by Paige Tyler
At the risk of looking like a complete stalker, Mac climbed behind the hedges to peek through the window. The living room was empty. So was the kitchen. She cupped her hands against the glass and leaned closer. Then she frowned. In the light coming from the kitchen she saw that the framed photos were no longer on the wall above the bookcase. That was odd.
She shifted to see better into the kitchen. But all she saw was a neat pile of stuff on the counter. She couldn’t make out everything from this distance, but she recognized Gage’s cell phone sitting on top. Okay, that was even weirder.
Oh, crap. What if he’d asked her to wait twenty-four hours so he and the rest of the team—his pack—could leave town?
She suddenly broke out in a cold sweat. Gage had left, and she was never going to get the chance to tell him she’d made a mistake. Or tell him that she loved him.
Tears blurring her vision, Mac stumbled out from behind the hedges and ran to her car. Gage wouldn’t leave without making sure his pack was safe first. Hopefully, they’d still be at the compound planning or coordinating, or whatever it was werewolves did before they went on the run.
She didn’t take her foot off the gas the entire way there. It was only by some miracle she didn’t get pulled over.
She breathed a huge sigh of relief when she stopped outside the gate and saw that the parking area was full of vehicles. Gage’s Charger wasn’t there, but again, that didn’t mean anything.
Please let him still be here.
Mac hurried over to ring the bell, only to jerk to a halt when she heard a low, menacing growl. Yellow eyes gleamed in the darkness. She cringed when she saw it was Xander. Why couldn’t Gage have been the one prowling around out here? Or Becker. Hell, anyone but Xander. The senior corporal had never been warm to her, but after the explosion at the meth lab, she thought maybe he’d thawed a little. He probably hated her more now. One more thing she’d damaged.
Eyes narrowing, he scanned the darkness behind her before giving her a look that could have melted paint off a car.
“I knew Gage was stupid to believe you’d actually give us time to get out of here.” He snarled, showing her a pair of wickedly sharp canine teeth. “What, did you decide you need some more footage before you wrote your story? Maybe get some pictures of the freaks running for their lives?”
Her face flamed. “It’s not like that.”
“Really? Then how is it?”
Xander’s eyes flashed and she had to force herself not to take a step back at the anger rolling off him.
She moved closer to the gate and looked him straight in his yellow eyes. “I’m here to apologize to Gage. And to tell him that I won’t be telling anyone about your…pack.”
Xander couldn’t completely hide the surprise that came over his face, but he sure as hell tried. “And you expect me to believe that?”
She swallowed hard. “I know you don’t have any reason to trust me or believe anything I say, but I’m hoping you’ll at least give me a chance to talk to Gage.”
He snorted. “Trust me, Gage isn’t interested in seeing you right now. He’s a little busy trying to get us all out of the country before the mob of angry villagers shows up with their torches and pitchforks.”
She hooked her fingers in the chain link. “I don’t blame him for not wanting to see me. I said some really stupid things tonight. I only want to make it right.”
Mac thought she saw doubt creep across Xander’s face, but it disappeared too quickly to be sure. “You don’t get it, do you?” he asked harshly. “You didn’t just hurt him. You definitely messed him up good, that’s for damn sure. But more than that, you threatened the safety of his pack. That’s not something you can fix by batting your eyelashes at him and saying you’re sorry.”
His pack. When Gage had used the word before, she hadn’t truly realized what it meant. The SWAT officers weren’t merely a team—they were a family. She’d not only ripped out Gage’s heart, she’d threatened his family. Why the hell would he listen to a word she had to say?
Tears flooded her eyes and she blinked them back. She had to talk to him. If for no other reason than to let him know that she’d never tell a soul about his pack. Even if she couldn’t get him to listen to anything else, she wanted him to know he wouldn’t need to look over his shoulder for the rest of his life. After all the damage she’d inflicted, that was all she could hope for. It would have to be enough.
She gave Xander a beseeching look, not caring that her eyes were wet with tears. “I don’t know if I can fix this either, but I have to try. Five minutes, that’s all I’m asking for. If Gage wants me to leave after he hears what I have to say, I’ll go. I promise.”
Xander was silent for so long she was afraid he’d turn around and walk away. But instead he unlocked the gate and jerked it open.
“You’ve got five minutes,” he told her. “You’d better make them count.”
Mac had to practically run to keep up with Xander as he led the way to the training building. When they got there, he yanked open the door and waited for her to go ahead of him. She took a deep breath and walked in…and immediately felt like she’d stepped off a bus at the wrong stop.
Fourteen pairs of yellow eyes turned her way. There was shock in some of them, disbelief in others, and outright hatred in the rest.
Gage wasn’t with them.
The place looked as if it’d been ransacked. Maps covered one whole table. Passports and cell phones were scattered across another. And in the center of the room there was a pile of black duffel bags. They were getting ready to leave, and they were traveling light.
Where would a pack of werewolves go to disappear? And would Gage split them up or try to keep them together?
It didn’t matter. If she didn’t convince them to stay, she’d never know.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Cooper demanded.
Mac flinched. “I have to talk to Gage.”
Her words were met with deep-throated growls that made her shiver. If she wasn’t so in love with Gage, she probably would have turned and fled. Not that she would have gotten very far with Xander behind her, breathing down her neck.
“You should leave now, Mac,” Cooper said. “Before this gets ugly.”
She swallowed hard. “I can’t leave. Not until I talk to Gage.”
Trevino advanced on her, teeth bared, claws extended. Brooks, Martinez, and Nelson joined him, their golden eyes on fire.
Mac was thinking she might have to run for the door after all when Xander stepped in front of her, putting himself between her and the men. She barely had time to recover from her shock before Becker and Lowry moved to stand beside Xander, appointing themselves her protectors.
The growls around the room got louder.
Crap.
Mac wanted to think they wouldn’t fight each other, but she realized she didn’t know a damn thing about how werewolves behaved. Maybe they fought each other all the time.
“That’s enough.”
Gage’s deep voice cut through the snarls and the growling immediately stopped.
Mac stepped out from behind the solid wall of muscle in front of her to see Gage standing in the doorway of his office. She started to hurry over to him, but he froze her with a glare.
“What do you want, Mackenzie?” he demanded. “You agreed to give us twenty-four hours before you told anyone. It’s barely been five.”
Had it really? It felt like it had been a lifetime to her. She glanced at the other men, then looked at him. “Can I talk to you alone?”
“I don’t have time for this, Mackenzie. We’re leaving in ten minutes. Anything you came to say to me can be said in front of my pack. So, just say it and get out.”
The anger in his voice was almost more than she could bear. Tears clogged her throat and she couldn’t find her voice. But she had to say something, and fast. Gage looked as if he was ready to walk back in his office and close the door.
She took a deep breath and let it out ha
lfway—just like Gage had taught during their shooting lesson. “I’m sorry.”
Gage shrugged. “No need to apologize. You’re just doing your job, right?”
“No! Well…yes, but…” Mac shook her head. This wasn’t coming out the way she’d rehearsed it. “You were right when you said it wasn’t my secret to tell.”
Gage’s brows drew together. “What are you saying, Mackenzie?”
“I’m saying that I’m never going to tell anyone about what you are.” She looked at the other men. “Any of you.”
Becker cocked a brow. “And we’re supposed to just take your word on that?”
She reached in her back pocket and pulled out her camera, holding it out to him. “Take it. I have no story without it. No one would believe me.”
Becker took the camera. “How do we know you didn’t already download it?”
They weren’t going to make this easy on her, were they? “Would I be here now if I did?”
“Maybe you’re trying to keep us in town long enough for your story to hit the street,” Gage said softly.
She turned to see him standing a few feet away. It broke her heart to see the distrust in his eyes. “I wouldn’t do that.”
He snorted. “Forgive me if I find that a little hard to believe. A few hours ago you had absolutely no problem telling the whole world about us, regardless of what it cost.”
Mac blinked back tears. Xander had been right—she couldn’t fix this. She’d burned every bridge behind her and there was no going back. Why hadn’t she thought before she’d opened her big mouth back at the barn?
“I know it’s no excuse, but I’ve spent my whole life chasing one big story after the next. When I realized what I stumbled onto, the journalist in me took over.” She moved to close the last little distance between them and looked up forlornly into his beautiful eyes. “But when I stopped to think for just a few minutes, my head had a chance to catch up and I knew I’d done something really stupid. I’d thrown away the chance to be with someone special. Someone I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.”
Gage didn’t say anything. He just stared at her like he didn’t know what the hell she was babbling about.
A tear trickled down her cheek and she wiped it away with a hand that shook. “When we were back at your apartment, I said you could tell me anything. When you decided to trust me with your biggest secret, I betrayed that trust. And for that I’m sorrier than you’ll ever know. I know that I have no right to ask you to trust me now, but I’m begging you to believe me when I say I won’t tell anyone about you or your pack.”
Another tear found its way down her face, and then another. This time she didn’t wipe them away. There was nothing left to say. Either Gage would believe her and stay, or he wouldn’t, and she’d never see him again.
Golden eyes held her captive. “What made you change your mind?” Gage asked.
Mac thought it would have been obvious why she was standing here in front of him pouring out her heart. But maybe it wasn’t. Maybe Gage assumed it was because she had a guilty conscience.
She looked around the room. The other men were regarding her just as intently as before. Only now, the open hostility that had been on their faces had been replaced with curiosity.
Could she tell Gage what was in her heart in front of them? But if she didn’t, nothing she already said would mean anything.
Mac wiped away the tears on her face. Then she took a deep breath, lifted her chin, and told him the truth.
“I love you.”
She held her breath, waiting for him to say something. And waited…and waited…and waited.
But Gage just stood there still as a statue, his face unreadable.
“Um, Sarg. I’m not real familiar with this part, but I think you’re supposed to say something,” Cooper said softly.
Gage still didn’t say anything. Instead, he took her hand and led her across the room toward his office. Before she had time to think, they were in his office and he’d closed the door behind them. He was standing so close to her that it was almost hard to breathe.
“Just like that?” he asked hoarsely. “You’re going to just spring that on me in front of everyone?”
Was he angry? Her stomach lurched at the thought. But she’d said it, and there was no taking it back. “I wanted to talk to you privately, but you wanted to talk right there in front of your pack, so I said it in front of them.”
He slipped a finger under her chin and tilted her head up. “And were you telling the truth?”
Mac pulled away from his finger. He might be the injured party in this whole thing, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t hurting, too. And right now, his attitude was annoying. “Of course I was, but I doubt you’d believe me no matter what I said.”
He slipped his finger under her chin and very gently lifted her face up again. “Try me. Say it again—just to me.”
His eyes were glowing that deep gold-yellow they’d been back at the barn. It was hard to look into those eyes and not be drawn in. She licked her lips. It had almost been easier to say those words with a crowd around her. But it was impossible to be this close to him and not say what she felt.
“I love you,” she told him softly, not pulling away this time. “Is that so impossible to believe?”
“Impossible? No,” he murmured. “But surprising? Yes. Just a just a few hours ago, you were ready to expose my secret to the world. Now you’ve decided that you’re in love with me?”
Before dropping his finger, he let it trace down the line of her throat just a bit. She tried not to let herself shiver at his touch. She’d never expected to feel it again.
“Can I ask what brought on this epiphany?” he said.
“I’d like to claim that I figured it all out on my own, but to be honest, it was Zak.”
Gage frowned. “You told Zak about us?”
She took a step back so she could think straight. “That you and the rest of the SWAT team are werewolves? No. But I did tell him about you and me. It didn’t take him long to point out that I was destroying the best relationship I’ve ever had, with the only man I’ve ever loved.”
Gage smiled just a little, but it felt like the sun finally coming out after a really long rain. “Pretty perceptive…for a guy.”
“True,” she agreed. “He’s good at seeing the things I frequently miss, and he’s never afraid to tell me when I’m being stupid.”
Gage was the one to close the distance this time, and she sighed when she felt his big hands slide down her arms to pull her even closer. “So you love me, huh?”
She dropped her head. “I know you don’t have any reason to believe me, but it’s true.”
“I believe you.”
She looked up at him. “You do?”
He nodded. “I’d know if you were lying. When a person lies, their pulse races, their breath hitches, their muscles tense. They even release certain pheromones. You’re not doing any of that.”
She frowned. “You can smell if a person is lying?”
“Uh-huh. And hearing you say those words and knowing you aren’t lying…that means a lot.”
Her pulse kicked into high gear. “Does that mean you won’t be leaving?”
His mouth curved. “I suppose I don’t have a reason to leave now, do I?”
She shook her head, fresh tears forming in her eyes—the happy kind this time.
Gage searched her face, his yellow gaze bright. “Does it bother you when my eyes are like this?”
She shook her head, not trusting herself to speak, afraid she’d say something wrong again and destroy everything.
“And is it hard for you to be this close to me—to have me touching you—knowing what I am?”
“No.” She gave him a sheepish smile. “I’m just glad you’re still willing to touch me.”
He pushed her hair back, gently cupping her face in his hand. “I never wanted to stop.”
Mac caught her lip between her teeth. As much as she lo
ved hearing him say that, it only reminded her that even though they were standing close together, and even after all that had been said—the apologies and declarations of love—there was still a tremendous yawning chasm between them. There was one more leap of faith she’d need to take before they could completely close that gap. If she didn’t make the first move, he might always think she feared what he was.
She went up on tiptoe and gave him the gentlest of kisses, hoping it would convey how much she loved him.
The glow in his eyes flared, then he bent his head and kissed her back. That kiss started out tenderly, too. But as her hands found their way to his chest and he pulled her against him, his mouth moved more urgently over hers, his fingers twisting into her hair.
And just like that, it was as if none of the idiocy had ever happened.
When he broke the kiss, Gage’s eyes were back to their normal deep, honeyed brown, and he stared at her with the hunger she yearned for. Mac pulled him down for another kiss, but he stopped her with a look.
“I love you, too,” he whispered.
Gage’s actions at the barn had proclaimed his feelings for her far better than any mere words, but still…the words were nice. Really nice.
Then he was kissing her again. Knowing she’d regained what she’d been so sure she’d lost made her so giddy she felt like screaming. But with Gage’s pack—she still couldn’t believe how easily that rolled off the tongue—right outside in the other room, a scream probably wasn’t a good idea.
So, she did the next best thing and started undoing the buttons on his shirt.
Gage lifted his head to look at her with an arched brow. “You know werewolves have really good hearing, right?”
Huh. No, she didn’t know that. She smiled up at him, working at his buttons until they were all undone and she had a view of his chest and abs all the way down to his belt. She slid her hands under the edges of his shirt and caressed those exquisite muscles.
