Oh, crap. What if he’d asked her to wait twenty-four hours so he and the rest of the team—his pack—could leave town?
She suddenly broke out in a cold sweat. Gage had left, and she was never going to get the chance to tell him she’d made a mistake. Or tell him that she loved him.
Tears blurring her vision, Mac stumbled out from behind the hedges and ran to her car. Gage wouldn’t leave without making sure his pack was safe first. Hopefully, they’d still be at the compound planning or coordinating, or whatever it was werewolves did before they went on the run.
She didn’t take her foot off the gas the entire way there. It was only by some miracle she didn’t get pulled over.
She breathed a huge sigh of relief when she stopped outside the gate and saw that the parking area was full of vehicles. Gage’s Charger wasn’t there, but again, that didn’t mean anything.
Please let him still be here.
Mac hurried over to ring the bell, only to jerk to a halt when she heard a low, menacing growl. Yellow eyes gleamed in the darkness. She cringed when she saw it was Xander. Why couldn’t Gage have been the one prowling around out here? Or Becker. Hell, anyone but Xander. The senior corporal had never been warm to her, but after the explosion at the meth lab, she thought maybe he’d thawed a little. He probably hated her more now. One more thing she’d damaged.
Eyes narrowing, he scanned the darkness behind her before giving her a look that could have melted paint off a car.
“I knew Gage was stupid to believe you’d actually give us time to get out of here.” He snarled, showing her a pair of wickedly sharp canine teeth. “What, did you decide you need some more footage before you wrote your story? Maybe get some pictures of the freaks running for their lives?”
Her face flamed. “It’s not like that.”
“Really? Then how is it?”
Xander’s eyes flashed and she had to force herself not to take a step back at the anger rolling off him.
She moved closer to the gate and looked him straight in his yellow eyes. “I’m here to apologize to Gage. And to tell him that I won’t be telling anyone about your…pack.”
Xander couldn’t completely hide the surprise that came over his face, but he sure as hell tried. “And you expect me to believe that?”
She swallowed hard. “I know you don’t have any reason to trust me or believe anything I say, but I’m hoping you’ll at least give me a chance to talk to Gage.”
He snorted. “Trust me, Gage isn’t interested in seeing you right now. He’s a little busy trying to get us all out of the country before the mob of angry villagers shows up with their torches and pitchforks.”
She hooked her fingers in the chain link. “I don’t blame him for not wanting to see me. I said some really stupid things tonight. I only want to make it right.”
Mac thought she saw doubt creep across Xander’s face, but it disappeared too quickly to be sure. “You don’t get it, do you?” he asked harshly. “You didn’t just hurt him. You definitely messed him up good, that’s for damn sure. But more than that, you threatened the safety of his pack. That’s not something you can fix by batting your eyelashes at him and saying you’re sorry.”
His pack. When Gage had used the word before, she hadn’t truly realized what it meant. The SWAT officers weren’t merely a team—they were a family. She’d not only ripped out Gage’s heart, she’d threatened his family. Why the hell would he listen to a word she had to say?
Tears flooded her eyes and she blinked them back. She had to talk to him. If for no other reason than to let him know that she’d never tell a soul about his pack. Even if she couldn’t get him to listen to anything else, she wanted him to know he wouldn’t need to look over his shoulder for the rest of his life. After all the damage she’d inflicted, that was all she could hope for. It would have to be enough.
She gave Xander a beseeching look, not caring that her eyes were wet with tears. “I don’t know if I can fix this either, but I have to try. Five minutes, that’s all I’m asking for. If Gage wants me to leave after he hears what I have to say, I’ll go. I promise.”
Xander was silent for so long she was afraid he’d turn around and walk away. But instead he unlocked the gate and jerked it open.
“You’ve got five minutes,” he told her. “You’d better make them count.”
Mac had to practically run to keep up with Xander as he led the way to the training building. When they got there, he yanked open the door and waited for her to go ahead of him. She took a deep breath and walked in…and immediately felt like she’d stepped off a bus at the wrong stop.
Fourteen pairs of yellow eyes turned her way. There was shock in some of them, disbelief in others, and outright hatred in the rest.
Gage wasn’t with them.
The place looked as if it’d been ransacked. Maps covered one whole table. Passports and cell phones were scattered across another. And in the center of the room there was a pile of black duffel bags. They were getting ready to leave, and they were traveling light.
Where would a pack of werewolves go to disappear? And would Gage split them up or try to keep them together?
It didn’t matter. If she didn’t convince them to stay, she’d never know.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Cooper demanded.
Mac flinched. “I have to talk to Gage.”
Her words were met with deep-throated growls that made her shiver. If she wasn’t so in love with Gage, she probably would have turned and
