“I was just about to get some more myself. Let me buy you a cup.”
“Oh, no. That’s okay. I don’t drink actual coffee.”
“I know. You get that iced thing,” he said. “Don’t worry about it. I got you. Consider it my treat for humoring me the last time I saw you. I owe you for some of your recommendations. That Chinese place you told me about? It was delicious. Least I can do is get you a drink.”
When he put it that way…
“Okay. Thanks.”
“Wait here. I’ll be right back.”
Evangeline stayed by the table while he stalked right over to the counter. No one else was waiting to place an order and she watched as two baristas—one male and one female—had a quick, silent argument over who had to take his order.
For a second, she felt her heart break for him again. She remembered him telling her how she was the first one who wasn’t put off by the glasses or his size. Feeling awful, she took a few steps toward the counter—only to pause when the male barista pouted, then stormed toward the backroom. The girl had a noticeable smirk on her pretty face as she turned to face the man.
Evangeline paused.
Oh. So she had read that situation wrong.
He braced his hands on the counter, leaning in to smile at the barista. “Hi, Kimmy. Can I have another refill?”
“Straight up black, right?”
“Right. You know I like to add the sugar myself. And, uh, how about one of those macchiato drinks? Caramel. Iced. The biggest one you got.”
“Coming right up.”
Evangeline was surprised yet pleased that he remembered that much of her drink order. She had a complicated one, she’d be the first to admit it, but it was still touching that he had noticed she had an iced caramel macchiato, even if he didn’t ask for almond milk or a pump of vanilla syrup. The thought was there.
As soon as his order was done, he took both of the drinks over to the milk and sugar bar. As he tended to his coffee, Evangeline dared a peek over to the counter. Just like on Friday, the cute blonde barista with the pixie cut—Kimmy—was following every move he made.
And, just like on Friday, Evangeline discovered that, for some inexplicable reason, she really, really didn’t like that.
She shouldn’t do it.
She shouldn’t do it—
Evangeline joined him at the milk and sugar bar just as he put the lid back on his to-go cup.
Glancing up, he shot her a quick grin when he saw who it was. “Hey.” He picked up the cold drink, holding it out to her. “Here you go.”
“Thanks.” Evangeline took it. He had already put a straw in her cup. She took a sip, savoring that first taste as he finished cleaning up his mess. She did a double-take when she noticed the small bag next to his big hand. “What’s that?”
“This?” He picked it up. About half the size of a sandwich baggy, it was full of a crystallized white powder. “It’s mine. I can’t have real sugar, so I use a sugar-free sugar in my coffee. Some small indie shops have it, but most don’t. I guess I’ve gotten used to carrying around my own.”
Evangeline wrinkled her nose. “Sugar-free sugar?”
He laughed, the sound a rumble deep in his chest. It was nice. “I know how that sounds. You ever heard of stevia?”
She shook her head.
“It’s like a sugar substitute. It’s super sweet, but it comes from a plant. No calories and it doesn’t cause my blood sugar to spike. I always bring some with me in case I stop for coffee.” He held the bag out to her. “Want to try?”
“Thanks, but I’ll have to pass.” Evangeline took another sip. “This one’s pretty sweet already.”
He nodded, then tucked the small baggy into the front pocket of his jeans. “Maybe next time.”
Maybe.
“Well, thanks again. I’ll have to get yours next time I see you.”
He grinned. While the dark shades highlighted his dangerous air, his wide grin managed to soften his sharp features. “Until we meet again.”
It was too easy to talk to her dark stranger.
Or maybe she just didn’t want to leave.
Evangeline stood near the doorway, edging closer to the exit as she struggled to convince herself that she needed to go. Ten minutes after he bought her coffee, she still hadn’t left Mugs.
She wasn’t even sure how it happened. He made a comment right when she turned to go, Evangeline paused, then answered him. One question led to another and, suddenly, they were engaged in a full-blown conversation. She kept trying to find a way to ask him his name, then gave up; it was already awkward that, after talking to him twice, she still didn’t know it.
She kept hoping he’d ask her for hers. He didn’t.
It didn’t seem to bother him. Evangeline tried not to let it bother her.
Her macchiato was down to the ice before she realized that she’d stayed far longer than she meant to. He was still talking but, for some reason, she was finding it a little difficult to concentrate. Her head felt cloudy, her eyelids heavy. The sleepless nights were finally catching up with her.
Holding up her finger, gesturing that she was moving toward the trash while he continued to talk about... something, Evangeline took two steps before stumbling.
He was right there to catch her.
“Hey. You okay?”
“Wha— oh. Yeah. Sorry. I’m just feeling tired all of a sudden. It’s so weird. And you got me a large drink, too. That much caffeine, I should be”—Evangeline couldn’t stop herself from yawning widely—“oof, wired.”
“That’s my fault. You said you had to hurry back and here I am, yakking your ear off.”
Evangeline tried to tell him that it wasn’t him, it was her. Strangely enough, she couldn’t form the words. She ended up nodding, then felt terrible, almost like she was agreeing.
He didn’t take any offense. Instead, after easing the empty plastic cup from her suddenly lax grip and tossing it in the trash, he slung his arm around her shoulders. Evangeline knew there was a reason why he shouldn’t be tucking her close into his side like that but, for the life of her, she couldn’t figure out what.
He smelled so yummy. Just like a man should smell.
If he noticed the way she nuzzled him, he didn’t say. He just slid his hand up her arm, comforting her. “Let me help you get out of here.”
She started to tell him that she was fine, that she didn’t need his help, but the words got lost along the way. Another heavy yawn ripped out of her as he opened the door, ushering her onto the street.
Evangeline blinked in the sunlight. Her eyes were too sensitive after the darkness inside of the coffee shop. The bright light was almost piercing and she clamped her eyes shut to escape the pain.
Her legs felt weak, like she was dragging. The strong man at her side carried her easily. It dawned on her that he was bringing her somewhere and she was just letting him. Was she crazy? She needed to head back to her apartment.
There was no way he knew where she lived. So where was this stranger taking her?
She opened her eyes just in time to see a shiny black two-door truck parked down a side street. Her stomach jolted. Unless she was wrong, he was leading her right to the vehicle.
God, she hoped she was wrong.
In case she wasn’t, she tried to pull away from him. Impossible. The arm that had been so sweetly laid over her shoulder had turned into a chain that kept her tethered in his embrace.
What… what was going on?
He made a bee-line straight for the truck. Without letting go of Evangeline, he opened the passenger seat. Then, while she was too stunned to do anything to fight back, he picked her up easily and sat her in the seat.
No.
She shook her head weakly.
No!
“Shh. Everything’s gonna be okay. I promise.” He reached over her, yanking the seatbelt across her chest before fastening it with a decisive click. “You can trust me.”
Like hell she could. S
he wanted to scream. Screaming seemed like something she should be doing. But her tongue was too big to fit in her mouth, dry and thick. She tried to open her jaw and felt her head lolling back instead.
A soft whimper escaped her.
He touched her cheek, tucking her into the seat, securing her as if he thought she could go anywhere other than where he put her. “You’ll understand sooner or later. I had no other choice.”
The door closed gently, trapping her inside.
Not the truck...
She tried to beg. Tried to plead. Tried to tell him that she never wanted to ride in a vehicle again. Even incapacitated, she knew better than to willingly stay in this truck.
Her hand wouldn’t work. She reached for the handle, missing it by a mile. Before she could try again, the bastard climbed into the cab beside her. In her fuzzy, heavy head, she reached out and slapped him, fighting him off before she made her escape.
In reality, he tucked her flailing hand into her lap, then reached down and lifted Evangeline’s purse so that it was in the seat between them. The last thing Evangeline remembered was the dark stranger rifling through her bag and pulling something out of it.
After that, there was only blackness.
15
For the fifteenth time, Adam Wright dialed Evangeline’s cell phone number. And, for the fifteenth time, it went straight to voicemail.
It was off.
Her phone was off.
A muscle ticked in his jaw, his boot slamming down on the gas pedal.
It was never off.
And, okay, so maybe she didn’t always answer it as often as he would like. She got touchy when he questioned her, and Adam was working on the urge. He didn’t want her to think he was constantly checking up on her. That would only lead to her wondering why Adam was so worried about her when, on the outside—and based on what Eva said herself—there was nothing for anyone to be worried about.
When it came to hiding the truth of Evangeline’s missing year, Adam had long been skeptical. The more he got to know this Evangeline, the more he came to adore her, he began to think that maybe she should be told what she’d forgotten.
Or, better yet, who.
Wolfe.
Adam sneered as he pushed his cruiser faster than was legal. He thought about turning the sirens on before deciding against it. If his hunch proved to be something more than just his overreacting imagination, he didn’t want to give Wolfe any advanced warning.
Ever since the prison board voted to let the animal out, Adam had been waiting for something like this to happen. Didn’t matter that the perks of the Bond Laws were worthless since there was no record that Evangeline had bonded with that beast. He’d spent the last year working at the Cage. He knew what those monsters were capable of.
If Wolfe believed that Evangeline was still his mate, nothing on Earth was going to stop him from going after her. If she knew the threat that lurked out there for her, she could be at least be prepared.
Her mother insisted on the secret. Eventually, Adam agreed, mainly because he knew he would do whatever he had to to keep her from learning all about Wolfe.
The animal lost her once. He couldn’t be allowed to get his paws on her again.
Adam made it his personal mission to keep Evangeline safe away from Wolfe. So he watched from a distance, helping Naomi and Paul Lewis support Evangeline during her recovery. When she was ready to move out again, he suggested that she move to Grayson because it was his precinct.
He was supposed to protect her. It was his duty as a police officer, and it was his privilege as Evangeline’s boyfriend. As far as he was concerned, her fling with Wolfe ended the day Wolfe lost control of his truck and Evangeline nearly died.
Whatever bond they had that day was broken. Adam doubted one had existed at all. When she finally woke up from the hospital, she didn’t even remember the Para.
It was the best news Adam had ever heard.
Adam had been halfway in love with Evangeline Lewis for years. When he was a kid and she didn’t want to give him the time of day, he talked himself into believing it was a harmless crush. Nothing serious. Each went their separate ways: Evangeline went to school to study English and became an editor while Adam headed straight for the police academy.
But he never forgot his Eva.
He was a couple of years into his time on the Grayson PD force when he learned that Evangeline had hooked up with a wolf shifter. Maddox Wolfe, next in line to run the biggest pack in the state. That nearly killed Adam. Not only did he lose his woman to a Para, but Wolfe was a powerful bastard, too.
But power only went too far. Laws were laws for a reason. When the bond snapped, when it was touch and go for Evangeline for a while, Wolfe exhibited signs of a bonded shifter without his mate and got thrown into the Cage. The lack of a bonding license worked to everyone’s advantage because, when she pulled through, no clause said that Wolfe needed to be informed that she hadn’t died.
She wasn’t his mate.
She wasn’t.
She was free. With no bond to tie her to that monster, Adam saw his opportunity and he took it. Sure, he’d had to wait while Evangeline recovered her strength. The accident was so bad, PT alone took months. And her parents were so traumatized, they started treating their only child like she was a girl again instead of a twenty-seven-year-old woman.
Then came the day that Wolfe’s pretty boy brother showed up at the Cage. It was the moment Adam had been dreading since they forced him to do his year inside. Colton Wolfe had discovered that Evangeline was alive.
And Adam had to make his move.
With her mother’s help, Adam finally got his chance to show Evangeline how much he cared for her. At the same time, he vigilantly kept tabs on his girlfriend, protecting her without telling her what he was protecting her from.
When it came to taking care of Evangeline, her parents were firmly on his side. Adam knew it was because he was human, but he didn’t care. Naomi was as invested in keeping Evangeline away from her old “mate” as he was.
Which was why, when Evangeline went for more than an hour without turning her phone back on, Adam contacted Naomi. Evangeline’s mother already knew that something was up. When she couldn’t get her daughter on her cell phone, she tried the apartment. No answer there, either.
So then Naomi tracked her.
Adam pulled the cruiser up to the curb in front of Mugs. The coordinates for the point where Evangeline’s phone last broadcasted a signal was about a half a block away, but Adam knew it was an approximate guess at best. Since Evangeline was a caffeine fiend who visited Mugs as often as she could, his best bet was to check the shop.
Probably because it was still early afternoon, Mugs was crowded. It took Adam a few minutes to march through the place, checking each table, each face, for Evangeline. When he assured himself that she wasn’t there, he headed straight for the counter.
The girl who stood at the register was all of maybe twenty years old. She was cute, in a kid sister way, with short blonde hair and big brown eyes. She looked puzzled when he cut in front of a college-aged kid about to order, then smiled when it was obvious the kid wasn’t going to argue.
“Hi. Welcome to Mugs. What can I get you?”
He had his phone in his back pocket. Because this was his afternoon off—which was the excuse he was going to use for trying to get Evangeline on the phone since he wanted to go see her—Adam was wearing a button-down shirt and khakis. He grabbed his phone, showing the girl at the counter the picture on his lockscreen.
He’d taken that photo of Evangeline during their first date night. She had no idea. It was a three-quarter profile, with Evangeline looking at something in the distance. A sad smile tugged on her pretty lips, her eyes almost lost.
Adam turned it so that the girl could see. “Was she in here today?”
“Uh. Yeah. I recognize her.”
“From today?”
She nodded. “Most days, but today for sure. Like an ho
ur ago, maybe two. During the lunch rush, definitely.”
“Who was she with?”
“What?”
“This woman. Was she alone or was she with someone?”
The girl hesitated.
Trying to hide his mounting frustration and growing worry, Adam leaned in and gave the barista a strained grin. He glanced at her name tag. “Look, Kimberly, this is important. If you know something, I need you to tell me.”
“I’m not sure if I should—”
Wrong answer.
He yanked his badge off of his belt, slamming it against the counter. The girl jumped, and he tried to force himself to dial it back.
“You're police,” she squeaked.
“I'm her boyfriend.”
Kimberly’s big brown eyes went wide. “You are? Then who was that guy she left with?”
As if she realized what she said, she lifted her hands, covering her mouth. Too late. The damage was done.
Adam felt his stomach drop down to his shoes. “I need a description of the guy. Now.”
She told him. For whatever reason, the coffee shop girl had gotten a pretty good look at the man who left Mugs with Evangeline. Her description talked about how big he was, how handsome he was, how nice he was. Generous, too. Dark hair. Rugged features. Sunglasses.
By the time she mentioned that he was wearing a tight turtleneck, something that caught her attention because it was so warm out, Adam had to work to keep his fear back. There was only one reason the dark-haired man in sunglasses would also be wearing a turtleneck.
Maddox Wolfe left the Cage with the tell-tale ring of scars.
And now he had Evangeline.
Through gritted teeth, Adam forced himself to thank Kimberly for her time. He remembered to offer her one of his cards with the express instruction that, should she see the guy again, she needed to call Adam right away. He doubted Wolfe would return to Mugs—why would he if he managed to leave with Evangeline—but he needed to cover his bases.
Then, thinking about the coordinates where Evangeline’s phone had pinged last, Adam left Mugs and turned right. At the end of the block, there was a side street that was just secluded enough to catch his attention. And it just so happened to be the exact spot where Evangeline’s phone was last at.
Hungry Like a Wolf (Claws Clause Book 1) Page 14