Hungry Like a Wolf (Claws Clause 1)

“Colt? It’s me. We have a problem. How’s your hunt for a witch going?”

Colt wanted to groan. He knew Maddox had a one-track mind, but he hated being reminded that he couldn’t do the one fucking thing his brother asked of him. Admitting that he couldn’t get a single witch to hear him out sucked. It was even worse when he filled Maddox in late last night, telling him about his meeting with the head witch.

He even got Dodge to agree to tag some of his contacts. No dice. If it killed Colt, he was going to find out what the witches had against him.

Just because he hated them all, didn’t mean they had to take it out on him.

“I haven’t been able to find Cilla yet, but I’m still trying.” Or, he told himself, he would be once he got the hell out of Grayson.

“Cilla? You mean Priscilla? I thought you gave up on looking for her when she wouldn’t answer. She’s probably too busy with her personal clients. Right now I just need any witch.”

Colt was so tired that he slipped up. Shit. “Not my fault none of the damn witches want anything to do with you or me. Cilla’s the best plan I got. I figure she might be willing to help us. You know, shared history and all.”

Shared history. Yeah. That was the nice way to put it.

Maddox’s growl reverberated through the speaker. “Last I knew, Cilla went lone witch.” Lone witch was the same as a lone wolf to a shifter: she gave up on her coven, striking it out on her own. “Who knows if she’s even still around? Forget about her—there’s gotta be someone local who can help. And Colt? We gotta be discreet. I’ve already had cops at the house and you’ll never fucking believe it: one of them is an old Cage guard.”

After visiting Maddox for years, Colt knew all of the guards. “Which one?”

“Wright.”

Colt nearly crunched his phone. “I hate that Ant.”

“Get in line, bro. Because Wright? He’s not just a cop. He’s Adam.”

“You’ve got to be shitting me. The guy who tried to shack up with Evangeline?”

“One and the same,” snarled Maddox. “And that’s not even the worst of it.”

“What do you mean? And make it quick, o

kay? I’m parked illegally. You probably don’t want me catching the attention of the police right about now.”

Maddox didn’t, so he filled Colt in as fast as he could. Clear and straight to the point, he told Colt all about Evangeline’s spell. How, just when she was on the verge of finally—finally—remembering something, her nagging headache turned into something she couldn’t handle. Maddox’s mate collapsed, her vanilla scent mingling with baby powder. As if that wasn’t a big enough clue, when Maddox peeled Evangeline’s lid back, her green eyes were flooded with purple.

Fucking witches.

“So, yeah, you were right, and Alpha knows I hate telling you that, little brother. Some way, somehow, a witch did something to her head. It’s gotta be old, too. She told me she’s been getting those headaches since the crash. It’s got to have something to do with the broken bond, right?”

Colt let out an angry exhale. “That makes sense to me.”

“I’m going to tell her.”

What? “I wouldn’t. I think it’s still too soon. She’s just starting to trust you — what if this fucks up everything you’ve done so far?”

Before Colt talked Maddox into just running off with Evangeline—desperate times called for desperate measures—Maddox had come up with the idea of confronting Evangeline with the truth. If he laid out all of the physical proof he had, wouldn’t she have to believe him?

Colt didn’t think so. He thought it would work out better if Evangeline recovered her memories on her own. Maddox reluctantly agreed.

Seems like he was reconsidering that plan.

“It’s a risk I have to take,” Maddox said firmly. Okay. Not reconsidering; Mad already had his mind set. “I can’t sit here and wait for her to remember. It’s hurting her and that’s killing me, Colt. And I know you don’t have a mate so I can’t expect you to understand. If I could take the pain from her, I’d do it. But I can’t. I can’t do anything. I don’t want to be helpless. I don’t want to be at the mercy of that prick coming back and taking her away from me. She’s my wife,” Maddox snapped. “It’s time she knew that.”

Colt was silent for a moment. The jab about not having a mate—

“Okay. Fine. Do what you have to. I’ll call you when I can get my claws on a witch. Enough diamonds and maybe one of them will be willing to help.”

“Money’s no object, Colt. Get it done.”