Hungry Like a Wolf (Claws Clause 1)

And delusional people with the power to back up their delusions were nothing but trouble.

Evangeline glared up at her. Pricilla looked exactly the same as she had when she visited Evangeline in her dream two nights ago. Pin-straight black hair that fell past her shoulders, creamy caramel-colored skin, a face that might have been sculpted by the masters themselves, all capped off with a pair of exotic Para eyes.

There was insanity and the promise of retribution in her lovely purple witch’s eyes.

“Don’t you recognize me?” she purred.

Evangeline looked away. Confused, scared, and alone, she didn’t want to fall into the witch’s gaze in case she got lost in there.

“I saw you in my dreams.”

“Very good.” Sarcasm laced the witch’s cheery tone. “So glad to see we’re on the same page. Now, please, don’t be too afraid. I want you to look at me. Angie, look.”

There was power in the command. Evangeline was unable to resist the order.

Priscilla smiled. “I can see it in your eyes. Despite my best efforts and a good deal of my precious diamonds, you’ve regained some of your memories. Not enough to make you a threat, but some. Tell me, do you remember this me?”

The witch’s form went hazy, a soft lavender smoke obscuring her from head to toe. Then, as quickly as it came, it fluttered away.

Evangeline gasped.

She did remember this witch. “You’re the witch who set up my wards. You said your name was Ms. Winters.”

“It is, but I prefer Cilla,” she said before snapping her fingers. Her hair went from dark to light, her skin paling considerably. Her grin widened. “I wore this face when I sold your cop boyfriend the perfume.”

Evangeline knew this was probably the worst time in the world to be worried about that. Still, she couldn’t stop herself from blurting out, “So Adam was working with you, too?”

The witch looked scandalized. “Me working with an Ant? Hardly. With enough diamonds, a human can buy my services, but I’d never team up with one. Let’s just say, we had the same goals. Your cop wanted a spell to keep you hidden from a shifter’s nose. I didn’t want Maddox to track you down.”

Evangeline opened her mouth to ask another question.

Cilla’s eyes flashed angrily, the first crack in her armor of faux pleasantness. “Now don’t you dare ask why. You might not be a witch, but you charmed him all the same. He was convinced you were the woman for him just because you made his dick hard. Big deal. I make males—Para and human—desperate for my touch every single day. That doesn’t mean I deserve their love, or even want it. You don’t deserve Maddox’s. Only I do.”

She’d said as much when she arrived in a cloud of smoke at the Bumptown. Evangeline was still struggling to understand.

“Why are you doing this?”

“What? And tell you now before your wolf in shining armor comes to rescue you? Please. I’d only have to explain my brilliant plans all over again when he arrives and I really do hate to repeat myself.”

That wasn’t what Evangeline thought. From her impression of the witch, it seemed as if all she wanted to do was talk. And if she got her to talk, then maybe she could get her to slip up and say something that she could use.

“Brilliant plans?”

“Oh, yes. Getting your mother to hire me to do your wards was no accident. You’ve been a pain in my side for far too long now, human. I always knew that troublesome bond would break through my spells and I needed to be able to get to you whenever I needed to. Sacrificing you in your own apartment… it just had a nice ring to it.” Cilla paused, then giggled at her own joke. “Ring? Get it. Ah. I kill me—actually. No. I guess I’ll be killing you. Oops.”

Evangeline always wondered if her mother’s fear and hatred when it came to the paranormal races would ever have any repercussions. Trapped inside of a circle of diamonds, facing off against an insane witch in her apartment… that was definitely some kind of repercussion.

Hearing that the circle was needed for some kind of sacrifice—

No. Terror filled her veins, already knowing that she was looking death in the eye whenever she glanced at Cilla’s narrowed gaze. Then again, she was to supposed to have been dead once before. She survived. With Maddox’s love and his support, she survived; even when the bond was broken, she never truly forgot him.

He would come for her. She just had to keep Cilla talking until he did. Evangeline had never been the type of woman who was going to be be the damsel in distress, waiting to be rescued. Just this once, though, she was going to make an exception.

In a world where paranormals and humans lived side by side, sometimes the Para had the upper hand. The Web might list Evangeline as a Para now, but she was human where it counted. She was no match for Cilla’s magic.

She needed Maddox. For a million different reasons, she needed her mate.

Purposely dropping the topic of her mother, Evangeline grasped for something to say. A second later, she had it. “You said something about your diamonds and my memories. What did you mean?”