“No, I’d say you’re more than halfway in love with Maggie, Gideon,” Carly said. “I’d say you’re all the way there.”
“Christ on a crutch, Carly! Don’t! Just don’t go there,” Gideon pleaded. He conjured a cup of coffee only to set it aside without taking a sip. He paced to the door leading outside but couldn’t leave.
Angry, he stomped back, then strode to the living room as if drawn by a magnet just to make sure she was still there, still breathing, still alive. She lay on the sofa, right where he’d left her, her chest gently rising and falling. He wanted to crawl out of his skin. Wanted to claw it from his body. Wanted to pull his hair from his head. Why couldn’t they understand?
He came to a stop beside the sink once more, dimly aware that Carly had followed, Niklas close on her heels. He sure as hell didn’t trust himself around Carly, let alone Maggie. Niklas damned well shouldn’t either.
“Gideon, stop beating yourself up over this. It was an accident. I’m sure Maggie feels the same. You already heard her say so,” Carly reminded him.
“Please, Niklas.” Gideon beseeched his friend. “Take her with you. Away from me. Keep her safe. Please.”
He reached for the key around his neck when it looked as if Niklas was waffling. He’d solve the problem for them. He’d take the damned cuff off and leave. He’d go straight to a nest and end this once and for all. Then they’d be forced to watch over Maggie. And she’d be safe from him.
His fingers scraped over bare flesh. Gideon grasped both hands at his throat, patting desperately where his necklace should have been.
“What the hell!” he exclaimed. “It’s gone!”
“What’s the matter?” Carly reached out in alarm to grab his arm, her hand ghosting right through him. “What’s gone?”
“The key! The key to the cuffs binding us together. Without the key, the cuffs won’t come off. Without the key, I can’t shimmer without taking Maggie with me whether she wants to go or not. Without the key, I can’t—”
Without the key, he couldn’t seek Oblivion. Who knew what would happen if he died while still bound to her by the cuffs. Would she die too?
Would she be dragged to Oblivion right along with him?
His blood ran cold just at the thought.
“Where could it have—” The memory of silver glinting in Mortika?’s fist flashed through his mind.
Sweet Jesus. Mortika? has the key!
Maggie would never be safe now.
Panic made it difficult to breathe. Adrenaline spurted through his system. His easy out was gone. His torment would never end.
Carly regarded him through shrewd eyes. “This is about more than the cuffs binding you together, isn’t it? And more than your fear of hurting her again.”
Gideon stepped back, rounded the table, putting more space between him and the couple. More space between him and reality. His back was to the living room as he faced them, as if he could shield Maggie from Carly’s words. Shield her from the awful truth. He was a freak that could never touch her. But he’d fallen in love with her, and would probably kill anyone else that tried to touch her. God, he was a sick joke.
“Sugar, you don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, striving to inject scorn into his tone.
“That’s exactly it,” Carly argued, undaunted. “This is about your curse, isn’t it?”
Something in him snapped.
“Could you imagine living every day with Niklas, and not being able to touch him?” Gideon finally let the dam break, not caring that his words were intentionally cruel. “Being close enough to smell him, feel his heat, hear his heartbeat, and never be able to feel his skin? Never be able to hold him, or kiss him, or make love to him? It’s like that for me, every second that I’m with her. How could you rub that salt in my wounds? How could you expect me to continue to live with that kind of torment?”
Carly took a step toward him, her hand going to her throat as understanding dawned. “Oh, Gideon. I didn’t mean to—I’m so sorry.”
Great, now it looked as if she were going to burst into tears. He was just batting zero for a thousand here.
“We’ll figure out something.” Shaking her head, Carly set her features in determination, even as she grew more distraught. “We’ll break the curse, somehow. We’ll find a way around it. We have to be able to do something. You mustn’t give up. We can—”