She barely slept. Every time she closed her eyes, she inevitably fell into another of her wicked, sexy dreams. The only difference? The shadow man with the golden eyes had a face now. The sharp, sculpted features of the dark stranger from Mugs followed her into her dreams just like he followed her to her apartment.
In her dreams, he looked the same as he did that afternoon. Black t-shirt. Dark denim jeans. There was only one small difference. He wasn’t wearing any shades, leaving her to drown in his molten golden gaze before the dream turned into another fantasy that left her feeling guilty when she woke up.
Because, when she was sleeping, Evangeline never remembered Adam.
Her dreams hadn’t stopped yet and she didn’t harbor any illusions that they would now; almost every night for months she’d had one. The shadowy figure seemed to follow her whether it was a nightmare or a fantasy. He seemed closer every time she dreamed of him, and in the few moments when she was trapped between sleep and awake, she wished that she could run to him—even if it meant leaving Adam behind.
Once she was fully conscious, she regretted her irrational impulse. She shouldn’t want a dark stranger as much as she did and she felt guilty for being drawn to him.
Just like she tried to ignore how much that man from Mugs had affected her.
That morning, Evangeline was up and dressed before eight. The cold shower cooled her raging hormones enough for her to pull up her most recent manuscript and get to work.
Hours later, as she struggled to make sense of the paragraph she was working on for like the fifteenth time, she chalked it up to caffeine withdrawal. She was missing her coffee. And, sure, she could’ve gone into her kitchen and brewed a pot, but why should she have to? She liked the way Mugs made her iced macchiato and one strange encounter wasn’t going to keep her from it.
Besides, it wasn’t as if he was going to be there again. And if he was? Maybe it would help to confront him and ask him if he had meant to follow her yesterday.
Evangeline grabbed her purse, made sure her wallet, phone, and keys were inside, then set her jaw. She knew she was reaching. She also knew she wasn’t fooling herself.
That didn’t stop her from heading back to the coffee shop.
Maddox yanked on the collar of his turtleneck.
Remembering how the Ants at the D.P.R. treated him after they noticed his scars, he had Colt run out and buy him a bunch of cheap shirts to hide his neck before he left the Bumptown. He already decided to approach Evangeline as human now that he knew she didn’t remember him; after all, that had also worked for him before. He then made a conscious effort to hide his paranormal features until he was sure he wouldn’t scare her off again. He borrowed another pair of sunglasses from Colt—in a bid to hide his Para eyes—and the turtleneck covered up the marks from the silver collar.
He despised the shirt. It was tight and confining, nothing like the t-shirt he had destroyed when he lost control and shifted a few blocks away from Evangeline’s apartment. Maddox admitted that he hadn’t been thinking clearly after walking right into her wards, but at least he’d had enough brain cells to wait until he was further from her door before he went wolf. The last thing he needed was for her to find a pile of his ruined clothes right outside her home and wonder how they ended up there.
He was still pissed at himself for that. Not so long after he vowed to hold on to the last reminder of her scent, Maddox went ahead and let his shift destroy it. It wasn’t like he could replace it anytime soon, either. Not while Evangeline managed to hide her scent from him.
Then there was the undeniable fact that he hadn't been able to even approach the front door to her apartment building yesterday. Wards. He scowled as he nursed his coffee, clinging to the prop as some explanation why he was haunting the coffee shop. Her place was warded so heavily that he could throw everything he had at it and it would mean nothing because he wasn't getting in.
Just like Colt had a hate boner for witches, Maddox couldn’t stand their wards. It wasn't natural, being separated from his mate like that. To see her, but not smell her. To know where she slept at night, but to leave her to sleep alone.
He slammed his half-empty coffee on his tabletop, yanked on his collar again, and huffed. For everyone's sake, she better be sleeping alone.
That was it. His biggest fear seeping its way into his thoughts despite how desperately he tried to ignore it. Gritting his teeth, he attempted to push the terrible suspicion out of his head only to fail miserably. Three years she was out there. Three years without any kind of mate bond.
It had been pure torture for Maddox while he was incarcerated, but at least he had his memories. After yesterday, Maddox was almost positive that Evangeline didn't even have that much. If she was faking, if she had recognized him and just pretended not to, he would’ve been able to tell. No. She looked at him—then looked right through him.
What would he do if Evangeline had started a new life without him?
Just the idea was so painful, Maddox had to clamp his jaw shut to keep his wolf’s keening cry from escaping into the crowded coffee shop.
It wouldn't matter, he assured his wolf. Evangeline was his. He knew it. Fate knew it, too. They were made for one another. He was as much hers as she was his and Maddox would do anything to prove it.
Even sit at the same table for more than four hours in the hope that he might get the chance to do more than stalk her home.
After he ordered his first cup of coffee and tipped the trio of baristas a twenty, they left him alone. He went back and had them refill his cup twice, his shifter metabolism burning through the caffeine before he even felt so much as a twinge.
No, it was the anticipation that had him twitching in his seat.
Where was she?
Though Evangeline might not know him any longer, Maddox refused to believe that she was a stranger to him, too. His Angie was as reliable as the sun. Once she developed a routine, you could set your watch by it.
It was barely noon yesterday when she walked into Mugs. He scrabbled for his last receipt. He bought a croissant because he needed something to chew on and—there. 12:13. That was maybe ten minutes ago.
Where was she?
The door swung outward, the bell tinkling gently. Like he’d been doing for most of the morning, Maddox glanced toward the front.
He went absolutely still.
Angie.
She turned her head to and fro, obviously searching for something. Searching for him? Maddox didn’t want to risk getting his hopes up when, suddenly, their gazes locked from across the room. Evangeline froze, like a deer in headlights as she stared. There was no other word for it. She simply stared.
Maddox had to tell himself that he was still wearing his sunglasses, otherwise he’d wonder if she could see his shifter’s eyes flash and glow in the coffee shop’s dim atmospheric lighting. His wolf was as attracted to Evangeline as he was. The mating instinct was hell. Just the thought of her could make him hard, a constant ache that wouldn’t go away.
Now, if only he could get her to remember him. Knowing that he wouldn’t be able to trigger the bond if he let her slip back to her apartment, he decided to treat Evangeline like the most skittish of prey.
In the hours that he’d been loitering inside of the coffee shop, Maddox had plenty of time to fine-tune his plan. He couldn’t approach her straight out—that would only engage her fight or flight response. For this to work, she would have to come to him.
Trust him.
Though it was one of the hardest things he’d done in a while, Maddox broke the stare. He picked up his coffee, took a sip, turned his attention toward a different corner of the crowded shop.
There were at least twenty other patrons inside, enjoying their drinks, having a quick bite, using the free wi-fi. A soft, quiet sort of unmemorable muzak piped in through speakers scattered throughout the entire place. Conversations hummed. Machinery buzzed and frothed and beeped as the baristas worked the counter.
Over al
l of the din, Maddox still managed to make out her soft sigh.
He was already so attuned to her. As she got on line, Maddox obsessed over that sigh. What was the reason behind it? Relief? Or something else?
He didn’t know—but he was sure as hell going to find out.
He watched her out of the corner of his eye. His sunglasses hid the way he followed every move she made. As she ordered her drink, paid the barista, went to stand on the far side of the counter to wait for her coffee.
His Evangeline was tall, and so beautiful that she stood out from any group. She kept a good distance between her and the next person, her arms crossed, almost like she was hugging herself.
Maddox watched her closely.
Colt told him that, the only time he saw her, she seemed distant and sad. Lost in her own thoughts. Maddox understood exactly what his brother meant.
Something… something wasn’t right.
As if she could sense his scrutiny, Evangeline dared another glance over at him. He couldn’t have stopped himself from reacting even if he wanted to.
Lifting his hand in a lazy wave, Maddox gestured to her.
He almost expected her to pretend not to see him. She didn’t. Instead, she glanced around her, checking to make sure she really was the one he was waving over. Evangeline obviously didn’t believe it. Her eyes widened as she met his gaze again and pointed to her chest.
Maddox nodded.
He held his breath, careful not to make any sudden moves. If he did something to spook Evangeline now, he’d have to find a way to kick his own ass.
“Evangeline? Order’s ready.”
She started at her name, too distracted to remember why a female voice would be calling for her.
Her thoughts were too wrapped up in the same dark stranger from yesterday. How easily he lorded over his corner of Mugs, and just how casually he had gestured to her. She couldn’t believe it. One second, she was waiting for her coffee—
Her coffee!
The blonde barista with the pixie cut was holding a cup of coffee in her tiny little hands. She wore an automatic smile, nodding when Evangeline rushed forward to take her drink.
Evangeline started to say thank you, but the words caught in her throat when she realized that the barista wasn’t even looking at her. Nope. She was taking a second to openly gawk at someone across the coffee shop. Evangeline followed the barista’s line of vision, not even a little surprised to find that the girl, barely out of her teens, was drooling over the dark stranger who had to be more than a decade her senior.
She bristled, her back going right up; though she knew she was being ridiculous, seeing the barista stare at him rubbed Evangeline the wrong way. She’d only ever encountered him herself the one time before but, in between yesterday and today, she’d thought about him so often that she built up an imaginary relationship in her head. She didn’t know him—it just felt like she did. And it bothered her more than she wanted to say that someone else was eyeing him like he was a piece of meat.
Maybe that’s what made her do it. Taking her coffee with the fakest of smiles, Evangeline thanked the barista. Then, before she could think about what she was doing, she straightened up to her full height and headed right toward the man.
He was just as foreboding and—okay, she’d admit it—as rakishly handsome as she remembered. He’d traded his tight t-shirt for a turtleneck that did even more to highlight his sculpted body and his broad chest, though he was still wearing the shades.
What was up with the shades, she wondered.
She couldn’t ask him that. Instead, pausing when she was near his table, she said, “Umm… hi. I saw you waving. Is there something I can help you with?”
“You were here yesterday.”
She briefly thought about denying it, then decided against it when she realized that his words weren’t even a question. That was definitely a statement. “I was.”
“You come here often?” he asked.
“Is that the pick-up line you’re going with?” Evangeline couldn’t keep back her small smirk. All that time she spent obsessing over this man… and the first chance he got, he came at her with the lamest line in the book. Really? “Wow.”
He chuckled under his breath. The rough rasp of his low laugh sent chills running up and down her spine. “Not a pick-up line. Just curious. I’m… I’m new to Grayson. I stopped in for coffee yesterday, liked it so much I came back today. Since I remember seeing you and you’re another regular, I must’ve made the right choice. It’s good stuff. Much better than what I was used to.”
“I like it,” she told him.
“Then we already have something in common.”
Evangeline blinked, but didn’t say anything else. She let her incredulous expression do the talking for her.
Another chuckle. “Don’t worry. I’m still not trying to pick you up. Just trying to be friendly. Promise.” With the heel of his boot, he nudged the chair in front of him away from the table. “If you’ve got the time, why don’t you join me for a second? You seem to have good taste. I’m not all that familiar with the area. Maybe you could tell me where else I should plan on stopping by.”
“Oh, I don’t know—”
“Sit. Please. Unless I make you uncomfortable… if I do, I’m sorry. I mean nothing by it. I just… it’d be nice to have a conversation where people didn’t take one look at me and run the opposite direction.” He gave her a crooked, tight-lipped smile. “Since I came to town, you’re the first person who even tried to look me in the eyes.” Tapping the rim of his pitch-black lens, he shrugged. “It was nice.”
Evangeline felt her heart breaking for this poor stranger. Was she so paranoid now that she saw villains everywhere? He probably had just finished his coffee yesterday when she left and was leisurely exploring the town like she’d been doing the last few months. Look at her, getting herself all worked up, convincing herself that he had meant to follow her.
He seemed like a nice guy.
It couldn’t hurt.
Right?
“Okay,” she said, placing her coffee down across from him. “I guess I can sit with you. For a few minutes anyway.”
A few minutes turned into half an hour before Maddox knew it. He kept the conversation going anyway, starved for her company and eager to keep her close. He was well aware that Evangeline was only sitting and talking with him out of a blend of curiosity and pity.
That was fine with him.
And maybe he was going to rot in hell for plucking on her heartstrings the way he had. Oh, well. Desperation did that to him. He would’ve said anything to get her to sit and stay for just a little longer.
It was easy. Too easy. As soon as the awkwardness of the first few minutes was behind them, they fell into an easy rhythm as Maddox asked her about Grayson, hoping that he might learn something about Evangeline in the process. Not many people had a second chance to have a first date and, no matter what she thought she was doing, Maddox decided this counted.
Whatever he had to do to get Evangeline back, he would do it—even if it meant starting over.
When she mentioned the work she had waiting for her back at home, Maddox offered to buy her a drink for the road. She hesitated for a few seconds, then agreed when he said he needed another refill himself. Evangeline accepted the coffee graciously but, before she could excuse herself and leave, he quickly asked her about her work.
That was ten minutes ago. Oblivious to the time, Evangeline told him about her job as a copy editor. Her passion made her carefree and she spoke energetically, waving her hands to illustrate some point or another in between taking sips of her iced drink.
Maddox always loved that about her, the way she could lose herself in something that made her so happy.
He made her that happy once. And, he vowed, he would do it again.
She clearly enjoyed her work. Maddox was glad to see that that hadn’t changed, even if she worked from home these days rather than heading into the office. Evange
line spared no details when it came to the publishing house she worked for, or what it was she actually did.
He had a much harder time trying to get her to tell him anything about her personally, but that didn’t surprise him. Evangeline had always been guarded. Maddox knew he met his mate the first time they accidentally bumped into each other more than four years ago, but it took months of convincing before Evangeline would even call him her mate. She didn’t take him home for almost the whole first year. For her to open up as much as she had, he considered that a miracle.
Maddox had spent the entire time trying to work up the nerve to ask if she was free for dinner—while trying not to think about how ludicrous it was to have to ask his wife out on a dinner date in the first place—and recognized that his window of opportunity was quickly shrinking. Because, all too soon, the conversation started to dry up. He was just trying to think of a way to stretch it out when Evangeline’s lips suddenly thinned. Maddox recognized the look of annoyance that flashed across her lovely features.
He was willing to bet he knew what caused that expression. An annoying buzz had been going off almost non-stop for the last ten minutes. It wasn’t his phone—Colt was the only one with the number and he knew better than to bother him—which meant it had to be hers.
And she’d finally caught on to the fact that it was ringing.
“Something wrong?” he asked, keeping his tone light.
“What? Oh. No. I just—” She picked her purse up from its place on the floor and propped it on the edge of the tabletop. After fishing around inside of it for a few seconds, she pulled out a cellphone. It was vibrating loudly. “I thought I heard something,” she murmured, more to herself than to Maddox. She glanced up at him. “I’m sorry. I… I should really take this call.”
Evangeline kept the screen angled toward her. He didn’t know if that was on purpose or not, but it didn’t matter. Maddox couldn’t see who was calling her and, while he didn’t want to share, he had to remind himself that he didn’t have a real claim to Evangeline.
Hungry Like a Wolf (Claws Clause Book 1) Page 11
