Page 90 of Marked By Moonlight

“Her alpha found her and took her to his pack. He goes by the name of Cyril Jenkins—”

“Have you checked the calendar lately?” Cooper cut in, shaking his head and waving a hand at the late afternoon sky. “Tonight’s moonrise. You know they’re ten times stronger once they shift. Forget it. I’ll run surveillance next week and send agents to pick them off. Safely. One at a time.”

“Next week will be too late for her.”

“It’s already too late for her,” Cooper thundered, the veins throbbing on his neck. “I don’t know what’s happened to you to make you think you can help this one, but you can’t.”

Gideon clenched his hands at his sides, not bothering to explain whatever it was that had set Claire apart from the start, making it impossible to destroy her, making her the one woman he couldn’tresist, the one woman to infiltrate his heart. It wasn’t something he could explain. It was something he felt, something he could not control. Like the beating of his heart. “I’m going. With or without your help.”

“By yourself?” Cooper’s lips twisted in a semblance of a smile, clearly thinking Gideon joked. “It’d be suicide.”

“I’ve got backup. A partner.” Gideon nearly choked on the word.

“Yeah?” Cooper snorted. “Who? No agent would be stupid enough.”

Gideon jerked his thumb behind him.

Cooper squinted at the figure sitting in Gideon’s Jeep. “Who’s that?”

“A lycan.”

Cooper went rigid, the lines and angles of his narrow face tightening. “You’ve totally lost it. This goes beyond breaking code—”

“Hear me out—”

“That’s a lycan sitting there calm as you please?” He shook his head, face screwing tight. “Man, you think I’ll team up with one of their kind to help you?”

“Cooper, listen—”

“Get the hell off my property.”

Gideon held his ground, reining in his temper. “Cooper, we go way back—”

“Which is why I don’t shoot your ass and that son of a bitch right now.” He threw his arm wildly in the direction of the driveway. “Didn’t I teach you anything?”

“Yeah, you taught me. A lot. You taught me how to think, not just follow dictates mindlessly when they don’t make sense.”

Cooper’s eyes bulged, his face dangerously red. “What are you talking about?” he demanded. “What doesn’t make sense about killing the bloodthirsty fuckers?”

“It’s always been NODEAL policy to destroy the infected. Without even trying to save them. Without even considering other alternatives.”

Cooper stared at him for a long moment. “What alternatives?”

Thinking of Darius’s special room, he said, “Come with me. If we don’t kill Claire’s alpha, I’ll show you the other alternatives.”

For a moment, something flashed in Cooper’s eyes. Uncertainty. Consideration for what Gideon was proposing.

His gaze steady and unblinking on the man he called a friend for half his life, he appealed one last time. “Help me. Together we can save her.”

“And him?” Cooper pointed a damning finger to where Darius waited in the Jeep. “Something tells me that cold-eyed bastard watching us can’t be saved. So what are you doing with him?”

Gideon frowned. “He’s not your run-of-the-mill lycan. He doesn’t have a pack and he doesn’t kill.” Even as Gideon said the words he winced at how unbelievable they sounded.

Cooper snorted. “Right. And he’s helping you out of the goodness of his heart.” He choked out a derisive laugh. “Come on, Gid. You’re not that gullible. What’s in it for him?”

Gideon swallowed and confessed, “He wants Claire.”

Cooper threw back his head and laughed. “Priceless.” He turned and cut through his lawn with swift strides, calling over his shoulder. “You two called a truce in order to save a woman you’re going to duke it out over later.”

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