“Let them go,” James said. “They’re bluffing. There’s no way the entire team will quit just because their commander wants to take his ball and go home.”
Mason shot James an irritated look. “Do me a favor and shut the hell up. You couldn’t even comprehend why cops get out of bed in the morning, much less how they decide who they’re willing to work—and die—for.” Mason turned to Curtis. “I told you this would happen. If there’s one thing the incident with Hardy should have taught us, it’s that every one of those men on the SWAT team live and breathe for Sergeant Dixon. If he leaves, I have absolutely no doubt they’d all leave with him. And trust me, another city like Houston, Austin, or San Antonio will scoop them up in ten seconds flat.”
Xander had always liked Mason—well, as much as he could like a man who was closer to being a politician than a cop. While Mason might back Gage, Xander doubted Curtis would do the same. The chief’s job was purely political.
Curtis worked his jaw as he looked from Gage to Mason and back again. “Gage, we’re in an impossible position here. Your team is the best in the country, but the city is going to get its way on this whether you and your men like it or not. And I’m with Deputy Chief Mason when I say we don’t want that to be at your expense. We need to put a woman on your team. How do we make that happen?”
Gage leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. “You let me pick the woman from a list of candidates I put together.”
Xander stared at his boss. Gage had to be shitting him. But his commander looked completely serious.
James opened his mouth to say something, but Chief Curtis silenced him with a glare.
“You have a deal, Sergeant,” he said to Gage.
Xander didn’t know whether to be relieved or not. He and the other guys in SWAT might not have to walk away from their jobs, but he didn’t see how they could stay focused if they added a woman to the team.
* * *
“You’re not serious about putting a woman on the team, are you?” he asked Gage as they walked out of headquarters. “You just needed time to figure out a way to get around this, right?”
Gage gave him a sidelong glance. “The chief was pretty damn clear. He wants a woman on the SWAT team, so I’m putting a woman on it. I’ve been thinking of doing it for a while anyway.”
That was news to Xander. He stopped, sure he hadn’t heard right. When Gage kept walking toward the team SUV, he jogged to catch up.
“Putting a woman on the team would be a nightmare. You know that,” he said as he started the engine and put the SUV in gear. “We’re werewolves. How the hell do you think we’re going to be able to hide that from her and do our job at the same time? And don’t even get me started on the whole pheromone thing.”
They might be men first and wolves second, but if there was one thing that could bring the whole Pack to its knees, it was the scent of a woman.
“We won’t have to hide what we are if the female cop I bring in is a werewolf,” Gage said.
Wait.What?
Xander had been hit over the head before, shot a few times, even blown up once, but none of those things had ever knocked him for a loop like that announcement.
He glanced at Gage as he turned onto the street and headed toward the SWAT compound. “Female werewolves exist?”
Gage chuckled. “What, did you think all werewolves were men?”
“Well…yeah.”
Which was rather stupid now that he thought about it. But he’d never heard of a female werewolf, much less seen one.
“They exist,” Gage said. “And I know where to find one I think will be perfect for the team.”
“Where?”
Gage pulled out his cell. “Washington State.”
“How the hell—?”
But his boss was already on the phone, making reservations for a flight to Seattle. Xander didn’t really have to ask. He knew Gage had set up Google alerts for anything related to cops, firefighters, EMTs, and people in the military who seemed to do amazing things after experiencing a traumatic event. It was how Gage had found most of the guys on the team, including Xander. His boss had gotten really good at spotting werewolves trying to hide who they were.
But a female werewolf? It was going to take a while to get his head around that. What would she look like? Would she be big and muscular like all the guys on the team? Would she be overly aggressive and prone to fighting—again like the guys in the unit?
Worse, would she get facial hair when she partially shifted? He shuddered. Damn, that wasn’t a pretty image.
The bigger question was how the team was going to react when they heard Gage was bringing her in to SWAT. A female werewolf would satisfy Chief Curtis’s demand, but it had the potential to create even bigger problems.
