Gideon leaned back on the couch, his stomach churning at the thought of giving up all he had ever known. If not a lycan hunter, then what was he? Vengeance had been his companion for so long now. But a life of destroying lycans left him hollow inside. Helping Claire, falling in love with Claire, had filled him with a purpose. Shit. And now she didn’t even want him.

“If I were to continue hunting, things would have to change. I couldn’t do things NODEAL’s way anymore. I wouldn’t want to simply destroy. If the chance arose, I’d want to save the infected, too.”

Cooper leaned forward, punching a button on the remote control. The television snapped off. “What’s really eating you? I’m not surprised about your wanting to quit NODEAL. You’ve broken every code, done everything possible to sabotage your job.” He looked around the room again, this time his tone insistent as he asked, “Where’s Claire?”

Gideon stared at his bare feet propped on the coffee table, hating the vulnerability gnawing at him as he confessed, “I don’t know. At her apartment, I guess. She left last night.”

“Uh-oh. What’d you do?”

Gideon blinked. “Me?” He pointed to his chest. “I didn’t do anything.” At Cooper’s skeptical look, Gideon added, “I told her I love her.”

“And she took off?”

“Yeah.”

Cooper grunted. Shaking his head, he stood up to leave. “You went through a lot of trouble to keep that woman alive.” He paused, his eyes drilling into Gideon relentlessly.

“Guess she doesn’t want anything to do with me now that the curse is broken,” Gideon said, despising the anguish he heard in his voice.

Cooper shook his head. “Sure looked like she loved you from where I stood.”

“Yeah, well, you know about love as much as I do.”

Cooper approached him and squeezed his shoulder. “Stop being an ass. Love makes people do stupid things, even run from the person they want most. Now go get her.”

Claire stood in her apartment doorway and stared at the deliveryman in front of her, a heavyset, balding man with a thick Italian accent who pronounced her last name with a silent g. Moron. Sadly appropriate.

What had she been thinking last night, going to bed with Gideon? She might have fallen in love with him, but he hadn’t fallen in love with her. Not the true her.

Depressed, Claire took solace in comfort food.

She took a risk ordering delivery from Angelo’s since they never got the order right, but she hadn’t felt like leaving her apartment. Just to be safe, Claire had made the old lady repeat her order over the phone. Maybe this once it would be right.