Xander shrugged as he reached for the shampoo. He squirted some on his head and let it run down his face, thankful when the stuff blocked the scent Khaki had left lingering in the locker room.
“She’s raw as all get-out, but she has a natural instinct for anything related to cop work,” he said as he washed his hair. “She’d never even held a Sig until two days ago, and I’d already put her up against almost any guy on the team. She’s picking up the M4 faster than anyone I’ve ever seen, and she can climb and rappel like a frigging monkey.”
Xander cringed as he rinsed the shampoo out. Shit, could he gush any harder? But he was being honest. Outside of the little issue she had navigating the House of Doors in the dark, Khaki was turning into one hell of a SWAT officer. Now if he could just get used to being around her without feeling like his body was in sexual overdrive. Maybe with a little more exposure, she wouldn’t have such a drastic effect on him.
“Glad to hear she’s doing so well,” Mike said.
Xander didn’t miss the glance his friend threw his way. Next to Gage, Mike was his closest friend in the Pack, but Xander’d already had a really shitty day and he wasn’t in the mood to wait for the guy to get to the point he was so obviously trying to make.
“What the hell does that mean?” he demanded.
Mike shrugged as he turned off the water and walked out of the shower. “Nothing. It’s just that some of the guys think you’re pushing Khaki too hard.”
Xander bit back a growl. Obviously someone on his squad had told Mike about what had happened in the House of Doors. That bothered the shit out of him. If someone didn’t like the way he was doing things with Khaki, he should have the balls to tell him to his face, not tattle to someone outside the squad.
He turned off the water and stormed out of the shower, grabbing his towel and angrily scrubbing it over his chest.
Mike glanced over his shoulder at him. “Take it easy. You’re starting to shift.”
Xander hadn’t realized his claws were out until he looked down at his hands. He quickly ran his tongue over his teeth to see if his fangs were out and damn near cut himself on their sharp tips. He took a deep breath and forced himself to relax. A moment later, he felt everything retract back to where it was supposed to be.
What the hell was wrong with him? He hadn’t lost control like this so many times in a single day since he’d been a freshly changed pup.
“I guess I hit on a sore subject, huh?” Mike said as he pulled on his jeans. When Xander didn’t say anything, he continued. “So, have you been pushing her too hard?”
Xander opened his mouth to ask who the hell had told him but then shut it again. Who it was didn’t matter. Why they’d done it did. And he already knew the answer to that. Because they knew it was time someone talked to Xander, and they knew that Mike was the best one to do it.
He shoved his towel in his duffel bag and thought about the way he’d been treating Khaki, not just this morning, but the previous two days as well, and he cringed. When he hadn’t been scowling at her, he’d been shouting at her to go faster, or be more aggressive, or stop thinking like a cop and start acting more like the werewolf she was.
Doing those things wasn’t out of character for him—he always wanted the best from his guys—but the way he’d gone about it was. Standing here now, he couldn’t remember even one time he’d told Khaki she’d done something well, not even when she’d done it better than anyone else in the squad ever had. And then this morning? Yeah, he’d crossed the line.
“Shit,” he muttered. “I suppose I have been.”
“Mind telling me why?” Mike took his shirt out of his locker and shrugged into it. “Because it isn’t like you to be an ass.”
Xander started getting dressed too, mostly to give himself a chance to figure out what to say. How the hell could he explain to Mike why he’d been such an ass to Khaki when he barely understood why himself? He wanted to teach her to be the best SWAT officer she could be, but if he didn’t maintain some distance between them, every guy in the Pack would figure out how attracted to her he really was. He didn’t understand it and it scared the hell out of him—especially the part where it seemed like he wasn’t in control of himself when she was around.
Of course, he couldn’t say any of that to Mike. They were best friends, but Mike was also about as by-the-book as it got. If Xander admitted what he was feeling for Khaki, Mike would definitely tell Gage. No matter what else was going on, the thought of Gage transferring Khaki to Mike’s squad almost made Xander’s heart stop beating.
But Mike was waiting for an answer.
“I’m just feeling the pressure to get her trained as fast as possible,” Xander said.
“Bullshit,” Mike said. “There’s more to it than that. I know for a fact that you thrive on impossible challenges. What’s really got you going?”
Why couldn’t Mike simply let it go? Xander grabbed a T-shirt from his locker and pulled it on, trying to come up with something that would satisfy his friend’s curiosity. He couldn’t lie. Mike’d pick that up in a hot second.
“Shit, Xander. Don’t you think Khaki deserves the best training you can give her?”
Xander’s head rocked back like he’d been punched. Where the hell had that question come from?
“You know I do,” he growled. “Why the hell would you even ask me that?”
Mike finished lacing up his sneakers and stood. “I was wondering if the reason you’re being such a dick is because you don’t want a woman on your team.”
This time Xander felt his claws and fangs come out. But Mike stood his ground, his eyes turning golden and his fangs sliding out too.
“Are you frigging kidding me?” Xander shouted, clenching his hands into fists to keep from ripping Mike’s head off—literally. “After all the years we’ve worked together, you pick now to start having such a low-ass opinion of me? How could you even think I’d pull something like that—treat Khaki like shit—just because I didn’t want her on my squad?”
