She was going to get sick if she kept trying to watch the crazy scene. But she couldn’t tear herself away until she knew Gage was okay. When she finally caught a quick flash of his tall, broad-shouldered form in one of the other men’s cameras, she let out the breath she didn’t even realize she’d been holding. He was safe. She could breathe again.
Twenty minutes later, Becker and one of the team’s medics, Senior Corporal Trey Duncan, came out to give them an update.
“Cooper and Nelson—our demo guys—blew entry points through the roof in four different places.” Becker said it so casually, as if they did stuff like this every day. Which she supposed they did. “Then the whole team dropped through, right into the middle of each gang.”
“Are the hostages okay?” Mac asked. “Is everyone okay?”
“Everyone in the unit is fine. A few minor nicks and scratches, but that’s about it.” Duncan frowned. “Some of the hostages are in pretty bad shape, though. At least three were shot before we even went in, and two more were hit during the rescue. The gangbangers seemed pretty intent on taking as many people with them as possible. They’re on the way to the hospital now, but we don’t know if they’re all going make it.”
Mac shook her head.
“Sergeant Dixon asked me to tell you that he’s going to be here for a few more hours,” Becker said. “He thought you might want to call it a night.”
Then he and Duncan left to go back to the motel.
Zak glanced at her after the two cops stepped out of the operations vehicle. “Silly question, but I’m guessing you’re going to stay?”
“Yeah. I want to hang around and make sure they’re all okay.”
He grinned. “I thought so. You gonna need me at the compound tomorrow?”
She shook her head. “I don’t think so. I’ll see you at the paper.”
After Zak left, Mac turned her attention back to the monitors, patiently waiting to catch another glimpse of Gage.
* * *
Gage was so tired he could barely keep his eyes open. All he wanted to do was go home, fall into bed, and pass out for a few hours until the alarm went off and he had to get up and do it all over again. But Mackenzie insisted he needed to eat, and kept telling him that until he stopped at the next fast-food drive-through they came to.
“Don’t stare at the burrito,” she scolded gently. “Eat it.”
He forced himself to take a bite, closing his eyes for a moment as the spicy beef filling hit his tongue. Maybe he wasn’t too tired to eat after all. Next to him, Mackenzie bit into her own burrito.
Gage had been surprised to find her waiting for him when he’d climbed into the operations vehicle. He thought she’d left hours ago. But she told him she’d wanted to wait. It might be selfish, but he was glad she had. Seeing her beautiful face after the long-ass day he’d had made him feel a little less exhausted.
The two incidents he’d gone on weren’t the only reason he was dragging. The other was the argument he’d gotten into with his pack that morning after PT. He’d thought that after yesterday, his guys wouldn’t mind sitting down with Mackenzie for a one-on-one interview, but they’d been flat-out pissed off at the idea.
“That’s too damn bad because you’re doing it anyway,” he’d told them. “If it’s any consolation, you won’t have to put up with Ms. Stone snooping around much longer.”
“How do you know that?” McCall asked.
“Yeah.” Kendrick’s eyes narrowed. “Just how involved with this reporter are you? Is there something going on that you haven’t told us?”
Gage bit back a snarl. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
Cooper looked up from the graphic novel he was thumbing through. “He means, are you sleeping with her?”
Gage had been so shocked he’d just stood there staring at his explosives expert like a damn pig with a Rolex.
“Well, are you?” Cooper demanded.
Gage had to clench his hands into fists to keep from slugging the man. Getting into a brawl with Cooper might be satisfying as hell, but it would only confirm what he and the rest of the men feared—that he was letting his attraction to Mackenzie cloud his judgment and it was putting the Pack at risk. He understood where their concern was coming from, even if it was misplaced.
“No,” he said as evenly as he could manage. “We’re not sleeping together.”
“Bullshit,” Xander snarled. “We can smell her all over you.”
Gage didn’t even realize he’d moved toward his senior squad leader until Mike stepped in front of him and put a hand on his chest.
Brooks moved to stand next to Xander. “Sergeant, how do we know she isn’t playing you?”
“She’s not playing me,” he growled.
“How can you be sure?” Mike asked.
“I just know, damn it!” he snapped.
That probably wouldn’t be good enough for them, but he didn’t know how to put it into words. Mackenzie might have come here looking for a story that first day, but something in his gut told him that wasn’t the reason she kept coming back.
Xander swore under his breath. “It’s not just about her finding out about us, Gage. Having her around is dangerous.”
Gage frowned. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“For one thing, you’re not thinking clearly,” Xander said. “Hardy sent his goons to rough you up and you don’t seem to give a damn.”
“Like hell I don’t.”
“Yeah? Well, you haven’t mentioned what you’re going to do about it.” Xander shook his head. “Anyway, it’s not just that. She’s putting off pheromones all of us are picking up, and it’s
