“I’m looking forward to it. Eight o’clock… see you then. Love you, babe.”
Maddox was stunned.
He could hardly believe what he was hearing.
No. No, that wasn’t true. He could believe it, except that didn’t mean he wanted to. Or that he would.
Sure, his mate was sitting there, having coffee with him, smiling at him—bonding with him—but only for this one moment in time. For a few precious minutes he had been able to pretend she was his again before reality smacked him in the face.
There was no bond. His Evangeline didn’t know him from Joe Schmoe down the street.
And she was going out with some bastard named Adam.
Eight, as usual. There was a usual involved. This Adam fucker kept insisting on calling Maddox’s mate ‘babe’ like he had the right. No. He refused to believe it. Something might have happened to break their bond, but it was going to come back stronger than ever.
It had to.
Keeping one ear cocked for the rest of the conversation, Maddox had been writing Adam’s obituary in his head, already figuring out where he could hide the body if he ever got his claws on the bastard, when he heard Adam clear as day: Love you, babe.
Yeah, not if he knew what was good for him.
Maddox stopped breathing, waiting to see how his Evangeline would react. If she said it back...
And that’s when she did something that made the fur sprout along the back of his hand in a total loss of control. After a small, almost imperceptible sigh—imperceptible to a human, not a shifter—Evangeline brought her phone’s speaker up to her mouth before she smacked her lips softly into it.
Kissy noises.
Fucking kissy noises.
To another man.
It didn't matter that she rolled her eyes as she did it, or that she sighed again as she ended the call and slipped her phone into her bag. The damage was already done.
Because that little display meant one thing to the jealous wolf she’d unwittingly just provoked.
It meant that, despite her eye-rolls and tight voice, Evangeline wasn’t being forced into another relationship. She was choosing to be with Adam when she’d already made her choice years ago to marry Maddox. To mate with him. To bond with him.
Except what the fuck did that mean when she obviously didn’t remember?
Before any of the Ants in the coffee shop saw, Maddox jammed his furry claw-tipped paws into the pockets of his jeans an instant after he shoved away from the table and climbed to his feet.
Sure, it could have been worse. She could have said “I love you” back.
But kissy noises?
That did it. No more Mr. Nice Guy. No more lovesick puppy dog gazes, hoping she would throw him a bone. No more sitting and waiting and hoping she would remember and the bond would come back.
It wouldn’t come back until he made it.
Without a word, and leaving a sopping mess of napkins and a visibly startled Evangeline behind him, Maddox stormed out of the coffee house. His borrowed turtleneck was already pulling at the seams as he fought his body’s urge to shift. Because even his beast knew what was going to happen next.
Evangeline had sealed her fate the second she answered that phone. From there on out, she wouldn’t be facing off against the man he’d been pretending to be.
Nope, she’d be dealing with the big, bad wolf.
12
It felt good to break out into his fur for a change.