Or it would have been if Cooper hadn’t defused the situation with one simple question.
“Mac’s
The
One
, isn’t she?”
Gage didn’t answer. He didn’t have to. The rest of the Pack retracted their claws, suddenly more interested in debating whether the myth was real—and what that meant for the Pack. If Mackenzie Stone was really
The
One
for him, would it keep her from spilling their secret if and when she discovered it? Did the intense attraction have the same effect on her, too?
Gage hoped to God it did, but he didn’t know much about it. Unfortunately, neither did Cooper. But before Gage could say anything, dispatch had called about the hostage situation at the mall.
“Should we drive through again and get you another burrito?”
Mackenzie’s soft voice interrupted his thoughts and he looked down to see he’d not only eaten the entire burrito, but had practically licked the wrapper clean, too.
He grinned and crumpled the wrapper. “Nah, I think I’m good.”
She didn’t look convinced. “You can have some of mine, if you want.”
“Thanks, but I think it’s time we get you home. It’s late.”
She didn’t protest as he started the car. It was well after midnight and she looked as exhausted as he did. She finished the rest of her burrito in silence, then leaned back in the seat.
Gage had to resist the urge to pull over just so he could see if her lips were as sweet as he remembered from that afternoon. He tightened his grip on the wheel and forced his attention back to the road. Xander had been right. He didn’t think clearly when he was around her.
Xander was right about something else, too. Mackenzie was a distraction to the team. Gage had thought they were tense because they were worried she’d stumble on their secret, but now he realized it was because her pheromones were making them crazy. Mackenzie was jonesing bad for him and his pack knew it.
Gage thought again about what Cooper said. He’d never believed the myth about every werewolf having one perfect soul mate waiting somewhere out there for him. He’d always thought it was something werewolves came up with to explain why they had such shitty luck with women. They had shitty luck with women because werewolves were moody, secretive, aggressive, and just plain crappy at connecting on a human level. Or so he’d thought. But maybe Cooper was onto something. Maybe Mackenzie was
The
One
.
What else explained why he couldn’t think clearly when he was with her? Because he’d dated a lot of women, and none of them had ever had this kind of effect on him.
And
how
do
you
know
she’s not just playing you?
Brooks’s words echoed in his head. What if he was so blinded by Mackenzie that he couldn’t see what was right in front of him?
Gage glanced at her as he pulled into the parking garage. She could barely keep her eyes open, she was so tired. Looking at her right then, he was ashamed for even thinking she might be using him.
“Do you want to come in for a while?” Mackenzie asked when they got to her door.
Man, he wanted to. But he needed to put some space between them if he was ever going to sort out the jumbled mess of emotions he was feeling.
“It’s late and we’re both beat.” He brushed her hair back from her face. “Rain check?”
“Of course,” she said, then frowned. “Are you sure you’re not too tired to drive home? Maybe you should stay and sleep on the couch.”
He chuckled. “If I stay, something tells me neither one of us will be getting any sleep. I think it’s better if I go.”
“Okay.” She gave him a stern look. “But you have to promise to text me and let me know you got home, okay?”
“I will.” He tilted her face up to gently kiss her on the mouth. The feel of her lips under his was enough to make him say the hell with it and take her up on her offer. He needed to get out of here. Now. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She smiled and went up on tiptoe to press her lips to his once more. “Count on it.”
Damn, she was making it hard to believe she wasn’t
The
One
. Why else would it be so hard to turn and walk away from her?
Mac usually needed four alarm clocks set five minutes apart and positioned in different places around the room to force herself to get out of bed in the morning. And that was when she got up at a reasonable time like eight o’clock. But last night, she’d set all four clocks for 6:00 a.m. so she could get to the SWAT compound before Gage had to run off and save the world like he’d done yesterday.
But he and half the team were already loaded up and ready to roll by the time she pulled into the parking lot. Not about to let him leave without her this time, Mac jumped in the passenger seat of the SUV Gage was driving.
“You’re perky this morning.” Gage gave her a sidelong glance as he followed the big operations vehicle out the gate. “Guess you slept well.”
After everything she’d seen yesterday at the hotel, it wouldn’t have been a leap to think sleep would be a long time coming last night. But she’d gone to bed with only one thing on her mind—Gage. And thoughts of him had brought her the best night sleep she’d had in…well…forever.
Mac’s smile quickly turned into a frown when she noticed the tight lines etched around Gage’s mouth. He looked more exhausted than he had when he’d dropped her off at her place.
“Did you get any sleep last night?” she asked.
“Yeah, I got a few hours. But unfortunately for me, I don’t look as good as you this early in the morning, especially when I haven’t had my coffee yet.”
Gage must have noticed her concern, because he chuckled. “Don’t worry. I’m off duty for the next two days, so I’ll be able to catch up on my rest.” The look he gave her made her breath hitch. “Unless I have something better to do, of course.”
“Like have dinner together?”
The words sounded casual enough, but her pulse was going a mile a minute. All she could think about was what had happened between them the last time they’d had dinner together.
A grin tugged at one corner of his mouth. “You feel like Chambre Francaise again?”
She licked her lips. “I thought maybe I could make dinner for you again. Say tonight?”
His grin broadened. “Sounds good to me.”
Mac opened her mouth to ask what he wanted for dinner, but the radio squawked with a bunch of static, then all those codes and police jargon Zak always translated for her. Gage picked up the hand mic and spoke a few terse sentences into it. Something about maintaining the perimeter and not using any sirens.
“So, what do we have?” she asked.
“Drug lab…meth probably.” He glanced at her, all business now. “An anonymous caller reported all of the typical telltale signs of a meth lab. They also reported seeing automatic weapons, so the on-scene commander asked us to go in first.”
Where just a few moments ago, a warm, pleasurable sensation had been, now a cold, stomach-clenching fear existed. She’d almost forgotten what Gage did for a living.
“Isn’t that dangerous?”
Gage shook his head. “They won’t even know we’re coming until we kick in the door. That’s why I told them to maintain the perimeter at four blocks. Plus, half the people in those labs are usually drugged out of their minds. We’ll be in and out of there in ten minutes.”
He sounded so confident and sure of himself Mac almost found herself believing him. Then she remembered all the shooting and blood from the day before, and her stomach clenched even more tightly.
***
Mac promised Gage she’d stay in the operations vehicle, but right after he left, the signals on the monitors kept going in and out. She supposed it was because they were parked so far away. Regardless, she couldn’t see or hear anything. She wished Zak were there. He’d know how to fix the darn things.
She pulled her small camera from her back pocket and climbed out of the operations vehicle. She still couldn’t see Gage, but at least she could see the house. Plus, she could take photos. There were a half dozen uniformed officers and detectives behind the big vehicle with her, so she was safe.
After she and Gage had arrived, he’d had a short conversation with Lieutenant Weaver, the lead officer from the narcotics division, then instructed Trevino to take up a sniper position on the roof of a nearby building. Gage, Cooper, and Delaney had immediately disappeared around the left side of the suspected meth lab, while Xander and the other three members of his squad had gone around the right. Mac kept her ear glued to the radio in Weaver’s hand, waiting for the signal that SWAT was about to enter the building. Gage had told her that as soon as they took the automatic weapons out of play, the rest of the cops would go in.
Mac chewed on her lip as she clicked a few pictures of the house. The place didn’t look like much. While it was dilapidated, there wasn’t anything about the two-story structure that made her think it was a drug lab. Granted, the paint on the casement window was a little suspicious, but a lot of homeowners did that so people on the sidewalk wouldn’t be able to see into their basement. Obviously the person who’d reported it to the cops knew more than she did.
“We’re in position.” Gage’s voice was soft and sure as it came through the radio. “Breaching the doors in ten. Over.”
Mac jumped when she heard the battering rams strike the doors. It was immediately followed by the sound of flashbang grenades exploding. She braced herself for the weapon fire she knew was coming next, but there wasn’t any. Ten seconds passed, then fifteen, but the inside of the house was quiet. That was a good thing, right?
Next to her, Weaver thumbed the button on the side of his radio. “Dixon, what the hell’s happening in there?”
Gage didn’t answer.
Weaver swore under his breath and thumbed the button again. But whatever he was about to say was lost as a deafening boom echoed in the air. Pieces of wood, metal, and concrete sailed over the operations vehicle, raining down on Mac and the cops with her.
She ducked, covering her head with her arms. What the hell?
It took a minute for Mac to make sense of the smoking debris around her. It was Weaver shouting into his radio, ordering dispatch to send as many ambulances as they had, that finally broke through the fog enveloping her.
She scrambled to her hands and knees to see around the operations vehicle. The dilapidated-house-turned-meth-lab was gone, leveled to the ground, and in its place, was a heap of rubble.
Gage.
Mac was up and running across the street toward what was left of the house as fast as her legs could move. She was halfway there when someone grabbed her arm and dragged her to a halt. She fought against the grip, but it was as strong as steel and wouldn’t give an inch.
“Mac, stop!”
The hand on her arm spun her around and she found herself looking up at Alex Trevino. Where the hell had he come from? “I have to get to Gage,” she told him. “He and the other guys were in there.”
Trevino transferred his grip to her shoulders, holding her still as he looked deep into her eyes. “I know. And I’m going to get them out. But I can’t do that and worry about you, too. I need you to stay here. Can you do that?”
She thought she nodded, but she wasn’t sure. It must have been good enough for Trevino because he ran toward the house.
Mac followed despite her promise, but stumbled to a halt within a few feet. Trevino was right. She couldn’t help Gage or the other men by climbing into the smoldering wreckage of the house. She’d only get in the way.
So, she stood there, feeling useless as the other police officers caught up and passed her. She watched as they joined Trevino in the remains of the building, shouting for the SWAT officers by name.
While smoke was rising steadily from the remains of the house, there wasn’t a lot of fire. That had to be good.
But there was still so much damage. Most of the walls were gone, along with the roof and a good portion of the second floor. Jagged pieces of beams and steel pipes stood up in crazy angles, a testament to the force of the blast that had destroyed the place. She’d seen photos of meth labs that had blown up, but in person, the aftermath was a hundred times worse.
Mac was almost afraid to move closer, but she couldn’t hang back anymore, either. As the minutes slowly ticked by, she lost more and more hope. There was just so much damage. No one could survive a blast like that, no matter how much training they had or protective gear they wore.
She couldn’t explain why, but it felt as if she’d lost something that would have been very important in her life. Not something—
someone
.
Mac didn’t realize she was crying until she tasted tears on her tongue. She choked back a sob. She couldn’t stand here and watch while they pulled Gage’s body from the rubble.
“Over here!”
She spun around, her heart pounding. Trevino was clawing at the chunks of concrete and pieces of brick like he was possessed.
Mac hurried over, trying to see around the cops who’d stopped searching other parts of the house and moved to help. She was afraid to hope, afraid to believe.
Alex grabbed a section of what used to be part of a brick wall and tossed it aside like it weighed nothing. Underneath, there was a set of steps leading under the house and into the basement. Mac’s heart beat even faster. Just because some of the SWAT officers might have made it to safety and survived the explosion didn’t mean Gage had been one of them. But as Trevino reached down into the blackness, she couldn’t stop hope from surging through her.
A bloody hand grasped Alex’s. The team’s sniper pulled, yanking a man from the rubble. He was covered in black soot and bloody scrapes, but there was no mistaking Xander. A uniformed cop tried to throw a thermal blanket around the squad leader, but Xander shrugged it off, instead turning to help pull someone else out of the basement.
Men climbed out one by one. First Cooper, then Delaney. And after them, Becker, Lowry, and McCall. Mac hadn’t realized she’d climbed into the wreckage of the house until Trevino and Xander had dragged the last man out of the basement.
When she saw Gage, Mac’s tears flowed even harder and faster than before. He was covered in soot from head to toe, but he was alive.
Thank
you, God.
Mac heard Weaver ask Xander if there was anyone else in the house, but she didn’t hear his answer as she stumbled through the rubble at a run and threw herself into Gage’s arms. She almost knocked him back down into the basement, but he didn’t seem to care. He hugged her to his dirty uniform as she buried her face in the curve of his neck and cried.
She completely forgot they weren’t alone until she pulled away and saw Cooper standing there with a knowing grin on his face. Embarrassed, she lifted her hand to wipe the last traces of tears from her cheeks when she caught sight of Xander’s arm. He was bleeding. So were Lowry and Becker.
“Oh God, I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t know you guys were hurt. I saw Gage and I…”
Xander’s mouth edged up in what looked like a smile, though it was difficult to tell under all the soot. “Don’t worry about it. We’re fine.”
“Like hell you are,” Weaver said. “You’re all a bunch of bleeding pincushions and everyone is getting a free ride to the hospital.”
None of the SWAT guys looked too happy about that. Remembering how Martinez had declined medical attention when he’d been shot, Mac wouldn’t be surprised if they got in their vehicles and went back to the compound to treat their cuts, scrapes, and abrasions themselves.
But Gage squashed that idea. “He’s right. Everyone’s getting checked out—no exceptions.” He grinned at her, and suddenly she felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. “You ever ride in an ambulance before?”
***
Gage knew he wasn’t the only one who was steaming mad. His entire pack would walk out of the hospital with him if he gave the word. Unfortunately, the doctors and nurses weren’t going to let them out of here anytime soon. Which meant he had to lie in this damn hospital bed and stew. He wasn’t really mad at the medical staff. They were just doing their jobs, even if they were a pain in the ass with all their stupid tests. No, he was pissed because that freaking meth lab they’d been lured into had been a trap, and he knew exactly who was behind it.
Walter Hardy had tried to kill them, and if they’d been regular cops, he would have succeeded. The only reason they weren’t dead was because werewolves were damn hard to kill.
That said, they were still beat up. Of all of them, Xander and Becker had gotten the worst of it, which meant they’d probably be staying in the hospital overnight for observation. But as soon as Gage could leave, he was going to pay Walter Hardy a visit and let him know exactly how SWAT took care of its own.
Gage dropped his head back on the pillow and stared up at the ceiling. Werewolves or not, he and his men had been lucky. They’d all sensed something was wrong the second they’d breached the doors and entered the house. Instead of coming face-to-face with people wielding automatic weapons, the place had been empty. It had smelled wrong, too. Gage hadn’t been able to place the odor, but Cooper recognized it. Gage and the others had already begun to spread throughout the first floor with weapons at the ready when the explosives expert had shouted out one word—
bomb
.
Gage knew in his gut that there was no time to get everyone out of the house before the device detonated, especially since whoever had set it was probably somewhere nearby with his finger on the remote. Even if they managed to escape, they would never have survived the blast and frag that went with it. That was when he’d ordered everyone into the basement.
Unfortunately, he, Cooper, and Delaney had been too far away from the stairs leading under the house to even consider them. So, he’d done something he rarely ever did anymore and let the beast inside free, allowing most of his upper body to shift more than it had in years. His shoulders, arms, and chest had bulked and twisted so quickly it was painful, but the temporary agony was worth it as he crouched down and drove his fist into the cheap linoleum floor in the kitchen. Two savage punches later, the floor caved in, leaving a ragged hole barely large enough for him and the other two men to fit through.