Pale pink spots appeared high on her cheeks. He knew every inch of her face, could read every expression. She was angry and she was horny and, to his surprise, she was embarrassed.
“I looked into it, Mad. You’ve been so careful to shield me from what you are. I wanted to know what to look forward to in the future.”
“I didn’t want to frighten you.”
“No, you wanted to protect me, right? Coddle me, just like my parents. I’m an adult. I have a damn degree. I might not have the most experience in the world about a lot of things, but I saw the writing on the wall a long time ago. You’re a Para, Maddox. A wolf shifter. Even if I wanted to get away, I could never escape you.”
As his wolf whined at just the thought of losing Evangeline, Maddox felt his fangs start to lengthen, his claws itching to emerge. “Don’t even tease about that.”
His voice was rough and raspy, his vocal chords constricting as he fought the shift.
“I’m not teasing. I’m being honest. This… what we have… it’s never going to work if you can’t respect what I want.”
“I give you everything—”
“Everything you think I should have. Protection is one thing. Following me home every night, thinking I don’t notice that you’ve been watching me whenever I’m not close by… I didn’t say anything because this is new to me, too. And you have instincts. I’m not asking you to deny them. It’s never really mattered to me that you’re a Para and I’m a boring old human. All I’m asking, right now, is that we do one thing my way. I’ll let you bite me the second we’re legally married.”
Was that all? She wanted to get some paper signed and have another human tell them they were mates? Fine. He could do that. It wouldn’t change anything in his mind—they were mates the first time he caught her scent—but if it made her happy, he’d do it.
“Fine. Then let’s go now.”
“What? Go where?”
“Get married. That’s what you want, right?”
She lifted her hand, pinching the bridge of her nose while shuttering her eyes. “Please, oh, please tell me that was not your way of proposing to me.”
Why not? “It makes sense to me. We get hitched like you want, get all the papers in order, then I can claim you. Shit, if we hurry, maybe we can hit the courthouse before they close. We can even go out for ice cream after.”
Evangeline gritted her teeth. That surprised him. He would’ve thought the mention of ice cream would’ve sealed the deal for him.
“No, Maddox. I will not marry you tonight. Don’t be ridiculous.”
“I don’t get it. You just said—”
“I love you, Mad. I really do. But… I’m not ready to be married yet. I mean, I want to take this one step further. You want to move in together? Fine. Start sleeping together? I think I’m ready to handle that. But the rest of it? You’re the one who keeps saying it’s forever, right? Then what’s the harm in waiting to… to—”
“Let me bite you? Let me make you mine in all ways?”
Evangeline let out a soft breath. “Yes. Exactly. I’m so glad you understand. From everything I learned, it seems as if sometimes shifters… don’t.”
Maddox went still. Then, for the first time since she invited him close, he got up and willfully took a step away from her.
It was easy to tell himself he would wait for her forever, fooling himself that just knowing she was near was enough.
Until Evangeline refused to consider accepting his bite when they mated.
Until she said shifters like that.
He promised he would wait forever. She wasn’t being unreasonable. The rational man part of his brain knew that.
Tell that to his rejected wolf.
7
“Maddox.” Colt sighed, shaking his head. “This has got to fucking stop. Seriously.”
The big, brawny shifter was lying flat on his back in the middle of Colton’s living room. At least three empty bottles of Jameson Irish were sprawled around him.
Somewhere, filtering in from another room in the house, music played. Maddox remembered borrowing Colt’s phone and turning it on, creating an I can’t believe I screwed up this bad playlist, and promptly losing it. Kitchen? Probably. Though a wolf shifter never needed a reason to eat, guilt and stress caused him to snack even when he wasn’t actually hungry. He’d gone through half of the prepped meals his brother kept stored in the fridge, then drowned his sorrows in the whiskey he snuck in until he dropped.
A high-pitched croon. Maddox focused on that instead of the hulking shape of his obviously ticked off brother standing over him.
“Love lives, love dies…”
Ah. Def Leppard. Right now, this song was the soundtrack to his soul.
Maddox started to sing along.
“Love begs, love pleads…”
Colt nudged him in the shoulder with the tip of his work boot. “We’re not starting that shit again. Come on. Get up.”
“Go away,” he ordered.
There was a hint of a slur to his words. When Colt cursed under his breath before doing just what Maddox said, Mad wasn’t sure how to feel about that. As the stronger alpha wolf, sometimes his brother had no choice but to obey. Unless they were in a real fight—and that hadn’t happened since they were hormonal teens—Maddox tried not to pull rank on Colt.
When Colt returned a few seconds later, Maddox realized he hadn’t managed to do so this time, either. Colt didn’t leave because Maddox told him to. No, he slipped out of the room so that he could retrieve his missing phone and turn the music off.
He tossed the silent phone onto the coffee table, then returned to his post standing near Maddox’s shoulder.
Colt was frowning, his arms crossed over his chest as he scowled down at Maddox.
“Sloppy,” he said in disgust. “I thought this was over with when Evangeline finally agreed to be your mate.”
Yeah, Maddox thought ruefully, so did he.
And maybe he was sloppy. With his metabolism, three bottles of human alcohol was enough to put him firmly into tipsy territory. He had let it affect him deeper than it normally should, embracing the sensation of being almost completely annihilated if only because it gave him something else to focus on that wasn’t the cowardly way he ran out on Evangeline.
He ran out on his mate.
What kind of asshole shifter did that?
His thoughts turned dark as he remembered her reaction to his proposal.
One whose mate didn’t actually want him, that’s what.
Maddox growled. At least, it started as a growl. Halfway through, his throat hitched, his eyes watered, and the sound that escaped him was closer to a pained cry from his wolf than anything else.
Sensing this was something more than an alpha wolf letting off steam, Colt immediately crouched down. He kept his eyes lowered, careful not to antagonize his brother’s agitated beast, before softly asking, “Okay. Tell me. What happened?”
Maddox didn’t want to say it out loud. Speaking it was one step closer to having to accept that Evangeline didn’t want him to claim her.
It was her right. Her choice. Even if she was a shifter, instead of a human, she still had to accept him fully for the bond to become unbreakable.
And she hadn’t.
He clenched his fists, sudden claws biting into his palms. It was either that or scratch the shit out of Colt’s expensive hardwood floor.
“She won’t let me bite her,” he half-slurred, half-snarled.
No reason to elaborate. In Maddox’s world, there was only one she. And, for most shifters, giving their mate a claiming bite was the highlight of their lives.
Too bad his mate didn’t want his mark.
The reminder of the way Evangeline refused him just about stabbed Maddox in the chest, it hurt that bad. The alcohol did nothing to dull the ache. He realized that, and felt even worse for trying desperately to drink himself into a numb stupor.
With a frustrated sigh, Maddox struggled to sit up b
efore using his wolf’s efficient metabolism to burn off the worst of his buzz.
It was a pity that Colt wasn’t born a true beta. When he wanted to be, Maddox’s younger brother could be calm and rational, a perfect foil to a raging alpha. Then again, Colt’s temper was as explosive as it was because he usually kept the lid on it screwed super damn tight. When it came off, everyone in the vicinity knew it.
Right now, though, Colt worked to help his brother. “Of course she won’t. She’s a human. She’s probably afraid it’ll hurt. You’ve got some fangs on you, Mad.”
“I told her it won’t. That I’ll make sure of it. She still said no.” He hiccuped, then fell back on his elbows. His stomach turned, the whiskey working its way through his system. He needed another bottle so that he didn’t have to feel the pain crashing into him. Since he didn’t have one—and he needed to sober up anyway—he sucked in a breath, bracing himself before he admitted, “She won’t marry me, either.”
Without warning, Dodge popped in, appearing in the far corner of the room. His derby was cocked, tilted forward to cover one of his electric blue eyes. He saw the bottles, smirked at Maddox still flat on his ass, then turned to Colt. “I thought you got rid of all that stuff the last time he got into it.”
“I did,” scowled Colt. “He brought some with him again.”
“Why does he always come to your house to get drunk?”
Maddox threw his head back, letting his wolf croon a high-keening, morose howl.
“Drunk and whiny,” amended Dodge. “At least he’s not singing this time.”
“I already turned the music off. If Mad wants to play drunk idiot karaoke, he can do it in his own home.”
Maddox wondered if he should respond to the insult. Colt was the only pack member—except for their father—who got a free pass when it came to disrespecting him. Considering he was still more than half drunk and Colt wasn’t wrong in his description of his behavior, he let it go.
Besides, he needed Colt on his side. This house belonged to him, the land it sat on was Colt’s territory. And it wasn’t like he could return home.
“Can’t go back to my place.”
The edge of Colt’s jaw went hard. “Why the hell not?”
“Because I left Evangeline at my house last night. Once I cooled off and I realized I was being an ass... I couldn’t go back and face her.”
Dodge let out a short laugh. He wasn’t a shifter, was pure human before he died and became a ghost, but hell if that didn’t sound like a bark. “Holy shit. Never thought I’d see the day that the Mad Dog was actually afraid of something. And a human woman, too? Man alive, I never would’ve guessed it.”
Was he afraid? Of course he was. He’d never admit it out loud, but he was absolutely terrified. Not of Evangeline, not exactly. What she represented, though? What it would mean if his human rejected the bond that had already burrowed so deep inside of Maddox that nothing could get rid of it?
“Priscilla,” mused Colt.
Maddox stared up at his brother. Maybe he was even drunker than he thought because, for the life of him, he couldn’t figure out why that name popped out of Colt’s mouth.
What about Cilla? It wasn’t as if Maddox had seen or talked to her in, well, forever. Once he started to woo Evangeline, it just didn’t seem right.
His gut clenched. Another reason why he needed the bond completely finalized. Until his wolf was sure that no one could come between him and Evangeline, he only felt a mixture of repulsion and disinterest when it came to any other woman—even lifelong friends.
“What about her?”
“She’s a witch. I’m sure if you asked, she’d use her magic to dissolve your bond.”
He blinked. Did he think nothing could get rid of his bond?
That… that wasn’t quite right. There were two fool-proof ways to sever a bond. One: death. But the second way? Hiring a witch to use their powers to perform a lobotomy-like procedure that would just about erase his mate from his mind and his heart. When he didn’t remember Evangeline, it wouldn’t hurt so bad that she didn’t want him as much as he needed her.
Too bad that that could never really be an option.
“Why would anyone do that?”
Dodge faked a cough, then said in a sing-song voice, “Because she’s still in love with you.”
That wasn’t what he meant. Didn’t matter. It wasn’t like the nosy ghost was helping, either.
“Can’t you leave me alone?” Maddox growled.
Colt nodded. “Let me talk to my brother. I’ll see you later.”
With a tip of his derby and a shit-eating grin, Dodge popped out of existence again.
He didn’t go far. He couldn’t. Ever since Dodge started haunting Colt when Colt was barely twelve, the ghost was always hovering nearby. He used to explain it was because he had nothing better to do. Maddox spent years looking into it. There wasn’t much information about ghosts out there—and most of the phantoms weren’t talking—but it was obvious that a haunting was another type of bond.
It could’ve driven Colt insane. Instead, he became best friends with Dodge who, in almost every way, was his exact opposite. Which, Maddox long ago decided, was exactly why Colt got along with him.
The relationship went both ways. Colt was the only one Dodge liked—or listened to. So he was gone, only because Colt asked, but Maddox had sobered enough to realize that there was a good chance their conversation was still being overheard.
It was what it was.
Colt was watching him closely. “Should I call her for you?”
“Why would you think that’s a good idea? You don’t even like Cilla.”
“You’re right. I don’t. Never have.” And it wasn’t anything Cilla did wrong. Colt disliked witches as much as he hated every other non-shifter race. “But I’d be an idiot if I didn’t respect her magic. She’s good at what she does.”
“Well, yeah—”
“Just because fate said you were stuck with a human, doesn’t mean you are.”
So Colt was going to insist on this. Was he fucking nuts? “Hang on. I’m not stuck with her. If anything, she’s stuck with me.”
The pain of rejection might have hurt like hell, but it was a good ache. It was so much better than the emptiness inside of him before his bond to Evangeline formed. He’d rather be dead than let anyone rip that away from him.
Colt raised an eyebrow. “Then what are you still doing in my house?”
That was a good question. And, as Maddox shook off the last of the booze before jumping nimbly to his feet, he knew the answer to it.
Just like he knew his brother had played him.
Fine. It was fine. Because when Colt finally found his mate—if he ever found his mate—Maddox would be sure to return the favor.
Sometimes that was all a shifter needed: a swift kick in the ass and a good packmate to remind you when you were being a fucking moron.
Which he was.
But that was okay.
He was ready to fight for his mate. He only hoped Evangeline was still willing to let him fight for her.
8
She wasn’t at home.
Her home, that was. Maddox headed straight for Woodbridge once he shook off the last of the booze. When he arrived, he could sense her weakened wards and knew that Evangeline hadn’t been by. If she had, she would’ve reset them.
His heart was in his throat the entire drive back to his house in Wolf’s Creek. He didn’t know what he would do if she wasn’t there—
He found her on the couch. Sleeping peacefully, wrapped up in a thin blanket as if she’d been tossing and turning before she went still, Evangeline’s scent filled his house, soothing his beast.
Maddox allowed a small contented grin to cross his rugged face. He probably needed to shave, he could feel the stubble on his cheeks, his chin, but he’d barely had time for a shower to wash off the worst of his hangover.
He was desperate to get back to her. All along, he worried th
at he’d fucked up beyond repair, pushing her away so far that he’d never get her back.
And what did he find?
Evangeline had waited for him. Whether or not she did so because she wanted to continue their fight didn’t matter. She waited for him.
She was home.
He crouched down by her side. As gently as he could, Maddox laid his hand on her head, stroking her long dark hair. The touch smoothed something ragged inside of him, calming his wolf at the same time as it cooled the heat in his blood.
Colt was right. This woman was his mate, the only one he would ever want, no matter what his body told him. It might’ve had the advantage of recognizing who she was to him first, but now his heart was the one in charge. It beat solely for Evangeline.
His cock didn’t get a say. Pride? What pride? If getting married to this woman was what it took to make her his, then that would be what he did. Maddox would give her the wedding of her dreams and a wedding night she’d never forget. And he would do it because he loved her, he needed her, and if she never slept in his bed again, he’d understand.
Because once he burned off the last of the booze, his brain finally kicked into gear. He’d been thinking with his cock and his gut and even his heart these last six months. It hit him on his frantic drive home that, since the beginning, he’d been pulling the infamous shifter mine, mine, mine shit on his poor mate. And that was just that. Evangeline was his mate—
—but that meant that he was her mate, too. It was his responsibility to give her everything she needed, even if what she needed most was her space.
It wasn’t only about him. It was about them. A mated pair with a bond that was already so close to being utterly unbreakable. He could feel it stretching between them, a tether that was a strong as steel but with enough give that Maddox knew what he had to do.
First, apologize.
Second, back off.
It wasn’t about sex. His wayward cock might disagree, but he didn’t spend twenty-six years searching for his mate just because he was a horny wolf eager to get laid. He wanted a mate, a partner, someone who would be by his side for life.
Mates: Prequel (Claws Clause Book 0) Page 6