Not yet, anyway.
“I understand,” he lied. He choked down a sip of his cold coffee, acting as if it didn’t bother him one way or another that she was choosing to talk to someone else.
And then she answered the phone.
“Hello?”
“Eva.”
Maddox’s hand shook so hard that he spilled half of the mostly untouched coffee onto the tabletop.
A man’s voice. That was a man’s voice.
Evangeline looked up at him again, her eyebrows raised as she caught sight of his mess. “Hey. What’s up?”
“Where are you, babe?”
And there went the other half of his coffee. Babe. That faceless bastard just called his mate ‘babe’.
Evangeline leaned over and grabbed a handful of napkins from the dispenser. Covering the mouthpiece of her phone with one hand, she murmured, “Clumsy,” and handed Maddox the napkins before getting up and taking a few brisk steps away from their table. As he made a half-assed attempt to mop up the spilled coffee, he was focusing on every word she exchanged with the mysterious man on her phone.
Thank fucking Alpha for shifter hearing.
“I told you what my plans were for the day,” she said softly. “I’m getting coffee right now. Then I’m going right back to work. Remember?”
She might have been keeping her voice down. Maddox thought her words were clipped. She was clearly annoyed. Evangeline had always hated it when she felt she was answering to someone else which made for quite a few arguments early on in their courtship. Possessive shifter versus headstrong human, it had taken Maddox some time to learn how to care for Evangeline without smothering her.
This dumbass certainly hadn’t.
“I tried calling you a couple of times while I was taking lunch. Then just now. You didn’t answer.”
“The coffee shop is loud. I must not have heard it. Is anything wrong?”
Maddox thought of the way Evangeline’s eyes had strayed toward the floor a few times during their conversation. He had heard the vibrations before and ignored them, so intent on listening to what she was saying. It made him a little bit happier to know that she might have done the same.
His happiness deflated like a balloon when the man started to speak again.
“No, nothing’s wrong. I just called because I wanted to remind you that it was Friday. You seemed a little iffy about the days yesterday. Didn’t want you to forget about date night.”
“Yes, Adam. I remember. I’ll be ready by eight, like usual.”
“And maybe we can head back to your place after for some coffee.”
“We’ll see, okay?”
“Okay.” There was a pause. “You sure you’re feeling okay, Eva? You sound a little… off.”
“I’m fine. I was just getting ready to leave. I’ve got a couple of pages to proof before I get ready for tonight. Then I’ll be free.”
“I’m looking forward to it. Eight o’clock… see you then. Love you, babe.”
Maddox was stunned.
He could hardly believe what he was hearing.
No. No, that wasn’t true. He could believe it, except that didn’t mean he wanted to. Or that he would.
Sure, his mate was sitting there, having coffee with him, smiling at him—bonding with him—but only for this one moment in time. For a few precious minutes he had been able to pretend she was his again before reality smacked him in the face.
There was no fucking bond. His Evangeline didn’t know him from Joe Schmoe down the street.
And she was going out with some bastard named Adam.
Eight, as usual. There was a usual involved. This Adam fucker kept insisting on calling Maddox’s mate ‘babe’ like he had the right. No. He refused to believe it. Something might have happened to break their bond, but it was going to come back stronger than ever.
It had to.
Keeping one ear cocked for the rest of the conversation, Maddox had been writing Adam’s obituary in his head, already figuring out where he could hide the body if he ever got his claws on the bastard, when he heard Adam clear as day: Love you, babe.
Yeah, not if he knew what was good for him.
Maddox stopped breathing, waiting to see how his Evangeline would react. If she said it back...
And that’s when she did something that made the fur sprout along the back of his hand in a total loss of control. After a small, almost imperceptible sigh—imperceptible to a human, not a shifter—Evangeline brought her phone’s speaker up to her mouth before she smacked her lips softly into it.
Kissy noises.
Fucking kissy noises.
To another man.
It didn't matter that she rolled her eyes as she did it, or that she sighed again as she ended the call and slipped her phone into her bag. The damage was already done.
Because that little display meant one thing to the jealous wolf she’d unwittingly just provoked.
It meant that, despite her eye-rolls and tight voice, Evangeline wasn’t being forced into another relationship. She was choosing to be with Adam when she’d already made her choice years ago to marry Maddox. To mate with him. To bond with him.
Except what the fuck did that mean when she obviously didn’t remember?
Before any of the Ants in the coffee shop saw, Maddox jammed his furry claw-tipped paws into the pockets of his jeans an instant after he shoved away from the table and climbed to his feet.
Sure, it could have been worse. She could have said “I love you” back.
But kissy noises?
That did it. No more Mr. Nice Guy. No more lovesick puppy dog gazes, hoping she would throw him a bone. No more sitting and waiting and hoping she would remember and the bond would come back.
It wouldn’t come back until he made it.
Without a word, and leaving a sopping mess of napkins and a visibly startled Evangeline behind him, Maddox stormed out of the coffee house. His borrowed turtleneck was already pulling at the seams as he fought his body’s urge to shift. Because even his beast knew what was going to happen next.
Evangeline had sealed her fate the second she answered that phone. From there on out, she wouldn’t be facing off against the man he’d been pretending to be.
Nope, she’d be dealing with the big, bad wolf.
12
It felt good to break out into his fur for a change.
Of the two of them, Colton was more in tune with his wolf than Maddox. He always thought it had something to do with being the second son of an Alpha leader. Accepting that he would have to fight two fucking tough challenges to lead the pack and knowing that he would never challenge his father or his brother, his role was secure. He didn’t have to bother with all of the politics so it didn’t matter if he wore his fur on his sleeve. Give him his wood and his tools and his small patch of territory in his Bumptown and he was content.
Of course, that was all before Evangeline and the accident. Maddox never realized how much Colt’s life turned upside down the night their car rolled over. With one stupid, reckless comment to the wrong person—because, even if he never admitted it out loud, he blamed himself for it every day—everything changed.
Evangeline was gone, Maddox was locked up, and Colt was suddenly his father’s second, next in line to be Alpha of the pack.
To make matters worse, Maddox refused to let anyone else see him in the Cage except Colt. So Colt was reminded every damn time he drove out past Grayson that he had a paw in doing this to his brother. He would’ve given up everything, done anything to take back his careless words and fix this. When he stumbled on Evangeline, he thought he had his chance to make things right.
He was still trying.
It had been days since the last time he allowed himself to shift. Too much was going on and the more Maddox lost his control, the more Colt struggled to maintain his. It was bad enough he could barely fight his impulses while he was walking around like a man. If he even dared to shift away from his territory… well, mayb
e they hadn’t found anyone to fill Maddox’s cell yet.
Because that’s exactly where Colt would end up if he couldn’t get a hold of himself.
His wolf wanted him to head into the city. Colt was still strong enough to refuse to leave the Bumptown, no matter how much he wanted to. He eventually settled on a compromise that satisfied both him and his beast: a few hours in his fur and maybe he’d be too tired to go for a drive.
Colt needed to shift. The howling was driving him crazy. He finally gave in and let his wolf out in the sanctuary of the woods behind his house. He’d been holding a tighter leash than usual these days; if his wolf had its way, Colt wouldn’t be available to help Maddox at all and, no matter what, the man part of him insisted that family came first. Pack before anything else. And if his wolf wanted to argue semantics about words like ‘family’ and ‘pack’, then it was going to be kept caged up tight for as long as it took for Colt to remember himself.
He ran for hours. Long after the Nightwalkers retreated to their coffins, the Dayborn vampires changing shifts as they went out on the hunt, Colton ran through the acres surrounding the Bumptown. It was a perimeter patrol as much as a chance for him to roam. Colt never went far, though, even if his wolf keened a lonely song as it flew through the trees.
There was too much anxious energy. Colt didn’t cut short his run because he was tired. If he let his wolf off its leash, no doubt the beast could run all the way to Grayson without even a hitch in its stride.
He cut his run short because, when he sped past the border of his immediate territory, he picked up a scent.
Slowing down, Colt put his snout to the ground and snuffed. Recognizing it at once, he bolted for his house. He switched shapes once he was on his own land, ducking into his shed to throw on a pair of jeans and a tee. There was a cloying, sweet smell mingled with his brother’s scent that warned Colt that he’d want to be fully dressed for this conversation.
He went inside, following the scent into his living room.
Maddox was sitting in Colt’s favorite armchair—in the dark. And while shifters had amazing night vision, no one would choose to sit in the dark without a good reason.
The reek of grain alcohol was a pretty big clue that Maddox thought he had one.
Colt recognized it instantly. Whiskey. Hell.
Well, he figured, it could’ve always been worse. At least his brother hadn’t started with the sappy power ballads yet.
Just like when he was in the Cage, Maddox had to have picked up on Colt entering the room. But he kept his head bowed, his eyes on the floor. His legs were spread, bracing his big body as he perched on the edge on the armchair.
Colt zeroed in on the pile between Maddox’s boots. He rolled his eyes.
Wonderful. Forget a good reason. For this reaction? It had to have been a catastrophe.
A shifter’s metabolism made it difficult for them to get drunk. To feel a buzz, Maddox would have to down an entire bottle straight; to get drunk, he would need another two bottles, easy. Colt’s quick glance revealed that Maddox was surrounded by no less than three bottles at his feet, with another half-empty one hanging from his limp fingers.
Considering the shit Colt was dealing with on his own, walking into this mess was the last thing he wanted. His run had just about worn his wolf out, taking the edge off of him, but now it was clawing at the inside of his chest, desperate to break out again.
At least he had something else to focus on. Taking care of a drunk Maddox—while not at the top of his list of fun activities—would distract him for a while. He just hoped he had gotten to Maddox in time.
Because, if his brother managed to get enough drink in him, the alcohol made Maddox melancholy and whiny. It got so bad when he was first bonding with Evangeline that Colt and Dodge went through the house and cleaned it out of any liquor. Maddox always managed to sneak in his own. Colt could never understand it, since Maddox was never a big drinker, but there was something about his feelings for his mate that did that to him.
Maddox told him once that, when he thought of Evangeline, it was like a balloon filling his chest. She took up every bit of space inside of him, lodged forever in his heart, and when she rejected him, the balloon popped. It was agony. Maybe it wasn’t the healthiest reaction, but the alcohol numbed his pain.
Colt always thought his brother was being a pussy. A mate just was. The perfect half, the other side of their soul… there was no need for messy feelings to get involved. You find your mate, you claim your mate—it was supposed to be easy.
Colt learned the hard way that he was fucking wrong.
And that was the only reason why Colt didn’t walk over to Maddox and snatch the whiskey bottle from his lax grip like he wanted to. Instead, he maneuvered his way past Maddox and flipped the switch on the other side of the room.
As soon as the light flooded the space, Maddox threw his head back and let out a pained howl.
“Are you done?” Colt asked dryly.
Maddox blinked rapidly, getting his sight back against the bright light. When the amber sheen rolled away, leaving the rich golden gaze staring up at him, Colt knew his brother was still in a state where he could make sense of this.
Of course, that just meant that Maddox was teetering between anger and whatever it was that did this to him.
He opened his mouth. No fangs in sight. The wolf was there, but it wasn’t riding Maddox. Colt would’ve preferred dealing with Maddox’s beast. The hierarchy was easy there. When Maddox let the man be in control?
Anything goes.
Maddox didn’t say anything for a few seconds. It was like he was searching for the words when he shrugged. “I— damn it to hell, Colt. She found someone else.”
Colt tried not to wince at the news. It was super difficult.
Ah, fuck. That would explain it.
Maddox shook his head. “So that's it, I guess.” He lifted his hand, brought the bottle to his mouth, missed, then tried again. After a few pulls off the whiskey, he wiped the back of his mouth with his other hand and slumped back into the armchair. It looked like it was trying to swallow him whole. “I have to accept that the bond’s not coming back.”
Oh no. No, no, no. Drunk Maddox declaring he was giving up was a very bad thing. Because, when he sobered up and realized he couldn't have Evangeline, he would be back on his way to the Cage—if he was lucky. Colt remembered the way Maddox told him he would never willingly go back to the prison.
Maddox would choose death this time. Colt was sure of it.
Hell no.
Crouching down, careful not to meet Maddox’s gaze straight in case his wolf felt like it was being challenged, Colt kept his voice calm. Reasonable. “Listen to me. Do you feel the bond?”
“Yeah. It’s not as strong as it was, but it’s come back since I saw her myself. Doesn’t mean shit.”
“Like hell it doesn’t. You feel it, she’s gotta feel it, too. If not now, soon. Give her some time. It took you ages last time before you even talked to her, and even longer before you guys were dating. Remember? Sneaking around her house, following her to work, spending nights apart? You nearly drowned in all those cold showers.”
Maddox didn’t crack a smile or even wince at the reminder.
“You don’t get it,” he said, a slight slur noticeable. “You’ve never been bonded. Once you find your mate, it’s not that you don’t want anyone else—it’s like you don’t see anyone else. You only want her touch, you only want to hear her voice… everyone can just fuck off and you’d still be happy. Angie made me wait because she was scared, but she never mated with anyone else. She is now. It’s over, Colt. I lost her.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I heard—”
“With your ears. What about your nose? Did you smell a man on her?”
“I can’t even smell her scent anymore.”
“That’s not what I asked,” Colt said firmly. “Does she smell like someone else is fucking her?”
Mad
dox growled, probably from the image Colt had purposely put in his head. “No.”
“So don’t give up yet. You said you wanted her. Grow a fucking pair and take her. She’s your mate. If you don’t want anyone else to touch her, do something about it.”
“I had a plan,” Maddox told him. There was a whine in his voice that couldn’t quite hide his slur. Nope, still wasted. “I was gonna take my time, make her fall in love with me again. It was a good plan.”
“A good fucking plan,” Colt agreed. “It worked once before.”
“But she’s with someone else. She wasn’t then.”
“Does it matter?”
Maddox blinked, thinking long and hard about Colt’s question. “It should,” he said at last.
“But it doesn’t.”
“No, it doesn’t,” Maddox admitted readily. He sighed, tilted his head back and brought the bottle to his lips. In three oversized gulps, he downed the last of the booze before hiccuping once and groaning softly. “That’s why I got the shiws-key… the whiskey. Because I want it to matter. I want Evangeline to be happy and, fuck it, Colton. Maybe she is.” He shuddered. The bottle dropped, landing with a thunk against the wooden frame of the chair as Maddox kept a tight grip on it. “Kissy noises, brother. Fuck.”
Colt wasn’t sure he heard that right. “What?”
“I said kissy noises.” Maddox smacked his lips together, spraying his spit all over the place. “She gave those to her precious Adam. I never got them.” He slumped in the chair, the empty bottle swaying and clanking. “So she’s gotta be happy.”
“She’s not,” Colt stated flatly.
“How do you know?”
“Because she’s not with you. Kissy noises? Come on. You don’t need to make noises when her tongue was halfway down your throat most of the time. So you might have given up, Maddox, but I sure the fuck haven’t. She’s your mate—no one can make her happy but you. You know that. If you weren’t too busy getting shit-faced in my house, you’d realize that and make your move. Evangeline fell for a wolf, not a pussy.”
Hungry Like a Wolf (Claws Clause Book 1) Page 12
