Gage just looked at him.
That was a relief. It’d be a shame if Gage traded in that Charger of his.
“Speaking of Mac,” Gage said. “She has a friend she wants you to meet.”
Alarm bells went off in Xander’s head. “Tell Mac thanks, but no thanks. I don’t do blind dates.”
“You sure? This friend of hers could beTheOnefor you.”
TheOne—capitalT, capitalO.TheOnesoul mate every werewolf supposedly had. A soul mate like Gage had found in Mac.
Xander had always been on the fence about soul mates. Part of him wanted to believe it was true, but his pragmatic side—okay, his cynical side—told him it was nothing more than silly folklore, no different than all the legends about moonlight, silver bullets, and werewolf hunters. Even after seeing Gage and Mac get together, he still wasn’t convinced. There was no denying they were amazing together, and Xander could admit he’d gotten caught up in the whole idea, but at the moment, he was more ready to believe it was random luck than cosmic werewolf destiny.
“The odds are probably greater that she’s a serial killer who got chased off Craigslist and is looking for her next victim the old-fashioned way,” Xander said drily.
Gage’s laughter was interrupted by the sound of voices in the hallway.
Xander gave his commander a sharp look. “I thought we were just meeting with Mason.”
“I thought so too.”
Gage stood as Deputy Chief Hal Mason walked in, so Xander did too. The chief was accompanied by two men and a woman. Xander recognized one of the men as the Dallas Chief of Police, Randy Curtis. That was weird. Curtis never got involved in the day-to-day police operations.
Xander saw Gage stiffen.Shit. That just ratcheted up his own concern another notch.
“Sergeant Dixon, Corporal Riggs.” Mason gave him and Gage a nod. “You know Chief Curtis, of course.” Mason gestured toward the other two people. “This is Janet Hayes, one of the department’s human resource managers, and Mitchell James, one of the lawyers who serves as an advisor to the city council.”
Xander said nothing as he shook hands with Curtis, then the other two people. He was already getting a bad feeling about this. What the hell did a human resource manager and a city council lawyer want with SWAT?
James smiled at Gage as they all sat down. “I’ve been looking forward to meeting you for some time now, Sergeant Dixon. I’ve followed SWAT’s work since I arrived in Dallas a few years ago. Your team’s record is truly amazing. But I have to tell you, I was especially impressed by how you handled Walter Hardy and kept him from fleeing the country.”
Xander almost laughed. The department’s official reports had downplayed the part of the story where Hardy had kidnapped Mac and tried to kill her. While they hadn’t lied, they’d left out certain critical details about what had happened at that private hangar where everything had gone down and let everyone assume the rest. Luckily, none of the local and national media had dug too deeply. That was a good thing, considering the SWAT team had pretty much torn Hardy and his men to shreds in the fight. The medical examiner’s office had concluded the bodies had been savaged by coyotes postmortem, and even though no one had ever seen any coyotes hanging around the Dallas/Fort Worth airport, that became the official story.
“I’m just glad that none of our own got hurt,” Chief Curtis continued before Gage could say anything. “You back that many desperate criminals armed with automatic weapons into a corner, and you usually end up with a bloodbath on your hands.”
“That’s just a testament to the quality people that Sergeant Dixon has brought onto his team over the years, and his commitment to demanding, rigorous training,” Mason said sharply.
Had Xander imagined it, or had Mason just snapped at his own boss? If he didn’t know better, he’d think Curtis was about to reprimand Gage and the team for something. If that was the case, Mason wasn’t on board with it—whateveritwas.
Curtis frowned but didn’t respond. Instead, he exchanged looks with James. The lawyer offered Mason a smile that just oozed bullshit. “I think everyone would agree with you, Deputy Chief. But I’m sure even Sergeant Dixon would admit we can make the SWAT team even better.”
Better?Their team was already the best in the state of Texas, if not the whole United States.
Xander slid his boss a sidelong glance to see Gage taking part in a staring contest with Curtis.
“Sir, maybe you should just tell me what this meeting is about,” Gage said.
The chief nodded, then looked at the woman from human resources. “Janet?”
The HR manager’s eyes widened. Did she think they were going to bite her?
“Of course, Chief.” She swallowed nervously, smoothing back her graying hair as she turned to address Gage. “Sergeant Dixon, I’m sure you’re aware of the police department’s goals with regard to diversity. We pride ourselves on having a department that’s as broad and varied as the population we serve.”
Xander frowned. Where was she going with this?
“What Janet is trying to say is that several members of the police union, as well as those from local civil rights groups, have raised concerns over the fact that there aren’t any women on the SWAT team,” James said. “You may not realize this, but your unit has developed a reputation as being something of a boy’s club. Since I’m sure that was never your intent, I’ve approached the chief with a plan to rectify that and improve the department’s image.”
Xander felt like he’d been punched. This was what he and the rest of the Pack had dreaded for years—that a regular, average human cop would get assigned to the team. If that cop were a guy, it would be bad enough. But if that cop was a woman? It would be a catastrophe. Having Mac around the compound those first few days had thrown the whole team into a tailspin. He couldn’t imagine how much worse it would be with a female cop, a person trained to be suspicious and notice things that others dismissed. He and the other werewolves in the Pack would never be able to use their supernatural abilities. They’d have to go back to acting like regular cops again. Everything Gage and the rest of them had worked so hard to build would be gone. And at some point, it would end up getting someone killed.
