Hungry Like a Wolf (Claws Clause 1)

And he hated it when someone pointed it out.

Almost as much as he hated someone telling him that he had a witch when he most definitely did not.

For Maddox’s sake, he didn’t snap. It wasn’t easy.

“The mate bond is my brother’s,” he grumbled after a moment. “Maddox Wolfe.”

Luciana tapped the bottom of her chin with one of her long nails. To nobody’s surprise, it was painted purple. “Name’s familiar.”

She gestured toward one of the witches watching from the side. A stout witch with her raven hair done up in twin braids came rushing over.

Luciana murmured something.

Colt was barely six feet away from her. His shifter senses should have picked up on the murmur—but they didn’t. He didn’t catch a single word. It was like someone had shoved cotton in his ears.

The other witch whispered something back. Luciana nodded. With a careless wave of her hand, the magic lifted.

His ears cleared in time to hear an understated, throaty growl. Shit. It was coming from him.

“Sorry about that,” Luciana said. “Coven business. I’m sure you understand.”

In an instant, Colt was thrown back to the day he found Evangeline and ran straight to the Cage. Pack business. That’s how he described his reason for returning so soon. So, yeah, he understood.

Didn’t mean he liked it, though.

“My apprentice reminded me of your brother’s sad tale. He lost his mate, didn’t he? Then chose to wallow in the dreadful prison rather than let one of mine relieve him of his heartache.”

“Yeah,” Colt said dryly. Not the way he saw it—or Maddox, for that matter—but who ever said that witches were like normal folk? “Only it seems as if someone got the wrong memo. His mate isn’t dead now.”

One perfectly arched eyebrow quirked skyward. “That’s wonderful news. But what does that have to do with me?”

“His mate isn’t dead, but his bond is.”

“Oh.”

‘Oh’ was right.

“I know you witches work with the Cage guards. You ward the windows, make the cells Para-proof. If a bonded Para chooses to break their bond, there’s a witch on duty to perform surgery on the poor sap’s soul. I don’t know what happened to my brother and his bond. No one does. But, we’re thinking, if a witch can cut a bond, maybe they can heal one.”

It made sense to Colt. To Maddox, too.

One look at Luciana’s regret-filled expression and Colt realized that he didn’t know jackshit when it came to magic.

“I wish I could tell you that it would work like that. A bond that needs to be removed, it’s child’s play to snip it in half. But the reverse…” Luciana shook her head. “A bond heals on its own or it doesn’t. Unless there are other forces at play, there’s nothing I can do.”

Colt seized on the last thing Luciana said. “Other forces? Like what? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Magic is a fickle thing. You spend decades learning it, then it switches suddenly because it’s in a mood. Do you know why we use diamonds?”

Strange segue, but Colt had to admit he had no clue why the witches did anything.

“It’s because a good diamond is hard and it’s cold and it’s strong. The perfect conduit for spells that require a little more oomph. With enough power, anything is possible. I could give you your deepest wish”—Luciana’s purple eyes lit up, a true shocking violet—“I could make her notice you at last, even make her lust after you, if I had enough diamonds. I could make her forget you, too. But I could never make her bond with you. Love… there are things that are more powerful than magic. You understand?”

Colt might have—if the witch hadn’t used his nonexistent bond as an example.

This time, when he went full wolf, he was a hair away from shifting totally on the spot. Only the reality that he’d either have to march through the crowded downtown in his fur or strut to his truck bare-assed naked kept him from the final snap.

It didn’t stop him from snarling at her.