Hungry Like a Wolf (Claws Clause 1)

“He’s the one who said I was his mate,” retorted Evangeline. “Not me.”

“My Mad is confused. His wolf has led him astray. One of the downsides of dealing with shifters, I’m afraid. The animal is led by base instincts and its nose. But the man… he’s in control of the heart. And Maddox loves me. He belongs to me.”

The witch made it look so easy, gliding through the smoke as she pointedly circled Evangeline. Nothing stopped the witch from prowling; it was as if the space only consisted of the two women and the smoke. She moved effortlessly, her glare constantly on Evangeline.

Evangeline found it difficult to even stay standing, the weight of the magic suddenly too much for her. But she was nothing if not determined. She refused to believe that she wanted anything to do with Maddox. She definitely didn’t accept that she was his mate.

That didn’t mean she was going to let this witch talk to her like that, either.

“Back off, Broomhilda.”

“You’re nothing but an Ant. You don’t scare me.”

“Yeah?” Evangeline’s outrage was almost tangible. She shoved at the air in front of her. It did nothing to scatter the smoke, but the force managed to knock the witch back on her heels. “You’re forgetting something. I might be a… an Ant, but this is still my dream. I conjured you up. I can make you disappear.”

The dark-haired witch laughed. Considering the nasty look on her face, her laugh shouldn’t have sounded as pretty as it did. “I’d love to see you try it. You caught me off-guard once. It won’t happen again.”

Oh?

Evangeline pushed a second time.

The witch was right. It didn’t work.

She stalked forward confidently, slapping aside the rush of wind as if batting away a gnat.

“I own your dreams, human. I see your fantasies, know that you think my mate is yours. You might not want to admit it, but I know. Enough. It’s gone too far now. Leave Maddox alone.”

Was she serious?

Evangeline openly gawked at the other woman. “You got it all wrong, lady. I think you’re missing some very important information. In case you didn’t figure it out, he stole me. I didn’t ask for any of this.”

“He’s confused,” snapped the witch. Her face twisted, her beautiful features vicious. “He’s convinced himself that he’s in love with you. He’s wrong.”

“You want him?” offered Evangeline. “Take him.”

The witch’s ruby red lips quirked upward. “I’m working on it. You’re just a complication I didn’t need right now. The dreams should have kept you off his radar. At least I didn’t waste all of my diamonds. You clearly don’t know anything about him—as you shouldn’t.”

“What do you mean? Of course I don’t. I never met him before last week!”

“That’s right.”

There was something in the way the witch said that. Her voice went even higher, almost piercing. She was lying, Evangeline realized. But why would she lie?

Why would this witch come to her in her dreams to warn her to stay away from Maddox?

Why would she have haunted her for years?

Evangeline said the first thing that popped in her head. “You’re just jealous.”

“Of you? Please. We both know you’re nothing but Maddox’s mistake. Don’t take it so hard, Angie.”

Evangeline’s jaw tightened. When she spoke, she did so through clenched teeth. “Don’t call me ‘Angie’.”

The witch’s purple eyes glittered maliciously. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe you don’t want him. Besides, whatever he says, whatever he thinks… there’s no true mate bond between the two of you, nothing to tie you together. As soon as he comes to me, he’ll realize what he's done.”

Because she couldn’t deny that she was dreaming—however whacked her consciousness was to create this vision—Evangeline let herself submit to the compulsion toward Maddox that she’d been denying since the first time she locked eyes with him at Mugs.

It didn’t mean she was giving up. It didn’t mean she had any intention of telling the overwhelming brute that his caveman tactics might have struck a chord with her. She couldn’t come to grips with the idea that a man she met less than a week ago was destined to be her lifelong mate. And that was if she ever got over the whole, you know, abduction thing.