“Yeah?” Bowman leaned down and licked across her fingertips, his tongue hot and wet. “And if I wasn’t handcuffed to the bed, and could actually move, I’d be pushing you back into that bed. Maybe turning you over, because that gown ties in the back. Wouldn’t even need to take it off you for what I have in mind.”

“Mmm.” Kenzie flicked the tip of his tongue with her finger. “I’m starting to feel better.”

“Touch of a mate,” Bowman said.

“We’d heal much faster if we could touch each other all over,” Kenzie pointed out.

“We should make them push our beds together.” Bowman’s eyes sparkled. “And see how much we can touch with me cuffed. Might be fun.”

“Sure, challenge me, Bowman.” Kenzie gave him a saucy look as her heart cried out in gladness. “See what you get.”

“Little devil.” He drew her finger into his mouth, suckling, and heat squeezed deep in Kenzie’s body.

A cleared throat made her jump. Bowman’s teeth closed on her finger, not releasing her, as he shot an irritated glance at the intruder.

“I’d tell you to get a room,” Gil said. “But . . .”

Bowman pretended to ignore him, but Kenzie looked limply at the man. She was still angry with Gil, but too wrung out from the fight, and much too interested in reveling in the mate bond, to bother.

“I see you two have finally figured it out,” Gil said.

Bowman released Kenzie’s fingers and turned a growl on Gil. “I want to know why you’re the only one not chained to a bed,” he snapped.

Gil shrugged. “I’m a police officer. I was investigating Turner’s activities and happened to be on the spot when everything went down.” He winked at Kenzie.

“Shit.” Bowman sank back to his pillow, but he captured Kenzie’s fingers again and didn’t let go of her. The touch made Kenzie’s strength grow.

Kenzie skewered Gil with her gaze. “How do you know about the mate bond? What was all that shit about me feeling it for you? I still want to gut you for that.”

Gil approached their beds, and Kenzie wondered how she’d ever thought him simply a human cop. There was an ancient air about him, of a being who’d seen much, suffered much, and become wise instead of broken.

“I don’t know,” he said, losing his smile. “I felt something, Kenz.” He pressed his hand to his chest. “I’d been feeling it for a while—a long time—seeking the other side of my heart, I guess. And the first time I saw you, I saw the mate bond in you.” He put his hand in the air between Kenzie and Bowman, near their joined hands. “Very faint, but it was there. When you sat in the patrol car with me, you almost glowed with it.”

Kenzie stared at him. “What the hell are you talking about? I didn’t feel it until later, and only figured it out when I was trapped in the mists.”

Gil shook his head. “I’m sometimes amazed at the things I can see, but I’ve stopped letting it bother me. I wasn’t completely sure what I was looking at when I saw the sparkling threads coming out of your chest. When the warmth inside me built . . .” He again pressed his hand to his chest. “I thought about how you and me seemed to connect so well, and I let myself believe . . .”

“Oh.” Kenzie had been wanting to gut him for making her think they shared the bond, but her anger turned to sympathy. Remembering the anguish she’d felt, she could imagine Gil’s dismay when he discovered he’d been mistaken.

Gil’s eyes held a sadness. “I saw the threads in Bowman too, when I met him. But neither of you seemed to notice, so I let myself believe. A thousand years is a long time to be alone.”

Bowman had gone silent, but Kenzie looked at Gil in compassion. “When did you figure out you were wrong?”

“When I saw Bowman after you got trapped. The threads around him were—I don’t know—desperate. They were stretching out, looking for you, crying out for you. It was heartbreaking. I knew then that you two had always shared the bond—that you had a powerful and profound connection. It was such a natural part of you that you didn’t even know it.” Gil shook his head. “It took both of you being in terrible danger for you to realize it. You two were trying so hard to feel what ordinary Shifters felt, that it didn’t occur to you that the pair of you are extraordinary.”

“Oh,” Kenzie said. She glanced at Bowman, remembering every encounter with him since the first, her constant awareness of him, her need to tease and dare him, the way she’d so easily accepted that they would be mates. She’d made him persuade her the day he’d come to mate-claim her, but Kenzie had already known, in her heart, that she’d go home with him.

Bowman still had to growl at Gil. “And it took you, oh wise one, to show us the way?”

Gil grinned, his humor returning. “Nah, you would have got there. Eventually. Goddess, but you two are stubborn.”

“And you are a pain in the ass.” Bowman gave him a growl. “Are you sure you’re not some kind of Fae?”

Gil held up his hands, and deep pain flashed in his brown eyes. “Don’t ever call me a Fae. Those bastards wiped out everyone I held dear—don’t ever confuse me with anything Fae.”

Kenzie gentled her tone. “Or a ghost?”

Instantly, Gil’s rage departed, and his amusement returned. “That’s just fun. That family really did adopt me a hundred and fifty years ago and left me the house. And everyone loves a ghost.”

Bowman said nothing, but looked slightly less angry. Kenzie looked Gil over. She didn’t understand him, and thought she might never, but he’d helped them every step of the way.

“Is your name really Gil?” Bowman rumbled at him. “Graham called you Ben.”

Gil shrugged. “Neither.” He winked at Kenzie again. “You couldn’t pronounce it.”

“And why didn’t you tell us?” Kenzie asked. “Why pretend to be the cop? Why the glam?”

Gil let out a breath. “Well, to be honest, gnomes or goblins—whatever you want to call me—are not that good-looking to humans. And I’ve lived in stealth mode so long that it’s my natural state. I don’t know how to open up and be myself. When I heard about the attack of the beast, I knew I needed to investigate. It smacked of Fae. And if I’d told you I was from Faerie, you’d have gone for my throat first and asked questions later. Don’t tell me you wouldn’t. So I used a persona you’d find agreeable. When the creature turned up dead real quick, I planned to move on. But then . . . I thought I had a connection to you, Kenzie. I wanted to stick around and see what was going on, and I wanted to help.”