by Julia Laque
He just nodded and she slipped in, closing the door behind her.
Sitting back down on the sofa, he placed his head in his hands and leaned on his knees. Cyrus better give up Serena and fast. There was no way in telling what he’d do if he was stuck with Evangeline for longer than necessary.
Maybe he should have left Jason to handle this part of the kidnapping. His stomach knotted, picturing Jason carrying her in his arms or taking her out of the tub.
And then it hit him.
It was absurd, but he wanted to be the only one to hold her, to see her wrapped in a towel, to watch her sleep peacefully. Only him.
Was he crazy? She was engaged to his immortal enemy. He couldn’t think of her that way. After this was over, he would never see her again, so all his lustful thoughts had to be put aside.
His phoned vibrated in his pocket and he reached for it quickly. At 5:30 this morning Jason had called with news. The king left him a message stating he did not have Serena and demanded Evangeline be released.
Adam had expected this. It was only his first attempt. They were going to let the fucker sit on the knowledge his pack had his fiancé until he broke.
He read the message. Maxwell Jones called me. I’m meeting him this afternoon once he gets some rest. Apparently he was with the king till early this morning. I’ll call you with details.
Fuck!
This was all getting out of hand. If Jones went to the cops, he and his pack were going to have to hit the road.
What the hell did this mean? Was Evangeline right? Did the king not have his sister? And if so, then where the hell was she?
His stomach lurched as he thought of the worst possible scenarios; raped, murdered, mutilated. She was thirty-two, but still a child by his standards.
Did Serena just split with some guy she was too afraid to bring around him and the Fighters? This seemed plausible since the guys all treated her like a little sister and were extremely overprotective. Perhaps she couldn’t take it anymore.
No. If that were the case, then she would have called him. He hated the thought, but maybe he should go to the police. If Cyrus didn’t have her, and he still wasn’t completely convinced he didn't, then he would call the authorities. Although, he thought pitifully, if the pack hadn’t found her, he doubted the cops could do better.
Until he found out more information, he was going to play this thing out. He’d managed to get control of Evangeline, or at least she wasn’t trying to run or scared of him anymore and she’d left a message with her father last night when he got back. She told him she was visiting a friend in Chicago and she’d be back in a couple days. Evangeline had also left a message at the ballet studio apologizing for not showing up to work Thursday and Friday and she’d be back at work on Tuesday. The studio was closed on Sundays and Mondays.
Evangeline stepped out of the bathroom and walked into the sunlit living room. She looked around. “It looks different in here, more cheerful.”
The sun caught her olive eyes and the worry he’d felt a moment before lessened slightly. Strangely, he was pleased she thought his cabin was cheerful. He wanted to make her feel comfortable and he was thankful for the room’s cozy atmosphere.
Evangeline turned to look at him and caught him staring. She looked down at herself. “A little tip for your next kidnapping…grab some extra clothes for your captive.”
He gave her a sardonic smirk. “I’ll try to remember.” He stood up and walked past her. “I’ll throw your clothes in the wash before I take a shower, then I’ll make us something to eat.”
Evangeline’s face brightened. “I’ll make breakfast.”
He paused in the hallway and regarded her.
“I’m no chef, but I can manage breakfast. Besides it’ll give me something to do.” She pointed at the coffee table. “You know the only reading material you have here is Cigar Aficionado and Men’s Health. Considering my predicament, I was pretty bored last night.”
Smothering the urge to laugh, he said, “Sorry, those are my friend’s magazines and I’m afraid we cancelled our Cosmo subscription.”
“Darn. I guess you’ll just have to suffer with my cooking then.” She walked off into the kitchen and he turned to throw her clothes in the wash with a stupid grin on his face.
After he showered, he threw on a pair of jeans and a blue t-shirt and walked into the kitchen barefoot.
Evangeline was at the stove, flipping toast in a frying pan. “Can I help?” he asked.
She looked over at him. The image of her barefoot in his kitchen, wearing his clothes, and cooking was strange to him and oddly pleasant. “You had enough ingredients for French toast and I found syrup. Can you take out two plates?”
“Sure.” He grabbed two plates and utensils and put them on the table, then grabbed two water bottles from the fridge.
Evangeline brought over a plate full of delicious smelling French toast and they sat down at the table to dig in.
“Not bad,” he said through mouthfuls. “Thanks for cooking, by the way.”
“You’re welcome. It’s nothing like my sister’s French toast. I don’t know what she does, but it’s to die for.” She shrugged at herself.
“So is this,” he said quietly and an adorable flush colored her cheeks again.
They ate in silence for a while. She finished first and sipped her water, looking out the window. “Do you think we could go outside for awhile? I’d like to get some exercise and fresh air.”
He paused, his trademark frown in place.
She looked at him pointedly, fiddling with the bottle in her hand. “I can’t outrun you so you know I won’t try and escape. Besides, I told you I’d stay if it gets your sister back.”
Swallowing the rest of the food, he said simply, “Okay.”
Her brow crinkled curiously. “Have you heard anything?”
Considering what to tell her, Adam decided on the truth. She wasn’t the enemy here. Her bloodsucking fiancé was the enemy and the knowledge made him cringe inwardly again.
“A few hours ago Cyrus contacted my second…said he didn’t have my sister and demanded we let you go. We didn’t expect him to give her up so easily, even though we have you. He’s testing us. I believe he knows I won’t hurt you, but it still kills him to know you are under my care. He has also contacted Maxwell Jones.” Evangeline’s eyebrows shot up. “My beta is meeting him this afternoon,” Adam finished, wiping his hands on a napkin.
“Max is a close personal friend of my family. He’ll be honor bound to go to my father.”
Adam leaned back in his chair. “I don’t think he will just yet. Jones likes to settle things quietly. Alerting your family will start a ruckus.”
She nodded at him thoughtfully, her gorgeous lips slightly parted.
After they cleaned up the kitchen, they stepped out into the sun for a walk. He didn’t know how much exercise she would get, walking in his slippers, but she looked adorable anyway.
He led her along a narrow path he rarely used, and took in the smells of the woods and the hot summer day.
Evangeline was back to wearing her black pants and white camisole. Although he loved it when she was in his shirt, she looked even better in her fitted clothes hugging her slender curves.
She walked in front of him and all he did was stare at her round bottom with the hot indent on the sides flexing as she moved. He could make a living studying her body.
Evangeline walked over to a large oak tree and turned around, leaning her back against it, taking a deep breath.
“Are you okay?” he asked worriedly, coming toward her.
She held out her hand. “I’m fine. I guess I’m still getting my energy back.” Shrugging, she joked, “I must be getting old.”
He sat down on a tree stump a few feet from her tree. “How old are you?”
“Twenty-two.”
He cocked his head. “Wow. You’re younger than my sister. Don’t take this the wrong way, but you seem older.”
; She gave him a wry look. “Thanks. Unfortunately I get that a lot.” Tilting her head curiously, she asked, “How old are you?”
He grinned. “Fifty-seven.” Werewolves have a long life span of several hundred years.
“You don’t look fifty-seven,” she said.
“I’m actually considered young by our standards. Weres usually stop aging at twenty, some twenty-five, but I went through a lot in my twenties so the process didn’t stop till I was thirty. Generally speaking, I look older than most werewolves.”
She nodded at him. He had a feeling she knew a lot about his species. She already knew about their tattoos. He was wondering what she thought about him. The other night she said it was the first time meeting someone of the supernatural world. Was she interested in his world or repulsed?
“How old were you the first time you changed?” she asked with an adorable inquiring expression, the corner of her eyes squinting slightly.
Hey, maybe she was still interested. Adam kicked out his legs in front of him and crossed his arms. “I was ten when puberty hit. It’s when we all phase for the first time. We get that along with all the other puberty crap."
“But, you knew what you were already, right?”
He nodded. “Yeah, I knew. I’m a pure blood so I’d watched my parents phase a bunch of times before it happened to me.” He hesitated, an anxious knot building inside him. “How much do you know about me?”
The look on her face told him she knew enough. “I know the rumors,” she uttered, looking uneasy. “You don’t have to tell me anything, but I don’t believe them.”
He looked at her askance. “You what?”
She shifted against the tree uncomfortably. “I don’t believe you murdered your father because you were crazy or to attain the alpha status. I mean… you have to go through a vote anyway.”
He stared at her intently.
“I don’t know why you did it, but you must have had your reasons. I’ve never killed anyone, but I can’t imagine how it would feel. You’ve obviously had to live with anguish for some time now. It must be quite painful.” She continued to stare at him apprehensively.
He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Any other woman would have been shocked to know she was standing in the woods with a man that had murdered his father. But here she was, almost consoling him.
“You’ve kept the peace in Wilmington, until now, and protected your pack. I believe deep down, you’re a good man.” Her voice lowered as she spoke.
Adam wanted to go to her, wrap his arms around her and claim her luscious mouth, but if he took one step, she would be on her back in a second.
He spoke up finally. “My father used to beat my mother.” Evangeline’s eyes widened. “When my sister was born, my father, in another drunken stupor, claimed she wasn’t his child.” He arched a brow. “Now, I don’t know if she is or isn’t. Still don’t. Truth be told, I hope she’s not my father’s child. Thankfully, she looks like my mother.
“Anyway, I had been back and forth to Chicago and when my sister was born, I decided to stay close to home so I could watch over her. I knew how my father was and I worried over Serena and my mother. I went to work for my family’s construction company.” The Perez family owned a construction company and a lumberyard in Wilmington still thrived till this day. “I lived with Jason at the time, but I would pay my family a visit on my way home. One night, I came home and found my mother lying on the kitchen floor, dead.” Adam saw Evangeline gasp and felt the pain course through her. She suffered for him.
“I’ll spare you the details,” he said, looking away.
Her voice leaden, she said, “Adam, I’m so sorry.”
Shaking his head, he said, “What’s done is done.” He was thankful she looked away from him.
He didn’t tell Evangeline his father was in the kitchen too. Xavier Perez sat at the kitchen table completely trashed, with his head in his hands. He had choked the life out of his wife in a jealous rage.
Adam shifted to his wolf form on the spot and attacked his father. His father fought back, futilely, too drunk to stand up straight or shift himself.
Before Adam broke his neck, his father had given him a brief nod, his tear stung eyes expressing their assent for his son to kill him.
Adam shook himself out of the past. He wasn’t going to get swept up in agony again. His focus now was finding his sister.
Watching Evangeline closely, another notion came to mind. His focus was to find his sister and to save this woman from marrying a monster.
“Why are you marrying him?” His voice rumbled low.
She turned to him in surprise. “I told you,” she whispered.
“No, you didn’t. Tell me,” he replied sternly.
Looking down at her feet, she took a deep breath. “My father stole funds from the king. I happen to believe the king compelled him into doing this, but I have no proof. Several of my father’s investments had fallen through and my father resorted to gambling and lost terribly. The king was no doubt spying on my family and found out all this information. He compelled my father into taking money meant for the new Transition Facility.” She lifted her chin, attempting to look stronger than she actually felt, but she couldn’t fool Adam. He listened with growing hatred for the bastard king. “In exchange for me, Cyrus is allowing my father to keep the money as a bride price and not go to the authorities.”
“That son of a bitch,” Adam growled, his forearms rippling as tremors ran through him.
“I tried to get out of it, but Cyrus threatens to do more to my family if I don’t cooperate.”
Adam sat forward on the stump, his elbows on his knees and fists clenched over his mouth. It was hard to get control right now. He wanted to kill Cyrus Stewart with a vengeance. “You can’t marry him,” he said with loathing.
She gave him a defeated look. “I have to.”
“How could…” Adam stopped himself. How could her father let this happen? How could he simply hand her off to a fucking vampire? It was on the tip of his tongue to say this, but he didn’t want to add to her pain. He was sure she was pissed at her father already.
“Can we talk about something else?” she asked miserably.
He nodded, still fuming over what she’d told him. He couldn’t picture this sweet woman with a vampire, let alone the king.
“Does it hurt when you phase?” she asked tentatively. He had a feeling she was trying to distract him. Looking down, he noticed his clasped hands were red and his vision had altered. His eyes had shifted again.
He calmed his irises by pressing his thumb and forefinger over his eyes. “I’m used to it now. It did before, but after several full moons, your body gets accustomed to the pain.” Dropping his hand from his face, he paused and looked at her with concern. Voice low, he asked, “Did I scare you the other night? When you saw me in my wolf form?”
She shook her head. “No, on the contrary, I thought you were beautiful.”
He flinched slightly. Beautiful? She stared at him with her smoldering eyes and he felt his chest constrict. Jesus, the things she did to him…
Scrunching her brow in thought, she asked, “When is the next full moon?”
Adam remembered with a sense of foreboding what day it was. It was almost the full moon. Which meant, the moon heat, the day before the full moon was almost upon them. The day of mating or what Ramo called, Fuck Fest. He should have known she would wonder about this. “It’s in a couple of days. Don’t worry. You’ll be gone before then,” he assured her, clasping his hands again in front of him.
She looked at him uneasily. “What about…” she stammered.
Adam peered up at her through his lashes. “The moon heat?” he supplied for her.
She nodded. “Yes…what do you…I mean…do you have someone?” Her gaze was eager on him.
He stared for a moment then nodded.
She looked down, avoiding his eyes. “Is she your girlfriend?”
He shrugged. “Not really,
just a heat mate. We’re just there for each other during those days.”
“And other days?” Her voice sounded cold.
“Truth be told, I haven’t really had much time for a relationship.”
Her mouth was set in a thin line now and her chest heaved a little too rapidly. Surprised, he felt a feeling he hadn’t sensed in another in a long time. “Are you going to be with her, then, in a few days?”
His eyes narrowed at her and he didn’t need to read her emotions because she was showing them loud and clear.
Evangeline was amazingly jealous.
“Would it bother you?” he asked softly.
She shrugged and looked away. “What do I care?”
“A lot, apparently,” he quipped.
She shot him a reproachful look.
Adam licked his lips, surveying her. “I won’t go to her if it bothers you,” he said smoothly, his eyes locked on hers, thrilling to the fact she was jealous. In all honesty, he only wanted to be with her and no woman, not even Reanna would satisfy him. And for some reason, he did not want to hurt Evangeline. Somehow, in their brief time together, she’d come to truly matter to him. “Tell me. Does it?”
Evangeline’s soft voice was sweet and pulled at his heart. “Yes,” she whispered as her eyes bore into his.
“Then I won’t,” he said matter of fact.
They were fixated on each other for a long while, this new revelation sinking in and wrapping them in a sheet of fascination.
The reality she did not want him to be with another woman made his chest swell and his entire body come to life. This new possessive side of hers was damn sexy and he wanted her.
In a raspy voice, she asked, “What will you do?”
Adam pushed himself off his elbows. “There are ways we can cope without a companion. I’ll be fine.” He stood slowly and with long purposeful strides, came to her. Stopping only an inch or two away from her, he looked down at her lovely face. In a silky voice, he asked, “Do you want to be with me during the moon heat?” He reached up and brushed strands of hair out of her face. His eyes blazed as she shivered. “Do you want it to be you?”