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  And thanks to Denise’s address book, they knew Lana was in Dallas and had come here to kill her. The idea they’d do the same thing to her that they’d done to Denise twisted his guts into knots.

  He’d scared Lana so badly in that alley she’d almost gone into a shift herself. He could smell it when he’d been fighting with those two idiots. Her scent had completely changed from that half-werewolf, half-human mix into a true beta scent. Not only had her heart been racing, but her eyes had also started to glow. He was pretty sure he’d caught sight of the cutest set of little fangs poking out of her mouth, too.

  Then she’d run like a terrified animal. He’d only made it worse by chasing after her. He was glad she’d calmed down enough to stop running and go somewhere familiar and safe. If she hadn’t, who knew how far she might have run?

  Max stepped onto the front porch just as the door opened. Deputy Chief Mason stepped outside, closing it behind him. Lana’s scent—back to the half-and-half mix he was used to—hit him in the face like a physical blow, and he nearly shifted right there in front of the deputy chief. Every instinct in Max’s body screamed at him to kick down the door and run inside to take Lana in his arms and protect her, but he stopped himself. Going in there like that would only frighten her again.

  Not that it looked like Mason had any intention of letting Max get anywhere near the door. Lana’s father was planted on the porch, one hand shoved in the side pocket of the jacket he wore. Max didn’t need to have X-ray vision to know the man had a gun in there.

  “You’re not welcome here,” the deputy chief said coldly. “Lana doesn’t want to see you…ever again.”

  Max frowned. When he’d realized Lana had no idea she was a werewolf, he’d also bought into the idea that her parents didn’t know, either. That had gotten harder to believe when she’d told him about her parents paying a buttload of money to get her out of the hospital after that car wreck and take care of her at home. That sure as hell sounded like someone trying to hide that their daughter was a werewolf. Even then, he’d been ready to give the man the benefit of the doubt. Lana was unique. Anything was possible with her.

  Now, Max couldn’t shake the feeling that this was way more than a father being overprotective. Mason wasn’t trying to chase him off because he wasn’t good enough for his little girl. This man was too practical and rational to take that line with his daughter. This was something more, something deeply personal.

  “You’ve known all along what your daughter is—what we are—haven’t you?” Max asked.

  Mason’s mouth tightened. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Officer Lowry. I want you off my porch right now, or you’ll be a civilian by morning.”

  Max stood there, fighting the urge to shift. Mason was lying, Max was sure of it. But he got a grip on himself. Losing control right then wasn’t going to help anything. There was something more important going on here than Mason knowing about werewolves.

  “Chief, your daughter is in danger. There are people out there who will hurt her simply because of what she is.”

  “The only one who’s a danger to Lana is you,” Mason ground out. “If you hadn’t forced your way into her life, she wouldn’t be in there crying right now.”

  Max opened his mouth to argue, but Mason turned and walked into the house, slamming the door behind him.

  Max was so torn about leaving he almost shifted again. Shit, he had to get himself together and think. What the hell was he going to do? The hunters could be coming for Lana at any moment.

  He could stay and sit in his car, keep an eye on the place. But if he did that, how long before the deputy chief called a patrol car out here to chase him off?

  Max cursed. This wasn’t something he could deal with on his own. He was the member of a Pack, and right then, he’d never needed them more. He also needed the advice of someone he trusted like Gage and Xander and Mike. Hell, he’d even listen to Cooper at the moment if it would help him figure out what to do next.

  The hunters didn’t pose an immediate threat to Lana, not here in the home of the deputy chief of police. The hunters were vicious, but they weren’t reckless. They’d never come at anyone like a cop, not in the middle of a fully populated residential neighborhood. Lana would be safe for the moment—until they could come up with a better plan.

  With that in mind, Max jogged back out to his Camaro and cranked the engine. Pulling a U-turn, he headed back the way he’d come.

  Gage and Mac’s home was a frequent hangout for a lot of the werewolves in Dallas—Pack and otherwise—so when he pulled up in front of the two-story house thirty minutes later, Max wasn’t surprised to see Xander’s pickup truck alongside Mike’s Sierra in the driveway. There were two other vehicles Max didn’t recognize.

  Gage’s wife, Mackenzie, answered the door. Tall with long, dark hair and blue eyes, she was a journalist at the Dallas Daily Star. She didn’t have to be a reporter to pick up on the fact that something was up with him.

  “Is everything okay?” she asked the moment he stepped inside.

  Since she’d married the SWAT team commander, Mac had turned into the Pack matriarch—even if she refused to consider herself old enough to play that part. Regardless, she’d jumped into the role of helping the rapidly growing Pack deal with day-to-day issues.

  Max gave her a rueful look. “Not really. I sort of pulled a stupid, and need to tell Sarge about it.”

  “Gage mentioned you’d found your One,” she said, her lips curving. “I wondered how long it would be before you showed up here—or ended up in jail.”

  Max smiled wryly. “Good to see you have so much faith in me.”

  “It’s not that we don’t have faith in you,” she said as she led him toward the back of the house and the kitchen. “It’s just that we know how finding The One can make a werewolf behave. Gage will be thrilled you decided to come and tell him up front instead of calling him after the crap hit the fan.”

  Max grunted. He wasn’t so sure the boss would be as thrilled when he found out the deputy chief had been ready to pull a weapon on him.

  Gage, Xander, and Mike were sitting at the kitchen table along with Khaki, while Florian and Armand Danu, the oldest members of the family Cooper had married into, were leaning back against the granite counter of the island. The two men had become ingrained in the Pack’s effort to form a safe haven for werewolves here in Dallas. With their knowledge of werewolf hunters, their presence at gatherings was as important as anyone’s.

  “No handcuffs,” Xander observed dryly. “I’m going to say that’s a good thing even before I hear the details.”

  Gage didn’t seem as amused. “What happened?”

  Max took the empty seat next to Mike and told them everything that had happened that night, starting with the call he’d gotten from Peterson and finishing with his decision to reveal to Lana that he was a werewolf. He might have downplayed the part where he’d beat up on the two good Samaritans in the alley. For all the good it did him. One look at Gage, Xander, and Mike convinced him they knew he was keeping something from them.

  “Well, that’s one way to let Lana know she’s a werewolf,” Mike said. A big guy with light-brown skin, dark eyes, and close-cropped, black hair, he had been an undercover narcotics cop before he became a werewolf and joined SWAT. “Probably not the way I would have done it, but I give you an A for intentions. How did she handle it?”

  “Not well,” Max admitted. “She flipped out and almost shifted. I don’t think she realized what was happening to her, though. Before I knew it, she took off running and didn’t stop until she reached her parents’ house.”

  Gage grimaced. “And you decided to go over and try to talk to her, right?”

  Max shrugged. “I had to try to make sure she was okay. She still doesn’t believe what she is or how much danger she’s in.”

  “Try?” Xander prompted. “You
didn’t talk to her?”

  Mac shook his head. “No. The deputy chief was waiting for me at the door with a gun. He wasn’t going to let me within ten feet of Lana. I could hear her crying upstairs, though. I really scared her.”

  On the other side of him, Khaki put a comforting hand on his arm. “When she realizes what the two of you have, she’ll come back to you.”

  Max snorted. “You sure of that? You didn’t see her face. She was terrified when she saw me fang out.”

  “If she’s The One for you, it will happen,” Armand said, his French accent slight but still discernable. “Everly was horrified when Cooper showed her he was a werewolf.”

  “You mean after you stabbed him and forced him to partially shift, don’t you?” Xander pointed out.

  Armand shrugged. “Maybe. But the important thing is that even though my sister ran away, she was unable to resist the tug pulling her back to her soul mate. She was bound to him so strongly that being away from him made her physically ill.” He looked at Max. “If you’re meant to be together, it will be the same with you and Lana. You can’t force her to accept something she’s not ready for. Just give her a little space.”

  Max hoped that was true. If Lana felt like he did right now, he didn’t understand how she could stay away from him. It felt like he had a hole in his chest where his heart should be. “What about the hunters? What if they come looking for her while I’m not around to protect her?”

  The mere thought made his gut clench.

  “There’s not a lot we can do about that right now,” Gage said. “I think she’ll be safe with her father watching out for her.”

  Max opened his mouth to complain, but Gage cut him off. “Even so, I’ll work up a duty roster and have the Pack do drive-by patrols every couple hours. We’ll keep an eye on her.”

  “I’ll take the first two rotations,” Max said eagerly.

  “No, you won’t.” Gage scowled at him. “In fact, you’ll take none of the rotations. The deputy chief will suspend you if he catches sight of you anywhere near his home. If he doesn’t shoot you. Let the rest of the Pack handle this. You figure out what the hell you’re going to say to Lana if Armand is right and she comes back to you. And please try to come up with a more intelligent approach than showing off your fangs and claws, would you?”

  Max was about to point out that the whole tell-her-the-truth thing had been Cooper’s idea but decided to keep that to himself. Admitting to Sarge he’d taken anything Cooper had to say seriously probably wouldn’t make him look any better in his alpha’s eyes.

  He only hoped the hunters wouldn’t show up before Lana came back to him.

  For more Paige Tyler

  check out the SWAT series

  Wolf Hunger

  On sale December 2017

  Acknowledgments

  I hope you enjoyed Her Dark Half! After all the crazy stuff that happened in the previous book, Her True Match, I needed a hero and heroine to make things right in the X-Ops world, and Trevor and Alina did all that and more. With Thomas Thorn finally out of the picture, things seem like they might be getting back to normal at the Department of Covert Operations, but we all know that sometimes things aren’t always as they seem. You’re excited for the next book now, aren’t you?

  This whole series would not be possible without some very incredible people, In addition to another big thank-you to my hubby for all his help with the action scenes and military and tactical jargon, thanks to my agent, Bob Mecoy, for believing in me and encouraging me and being there when I need to talk; my editor and go-to person at Sourcebooks, Cat Clyne (who loves this series as much as I do and is always a phone call, text, or email away whenever I need something); and all the other amazing people at Sourcebooks, including my fantastic publicist, Stephany, and their crazy-talented art department. The covers they make for me are seriously drool-worthy!

  Because I could never leave out my readers, a huge thank-you to everyone who has read my books and Snoopy Danced right along with me with every new release. That includes the fantastic people on my amazing Street Team, as well as my assistant, Janet. You rock!

  A very special shout-out to our awesome real-life friends, Alina and Kathy, for inspiring the characters in this book. Thank you for being part of the X-Ops series!

  I also want to give a big thank-you to the men, women, and working dogs serving in our military, as well as their families.

  Another special shout-out, this time to our favorite restaurant, P.F. Chang’s, where hubby and I bat storylines back and forth and come up with all of our best ideas, as well as a thank-you to our fantastic waiter, Andrew, who takes our order to the kitchen the moment we walk in the door!

  Hope you enjoy the next book in the X-Ops series coming soon from Sourcebooks and look forward to reading the rest of the stories as much as I look forward to sharing it with you.

  If you love a man in uniform as much as I do, make sure you check out my other action-packed paranormal/romantic-suspense series from Sourcebooks called Special Wolf Alpha Team (a.k.a. SWAT)!

  Happy reading!

  About the Author

  Paige Tyler is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of sexy romantic suspense and paranormal romance. She and her very own military hero (also known as her husband and writing partner!) live on the beautiful Florida coast with their adorable fur baby (also known as their dog!). Paige graduated with a degree in education but decided to pursue her passion and write books about hunky alpha males and the kick-butt heroines who fall in love with them.

  Visit Paige at her website, paigetylertheauthor.com. She’s also on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr.

  Thank you for reading!

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