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If he could have avoided it, he would have. Nope. It was necessary. Torn between wanting to lick the salty tears from her cheek while pulling his mate close or flipping her onto her belly so that he could mount her, Maddox stepped into the second bedroom and headed straight for the shower.
The cabin had running water. It had a water heater, too. Maddox refused to use it, jerking the knob to the right until the icy stream beat down on his tense back.
As he washed up, he avoided his erection. He was so primed, one touch would be all it took to go off. The damn thing was nearly raw, he’d rubbed it that often since he first caught sight of Evangeline again. Just the thought of her was enough to make him go instantly hard.
Having her in the next room over, lying in a bed? He knew he had a snowball’s chance in hell that she would ever invite him to join her. That didn’t stop his wayward cock from acting up.
He washed his body, his face, his ass, his feet. He scrubbed his hair and brushed his teeth. The cold water did nothing for his hard-on. A shock of pure pleasure made his body tighten, his toes curl, when he accidentally brushed the head with the back of his palm. It felt so good, yet so wrong. Only a thin wall separated him from his delicious mate.
This was a bad idea.
A fucking awful idea.
It was hard enough already to keep his paws off of her. Why tempt himself?
Then again, maybe if he took the edge off, got it out of his system, he’d be calmer when he returned to his mate to feed her a late supper. She had to be starving and nothing was going to stop him from providing for all of her needs.
That settled it. As the water poured off of his bowed frame, Maddox braced one hand against the wall, grabbing his cock with the other.
He grunted as he stroked himself. Each pull was more of a yank. It was fast, furious, and vicious. It felt amazing, but it wasn’t about the pleasure. It was about the need. He wanted nothing more than to claim his mate, bite her, bond with her… anything. He’d kill to get back inside of her—but that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. He accepted that.
And he rubbed one out instead.
The orgasm came quickly. It started low, his knees shaking, his ass tightening as his sac drew up. He bit into his hand in a vain attempt to muffle his shout as ropes of thick, milky white spend shot out of his cock, hitting his belly. He kept stroking. He kept coming.
When he finally finished, he pulled his mouth away from his hand. Blood mingled with seed as the shower water continued to flow over him.
And that’s when his senses picked up a voice coming from the other room.
“It’s going to be okay,” Evangeline whispered. “I’m gonna be fine.”
His heart stuttered to make out the despair in her soft voice. He could just see it: Evangeline curled up on the master bed, tears in her eyes, the long dark curtain of her hair shielding the angry and lost expression on her beautiful face. He was hurting her and it was fucking killing him to do that. But he had to.
This was the only choice he had left.
His cock went limp, and not because he ran out of seed; as a bonded shifter, he could’ve easily jerked off again and again and still be hard. He let it slip from his hand, his cock slapping into the side of his inner thigh before hanging between his legs. Maddox let it settle, even when it started to come to life again with the tiniest of twitches.
It didn’t seem right to focus on his own pleasure when Evangeline was so upset with him. He grabbed his soap, roughly washing away the last of the cum that painted his belly white. The puncture wounds from his fangs had already sealed up. By the time he was done with his shower, he’d be completely healed.
He would be.
What had been pleasure immediately turned to pain when a sharp ache filled his chest—and not all of it was his. Maddox didn’t know what, but his mate had done something to hurt herself. Through the meager bond that existed between them, he felt it, and he bit out a curse between sudden fangs.
Angie.
He focused his senses, stunned when he realized that the warm vanilla scent that belonged to his mate was fading. Oh, it lingered, and his wolf wanted to burst out and roll around in it, but the source of it?
It was gone.
She was gone.
His ears pricked open. If he strained, he could just pick up the sound of Evangeline as she crashed through the trees and crushed the foliage underfoot.
Holy shit. She actually did it. She escaped.
The metal shower knob creaked in protest as his hand gripped it angrily. Hell no! He slammed down on the misshapen knob, killing the stream of water before hopping out of the shower.
Pausing only to throw on his jeans, Maddox burst from the bathroom. He inhaled deeply as he flew down the hall. Her rich scent clung to the air, but it was only an echo. His wolf’s anguished cry only confirmed what he already knew. The second he jumped in the shower, Evangeline was gone.
