Page 8 of Marked By Moonlight

Claire rose from the tub, taking extra care since her legs felt as steady as rubber. Slipping on her blue terry-cloth robe, she emerged from the bathroom, weaving a crooked line from the door.

“Maggie, I’m going to lie down.”

With a clucking sound, Maggie entered the room and slipped an arm around her waist. “Those painkillers sure pack a punch.”

They staggered together the few feet to the bed. Claire collapsed on top of it and tried to pull the comforter down, but her arms felt like two leaden weights, so she gave up, leaving them stretched above her head like a swimmer in dive.

“Wait here.” Maggie’s voice sounded underwater and far away. Seconds later, Claire felt the throw from the couch draped over her. She tried to voice her gratitude but her tongue was thick in her mouth and she couldn’t form the words.

“?’Night. I’ll call to check on you tomorrow. See you Monday.”

She thought she heard the front door open and shut over the roaring in her ears. Her eyes drifted open, then shut, and then open again. She regarded the whirling fan blades above until she grew dizzy. Squeezing her eyes shut, she opened them sometime later to a darkened room, preternaturally still.

How did the light go out?

Ribbons of moonlight crept in through the blinds, saving her from utter blackness. Claire shook her head as though the motion could clear it. No luck.

Before sleep swallowed her and robbed her of all thought, a man’s voice rumbled through the air, rolling over her.

“Sleep now.”

She managed to lift her heavy head with a mewling grunt. Her eyes focused for a brief moment. In that split second, she made out a man’s shadowy form looming over her. Too weak, her head collapsed back on the pillow, and she surrendered to sleep.

With a sigh on her lips, darkness rolled in, the second whisper lost to the night.

“Sleep… forever.”

Gideon brushed the back of his hand against her brow and winced at her fiery flesh. She didn’t stir. Initiation had begun. The fever raged inside her, the poison spreading, eating its way through her, consuming the old life to make room for the new, but she slept peaceably.

He lifted his gun and pressed it to her head. She wouldn’t feel a thing. The time was right. He had to do it now. There would never be a better moment. His finger curled around the trigger. In his mind, he heard that trigger click, heard the soft zing of the bullet whiz through flesh and bone, saw her body jerk—

She sighed softly and rolled onto her side. He bent his elbow and pulled the gun back, waiting for her to resettle before he placed it to her head again, this time directly on her temple where her hair fell straight and smooth, brushing the mouth of the barrel.

Do it. Do it now!

It was nothing he hadn’t done before. Nothing he wouldn’t want done to himself if he were in her shoes.

He had pulled the trigger on other NODEAL agents, members of the National Organization for Defense against Evolving and Ancient Lycanthropes, like himself who were unlucky enough to become infected in the course of their duties. Men like him. Men he called friends.

So, why couldn’t he pull the fucking trigger?

It was what he did. Who he was.

She snuggled deeper into the bed, rolling on her side and curling her legs. Her robe parted, revealing well-shaped calves and supple-looking thighs that would feel like satin in a man’s hands. His cock grew hard, pushing against his fly, and he swallowed a curse. The thought of gliding his hands over her legs, of wrapping them around his waist as he buried himself in her soft heat, grabbed hold of him and wouldn’t let go. Shaking his head, he decided he’d been too long without a woman. A matter he needed to correct if it stopped him from lusting after his targets.

Her arms reached out, instinctively searching the area next to her until her fingers met the sought-after object. She tucked the tattered teddy bear to her chest, triggering a flood of memories best left forgotten. Memories of home, of family, of a happy,unfettered life… before he’d known lycans existed in anything other than Hollywood movies.

She smiled in her sleep. A soft, dreamy smile that did strange things to his insides.

“Shit,” he muttered, repeating the NODEAL code in his mind like a mantra.Destroy them at any cost.

CHAPTERTHREE

Some dogs take longer to train than others.

—Man’s Best Friend: An Essential Guide to Dogs

Claire opened her eyes, blinked once, and was instantly wide awake, surging upright in bed. Astonishing alertness for a woman who deliberately set her alarm thirty minutes early just so she could hit the snooze button three times. Her body required that extra half hour to adjust to the idea of waking.

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