Pax woke with a start.

Evie.

Why didn’t he see it before? Why didn’t he sense it?

Evelyn and Evie.

He scrubbed his face. They were one and the same. It had been almost twenty years, at least. That’s how long it had been since that first summer. Since that first kiss, that first…well, everything.

Craig was right. It was a blood bond, but it went deeper than that. The bond had gone dormant, or maybe he was just too self-absorbed to sense it. Pax cringed inwardly. Clearly Evie knew, and his dreams were shared memories.

He exhaled hard. He was a fool. A giant swinging dick with nothing on his mind except nailing the next pussy with a pulse. Ugh. If Evie shared his memories, then what the hell did she think of him now?

Evie probably recognized him from the very moment their eyes met after crashing into him at Starbucks. Pax had to laugh. She was always the smarter one. There was no other explanation for why he heard her so clearly in his head. How did he miss it? How did he miss the familiarity of her scent?

“You were just a kid, Pax. Then again, if you weren’t so busy thinking with your dick instead of your nose—”

His eyes flew to her from where he crashed in the chair. “Evie?”

“Yes, Pax to the Max. I can hear and I can feel, but I can’t move. I’m a prisoner in my own body.”

His heart squeezed at the nickname she’d called him all those years ago, and he got up and moved to the edge of her bed, taking her limp hand in his. “I don’t understand. How are you talking to me, then? Am I still dreaming?”

A soft chuckle feathered across his mind. “No—you finally figured out the key. Your gut was right. Our link is from our shared blood, but as you guessed, it’s from much more than just the trace.”

He ran a thumb over the silvery scar at the center of her palm, opening his hand to the matching one on his opposite palm. It was a stupid adolescent thing. A blood oath after the first time they made love. They both thought it would ensure they’d to be together, always.

Paxton leaned down to press a kiss her lips. “Evie, I’m so sorry I didn’t sense it was you,” he murmured. “Of all people—”

She chuckled, and he felt the sensation of her fingers brush his hair from his brow. “You were always more of a touchy feely than a ‘stand and think’ kind of guy, but that’s what I loved most about you. Then and now.”

A tight ball of emotion hit him like a thunder bolt. Humans never got love at first sight. They didn’t believe it existed. To be honest, for shifters it was more love at first scent than love at first sight. A human’s dulled senses could never appreciate or register the multi-faceted phenomenon.

He experienced it with Evie that summer. That is until her father made them leave.

“What?” Her voice was as light as a feather.

“Your father. He was here.” Pax shook his head. “I didn’t recognize him right away either—” he paused. “The scar on his face. It rang a bell.”

“Do you remember why?”

He nodded. “The argument. I remember you slashing him because he was making you leave the lake. Leave us.”

A flicker of Evie’s fingers touched his temple and the memories rushed back in a flood.

“You can’t go! What about us?” he asked as she walked through the trees toward him, her eyes swollen from crying.

She nodded. “My father’s making us go.”

“I don’t understand. Is it because of me?”

Evie shook her head. “I don’t know why. My mom is super upset. She’s been crying all day and keeps hugging me.”

“Are they getting a divorce?”

A sob escaped Evie’s lips. “I don’t know.”

Pax paced, not sure what to say. “Where are you going, then? Home?”

“They said no.”

“No?” He balked. “Then where? Will I be able to reach you?”

She flung herself into his arms. “They won’t tell me. Whatever’s happening, it’s bad, Pax. Really bad.”

He held her tightly. “You’ll write me, right? Call?”

She rested her head on his shoulder as he tightened his grip around her waist. “Promise you won’t forget me, Pax.”

A flood of protection washed over him, the same way it had when she was Jane Doe wheeled into the emergency room. What his waking mind didn’t recognize, his wolf acknowledged in seconds. It’s why his body wanted her so much, so quickly. Why he was compelled to do whatever it took to help her.

Evie was his then and his now.

One word took his mind, and for a moment, he was total wolf. Mine. The feeling was predatory and possessive as it rampaged through him and he gathered Evie’s limp body into his arms, kissing her temple. “We’ll figure this out, love. Nothing and no one is going to keep us apart now.”

A soft inhale feathered into a gentle laugh. “Too bad you can’t wake me with a kiss, Prince Charming.”

He tightened his arms. “I’m having a moment here, Tiger Lily. Just let me enjoy the feel of you in my arms again.” Evie laughed out right and the sound in his head made his heart squeeze.

“What kind of a moment, or don’t I need to ask?” she teased.

He growled against her hair. “Are you telling me memory doesn’t serve?”

“Oh, memory serves very well. Didn’t you like the dream I sent your way?”

The ghosted feel of her tongue rasped over his throat and his cock thickened. “Oh, baby. You really are a dirty little kitty. When did you learn to be such a tease?”

She laughed again. “We’ve got twenty years to make up for, Pax, and I’ve got every one of my nine lives to spend showing you how this cat likes to be taken.”

“Okay, enough. This feels too much like a felony. I need you awake and aroused, not halfway to necrophilia.”

Another kiss feathered across as he laid her back on her pillow. “Then find out what that asshole shifter injected me with. My gut tells me this has something to do with my father, or why else would he show up here? Keep him away from me, Pax. My mother died of a broken heart because of that man and I don’t need or want the reminder. He’s toxic and deserves whatever is coming his way. My guess is whoever did this is using me to get to him.”

“Why, though?” he asked.

“I don’t know. Find out and maybe you’ll find the key to releasing this sleeping prison.”