Wolfe didn’t even think about her proposal for more than a few seconds.
“No,” he said abruptly. “Not happening. Thanks for coming, but you can go now.”
Evangeline rolled her eyes. “Sorry. He’s been like thissince I found out I was expecting. Luckily, I don’t have much longer to go. One benefit of carrying a pup.” She had a pretty laugh, rich and husky and deep. “What my mate is trying to say is that we can’t get involved in Grayson right now. Unfortunately, I have my own troubles. You see, my Mad had this… let’s call her an admirer.”
“Psycho witch,” Maddox chuffed under his breath. “Let’s call Cilla that.”
“Right, babe. She is a psycho. And if she finds out we’re having a pup, we don’t know what she’ll do. We have to worry about that for now. After the pup’s here…”
“After the pup’s here, the pack will be happy to help. Until then, every packmate is dedicated to making sure my mate survives her pregnancy.”
Evangeline rubbed Wolfe’s arm. “Nothing’s going to happen to me, Maddox. I promise.”
Wolfe gave his mate a sappy look, a full-on besotted grin, before he turned to look at Tabby and Adam. His face went rough, a threat in every harsh line. Tabby didn’t even realize that she’d moved away from the warning in his alpha stare until she backed into Adam.
“We worked hard to keep her safe. To keep the secret. Don’t fuck it up for us now and, when my pup is safe, you can come back and we’ll have this conversation again.”
Huh.
That was way more than she expected from a bonded Para whose mate was weeks away from giving birth.
She’d take it.
Hopefully Boone would, too.
15
The ride back into Grayson was a comfortable one.
Tabby felt much better now that she had met Evangeline Wolfe. Even though she knew enough about Paras to understand that it was nearly impossible to break a bonded mate’s connection, she’d be lying if she said it didn’t bother her that the gorgeous brunette was Adam’s ex.
On the plus side, after the meet with the Alpha and his mate, it was obvious that the two were more than bonded. Evangeline’s bump and news about her advanced pregnancy was just the icing on the cake to soothe the green-eyed beast raging inside of Tabby.
She perked up in the car. As Adam drove, she found a radio station that played nostalgic bubblegum pop and she bounced around in her seat, trying to make him laugh as she twisted her face in silly expressions. She considered it a success when his serious look cracked and he chuckled along with her.
The way Tabby saw it, the night so far was a success. She planted a seed with the Alpha, learned even more about her Nightwalker, and had enough information to placate her uncle. The only way it would be better was if Adam didn’t have to drop her off of her own.
He brought her back to her place which was fine. She’d hoped that he’d want to come up with her, but he gently refused. He reminded her that he had his side gig—working for the Beta of the pack—and that Colt Wolfe contacted him earlier to let him know he was needed.
But, he told her, leaning over the console to steal a kiss before she even reached for her seatbelt, he was wondering if her invitation from last night was still open.
Tabby nipped his bottom lip. “Just be back by dawn.”
Because, if Adam showed up at her apartment before sunrise, he wouldn’t be able to leave before the sun went down again more than fourteen hours later. And there was a lot she could do with her Nightwalker lover in that much time.
Until then, she needed to do what she came to Grayson to do.
She was still hoping that her instincts were wrong, that Adam wasn’t the only Nightwalker leaving piles of ash throughout the city. And if they were spot-on like usual? Tabby was still a slayer. Her job was to hunt down Para threats and end them. Boone, Eddie, and the rest of the crew might be tracking the Para storm brewing toward Grayson, but there was still plenty of everyday paranormal evil she could slay since Adam was definitely off the table.
Before she went out for the night, she called Boone and filled her uncle in on everything she learned during her meet with Maddox Wolfe and his mate. From the witch who had a vendetta against the Alpha’s mate, and the pregnancy that kept the pack closing ranks.
When he thanked her for the intel without pushing to know how she’d discovered it, Tabby thought she’d gotten off easy. Of course, then her uncle had to go on and ask her how her hunt for the rogue Nightwalker was going, and Tabby had to think quick in order to get off the phone before answering.
Okay. She lied and told her uncle that her phone was dying and, what was that, Boone, I can’t hear you, before she ended the call and quickly switched it to airplane mode.
She left it that way all throughout her hunt, only resuming full service when she was heading home to wash the blood and dust from a successful kill out of her ponytail. Enough time had passed that Boone didn’t bother calling back, and if she studiously ignored the two voicemails coming from HQ, she figured she’d just deal with it tomorrow.
She had the rest of the night to look forward to.