by Paige Tyler
Cooper did a double take. “Seriously?”
Gage snorted. “Thanks to Deputy Chief Mason, Curtis has everyone thinking he created this elaborate suspension ruse so he could send a team of SWAT guys after McDonald, even though everyone knew the two men were tight. The press is eating it up, and now there’s talk of Curtis being a viable candidate for mayor.”
Alex looked ill at that, and Lacey didn’t blame him. Curtis had showed up at the hospital only hours after she and Kelsey had been admitted, dragging a TV crew with him as he checked “to make sure they were being taken care of.”
At the other end of the table beside Xander, Khaki looked up from her gumbo. “There’s one thing I never understood in all this. Where did the dogfighting stuff fit in? It never made any sense that Bensen would involve himself in a high-risk activity like that at the same time he was trying to sell drugs.”
“That’s how he was raising the money to fund DeYoung’s drug lab,” Alex explained. “He knew the cops were watching all his legitimate accounts, so he needed outside funds to allow DeYoung to buy the raw material to make fireball. Apparently, Pendergraff was a big player in the dogfighting community, so it wasn’t difficult for him to get started.”
Lacey couldn’t help but think of all the dogs the SWAT team had saved by raiding that place out on I-45. There had been a lot of dogs there, and most of them had been in bad shape. Every vet clinic in the city had taken a hand in caring for the animals and getting them new homes.
“I suppose in the end, while things didn’t exactly work out as well as we could have hoped, at least we stopped McDonald’s black-market transplant ring, Bensen and DeYoung’s drug lab, and Pendergraff’s dogfighting operation,” Alex said. “I guess we can count it as a win of sorts.”
“Except for one thing,” Gage said softly. “There’s still the issue of a half dozen YouTube videos we have to worry about.”
Alex frowned. “You don’t really think anyone is buying those blurry videos, do you? I mean, the media is already calling it a hoax.”
Gage scowled, those steely eyes of his making Lacey squirm—and she didn’t even work for the guy. To say that the Pack alpha had been unhappy with Alex running down the middle of a busy highway in full wolf form was an understatement. While the media had put dozens of witnesses on camera, it turned out to be the best thing that could have happened for Alex and his teammates. Hearing some guy rant about seeing a wolf as big as a bull, only to have a passenger in the same car insist that the animal hadn’t been a wolf at all but had instead been a chupacabra, pretty much convinced most people that Texas needed to work harder on tightening up their open container laws.
“I don’t care what the average Joe looking at YouTube thinks,” Gage said. “I’m more concerned with attracting the attention of the hunters, who will buy those blurry videos.”
A little shiver ran up Lacey’s spine. She had thought that werewolves were indestructible, but then Alex told her there were people out in the world who hunted down and killed werewolves for a living. The thought scared the hell out of her.
“What are we going to do about them, boss?” Xander asked.
Gage swung his dark gaze on his senior squad leader. “Not much we can do. We collect information from the newcomers to the area, like those new betas that Alex met, we watch out for each other, and we make sure we see them before they see us.”
Silence reigned for a while after that until Alex cleared his throat. “And what are we going to do about Samantha Mills?”
This subject had stumped Lacey when Alex first mentioned it a few days ago. Before leaving the crime scene at McDonald’s surgical center, Alex had slipped back into the operating room to clean up a little hard-to-explain werewolf evidence, namely the bullet fragments and the scalpel Pettine had used to stab him. But Alex hadn’t found either of those things. Instead, the medical examiner was in the room, taking blood samples from every corner of the place and looking mighty uneasy when Alex had asked her about the bullet and scalpel. She’d claimed she hadn’t found anything like that in the room, but Alex was sure she’d been lying.
“You think we need to check her out, Gage?” Xander asked softly.
“I can do a little sniffing around and see what she knows,” Trey offered from beside Lacey.
Tall and good-looking with brown hair and blue eyes, Trey was kind of quiet, and beyond the fact that he was the team’s other medic, she didn’t know much about him.
“I know what you’re trying to do, dude,” Remy said with a laugh. “But you can forget it, because it’s not going to work out.”
Trey frowned. “Why not?”
“I don’t think Dr. Mills is into guys.”
Trey’s frown deepened. “What makes you say that?”
“I laid a double helping of Cajun charm on her, and she didn’t even notice me. There’s only one reason for that.”
“Yeah. Because she has good taste.” Trey snickered. “Don’t think I’m doubting your prowess with the females of the species, but I think I’m going to sniff around the doc a little anyway. Just in case you’re wrong.”
Remy’s hurt expression made Lacey laugh, along with everyone else. That was all it took for them to forget about criminals not getting their just punishment, hunters running around out there, and MEs who swiped bullets and scalpels. Instead, the conversation moved to lighter topics, like Cooper and Everly’s upcoming wedding and why Remy hadn’t brought any of his dozens of girlfriends to the barbecue.
After everyone was finished eating, most of the tables cleared out as they ran back to play more volleyball. Lacey wasn’t sure that was a very good idea on a full stomach, but she didn’t complain, since it left her alone with Alex.
She slid a little closer to him, smiling as he draped his arm around her. They both knew they had some issues in the past to deal with, but they were taking it slowly.
Something told her that things were going to be changing a lot in the near future, and she was surprised at how much she was looking forward to it. There was a good chance that Kelsey would be moving into the RTC dorms next semester. Lacey still planned to keep Kelsey’s room set up, but at some point, they might turn it into a home office, maybe even a nursery. Either way, Alex was going to move in with her full-time next week. He was over there nearly every night anyway, so it just made sense.
As she sat there beside him, watching the game, Lacey couldn’t help but smile at how different the world looked now. Brighter and more hopeful. It was hard to believe the difference one man could make in your life.
“I love you,” Alex whispered in her ear.
Lacey smiled and kissed him. After all these years of telling herself that she would never believe a man who said those words to her, she believed them with all her heart.
Order Paige Tyler’s next book
in the SWAT series
Wolf Hunt
On sale June 2017
Here’s a teaser of the next book in Paige Tyler’s sizzling SWAT series
WOLF HUNT
Remy didn’t realize how much he’d missed New Orleans, but as he walked down Bourbon Street, basking in the ambience of the city he called home, he remembered why he loved it so much. To make it even better, he was getting the chance to show it off to the most important people in his life—his pack mates. SWAT officers-slash-werewolves Max Lowry, Jayden Brooks, and Zane Kendrick took in the bright lights, crowds of partying people, various music coming from nightclubs on either side of the street, and the unique combination of scents hanging in the air with a mix of curiosity and excitement.
His mouth twitched. Yeah, New Orleans had that kind of effect on people.
Gage Dixon, their boss, pack alpha, and commander of the Dallas SWAT team, had sent the four of them to New Orleans to cross-train with the city’s SWAT teams. At the same time, four officers from NOPD SWAT would take part in a week-long exercise
in Dallas. Cross-training with cops who weren’t werewolves meant hiding their abilities, so Gage had made his expectations extremely clear.
“Don’t run too fast, lift anything you shouldn’t be able to, let your tempers get away from you, and whatever you do, no claws, fangs, or frigging glowing eyes,” Gage reminded them before they’d left.
Remy let Zane and Max lead the way as the four of them headed down Bourbon Street.
“Is it always this wild here?” Zane asked as a group of attractive women passing by gave them long, lingering looks and dazzling smiles.
“Yeah, it’s always like this,” Remy confirmed. “New Orleans is a city that takes the concept of having a good time to a whole different level.”
Remy whipped his head around when an unusual but extremely tantalizing scent caught his attention, sniffing the air. His nose was okay, certainly nothing special. It made him wonder why he was picking up this particular smell so clearly.
There were a lot of scents on Bourbon Street. Sweat, booze, perfume, cigarette and cigar smoke, moldy wood, drugs, sex—you name it. This particular scent stuck out like a rose in the middle of all that other stuff, demanding his attention.
“Hey, you okay?” Brooks asked.
Brooks was one of his pack mates blessed with a good nose. Remy turned to the big guy.
“Do you smell that?” he asked.
Brooks sniffed. “I smell a lot of things. Which one are you talking about?”
“That flowery, spicy scent.”
Brooks sniffed again. Beside him, Max did the same. They both looked at him and shook their heads.
“I don’t smell anything like that,” Brooks said.
Remy breathed deeply through his nose and almost got weak-kneed. What was more, he actually started getting a boner. What the hell?
He glanced at Brooks and Max. “You guys are screwing with me, aren’t you? You seriously can’t smell that?”
He didn’t have a clue what he was smelling, but he damn well knew he needed to figure out what it was. He’d go nuts if he didn’t.
“I’m going for a walk,” he said.
Zane and the other guys followed as he moved down the street.
He realized he was following a woman. He tried to tell himself that was insane. He’d smelled thousands of women since becoming a werewolf. None of them had ever possessed a spicy, flowery scent this delectable. Not even close.
Remy walked faster. The curiosity was killing him. What kind of woman could generate a scent so powerful it gave him a hard-on the moment he caught a whiff?
Remy wasn’t sure how long he followed the scent, but the next thing he knew, he was walking into a nightclub with a throbbing dance beat. In bloodhound mode, he headed straight to the second floor, moving like an arrow through the crowded, noisy room until he was standing in the middle of the dance floor full of gyrating bodies.
Right there, dancing with her back to him in a group of four other women, was the source of the scent that had dragged him across the French Quarter. This close, the scent was damn near overwhelming. If he wasn’t such a gentleman, he probably would have leaned forward and licked the small portion of her neck that was exposed every time her long black hair swung aside. If she smelled this good, he could only imagine how she tasted.
He was trying to figure out the best way to initiate a conversation—tapping her on the shoulder and saying he’d been tracking her scent for blocks might come off as a bit stalkerish—when the woman turned to face him.
Maybe she’d sensed him behind her, or perhaps it was because her friends had stopped dancing to stare over her shoulder at him. Either way, when she spun around, Remy swore his heart stopped beating for a second. No shit, it actually hiccupped like a drunk on a bender.
It was dark on the dance floor and the flashing strobes were bright enough to practically blind him, but it didn’t matter. The light brown–skinned beauty would have stood out in any light. Hell, she would have stood out in complete darkness, too.
He was still taking in the smoking-hot curves, perfect skin, and exotic amber eyes when a realization struck him so hard he almost stumbled backward.
He knew her. Not in the biblical sense, though that was obviously one hell of a shame. He’d known her back in high school when she’d been a skinny, awkward teenager who never seemed to look anywhere but at the ground.
She was a lot different now—understatement there—and easily the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. Now she possessed a confidence that made it hard to look at anything but her. Even with all the changes, he would have known her anywhere. He hadn’t talked to her since high school graduation, but they’d been friends, and probably would have been more if he hadn’t been such a chickenshit back then.
“Triana?”
Coming June 2017
Order Paige Tyler’s next book
in the SWAT series
Wolf Hunt
On sale June 2017
Acknowledgments
I hope you had as much fun reading Alex and Lacey’s story as I had writing it! Hope you also enjoyed reading more about the SWAT team’s adorable dog, Tuffie, as well as meeting Leo and Ralph. My hubby and I are huge animal lovers and are so thrilled to be able to include them in this series. Because of that, it was difficult including something as horrific as dogfighting in the book. While the city of Dallas has animal control officers, they don’t have an animal cruelty squad as of yet. But hopefully someday soon, Dallas—as well as every other town and city in the US—will have a unit of brave men and women dedicated to keeping animals safe. Even if your town or city doesn’t have an animal cruelty squad yet, if you see evidence of animal cruelty, please notify the authorities.
While our books and the characters in them are fiction, it’s difficult not to think about what happened on July 7 of this year when real-life Dallas police officers lost their lives. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends of the slain officers. This book is dedicated to them.
I also want to give a big shout-out to the real Season and Allen, our friends from the band The Wide Open. They’re as unique and cool as their characters in the book, and totally thrilled to be werewolves, so you’ll definitely be seeing them again in future SWAT books!
This whole series wouldn’t be possible without some very incredible people. In addition to another big thank-you to my hubby for all his help with the action scenes and military and tactical jargon, thanks to my agent, Bob Mecoy, for believing in us and encouraging us and being there when we need to talk; my editor and go-to-person at Sourcebooks, Cat Clyne (who loves this series as much as I do and is always a phone call, text, or email away whenever I need something); and all the other amazing people at Sourcebooks, including my fantastic publicist Amelia, and their crazy-talented art department. The covers they make for me are seriously droolworthy!
Because I could never leave out my readers, a huge thank-you to everyone who has read my books and Snoopy Danced right along with me with every new release. That includes the fantastic people on my amazing Street Team, as well my assistant, Janet. You rock!
I also want to give a big thank-you to the men, women, and working dogs who protect and serve in police departments everywhere, as well as their families.
And a very special shout-out to our favorite restaurant, P.F. Chang’s, where hubby and I bat story lines back and forth and come up with all of our best ideas, as well as a thank-you to our fantastic waiter, Andrew, who takes our order to the kitchen the moment we walk in the door!
Hope you enjoy the sixth book in the SWAT series coming soon from Sourcebooks, and look forward to reading the rest of the series as much as I look forward to sharing it with you.
If you love a man in uniform as much as I do, make sure you check out X-Ops, my other action-packed paranormal/romantic-suspense series from Sourcebooks.
Happy Reading!
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br /> About the Author
Paige Tyler is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of sexy, romantic suspense and paranormal romance. She and her very own military hero (also known as her husband) live on the beautiful Florida coast with their adorable fur baby (also known as their dog). Paige graduated with a degree in education but decided to pursue her passion and write books about hunky alpha males and the kick-butt heroines who fall in love with them.
Visit Paige at her website at www.paigetylertheauthor.com.
She’s also on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, tsu, Wattpad, Google+, and Pinterest.
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