Mates

“It struck him then. Be sneaky. Be smart. Be ruthless.”

— Maddox Wolfe

Mates is an introduction to the Claws Clause series featuring alpha wolf shifter Maddox and the human woman fated to be his mate. In a world where humans are aware — if also extremely wary — of the Paras that live side by side with them, what’s a shifter to do when he discovers that the one woman meant for him is frightened by his beast? For Maddox, the answer is simple: pretend to be human…

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Excerpt:

Since the day he first discovered his mate, he had basically moved in with his brother. Colt lived closer to Woodbridge than Maddox did, and he was careful to ignore his father’s calls while he was hunting her, luring his prey close.

A mate bond was the only exception when it came to blind obedience to the Alpha; mates always came first. He knew that Terrence would understand, Sarah would adore finally having a daughter to spoil after raising two rambunctious male pups, and the pack’s alpha couple could start hounding Colt to go after his mate.

As if that would ever happen.

Maddox spent his entire life hoping for his. Colt seemed more than content to spend his days working for the pack, his nights working on his side gig, with Maddox and Dodge as his only friends and confidants. For as long as he could remember, Colt insisted that he was good without a mate.

It wasn’t even that he had no desire to go searching for his. He just… didn’t want one at all. Like he didn’t believe in fate or some shit like that, which was fucking crazy to Maddox.

He was a Para. Whether or not he believed in fate, Colt would figure out sooner or later that fate believed in him.

Maddox never once doubted her. Now, he just wished fate would give him a break when it came to his mate.

Finding her was only the beginning…

Hell, deep down, Maddox was still hoping and praying and wishing that he’d figure out a way to claim his mate—and soon. The ongoing separation was doing something fucking awful to his nerves, making it impossible for him to do absolutely anything other than count down the seconds until he could be near her again.

Just a glimpse. He was so desperate, he’d take just a glimpse of her and be happy for it. Only he must be doing something terribly wrong because, apart from that first night, she seemed to have disappeared.

Which, of course, explained the bag of liquor.

Colt wasn’t at home; at least, he wasn’t in the main house, his scent inside a few hours old. Maddox could guess where his brother had gone. Colt had a private shed in his backyard, a workroom where he focused on his hobby: creating hand-crafted wooden furniture that he sold for more money than Maddox made on a single job. Colt also worked as an architect for the construction company, like most of the pack, but the furniture pieces he crafted were absolute works of art.

Ever since Maddox refused to return to his house in Wolf’s Creek, Colt had been spending more and more time either at work with the construction crew or hiding out inside of his work shed.

And, sure, Maddox might have had something to do with that. Maddox, and his tendency to mope with a bottle of human whiskey in one hand, a nostalgia playlist piping out of the phone he held in the other.

As he crooned along to 1980s hair bands later that night, Colt found him sprawled on the living room floor and immediately threatened to find some silver bullets to put Maddox out of his misery. When that didn’t stop Maddox, and Dodge chose to join in on his pity party, singing along to “Here I Go Again” at the top of his ghostly lungs, Colt threatened to find some silver bullets to put himself out of his misery.

After that, he snapped. Standing firm against his brother’s more dominant wolf, he point-blank refused to let Maddox get his paws on any more whiskey if he wanted to spend his time at the Zoo.

Considering Maddox went back to pacing outside of his fated mate’s wards as soon he sobered up, Colt probably regretted that stipulation.

It was risky. Super risky.

And they both knew it.

The Claws Clause worked against Maddox, and though he wanted to pretend it didn’t exist, the reality was that Ordinance 7304 had ruled every aspect of a Para’s life for the last fifty years.

If the brunette human invoked the ordinance, it didn’t matter that he was positive she was fated to be his mate. He’d be separated from her, possibly even locked up in one of the magic-free prisons designed for paranormals, depending on how he reacted to the distance.

There was a reason the Claws Clause’s more respectable name was the Bond Laws, after all. And, in Mad’s experience, the cops in charge of enforcing it got a kick out of using the ordinance to throw lovesick Paras into the Cage.

Lovesick. Yeah. Didn’t even know her name, but he was puppy dog awful over his mysterious mate.

Getting drunk didn’t help him. Watching her house, waiting to ambush her, stroking himself until he was just about ready to explode from the never-ending sexual frustration… that wasn’t any better. So, when Maddox realized he was quickly running out of options, he settled on a compromise before he landed himself inside of the Cage.

Maddox took his truck out and traveled down her street twice each day—first thing in the morning, then late at night—hoping for a peek of her while praying that none of her neighbors reported him for constantly passing by.

In between, he tried to return to work, giving up when he spent the whole time obsessing over what his mate was doing, where she was, how he could get to her… before he gave in and went back to annoying the ever-loving shit out of Colt.

And, okay.

So maybe he might have staked out his territory behind her house again when he couldn’t quite keep away.

Maybe.