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 fled. Not that she would have gotten very far with Xander behind her, breathing down her neck.
“You should leave now, Mac,” Cooper said. “Before this gets ugly.”
She swallowed hard. “I can’t leave. Not until I talk to Gage.”
Trevino advanced on her, teeth bared, claws extended. Brooks, Martinez, and Nelson joined him, their golden eyes on fire.
Mac was thinking she might have to run for the door after all when Xander stepped in front of her, putting himself between her and the men. She barely had time to recover from her shock before Becker and Lowry moved to stand beside Xander, appointing themselves her protectors.
The growls around the room got louder.
Crap.
Mac wanted to think they wouldn’t fight each other, but she realized she didn’t know a damn thing about how werewolves behaved. Maybe they fought each other all the time.