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her PhD students had fallen in love with a shifter. With him .
    How could they make it work? Miranda shouldn’t have to decide between him and her studies, and it would be impossible for her to lie convincingly when her very work centered around Evelia Gutierrez’s research. He couldn’t expect her to abandon her studies and disappear with him.
    He thought about the ranch back home, and how well Miranda would fit in there. Mav would idolize her—he’d pester her with questions about college and science and the best places to do undergrad studies to prep for the right graduate programs. Blake and Jude would love her like a sister, too, and he could imagine all of them, Hera included, tooling around the trails of the ranch on ATVs, racing around in the mud. In the evenings, they’d grill steaks and vegetables out on the patio, and play those damn games that Jude was so fond of. Pictionary, Trivial Pursuit, Killer Bunnies.
    Gabriel would throw it all away, though, to keep her safe from her advisor, and to keep the rest of them safe, as well. Her advisor could never know about him. And maybe, eventually, Miranda would be able to move on. Find someone else.
    Hell and fuck. The very thought of her with someone else killed him inside. But better that than her being lonely for the rest of her life. He knew he’d be lonely for the rest of his.
    Although he was hundreds of yards away, he could hear her sobs echoing behind him. Hell, she was probably crying inside his head now. Or maybe that was him, crying. He touched his cheeks, which were wet with tears.
    He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t do it either way.
    What kind of Neanderthal was he being, anyway? Not letting her make her own decision? Walking off without talking about it? Maybe he hadn’t always agreed with Nan on political issues, but she’d taught him enough that they’d both agreed on feminism. Now he was behaving like a jackass, and he knew Nan would tell him so.
    There was no good answer here, but maybe they could figure something out, together.
    He turned back to the shack, shouting, “Miranda! Miranda!”
    He hadn’t gone very far before the dart sank into his shoulder. He felt the sting and twisted to swat it away, but it was too late. Everything around him faded to gray, and then black.

Chapter Ten
    Crying tears mixed with equal parts sorrow and rage, Miranda pulled on her pants and top. No way was she going to let Gabriel walk away like that, like she hadn’t meant anything to him, like what they’d immediately felt for each other wasn’t more powerful than anything they’d ever experienced. It was the purest, highest love, and she was going to let him yank it away because…why? Some fear of her advisor? Did he think Miranda would sell him out and reveal his secret?
    When she stepped from the shack, she saw shadows moving in the darkening forest.
    “Gabriel?” she whispered. It looked like him, rushing toward her, head down as if he were charging.
    “Miranda!” he shouted.
    There was a shadow to the left, and Miranda lifted her arm to point, but he suddenly fell to the ground, sliding as he went.
    “No!” Miranda skidded to the ground, trying to reach him. A dart stuck out from his shoulder, and she moved to grab it.
    “Ms. Hsin!” Dr. Gutierrez’s voice came from the left. “Perfect. Help me tie him up—I have some good strong rope here.”
    “Dr. Gutierrez?” How had she gotten here? When? How much had she heard between Miranda and Gabriel? Miranda turned and tried to keep her face free of the confusion she felt. “Rope?”
    “Yes, come on, now. Don’t worry—the ropes are reinforced with metal fibers. He won’t be going anywhere.”
    “We can’t do that,” Miranda said. Dr. Gutierrez was a stickler for the rules, so Miranda tried to reason with her, “He’s a person. We don’t study people, and there are all kinds of ethics codes. We would need his signed permission.”
    “I think you know very well what he is,” Dr.