“Harder,” she begged softly.
“You sure you won’t scream?”
She nodded.
It was possible that a little cry slipped out when she orgasmed, but she was too busy coming to care. And when Gage stiffened and came inside her? It was like heaven. The closeness she felt with him at that moment was the only thing that could ever rival the pleasure she’d felt from the orgasm he’d given her.
Then Gage was leaning over her, kissing her hotly on the mouth while his cock still pulsed inside her. It was impossible not to whimper a little with the aftershocks of her orgasm vibrating through her.
Mac felt wetness on her face and realized that she was crying. Gage gently kissed away her tears.
“That was amazing,” she said softly.
“Yeah, it was.” He gave her another kiss, then gently pulled her into a sitting position. “We should probably get back out there.”
But he made no move to get dressed. Instead he stood there between her legs, gazing down at her.
Mac traced her fingers over the tattoo of the wolf on his chest. The design certainly held a lot more meaning than it had the first time she’d seen it.
“So, what’s up with this tattoo?” she asked softly.
Gage chuckled. “It’s the ultimate inside joke. For us, SWAT stands for Special Wolf Alpha Team, since we’re all werewolves and alpha-male types. Get it?”
She poked him hard in the ribs. “Yeah, I get it. I’m sex-addled, not slow.”
Gage laughed again.
Mac went back to playing with his tattoo. She’d never get tired of seeing the way the wolf image moved over his well-muscled skin. Who was she kidding? She’d love playing with his chest if there was a hippo tattooed on it.
She thought back to what Gage had said about her being The One. Maybe he and the werewolf legend were onto something. How else could she explain why she’d tossed aside a once-in-a-lifetime story for a man she’d met less than a week ago? Or that the thought of not having him in her life made her hyperventilate? They were truly made for each other. And if that meant there was some mythical force at work here, she was more than ready to believe it. If werewolves could be real, why not a cosmic love connection?
Mac lifted her head to look at him. “So, what I saw tonight—is that as werewolfy as you get?”
His mouth twitched. “Not exactly. I get a little bit more werewolfy.”
“How much more?”
“Think four paws and a tail.”
Her eyes went wide. “Like a real wolf. Seriously?”
He nodded.
“Can I see?”
He chuckled. “Not right now. Let’s take baby steps with this, okay?”
She made a face. “Okay. But you have to promise to show me.”
A few hours ago, she was freaked out about him being a werewolf, and now she couldn’t wait to see him turn again. Love could do that to a woman.
Mac went back to playing with his tattoo again. “Did you bite all the guys in your pack to turn them into werewolves?”
He snorted. “Hell, no.”
“Then how did you do it?”
“I didn’t. You can’t turn someone into a werewolf by biting them like in the movies. We’re born like this.” When she jerked up to look at him, he laughed. “I don’t mean we’re born with claws and fangs. That might be a little hard to hide.”
“What then?”
“From what we’ve been able to figure out, there’s something in our DNA that triggers our change into werewolves when the right set of circumstances come along.”
“What kind of circumstances?”
“A person carrying the werewolf gene, or whatever you call it, has to be exposed to a high-stress, life-threatening situation. If the person makes it through the situation, they come out the other side a werewolf.”
She chewed on her lips as she considered that. “That’s what happened to you in Iraq, wasn’t it? When all the other members of your squad were killed?”
He nodded. “That’s why I had to get out of the Army. I didn’t have a clue what was happening to me, and I needed time to figure it out.”
As if seeing all his friends killed wasn’t enough, he then had to figure out what it meant to be a werewolf, too.
“Is that how it happened to your pack, too? Combat?”
“Some of them,” he said. “Cooper got blown through a building in Iraq. McCall’s convoy got hit in Afghanistan. That’s where Duncan, our senior medic, was turned, too. He got trapped in a small, forward-operating base that was completely overrun. Most of the others changed while they were on the job, after getting shot.”
“And you just found them and recruited them?”
“Pretty much.” Gage ran his hand up and down her arm. “I didn’t understand the significance of the Pack thing until I had about a half dozen of them together. That’s when I realized we all work better—and are happier—in an environment like this.”
Mac smiled. Gage just couldn’t help it. He was the kind of man who worried about others. “But how did you find all of them? I assume there isn’t a website you can look on.”
“I wish.” He let out a short laugh. “Over the years, I’ve gotten good at knowing what to look for. I read a lot of news articles about cops and stuff, looking for the right clues.”
Clever, she thought. “How do you think your pack’s going to handle it when you tell them that we’re back together again?”
He chuckled. “They already know. It was sort of hard to miss.”
“I was quiet!”
“Not to a werewolf. Even if they couldn’t hear your sexy little moans—which they did, by the way—they wouldn’t have been able to miss that scrumptious smell you put off when you’re aroused.”
Mac groaned, her face hot. “I’ll never be able to look any of them in the eye again.”
Gage cupped her cheek. “There aren’t any secrets in the Pack, babe. You’re just going have to learn to accept it. These guys are going to know every time we have sex
