“There he is.” Gideon leaned forward in his seat as Cooper made his way to the employee parking lot on the side of the building.

He shifted into drive and rolled out of the parking lot several cars behind Cooper. Cooper lived close to work, preferring a short drive, and that appeared to be where he was headed. A few minutes later, Gideon pulled into the driveway behind Cooper.

“Wait here,” he instructed Darius, swinging out of the Jeep with one hand gripping the door frame.

Cooper stopped and braced his legs apart in the driveway when he spotted Gideon. “You’re suspended, Gid. Go home.”

“I know where she is.”

At this announcement, Cooper lifted an eyebrow, asking flatly, “Where?”

“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’t resist, 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?”