Kimberly’s big brown eyes went wide. “You are? Then who was that guy she left with?”
As if she realized what she said, she lifted her hands, covering her mouth. Too late. The damage was done.
Adam felt his stomach drop down to his shoes. “I need a description of the guy. Now.”
She told him. For whatever reason, the coffee shop girl had gotten a pretty good look at the man who left Mugs with Evangeline. Her description talked about how big he was, how handsome he was, how nice he was. Generous, too. Dark hair. Rugged features. Sunglasses.
By the time she mentioned that he was wearing a tight turtleneck, something that caught her attention because it was so warm out, Adam had to work to keep his fear back. There was only one reason the dark-haired man in sunglasses would also be wearing a turtleneck.
Maddox Wolfe left the Cage with the tell-tale ring of scars.
And now he had Evangeline.
Through gritted teeth, Adam forced himself to thank Kimberly for her time. He remembered to offer her one of his cards with the express instruction that, should she see the guy again, she needed to call Adam right away. He doubted Wolfe would return to Mugs—why would he if he managed to leave with Evangeline—but he needed to cover his bases.
Then, thinking about the coordinates where Evangeline’s phone had pinged last, Adam left Mugs and turned right. At the end of the block, there was a side street that was just secluded enough to catch his attention. And it just so happened to be the exact spot where Evangeline’s phone was last at.
He made a sharp turn, searching the side street. At first, he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Adam didn’t realize how much he was holding out hope that she had just let her phone run out of battery and was mingling downtown, coffee in hand, until he was met with an empty street.
No, he realized a heartbeat later. Not empty.
A stray sunbeam managed to break through the shadows of the side street, glancing off of a pile of mangled metal pieces lying in the middle of the empty road. Adam broke into a jog, heading straight for it.
Crouching down next to it, it didn’t take a puzzle-master to recognize what he was looking at. It was the broken remains of what used to be a cell phone.
Evangeline’s cell phone.
He immediately reached for his own. It didn’t matter that it had barely been an hour since she’d been taken. Evangeline was gone, and she was most likely at the mercy of a shifter who wouldn’t take no for an answer.
Forty-eight hours be damned. Officer Wright called it in.
Whatever Maddox gave her, whatever he dosed her with… it was some powerful stuff.
The sedative had been another one of Colt’s ideas. He even went out to get it himself, returning less than twenty minutes later with a bag of powder and a guarantee that it would calm Evangeline down long enough for Maddox to spirit her away.
Because Colt was gone and back so quickly, Maddox suspected the powder came from someone in the Bumptown. He made a point not to ask what exactly it was; despite a hint of bitterness that whispered out when he sniffed at it, it seemed as innocent as baking powder.
Yeah. It definitely wasn’t.
Not only did it work way faster than he expected, but it knocked Evangeline on her ass. If Maddox hadn’t been there to load her into the truck, she would’ve dropped to the sidewalk.
She didn’t even twitch the entire drive out of Grayson. Maddox floored it as soon as they crossed city lines, heading straight for pack land. He didn’t want to risk Evangeline waking up before they got to the cabin.
Turned out that was a pointless worry. The day had slipped by him, it was closing in on sunset, and Evangeline seemed as if she’d be sleeping forever.
Maddox knew he probably should leave her to it. Though she appeared to be peaceful, it wouldn’t last. He accepted that. Finding him hovering over her when she finally woke back up would probably make it all worse.
He tried to leave after he assured himself for the countless time that she was still breathing. His wolf wasn’t having it. Claws shot out, a snarl ripping out of him as his two halves battled over their next move. Spit sprayed the floor. Maddox left a gouge along the wooden doorjamb.
His wolf won.
Deep down, Maddox admitted that he didn’t fight his beast as much as he could have. So long as his wolf had its mate in its sight, it was content to wait for Maddox to let it out again.
So, with his wolf caged, Maddox struggled to keep from going feral. The longer Evangeline’s eyes stayed closed, the harder it was.
He paced the length of the room, careful to make sure to keep at least a good five feet between him and the edge of the wooden bed frame at all times. As soon as he had laid Evangeline out in the center of the oversized bed, he covered her with a thin sheet then backed off. He had to touch her to carry her inside but that was it. When he placed his hands on her again, he wanted it to be because Evangeline let him.
If she was anything like the mate he remembered, staying on the opposite side of the room wasn’t just smart. It was essential. Maddox didn’t know exactly how she was going to react—nothing had gone the way it was supposed to since they let him out of the Cage—but odds were that it wasn’t going to be all that positive.