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That wiped the smile off of Colt’s face. “Listen to me, Maddox. I… look. There’s no easy way to say this so I'm gonna just spit it out. Okay?”
When he received a listless shrug for an answer, Colt realized that that was the best he was going to get. He took a second to brace himself. On a shudder, he said, “I’ve come about Evangeline.”
Maddox stiffened, strung as tight as tension wire. It was a knee-jerk reaction whenever someone dared to say her name out loud. Colt knew that well.
At least he had his brother’s attention now.
“What about her?”
The entire ride back to the Cage, Colt tried to figure out the best way to tell his brother what he had accidentally discovered. But he’d never been all that good with words, and he hated wasting time beating around the bush, so, in true Colton Wolfe fashion, he was honest, brash, and to the point.
“Your mate isn’t dead.”
And there it was. A sudden spark in his gold-colored eyes that said, no matter how deeply buried it was, the old Maddox was still in there somewhere.
Instinct hit Colt like a sledgehammer. He immediately lowered his gaze, watching the way Maddox’s hands flexed and cracked. He subtly tilted his hea
d to the right and offered his throat. Colt was an alpha wolf, damn it, and even he recognized the danger rolling off of his brother.
“Say that again,” whispered Maddox.
“She's not dead.” Colt purposely made his voice as gentle as possible. Rousing Maddox's beast, probably not the smartest plan. Sure, the collar kept him from shifting, and the Para-proof glass kept them separated.
Tell that to his whining wolf.
His brother’s answer was halfway between a snort and a snarl. Flecks of spit dotted the glass when he snapped out, “Bullshit.”
“I saw her myself this morning, then rushed here to make sure you knew first thing. And, let me tell you, she's got too much color to be a ghost. She's got a pulse. A scent. She’s fucking alive.”
A warning grumble started deep in Maddox's chest. “Stop lying to me.”
Colt’s wolf demanded he obey the Alpha’s command. He was, though—he just needed to convince Maddox of that fact.
“You know I would never lie to you.”
“No. What I know is that my Angie is dead. Gone. Trying to convince me otherwise is an insult to her memory and to me. Now get the fuck out of here before I make you. And if you know what’s good for you, don’t come back.”
Colt bristled. Okay. Sure. He knew this wouldn’t be easy. It still stung that Maddox thought him capable of lying about this.
Trying hard to hold onto his temper, he stayed where he was. Until Maddox got it through his thick head—or Bennett returned to drag him out—Colt wasn’t going anywhere.
“It’s true,” he insisted. “First I scented her, then I saw her—”
Maddox’s growl raised in pitch.
“It’s the Alpha damn truth!”
His brother snapped his pathetic human teeth. “Don't make me tell you again.”
Colt sank down onto the stool opposite of his brother. Though he was careful not to make any eye contact that could be taken as a challenge, he wanted Maddox to see his earnestness. “Listen to me. I wouldn't have come all the way back here and fucked with you like this if I wasn't a hundred percent positive it was her.”
“She—”
“I can't explain it, I don't know what the hell is going on, but Evangeline is abso-fucking-lutely alive. You know I’m telling the truth. It’s your mate, Maddox. You can trust me on this.”
Colt poured as much sincerity into his words as he could. He didn't need to have a mate to understand that there were just some things you didn't screw around with.
The growl subsided at last. Colt dropped his gaze, waiting for Maddox to process the bombshell that had just gotten dropped on him. When enough time had passed and his brother was still eerily silent, Colt peered up through the thick fringe of his eyelashes, watching him through the glass. Maddox had to believe him. He had to.
