It took a couple of tense minutes full of heavy breathing and wild eyes for Maddox to finally digest what Colt had said. In the end, he must have realized that Colt was probably the only one he could trust right now.
Maddox shook his head, the quiet broken up by a keening whine that escaped from the broken man on the other side of the glass. Colt understood, his own wolf anxious to answer his Alpha’s mournful call.
Because if Colt wasn’t lying… he could see the struggle play out on Maddox’s weathered face.
“No… she… then that means—”
Colt exhaled roughly. “That your mate is out there. And she is. I swear it.”
He didn't expect it to sink in right away. Colt might be a heartless bastard when it came to the idea of mates, but the bond he shared with Maddox was just as sacred. He could feel his brother’s pain, and the blossoming hope that maybe the impossible had happened.
Three years was a long time to mourn and grieve; it wasn't easy to turn that off like a switch just because Colt had told him that Evangeline was miraculously still alive. But when he did understand, Colt expected Maddox to be anxious and happy and desperate to get back to his mate.
What he got instead was unbridled fury.
Before Colt could even react, Maddox surged to his feet, pounding the flats of his palms against the wards on the glass. Though it didn’t shatter, the glass did shake which told Colt that Maddox was even angrier than that. Rage spilled out of him like fire. Unwilling to pour any gas on it, Colt got up from his stool and took a hesitant step away.
“What the—”
“Fuck me!” Maddox roared. He smashed at the glass again.
Colt jumped back, landing in a crouch, sparing a glance behind him before facing the obvious threat in front of him. He expected one of the Cage cops to barge in at any second. He couldn't have that. If he didn't calm Maddox down, his brother might be tranqed.
Remembering the silver bullets in Bennett’s gun, Colt gulped.
“Mad, you gotta cool it,” he cautioned.
“Cool it? How? She's not just out there, she’s alone! My mate’s all alone while I'm dicking around in here. Fuck me!”
The roar that tore out of his collared throat was completely animalistic, both a demand and a plea from Maddox’s caged beast.
It finally dawned on the frantic shifter that smacking the glass partition wasn’t getting him anywhere. Before Colt could cry out another warning, Maddox reached up and grabbed the silver collar around his neck. Colt immediately smelled the acrid stench of burning flesh as Maddox's fingers pried at the untreated silver that protected the collar. If his brother felt any pain, though, he didn't show it. He yanked and pulled and twisted as Colt howled at him to stop.
Where the fuck were the cops in this place? Forget the protection spell—too much exposure to the raw silver could kill Maddox.
He thought about all of the damn cameras covering this room. Someone had to be watching this scene with Colt as Maddox struggled with the collar on the opposite side of Para-proof glass. And there wasn’t a damn thing Colt could do to stop him.
It wasn't until Maddox burned away nearly all of the skin from his fingers and his palms that his rage finally ran out and he seemed to give up. Knees buckling as he toppled over, he barely landed on the stool, panting heavily as his head hung in defeat.
Colt realized he was breathing just as hard, his claws digging deeply into his palms. Rivulets of blood dripped, dripped, dripped onto the pristine floor.
There wasn't a single mark on the fucking collar.
“That was stupid,” Colt spat out harshly. He snuffled, trying to get rid of the stink. It didn't work. And that made him angrier—which only made him more reckless. What was Maddox thinking? “The power of that collar could've killed you. You're no good to Evangeline dead, Maddox. You know that.”
Maddox kept his head bowed as he mumbled something.
Screw his enhanced shifter senses. All Colt could hear was the rush of blood in his ears and the erratic thrum of his heart.
“What?” he demanded.
Despite the power of the collar, when Maddox met Colt’s fierce gaze, Colt was looking back into the glowing, golden gaze of Maddox’s wolf. And that, more than anything else, calmed him.
Snarling, Maddox repeated himself —
“I said, get me the fuck out of here.”
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