Gideon could only stare at the bland, unassuming features of Cyril Jenkins and fight the urge to fling back his head and howl in rage. He’d met the man and had never even suspected. All this time the alpha they sought had been under their noses. And now he had Claire.

“You couldn’t have known. He’s very old—wise enough to know how to disguise himself from agents.”

Claire had dated him—sat across from him at a restaurant. Worked with him every day. The thought made his fists clench tighter. Apparently his hunch that the geeky band director had been interested in Claire wasn’t far off. Damn straight he was interested in her. She was a member of his pack.

“There’s your alpha,” Darius pronounced, reading Gideon’s mind. “At least we know who has Claire now.”

“Yeah, but not where,” Gideon clarified, looking toward the office and nodding at the secretary talking on the phone behind her desk. “Think she can be persuaded to give us his address?”

“Never question a lycan’s ability to enthrall.” With a tiny salute, Darius pushed through the glass door.

Gideon paced outside the office, trying to keep his thoughts from Claire and what Cyril could be doing to her. Those thoughts would drive him mad and make him useless. Darius soon emerged, a slip of paper in hand. “Got it.”

Gideon nodded, grim determination filling him. Claire, baby, I’m coming.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

When a dog is hungry enough, it will eat anything to survive.

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

Gideon watched the double doors of the gray two-story building impatiently. He understood Cooper was angry. But their history alone should have guaranteed him an audience instead of the desk sergeant’s curt “Yeah, he’s in, but said if it was you not to bother him.”

“He caught you in bed with a lycan,” Darius’s rich, clipped tones rumbled from beside him. “You’re a lycan hunter. Somewhat flies in the face of what you do, doesn’t it?”

“I’m aware of that,” he snapped, not bothering to explain that he and Cooper went way back. Far enough back to make certain allowances.

“Yet you expect him to overlook that? How is he going to react with me by your side?”

Gideon didn’t care what Cooper thought. He would team up with the devil himself if it helped save Claire. Jenkins lived north of Houston on forty acres. They had already cased the property that afternoon. With its thick foliage, the house was undetectable from the road. An ideal setup, a virtual compound for Jenkins’s pack. Who knew how many numbers they were pitting themselves against? It was beyond risky, even with Gideon’s experience and Darius at his side. Their combined skills wouldn’t be enough. They needed Cooper.