“Mikhail.” She repeated his name. That strange peace filling the air intensified. Gideon glanced around to see if anyone else sensed this enthralling power seeping from Maggie. Niklas and Carly, as well as Mikhail himself, seemed…mesmerized. “Thank you, my friend. You are a gift I will cherish.”
Slowly, she released Mikhail. He pushed to his feet, blinking as if in a daze. He stared down at her, long and hard. At length, he nodded curtly, and then disappeared in a shimmer trail. Maggie turned to Gideon. She reached out, only to draw her hand back at the last moment.
Self-loathing filled him. Whereas she’d been ready to throw herself into his arms before, now she obviously couldn’t stand the thought of touching him.
“This wasn’t your fault, Gideon.” A fleeting grimace twisted her lips as she tried to push herself up, only to fall back. “Don’t…please, Gideon, don’t blame yourself.”
“Lie still.” Gideon circumspectly blanked his expression and pushed to his feet. “Get some rest. Don’t undo all Mikhail’s hard work.”
Turning, studiously avoiding eye contact with Niklas and Carly, Gideon walked out of the room.
Chapter Ten
Gideon stood at the sink, his arms splayed, his palms braced on the counter, his head bowed.
How badly he wanted to shimmer away, anywhere but here. And he very nearly had, only catching himself at the last second, remembering that Maggie would go with him. And she sure as hell wasn’t ready for that. Not after what he’d just put her through.
“Let me,” Carly whispered near the doorway to the kitchen. The quiet rumble of Niklas’s reply and Carly’s soft murmur of reassurance pricked at his frayed nerves. A few moments later, the muted sound of footsteps crossed the linoleum.
Carly came to a stop close beside him. An icy sensation wafted over the skin on the back of his hand. He flinched and stared down at where their hands should have connected. Torment though it was, he savored the feel of ghostly cold, misty sensation on his skin where she held her hand, carefully suspended, over his.
“Oh Gideon,” she whispered.
“Don’t. Just don’t,” he said, whirling away from her, his hand ghosting through hers as he moved. “I could have killed her. Don’t pity the monster, darlin’. I don’t deserve it.”
He was a damned fool. How could he think, for one moment, that Maggie was safe around him? As long as he didn’t change. As long as he kept the monster inside leashed.
But he’d been stupid to pretend. He knew better. You didn’t leash the monster, you placated it. Tiptoed around it. Did everything in your power to keep it happy. Because just one slip, one mistake, and the monster came out of hiding and bit you in the ass.
He sensed Niklas’s presence in the doorway. Didn’t blame him one bit for hovering protectively over his woman. After all, one never knew when the monster might snap.
“Niklas,” he said, turning to his friend. “I know it’s dangerous, but you have to let Maggie stay with you and Carly.” God, did he sound as desperate as he thought he did?
“Her place isn’t with us,” Carly said as Niklas crossed to stand beside her. She nestled into the shelter of Niklas’s arms as if she’d been born for no other reason.
He watched as Niklas dropped a kiss to the side of her forehead. Icy blue eyes turned his way. “Carly’s right. The best place for Maggie is with you.”
“How can you say that?” Gideon exploded. Raking two hands through his hair, he gestured wildly toward Sebastian’s living room as their betrayal knifed at him. “Didn’t you see what I did to her? She’s lucky to be alive! If Mikhail hadn’t been able to—” He choked on the words, unable to even think about what might have happened without Mikhail’s healing touch.
Niklas stiffened. Indecision etched his face; his doubt had returned. But Carly patted her hand comfortingly over Niklas’s forearms where they crossed over her stomach. And Niklas visibly relaxed.
Why couldn’t he have had that, just once, with Maggie?
“Maggie is going to be fine, Gideon.” Carly smiled at him the way a woman did when she was convinced she was right and there was nothing you can say or do to change her mind. “But she needs you now. And you need her.”
“She needs me like she needs another hole in the head,” he scoffed, his anger building. Why couldn’t they see how dangerous he was to her?
“You care about her,” Carly said softly.
Giving up on reasoning with her, he turned a pleading gaze on Niklas. “I care about Carly too. Are you willing to leave her in my care?”
“I have before,” Niklas pointed out. The bastard was just all kinds of unhelpful today.
Growling low in his throat, Gideon gripped the back of a kitchen chair. He picked it up and slammed it down. “That was different.”
“How?” Niklas countered.
“I’m not half in love with Carly,” Gideon blurted before he realized what he was saying. Niklas’s lips parted and his eyebrows went up. Carly’s smile widened and her eyes sparkled.
Damn it!