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She gulped. Maddox tracked the movement of her throat, barely daring to breathe. “I… I think I’m beginning to.”
He wanted to roar in triumph. Good thing he knew better than to do just that. Evangeline was clearly vulnerable, but she was there. For the first time since he found her, he began to believe they’d get their forever back.
For the first time, he thought she might be ready to actually listen to him.
Crouching down at her side, Maddox took her hand in his. It was cold and clammy. Wrapping his fingers gently around hers, he offered Evangeline his warmth.
“I told you. You’re my mate. It wasn’t luck that I found you at the coffee shop that day. I was already looking for you.” He took a deep breath. A tinge of salt in the air, that terrible sadness again, interspersed with a jagged line of pain. He felt his gut twist. An echo of that ache hit him as he realized how much she cared. “He hurt you.”
“He betrayed me. I thought Adam cared about me—” She shivered. “All this time, he was just keeping me from you. Why would he do that? I don’t get it. And I need to understand.”
Wright’s hatred for Maddox was deep. It wasn’t new. This went back well before his time in the Cage. There was jealousy, too, of course there was, but the hatred… Maddox had a sudden suspicion.
“He hates me for being your mate when he wants you, but I’m betting there’s more to it than that. I think... I think he blames me for the accident,” Maddox admitted. “Why wouldn’t he? You were so close to death— shit, Angie, I spent three years convinced you were dead. I think he blames me for taking you away in more ways than one.”
She glanced down at him, her expression bewildered. “The crash? How is that your fault? I… maybe I should go talk to him. Adam might have an explanation. Maybe he can explain this better so I understand.”
“No!” Maddox barked. Evangeline flinched and he tried to hide his sudden surge of anguish. “Let me. You don’t need that cop, not now, not ever. You want to know why he blames me? Probably because I was with you when you crashed.”
Evangeline’s answer—“No, you weren’t”—was swift, and it was wrong.
Maddox nodded.
She hesitated. When he expected another denial, she surprised him by saying softly, “That was you?”
His heart gave an unexpected jolt. A tinge of fear filtered into her scent and she quickly squashed it. He was glad; he much preferred her fire and her anger to his Angie being afraid. She was looking at him differently now, as if seeing him for the first time.
Maddox chose his words carefully. “Do you… do you remember the accident at all?”
“Yes… no—I don’t know.” Evangeline seemed to finally realize that he was holding her hand like a vice. She slipped out of his grip before raising her fingers to cover her eyes. “Something is going on here that I don’t understand. Between what happened in the bedroom, and the dreams…”
Maddox found it charming that she blushed crimson behind the shield of her hands at the mere mention of the bedroom, but shoved it aside at the mention of her dreams.
That was the important thing. Paranormal bonds—especially when the Para was a shifter—were a source of magic. And magic traveled through dreams.
Could it be that he was finally opening her consciousness in some way, coming one step closer to getting her to see the truth? “What about them?”
“I don’t remember you. I… don’t. But there’s been a hole in my memory so long, I can’t tell you what else I don’t remember. But—I’ve dreamt of you, I think.” She was blushing even harder now. It was fucking adorable. “It had to be you. Those golden eyes were always so familiar. And when I dream about the accident... You say you were there and maybe you were. Because I know this: I wasn’t alone. They tell me I was, but I’ve never believed it. Not really. I came out of the accident alone, but someone protected me when we went over the side.”
“That was me,” he murmured. “I wrapped you in my arms when I heard the tires skid. I could take a lot more damage than you could, but it knocked me out anyway. We were separated by the time I regained consciousness at the scene. I would never have left you alone, Angie. They told me you were dead, that’s the only reason why I took this long to find you. The bond was gone. I didn’t know.”
She went on as if she hadn’t heard him. “What happened to me?” Evangeline took a deep breath and impulsively met Maddox’s heated gaze straight on. “I feel like everyone knows the truth but me. You. Adam. Her. Why don’t I remember?”
“You have to believe me when I tell you this. This… this thing between us, it isn’t new. We were mates before. Remember, Evangeline,” Maddox pleaded. Pride? What pride? He was so fucking close. He growled low in his throat, an order. “Remember us. Remember me.”
Evangeline scrunched up her face. “I’m… I’m trying.”
Even though it was the one thing he didn’t want to bring up to her, he pounced on the only advantage he had. “You said you remember someone with you the night of the crash. Tell me about that. What exactly do you remember?”
“In my dreams, I’m not the one driving. I… We were going somewhere. I remember I was happy. Excited. And then…”
“What, Angie? What?”
Maybe he pushed her too hard. Maybe she wasn’t ready to see what happened after all.
All Maddox knew was that, as he waited desperately for her answer, the only one he got was Evangeline’s sudden scream. The jagged line of pain he sensed inside of her blossomed into a crevice that nearly split her in two.
Her hands flew to her temples, her eyes screwed shut as she cried out once, then curled up in the chair as if trying to protect herself.
