Blowing him a kiss with her lips pressed against the mouthpiece—that was the most she could offer him. She disconnected the call a second later and tossed her ph
one away from her. Holding her breath, she waited to see if it would ring again.
It didn’t.
Evangeline exhaled softly.
Adam was overreacting, she decided. As a police officer, it was his job to be wary and prepared. But that didn’t mean that his mother hen routine was going to keep her from living her life. She went to Mugs nearly every day and maybe she hadn’t mentioned that, but what did it matter? Sure, Adam was a protective guy—that was the cop in him—but to drive all the way into town to walk her two blocks over? That was pushing it, even for him.
Besides, she wondered as she finally climbed out of her bed, what could possibly happen to her in the ten minutes it took to get coffee?
9
At first, Colt hadn’t wanted to tell Maddox where he was when he first scented Evangeline. Maddox couldn’t figure out why. When he was in the Cage, it wasn’t that important. Knowing that his mate was inexplicably still alive was enough.
Now that he was back on the outside? He desperately needed the coordinates.
Colt kept putting it off. Without any sign that she’d been back to that spot, he argued that it would only be a waste of time to focus on one single location. Maddox disagreed. It was the only lead he had and, with a little bit of brotherly persuasion, he went about convincing Colt to spill it.
A heavy hand to the back of Colt’s head, a few barked threats, and Maddox had a name.
Grayson. He couldn’t fucking believe it. While Maddox was locked up and rotting the rest of his life away, Evangeline had started over in the well-known human suburb less than ten miles away from the Cage.
So close, but not close enough.
Where was she now? Colt didn’t know. Neither did Maddox. She certainly wasn’t at the local Quick Stop set on Grayson’s main thoroughfare.
But she had been.
Colt swore to Maddox that that was the spot. A month ago, he followed Evangeline to the convenience store. After catching her scent on the breeze, immediately recognizing it despite how impossible it seemed, Colt traced it to a shy, leggy brunette as she entered the Quick Stop on the corner.
Torn between grabbing her, shaking her, demanding she tell him where she’d been for three years or running straight to Maddox, Colt tapped into his beast. He went straight into hunter mode. Staking out the corner on the opposite side of the street, Colt decided to watch and wait and see if he could figure out what was going on before he confronted anyone else with the truth.
Even with the distance, he could sense that at least five other humans were shopping inside the Quick Stop, all of them human. Knowing Grayson’s anti-Para reputation, Colt kept his wolf under lock and key, unwilling to reveal himself as a shifter before he saw Evangeline again.
Only one problem.
He never did.
After leaning against the corner lamp post, eyes narrowed on the front door of the convenience store for close to half an hour, Colt finally realized he’d been duped. Maybe she saw him and was trying to avoid him. Maybe she simply took another way out of the store. Didn’t matter. Either way, when Colt braced himself and stormed inside, only her scent lingered. And while he had half a mind to chase after her—that was his wolf’s input, at any rate—Colt knew what he had to do. Hopping in his truck, he headed right out to the magic-free prison to tell Maddox.
More than a month later—and two days out of the Cage—Maddox wished Colt had tracked Evangeline out of the Quick Stop. Knowing his mate, she would never be walking around the downtown area so late in the afternoon if she didn’t live nearby. Colt had been so sure that he would be able to pick up her scent trail again; since he hadn’t, Maddox was left wondering if maybe he was wrong.
He really hoped not.
There were no laws against Paras entering cities like Grayson. Since humans and paranormals had the same rights—at least, on paper they did—where one was allowed, the other one was as well; ideally, society was fully integrated these days. That didn’t stop Bumptowns and Ant Farms from springing up, though. It might not be illegal for Maddox to stroll into the predominantly human Grayson, advertising the fact that he was a bonded shifter fresh out of the Cage, but he knew he wouldn’t be welcomed, either.
He was proven right the second he walked into the Quick Stop. A big, burly redhead with a bushy mustache stood behind the register, his arms crossed over the ill-fitting yellow uniform shirt he wore. A satisfied smirk disappeared underneath his mustache as he surveyed the handful of customers milling around the store.
His eyes fell on Maddox, dipping to the scars that circled the base of Maddox’s throat. The big man stayed quiet, moving closer to the counter. His shoulder shifted. Maddox could tell that his hand was reaching for something.
Gun, bat, or witch’s protection spell, Maddox didn’t give a shit. He’d walk through fire to get Evangeline back. This Ant thought he could stop him?
Not in this lifetime.
Loping to the counter, Maddox pointedly ignored the gasps from some of the other shoppers. Whispers filled the air and then, almost as one, the shoppers put down anything they were holding and eased toward the door. Within a minute, no one was left inside the store except for Maddox and the clerk.
He’d give the human credit. The big guy bristled, a hint of nervousness seeping into his scent, but he didn’t back down. Instead, with a flat look, he rumbled, “You’re not supposed to be here.”