Hungry Like a Wolf (Claws Clause 1)

Whoa.

In the echoes of his deep-throated roar, Evangeline realized that, for the first time since she woke up less than an hour ago, she was terrified. Before, she’d been angry. Pissed off to high heaven that he managed to snatch her and she’d been so trusting and naive that she had let it happen. Deep down, she hadn’t been afraid b

ecause she never suspected that he would actually hurt her.

She wasn’t so sure now. He insisted he knew her. She had no idea who he was.

The ruined scars surrounding his throat were a tell-tale sign he used to be a prisoner in the Cage.

He had a jailhouse tattoo on his chest commemorating the day of Evangeline’s crash.

That last one scared her more than anything else.

Maybe he did know her. Maybe there was a reason behind why she felt so drawn to him. It didn’t matter. She had received a second lease on life and hell if she wasn’t going to live it the way she wanted to. No growly shifter was going to stand in her way.

She had to get away from him.

With a squeal, Evangeline let her fight or flight instinct take over again. No way she could take on an enraged shifter. Even now she could see the fury and the pain that caused his eerily golden eyes to shine as he locked on her.

This Maddox expected something of her that she simply couldn’t give him. With so many gaps in her memories, how did he expect her to remember a man she’d been sure she had never seen before?

That only left her one choice: flight.

As soon as she stopped running before, the pain in her ankle came alive with a vengeance. She pushed herself too hard, too fast. Now, when she needed it the most, her body betrayed her.

Evangeline turned to dart away. Her ankle buckled, her knee gave out, and she took one quick step before she started to drop.

“Ang, no!”

“Stay away,” she gasped out. She landed on her knee, another jolt of pain coursing through her. The impact was rough. She hit, then fell back onto her ass. As soon as she was down, she threw her hand up. “Don’t come any closer.”

He listened.

And he frowned.

“Oh, Angie, I'm so sorry. I didn’t know.”

The sorrow in his tone hit her right in her gut. She’d rather take the anger, the certainty that he had a right to do this to her. To feel sorry that she was in pain made her insides twist. If he came any closer to her, she thought she might spit in his handsome face.

“Stay away from me,” she warned.

“Let me help you—”

“No.”

She leaned forward, pushed up off of her hands, and landed on her knees again. Evangeline could almost sense the desperate need he had to lunge forward and help her up. She wouldn’t give in to him. Shaky and more scared than she’d been, she climbed up on one foot, then the next.

Easy does it. Now that she was prepared for the ache, she babied her swollen ankle. Running was out. She kind of figured that. But hell if she didn’t want to be able to walk away from him.

She took a step.

Her ankle held her weight for all of three seconds before pain shot up her shin and her leg gave out from underneath her. Evangeline had just enough time to realize that this was going to hurt when she hit the ground before she was tumbling down again.

But the impact never came this time.

With her nose inches from the dirt, the shifter screamed toward her, wrapping her up in his arms and holding her close as he dropped to a predator’s crouch.

Damn, he was fast. No wonder he was able to track her down like that.