Mates: Prequel (Claws Clause 0)

“Well, yeah—”

“Just because fate said you were stuck with a human, doesn’t mean you are.”

So Colt was going to insist on this. Was he fucking nuts? “Hang on. I’m not stuck with her. If anything, she’s stuck with me.”

The pain of rejection might have hurt like hell, but it was a good ache. It was so much better than the emptiness inside of him before his bond to Evangeline formed. He’d rather be dead than let anyone rip that away from him.

Colt raised an eyebrow. “Then what are you still doing in my house?”

That was a good question. And, as Maddox shook off the last of the booze before jumping nimbly to his feet, he knew the answer to it.

Just like he knew his brother had played him.

Fine. It was fine. Because when Colt finally found his mate—if he ever found his mate—Maddox would be sure to return the favor.

Sometimes that was all a shifter needed: a swift kick in the ass and a good packmate to remind you when you were being a fucking moron.

Which he was.

But that was okay.

He was ready to fight for his mate. He only hoped Evangeline was still willing to let him fight for her.

8

She wasn’t at home.

Her home, that was. Maddox headed straight for Woodbridge once he shook off the last of the booze. When he arrived, he could sense her weakened wards and knew that Evangeline hadn’t been by. If she had, she would’ve reset them.

His heart was in his throat the entire drive back to his house in Wolf’s Creek. He didn’t know what he would do if she wasn’t there—

He found her on the couch. Sleeping peacefully, wrapped up in a thin blanket as if she’d been tossing and turning before she went still, Evangeline’s scent filled his house, soothing his beast.

Maddox allowed a small contented grin to cross his rugged face. He probably needed to shave, he could feel the stubble on his cheeks, his chin, but he’d barely had time for a shower to wash off the worst of his hangover.

He was desperate to get back to her. All along, he worried th

at he’d fucked up beyond repair, pushing her away so far that he’d never get her back.

And what did he find?

Evangeline had waited for him. Whether or not she did so because she wanted to continue their fight didn’t matter. She waited for him.

She was home.

He crouched down by her side. As gently as he could, Maddox laid his hand on her head, stroking her long dark hair. The touch smoothed something ragged inside of him, calming his wolf at the same time as it cooled the heat in his blood.

Colt was right. This woman was his mate, the only one he would ever want, no matter what his body told him. It might’ve had the advantage of recognizing who she was to him first, but now his heart was the one in charge. It beat solely for Evangeline.

His cock didn’t get a say. Pride? What pride? If getting married to this woman was what it took to make her his, then that would be what he did. Maddox would give her the wedding of her dreams and a wedding night she’d never forget. And he would do it because he loved her, he needed her, and if she never slept in his bed again, he’d understand.

Because once he burned off the last of the booze, his brain finally kicked into gear. He’d been thinking with his cock and his gut and even his heart these last six months. It hit him on his frantic drive home that, since the beginning, he’d been pulling the infamous shifter mine, mine, mine shit on his poor mate. And that was just that. Evangeline was his mate—

—but that meant that he was her mate, too. It was his responsibility to give her everything she needed, even if what she needed most was her space.

It wasn’t only about him. It was about them. A mated pair with a bond that was already so close to being utterly unbreakable. He could feel it stretching between them, a tether that was a strong as steel but with enough give that Maddox knew what he had to do.

First, apologize.