“I left you a long time ago, Jeremy.” Months ago, actually. But clearly it hadn’t sunk into that thick skull of his. “Today, I’m leaving Lakefront.”
“To go to Dallas with that cop you had coffee with the other day,” he sneered. “Are you screwing him now?”
Khaki wanted to smack him so badly that her hands hurt. She balled them into fists. “I’m not even going to answer that.”
Giving him a cold look, she picked up the box of knickknacks and brushed past him. Jeremy grabbed her by the arm and spun her around.
“Don’t walk away from me when I’m talking to you,” he ground out.
Khaki’s blood pounded in her ears. Jeremy was in a room full of cops, but he didn’t seem to give a damn about manhandling her—not that any of them were likely to do anything about it. Well, she wasn’t afraid of him like they were. Jeremy had never been dumb enough to put his hands on her before, and he was never going to do it again. She’d make sure of that.
One minute he was gripping her arm, and the next her box of stuff was on the floor and she had Jeremy facedown beside it, one hand on the back of his neck and the other twisting his arm behind his back. She shouldn’t even have been able to physically overpower him like this considering he had at least a hundred pounds on her, but her newfound strength made it easy.
She squeezed with both hands, knowing she could crush him like a bug if she wanted to. And God, a big part of her wanted to. She’d enjoyed working in Lakefront before becoming involved with the jackass. She’d been a good cop, with a good reputation and a lot of friends on the force. Now, her reputation in this town was crap because of him.
Jeremy tried to push himself up and twist out of her grip, but she only squeezed harder, shoving his face into the floor and cranking down harder on his wrist until she could hear the sounds of bones about to snap. He let out a pitiful yelp of pain.It would be so easy to teach this stupid jerk a lesson.
Sensing someone beside her, she glanced up, barely repressing a growl. Aaron stood there, a mix of shock and horror on his lined and weathered face. Khaki slowly looked around the station and saw every officer looking at her the same way. They actually seemed scared of her.
She turned back to Aaron. He shook his head slowly, his eyes full of understanding and what looked like pity behind his wire-rimmed glasses.
Khaki felt her anger slowly disappear, replaced with revulsion. She hated it when she lost control like this—another side effect of that night three months ago. She let Jeremy go and stood. Jeremy was smart enough not to get up right away. If he came at her again, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to stop herself from doing some real damage.
Bending down, she collected the few possessions that represented her only remaining ties to this place and put them in the box. Her favorite coffee mug was in pieces—just like her life here. Taking a deep breath, she walked out of the station without looking back. Her mother had always told her she should never burn any bridges. Well, this bridge was totally toasted.
Next stop, Dallas.
Chapter 2
Xander had to pick his jaw up off the floor of the training room when Gage introduced the newest member of the SWAT team. He didn’t know what to expect, but it sure as hell wasn’t Officer Khaki Blake. Tall with an athletic build and just enough curves to fill out the SWAT T-shirt, she had the biggest brown eyes and softest-looking lips he’d ever seen. She had her dark hair back in a bun, so he couldn’t tell how long it was, but he’d bet money it fell past her shoulders. She smelled way too good to be believed, too—like a slice of frosted spice cake in a uniform.
Shit. He was practically panting. If he didn’t get a grip soon, he was going to start drooling.
He gave the other guys a covert glance to see how they were dealing with her scent and was stunned to see that none of them reacted at all. Why not? His nose wasn’t that much better than theirs. He knew for a fact that several of the other guys—Cooper Landry and Jayden Brooks specifically—could smell a hell of a lot better than he could.
Maybe everyone was so mesmerized by finally getting to see a female version of their kind that the rest of their senses had stopped working.
Gage had left it up to Xander to fill the guys in on what had gone down at the meeting with Deputy Chief Mason while he’d headed home to get ready for his trip to Washington State. While the guys had been pissed that the top brass was playing politics with the team, they’d been intrigued at the idea of adding a female werewolf to the Pack.
They’d bombarded him with dozens of questions, none of which he could answer. Was she as fast and strong as they were? Did her abilities manifest themselves in completely different ways? Would she be as aggressive as they were and able to handle herself in a fight? Were there more like her out there¸ or was she the only one?
Not all the questions were so general. Brooks wondered what she would look like, Max Lowry wanted to know if she would smell like them, and Eric Becker… Well, Becker just wanted to know if she liked to wear yoga pants. God, that kid had an obsession with those things.
Xander had told them what he knew—that no one except Gage knew a damn thing about female werewolves. And Xander wasn’t so sure how much their commander knew either.
While Xander was lost in thought, Gage turned the floor over to Khaki, who was currently explaining how much she appreciated the opportunity to be in SWAT.
“I know I won’t be handed anything, but I look forward to proving to every one of you that I belong in the Pack and on the team.” She spoke in a light, lilting voice that, surprisingly, filled the large classroom. Xander could definitely pick up the Midwest accent, so she probably wasn’t originally from the Pacific Northwest. “I’m not asking for anything from you but a chance to prove myself.”
Xander surveyed the room again, trying to read expressions and body language. Some of the younger guys, like Becker, Cooper, Max, and Remy Boudreaux, seemed ready to accept her. And while the others were projecting a cautious wait-and-see attitude, no one appeared to oppose her yet.
That was a relief. From what Gage had told him about Khaki, she seemed like a good cop. But getting accepted into the Pack was an uphill battle for anyone new. Just ask Max and Becker—the two most recent additions to the team. It would be near impossible if some of the guys were already opposed to a female on the team before she even started.
Khaki’s scent wafted across the room and teased his nose again, more insistently this time. Xander took a deep breath through his mouth, hoping to clear his head. It seemed to work, until she and Gage walked over to him.
Xander pushed away from the desk he was leaning against to stand up straight. Being this close to Khaki, he could see that her brown eyes had little flecks of gold in them too. He had no doubt she’d look even more amazing when she shifted and her eyes turned completely gold.
“I’m giving Officer Blake the afternoon off to go apartment hunting, so you won’t be able to start training right away,” Gage said. “But I wanted to make sure she got to meet her squad leader before she took off.”
