by Paige Tyler
She stared wide-eyed at the arm sticking out from the dirt. It was Xander. He must have shoved her and Cooper out of the way before the explosion brought the tunnel down.
Khaki scrambled to her knees and frantically clawed at the dirt. A moment later, Cooper was at her side, grabbing Xander’s arm and pulling on it as she dug.
It probably only took thirty seconds, but it was the longest thirty seconds of her life. She couldn’t imagine how someone could be alive under that mess, but as soon as she got enough dirt out of the way, Cooper yanked a coughing, gasping Xander out from underneath.
The urge to throw herself into his arms was hard to resist, and she balled her hands into fists at her side to keep from giving in to the urge.
“Do you still have the girl’s scent?” he asked.
It took only a second to confirm that she still did. “Yeah, but I think we may have lost our only way out.”
He shook his head. “First, find the girl. Then we’ll worry about how to get out of here.”
Khaki looked over her shoulder at the collapsed tunnel behind them, not wanting to think too much about how close she’d come to killing them all, then turned and homed in on Melissa’s scent. On the upside, the collapsed tunnel had cut down on the chemical odor. It made it easier to follow the girl’s scent.
Following her nose got harder when the tunnel dead-ended beside a pile of unused four-by-fours and plywood.
“Oh no,” she breathed.
Fear gripping her, Khaki retraced her steps. Melissa’s scent stopped about ten feet back—in a pile of freshly dug-up earth.
“Oh God.” Tears blurring her vision, she looked at Xander. “The trail ends right here.”
Xander and Cooper both dropped to their knees and began digging. Khaki joined in. A moment later, her fingers scraped against metal. She dug faster, uncovering a metal box the size of a footlocker.
Khaki held her breath as Xander and Cooper dragged it out of the hole, then ripped off the hasp and opened the lid.
Inside, curled up like she was sleeping, was a beautiful, blond-haired girl.
Fresh tears welled in Khaki’s eyes. They were too late.
But then she heard the unmistakable sound of a heartbeat. She exchanged looks with Xander and Cooper, then reached into the box and carefully pulled the girl out, hugging the tiny body to her chest.
Melissa sighed in her sleep and snuggled into Khaki’s neck, her small fingers curling against the straps of the tactical vest she wore. Khaki smoothed the girl’s wavy hair.
“It’s okay, Melissa,” she whispered. “You’re safe now.”
At the sound of Khaki’s voice, the girl lifted her head and looked around in confusion. There probably hadn’t been very much air in the box, so it wasn’t surprising she was disoriented. Plus, as far as the girl was concerned, it was dark as night down here.
“It’s okay,” Khaki said again. “You’re going to be okay. Your mommy sent us to come and get you.”
The girl looked around, her gaze going from Xander to Cooper. Then she turned and looked at Khaki again. “Why are all of your eyes so shiny?”
Khaki couldn’t help but smile as she hugged the girl closer. “Because we eat our carrots. You like carrots, don’t you?”
The girl rested her head on Khaki’s shoulder again. “Not really. They taste yucky. But I’ll eat them if they make my eyes shiny like yours.”
Khaki laughed, her gaze meeting Xander’s over the top of the little girl’s head. The look reflected in his gold eyes made her heart flip.
She cleared her throat. “How do we get out of here?”
Xander looked at that pile of wood farther up the tunnel. “Cooper, get a few of those four-by-fours. We’re digging our way out of here.”
Less than five minutes later, they broke through to the surface and climbed out of the ground to find themselves in the backyard of a house almost three blocks away from Reynolds’s. Khaki carried Melissa down the street to the cheers of onlookers, then carefully put the little girl back into her mother’s arms.
There were a lot of tears, some of them Khaki’s. She was filthy and beyond tired, but when she gave Melissa back to her mother, she’d never been happier in her life. Still smiling, she turned and did something that was probably very un-SWAT-like. She hugged Cooper, then threw her arms around Xander. While the hug she’d given Cooper was all about team and camaraderie and celebrating a job well done, the one she gave Xander was anything but. When that homemade bomb had gone off in the tunnel, he’d saved her life at the risk of his own. He’d believed in her when she hadn’t even believed in herself.
Khaki didn’t expect Xander to return the gesture, so when his strong arms went around her, she almost moaned. She settled for burying her face in his neck instead. Even covered in dirt, he smelled ah-mazing. She wasn’t sure why or how, but something told her things between them had changed.
Chapter 9
Khaki and the rest of the squad stayed to help with the cleanup operation. Once the DPD realized how bad the mess was, they’d called everybody—EOD, ATF, the fire department, even the state environmental office. It turned out that Reynolds had been brewing up batches of homemade explosives and storing them throughout his subterranean maze. Some of the tunnels had collapsed, trapping sensitive explosives and hazardous waste under hundreds of pounds of dirt. It would take a week to get all the contaminated soil out.
By the time they finished with the worst of it, the sun was setting. Khaki was starting to come down off her endorphin high and was more than ready to fall into bed. But they’d taken the suspect down alive and saved a little girl, getting her back to her mother in one, albeit slightly dirty, piece. Just as important, everyone on the team had made it through with no injuries. Even as new as she was to this SWAT thing, she recognized that today had been a big win.
Khaki was just telling the guys that she couldn’t wait to get home when Xander came over.
“No one’s going home yet,” he said.
“Why not?” she asked. “I thought we were finished here.”
“We are.” He grinned. “But I just finished briefing Sergeant Dixon on how well you did today and he decided you’re ready to come off limited-duty status. That means it’s time to celebrate.”
Beside her, a smiling Becker fist bumped an equally happy Cooper. On the other side of her, Hale, Max, and Alex were grinning too.
She looked at Xander. “Seriously? But it’s only been a week.”
“A week during which you’ve shown that you can do the job. So stop complaining.” His smile broadened. “Now let’s get back to the compound and clean up before the bars run out of booze.”
Khaki rode back with Cooper and Max, listening as Cooper once again related the story of how she’d found Melissa Kincaide simply by following the little girl’s scent.
“I couldn’t smell anything but dirt, chemicals, and stale sweat down there,” Cooper said. “But Khaki led us straight to the girl regardless of the fact that she was buried in a steel box under a foot of earth. That kid would have been dead in another ten minutes if it wasn’t for Khaki.”
Max glanced over his shoulder at her from the passenger seat. “That’s frigging epic.”
She felt her face color. “Don’t go giving me a medal yet. I probably would have gotten us all blown to pieces if it hadn’t been for Cooper and Xander.”
Behind the wheel, Cooper’s eyes met hers in the rearview mirror. “You did good down there, Khaki, so just accept the compliments—and all the drinks—that’ll be coming your way tonight. You deserve them.”
Khaki felt a surge of pride. She’d done it. In less than a week, she’d won over her new teammates. The training had been tough, and every day hadn’t been enjoyable, but other than the standard teasing, the guys had been amazingly supportive through it all. She still wasn’t sure where she stood with Xander, but she was happy with how far she’d come in such a short period of time.
Cooper and Max had gone from compliment
ing her to ribbing each other over some imaginary mistake the other had made. Ahead, the other two vehicles carrying the rest of her teammates were pulling into the compound’s parking lot.
Khaki smiled. Her teammates. That had a nice ring to it.
Inside, they got the gear cleaned and put away, then headed into the admin building to take showers. She let the guys go first, figuring they’d only be standing around at the bottom of the steps complaining if she didn’t.
While she waited, some of the guys from Mike’s squad stopped by to congratulate her.
“Aren’t any of you guys coming with us?” she asked Remy.
She spent so much time with her own squad, it felt like she barely knew any of the other guys on the team. But Remy shook his head.
“Nah. You all trained together to get you to this point, so the celebration should be private too. The rest of us will hang out later.”
Khaki could see their point, but she wouldn’t have minded if they wanted to join them. She was still trying to convince Mike’s team when her squad bounded down the steps. She glanced at her watch. Crap, it had taken them only fifteen minutes to shower and change. They’d better not expect her to get ready that fast.
She passed Xander on the way up the steps. He’d changed into jeans and a button-down shirt, and his dark hair was still slightly damp from the shower.
“Don’t take all night,” he told her. “I don’t know how long I can control these guys. They’re ready to do some serious partying.”
A naughty part of her wondered if Xander would come up and check on her if she took too long. Maybe this time, she wouldn’t even bother to wrap a towel around herself.
While that thought was tempting, she dismissed it. It was more likely that Becker would be the one who came up to hurry her along, and having Becker see her naked wasn’t as appealing as Xander. Sorry, Becker.
Khaki forgot to ask where they were taking her to celebrate but figured it would probably by someplace casual. Still, she decided to go a bit sexier with her makeup than she did during the day. It would have been nice if she’d had something dressier to wear too, but she’d have to make do with the jeans and tank top in her locker.
She made it downstairs in thirty minutes—a record for her.
“Damn,” Hale said when he saw her. “You clean up nice.”
She opened her mouth to say something witty in reply when she caught a glimpse of Xander standing off to the side, his dark eyes practically smoldering. Apparently, he seemed to think she cleaned up nice too.
* * *
They took her to some hole-in-the-wall barbecue place she never would have found, much less stopped at, if it weren’t for the guys. But while the decor didn’t look like much, the food was delicious. According to Xander, it was almost as good as the barbecue in Kansas City, where he was originally from. Cooper told her that was high praise coming from Xander.
Since this was the first time the whole squad had gotten a chance to talk since rescuing little Melissa Kincaide, most of the conversation centered around Khaki’s unique sense of smell. She tried to answer their questions as best she could, but she didn’t really know why her nose was so much better than everyone else’s. The guys echoed Xander’s sentiment about the skill coming in handy on the job.
Khaki expected to call it a night after dinner, but Becker looked at her like she was crazy.
“Hell no.” He grinned. “It’s time to party!”
By party, Khaki assumed he meant hit up a few clubs, but instead of stopping at any of the half-dozen bars they passed, Cooper pulled up in front of a tattoo shop called Tiny’s. Xander and Alex parked behind them.
A bear of a man covered in tattoos practically up to his ears came out of the back of the shop and gave a manly hug to each of the guys. After he’d greeted all of them, he turned to give her an appraising look. As if she was a blank canvas that needed a lot of work.
“Is this her?” he asked.
“Yeah.” Xander grinned. “This is her. Tiny, meet Khaki Blake. Khaki, meet Tiny, the SWAT team’s personal tattoo artist.”
Khaki thought she nodded at Tiny, but she couldn’t be sure. Xander was standing so close they were almost touching, and it was distracting. The evening was turning muggy, and the light sheen of sweat on Xander’s skin smelled so insanely delicious when combined with his freshly showered scent, it made her want to rub up against him like a kitty.
A completely inappropriate thought for a werewolf, to be sure.
She was so intoxicated by his scent that it took a moment for the rest of his words to register.
“Wait a second,” she said, sure she’d missed something important. “He’s the SWAT team’s what?”
Xander moved a little closer to her. He couldn’t possibly know what his presence was doing to her, could he?
“Tiny is the artist who does our wolf head tattoos,” he said.
Right. The snarling wolf tattoo that every member of the team had on the left side of his chest. She’d seen some of them up close, and the work was first-class, as were the muscled pecs the tattoos were on.
“He’s the only person in town we trust to ink us,” Xander added.
Khaki nodded, still thinking more about Xander’s well-muscled chest and smooth, perfect skin than tattoos. But as Xander continued to regard her, the implications of why they were here suddenly became clear. She looked around to see the rest of her teammates eyeing her expectantly.
Oh. “You want me to get a tattoo like yours.”
It wasn’t really a question, but Xander nodded anyway.
She broke eye contact with Xander before it became obvious she enjoyed looking at him way too much, and glanced at the rest of the Pack. “Um, now?”
Alex grinned. “Yeah. It’s what we always do to celebrate when someone comes off limited-duty status.”
“That makes sense.” She bit her lip, hesitating. “I definitely want to get the tattoo, but I’d rather not get it while you guys watch.”
“But that’s the way we always do it,” Max said.
“I get that,” she said. “But I’m not getting my tattoo in the same place you guys all have yours.”
“Why not?” Becker glanced down at her breasts, then jerked his head up, as if he just realized what part of her anatomy he’d been eyeballing. Was he blushing? “Oh.”
She smiled. “Yeah. And to get the tattoo in the place I have in mind, I’ll need to take off some of my clothes, and I’m not going to do that in front of you guys.”
Becker looked down her body again as if trying to figure out what clothes she’d have to take off. This time, he definitely blushed.
She glanced at the tattoo artist. “Or you either, Tiny. No offense.”
Tiny held up his hands in surrender. “None taken. I completely understand. My wife’s a tattoo artist too. She can ink you anytime. Her work is probably cleaner and more feminine than mine anyway. Just give me a call and we can schedule it.”
That seemed to satisfy the guys. Then all they were interested in was where she planned to get her tattoo.
“You’re just going to have to use your imagination,” she told them.
Cooper snorted. “Becker is screwed then. He doesn’t have any imagination.”
Becker punched Cooper in the shoulder hard enough to send him stumbling backward a few feet. “This coming from the man who reads comic books.”
Cooper laughed again, thumping Becker in the chest just as hard. Khaki winced. Both of those shots were going to leave bruises, for sure. Men were so strange.
“Knock it off,” Alex said. “If Khaki isn’t getting her tattoo tonight, let’s go party.”
Telling Tiny they’d see him around, Alex and the other guys headed for the door. Khaki turned to follow when she realized Xander was still standing there regarding her with that same glint she’d seen when she came down from the locker room back at the compound. Was he imagining where she was going to get her tattoo? Heat pooled between her thighs, making her
sway a little and she quickly turned and hurried to catch up with the guys. She resisted the urge to glance over her shoulder at Xander again—but just barely. Thank goodness he’d driven his own truck. She wasn’t sure she trusted herself to ignore him if they were trapped in such a tight space.
The club the guys took her to was loud and the beers were cold, and she settled back in her seat to enjoy both. But she hadn’t taken more than a sip of her beer before Becker grabbed her hand and dragged her onto the dance floor. She laughed as he found a space for them.
She never would have thought it, but Becker could dance his ass off. Despite how tired she was, she got into the beat. She hadn’t danced in a long time and almost forgot how much fun it was.
Two songs later, Hale cut in. A few songs after that, Cooper did the same, followed by Trevor. When Alex came over to take his turn, Trevor stayed out on the floor with them. Before long, all the guys except Xander were dancing with her at once, twirling her around so many times it almost made her dizzy.
They probably would have kept her out there all night if some other women hadn’t been bold enough to move in and join the party. Khaki took the opportunity to escape back to the table for a break.
She dropped into her chair with a laugh as she watched the guys work their moves on their new partners. The women were clearly enjoying it, if the smiles on their faces were any indication. Khaki couldn’t blame them. The guys knew what they were doing on the dance floor. Tall, gorgeous, muscular men who could dance had a way of making women smile.
“Tired already?” a deep voice said from beside her. Khaki turned to see Xander claiming the chair across from her, a bottle of beer in his hand. “I thought you’d be out there dancing all night.”
“It’s been a long day. I’m beat,” she said. “How about you? Why aren’t you out there entertaining the ladies?”
Xander set his beer down on the table. “None of them really interest me.”
Something about the way he said those words, or maybe it was the smolder in his eyes when he said them, made her body hum in a way that had nothing to do with the music. Khaki found it scary that such an offhanded comment could provoke such a powerful response in her.