Season of the Witch (Claws Clause 2)

Wright huffed, shoving Colt’s hands away from him. “Just give me my keys, asshole.”

That was… a surprise. He would’ve thought Wright would take any excuse to throw him in a Cage. And, well, he did steal the cop’s car.

Seemed Wright was feeling a bit magnanimous himself.

He wasn’t going to fight him on it, either. Colt tossed the keys over to Wright. “Here you go. Sorry. I would’ve asked if I had the time.”

“Yeah. You know, you left me behind back there last night,” Wright muttered, pocketing his keys. “Aren’t you supposed to be my partner? Some shit partner you are. Tell me you at least caught something before you abandoned me to the vampires.”

“Wish I could. No luck. You?”

Wright’s scowl deepened. “Nothing. I couldn’t get anyone to talk to me, and the fifth time someone asked me for a sip, I went looking for you. You were gone. My car, too. I had to walk three miles until I got a signal and could call one of my buddies for a ride.”

Oops.

“Don’t worry. I took good care of your car. I even topped it off with gas.”

“Yeah, well, I get it. I thought I saw you with that knock-out in the tight purple dress.” A sly look replaced the human’s scowl. “You sure you’re not underselling me when you say you had no luck? Your game seemed on point enough to land a snack like her. Whoa.”

Colt didn’t even give his body the order to move. His hands were around Wright’s throat in an instant. No claws, because he wasn’t trying to kill the human, but the impulse to squeeze was almost impossible to deny.

“What did you say about my mate?”

Wright gulped. Colt felt the lump travel down his throat, lodging past his tight grip. “Your… your mate? Shit, Wolfe. I didn’t know.”

He didn’t know? That’s because no one knew.

Because Colt had insisted that they keep it a secret while Shea worked on finding the right spell to dissolve their bond.

And then he’d gone and kissed her.

He tried blaming it on the rush of shifting to his wolf and back as soon as he had. That, and his possessive instincts when he saw her leaving that backroom in Bloodlust, the stink of the vampires all over her… and the honest affection in her expression as she told him that his wolf was beautiful.

Colt had to force himself to loosen his grip. Purposely prying his fingers off of Wright’s throat, he moved back, shoving his hand through his hair as he presented his profile to the stunned cop.

Wright still didn’t get Paras. Shifters? Not even a little, otherwise he would’ve understood that, as possible as it was for an alpha wolf shifter like Colt, he was being submissive. Guilty and taken aback at his fierce reaction, Colt forfeited the challenge.

Instead of letting it go, Wright blinked a couple of times, his hand flying up to his neck to rub at the red ring of sk

in as he yelled hoarsely at Colt.

“Wait. You have a mate? And you’re still gunning for the vamps when any one of them could retaliate and take it out on her? Are you fucking insane? I mean, we all know shifters have got a couple screws loose already, but I thought you animals actually cared about your mates!”

“I care about Shea,” Colt retorted. And, holy shit, he meant it. “It’s… complicated. She’s my mate, but I’m not hers, if you can wrap your head around that.”

Wright exhaled roughly, dropping his hand to his side. “Yeah.” His voice went thick, his expression dark. “I think I can.”

Shit. If he stuck his boot any further in his mouth, he’d be gagging on the laces. How could he say that to Wright when he was well aware of everything that happened with Evangeline?

Like Maddox, he always hated the cop because Wright had tried to steal Maddox’s mate while her memories of her time with Maddox were hidden by Cilla’s warped magic. It never occurred to him to look at it from the human’s point of view.

Colt had to admit that life had fucked with the poor guy. He’d fallen head over heels for a woman he could never be with.

The only difference was that Colt could have Shea if he put aside a lifetime of conviction and let fickle fate set his path for him. All he had to do was accept the bond. But Wright? Even when he thought Evangeline was his, he was wrong. She’d always been Maddox’s mate.

Colt knew exactly why Wright was so pissed off, too. The Nightwalkers had made Evangeline a target because they knew Wright was working to shut down the murderous crew. And, sure, maybe it also had everything to do with her status as Maddox’s mate, but they brought Wright into it the second they used his name.

What if they figured out that a shifter had turned on some of his fellow paranormals, working with the Ants instead? There were only a handful of people that the Nightwalkers could go after if they wanted to hit Colt where it hurt.