The anger that rose up inside her was like nothing she’d ever experienced. She felt her fingertips burn and her jaws ache as her out-of-control claws and fangs extended fully. She had to struggle to control her voice as she answered Jeremy.
“Where do you want to meet?”
* * *
Xander didn’t realize he’d dozed until movement beside his bed woke him. He opened his eyes, expecting to see Khaki, and was disappointed to find Gage standing there. Was it too much to hope he was dreaming? But then his team leader’s scent finally filtered through his fuzzy head, confirming he wasn’t.
He sat up straighter in bed, steeling himself for the coming confrontation. Gage had been his alpha and his best friend for a long time. He’d have been lying if he said walking away from the Pack and that friendship wasn’t going to hurt.
But before Gage could tear into him, the door opened and a gray-haired man in a white coat came in. The doctor ignored the obvious tension in the room and walked over to the bed.
“Let’s have a look at that wound,” he said, gently pulling Xander’s hospital gown aside.
Xander instinctively grabbed the man’s wrist, pretty sure it was a bad idea to let a doctor get a look at his wounds. The man raised a brow, then looked at Gage.
“It’s okay, Xander. Doctor Saunders knows what we are.”
Khaki had told him about the doctor.
Xander released the man’s wrist. After only being around the team’s medics, it was weird having a human doctor poking around the rapidly developing scar tissue on his chest, but he put up with it. He spent most of the time eyeing Gage instead of paying attention to the doctor. His boss looked as if he was biting his tongue for the doctor’s benefit, but just barely.
Saunders glanced at Gage. “He’s recovering quite nicely. The wound is completely closed, which is remarkable when you think about it.” He turned back to Xander, taking off the little sensors from his chest and hanging them over the monitoring equipment. “It’s been nice meeting you, Corporal Riggs.”
Xander nodded, never taking his eyes off Gage as the doctor quietly left the room.
“Dammit, Xander,” Gage snarled. “What the hell were you thinking, sleeping with Khaki?”
A part of Xander wanted to explain, wanted his friend to understand why he’d done what he’d done, but he knew it would be a waste of time. Gage had already made up his mind. Besides, even if he’d had a chance to do it all over again, he wouldn’t have done anything differently.
“This wasn’t about thinking,” Xander said, surprised at how calm the words came out. “It was about doing what was right.”
“Right? Are you frigging kidding me?” Gage’s eyes flared gold. “You broke every rule in the department: sleeping with a subordinate; sleeping with a member of your squad; sleeping with a fellow officer; sleeping with a teammate!”
Xander ground his jaw. It took everything in him not to shout back at Gage. Not that it would have mattered. Clearly, his alpha wasn’t done.
Gage shook his head. “You’re lucky I don’t suspend both of you.”
Xander knew Gage was trying to intimidate him into falling back in line. It wasn’t going to work. What he and Khaki had was complicated, but it wasn’t wrong. And he’d be damned if he was going to let anyone—even his best friend and alpha—try to convince him otherwise.
“As of right now, Khaki is on Mike’s squad,” Gage said.
“Like hell she is,” Xander growled, throwing back the sheet and pushing himself up. The move hurt, but not bad enough to make him stop.
Gage put a big hand on Xander’s shoulder, shoving him back down. “You don’t have a say in the matter.”
Xander snarled, baring his teeth. If Gage wanted a fight, he was going to get one.
“He might not have a say in the matter, but I do.”
Xander glanced over to see Mac standing in the doorway. Cooper, Hale, Trevor, and Alex flanked her on either side.
“Gage, you can’t keep Khaki and Xander apart.” Mac walked in the room, quickly followed by the others. Trevor closed the door firmly behind him, then stood guarding it. “She’sTheOnefor him.”
It took a moment for Mac’s words to sink in. “Wait a minute,” Xander said. “How do you know Khaki isTheOnefor me?”
“Because she told me.” Mac’s lips curved into a smile. “You’ve been the topic of conversation between us from the day she got here.”
Gage’s golden eyes narrowed. “Mackenzie, you knew Xander and Khaki were sleeping together?”
