21
ADDIE
The house was, in fact, nothing more than a pile of rubble. Overwhelm crept over me as I stared at the heaps of concrete and rebar. How were we going to get to the bottom of this? There had to be days and days worth of work ahead of us.
We didn’t have that long. The killer was practically breathing down my neck. He was panicking, and I needed to figure out why. I could have gone out and asked questions, but it was already clear that I was better at making enemies than friends if my run in with Beryl was any indication.
Maddox shrugged off his long coat and clapped his hands together. Before I could say anything, he leapt into the mess and started moving concrete. He started with smaller pieces. I watched as he launched them into the distance. Each time, he would pause. His strength still surprised him, apparently.
As he learned to control his strength, he built a pile of concrete off to the side. He stopped and looked up.
“Do you know the layout of the house? You could show me where we need to go, because I’m just digging in random locations right now.”
I cringed apologetically. “Sorry? I’ve never been here before. Vi and her mate, Morgan, are the only ones who’ve visited Luca’s estate.”
Maddox stopped and put his hands on his hips. “That’s the second time in two days that I’ve heard the term mate. What does it mean?”
Shit.
Luca had called Maddox my mate. I’d really hoped that Maddox would forget about that. Of course, he wouldn’t. He was a detective. It was his job to pick up and remember the small things. If he didn’t, he would never solve crimes.
I swallowed to buy myself some time.
“Is it an animal thing? Like how some animals pick mates for the rest of their life?”
He was so close to the truth, but he didn’t know that it wasn’t by choice.
“Because I’m never doing that again,” he added.
I shook myself as the news hit me. “Again? What do you meanagain?”
Maddox realized what he’d said. Anger twisted his features, but he didn’t direct it at me. No, it was at himself for leaking information he’d meant to keep to himself. While I should have respected his privacy, I desperately wanted to know about the woman—or man, I wasn’t going to make assumptions—that Maddox had been with previously.
I climbed into the pit of rubble with him and asked, “What was she like? Did you two split up? Or is she…?”
I didn’t dare finish my question for fear that he would say yes. That might explain why he wasn’t ready to move on. Oddly enough, a flare of jealousy gripped me. It caught in my throat and made my stomach churn.
Maddox didn’t belong to me, but this feeling in my core said otherwise. It made me think about Luca’s assumption. Maddox and I couldn’t be mates. He wasn’t really a shifter. He was…somethinglikea shifter.
Right?
“Well, um. Either way, I’m sorry for your loss. I shouldn’t have brought it up.”
I looked around the jagged concrete and tried to make sense of what I was seeing so I could quickly change the subject. Before I could figure out where the door to the lower level would be, Maddox sighed.
“I guess it’s only a matter of time before she pays you a visit to rat me out,” he said. He hefted a piece of concrete as large as me and tossed it aside.
My stomach sank at his words. I knew what they meant, even if I didn’t want to admit it. Curiosity and guilt slammed into one another, tightening my throat to keep me from being able to speak. I should have told Maddox that he didn’t have to say anything. I didn’t need to pry, but I also craved assurance that his ex would never come back into his life.
Oh, man. That wasn’t what I meant…I was glad that I couldn’t speak, so Maddox couldn’t hear the insanity swirling inside my head. I just wanted to know that Maddox was well and truly single.
Why?
I wasn’t going to unpack that box just yet.
“Paige passed away two years ago. She was killed by a drunk driver.” Maddox’s stare became distant.
Now I felt awful. That wasn’t what I’d wanted to hear. I’d hoped that she’d left him for someone else, that she was off living her best life, leaving Maddox all to me.