Page 34 of Marked By Moonlight

His gaze drifted to her mouth, instantly distracted, instantly reminded that Claire was not like the others he had destroyed in one very big way. He’d never kissed the others. Never felt such a bone-deep want for them, not even when the females had turned their considerable wiles on him in an effort to save their wretched lives.

She was a lycan now, without control. Soon to be without conscience. He should have known better. He had succumbed to that soft mouth, to those breasts, to her hands on his cock, before reason asserted itself and he slapped the handcuffs on her wrists. A moment of weakness.That’s all.What sane man could resist a taste? Hell, she was one ball of raging hormones right now. No man was safe from her. A point he wouldn’t forget again.

She must have felt his stare. She ceased shoving garments into her bag and looked up at him.

“What?” she asked, her voice whisper soft. Her eyes reminded him of a wounded animal’s.

“Nothing.” Looking out the window at their two vehicles, he drew a deep breath and willed a return to the cold practicality that had ruled him.

He had killed hundreds of lycans in his life. Sometimes two, three in a single week. Only he had never hunted a particular one before. Never had to. But then it had never been necessary.

“We’ll leave your car here,” he announced. “On the drive backyou can go over everything you remember about Lenny. Starting with his family.”

“No problem,” she muttered, pulling her suitcase off the bed and dropping it to the floor with a thud. “He didn’t have one.”

Claire leaned across his lap and yelled into the intercom, “A bacon triple cheeseburger and large fry and—”

“And?” Gideon echoed.

A warm flush crept up her face. She could have pretended she wasn’t hungry and ordered a fast-food salad of wilted lettuce and dry, prepackaged chicken, but she had missed lunch and couldn’t deny her rumbling stomach.

Her gaze scanned the menu. Swallowing her pride for the sake of her hunger, she finished her order. “And a large order of onion rings, a large chocolate shake… and a large Diet Coke.”

“Diet?” He lifted an eyebrow, his voice mocking as he asked, “You sure about that?”

“Yeah.” She sat back in her seat, her tone daring him to comment further as he drove up to the window. She might be seriously hungry, but she still liked her Diet Coke.

“Diet Coke,” he muttered, shaking his head as he passed her drink and shake to her.

She secured them safely in the double cup holder and looked at him blankly when he extended his own soda into the air. He looked down at the occupied cup holders and back at her.

“Can’t you hold it?” she asked.

“And drive?” he grumbled, wincing as he secured his ice-cold soda between well-muscled thighs. “Sure. No problem.”

She looked out the plastic window of the Jeep’s Bikini top as they waited for their food, her dark thoughts lingering like thegray, low-hanging clouds in the sky. On the next full moon she would succumb to an instinct that demanded she feed on human life.

Bile rose in her at that, and she glanced at his hard profile. Only he wouldn’t let that happen. He would make certain it never came down to that. One way or another. He would destroy her first. He hadn’t said as much, but she knew, she understood, and she didn’t blame him. Claire looked back out the window at the impending night.

There was still a chance. Claire swallowed hard and nodded in conviction, clinging to that belief. They’d find the alpha and break the curse before Gideon had to resort to such measures. He must believe it possible. Otherwise he would have already killed her.

And why hadn’t he?The question continued to rattle around inside her head. What was his motivation for helping her? Was she his good deed of the year? A single altruistic measure to break up a long line of kills?

“I haven’t told you thank you.”

The soft beat of his thumbs on the steering wheel abruptly ceased. “For what?”

Claire looked at him again. “Helping me.”

His lips thinned. “I haven’t helped you yet.”

“I think you have.” Claire recalled what he had said about the police force being full of hunters like him. “Those other hunters you mentioned, would they do what you’re doing?”

“No. They’d have destroyed you that first night.” The muscles in his jaw knotted and his eyes grew intense, burning as they looked at her. “I guess I’m just growing too soft for this job.” There was both sarcasm and anger in his voice. Claire wondered to whom it was directed.

Gideon turned, relieving her of his intense gaze as he accepted the bags of food through the window. She took the warm bags, thearoma of fried food tantalizing. He shifted the gear stick and they were soon speeding along the frontage road. Even with the top attached, the air hummed loudly around the vehicle as they merged onto the interstate. Grease soaked through the white paper bags balanced on her lap, singeing the tops of her thighs. But she didn’t care. A burger in one hand, she shoved fries into her mouth with the other, hardly chewing before she swallowed.

“Mind handing me my burger?”

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