressed against the wall with one hand. Nibbling. Kissing. Tasting. She couldn’t get enough of him. She wanted to keep going just so she could taste him again.
But Xander decided that enough was enough. He reached down and hauled her to her feet. His eyes blazed yellow-gold and his teeth were fully exposed.
“Are you going to walk to the bedroom?” he growled. “Or do I have to carry you?”
Khaki went up on tiptoe and kissed him. For all the intense passion filling the room, the kiss was soft, but she could feel the energy inside him waiting to explode at any minute.
She draped her arms around his neck, slowly and deliberately wrapped one leg around his waist, then the other. His hands immediately cupped her ass to support her.
“Take me to your bed, Xander,” she whispered huskily. “And do anything you want.”
His eyes flared even brighter at that, a long, low growl rumbling through his body and into hers.
Xander kept his eyes locked with hers as he headed to the bedroom. She was going to enjoy whatever he had in mind for her.
* * *
“How long before I can get my shifting under control, at least enough so that I won’t sprout claws and fangs every time I think about you naked?”
Khaki snuggled against him, her head on his shoulder. The scratches she’d given him healed even as she watched.
When Xander didn’t answer, Khaki wondered if he’d finally given in to exhaustion and fallen asleep. But then she realized his heart was beating too fast for that.
“It’s different for every person,” he finally answered. “But I wouldn’t worry about it. You’re learning exceptionally fast. I wouldn’t be surprised if you have it under control in a couple of weeks.”
She let her fingers trace around the wolf head tattoo on the left side of his chest. “But it seems like I don’t have any control over it at all when I’m excited or aroused.”
He chuckled. “I seem to remember you having pretty good control over it when you were giving me a blow job. Trust me, I noticed.”
She scraped her nails—completely human now—across his tattooed chest and told him to shush. “That’s only because I was completely focused on you at the time and not thinking about anything else.”
“Which I appreciate,” he said. “But I should also point out that you pretty much just proved my point. When you get past the emotions and the excitement, you have it in you to control your abilities. You simply have to learn to focus. It’ll come with time. And we have lots of that.”
* * *
“What made you go through your change?” Khaki asked.
Xander lazily ran his fingers up and down her arm. “I was working narcotics in Kansas City when it happened,” he said. “When I first transferred into the unit in late 2003, it was full of really good people. Unfortunately, most of them rotated out a few years later, and the people coming in… Well, they weren’t really the same caliber. We went from a unit of cops who would do anything for each other to individuals looking out only for themselves. They started with skimming drugs and money, and it just went downhill from there. Sleeping with the female CIs and junkies, taking bribes, even selling the crap we confiscated from the dealers.”
“Why didn’t you transfer out?”
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He hesitated. It still hurt to think about how bad things had gotten in such a short period of time.
“I thought about it,” he admitted. “But I was young and naive enough to think I could fix the situation if I stayed. Instead, all I did was watch the unit fall apart from the inside out.”
“What about your partner?” Khaki asked.
He grimaced, glad she couldn’t see his face. “He was a senior detective with lots of commendations and one hell of a reputation for getting the job done the right way. The guy was my frigging hero.”
Xander stopped and swallowed hard, then cleared his voice. All this had been years ago. Time should have made the pain fade, but it hadn’t.
“I expected him to step up and do something about the crap going on, but instead he started taking money to look the other way and spent more time sleeping with junkies than working.”
“And you still thought you could fix the situation on your own?”
Xander sighed. “No. I knew I was in over my head by then. But by the time I finally decided to transfer out, the unit was in the middle of a big undercover operation and my supervisor asked me to hold off the transfer request until it was over. I agreed, thinking that another week or so wouldn’t matter.”
“Is that when it happened?”
He gently curled the end of her long, silky hair around his finger. “Yeah. We had two new gangs that had been trying to take over the city’s drug trade. The plan was to take them both down at the same time. The idea was to use their greed and distrust of each other against them, making them rush into buying our drugs rather than letting the other gangs get them first. It would have been hard to pull off if everyone had had their heads screwed on straight, but with the cops we had, it was a disaster waiting to happen. We didn’t find out until later, but the gangs knew exactly what we were planning. And rather than run, they decided to send a message to the entire KCPD by killing all of us.”
