“Bummer.” Jayden let out an exaggerated sigh. “So what do we do, play rock, paper, scissors to see who gets to shower first?”
Khaki was willing to gamble for the first shot at the showers, but Riggs stepped in and put an end to the negotiations before they even started.
“Blake, you’re showering first. And since Becker’s game obviously didn’t tire out the rest of you, how about we try a couple more laps around the obstacle course?”
The guys grumbled but fell in behind Riggs as he led the way.
“Don’t take all morning in there,” Hale called over his shoulder.
“And don’t use up all the hot water,” Cooper added.
Khaki laughed as she jogged to the admin building and ran upstairs. She grabbed her toiletry bag, then stripped off her T-shirt and shorts, and hurried into the open shower. Riggs would probably keep the guys running laps until she finished, but she didn’t want to take any chances. As she squeezed shower gel onto her pouf, her mind wandered to all those sweaty, hunky guys outside. They might be her teammates, and so full of testosterone that they were literally a danger to themselves and each other, but God, they were hot. She was looking forward to more of these early-morning PT sessions, especially if it included the aforementioned guys running around with their shirts off.
But as she ran the soapy pouf over her naked body partaking in a little harmless daydreaming about her studly teammates, she found herself thinking less about all the guys and more about one of them—Xander Riggs.
She tried to make sense of that, wondering if it was just a werewolf thing because he smelled so damn good and her nose was so freaky keen. But that didn’t make sense. She wasn’t fantasizing about his scent. She was fantasizing about his naked body all covered in sand—and her.
That made even less sense. It was obvious Riggs didn’t think much of her and she really wasn’t too fond of him, but thinking about her squad leader was doing crazy things to her pulse. Not to mention other parts of her anatomy. Her fingers dug into the pouf as she caught a whiff of her arousal. That was new. She knew she was excited, but she hadn’t realized her scent was so strong she could smell it.
If she hadn’t been in a rush, she would have touched herself.
Definitely not a good idea. All she needed was for one of the guys to come running upstairs to see what was taking her so long to find her bringing herself to orgasm in the showers.
Khaki turned the shower to cold and tried to immerse herself in as many nonsexual thoughts as she could.
It didn’t take long to come up with something. All she had to do was remember what it was like seeing the guys shift. That had been freaky. And amazing. The guys were fast, strong, and fearless as all hell in their human form. But when they shifted like they had, it was as if they turned into some kind of superheroes.
She frowned as a thought struck her. What happened if she had to play the rabbit next time and they found out she couldn’t do what they could do? Because in the three months she’d been like this, she’d never once sprouted fangs or claws, and she was pretty sure she would have known if her eyes had started blazing like theirs. Maybe female werewolves didn’t display the same kind of attributes that the males did.
Worse, what if they expected her to be able to do that werewolf stuff as part of her job? She’d done well keeping up with them this morning, but she’d seen the way they’d navigated the obstacle course. They used their werewolf talents to move in ways she couldn’t. What happened when they found out she wasn’t the same kind of werewolf?
Oh, crap. She was so screwed.
* * *
Khaki leaned back against a table in one of the training buildings, trying not to let her nerves show. Looking at all the chemical jars, glass beakers, Bunsen burners, and plastic baggies scattered around, it was obvious the place had been set up as a mock drug lab. And an impressive one at that. But she and her squad weren’t here to talk about taking down drug dealers. Riggs had brought them here to talk about integrating her into the SWAT team—and more importantly, what was expected of her.
Riggs grabbed a dusty wooden chair and spun it around, then straddled it, draping his muscular arms over the back and fixing his gaze on her.
“I’ll give you the same speech I give everyone when they join my squad,” he said. “When it’s just us working together, you can call me Xander. When Sergeant Dixon, other cops, reporters, or the brass is around, I go by Corporal Riggs.”
She nodded. “Understood.”
“Gage said you had some issues with your last job,” Xander continued. “He didn’t give me any details, and I don’t want them. I don’t care about any of that, and neither do the other guys. You bust your ass and lay it on the line for the rest of us, and every one of us will take a bullet for you.”
Khaki wasn’t quite sure how to respond to a speech like that. Should she growl or grunt…or something? In the end, she went with what came natural for her—being honest.
“Thanks. I’ll do my best not to let any of you down.”
Xander nodded and looked at the other guys. They all lifted their chins in a sign of approval that all men seemed to know how to do from birth.
“Okay, now that we’ve got the pleasantries over with, let’s get to the real reason we’re here.” Xander was the kind of guy who got right to the point. “As of now, our squad is on limited-duty status until we get you up to speed and off probationary training status. And we need to do that as quickly as possible.”
Trevor, the SWAT team’s armorer, frowned, his brown eyes wary. “How quick is quickly?”
“Gage wants Khaki ready for limited field ops in a week, fully qualified in two,” Xander said.
Khaki didn’t know much about SWAT, but that sounded a little ambitious.
