Evangeline opened her mouth to ask another question.
Cilla’s eyes flashed angrily, the first crack in her armor of faux pleasantness. “Now don’t you dare ask why. You might not be a witch, but you charmed him all the same. He was convinced you were the woman for him just because you made his dick hard. Big deal. I make males—Para and human—desperate for my touch every single day. That doesn’t mean I deserve their love, or even want it. You don’t deserve Maddox’s. Only I do.”
She’d said as much when she arrived in a cloud of smoke at the Bumptown. Evangeline was still struggling to understand.
“Why are you doing this?”
“What? And tell you now before your wolf in shining armor comes to rescue you? Please. I’d only have to explain my brilliant plans all over again when he arrives and I really do hate to repeat myself.”
That wasn’t what Evangeline thought. From her impression of the witch, it seemed as if all she wanted to do was talk. And if she got her to talk, then maybe she could get her to slip up and say something that she could use.
“Brilliant plans?”
“Oh, yes. Getting your mother to hire me to do your wards was no accident. You’ve been a pain in my side for far too long now, human. I always knew that troublesome bond would break through my spells and I needed to be able to get to you whenever I needed to. Sacrificing you in your own apartment… it just had a nice ring to it.” Cilla paused, then giggled at her own joke. “Ring? Get it. Ah. I kill me—actually. No. I guess I’ll be killing you. Oops.”
Evangeline always wondered if her mother’s fear and hatred when it came to the paranormal races would ever have any repercussions. Trapped inside of a circle of diamonds, facing off against an insane witch in her apartment… that was definitely some kind of repercussion.
Hearing that the circle was needed for some kind of sacrifice—
No. Terror filled her veins, already knowing that she was looking death in the eye whenever she glanced at Cilla’s narrowed gaze. Then again, she was to supposed to have been dead once before. She survived. With Maddox’s love and his support, she survived; even when the bond was broken, she never truly forgot him.
He would come for her. She just had to keep Cilla talking until he did. Evangeline had never been the type of woman who was going to be be the damsel in distress, waiting to be rescued. Just this once, though, she was going to make an exception.
In a world where paranormals and humans lived side by side, sometimes the Para had the upper hand. The Web might list Evangeline as a Para now, but she was human where it counted. She was no match for Cilla’s magic.
She needed Maddox. For a million different reasons, she needed her mate.
Purposely dropping the topic of her mother, Evangeline grasped for something to say. A second later, she had it. “You said something about your diamonds and my memories. What did you mean?”
Cilla hesitated, torn between wanting to gloat and wanting to wait until Maddox undoubtedly tracked them down.
Like Evangeline, she had no doubt that he would be there.
Belittling the captive Evangeline seemed to be Cilla’s best choice. Rolling her eyes, she snapped, “Don’t be so stupid. You must have figured it out by now.”
“I wouldn’t have asked if I knew.”
A scoff. “So, then you are stupid.”
If that’s what she had to hear. “I guess so.”
“It’s your fault, you know.”
“Mine? How?”
“If you’d have died like you were supposed to, I never would’ve had to use half of my hard-earned diamonds to snip the bond on your side. It took more power than I had without a coven on my side, and I never was able to scrub your memories completely clean. No matter what I tried, you kept trying to think about my Maddox.”
Evangeline was stunned. She’d had her suspicions, had been working toward the conclusion that the accident had everything to do with her missing bond and her lost memories, but… “Wait. You’re the one who did this to me?”
“Oh, yes. The accident, too. Well, can you call it in an accident when I purposely used magic to lead the truck off the side of the mountain?” Cilla waved her hand. “Ah. Semantics.”
“You bitch—”
“Flattery will get you nowhere, human. You’ll see that when my mate finally gets here.” Cilla stilled, a whisper of an anticipatory grin curving her lips. “Speak of the devil. Seems like someone’s coming.”
Evangeline gasped. It was so much faster than she expected. How long did it take for the transportation spell to work?
Maddox.
Snapping her fingers, Cilla told her, “I’ve dropped all wards in the building. We wouldn’t want to make it difficult for Maddox to find you. After all, I did dare him to.”
Another snap, followed by a devious chuckle. Electricity pulsed in the air, lightning crackling off of the ring of diamonds that surrounded Evangeline. If she squinted her eyes just so, she could see wavy lines—heat lines—stretching up from the jewels about a split second before a four foot high, semi-transparent barrier exploded from the top.
“Just in case you got any ideas of breaking free before he got here. Now, if you’ll excuse me. I’ve got to be ready to make my entrance.”
Cilla winked out with a barely there pop.
Evangeline had to test it. She had to know. Reaching out, she touched a finger to the barrier. She let out a yelp, cradling her poor finger to her chest. It felt like she’d been shocked all the way to her toes. No way was she getting out of there without some help.
Help arrived less than a minute later.
The door swung inward, the power of the hit nearly knocking it off the hinges.
Evangeline pulled herself up to her knees. Through the haze of her prison, she caught sight of a naked body with tanned skin, dark hair, and an animalistic warning growl. She dared to climb higher, her heart in her throat. She wanted it to be Maddox so bad that it hurt, but, at the same time, she didn’t want him getting caught in the witch’s crosshairs.
As soon as she could see over the diamond’s reach, Evangeline felt disappointment slug her in the gut. That… that wasn’t Maddox. A second later, a jolt of recognition had her even more afraid.
That wasn’t Maddox.
It was his brother.
Evangeline remembered him.
Colton Wolfe was Maddox’s beloved younger brother. He was closer to her age, and while Maddox was courting her to be his mate, she got to know Colt very well. She used to think of him as the brother she never had. They got along just fine.
But what the hell was he doing there?
He hadn’t changed much in the last three years. Still with a face so pretty, she wanted to just pinch his cheeks and make sure he was real, and an angry look in his icy blue eyes that warned anyone from trying. He stood in the ruined doorway of her old apartment, chest heaving, eyes narrowed in hate.
And he was naked.
Maddox must have sent him. If Colt had shifted shapes, switching back to two-legs would’ve incinerated any clothes he was wearing. He didn’t seem to be bothered all that much by it, though, as his gaze fell on Evangeline in her diamond prison.
The ring of diamonds? Yeah. That pissed him off.
“A cage,” he rumbled, more to himself than to her. His voice was deeper than she remembered, and there was a dangerous fury in his tone that had her shrinking back. “That bitch put you in a diamond cage.”
A roar tore out of his throat. Arctic white fur sprouted along his tanned arms as he ran into the room. “Cilla! Where are you?” He stopped with his back to the windows, giving all of downtown Grayson a hell of a view as he called for the witch again. “Cilla, face me!”
Cilla appeared in a wisp of pale purple smoke. “You rang?”
The purr in her voice sent chills up and down Evangeline’s spine.
Cilla had no reason to keep Maddox’s brother alive. Evangeline was bait for Maddox; as soon as Cilla got what she wanted or she real
ized that she wouldn’t, Evangeline knew the witch would be gunning for her. And it wasn’t like she could escape. The diamond ring made sure of that.
But Colt didn’t have to get involved. The witch was looking for a victim and here he was, signed, sealed, and delivered to her completely naked.
She had to warn him.
“Colton,” she shouted. “Colt! Don’t do this! Get out while you can. She’s crazy!”
Colt didn’t seem to think that Cilla was that big of a threat. At Evangeline’s shout, he turned toward the diamond circle again, total surprise replacing the abject fury twisting his pretty, pretty features. His icy blue eyes softened just enough to make him look like the younger man she once knew. “You remember me?”
“Yes! You’re Maddox’s brother—”
“His little brother,” sneered Cilla. Her purple eyes dipped low, a coy smile curving her lips. “Or should I say big brother. Oh, Colton, I had no idea what you’ve been hiding.”
He spun back to face Cilla. His face went hard. “Don’t you fucking look at me,” he warned.
Her eyebrow quirked. Not out of anger, strangely enough, but out of curiosity. “How quaint. All you animals never seemed to care about nudity before. What changed?”
Colt didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to.
Cilla peered closely, her purple eyes turning dark as she—despite Colt’s warning—looked him over. A shock of laughter slipped out of her. It was clear and sweet and too nice to belong to such a nasty woman.
“Oh, that’s rich. After all the years you told Maddox that you’d be happy without a mate tying you down, Fate tagged you anyway. And she’s like me. Oh, Colt, honey, Fate must hate you even more than she hates me. Honestly, you should thank me for what I’m about to do. I’m certainly doing you a favor in the long run.”
Before he could react, Cilla conjured a ball of deep purple magic between her palms. It was about the size of a softball, compact and deadly. The witch jerked her arms back, then shoved it right at Colt.
A quarter of the diamonds ringing Evangeline exploded with a deafening pop. Through the echo of the loud noise, she still heard it when the magic struck Colt right in his chest. He swallowed a howl of pain, but he wasn’t able to catch it. The orb hit him dead center, lifting him off of his feet and throwing him backward out of the window.
His body burst through the glass, leaving jagged shards to mark the spot where Colt hit it. An instant later, a thud seemed to rattle the whole building.
Cilla poked her head out of the window, stared down below, turned and shrugged. With a devilish smile, she peered over at Evangeline.
“He should’ve been a cat shifter. Maybe then he would have landed on his feet.”
32
The wolf wanted to take over. Maddox nearly gave in to the urge.
Only the fact that his top speed as a wolf hit fifty miles per hour while his truck could go a hundred if he pushed it kept him from handing the reins over to his beast. He didn’t care if he broke a thousand laws in his pursuit of his mate. He had the fucking bonding license in the manila envelope serving as his passenger. With that, nothing and no one could stop him.
He’d barely been a couple of minutes into his drive when Colt called him. He was standing right outside of Evangeline’s apartment building in Grayson, his ass hanging out as he paced along the edge of the wards. He didn’t even stop to throw his jeans on, quickly making the call to tell Maddox there was a light on in Evangeline’s window.
Someone was in there, he explained. Maddox immediately did an illegal U-turn, abandoning the road to Woodbridge. He needed to get to Grayson.
Colt was just asking him for new orders when he felt the wards go down. Both Wolfe brothers knew it had to be a trap. If Evangeline was home alone, she never would drop the wards of her own free will. If Cilla was there—whether she still had Evangeline with her or not—it was a blatant invitation.
Maddox told his brother to wait. He’d be there in twenty no matter what he had to do. He didn’t want to risk Colt facing off against this version of Priscilla without him.
Colt said no.
Actually, what he said was, “I owe that bitch,” before disconnecting the call. And Maddox knew, deep in his gut, that his brother wasn’t going to stick around and wait for anything.
Which meant that Maddox had to push the speedometer as far as it could go. At one-ten, the truck started to whine in protest. And one-twenty, it started to rattle. Smoke—dark smoke, not the pale purple magic shit—started to billow out a few minutes later. He pushed Colt’s truck even harder, promising himself he would replace it as soon as he had Evangeline back with him.
He started to make all kinds of fucking promises if he could only get his mate back.
The truck made it all the way into Grayson, but the tires squealed, the transmission seizing when he was forced to come upon a sudden stop when he hit a nasty traffic snarl right in the middle of downtown.
Leaving the truck where it was, Maddox bolted in the direction of Evangeline’s apartment building.
And that’s when he discovered the source of the traffic.
A crowd of people was milling in the street in front of Evangeline’s home. Maddox counted three cop cars—no sign of Wright yet, but that could change at any second—and two news vans. Blood and magic filled the air. Maddox sniffed, recognized whose blood that was, then pushed his way through the crowd of Ants.
Colt was lying bare-assed naked on his side, his body bloody and broken in the middle of Evangeline’s street. Chunks of asphalt littered the space around him, torn up from impact. Maddox’s head jerked upward. There was a Colt-sized hole in the window.
Maddox’s heart stopped, only beating again when he heard a weak snarl coming from his brother, followed by, “Mad, tell these Ants to leave me the fuck alone.”
Maddox dropped to his knees. Blood splattered his face, his neck, his chest, wounds slowly healing on the side that didn’t look like hamburger meat, but Colt’s eyes were open and alert.
Thank fucking Alpha.
“Colt, what happened? How badly are you hurt?”
“Might need… might need another minute before I can kick that witch’s ass.”
Another minute? Colt looked like, in another minute, they might need a hearse instead of an ambulance. “Cilla did this to you?”
“Unh, yeah. You’re right. She’s got Evangeline up there with her. She’s got your mate.”
Maddox glanced toward the busted window on the sixth floor. He was too far to make out what was being said clearly, though he heard a soft female voice. Purple shadows rolled across the jagged teeth of the broken glass.
“Stay here.”
Colt grunted. “Give me a second. Healing’s got to kick in any second now. I’ll be your back up. The cops here won’t do shit since both Cilla and Evangeline are considered Paras. You can’t go up there alone.”
Like hell he wasn’t.
His brother was lying broken and bloody on the asphalt, surrounded by a growing crowd of gawking humans. Colt’s snarl kept them from getting too close, but Maddox was the Alpha.
He got low, locking eyes with Colt. His brother’s eyes went glacial, a hint of a whine slipping out through gritted teeth. It was a show of dominance, pure and simple. When Colt was a hundred percent, he was no match for Maddox. After being thrown through a window, he didn’t have a prayer.
“Stay. Here.”
Colt tore his gaze away. “Then you get that fucking witch. Make her pay.”
It was an order. Any other time, Maddox would’ve gone for Colt’s throat if he thought he could issue an order to an Alpha right after a dominance challenge. Only, this time, Maddox was more than happy to accept it.
He braced Colt’s shoulder, his ears picking up the wail of the sirens in the not too far distance. Maddox needed to hurry. Evangeline needed him, and it was essential he took care of Cilla as soon as possible. If the Ants called an ambulance for Colt, they were all in for a hell of a surp
rise when they tried to get him on a stretcher.
Maddox squeezed Colt’s shoulder before rising to his feet, glaring at the window where his mate was facing off against an unpredictable witch.
“You got it.”
The wards were still down.
Good. It made Maddox’s race up the stairs easier.
The door was open when he reached the sixth floor. Since he’d never been inside the building before, he’d been worried about picking the right one. He ran straight toward it, coming to a screeching halt when he went a few feet past the open threshold.
The first thing he saw was Evangeline. She was curled in a ball on the floor. A ring of diamonds surrounded her, with a barrier that extended past her torso. It was a cage. Cilla had trapped his mate in a cage.
The growl tore out of him, followed by a snarl of a wolfish demand: “Let her go.”
Evangeline’s head jerked up, hope and despair fighting a battle on her lovely features. Considering she had to have been a witness to the way Cilla launched Colt through the sixth-floor window, no wonder she couldn’t express how happy she was to see him. She was probably terrified that he would be next.
Not gonna happen.
As soon as she saw him, Cilla rose up from the couch, folding her hands primly in front of her black and white suit.
“Maddox.” She waved. She actually waved. “It’s so nice to see you.”
“Let. Her. Go.”
Cilla smiled coyly. “You don’t honestly think that Alpha nonsense is going to work on me, do you? It never worked when we were kids, and I don’t think we should start now. Mates must always be on an even footing. Wouldn’t you agree?”
“No,” snarled Maddox.
“No?”
He gestured at Evangeline, enraged that Cilla would dare put his mate in a cage. “I would never think my mate is my equal. My Evangeline is so much better than I was, than I am, than I’ll ever be. And you took her from me!”
The smile slid off of Cilla’s face. Her expression went stormy. “She’s not your mate, Maddox.”
“She’s always been my mate.”
Hungry Like a Wolf (Claws Clause Book 1) Page 30