Gideon snarled and lunged blindly through the trees, desperate to silence the voice, to kill this beast that hunted them and be done with it. “Where are you, you bastard? Show yourself! I’m here now! Come and fight me, if you dare! I’ll rip you to pieces!” I need to Change, he thought frantically, wanting the strength, the speed, the power he had in his other form. But a Change in the light was risky, not to mention physically difficult without the moon to ease and facilitate it. And he had no time, for the wretched voice was already fading away.

“Mine …”

Gasping, growling in frustration and anger, Gideon pressed on through deepening snow, fighting for more speed even as the wind hurled taunting whips of stinging snow into his eyes. Still, he tried to follow the invisible until at last he knew, with sinking certainty, that he was alone once again. Unable to bear it any longer, Gideon dropped to his knees and roared. He cursed his senses that for the first time had inexplicably failed him, cursed his bloody cousin for instigating this madness. He even cursed Saint Columba for having brought his people out of the wilds in the first place.

He did not want this. But he could not change what he was, or what was his to protect. And it was time, Gideon knew, to purge this place of what had come for him and go home to finish it.

Ignoring the painful throb somewhere in the vicinity of his heart as he turned back, Gideon tried to take solace in what he had always held dear, what he had always

known to be true. I am a MacInnes Wolf, son of Duncan MacInnes, Guardian of the Lia Fαil. I am of the strongest, the fastest, the cleverest. And I will prevail.

But somehow, nothing could warm the chill that had settled, it seemed, into his very soul.

t t t

“Tell me again why Regan hung up on you when you invited her to come along?”

Carly paused halfway up the freshly shoveled steps that led to Jonathan and Maria Silver’s well-lit front porch, turning her head to smirk at him. “She’s determined that I only invite her to family dinners because my brothers are so busy lusting after her that they forget to pick on me. And just for the record, she didn’t exactly hang up on me. She definitely mumbled something that sounded like a goodbye after she said that thing about not being the one who got caught running around my house naked.”

“And?”

Carly widened her eyes. “I would never stoop to tactics like that!”

Gideon raised an eyebrow at her innocent expression, trying to enjoy Carly’s good humor despite the darkness that had settled over his mood. He’d wanted to talk to her right when she’d arrived home from work. Truly, he had. No more secrets, he’d decided, and he still had every intention of telling her what had happened this afternoon. But when she’d practically bounded through the door to see him, and the way her eyes had lit up at the sight of him … God help him, he hadn’t had the heart to say anything.

It was probably a stroke of luck that the infamous Luigi had called and all but demanded the two of them come along to the family’s weekly dinner, he knew. It got Carly where he wanted her, and once they had their talk, well, chances were she wasn’t going to want to follow him anywhere after that. He’d tried to act like nothing was wrong, though he’d caught Carly giving him curious glances once or twice when she didn’t think he’d been looking. And it was better this way, Gideon knew. The truth, and then a clean break. Better for both of them, easier in the long run.

Still, no matter what his rational mind knew to be true, the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach refused to dissipate. And with each look he stole at her, he felt as though he were trying to drink in all he could of her in the time he had left, a man dying of thirst, for whom no amount of water would ever be enough.

And nothing was going to change, Gideon told himself firmly, dragging his thoughts back to the present. Carly was still smiling up at him, backlit by the warm glow from the house. Several of the snowflakes drifting lazily down from the inky sky glittered where they had caught in the pale glory of her hair. That, coupled with the way she was all bundled up in her coat, ridiculously furry boots, and scarf, made her appear almost childlike, a small, mischievous angel. Unable to resist, Gideon leaned down to brush his mouth against hers in a soft, undemanding kiss.

He chuckled at Carly’s bemused expression when he pulled back.

“What was that for?”

“For being such a charming liar.”

She considered him for a moment. “If I tell a bigger one, what does that get me?”

“Hmm,” Gideon rumbled, pretending to give the matter serious thought. He caught her gloved hands in his and dropped back a couple of steps to put them on more even footing. “Well, I suppose I might start with something like this.”

He caught a glimpse of Carly’s smile right before he pulled her against him and brought his mouth against hers in a lazy, thorough kiss, angling his head to slide his tongue against hers in a slow, provocative rhythm. This was perfection, he thought with hazy pleasure, savoring the way every curve of their bodies seemed tailored to fit together just so. He’d heard it said that the best things came in small packages, and Carly Silver was certainly an affirmation of that. In spite of the temperature, just being with her warmed him in places he wasn’t even aware had grown cold. Strange, that such trouble could have presented him with such a rare gift. Singular pleasure. Singular pain.

All thought of pain, however, was swept from Gideon’s mind as Carly wound her fingers in his hair, tugging him more firmly against her in a silent demand to deepen the kiss. He gave a rough chuckle as he finally pulled his head back to look at her, pleased by the sparkle in Carly’s eyes, the flush their kiss had put into her cheeks.

“You’re going to get me kicked out of your family’s house before I even get in, if we keep this up,” he informed her.

Carly leaned in to nip his bottom lip with a wicked grin that did nothing to cool him off. “You started it. But now that you mention it, getting kicked out and going back to bed isn’t such a bad idea.”

Gideon groaned in mock protest, forcing a smile even as the thought flitted through his head that there would be no more tumbling this luscious little creature into bed. Ever. That would be for some other man from now on. Stroking her responsive little body. Receiving her sweet kisses. Making her laugh. Making her moan.

Gideon’s smile suddenly felt like nothing more than bared teeth.

Carly eyed him with a mixture of curiosity and apprehension. “Are you all right, Gideon?”

“Fine. Why?”

“You just look … sort of funny.”

“Funny ha-ha?”

Carly shook her head a little, frowning faintly. “No. Funny like you just caught a whiff of raw sewage.”

Perhaps he ought to just tell her now, Gideon thought. Perhaps he should at least give her some sort of warning of what was coming.

“Carly. I need to …”

But he never got the chance. Just as he opened his mouth, the door to the house opened and bathed his and Carly’s entwined forms in a beam of bright light. Whatever he might have said was cut off forever by a loud, masculine, and now-familiar voice bellowing into the night.

“Ma! They’re not late, they’re just making out on the front steps!”

“Luigi, you ass.” Carly pulled away from Gideon with an apologetic look, apparently tabling their conversation for later as she caught one of his hands in hers and pulled him behind her toward the front door. Thankful for the distraction, not to mention intrigued beyond all comprehension, Gideon allowed himself to be dragged along. It was, after all, an almost sacred Silver family tradition to eat together once a week, at least according to Carly.

“If you don’t show up, you’d better be either dead or thinking about it,” she’d told him earlier. And truly, from the tone of Luigi’s voice when he’d “invited” him, Gideon had been hard-pressed to refuse, Sopranos-esque visions of getting whacked dancing through his head. He’d told himself that his agreement for the most part involved not wanting to get Carly in more trouble than she was already in, but truth be told, after meeting her brother, Gideon was extremely curious about the rest of Carly’s family.

And so here they were, in all their glory, apparently as interested in meeting him as he was in meeting them. The instant Gideon stepped into the Silvers’ comfortable foyer, he found himself surrounded by a rush of chatter and movement, enveloped by a close family dynamic in which he found himself surprisingly at home. He was reminded, with sweet nostalgia, of every Pack gathering he’d attended while growing up, the rough hugs and pats, the humorous and borderline-inappropriate questions asked at top volume, and most of all, the warm feeling associated with being surrounded by those who loved you.

It was a sensation he’d never expected to feel outside of Scotland. But then, Scotland didn’t have Carly Silver.

Gideon watched with a smile as Carly was picked up and spun around by a slightly older, slightly taller, and if it were at all possible, slightly hairier version of Luigi. Mario, of course. The original Luigi (and though, God help him, he liked the man, thank the heavens there was only one) appeared at Gideon’s side to give his hand a firm shake and clap him on the shoulder as hard as he could manage. Gideon fought back the urge to return the favor and send him flying into the nearest wall with a friendly pat. He somehow doubted that Luigi’s outsized ego would ever fully recover from the blow.

“Nice to see you again, Gid. Glad to see you, ah, dressed for the occasion.” The tone was innocent, but the twinkle in the eyes was one Gideon had seen before … right before a certain short female had guilted him into being her slave for the day. Apparently, for entertainment purposes, the tale of their meeting hadn’t made it to Carly’s parents. Yet. But knowing that Carly had endured years of imaginative torment at the hands of her two brothers didn’t do much to ease Gideon’s mind on that subject. He wasn’t at all sure he was up for being the object of the Silver brothers’ evening amusement.