Sunglasses at Night (Claws Clause 3)

“You know her.”

“Know who?”

“Evangeline,” Tabby said. “The Alpha’s mate. You said Maddox Wolfe would let us inside because his mate would make him. Because you asked her to?”

His slayer was way too perceptive.

He shrugged.

“How do you know her?”

“She’s a… a friend.”

“Good friend?” pushed Tabby.

“I’ve known her since we were kids. We were family friends.”

“And that’s all?”

She wasn’t going to stop until she pulled it all out of him, was she? Adam realized that it was his fault. If he hadn’t acted so cagey every time Wolfe was mentioned—if he hadn’t been so eager to impress Tabby by helping her get to the Alpha of the Eastern Pack—he wouldn’t be in this situation.

“We dated for a bit.”

Adam waited for another question. To his surprise, Tabby didn’t say a word after that. She just glanced over at the house before looking over at Adam, a small frown curving on her lips.

Hang on—

“What’s the matter, Tabby?” he asked. “You’re not jealous, are you?”

She lost the frown in a heartbeat. One part scoff, one part amused laugh, she tossed her ponytail over her shoulder before starting toward the walkway, calling back, “Not even a little, but you’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

Yeah, Adam realized.

He would.

Tabby was jealous.

Damn it.

She only hoped that Adam didn’t catch the massive whopper she’d just told him. He’d already proven his uncanny ability to tell if she was lying or not a few times during their conversations. It was a good thing she never tried to truly hide what she was. With the way he could seee right through her, he would’ve picked up on the truth sooner rather than later, even the Nightwalker part of him didn’t figure her for a slayer.

And it wasn't like she expected him to be some kind of saintly virgin. With a body like that, she knew he’d been with plenty of others before her. Shit, she’d lost track of how many guys she’d taken for a ride herself. But that wasn’t the point. Half the time, it was just about scratching an itch.

With Adam, though? It was different.

Unfortunately, there was something in the way he spoke about the Alpha’s mate that told Tabby that, to Adam, this Eva had been different, too.

Ugh.

She had half a mind to go back to the car and call this whole thing off. If it wasn’t for the promise of coming out of this meet with something to tide her uncle over with, she would’ve.

Instead, she marched ahead of Adam and, with more confidence than she felt, knocked on the door.

The door swung in, revealing a predator that gave off such dangerous vibes, Tabby immediately lowered her gaze so that she wouldn’t inadvertently challenge him. It was a common response to alpha shifters, an instinctual behavior that Tabby had worked on during training. She could shake it off, though it took her longer than the slayers who specialized in feral shifters.

“Come in.”

A female voice offered the invitation. Since it obviously didn’t belong to the wide-shouldered, handsome man with the sun-kissed skin and wild golden eyes, Tabby figured that must be Evangeline.