Gage’s shoulders were broader; his brow heavier and more furrowed; his hair longer; his stubble thicker; his ears slightly pointed at the tips; his jaw wider; his canine teeth now long, dangerous-looking fangs; and his eyes no longer a soulful brown, but a deep yellow-gold so bright they almost glowed. And on each hand, his nails had turned into wickedly sharp claws.
She was so focused on Gage, she completely forgot about the man with the leg wound until Gage growled and leaped fifteen feet to land behind the guy. The man grabbed the machine gun on the ground and rolled over to shoot, but Gage caught the weapon and ripped it out of his hands. He punched the guy in the face—hard.
That was it—one punch and it was over. But Gage still picked him up and slung him at least ten feet through the air to land in a crumpled heap near the entrance of the burning barn with his companions.
Gage turned to her, his body tense, his eyes on fire, and his lips pulled back in an angry snarl. Mac took a step back, her hands bringing up the pistol before she even realized what she was doing. That was when she noticed she was holding the camera, too. She was a journalist. Catching action on film was second nature to her—she did it without thinking.
When Gage stepped closer, she stepped back. He stopped and raised his hands in a silent gesture. He locked eyes with hers, and despite how afraid she was, the sadness there made her heart squeeze in her chest.
Mac shoved the camera in her rear pocket so she could use two hands to steady the gun. She wanted to think Gage wouldn’t hurt her, but she didn’t even know if the thing in front of her was Gage anymore.
“What are you?” she asked.
As she watched, the monster in front of her slowly shifted back into the form of the man she knew—or thought she knew. But the four dead bodies made it impossible to forget what she’d seen.
“I’m sorry you had to see that,” Gage said quietly. “And I’m sorry I scared you.”
The hurt in his eyes tore at her, but she refused to give in to it. “Answer my question. What are you?”
The muscle in Gage’s jaw ticked. “I’m a werewolf.”
A
werewolf?
It was insane.
And if she hadn’t seen the sharp claws and wicked fangs with her own eyes, she wouldn’t have believed it.
But she had seen them, and every suspicious thing she’d had no explanation for now made perfect sense—the feeling that Gage and the rest of his SWAT team were hiding something, the fact that they didn’t use their night vision goggles during their missions, the lack of concern over Martinez’s injury.
She looked at Gage’s shoulder. The gunshot wound that had been bleeding freely just a few minutes ago in the barn was now miraculously healed.
She thought back to how the SWAT team had reacted at the restaurant when Hardy’s men had come in, how hard they trained, how they’d survived a freaking house collapsing on them. And finally, she remembered the wolf-head tattoo that every member of the team wore.
She lowered the gun. “You’re all werewolves, aren’t you? The whole SWAT team?”
Gage’s eyes widened in alarm. “I know what you’re thinking, Mackenzie, but you can’t tell anyone.”
Was he kidding? This was huge, bigger than huge—the biggest story she’d ever stumbled on. Werewolves were real and she’d captured one on camera.
She took a deep breath. Crap. Werewolves were real, and a whole…pack…of them were employed by the city of Dallas. Did the chief of police know? What about the mayor? Were they werewolves, too?
How was any of this possible?
There was so much she wanted to know. Like who’d turned Gage into a werewolf and whether he’d turned all the other men in the unit.
But she couldn’t ask any of those questions yet. “The public has a right to know the truth.”
The worried look disappeared, replaced by one of irritation. Gage snatched the gun out of her hand and shoved it back in his ankle holster.
“Damn it, Mackenzie, this isn’t a game.”
What the hell did he have to be angry about? He was the one who’d lied to her.
That thought led to a place she didn’t want to go. Had Gage played her over the last several days, had he slept with her, because he was worried she’d find out he was a werewolf?
She opened her mouth to ask him when he slipped one arm under her legs and the other around her shoulder and swung her up in his arms like he was some damn caveman. She immediately struggled to free herself. “Let me go!”
He did, but only after carrying her thirty feet away from the burning barn. She stumbled backward and fell on her butt.
She glared up at him. “What the hell was that about?”
“That.”
Gage pointed at the barn, which was nothing more than a huge bonfire now. As she watched, the front wall fell in on itself, beams and flaming pieces of wood going everywhere, including where she and Gage had been standing.
He had saved her life—again.
She frowned as she realized the structure had collapsed on top of the three bodies lying outside the door of the barn, too. There’d be no mangled bodies for Gage to have to explain. If she didn’t know better, she’d think he had orchestrated that.
He held out his hand for her. After several long moments, she finally took it and let him help her up. But the moment she was on her feet, she put some distance between them. It was a joke—she’d seen how fast he could move.
In the distance, she could hear sirens approaching. Someone had called the cops. Gage swore under his breath.
“Mackenzie, you have to promise me you’ll never tell anyone about what you saw. If you breathe a word of this, my life, and the lives of every man on the SWAT team will be destroyed.”
His face was so earnest, it almost brought fresh tears to her eyes. “It won’t be like that, Gage. You’re a cop. You were defending us. You’ll be a hero. That’s the way I’ll write it.”
The sirens got louder as they drew closer.
Gage’s jaw tightened. “Yeah, if your editor doesn’t demand you change it,” he said bitterly. “Even if he doesn’t, what happens after that, huh? When the other reporters who aren’t as idealistic as you get ahold of the footage on that camera of yours and see how I tore that man apart? You think they’ll treat us like heroes? They’ll think we’re monsters.”
Mac flushed. She couldn’t very well say he was wrong when she’d thought the same thing a few moments ago. “It’s like I told you back at the restaurant. Secrets are better when they’re out in the open.”
“You don’t get to decide that,” he growled.
“People like me have a right to know that people like you exist.”
“Do you even hear yourself?” he demanded. “You were terrified of me, and we’ve spent the past two days in bed together. How do you think the rest of the world is going to react? The ones who don’t want to hunt us down and kill us outright will want to capture us and cut us up for research.”
“That’s not true.” Mac shook her head. She refused to believe they lived in a world where people would allow something like that to happen. “This isn’t the Dark Ages. People don’t go around in mobs carrying torches and pitchforks anymore. Not everyone is as bad as you seem to think.”
He snorted. “You’re right. Sometimes they’re worse. Walter Hardy comes to mind. Or have you forgotten he just sent men to kill us?”
“No, I haven’t forgotten,” she said. “All the more reason to let him and people like him know what you are. What the whole SWAT team is. He’d be terrified to go after you.”
The lights from the police cars flashed against the trees, getting closer. Gage muttered something under his breath. “I’m not going to be able to talk you out of writing this story, am I?”
Mac didn’t answer. It was her job to keep people informed. Why couldn’t he understand that? More importantly, why couldn’t he trust her to handle this in the best possible way?
The same look of sadness was back in his eyes, this time mixed with hurt. “At least give me twenty-four hours before you run it. I think you owe me that much, don’t you?”
If it were anyone else, she never would have agreed, but he was right—after what they’d shared, she owed him that much. In truth, she owed him a hell of a lot more. But she wouldn’t be doing her job as a journalist if she didn’t write this story. And maybe after it ran, he’d see that she was right and they could get back to that place they’d been before Hardy’s hired guns had tried to kill them.
Realizing she hadn’t answered his question, she nodded.
Half a dozen police cars came into view, their lights bouncing off the farmer’s field as they navigated the uneven terrain.
“I can’t protect you and my pack at the same time, Mackenzie,” Gage said. “You’re still a target. Be careful.”
Gage didn’t wait for a reply, but turned and strode across the clearing toward the police cars. Mac had been a target before and she’d always taken care of herself just fine, but for some stupid reason, knowing he put his pack ahead of her hurt. For the first time in her life, she wasn’t sure if she was doing the right thing.
It was almost 0200 hours by the time Gage got to the compound. Between giving a statement to the cops who’d responded to the incident, then the duty captain who’d come out after hearing who Gage was, he’d barely had enough time for a quick call to tell Mike he was okay before Deputy Chief Mason had shown up with a half dozen detectives and Internal Affairs. The newsies hadn’t been far behind. Cops getting called out to a rural farm area about reports of automatic weapons fire was one thing. Finding out that a member of the city’s SWAT team had been targeted and ambushed by seven foreign killers armed with those automatic weapons? That was something completely different, and it drew a lot of attention.
It had taken a long time to answer Internal Affairs’ questions. It was tough making up a story that explained everything that’d happened, especially when he was thinking of Mackenzie and what a damn fool he’d been to trust her. Luckily, the entire department had heard the rumors about Hardy bringing in some hired killers, so they were more than ready to believe the men had come to kill him and Mackenzie. The part they had a hard time believing was how one man—even if he was SWAT—managed to kill seven cold-blooded killers with just his off-duty weapon and his bare hands.
Gage had really outdone himself on that part of the story. He should get a freaking Oscar for his acting skills.
And while they were handing out awards, Mackenzie should get one, too, because she’d really made him believe she gave a damn about him. But all she’d ever wanted was a fucking story, and he’d been so convinced she was
The
One
, he hadn’t even seen it. Fool that he was, he’d thought he might be able to make one last appeal to her after Internal Affairs had finished with him, but Mason told him she’d asked if one of the uniformed officers could take her home.
While he was still mad as hell at Mackenzie, Gage was also worried about her. He hadn’t been making that crap up about her being a target. But as much as he wanted to protect her, his first priority was to his pack. Besides, she’d made her decision. She was probably back at the newsroom going over her video evidence and writing the first draft of a story that’d earn her another award for her wall, and end his life, and those of men who were like brothers to him.
It was his own damn fault. He never should have let her get so close. Hell, he should never have let her into the compound. But he’d been fooled by her smile and her pretty face—and yeah, her sexy body, too—and ignored the fact that she’d been after one thing and one thing only—a story. And when her smile and pretty face hadn’t gotten her anywhere, she’d used her body to get what she wanted. She’d slept with him and made him feel things that weren’t real. And when he’d gotten careless, she’d been there to record the whole thing.
So, why didn’t he hate her? Because he was in love with her. He had to be, right? Why else would he feel as if his soul had been ripped out?
Gage punched his code into the control on the compound’s gate and let himself in. The deputy chief had wanted him to relocate to a protective services safe house immediately, but Gage refused. When Mason insisted, Gage had told his boss he’d quit right there on the spot. That hadn’t earned him any future favors with his division chief, but it had ended the discussion, which was all Gage cared about. After tonight, he wouldn’t be working for the Dallas PD anymore anyway.
Gage closed the gate behind him, then headed for the training building. The guys were waiting for him inside. They looked concerned—and wired.
“Where’s Mac?” Cooper asked. “Is she okay?”
Gage set his duffel bag on the floor. “She’s fine. She’s probably at the
Dallas
Daily
Star
working on her story.”
Cooper frowned. “Probably?”
“What story?” Becker asked.
There was no easy way to say it so he might as well rip off the Band-Aid. “The story telling the world that the Dallas SWAT team is made up of werewolves.”
No one said anything. They all stared at him like he’d announced he’d just been abducted and probed by aliens.
“You
told
her?” Mike asked.
“I didn’t have to.” Gage couldn’t keep the bitterness from his voice. He quickly recounted the night’s events, keeping it as brief and to the point as he could. “I didn’t have a choice. I had to shift to fight them.”
Xander swore.
“Did she see you kill those men?” Mike asked.
“Worse,” Gage said. “She caught some of it on video.”
Xander wasn’t the only one who swore this time. Or shifted. They were all looking at Gage with yellow-gold eyes as if they wanted to tear him apart. But Xander was the only one brave enough to come at him with claws extended and fangs flashing.
Gage braced himself, letting out his claws and baring his teeth. Unfortunately, Mike and Nelson grabbed Xander, holding him back. Too bad. He wouldn’t have minded putting his fist in someone’s face right then, and something told him Xander would have given him a good fight.
“This is all your fault,” Xander snarled.
“Don’t you think I fucking know that?” Gage roared. He clenched his fists, welcoming the pain as his claws dug into his palms. “I never should have let Mackenzie step foot in this compound, but I did, and saying I’m sorry isn’t going to change it.”
“He’s right,” Mike said. “Our faces are going to be on every newspaper and television station in the country by tomorrow night. Let’s just worry about that right now.”
Xander pinned Mike with a glare, but only shook off his pack mate’s hold and stepped back.
“So, what are we going to do?” Lowry asked, his golden eyes filled with concern.
“Disappear,” Gage said. “Change our names and go somewhere no one can find us. There are already fake IDs and passports in the safe in my office, along with burner phones for each of us.”
They all looked stunned by that. He couldn’t blame them. Besides having a job they all loved, they had parents and siblings and friends they’d never be able to see again. Parents, siblings, and friends who’d be hounded by reporters like Mackenzie for a sound bite. She wouldn’t only destroy his pack in her quest for truth, she’d destroy the lives of everyone close to them.
Becker shook his head. “Damn. How long have you been planning this? Us going on the run, I mean.”
“Right after I recruited Xander and Mike,” Gage said. “I always knew there was a chance someone would find out what we are, and I wanted to be prepared.”
Xander looked at him scornfully. “And because you let some woman lead you around by the dick, we have to go on the run like the criminals we put in prison.”
Gage let out a soft growl. He didn’t need the reminder. “We don’t have a choice.”
“Yeah, we do,” Xander said. “We can get the video back from Mac and make sure she doesn’t talk.”
The entire room went still. Though whether it was because the rest of the Pack was shocked by Xander’s words or because they agreed with him, Gage didn’t know and he didn’t care. He fixed his senior squad leader with a hard look.
“Anyone who wants to try it will have to come through me first.” Gage slowly and deliberately locked eyes with every member of the Pack. “And you’d better be ready to kill me.”
No one seemed to want to take him up on it, not even Xander.
“Mackenzie said she’d give us twenty-four hours before she ran the story, but I want you all out of here before noon tomorrow,” he continued.
“Wait a minute. What about you?” Becker asked. “You’re making it sound like you aren’t coming with us.”
“I’m not. At least not right away,” Gage added. “I can’t leave until I make sure Hardy is no longer a threat to Mackenzie.”
Xander cursed. “I can’t believe you can even give a damn about her after what she did to us.”
“He gives a damn about her because she’s
The
One
for him,” Cooper said.
“That’s bullshit! There’s no one perfect mate for any of us.” Xander gave Gage a disgusted look. “And if you think there is, you’re a damn fool.” He shook his head. “I’m going to get some air.”
Gage watched him go. He was tempted to follow just to make sure Xander didn’t do something stupid, like go after Mackenzie. Because he’d meant what he said. He’d fight his entire pack before he’d let them hurt her.
***
Instead of running up to her apartment the minute the police officer dropped her off so she could start her story, Mac jumped in her car and drove straight to Zak’s apartment. She needed someone to tell her she was doing the right thing—or the wrong thing. Because she was so confused right then she didn’t know what to think.
As she knocked on his door a half hour later, she realized she probably should have called first. It was after midnight.
But Zak jerked open the door before she’d even finished knocking. He was wearing jeans and a Texas A&M T-shirt. The way his hair was sticking up all over the place made her think she’d woken him up.
“Mac, thank God! I’ve been worried as hell about you.”
Mac brushed past him. “I think I really screwed up.”
Zak shut the door. “I’ve been calling you for the past two hours. You’re all over the news. Something about machine guns and a barn catching fire. What happened?”
“Hardy sent a bunch of hired guns to kill Gage and me,” she told him. “But that’s not important.”
His eyes went wide behind his glasses. “You almost get killed and it’s not important?”
She waved her hand. “No. I found out what SWAT’s been hiding. And it’s huge.”
“O-kay.” When she didn’t elaborate, he frowned. “So, what is it?”
She opened her mouth, then closed it again. “Maybe you should sit down first.”
Zak gave her a curious look, but did as she suggested, parking himself in the overstuffed chair he’d had since his college days. Mac sat on the adjacent matching couch.
“Well?” he prompted.
Mac felt as if he was looking right through her. But he could always do that. The difference now was that she had something to feel guilty about.
“Gage is…”
A
werewolf.
It sounded crazy. She’d seen Gage turn into one and she could hardly believe it herself.
“Gage is…what?” Zak asked.
“He’s…” She tried again. And failed miserably. “Maybe I should just show you.”
She took out her camera and turned it on. Her finger hovered over the video playback button, but she didn’t click on it.
“Mac, I thought you dropped the whole idea of doing a story on SWAT.”
“I did. But then I found out what Gage has been hiding and I…”
“Damn Mac, you just couldn’t let this one go, could you?”
She looked up, shocked. He actually sounded mad at her. “It could be the biggest story of my career.”
Zak sat back, studying her from behind his glasses. “But if you run with it, you’ll lose Gage.”
She gave him a miserable look. “I think I already have.”
He sighed. “Maybe you should start at the beginning.”
Mac told him everything. Well, not everything. She didn’t talk about the sex, of course. Which meant there were huge periods of time throughout the weekend she didn’t mention at all. And she didn’t tell Zak the things Gage had shared with her about his life before SWAT, when he was an Army Ranger. She didn’t feel right sharing that.
But she told Zak the most important parts. About hanging around her apartment for hours doing nothing more than talking. About the feelings she had for Gage. And believing he’d felt the same things for her.
“So, what changed?” Zak asked.
She told him about going to her favorite restaurant out in Bonham and about Mike calling to tell them Hardy had sent men to kill them, then about the car ramming them, the chase through the woods, and finally the fight in the barn.
“Then when I went outside and saw Gage… Zak, he was…”
Mac faltered—again. Damn it. Why couldn’t she just say it?
“Was it illegal?”
She looked at Zak in confusion. “What?”
“Whatever Gage did,” Zak explained. “Was it illegal?”
“No.”
“Immoral?”
“No.”
“Did it save your life?”
She remembered the burning barn and the gunmen waiting outside to shoot her and Gage the moment they ran out. “Yes.”
“Now for a tough one,” Zak said. “Is Gage—or anyone else on the SWAT team—going to be hurt if you write this story?”
Exposing the truth was her job. She wasn’t responsible for what other people did with that truth once she exposed it. But then she thought about what Gage said—about people hunting him and his pack, conducting research on them, killing them—and she felt ill.
“Yes,” she said softly. “I don’t know what to do, Zak.”
He gave her a small smile. “I’m pretty sure you do, or you wouldn’t have come here to talk to me. You’re looking for someone to tell you it’s okay to do something your gut tells you is wrong. Sorry, but that’s not going to be me.”
Zak was right. “But there’s never been a time in my life when the story didn’t come first. I’m not sure if I know how to let this one go.”
“Mac, you just said Gage and the rest of the guys on the SWAT team would be hurt if you told anyone about what you saw him do tonight, right?” When she nodded, he continued. “Don’t you think Gage knew that?”
She remembered the terrified look on his face when he’d told her she couldn’t tell anyone what he was. “Yes.”
“And yet he did it anyway, even though he knew what it might cost him.”
Oh, God. If it hadn’t been for her, Gage would never have been in that barn in the first place. He would have taken out the bad guys in the woods. He’d changed into a werewolf because it was the only choice he had.
Tears welled up in her eyes.
“Gage loves you, Mac,” Zak said. “And I’m pretty sure you love him, even if you haven’t admitted it to yourself yet.”
Mac covered her face in her hands. How could she have been so stupid? And why could Zak see everything so clearly when she’d been so blind? She’d just screwed up the best thing that had ever happened to her for the sake of a stupid-ass story.
“Go talk to him, Mac.”
She lowered her hands to look at Zak. He made it sound so simple. “But how do I even begin to apologize to him?”