Ignoring his rapidly hardening cock, he took off his jeans, then got down on his hands and knees and began taking long, steady breaths. He’d done this in front of the guys a lot of times and never felt nervous, but doing it in front of Khaki was different. She didn’t say anything, but he could feel her gaze on him as he stretched his muscles, preparing for the shift.
He hadn’t been kidding when he said a full shift looked freaky. What he hadn’t mentioned was that it felt a little freaky too. Transforming his muscles and bones into a different shape required the movement of a lot of stuff. It had felt bizarre and a little scary the first few times he’d shifted, but he’d done it enough to be comfortable with the strange sensations that came with a full shift.
When the bones of his hip and back started to break and pop out of place, he relaxed and breathed through it. Luckily, the same werewolf powers that made gunshots feel like bee stings prevented the breaking bones and tearing muscles from making him pass out from excruciating pain.
Even so, Xander didn’t look at Khaki during the change. He didn’t want her seeing his face twist and contort as he shifted from human to wolf. Just seeing the rest of his body go through that kind of a transformation was going to be traumatizing enough.
Khaki hadn’t run screaming from the room yet. That had to be a good sign.
When he was done, Xander lifted his head and was shocked to see Khaki sitting on the floor beside him. He searched her face, but it was impossible to read her expression.
She slowly ran her hand down his flank. Her touch was tentative at first, then became more confident, her fingers burying themselves in his thick fur. Soon enough, she was running her hands all over him, caressing his fur, exploring his thick chest muscles with her fingers, using her sensitive nose to memorize every square inch of him.
When she got to his head, she went up on her knees to grab his ears and tug him down for a closer look, her eyes full of amazement. He had an irresistible urge to lick her face with his big, wet tongue, but he controlled himself. She seemed to be comfortable with his full wolf form, but there was no reason to push it.
Gently holding him in place, she moved her face closer until her forehead was touching his much broader one. The position put them almost eye to eye and she stayed like that for a long time, looking at him in wonder.
“You have to teach me how to do this,” she said softly. “Seriously, like right now.”
Xander chuffed, the closest he could come to a laugh. He should have realized a woman like Khaki wouldn’t be scared off by seeing him shift into a wolf. It would just make her want to try it herself.
He wished he had the ability to speak. If he could have, he would have told her that he’d teach her everything she wanted to learn. There was no reason to rush any of this. Now that he’d found hisOne, he wasn’t ever letting her go.
Chapter 13
“Okay,” Hale said as he showed her how to get a grip on his wrist and shoulder in preparation for a jujitsu-style body throw. “Remember to get your hip into my groin before you twist or you won’t have the leverage to throw someone bigger than you without having to rely on your werewolf strength.”
Khaki moved slowly through the motions of the martial arts move the team’s resident black belt had been teaching them for the last hour. Xander and Trevor were in the office doing paperwork, but the rest of the squad was standing outside watching, already having taken their turn.
She eyed Hale skeptically. He easily had a good eight inches of height and about a hundred pounds of muscle on her. Nobody her size should be taking on a dude as big as he was without having access to werewolf muscles. “So, why can’t I rely on my werewolf strength again?”
“Because you might have to take down a suspect where other people can see it,” he told her. “It might not be fair, but if a man my size puts a big guy on the ground, it isn’t likely to raise any eyebrows. But if a woman your size does it, seemingly by pure muscle—”
“It’s going to attract unwanted attention,” she finished.
“Exactly.” He grinned. “So, let’s see what you’ve got.”
Khaki wrapped her hand around Hale’s thick wrist the best she could and started the twisting takedown move he’d shown her. But when she came to the part where she was supposed to yank him over her hip and take him to the ground, he stood there like a freaking tree trunk and gave her a shove that sent her sprawling instead of him. That earned her a few laughs from the guys. Not that they laughed very hard since all of them were dirty from getting their asses whooped too.
“You have to use your butt to shove me off balance before you try to throw me, or it’s never going to work,” Hale said. “Try it again.”
She climbed to her feet with a grumble and got back into position, but when she tried it again, she only ended up on her ass.
Hale offered a hand to help her up. “Let’s team you up with somebody else and see if it works better.” He glanced at the guys. “Becker, get over here.”
Becker was at her side in a flash, making her—and everyone else—laugh.
“Be gentle,” he said as she got a grip on his wrist and shoulder. “It’s my first time.”
“Somehow I have a hard time believing that.”
Laughing, she shoved him off balance with her hip and executed the flip move. Becker was only a couple pounds lighter than Hale, but he didn’t resist quite as much when she started to move. Maybe he was just better at being a practice dummy, or maybe he wasn’t as experienced as Hale, but regardless, Becker went over her hip and landed in the dirt with a thud.
She’d done it! She’d put down a guy who outweighed her by a hundred pounds without using her werewolf strength. She hadn’t done it as smoothly as Hale did, and she fell over Becker in the process, but hey, he was on the ground.
The guys applauded as she climbed to her feet and helped Becker up. She was about to ask him if he wanted to try again when she realized he was looking at her strangely. Then he leaned forward and sniffed her. What the hell?
“Why does your uniform smell like Xander?” he asked.
