“Oh, sweetie. I don’t mean anything by it, but you’re such a human. If my boy is acting a little less… amorous than he usually does, it’s because his instincts are pulling him in different directions. The urge to mate quiets a little when you’ve got a bun in the oven, Evangeline, dear. It’s all about protecting his mate, making a safe home, marking his territory. He might not even know he’s doing it, but it’s what a good alpha wolf is supposed to do.”
Sarah wasn’t wrong. Evangeline was human. She thought like a human, experienced life like a human. She’d learned a lot about Paras in the time since she discovered she was fated to be a shifter’s mate, but this… this was something new.
“Are you… are you sure?”
“I’m posi
tive, Evangeline. I had two pups, remember? I know what it’s like and, between us girls, I was never more in the mood to get frisky with my mate than when he’d already knocked me up. If Maddox is too busy following his other instincts to notice that you’ve got an itch that needs to be scratched, it’s up to you to let my boy know just what you need.”
Evangeline’s eyes widened. Did Maddox’s mother just—
A loud smashing sound, followed by a throaty howl that split through the air had Evangeline freezing in place. It didn’t matter how many times she heard Maddox’s wolf cry. She was still a human and her tiny human-sized brain shrieked: monster, big monster, freeze and don’t breathe and maybe he won’t find you.
He was the predator, she was the prey, and it always took her a split second to remember that if her mate was chasing her, she had way more fun when he inevitably ran her down.
That wasn’t his playful howl, though.
Was there a threat out there?
Cilla?
“What was that?” asked Evangeline.
“I think that’s our cue.”
“What?”
Sarah gestured for Evangeline to follow behind her. “Come along, dear. You won’t want to miss this and, besides, they’ll need witnesses.”
“What?!”
* * *
Evangeline chased after Maddox’s mother. For such a petite, gentle-looking woman, Sarah Wolfe could move when she wanted to. Good thing for Evangeline’s long legs because she just managed to catch up to Sarah as the blonde tornado burst out into the backyard.
She followed after her mother-in-law, coming to a dead stop when she caught sight of the scene in front of her: two wolves snarling at each other, their fangs bared, and their hinds raised as if ready to attack.
What the—
Evangeline turned to Sarah, worry written all over her face. “What’s going on?”
Sarah lifted her hand, patting each strand of dark blonde hair back into place. Unlike Evangeline, she didn’t seem the least bit surprised—or concerned with—what they discovered out back.
“It’ll be fine,” she told Evangeline. “This is how they’ve always worked out their problems. Hasn’t Maddox told you about his squabbles with Colton when they were younger?”
Well, sure. When they were first dating, Maddox went to great lengths to hide his Para status. He got this crazy idea in his head that Evangeline would never want to be a shifter’s mate so he pretended to be human. It didn’t take long for her to see through his act—not that she ever cared anyway since she loved him for him—and after he revealed that he was a wolf shifter, he didn’t shy away from what he was ever again.
Except for when the witch stole her memories and she didn’t know he was a shifter, that was. But even then, even after Evangeline worked out that she was dealing with a Para—though she hadn’t learned he was her husband just yet—she’d been interested in his wolfish nature.
So, yeah, she knew all about what it was like for him growing up as a Para. He used to love telling her stories about fights with Colt, not to mention the trouble the pups got into, especially when Dodge ghosted along with them.
One problem, though.
That wasn’t Colt.
Evangeline had seen both brothers in their wolf shape countless times before. She didn’t need Sarah to spell out that Maddox was facing off against her mate—Maddox’s father—to recognize that the brindled wolf wasn’t Colt. Colt shifted into a white wolf with arctic blue eyes while Maddox… she’d know that big grey wolf anywhere.
Paranormal shifters were bigger than their animal counterparts. Alphas? Double the size, easy. As a born alpha, all of Maddox’s muscle and bulk shifted into one hell of a massive wolf with fangs that stretched longer than one of her fingers.