Chapter 15

Khaki had found a hiding place inside one of the minivans moments before Jeremy came around the corner. She held her breath as he walked past her, only a few feet between them. If he’d turned and looked her way, he would have seen her. But he didn’t, and as he slowly moved past her, she finally let herself breathe again. She didn’t move, not even after he was out of sight. Instead, she stayed where she was and tried to push the sharp pain in her leg and the dull throb in her stomach to the edges of her perception.

But no matter how hard she focused, the calmness she needed to shift wouldn’t come. It wasn’t surprising, considering she had to keep half her attention on Jeremy. She was so wrapped up in trying to put herself in the forest scene Xander always used with her that she didn’t realize Xander was actually there in the junkyard with her until his scent brought her back to reality.

She had no idea how Xander had gotten here, and she didn’t care. All that mattered was that he was, and that she had to warn him about Jeremy.

As slowly and quietly as she could, she crawled out of her hiding place. The pain shooting through her leg made it hard to move quickly, but she managed to get to the open door of the minivan without sounding like a herd of escaped monkeys.

Khaki was about to congratulate herself when she saw Jeremy standing on the far side of the row, staring at Xander like he’d seen a ghost. Although he was shocked to see Xander in the middle of the deserted junkyard, it didn’t stop him from reacting with his perfect killer instincts.

Khaki was shouting Xander’s name even as Jeremy raised his weapon. But it was too late.

She screamed as Xander jumped aside to avoid the shot, only to be smashed violently to the ground, where he lay motionless as Jeremy raced toward him.

She leaped out of the minivan but stumbled to her knees. Her leg had practically gone numb while hiding in the van and now it didn’t want to move as fast as she needed it to. She lifted her head and saw Jeremy come to a stop in front of Xander and raise his rifle for a head shot. No matter how much damage Xander had survived before, she knew he would never survive that.

There were twenty long yards between her and Xander, and she’d never get there in time with her wounded leg not cooperating. She needed to shift now.

Khaki closed her eyes and tried to remember what Xander had taught her. Step one, stay calm and breathe. Which was nearly impossible knowing Jeremy was only a few seconds from shooting the man she loved.

She shoved that thought away and focused on the memory of Xander’s soft, sexy voice as he talked her through that first werewolf lesson in his apartment. She remembered how calm he’d made her feel, how easily she’d shifted her eyes that night.

“Think of a wolf running through the forest, jumping over dead trees, leaping across a stream. Think about the sun going down, your eyes widening to take in the dim light as your claws dig into the loose soil.”

She blocked out everything else, thinking only of Xander’s voice and how much she loved him.

Her heart slowed and she smiled as she remembered how it had felt when her claws had come out that night. She hadn’t even been thinking about it when it happened. Because she’d been thinking about Xander.

When she thought about Xander now, everything finally clicked. She heard his smooth, confident voice telling her that she was the most beautiful woman—the most beautiful werewolf—in the world. That she didn’t have to force herself to shift, but instead had to let herself do it. That she had to simply allow herself to be what she was supposed to be.

She heard Jeremy say he was going to put Xander out of his misery. But more than the words, she heard the gloating tone, knowing that the monster Jeremy had become reveled in killing Xander because he was important to her.

As if on command, she felt her claws slide out. With them came an overwhelming wave of confidence. She could do this; she knew it.

The change kept going and she felt her jaw flex as her fangs pushed their way out. The muscles of her arms, shoulders, neck, and back hummed as strength and power flowed through them. She felt an urge to keep going, to see how far her body would shift, but she didn’t have the time. Xander would die right now if she didn’t act.

She was up and running toward Xander before she even opened her eyes. When she did, everything around her was brighter and more alive, every smell and sound clearer and more defined. Even her emotions felt rawer and more electric.

Jeremy smirked as Xander got to his feet, no doubt letting him do so just for the thrill of putting him down. A fury unlike anything she’d ever felt tore through Khaki. With a growl, she launched herself the last five yards toward Jeremy, flying through the air like the graceful animal inside her.

Jeremy whirled at the sound, his eyes going wide. She hit him hard, the impact sending both of them rolling. Khaki was immediately on her feet, lunging at Jeremy with a savage fury as she ripped the rifle out of his hands and tossed it aside. She advanced on him with a snarl, baring her fangs so he’d know what was coming.

“You’re a fucking freak like him!” he shouted in terror, scrambling away from her on his hands and feet. “I always knew there was something wrong with you.”

Khaki glanced at Xander to see him standing now but heavily favoring one leg. Blood spread from a wound on his hip, staining his jeans.

The rage inside her built up even more. It was bad enough that this bastard had shot her twice, but he’d shot Xander again. Khaki couldn’t let that go.

She turned to Jeremy as he backed up farther and farther. His shoulders thumped into one of the stripped-down minivans, forcing him to stop. He must have seen the rage on her face because he fumbled around in the dirt and weeds and came up with a three-foot-long piece of metal with sharp, twisted brackets mounted to the end.

Faster than she would have given him credit for, Jeremy was up and running at her. Seeing him coming at her with that homemade club set off something primal inside her. He swung at her head with the length of metal, but she caught it easily in her left hand, stopping its trajectory inches before it caved in her skull. At the same time, she brought her right hand up and wrapped her fingers around his throat, shoving him backward like he was nothing. She didn’t stop until she’d slammed him into the minivan, then she ripped the club from his hand at the same time she lifted him off the ground.

Anger made it hard to see, but she had no doubt that everything would be better after she killed Jeremy. The mere sound of him choking was already a calming salve to the injuries she’d sustained at his hands.

She heard herself growling and knew she was going to choke the life right out of him. A little voice in the back of her head told her she shouldn’t be doing this, that nothing would be better simply by killing him. But the animal part of her viciously dismissed that little voice.

Jeremy kicked with his feet, struggling against the grip she had on his throat, but Khaki barely even felt it.

She felt Xander’s gentle hand on her shoulder though, as well as heard his soft voice in her ear. “Khaki, it’s okay. We got him.”

She knew she should release Jeremy, but she couldn’t make her inner wolf obey.

Xander stepped closer. “Khaki, if you do this, you’ll be the monster and the freak he claims you to be. Sweetheart, please.”

Xander’s words tamed the wolf inside her and as her anger slowly disappeared, Khaki released Jeremy and backed away. He dropped to his knees, coughing and gasping.

Khaki looked at Xander, feeling the last of her rage slip away. Her claws and fangs quickly followed. The realization that she’d almost killed a man who couldn’t defend himself against her suddenly hit. Knowing she had that much anger and hatred inside her scared her, and she thanked God that Xander had been there to stop her.

She threw her arms around him and held on tightly, burying her face in his neck. “I’m so sorry.”

“Shh,” he whispered, his arms holding her close. “It’s okay.”

It was okay…now. She pulled back to kiss him when a shout behind her made her whirl in his arms just in time to see Jeremy coming at her with his makeshift weapon again. Except this time, she wasn’t in a position to stop him from hitting her or Xander with it.

She shoved Xander away, hoping she could at least protect him, but he spun her in his arms like she was a toy, yanking her to the side and blocking the length of metal with his arm. Something cracked and Xander grunted, but he shrugged off the pain from the blow, then ripped the club from Jeremy’s hand. Then he just as casually shoved her ex-boyfriend, knocking him on his ass.

Jeremy scrambled to his feet and lunged for the piece of metal again, but a deep growl from the side stopped him. Khaki looked over and saw Hale and Alex stride out from between two vehicles, gold eyes glinting, fangs flashing, and claws flexing. Then they stepped aside and made way for a huge wolf so tall he almost reached the other guys’ chests. The wolf stopped and stared at Jeremy, his eyes glowing and his lips pulled back to expose a lot of long, sharp teeth. Khaki had never seen any of the other guys in full wolf form, but the beast’s scent told her it was Cooper. She’d always thought of him as laid-back, but in wolf form he was intense.

All of them together must have been too much for Jeremy. He gave up on the piece of metal and instead took off running. Xander made a motion with his head and a moment later, Cooper, Hale, and Alex chased after Jeremy, their snarls and howls filling the night.

Sirens echoed in the distance as Xander pulled Khaki back in front of him and kissed her. She kissed him back even harder, so thankful he was okay, but then she cut the kiss short as she remembered the crack she’d heard when Jeremy hit him with that piece of metal.

“Your arm,” she said, gently cradling his forearm and carefully checking for breaks.

“It’s fine.” Xander cupped her cheek. “Are you okay?”

She grimaced. “Jeremy shot me a couple times, but it’s nothing that Alex or Trey can’t stitch up. Otherwise, I’m fine.”

Xander relaxed, but then frowned as the sounds of a struggle reached their ears from the other side of the junkyard.

“Do you think we’re going to regret letting Jeremy live?” she asked quietly.

“Probably. But it was the right thing to do.”

Khaki hoped Xander was right as they both limped their way toward the front of the junkyard and the unavoidable confrontation with Sergeant Dixon.

* * *

Xander insisted that Alex and Trey Duncan, the team’s other medic, take care of Khaki’s wounds first, but then she watched along with the rest of her squad as they dug around in Xander’s hip for the pieces of Jeremy’s .308 round that had broken up when it hit. She had no idea how the two medics did it, but it was as if they had some supernatural ability when it came to knowing where the bullet fragments were.

Mike and most of his squad were still out clearing the junkyard. Even though Jeremy was cuffed and safely tucked away in the back of one of the SWAT team’s SUVs, Mike was a stickler for procedure…and the procedure in this case was to clear the entire area before turning the scene over to the rest of the DPD.

Sergeant Dixon and Trevor were holding everyone—including Deputy Chief Mason—at the outer perimeter. That was good. If anyone saw the way Alex and Trey were digging around in Xander with forceps and scalpels, it might be a bit hard to explain. It looked more like torture than first aid.

The guys were just finishing up with Xander when the sound of fast-moving feet dragged Khaki’s attention away from Xander. Jayden ran into the clearing, carrying a big, bloody dog limply in his arms.

“Alex, get over here. Trey, you too,” the big man shouted. “This dog is still alive.”

Alex was up and running toward Jayden. Trey only waited long enough to swipe most of the blood off Xander’s hip, and then he was gone too.

Khaki helped Xander get his jeans back on; then they both gathered around with everyone else to watch as Trey and Alex administered medical attention to the dog.

Tears pricked her eyes as she realized the dog she’d thought was dead had been lying out there hurt the whole time. She’d been sure Jeremy had killed the poor dog along with his owner.

But Alex and Trey were doing their best to make sure that didn’t happen. As Trey got an IV started, Alex slid an air tube down the dog’s throat and started working the squeeze bottle. Under all the blood, it was hard to see exactly how bad the pit bull mix was injured. It looked like all three bullets that had hit the dog’s owner had hit the animal too, and she heard Alex say something about a collapsed lung. Could a dog, even one this big, survive that?

Khaki was so focused on the dog, she didn’t realize Sergeant Dixon and Deputy Chief Mason had shown up until Alex and Trey were loading the dog into one of the SWAT trucks for an emergency ride to the nearest vet.

“I’m really looking forward to reading the official report on this one, Gage.” Mason slowly surveyed the scene, then Xander’s and Khaki’s blood-soaked clothes. “As of this morning, all I knew was that Corporal Riggs would be recovering from major surgery at a private facility for several weeks. Yet, here we are twelve hours later, and I find out that Corporal Riggs was one of the first officers to respond to the scene where the man who tried to kill him was intending to murder a second SWAT officer. A man who is not only a suspended cop from Washington State, but is also Officer Blake’s ex-boyfriend.”

Gage opened his mouth to answer, but a ranting Jeremy cut him off.

“I’m telling you, they’re monsters!” he shouted. “They have claws and fangs and these glowing eyes—”

The uniformed officer didn’t even slow down as he led Jeremy from the SWAT SUV to a patrol car. “Uh-huh. Tell it to your lawyer.”

“A suspended cop who is apparently going for an insanity defense,” Mason added.

Shaking his head, he walked off to talk to a DPD officer who was setting up crime scene tape around the perimeter. Khaki couldn’t believe the deputy chief hadn’t wanted a complete report right then and there, but she was glad he didn’t because she wouldn’t have been able to explain half the stuff that had happened, at least not to someone who wasn’t a werewolf.

But Mason’s departure had left them completely alone with Sergeant Dixon. Well, except for the rest of the Pack standing a few feet away. Unlike the deputy chief, Dixon looked pissed.

Xander took her hand, holding on protectively as Dixon frowned at them.

“It was bad enough that you two decided to get involved with each other, but since then your mistakes have gotten even worse,” he said.

“Getting involved with Khaki wasn’t a mistake,” Xander growled, his eyes flaring.

Khaki tensed, ready to get between Xander and their commander. The rest of the team was standing off at a distance, ready to help her if things got out of hand. But they knew this was something that she, Xander, and their pack alpha were going to have to work through on their own.

“But I’ll concede that I haven’t made a lot of good decisions besides that one,” Xander finished quietly.

Dixon glowered at Xander for a moment, then pinned Khaki with a look. “Xander told me that your psycho ex was in town since earlier this week. You never thought to mention that to me?”

Beside her, Xander flushed beneath his tan. Khaki knew he felt just as stupid as she did about ignoring the threat that Jeremy had represented. But Xander’s pride wasn’t going to let him admit that, and neither would hers.

“We thought we could handle it,” Xander grated out, his jaw flexing. “It wasn’t something we wanted to involve the Pack in.”

Khaki expected Dixon to tear into Xander for even trying to justify what they’d done—or rather, failed to do—but instead he snorted.

“That didn’t work out too well for any of us, did it?” Dixon asked. “Now there’s a psychotic killer on his way to prison who knows we exist.”

Khaki felt her legs weaken as all the air whooshed out of her lungs, and she tightened her grip on Xander’s hand. She opened her mouth to tell Dixon that she never wanted Jeremy to learn about the Pack, but her boss cut her off.

“Were you planning to kill Jeremy when you came out here, Khaki?”

“Whether she did or not doesn’t matter,” Xander said before she could answer. “She didn’t kill him, and that’s what’s important.”

Dixon gave him a hard look. “I was asking Khaki.”

Khaki squeezed Xander’s hand. “It’s okay,” she said, then looked at Dixon. “I did come here to kill Jeremy. When I realized that he was the one who’d shot Xander, all I could think about was tearing him apart. I knew in my heart that if I didn’t stop him, he’d come after Xander again, and I couldn’t let him do that.”

Dixon sighed. “I get that you had an overwhelming urge to protect Xander. Believe me, I get that. A few months ago when Mackenzie got kidnapped, I lost my mind. But when I went after the man who’d taken her, I went to get her back, not to kill him. In the end, the man ended up dead, but that was never my intent. Do you understand why that’s an important distinction?”

“I do now. I realize I let my rage and fear control me.” She gave him an embarrassed look. “I guess there’s still a lot I need to learn about being a werewolf.”

“But don’t worry, Gage,” Xander said. “You and the Pack won’t have to be responsible for teaching her. We’ll have our transfer requests on your desk in the morning.”

Khaki braced herself, expecting Dixon to tell them he wanted them that night. But after staring off into the darkness for a long time, he shook his head.

“Don’t waste your time. I’d only tear them up.”

Khaki did a double take. Beside her, Xander looked as baffled as she did.

“Back at the hospital you were more than ready to let Khaki and me walk away,” Xander said. “What changed?”

“I never said I wanted you out of the Pack.” Dixon’s mouth tightened. “I’m pissed at both of you, that’s for sure. Not for falling for each other though. I know more than anyone you had no control over that. I’m mad because you two forgot that at the end of the day, no matter how bad things get, the Pack will always have your back—that I’ll always have your back. If you had, maybe this situation with Jeremy wouldn’t have gotten so out of hand. You’ll be a member of the Pack forever, even when you screw up. What kind of hypocrite would I be if I booted you out after everything I put the Pack through with Mackenzie? Besides, she’d kill me if I even tried it. But no more secrets. Understood?”

Khaki let out the breath she’d been holding. She turned to smile at Xander, but then realized he was still staring at Dixon intently.

“What about Khaki?” he asked. “Is she still on my squad? Because that’s nonnegotiable.”

Khaki tensed again. Standing twenty feet away, the other guys on the team stiffened as well.

“That depends,” Dixon said, leveling his gaze at Xander. “Can you be her squad leader and her mate at the same time? Because that’s nonnegotiable, too.”

Crap. Just as it looked like everything was going to be perfect, reality intruded.

“Can you treat her like every other member of your squad when you’re on duty?” Dixon asked. “Can you put her at risk when the mission calls for it? Can you let her do her job without you having to be there every minute to keep tabs on her? Because if you can’t, she can’t be on your squad. Regardless of what the other guys on your squad might say now, sooner or later, it’ll cause problems. Can you really do what it takes be both her squad leader and her mate?”

Khaki’s breath caught. Xander’s jaw was so tight, she thought it might crack. He was going to say something he’d regret; she just knew it.

“He can do it because I won’t have it any other way,” she interrupted. “If I’m on his squad, I’ll do my job just like the rest of the guys. If that puts me in danger, then that’s the job. And if Xander tries to stop me, I’ll transfer to Mike’s squad on my own.”

Xander wanted to argue, but when she frowned at him, he closed his mouth.

Khaki turned to Dixon. “That work for you, Sergeant?”

“That works for me.” He glanced at Xander. “You okay with that?”

Xander scowled. “Do I have a choice?”

“No,” she and Dixon said together.