Wild Night Road(17)

It wasn’t over until it was over.
She turned around and was pleased to see the trousers fit Gideon, more or less. He ripped the sleeves off the shirt, but it still was too small, so he made do with throwing on his leather jacket over his bare chest. It swung open over the hard slabs of muscle. His long black hair hung about his face, and the whole effect made him look like a barbarian king.
“I understand you hexed his woman,” Gideon said.
“Not exactly.” She didn’t think werewolves were interested in the finer points of magickal technique, but she also didn’t want to be accused of something she hadn’t done. “I did not hex an entire person.”
“What…exactly…did you do then?”
Lilith bent and scooped the torn shirt remnants from the carpeting, hugging them to her chest when she was done. They smelled of day-old grease and soapsuds and reminded her of Benny. “You could say I merely added a little something to the mark Owen had already placed on the female. Like an overlay. It wasn’t designed to have any effect on the mark itself.”
“Why did you do it? Did you want her for yourself or are you into threesomes?” That dirty smirk came back on Gideon’s face, and she wanted to slug him.
“You sniffed the woman. What did you sense?” Lilith snapped.
Gideon glanced at Owen then back at Lilith. “The blonde?”
Owen nodded.
“And you didn’t tell me?” Gideon’s tone was low and deadly.
Owen shrugged.
With a casual swipe, Gideon backhanded Owen, sending him sprawling. The were bounded to his feet, eyes blazing and fists clenched.
“You should have told me about her,” Gideon said. “Fortunately, I am not so old that I can’t recognize the scent of a marked-but-unbonded female. So you marked her, but that was all.” His lips curled into a sensuous sneer. “You couldn’t rise to the occasion?”
Fury rippled off Owen in waves so powerful Lilith could almost see them.
“The witch tampered with the mark,” Owen ground out. “As soon as I discovered it, I…halted…the mating.”
Gideon shrugged. “So? Why didn’t you kill the witch and keep the female?”
“I could not do so without bringing the wrath of the seraphim down upon us all.” Owen’s gaze lasered on Lilith. “She is said to belong to Gaebryl of the peaks.”
“Said to?” Gideon asked sharply. “Don’t you know?”
“No, my lord.”
Lilith’s silver rune heated while the alpha growled, his fingers clenched into a fist.
“You’ve scared my were, witch,” Gideon said, “and made his balls shrivel. What do you think of that?”
“I think you’re playing with me,” Lilith said, smiling even though fear made her throat tight. Gideon was nearly a foot taller and outweighed her by at least a hundred pounds. Even if she could spit out a spell or reach her trusty baseball bat in time, he would kill her before she could mount a defense.
At some point in the conversation, Remy had moved into place behind her. His presence was oddly comforting.
Gideon’s eyes were dark and deep as he studied Lilith. “You’ve caused a lot of trouble. More than you’re worth. My old friend, Landelarc Sable, may well fight me over this mess. I would be very sad if I had to kill him. We’ve been friends since childhood. Worse, he will see his brother’s actions this day as a betrayal.”
“You could have turned him down, not accepted him,” Lilith shot back.
“No, I couldn’t.”
“It doesn’t matter. The wolf made his choice,” Lilith said. “I had nothing to do with it.”
Owen barked a bitter laugh. “If not for you and your damned hex, none of us would be here now.”
“My hex has nothing to do with any of this,” Lilith insisted. “If the packs want a war, you’ll find an excuse, but don’t blame me.”
Gideon loomed over Lilith. He didn’t touch her, but the threat in his stance, in the tension that radiated from his massive body felt as real as a gut punch. “I want the whole story, witch.”
There was no such thing as lying to an alpha as powerful as Gideon Black. Lilith took a breath and spoke, feeling like she was diving off a cliff. “Once the woman bonded with the were, the magick of the hex would make me part of the bond. In effect, a member of the pack. As such, I could request a seat on the Council of the Kinraven.”
Gideon blinked and his shoulders relaxed. Lilith discovered she could breathe again.
“Witches are represented on the council by the seraphim,” Gideon said mildly. “It has always been that way.”