They chatted for a few more minutes until Gideon caught her eye and motioned for them to move on. With a hug, she pulled away. Gideon led her to the bar at the far end of the room.

“Well,” she asked, “what do you think?”

“More importantly, what did you think? Feel anything?”

She shook her head, her gaze shooting back to the group of teenagers. “Nothing. Not from any of them.”

“Maybe it’s no one from school. Maybe it’s someone in his family.”

“He only had foster parents.” She sighed, resisting the hopelessness threatening to swallow her. “And we already checked them out.”

“The mother wasn’t there.”

“He said she took off,” Claire reminded him.

“Yeah, that’s what he said.” Gideon shook his head.

A cold weight settled in the pit of her stomach. The alpha could be anyone in the entire city. The entire state, for that matter. It could have been a random infection; it didn’t even have to be someone Lenny knew.

“Hey.” He turned her to face him, his fingers whisper-soft on her chin. The gentle look in his eyes tormented her, made her want what he would not give. It was easier when he treated her like a stranger. Easier to not want him so badly that way.

He continued in that velvet voice, “I haven’t given up. Don’t you quit either.”

Her thoughts in a jumble, she forced a wobbly smile.

Suddenly, her nape prickled. Her eyes cut across the room, knowing what she would find staring back at her.

“Over there,” she squeaked, her gaze trapped by two pairs of silver eyes. One male. One female.

Gideon followed her gaze across the room through the haze of smoke. “Bingo.”

“They’re—”

“Lycans,” he supplied.

“They’re not wearing contacts,” she added, wetting her lips nervously.

Their eyes glowed bold and obtrusive amid a crowd of ordinary faces. Claire shivered.

Tight red leather molded the female’s body like a second skin, hiding nothing of her sleek, lithe form. They watched her intently, two hungry predators.

“They’re not trying to hide.” Gideon nodded grimly. “Confident bastards.”

No, not hiding. It was more like they were advertising themselves. Her skin sizzled where their gazes trailed, eliciting a strange longing, an unremitting ache that throbbed deep within her. She resisted their pull by turning her back on them. Her eyes darted wildly ahead of her, instinctively searching for an escape route.

“It’s okay,” Gideon murmured against her ear, clearly sensing her anxiety. “See that exit in the back.” His breath, soft as a feather, ruffled her hair. Claire inhaled a shaky breath, looked to the red exit sign in the distance, and nodded.

“I’m going to leave out the front. Wait five minutes and take the back exit,” he instructed.