“What about me?”
“What about you?” he snarled. “You’re nothing to me now that you’ve crossed the line and caged my mate.”
“Nothing?” Cilla recoiled as if he had slapped her in the face. “I used to be your best friend.”
“When we were kids! If you were my friend, you never would’ve tried to hurt the woman that I love. And, for that, I’m sorry, because you used to be my friend, Priscilla.” The fury inside of Maddox was surprisingly controllable because, for once, his wolf wasn’t fighting him to be more vicious than the man wanted to be. To his beast, there was hierarchy, and there was pack, and, most importantly of all, there was the mate bond. No one—absolutely no one—could he allowed to fuck with the mate bond. “The laws are clear. You tried to take my mate from me. Whatever your reasons, whatever you thought you were going to do… it doesn’t matter. You took my mate. You have to pay for that.”
With a scoff, Cilla held her hands up. “You say that now. But she’s not your mate.”
The bite on Evangeline’s neck said otherwise. “Cilla, stop this shit. Don’t make this harder than it has to be.”
She lifted her chin, unafraid. “Do you see my diamonds, Maddox?”
How could he miss them? “You turned them into a cage for my mate. Of course I see them.”
“There’s so many of them. Thousands. Hundreds of thousands. Do you know how long I had to work for that many diamonds? What I had to do? Diamonds don’t come cheap, but it was worth it if I could have you.”
Maddox froze. A fresh wave of that dark stench—pure fucking evil—rolled off of Cilla, stretching out toward him, unfurling past him as he reached for Evangeline’s huddled form. “What are you talking about?”
“For years… almost fifteen years now, I scrimped and I saved and I whored myself out for anyone with a diamond. Lone witch, they called me, all because I worked on my own, saving every gem I earned. Diamonds amplify a witch’s power, I’m sure you know that. And I needed as much strength as I could get if I was going to create a bond.”
Glancing over at Evangeline, Maddox saw that his mate had gone pale. He forced himself to focus. “Colt asked Luciana if it was possible. She said no.”
“Anything is possible with enough diamonds.” Cilla tucked a lock of her long, black hair behind her ear, a serene smile at home on her beautiful face. “Even take an existing bond and transferring it where it belongs.”
Evangeline gasped. “You… you can’t do that.”
Cilla’s brow furrowed, almost as if she had forgotten about Evangeline and loathed the reminder.
Maddox had to draw her attention back to him. “I won’t let you do that.”
“You can’t stop me.” Cilla lifted her arms. “I spent years working to learn how to trigger a mate bond, but this human came along and ruined everything before I had the chance. Cutting your bond when she refused to die in the accident I orchestrated, stealing her memories so she didn’t even remember you… I did it all so that I could work on giving you a second chance, letting you have the mate you deserved… then she ruined everything again! When the magic rips her soul out of her, I’ll snatch it, and I’ll take her side of the bond, too. It’s a perfect solution. No more pesky Ant, and the two of us will be mates like we were always supposed to be.”
Maddox couldn’t believe what he was hearing. That Cilla was the reason behind the crash, and his going three years without his mate. And she actually thought she could replace Evangeline.
He shook his head in disbelief. “You’re out of your fucking mind.”
“No. I’ve just finally figured out how to get what it is that I want.” She smiled again, utter insanity etched into every line of her face. “Isn’t that the beauty of the Claws Clause? Humans wanted to control mate bonds so badly, they left it wide open to interpretation. When it comes to bonded mates, anything goes, right?”
For once, Priscilla was absolutely right.
The dark stench had a bitter note to it that ruffled Maddox’s wolf’s fur. Cilla wasn’t inherently evil, though that bitter note had a hand in making her that way. And, Maddox knew, putting her down was no longer just her punishment. It was inevitable.
And that had been before he knew she was the reason he lost three years with his beloved Evangeline. Or had to stand there while Cilla threatened to try and kill her again.
No fucking way.
Maddox could do whatever he wanted to regain his mate now that they were a licensed bonded pair. And to see Evangeline free from terror, free from fear, free from a fucking cage, there wasn’t a single line he wouldn’t cross.
“I’m sorry, Cilla. I never meant for it to end this way. But if it’s a choice between your life and Evangeline’s, my wolf and I are in agreement on this. You brought this on yourself. When you die, the magic dies with you. The threat to Evangeline dies with you, too. It has to happen like this.”
He moved toward her.
Cilla shook her head royally. “You’d never hurt me.”
He would. He’d regret it for maybe a moment, but for a lifetime with Evangeline, there were precious few things he wouldn’t sacrifice. And he hadn’t been kidding when he said that she brought this on herself.
The Claws Clause was clear. Any threat to his mate deserved to be dealt with in whatever manner he saw fit.
A life for a life.
Maddox flexed his hand, his claws unsheathing without a warning. Though his fangs made his words seem harsh, danger rolling off of him in waves, he tried to gentle his voice as he called out to his mate, “Look away, Angie. You don’t need to see this.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he watched as Evangeline gulped, then ducked her head into her chest, turning her back on Maddox and the witch.
He took another forceful step toward Cilla.
She stepped back, throwing her hands up. “Mercy.”
“Mercy?” Maddox’s voice was deathly quiet. From the way Cilla gave a full-body tremble, he knew she heard his echo—and the promise in the single word. “Where was your mercy when you tried to kill my mate? Or when you ripped our bond apart and let me think she was dead for three years?”
“I only did it because I love you!”
“Yeah? Well, I’m doing this because I love her.”
“Maddox, no, please—”
He stalked toward her.
Cilla had it coming.
The Claws Clause was clear.
She would only be a threat if Maddox showed her mercy.
He knew the moment that Cilla realized that her pleas were falling on deaf ears. She looked crushed, but she recovered quickly. A nasty expression turning her face ugly, she sneered, “If I can’t have you, then she can’t, either.”
Cilla snapped her fingers.
Crack.
Evangeline screamed.
It was the only thing that could’ve ripped his focus off of Cilla and she knew it.
The barrier dissolved like so much smoke, but Evangeline never got the chance to leave the ring of diamonds. The remaining jewels burst into flame, crackling three feet high, surrounding Evangeline with dark violet sparks that shot toward her.
Maddox didn’t even stop to think. He ran right through the magic fire, scooping his mate up in his arms, shielding her from Cilla’s revenge.
The fire licked at his body, singing his clothes, blistering his skin. The scent of burning hair filled the air, added to the baby powder smell of Cilla’s power and the sharp tang of Evangeline’s sudden fear. He had to save her. Maddox didn’t give a shit what would happen to him. He was a shifter. He could take it.
While holding tightly to Evangeline, he reached up, tucking her long hair beneath her shirt. Then he urged her to fold her body in tight before bowing his body over hers.
“I’ve got you,” he promised.
She choked on the heat from the flames, shuddering in his embrace. When she found her breath again, she nodded. “I know. You always have.”
“And I always will,” Mad
dox promised.
He crouched low, pushing off of the hardwood floor with as much power as he could. Maddox leaped over the flames, hearing the sizzle as the sparks hit the soles of his shoes. He landed with a grunt, immediately moving out of the magic’s reach before checking that Evangeline was unharmed.
He dashed across the room, laying her out on her couch. Running his hands over every part of her he could, Maddox didn’t back off until Evangeline murmured repeatedly that she was fine. She was okay.
Once he finally believed it, and he was sure that she was safely out of the reach of the flames, Maddox got up and turned his attention back on the witch.
Smoke started at her feet, pale purple tendrils wrapping around her legs, twisting her torso, wafting toward her fingers. As Maddox stared over at her, his chest heaving, his wolf desperate to strike, the smoke continued to climb, passing her throat, covering her face.
The whole thing—from Cilla’s threat and Evangeline’s scream until he watched her get cocooned in the magic cloud—might have taken a minute. Maybe less. After using the last of the diamonds in her circle, Cilla was almost completely tapped out. Instead of taking advantage of Maddox’s distraction and using it to escape, Cilla stayed where she was, conjuring the smoke.
He could hear her chanting under her breath, still casting.
It would be harder to pull the magic into her without her precious diamonds. Cilla had sacrificed the last of the stones with her failed assassination attempt. All she had left was the magic that came from being a born witch.
It would be enough to hurt Evangeline.
He thought about what her spell did to Colt. He thought about the look of relief on Evangeline’s face, as if she doubted that he would come for her. And he thought about the promise he made to his brother before he raced inside the building.
Get that fucking witch.
Make her pay.
Maddox lunged toward Cilla, swiping down. His claws met resistance. He sliced through something. He knew he did. Witch’s blood—a combination of the rusty, iron tang and sweet baby powder—perfumed the air. It splashed on the floor.
But when the smoke finally cleared, there was no sign of Priscilla Winters anywhere except for a few drops of blood and the charred remains of destroyed diamonds.
Epilogue
“It’s been twelve hours already. How much longer do you think he’ll be out?”
“I don’t know, baby,” Evangeline said softly. His wolf preened at the affection in her husky voice. And after hearing Wright call her babe so easily, like he had the right? It felt pretty damn good to be her baby again “That stuff you drugged him with is kinda strong. Remember what it did to me?”
He knew his mate didn’t say that to make him feel guilty—which was good because he abso-fucking-lutely refused to regret a single one of the drastic measures he had taken to get her back. If he’d sat on his claws, waiting for the bond to snap into place instead of completely ignoring the Claws Clause, Evangeline wouldn’t be with him.
But Colton wouldn’t be down for the count, either.
Yeah. What happened to his brother? Maddox might not regret how he got Evangeline back, but his shoulders were hunched, weighed down by the guilt he harbored over Colt’s near brush with death.
It had only been one week since Cilla threw Colt out of the window, though it seemed like Maddox was still trapped in that terrible moment when he burst into Evangeline’s apartment. The scent of Evangeline’s terror was seared into his nose, the sight of Colt’s broken body on the asphalt below burned into the back of his mind. His brother’s shifter nature meant that he regenerated much more quickly than a human; as strong as his wolf was, Colt was on his way to being healed.
Maddox… wasn’t. He had to fight the urge to pull Evangeline into his arms whenever she moved more than a few feet away from him. Seeing her vanish like that so soon after he claimed her had messed him up and bad. It would take a long time before he got over it so it was a good thing that they had forever.
If it wasn’t for him being partly responsible for Colt’s injuries—no matter that Colt hadn’t listened when he told him to hang back—Maddox might have just given in to his wolf’s demand that he run off with his mate, hiding her away so that he knew she was safe and protected. But he couldn’t do that. Not yet.
Not until Colt was back on his feet again.
The hospital finally released Colt yesterday morning, though Maddox thought it would be fairer to say that the medical staff kicked his brother out. He didn’t blame them, either. The entire time Colt was in the hospital, the orderlies, nurses, and doctors insisted that he be strapped to the bed. Since it was a mixed hospital with a shifter ward, the straps were made of treated silver—and, okay, maybe they were necessary. The sedative the paramedics gave him at the crime scene had worn off sooner than expected and Colt wolfed out as soon as he realized that he’d been brought in.
Three drug-laced darts to his backside knocked him out long enough for them to wrap a pair of silver cuffs on him and strap him to his hospital bed. He fought like a demon when he regained consciousness again. Luckily, the silver kept him human and in one place, even if it did nothing to stop his growled curses and angrily muttered threats.
So, yeah. Colt wasn’t a fan of hospitals.
He had to go, though. Maddox insisted. A shifter’s regenerative abilities meant that he should’ve been halfway healed by the time the ambulance pulled up to Grayson General. During the first rounds of tests, the doctors diagnosed four cracked ribs, a fractured tibia, and a broken hand. Pretty severe injuries, but nothing that would put Colt out of commission for long. Except for one thing. He was healing at a fraction of his usual speed. And fuck if they could explain it.
It was the magic. With Cilla still gone, there was no one who knew what it was she hit Colt with. It had to be something powerful to almost take out an alpha wolf like that. Luciana was contacted, the head witch meeting the ambulance at the hospital, but even she was at a loss. Maddox had howled in rage, Luciana escaping from Colt’s room before the other shifter woke back up. She said something about dragging Cilla back herself, but Maddox’s wolf wasn’t too picky about which witch paid for her crimes. Luciana was lucky to get out before he lost it entirely.
Which was good in retrospect since he didn’t really need the entire might of Coventry on his head like that.
Six days later, when Colt threatened to go all Big Bad Wolf on the human nurse checking his vitals that morning, the head of Grayson General’s security team escorted Colt out personally. They used a hospice van to transport Colt to his Bumptown before the hospital staff washed their hands of their ornery patient. Maddox was glad. The harsh stink of the industrial-grade cleaners wasn’t enough to hide the sickness, death, and decay that permeated hospitals. Colt could recuperate at home where Maddox could keep a better eye on him. And he wouldn’t resort to silver cuffs to do it.
Of course, that didn’t mean he was going to let Colt get back to work like he obviously expected to. Six days in and the right side of his body was barely serviceable. The fracture in his leg had healed enough that he could step lightly on it, but that was about it.
Pulling rank, going Alpha on Colt, Maddox put his brother right to bed. Sure, Colt complained about it, but it wasn’t like he could fight back—and not just because his wolf was submissive to Maddox’s. Just like the silver collar had done to Maddox back when he was still in the Cage, the silver in the hospital straps left Colt as docile as he’d ever been.
And that scared the ever-loving shit out of Maddox.
He didn’t let that stop him. As Alpha, he needed to be stronger, faster, and more devious than the rest of the shifters in his pack if he wanted to stay in charge of it. He might not be the official Alpha yet—that was still his father—but in Colt’s house, he was the dominant beast and he was going to act like it.
It wasn’t just the pack hierarchy, either. This was family; he’d always been responsible for his younger brother. S
o Maddox did what he had to do to keep Colt from hurting himself while he was recovering. Colt was in even worse shape than anyone thought if his own wolf hadn’t detected the liberal amount of sedatives that Evangeline had sprinkled in last night’s dinner.
Considering Colt’s size and shifter metabolism, Maddox gave her triple the amount to dose Colt’s plate than what he had used for Evangeline. It, uh, definitely did the job.
He expected his brother to wake up, snarling and foaming at the bit when Colt realized he’d been drugged. Except it was going on twenty-four hours and Colt hadn’t even twitched.
Maddox paced. He had too much nervous energy and he had to keep moving. “Do you think I made a mistake?”
Evangeline got up from her perch by the window, crossing the room and meeting Maddox in the middle. She laid her hand on her mate’s arm. He immediately stilled.
Just her touch had the power to calm him. He closed his eyes for a moment, breathing in her scent, letting it wash over him.
“Maddox, honey, you did what you had to. You know that, don’t you?”
“Colt’s gonna—”
“Colt’s going to understand. If he tried to get up, he’d only end up hurting himself more. And I know you big, tough shifters like to think you’re infallible. You can still get hurt like the rest of us. He was thrown through a window by a witch. Six floors high, Maddox, right into the road. It’s going to take time for him to heal.”
“I know.” Frustrated, he ran his free hand through his shaggy mane of hair. “It’s just, I hate feeling so helpless. It’s all my fault—”
“It’s not. It was her fault,” Evangeline argued, her expression turning dark. Didn’t matter that, without Cilla interference, Evangeline was regaining more and more memories every day. If looks could kill, Evangeline would manage what Maddox just missed—Cilla would be a dead witch at last. “She’ll get what she deserves in the end. I don’t want you to spend another second thinking about her and what she did. I won’t let her win. She owned my memories for too long. Forgetting her will be poetic justice.”
Hungry Like a Wolf (Claws Clause Book 1) Page 31