“Gideon, what’s this?” Nix asks, holding up a flat disc the size of his hand. A dull red light flashes on the surface, and when he flips it over, he sees it’s not a camera but an audio recorder.
Scanners would have detected a camera easily, but a digital recorder likethis could slip past the sensors.
Whoever had placed it had been recording the keypad tones of the security system—for Goddess knows how long.
His stomach turns.How long had they been listening?He swallows down the acrid taste of failure.
On one hand, he’s once again pissed off and guilty. But on the other, he’s relieved. No one had betrayed them. He hadn’t wanted to consider what kind of enemy would enter their compound while masquerading as a friend.
“It’s security tech, kitten, but not ours.”
With the worst timing possible, the pizza guy rolls up to the gate, B.I.G’sKick in the Doorblasting too loud for their neighborhood.
No doubt the neighborhood watch will be sending strongly worded complaints by morning.
A long, black-clad arm reaches through the driver’s window to press the front gate buzzer.
“Hey, you stay here.” His tone brooks no argument.
Instead of opening the large gate, Gideon steps out through the side door to intercept their dinner. No one is getting in the gates until Sentinel Security has done its thing.
A familiar black car sits idling at the curb, aPIZZAlight stuck to the top. But the guy inside isn’t their usual student driver in uniform.
“Oh, hey man—got your pizza. Need help bringing it in?”
Gideon does not, in fact, need help to carry six large pizzas and sides. But the guy exits the car anyway, boxes in hand.
He’s fucking huge, smells like dill pickles, and—
Looks awfully familiar.
Even without the balaclava, Gideon clocks him instantly as the saluting intruder.
At the same time the realization hits, Dill Pickle plows into him, slamming them both into the stone column where the buzzer and speaker are located.
Gideon sends a quick prayer of thanks to the Goddess when his shoulder narrowly misses the intercom—because that would have called his entirepack out into danger.
And this fight?
This fight isn’t for them.
He’s thrilled, and not just about their safety.
Someone tried to steal from his den.
Someone looked at Nix and thought they could take him.
He’s thrilled becausethis? This is for Gideon.
Gideon is still holding the digital recorder, and he smashes it into the side of Dill Pickle’s head. If he’d caught him in the throat, he might have been fortunate enough to sever something important, but, in the end, he’s glad it only cuts him from the corner of his eye all the way to his chin. That way, this can go on a little bit longer.
Dill Pickle is now blinded in one eye, growling with his fangs down and claws out, adding to Gideon’s euphoria.
This is what he was born to do.
Letting his own wolf out, he starts driving the intruder back toward the gate, away from the side access door, slashing and kicking.
Dill Pickle can only get a few swipes in as Gideon shows him a few of the favorite things he’s learned from going up against Jay and now Nix.
