Page 61 of Marked By Moonlight

“He’s under a lot of stress,” Gideon found himself defending him. “Never forget how much we owe him, Kit.”

“What about you,” she accused, arching an eyebrow. “You seem to have forgotten. You’re the one breaking code behind his back.”

Her words hit home, igniting a guilty flame in his heart. He dropped his hand. “Go home, Kit,” he said flatly.

“When are you going to stop treating me like a child?” Green eyes so like his own glinted up angrily at him. “You’re not my father, Gid. If I want to do this, you can’t stop me.”

Gideon squeezed the bridge of his nose. He didn’t have time for this.

Clasping the gun in both hands, elbows bent, she faced the alley. Gideon nearly groaned, remembering that while his friends’ sisters had played with dolls, his had wanted to play cops and robbers. Just his luck she never outgrew the habit.

“I’m the closest thing to a father you’ve got. If our father were here, he’d tell you to go home, too.”

“And I’d tell him exactly what I’m telling you. I’m staying.”

Gideon stared up at the sky again, pleading for patience before shooting another glance behind him. He couldn’t waste any more time arguing with his sister. Claire needed him.

“Don’t follow me,” he warned, jabbing his thumb behind him. “I mean it.”

At the stubborn jut of her chin, he used the one trump card he held, even if he found the notion of blackmail distasteful. “You want to pay your own way through school?”

Her eyes narrowed.

He didn’t like threatening to withdraw his financial support. Even if she did change her major every semester, she was smartand he wanted her to finish school, to get the education he didn’t have. He wanted her to go places. To be somebody—not an agent chasing vengeance like him.

At the mutinous twist of her lips, he knew he had won. He pointed to the parking lot behind her. “Get in your car.”

She scuffed her shoe against the pavement, reminding him of the little girl he used to send home when she tried to tag along with him and his friends. Only she wasn’t a little girl anymore. She was a grown woman with more courage than sense. Like it or not, Gideon couldn’t protect her forever. If she was dead set on becoming an agent like him, there was little he—or Cooper—could do about it. Honestly, he’d rather have her go through NODEAL training and start out with a team than set out into the world as a vigilante and get herself killed.

He released a pent-up breath. “If you leave now, I’ll talk to Cooper for you.”

Her gaze, glowing with hope, shot to him. “Promise?”

Gideon nodded, feeling the frown pulling at the corners of his mouth. He didn’t like it, but Kit’s stubbornness gave him little choice. “I promise. Now go.”

“You’re awesome!” Grinning, she spun around, her fair hair tossing about her head. “You won’t regret it.”

Gideon scowled. He already did.

Claire closed the door firmly behind her, drowning out the heavy thrum of music. Rotting refuse from the Dumpsters tainted the air, and she pressed a hand over her sensitive nose. She was reminded of another alley not so long ago. Only this one was darker and smelled worse. And there was no guesswork involved. She knew what would be joining her. Had felt their eyes on her back as she exited the bar.

Her eyes scanned the narrow space stretching in front of her, searching left and right for a glimpse of Gideon. The opening leading to the parking lot yawned far ahead.

With a few quick steps, she distanced herself from the door. Inhaling, she braced herself, waiting, staring in silence at the dark steel door. She lifted her face to the night sky. The moon shimmered through swiftly moving clouds, a beautiful, frightening thing, bathing the alley in an iridescent glow. Watching, waiting, biding its time. Barely a week remained.

A heavy blare of music signaled the door’s opening. Claire dropped her gaze and watched them step out one by one. The door shut behind them, once again muffling the music and noise from the bar. Their number had grown to three. The third to join possessed arms the size of tree trunks. Her chest rose and fell a bit faster, the beating of her heart in sync with the distant thrum of music.

That familiar sensation, warning of nearby lycans, tingled at her nape, far more intense than the night before. Was it because there were three of them? Or because they were stronger, more powerful, than last night’s lycans?

Her tongue darted out to wet her lips. She pulled her purse in front of her, her hands worrying the strap, letting it act as a shield.

A spark of hope flared to life, worming its way inside her fear-clogged heart. Maybe one of them was the alpha they sought. Maybe it could end here, tonight. Lenny had frequented this place. It wasn’t an impossibility that one of the three could be the alpha she sought.

The youngest-looking of the three smiled almost kindly, his teeth a flash of white against his tan face. “You look lonely, dear.” He extended an elegant long-fingered hand to her. His black Italian silk shirt rippled over his finely sculpted chest with the movement. “There’s no reason for one of our kind to ever be lonely.”

Claire’s feet shuffled back a step, her heart hammering wildly inher chest. That coaxing voice and smile mesmerized her, summoning her nearer as if pulling her by an invisible thread.

She felt his power. Recognized instantly he was the leader among the three. The strongest.

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