Xander knew he should keep his mouth shut since this wasn’t his party, but the way they’d killed that woman, then left a hundred on her, knowing the FBI would find out, pissed him off.
“These guys are arrogant to a fault,” Xander said. “They’re going to stay and rub this in our faces. You can bet on it.”
For a moment, Xander thought Thompson would disagree simply to be an asshole, but the fed nodded. “That’s the FBI’s position as well. We have to assume the crew will still follow their same MO and hit another bank soon, if for no other reason than to show they can.”
Unfortunately, the FBI didn’t have a clue where the crew was going to strike next. Which was why they’d wanted everyone at this briefing, including SWAT. The feds needed access to every confidential informant and source the Dallas PD community had available. They knew it was the only way they were going to catch the bank robbers, especially now that their own source of information was dead.
So they spent the rest of the day calling everybody they knew, hoping someone had heard a rumor about somebody hitting a bank. While the tips came in and they started a list of possible targets on the whiteboard, Xander could tell that no one had confidence in any of them. His gut told him the bank robbers were going to hit their next target without anyone knowing about it in advance. These guys just seemed too good.
When they got back to the SWAT compound, Gage asked Xander, Mike, Jayden, and Cooper to come into his office to talk about what bank the robbers might hit next. Xander had hoped to give Gage a quick rundown of the meeting with the FBI, then take off, but he couldn’t bail, no matter how much he wanted to. It would be out of character for him and might make the guys suspicious. So he supported his end of the conversation as they discussed possible bank targets and where they might find reliable sources of info on the suspects.
Xander was doing little more than nodding occasionally while he thought about his date with Khaki that night when he realized the guys were talking about everyone’s new favorite subject—TheOne.
“What if you don’t realize the woman you’re with isTheOneand you screw up the relationship before you even have a chance to see where it could go?” Jayden asked.
“I don’t think you have to worry about that,” Gage said. “When you meetTheOne, you’ll know it. She’ll latch on to your soul like a dog with a bone and won’t let go. No matter what either of you say or do, it won’t change the fact that you’re destined to be together.”
Xander couldn’t argue with that. He only wished he would have realized it earlier, so he hadn’t wasted time trying to fight it.
“But what if you meet her and the stars don’t line up for you,” Cooper asked, leaning back in his chair. “What if she’s married? Or wants you to leave the Pack? What then?”
Gage shrugged. “There wasn’t anything I wouldn’t have given up to be with Mackenzie. I would have left the Pack to be with her, if it came to that. Trust me, if you’re lucky enough to findTheOnefor you—and I hope every one of you are—grab on to her with both hands and don’t let go.”
Xander felt his heart beat faster. He wondered if Gage would be giving the same advice if he knew Xander had foundTheOne, and that she was on the SWAT team.
* * *
Khaki wanted to hang around and wait for Xander, but she got the feeling he was going to be stuck in Sergeant Dixon’s office for a while. It might look suspicious if she sat at her desk with her eyes glued to the door for the next couple hours. She hoped the meeting didn’t run that long, because she was going crazy already. Even though it’d barely been more than twelve hours since they’d made love, she was already going insane with the need to be with him again.
So instead, she gave Mac a call to see if she could stop by.
“Definitely,” Mac said. “I want to hear how things are going with Xander.”
Khaki laughed as she squawked her tiny tires out of the SWAT compound parking lot. Mac was definitely in for one heck of a surprise.
Mac was waiting for her with a glass of iced tea and a bowl of pita chips.
“Okay, what’s the scoop?” Mac asked as soon as they sat down. “Is Xander still being his usual abrasive self?”
Khaki sipped her iced tea, then grabbed some chips. She should probably draw out the suspense a little and tease Mac with the truth, but she’d never been very good at playing games. Mac was her friend, and talking about her relationship with Xander was the reason she’d wanted to hang out with her in the first place.
“Xander and I slept together,” she said matter-of-factly, then added, “Although, if we didn’t actually sleep, does it still count?”
“You slept together?” Mac’s eyes went wide. “Last night?”
Khaki laughed, loving that she had someone she could share this with—someone who wouldn’t freak out about the fact that she’d just admitted to sleeping with her boss. A boss who also happened to be a werewolf.
“Last night,” she said. “And again this morning.”
“Okay.” Mac blew out a breath. “Maybe you should start from the beginning because the last time we talked, you were pretty sure Xander didn’t like you at all.”
Khaki shrugged. “I was wrong about that.”
“Obviously.” Mac grinned. “Spill. How did everything change so fast?”
Khaki sat back and sipped her iced tea again, then told Mac everything that had happened, starting with what had transpired down in the tunnels when they rescued Melissa Kincaide, detailing exactly what it was like to smell Xander’s attraction to her rolling off him in waves, then what it was like finally being with him, and finishing with their decision to keep seeing each other—and hide it from everyone in SWAT.
“You know that’s crazy, right?” Mac said. “If Gage finds out, he’s going to have a cow—horns, balls, and all.”
