Wolf (Black Angels MC Book 2) - A.E. Fisher(ang.)

WOLF Black Angels MC, #2

A. E. FISHER

Young Ink Press Publication YoungInkPress.com Copyright © 2017 by A.E. Fisher Edited by Diamond in the Rough Editing and Hot Tree Editing Cover Art by Cover Couture Photos (c) Depositphotos All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. This work of fiction is intended for mature audiences only.

All sexually active characters portrayed in this ebook are eighteen years of age or older. Please do not buy if strong sexual situations, violence, and explicit language offends you. Connect with A.E. Fisher, twitter.com/AEFisher_Books facebook.com/AEFisherBooks [email protected]

To my best bitch, Anna, for being my inspiration and motivation for finishing this book. Thank you.

CONTENTS Prologue 1. Wolf 2. Anna 3. Wolf 4. Anna 5. Wolf 6. Anna 7. Wolf 8. Anna 9. Wolf 10. Anna 11. Wolf 12. Anna 13. Wolf 14. Anna 15. Wolf 16. Anna 17. Wolf 18. Anna 19. Wolf 20. Anna 21. Wolf 22. Anna 23. Wolf

24. Anna 25. Wolf 26. Anna 27. Wolf 28. Anna 29. Wolf 30. Anna 31. Wolf 32. Anna 33. Wolf 34. Anna Epilogue

PROLOGUE Anna 4 years ago...

“D o you know what it’s like to see someone

you know murdered?” Murder. Not manslaughter, not self-defense. Murder. I felt sick to my stomach, wanting to wretch but fighting the urge as I saw the lifeless, glassed eyes of the bitch I’d always hated looking up at me. I had hated her, her family, and what they had done to the person I held dearest. So, when I looked at the photos, at the blood pooling on the wooden floor of her country home, her dyed and styled hair stained with the deep, rich

color, and her bitchy scowl now placated on her cold, dead face, I wanted to feel a sense of satisfaction. I wanted to say I was surprised I didn’t do it sooner. But I couldn’t. All I could do was fight the need to sneer in disgust. I couldn’t even lift my eyes from the photographs scattered across the metal table, highlighted so well under the intense bleaching light. “I know what it’s like,” the detective said from her corner of the room. I wish I could remember what the office looked like. But I couldn’t. She was just a dark blur, hovering in the corner of the room, watching my every move, waiting for me to slip up. “I saw my mother murdered. It’s what inspired me to become a cop. To seek justice against those who hurt others. Is that not why you became a lawyer, Anna? To fight for justice.” I shook my head, wanting to reach for the plastic cup of water on the table but knowing not to. My paper mouth remained a hidden fact to the detective as her eyes glanced toward my hands that rested comfortably on my thighs, fingers splayed, palms flat. The cotton of my pencil skirt absorbed the sweat of my palms, hiding the nervous gesture. I heard her footsteps click across the room, then saw her long fingers pushing a specific photograph toward me.

“Do you know how much force it takes to push a knife through the sternum of a fully grown woman?” She paused, waiting for my response. I leaned back in my stool, dragging my eyes up from the photograph, trying to ignore the slither of silver mixed in the blood and pale skin of the woman in the photo as I looked up at the detective’s face. I stared straight through it as I raised an eyebrow at her, processed her words at last, and said, “Surely impossible for a small woman.” “It would be. If it weren’t for an adrenalin rush.” The detective gasped, concealing her surprise at the fact the M.E. no doubt told her. “That plus the added weight as the attacker…”— she slowed on the word, probably glaring at me —“as they fell on top of each other. Mrs. Rothwell’s screams would have hurt her ears, being so loud, as she died an incredibly slow, painful death when the knife pushed through the bone inch by inch until the sternum shattered and it went straight through her heart and out of the rib bone.” A long, pregnant pause thickened in the air as I swallowed the bile in my stomach, a cold chill sending goose bumps up my arms and legs. “That’s how they did it. How they murdered her. Am I right?” I shoved up out of my chair, the metal screeching back, while the detective took a quick

step back, body flaring with fight when I slammed my hands on the table, covering the photos and fighting the need to flinch. My muscles burned from tearing through the tautness they’d been wound into, but I ignored them as I looked the faceless detective in the eye and said, “I don’t appreciate slander, Detective. I know what accusations you are throwing at me, and I’ve had my fill. So, since you don’t have any more questions for me,”—I glared at her, challenging her to argue with me, but she didn’t—“I’m going home.” With that, I snatched my handbag, swung it over my shoulder while fighting not to look back at the photos on the table, turned, and walked toward the door. “Anna.” The detective stopped me. I was tempted to snap at her for using my first name but didn’t as she gave me her cool stare. “We will find the murderer.” “Do your job right, Detective,” I said, swinging open the door of the interrogation room. “And you will.” With that, I turned and walked out into the hallway that was once simply business for me, but now was too cold, too daunting as I quickly raced my way back up the steps, through the entrance, and out onto London’s streets, leaving Scotland Yard behind me for the last time. I knew very well

that no matter how well the detective did her job, the murderer would never be found. Because I would never let them.

Chapter One

WOLF Present day...

I

felt the hangover long before I opened my eyes. The dull throb conjured me awake, while the cotton mouth made me want to go back to sleep. I rolled onto my back, the big king-sized bed covered by my size as I stretched and sat up. I reached to the nightstand, pinching the bridge between my eyes as my fingers patted the pine bed stand. My hand was still patting around when I heard the breath of a flame. I turned to look over my shoulder, watching the smoke rise into the room. A toned Native American girl sat up against the headboard, making no effort to cover her soft bronzed curves and dark chocolate nipples. She held the cigarette to her mouth, took a long drag, and blew a circle of smoke into the air. “Morning, sunshine.” She smiled, revealing

straight white teeth. I stood, walking around the bed until I towered over her lengthy body. She was tall, but I was taller, and even as she rose to her feet, pressing her silky skin against my hard chest and even harder shaft, I dwarfed her. Smoke blew into my face. Then the girl pulled the cigarette from her lips as I brought my face closer. My hand caught her elbow, my faded, black tattoos dulled against her skin tone as I ran my rough and calloused fingers to her wrists. Her soft, plump lips were only an inch from mine, and just before they touched, I let out a soft growl. “Don’t touch my smokes.” With that, I plucked the cigarette out of her hand and stepped back. I enclosed the white tobacco stick with my mouth and breathed in, the nicotine waking up my system with an unhealthy, but preferred, good morning. The girl pouted. “You didn’t mind me touching elsewhere last night.” I shook my head. “Last night was last night. Now it’s morning. The rules have changed.” “Oh?” the girl purred, her eyes rolling up and down the length of my huge body, her lips damp. “And what are the rules now?” “The rules, huh?” I took another drag, pretending to think about it. “No women in my room. Get out.” With that, I stubbed the cigarette into the

ashtray on the dresser and headed to the bathroom, leaving the girl standing there with wide eyes and an open mouth that I was nine out of ten sure I filled last night. “You’re joking, right?” The girl followed after me. I filled the doorway to the bathroom and turned on her, making her come to an abrupt stop. I leaned down, letting my face get close to hers, but this time, she took a slow step back. “I don’t joke, sweetheart.” I slammed the door shut on her opening mouth and patted myself on the back for having had the walls soundproofed. I turned on the shower and stepped inside, also thanking Lamb, my vice president, for making sure we got high-pressure showers installed despite the sky-high price we had to pay for them. I leaned my head against the shower wall and sighed, begging for the water to wash away the pounding throb in my skull. I stayed in the shower for ten extra minutes, giving the girl more than enough time to get her little ass out of my club before stepping out. Last night showed on my face, with the dark stubble shadowing my jaw and dark hair sticking to the sides of my broad face. I had a bruise purpling on my jaw—not that I had any idea how it got there. And to be honest, I didn’t care.

What I did care about was why on earth I let Jax convince me to try his moonshine. I didn’t bother shaving, opting to get dressed and go track the bastard down to show him how much I appreciated his generous gesture last night, then find out what the hell happened, since I didn’t remember much after the third glass. I dragged on a shirt, jeans, and my worn Black Angels cut, scratching off a bit of dried blood on the hem, and made my way down the hall of rooms, noting some of my brothers half-dead in bed with a few girls draped over them. As I entered the bar, I couldn’t help but notice that noise. That same goddam noise that made my dick twitch whenever I heard it and my balls twist in pain until it went away. Anna’s boots clicked against the wooden floors. She jumped up onto one of the stools that she refused to lower, even as her short, curvy legs barely reached the footrest. Her perky ass jiggled its way into a comfortable position, and leaned her round globes onto the bar as if offering each inch of them to be bitten. Lamb stood by the bar, not showing whether he’d noticed me or not. His blond hair was perfectly styled, spikes protruding everywhere despite last night’s party, and the monkey suit he was dressed in told me he had business later that day. Considering it was Lamb, he had more than

likely clocked me walking in without having to look in my direction. Instead, his eyes stayed on Anna, more than happy to watch the feud about to begin. I silenced my feet, the skill coming back to me with ease, as I slid across the chipped, worn, and stained wood floors, coming up behind her in silence, catching her faint rose scent and feeling my headache start to recede. Her body stiffen, and I smiled at her awareness. My hands reached around her and pressed down on the aged bar, caging her in. I leaned down, my face coming close to her ear, the softness of her silky, short hair brushing against my rough cheeks. “And to whom do I owe this pleasure?” I purred, letting my voice rumble low in the way that always made her quiver, even when she tried to hide it. It worked like a charm. “Get lost, Wolf. I have no time for you this morning.” Most men would have lost their nerve at the ice in her voice, but I knew the game and wasn’t buying it. “You say that, but I’m sure that ass of yours came here looking for trouble.” She spun on her stool, making me step away before she kicked me with those boots. I was not having a repeat of the time I found out they were steel capped.

Blue eyes narrowed through her ice-blonde hair, glaring at me as they scanned my features. They reached the side of my jaw, and I had no doubt she spotted the bruise I had attained at some point last night. She let out a long-suffering sigh. “I’m surprised you weren’t one of the Three Amigos I visited this morning.” “Who?” “Actually, they were referring to themselves as the Three Musketeers,” Anna amended after a thought. “Anyway, I need you to go pick them up, since there’s no way in hell I’m letting them puke in my car again. Not unless you want to find them pinned to a stake in the yard.” I wasn’t sure I wanted to ask, but I was more than sure I could guess at least who two of the three were. “Once again,” I said, “who?” “Jax, Pretty, and Mint,” Anna replied. “Got themselves so wasted last night they got picked up by the sheriff for going around harassing girls claiming to be—and this is a direct quote—‘their selfless saviors that will take away the evil demon called virginity.’” I choked. “You’ve got to be kidding?” “Unfortunately not, big boy,” Anna scoffed, her hand giving my chest a pitiful pat. “You think I’m big?” I growled, leaning even closer.

Anna’s eyes narrowed, and I prepared for a defensive attack. Instead, she licked her lips, her body leaning forward until I could feel the heat of her skin against mine. It curved perfectly into the space of my caging arms, her nipples just brushing my chest. “You’ll be big when I’m done with you.” “Is that an offer?” I growled, my mouth wanting to bite those red, full lips tempting so dangerously close. “Oh yeah,” Anna purred, her hands feathering across the waist of my jeans and down my back, her nails brushing the surface of my tough skin with only light, shallow scrapes of her blood-red claws. I fought through the twinge of pleasure each nick sent down into my pants, my eyes pinned lower on her face as her white teeth raked down on the matte red of her lips, tempting me to do just the same. I could just note the blue of her eyes above her porcelain-pale skin, half lidded and flickering between my wide lids as she checked to see if her deception was working. I felt her fingers rake underneath my shirt then slip down into the pockets of my jeans; my ass wanted to clench at the feeling of her hands so close. I leaned down, letting her hot breaths roll across my skin, loving the soft tingle they left in their wake and savoring the smell of the mint gum she always chewed, as I pried my tense hands from the bar, careful not to move my body as I slid them out of her sight and around my back.

“Wolf!” Anna gasped, as I grasped her wrists and snapped them above her head. “Shit!” she hissed, trying to pull them loose and failing. “Let me go!” I thought about it. “No.” “I. Said. Let. Go,” Anna growled back, baring her white teeth. Her canines were sharper than the native girl’s in my bed this morning, and I wondered if she’d bite me if I tried to fill her talkative mouth. The risk only made it that much more tempting. “You let go first,” I replied, pulling her wrist in front of my mouth, savoring the way her eyes widened as I let my lips catch her baby-soft, fragile wrist. My mouth watered at the taste of her as my teeth brushed the pureness I fought not to bite. Her fingers tightened around my wallet, and I could see the rebellion flash with blue fire in her eyes. Her hips bucked against me, but it was weak; it was a false attempt at trying to get free, and I knew it. So, when her leg swung up past my knees, I clamped my thighs closed, catching her boot before it hit my balls. “Not this time,” I growled. She went to snap something back at me, but I surged my body forward, my weight easily pinning her pelvis against the bar and pushing her torso over the top of it. Her breasts flattened at the shift of gravity, as every girl’s did, but unlike other girls’, Anna’s remained temptingly perky. Her low-cut top

was my conspirator, revealing the pink, blushed areola that I desired. My mouth swelled with the need to taste them, my teeth aching for the contact, but I held back, shifting my gaze to meet hers. The heat in her glare was genuine this time as she watched me with caution, still as an awaiting huntress, waiting for my move. I captured her tiny hands with just one of mine, keeping my single grip tight as my knuckles knocked against the wood. I let my other hand wander freely, sliding down the length of her skin. The slight blue of her veins in her arm was presented to me under the surface of her pale skin as my fingers trailed them like a map down toward her heart. By the time I reached her shoulder, my concept of time and surroundings vanished as I fell into a delirium, telling me I had all the time in the world to explore her. I let my trail rise higher, my eyes mesmerized as I followed her collarbone up to the nape of her neck, letting all my fingers feel the fever warmth of the blushed skin there. I was captivated by the faint thrum of her pulse under my touch. Her sudden swallow against my palm sent my eyes lunging up to hers, anchored the second her blue, dilated eyes locked onto mine. Despite the fact that, if I squeezed just a little tighter, I could steal her breath from her and, with it, her life, she didn’t look frightened or concerned. Instead, her eyes were filled with lust and tension, never

blinking once. Our eyes were glued to each other, unable to look away. Both of us were wrapped up in my illusion of timelessness, as I reveled in the feeling of her helpless beneath me. Until the soft sound of glass dragging across wood had reality crashing back on top of me—and the realization that she had been too quiet. I only had a second to see that twitch in her smile and feel the emptiness of my other hand before she swung. Oh no. I didn’t have time to move out of the way as the whiskey bottle came crashing down on my head. I cried out in shock, my hands automatically lunging up to my head as the pain splintered over my skull before I could even think of the consequences. Free of my weight and hands, Anna used it against me, her foot pulling loose from my thighs and her heel coming down hard on the back of my knee. It caved and my body staggered to the side as she jumped up from the bar. Her heels clacked against the wood floor like the crack of fire as she spun and fled as fast as she could across the room, out the door, and into the car lot before I could even think to reach for her. “Fuck,” I hissed, trying to shake the faint ring in my ears. I felt liquid run down my neck and

reached to touch it. It wasn’t blood, thank fuck, but it was the expensive whiskey she’d managed to get her sticky fingers around. “She doesn’t hold back.” Lamb’s voice replaced the fading ring in my ears, but its hint of amusement grated on my nerves just the same. “Bitch could have killed me,” I growled, my boots crunching on the glass fragments as I sat on the stool. I immediately noticed the direct contact of my ass on the seat and felt my anger spike. “Fuck. She still has my wallet,” I snapped, shoving myself out of my chair before collapsing straight back in it as my head throbbed in anguish. Lamb handed me a small rag to wipe away the whiskey as I fought the faint dizziness, ready to go after her ass, when Pipe came storming through the door. I let out a growl of frustration, the rag pressed to my throbbing skull, clean hair now going to be sticky from my whiskey wash, as I saw Pipe open his mouth. “Prez, we’ve got a visitor, and I don’t think you’re going to like who it is.” “I’m not going to fucking like anyone at the moment,” I growled, registering the concern etched onto Pipe’s younger face. I threw my hands in the air, my eyes straying to Lamb’s face, who flashed me a smirk before looking over to where Pipe was still standing stiff as a board. Newbie hadn’t seen many visitors in the year of prospecting he’d done

so far; he would probably be concerned over our delivery guy. Then again, Pipe was a sturdy fucker and it took a lot to unsettle him. I turned toward my vice president. Lamb’s eyes scoured him, cataloging his tense behavior, before setting down whatever bottle of booze he’d been reorganizing. Not a good sign. “Who?” “Charon.”

Chapter Two

ANNA

“F ucking bastard,” I grumbled, still feeling the

sore ache across my back that the bar and his heavy ass had left. I grabbed the wallet out of my passenger seat and stepped out of my car, locking it behind me. I walked up to the county jail, pawing my way through the wallet. I took whatever money was left and slipped it in my back pocket, calling it damage compensation for my wrist, before taking out the platinum credit card. I scoffed at the name written on it—Nikolay Nosov—knowing it wasn’t his real name. It was a children’s author in Russia, a famous one, too. Any idiot would know if they googled it. But Wolf was a simple man and wasn’t the type to think too much into a fake name. “Good evening, Miss Anna,” a rough, aged voice greeted, causing me to look up.

An older man stood with the door opened wide. His light sandy-brown hair was beginning to thin around the crown of his head, and dark rings hung heavily under his eyes. His uniform was ironed and his tie loose around his neck, the collar undone by only one button; and his shoes, although black and recently polished, had a dusting of dirt on the top. His badge straight, but his pocket was weighed down by a pack of nicotine gum peeking out the top. “Sheriff Jennings,” I returned with a grin. “Please,” he scoffed. “With the amount of time you’re here, you might as well call me Jerimiah.” “Does that mean you’ve finally warmed to me, Sheriff?” I gave him my most charming smile, ignoring his comment about his name. I never called him by his name, no matter how many times he told me to. I didn’t want to become too friendly and do things in front of an officer that I really shouldn’t do. Stuff I otherwise did regularly. “Sure. If you stop hanging around those troublesome boys,” he grumbled, also brushing over my use of his title. “You know I can’t do that," I said on a laugh. “Those boys fill my pockets as much as they do this town’s.” The sheriff chose not to acknowledge that comment, living to interfere with those boys’ lives as much as his pride would allow. They didn’t mind, though; it reminded them that just because they

belonged to this town, it didn’t mean they owned it. Well, most of them. “Now, get inside, I ain’t gonna stand around like a doorstop all day. I got places to be.” “Yes, sir.” I took his offer with a mock salute, earning me a playful eye roll, and stepped through the open doorway, where I spotted June, the fedup, fifty-something receptionist, waiting for me with a tired look on her face, as usual. Sheriff Jennings was just about to close the door when I called out, “Best hide the smell of those cigarettes before you go see your wife, Sheriff.” “And you stop stealing Wolf’s card before he finds out,” he threw back, letting the door shut behind him, chuckling as he went. “It’s not like I ever try to hide it from him,” I scoffed at the closed door before turning on my heels and walking over to the desk. June held out her hand to me, not bothering with a conversation we both couldn’t give a shit about, and I handed her Wolf’s card before heading toward the gate. It was left open. The quick whispering ended as I came to a stop in front of the boys’ jail cell. “Gotta say, I’m tempted to leave you in here this time, my selfless and brave musketeers.” Jax pulled out a huge grin, his face a mask of mischievousness and completely absent of guilt. His body was covered in all sorts of tattoos from the neck down that peeked through several holes in his

shirt, and his dark, normally mussed hair had upgraded to wild. Pretty groaned, looking more ragged than I’d ever seen him, a defeated look on his beautiful model-hot face, his pale blond hair dyed with a tint of... was that blood? And poor, little newbie Mint kept his lovely pale green eyes behind pinched lids as he stayed curled up and groaning on the metal detention bench. I think it was Mint’s first real night out with the infamous party animal we called Jax, and I had to feel sorry for him. Not everyone could drink his moonshine and live to tell the tale. “Should’ve come out with us.” Jax laughed, rising and stretching from his bench seat. “It was fun.” “Fun isn’t the word I’d use,” I scoffed, still staring at the new recruit and spotting the tiny bald patch on the back of his head. “Fucking nightmare is the word I’d use,” Mint snapped, taking his sweet time sitting up on his bench, only to groan and drop his head in his hand at the movement. “Not that I can remember a fucking thing.” Pretty just sighed, rising from his seat on the opposite bench next to Jax, and came up to the bars. I looked him up and down, noting the tears in his shirt, a few scratch marks faint on his cheek, and the missing belt. All in all, he was in his normal

state after a night with Jax. “I don’t know why you haven’t learned your lesson yet,” I said, despite knowing how much of a charming and persuasive bastard Jax could be. “Just get me out of here. Please,” he prettypleaded, and I could read in his eyes that he had all but given up fighting Jax. Pretty had just turned twenty-four, which had been their excuse for celebrating last night, and of course, gave Jax a reason to break out the moonshine. He had become a new recruit when Lamb brought him in like some ragged stray when he was nineteen, and since then, he’d had enough time to learn that no matter how many times he said “never again,” there would always be an again. I shook my head, taking pity on the poor man, and waved my hand down to June, who pressed the buzzer to open the door. It gave a horrifying screech as I swung it open, and even Jax recoiled at the sound. Recovering from it quickly, the tall, inked, and tanned southern boy swaggered out the door with Pretty limping behind him. It took Mint a minute or so longer to gather himself before he got up to walk past me. “Don’t think your old military superiors would be happy to know their soldiers can’t keep track of their shoes.” I laughed as I saw his feet, his toes poking out the holes in his socks, covered in grit

and dirt. Mint looked down at them, only just noticing, and sighed, unable to bring himself to respond. He just walked out the door and into the car lot. I followed after them, picking up Wolf’s card on the way out and putting it back in his wallet before slipping it into my back pocket as I pushed through the door. All of them stood gathered around my car at a door each. My little red Volkswagen Beetle looked tiny surrounded by the towering masses, even while temporarily incapacitated. I walked to the front, seeing Jax and Pretty squabbling over the front passenger door. I watched, unamused, as Jax kicked Pretty in his gimp leg, sending him staggering back. Pretty was more than ready to punch him back in his handsome face when I swaggered up between them. “Mint, you’re in the front.” Pretty and Jax both frowned at me. “Would you rather walk?” I warned, not in the mood to deal with their sibling-like squabbling as I eyed up Mint, who looked ready to throw up. I wasn’t even going to pick them up, until I pissed off Wolf—and almost knocked him out. Still, it wasn’t my loss if they had to walk. The two read as much in my gaze and didn’t say another word as they climbed into the back seats before Mint dropped into the front. I slipped

into my front seat and rolled down Mint’s window. “Your head isn’t allowed in this car,” I warned. “This thing is a bitch to clean, and I won’t hesitate to bury you alive if you throw up in it.” Mint scowled at me, about to open his mouth to no doubt bitch at me with his poor attitude, when Jax poked his head up front. “I’d listen to her, brother. Should have seen her when I took Pretty and Hunter out last time.” “Fuck’s sake,” he hissed but leaned his head out the window. I didn’t realize all it took was a hangover from hell to get Mint to talk so much. “Don’t sound so smug, Jax,” I said, looking through my rearview mirror to see him with his arms folded behind the back of his head. He was squashed up next to Pretty, who seemed determined not to talk to him. “The only reason Wolf isn’t picking you up is because he probably has a concussion.” Jax laughed. “What’d you do this time?” “I think that’s the least of your problems.” I gave a dark chuckle. “Wolf knows you fed him your bullshit moonshine last night. I’m handing your fine ass over as soon as we get back.” His smile fell off his face, and I almost laughed at the fear that replaced it. “Shit,” he breathed, not even able to latch his narcissism onto my compliment of his ass. “You can’t let him at me

when you’ve pissed him off first!” “He hits you because he loves you,” I teased, turning on the engine and pulling my car out onto the road. “Does that mean the reason you gave him a concussion is because you wanna ride Prez’s dick?” he taunted, his classic grin back on his face. “Not as much as I want to snap yours off right now,” I retorted. “Jeez, woman. You always get defensive when it comes to Wolf.” Jax laughed. “Has Prez finally gotten under your skin?” “Shut the fuck up, Jax,” Mint hissed. “Don’t need to hear your voice all the way back.” Fellpeak was a small town, so the journey home took only five minutes. “Don’t be such a spoilsport just because you can’t handle your booze,” Jax argued. Ten minutes if you walk. “That shit ain’t booze. It’s fucking poison,” Mint snapped back. Not to mention, it was nice weather considering it was fall. “Shut up, both of you,” Pretty growled. “Oh, fuck off, Pretty. You drank that shit, too. Don’t go barking up my ass,” Jax groaned. The breaks screeched and the car jerked forward as it came to a sudden halt. The smell of burning rubber filled my nose as I pried my stiff

hands from the steering wheel and turned in my seat. Mint had his door open, his body leaning out of the car, throwing up, while Jax and Pretty both pinned themselves against the back seats, their eyes looking anywhere but mine. “Walk.” “What?” Jax jerked up in his seat. “Get out,” I repeated, slow and careful, making sure to punctuate each sound. “And walk.” Pretty was out of the car in seconds, and although Jax hesitated for a moment, I saw him slowly open the door and step out before they both came around to the passenger door and helped Mint to his feet. The second the passenger door was slammed shut, I put my foot on the gas and drove away, not giving them a second glance.

I

t was only another two minutes or so of a peaceful drive before I came up to the compound gates and spotted all the brothers gathered out front. Aaron, or as the brotherhood had christened him, Pipe, stood guard by the gate, but instead of watching me drive up, he had a super focus on the crowd of brothers. “Pipe,” I called out to him. He didn’t respond at

first, but the second he recognized my voice, he spun like his heels were on fire, and his eyes bugged out when they landed on me. And not in a good way. “Fuck, Anna,” were the first words out of his mouth, and I immediately knew that whatever was going on wasn’t good. He moved to open the gate, and I saw Wolf’s head come up from the crowd the second my car came to a stop, and two familiarly bright green eyes were staring down at me before I could even get out. “What’s going on?” I asked as Hunter’s large, freshly-tanned hand came around my bicep. “Wait. Aren’t you supposed to be on your honeymoon?” He began to lead me toward the clubhouse, his green eyes flickering back down to mine. “I got back ten minutes ago. Got a message from Lamb to get here as soon as I could.” He frowned down at me. “I thought you were the one who told him I was back?” “Lamb’s got his own connections that are a hell of a lot faster than mine,” I retorted, feeling that little spike of annoyance I always got when Lamb beat me to information. I was connected, sure, but Lamb was on another level, and despite how much I loved the sly bastard, he had also become somewhat of a rival of mine. “But that’s not the point.” I returned to the topic. “What the fuck is

going on over there?” I pointed to the crowd. As we passed, I managed to see through a gap in the crowd and spotted a man sitting on a bike in the center, knowing he wasn’t one of ours. He wore his leathers, but he was facing me, so I couldn’t see the colors on the back. All I could make out was a patch on his front, but it was too far for me to read it. Through the gaps in his coverings, I could see dark skin and hair. He was leaned back, comfortable as he looked up the great wall that was Wolf, who seemed to dwarf the man on the bike, despite seeming tall himself. As if sensing my gaze, his eyes cut straight through the crowd and met mine. Even from the distance, I could see the bright, molten gold against his dark skin, the sun’s light reflecting off them in a way that made them seem as if they were almost glowing. “Charon?” I breathed. My whole body jerked to a stop, breaking Hunter’s grasp on my arm. A deep tremor raced down my spine at the sight of him. This man was not welcome. Not in my world. Not on my compound. And certainly not near my boys. Charon was president of the Grim Reapers. The president of the club that just unofficially took over our neighboring club, the Hell’s Runners. They were like the big boss of the western states, including Oregon, and were shrouded in legend and mystery. And despite Charon being the face of the

club, there was even less known about him than any of the other members—the ones we knew existed, anyway. Charon and his club had also been participants in a plot by the Hell’s Runners that had nearly killed Mallory, one of the few women I actually liked and Hunter’s wife. Not to mention, she had a three-year-old son who almost became an orphan because of it. He came into our MC family and stirred shit that almost killed a woman, destroyed a man, and orphaned a child. There were few times in my life when I lost my temper. And there was probably only one other person on this earth who could stop my rampages. But that person wasn’t here right now, and the one thing I couldn’t stand was someone hurting those I held dear. Never again would anyone get away with hurting my loved ones. Never again. Hunter must have seen something on my face, because his eyes darted between me and the gathering group and his foot took a long step forward. I moved one slow step back, my gaze never moving away from that man. “Don’t you dare...,” Hunter growled, but it was too late. My feet were moving before I realized it, and I barely remembered crossing the compound’s wide

car lot. I didn’t run, but I walked fast enough that the clicking of my boots matched my thrumming heartbeat. It was like my mind tunneled and all I could see was the side of his face, my blood boiling and my mind growing numb as I flew across the car lot. Time seemed to speed up when I was barging through the group and coming out the other side in seconds. “Get the fuck off this compound!” I hissed. Charon’s eyes widened in surprise. “Excuse me?” “I said, get the fuck—” I didn’t get any more words out as arms came around my waist and hauled me up before I could even comprehend what was happening. The second I realized it, however, I began struggling and clawing at the hands around my waist, only causing the grip to tighten further. “Stop fighting me,” Wolf growled, and I opened my mouth to argue before his hand clamped over it to stop me. “Fucking stop,” he snapped in my ear. The command vibrated across my skin and down my nerves with a harshness I’d never heard before. It made me still in his grasp without hesitation, shocking me to my core. Wolf dragged me away from where Charon was kicking down his bike stand and rising from the seat. Hunter, having caught up, and Ripper stood in

front of him, their arms across their chest, eyes narrowed. Lamb stood back, almost unnoticed in the crowd of brothers stepping outside. His eyes seemed casual as they looked Charon up and down without him noticing. “Anna, get the fuck inside,” Wolf growled, his face strained from trying to not snarl at me. I could feel the tension rolling off him in waves, telling me not to argue with him, but I couldn’t abide. “No,” I hissed back. “Tell me what the fuck that man is doing here.” “It doesn’t concern you. Now, go back inside with all the other women.” I felt my blood boil at the instant dismissal. “I’m not the other women, Wolf. I’m not anybody’s old lady, and I’m not some club whore. You can’t tell me what to do, because you don’t own me.” “I’m practically paying diamonds for you, Anna. That means I fucking own your ass.” Wolf’s rough hand came around my arm. “Get inside.” “I. Said. No,” I hissed, snapping my arm out of his grip. I could feel his anger growing, but I didn’t give a shit if I hurt his feelings. He didn’t get to tell me what to do, and nobody fucking owned me. “You pay me to be your club’s fucking lawyer, so you better stop getting your panties in a fucking twist every time I’m doing my fucking job. I need to know what shit is going on in this club, so you have no other fucking choice but to listen to me.”

“Anna,” Wolf growled, and I could see it in his eyes, the frustration that was tempting him to curl his hands around my neck and squeeze. I had that effect on people. Because I was always right. “Wolf, you can argue with me until your balls drop off, but you know there’s no way I’m leaving.” I saw the moment Wolf gave in. It was like a small twitch in the corner of his eye as his hand closed brutally hard around my arm and began dragging my ass behind him as he moved over to the boys. “Don’t. Say. A. Fucking. Word,” Wolf bit out, punctuating each word with a slight snarl. His pulse was throbbing like crazy in the skin touching me, and I knew his blood was practically boiling with rage at my rebellion, but I didn’t give two shits. I got what I wanted, and Wolf couldn’t argue with me. Charon lit up at our return, and Wolf immediately shoved me behind him until I was practically pressed up against his spine. His hand released its death grip around my arm and instead shifted until it was pinned tightly on my hip, keeping me from stepping out into Charon’s view. I peeked around his shoulder, just enough to see Charon’s eyes flicker down to mine. I scowled back, and Charon’s lips flinched with a smile. I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from

saying anything more to the bastard. I may have won my argument with Wolf, but that had pushed him to a fine line, and I knew when to stopping pushing—most of the time, anyway. “Didn’t realize you had an old lady, Wolf. I’m impressed.” Charon smiled, the sight sending a sickly throb to my stomach. “It’s not your place to be, Charon,” Wolf growled back, not disputing the old lady comment. “Now, tell me why the fuck I shouldn’t put a bullet in your head for stepping onto my fucking property?” “Well, when you put it that way…” Charon shrugged, tucking his hand into his pockets. I felt the muscles in Wolf’s back tense and his grip tighten painfully on my hip. Charon’s lips twitched at his action. “I have news that you might be interested in.” “What news?” Wolf demanded. I turned my head to see Lamb sidling up next to Wolf. He moved so silently I didn’t even hear him, and I didn’t think Charon noticed until he was only a few feet from him. I saw his torso shift away from Lamb. Exposed chest meant calm, which he had been doing to Wolf, while turned away meant threatened. I looked to Lamb, but despite looking relaxed, his entire focus was pinpointed on the intruder. “Our mutual enemy has been making waves in

the underground,” Charon began. Considering Spider was sent to Hell where he belonged a few months back, the mutual enemy must be the person who sent Spider there; it hadn’t been Charon, Wolf, or unfortunately, me. It had been at the hands of a new group on the scene on the west coast. They were fond of using mercenaries and had a seemingly endless stack of money, which was foreboding, to say the least. “Our new foe has officially put a bounty out on the Black Angels MC.” “A bounty?” Wolf snapped. “For now, they only want information, though there’s little of it with you guys being such a small club.” He shrugged, adjusting his jacket as if he was talking about the weather. “People can’t fathom what they want with small-timers like you. Unless you’ve been pissing off more people than usual recently?” Wolf went silent, his eyes narrowing on Charon. I could hear his mind ticking before he said exactly what I was thinking. “Why are you really here, Charon?” Wolf demanded. “You’re not a charitable bastard.” It seemed Charon had an idea of why people would be interested in us. But interested in what? “You’re right,” Charon said, dropping his pretense of innocence. He revealed white teeth behind a pleased smile. “I’m glad you noticed so

quickly. The information was a gesture of goodwill.” He looked at Wolf with sharp eyes, and the molten gold seemed to swirl as the words fell off his tongue with a honey-rich smoothness. “I want you to form an alliance with me.” “No.” Wolf didn’t even wait a heartbeat. Charon’s eyes flinched wider in surprise, but he quickly covered it with a curving grin. “It’s a good offer. I can give you protection. We can be united against these new people. Not to mention, my information is of the fast and top-class variety.” “The answer is no.” Wolf stayed steadfast, crossing his arms over his chest. He wasn’t even yelling, but his voice held a steely sternness that gave no room for budging. “Getting into bed with the Reapers would only bring more trouble to our door and make us a target we can’t seem to afford right now.” “I can’t deny it. Grim Reapers are notoriously elusive. You’d be a beacon for those looking for a way to get to us, in the case of any idiotic club wanting to pick a fight with the Reapers. So, I guess I can understand your logic for rejecting me. However—” “That’s not the reason I’m saying no,” Wolf interjected, catching Charon off-guard. Charon turned to him with a frown. Wolf lowered his face down the few inches between him and Charon, and with a threatening,

hate-spitting snarl, he said, “The reason I’m not accepting your offer is because I’m not going to let any fucking club manipulate me and my men, especially not slimy, cunning fuckers like you Reapers.” With that, Wolf stood back straight, looking down at Charon, who looked shocked by his answer. Wolf had just told one of the most influential, powerful, and dangerous men on the west coast to fuck off. I felt my blood rise with a tingling fear that consequences would follow, but Charon’s reaction wasn’t what I expected. He smiled. I’d seen him smile in the space of the conversation; a few sly grins or smug smiles, but not like this. It was genuine joy, like a kid who’d just found a new toy. Any tension in the air dissipated from Charon’s end. “I can see you’re not in the mood to budge,” Charon said, moving back to his bike. The boys parted, but their eyes stayed vigilant as they watched Charon flick his leg over the seat of his bike and sit. Charon looked back up to Wolf. “The time will come when you need my help, Wolf,” Charon said. “My offer stands until you’re ready.” “Don’t hold your breath,” he snapped back. Unfortunately for Charon, Wolf had no care in the world for legends or people who were much more powerful than he was, and he seemed to be quite

content to tell one of the most powerful men in the country to fuck off. Well, I suppose we were alike in that sense. “And while you’re at it,” Wolf added, “get the fuck off my property.” “You honestly don’t give two shits who you’re talking to, do you?” Charon asked, but I could sense it was rhetorical. I felt Wolf’s back vibrate as he growled his answer. Fortunately, Charon seemed amused and just shook his head. He turned his keys and the bike panted a breath of smoke as the color gradually faded from black to gray, the bike humming to life with a quietness I’d never heard in a Harley before. “I look forward to hearing from you,” Charon added, and this time, he didn’t wait for Wolf’s reply as he turned and tore out of the compound with Pipe shutting the gate behind him. Wolf’s arms uncrossed from over his chest, and I took my chance to step around him. I didn’t make it. He turned around, ducked his head down to my waist, wrapped his arm around the back of my knees, and threw me over his shoulder. I met a face full of ass before I even realized we were moving across the compound. “Church?” Lamb called after us as I fought to break through my shock. “Not now!” Wolf bellowed as he stormed across the car lot, through the bar, into his room on the first floor, and threw me down on the bed at

such a speed, I bounced almost all the way over the other side before I even had a chance to breathe. He turned, slammed his door shut, and whirled on me with so much force, I wasn’t prepared for the anger that exploded from him. “What the fuck did you think you were doing?” Wolf yelled. “What?” I stuttered. “You know what I fucking mean, Anna,” Wolf snapped, his hands fisting into balls at his side. He unraveled one just enough to point his finger in my face. “You don’t fucking walk up to the president of one of the biggest MCs on the coast and tell him to fuck off!” “You did!” I fired back, launching myself up off the bed. I only came to chest height, but that didn’t stop me from squaring up to the big bastard. “Don’t fucking start telling me what to do, you hypocrite.” “Anna, I can handle myself and—” “You think I can’t handle myself?” I screeched back, offended. “I can do whatever the fuck I want, Wolf. You don’t own me. I’m the sole reason you and the boys aren’t in jail for half the shit you get up to, so don’t get high and mighty on me. I’m not some pathetic girl who needs some fat bastard to protect me.” “I know you can handle yourself, but I also think you need to start reining yourself in. I let you get away with a lot of shit here, Anna, but don’t

start walking around thinking that I don’t own your ass, because I do. I’ll tell you as many times as I have to. It’s mine.” “It’s not yours!” I hissed, throwing my hands on my hips. “It’s my ass.” Wolf moved with a speed I couldn’t avoid, and I was pinned up against the wall in a second. His torso pressed against mine, my tits near flattened against his chest as his mouth pressed into the shell of my ear. His hands slid down under my round ass and his fingers squeezed hard enough to make me gasp in pain. “I pay for it. I own it. You understand me?” I tried to wriggle away from his touch, but that only made my chest rub up against his, nearly forcing my boobs out of my shirt. He growled, and I stiffened at the sound. My mind flickered back to outside and the force of his voice that instantly made me submit. I hated myself for it, and remembering that feeling only made me fight harder. I raked my nails down his back, digging in where I knew the club colors were inked into his skin. “Fuck,” Wolf hissed as I felt the shirt dampen where I drew blood. His hands slid away from my ass and came around my hands before pinning them back against the wall. He pressed more of his waist against me, pushing my tits up further and keeping me pinned against the wall. Wolf lifted his head to

rake his eyes down my shirt then up to my eyes. I glared at him, trying to buck my hips, but he had too much of his weight pushed against me. He must have noticed, because a hunger lit his eyes, and his wicked grin flattened. My breath hitched as he leaned the few inches between us until his lips brushed mine. I held perfectly still, fighting not to move as the fresh smell of whiskey and the unique smell of his cigarettes burned across my face. “I could take you right now,” he murmured. My heart began to race harder in my chest, and I could feel my skin rippling against his. His mouth moved slightly away and a shuddering breath slipped from my lips. His nose brushed against the edge of mine as it began a soft, gentle trail across my cheek to where my jaw met my neck, and then down along the tendon until his lips stroked across my throat. I remained perfectly still, but my body pounded hard with adrenaline. I fought the need to kick him, to fight, all too aware of his teeth poised near my jugular. It was like I had gained super sensitive hearing as I heard his lips part and the tiny, crisp breath that escaped them. My whole body shuddered as his teeth pressed against my neck. They didn’t bite, but the sensation of them on my skin was almost overwhelming. I wanted to end it, but at the same time, I didn’t

want it to stop. I wanted him to bite me. I wanted him to sink his teeth into the skin of my neck and hold me there like the beast he was and demand his claim on me. But then I heard his breath, his teeth grazing my skin, and I felt the familiar adrenaline rush through my veins. I swung before I realized I was moving and watched as the lamp shade smashed into the side of Wolf’s head. He roared and staggered to the side, his hand going up to his head. My boots dropped hard onto the wooden floor, carrying my feet fast out of the room as I listened to the cursing and the rapid flow of Russian that followed when I escaped out the bar, past the boys, and out the door to my car. I fumbled the keys into the lock, heaving hard breaths as I struggled to keep the burn in my chest at bay. I let it get too far. For a moment, I let the situation slip out of my control, and I almost paid dearly. But I stopped myself at the last minute. I felt relieved. And I hated myself for it. Always asking myself why I continued to play this sadistic, fruitless game since meeting Wolf. Deep down, I knew the truth of it, but I pretended it didn’t exist. Telling myself if I never accept the truth, I’d never have to face it.

Chapter Three

WOLF

“F ucking bitch,” I hissed, sinking down into

my chair at the top of the table as Church began. My head ached with a passion, and my mind was screwing with me as I was sure I was seeing double. It was true I had a hard head, but being hit with a bottle of whiskey, only for a lamp to be struck over my head an hour later, it was bound to suffer damage. Not to mention the bitch never held back. “That looks nasty, Prez.” Jax snickered from his seat two down from my right. “Anna didn’t look happy when she left.” “Fuck off, Jax,” I snapped, not ready to argue with him. My mind was reminded of her anyway. My game with her ass had started with my anger, but while I was there, I had slipped my wallet out of her back pocket. I thought I would just get it back,

but fuck, seeing her unable to move, her tits pressed up against my chest, made me nearly crazy. I fought not to take her then and there. I was so close to just ripping off those skintight jeans and watching her unravel around my cock, like I had wanted to the second her smart mouth had come strutting through my doors three years ago. But she didn’t let me. She never had before, always teasing me then escaping the second I got close. The woman was fire, and I should have long since gotten bored of her, but for whatever fucked-up reason, I let myself play with the flames, getting burned each time and still coming back for more. I couldn’t be sure if she just loved to tease me or if there was something more behind it. I shook it off, accepting that the woman was an eighth wonder of the world as I turned back to Jax, all the while trying to ignore the throbbing in my head. “And don’t think I’ve fucking forgotten last night, you bastard. Wait until I get my hands on you for that fucking moonshine,” I warned. Jax flinched before trying to hide it with a smile. “Oh, come on,” he whined. “It was Pretty’s birthday, for fuck’s sake.” He looked to Pretty for backup. Pretty ignored him. Mint caught his eye a second later, but his face darkened so quickly that Jax didn’t even consider asking him for help. “Don’t think it’s gonna stop me from bashing

your head against a wall,” I ground out. Lamb leaned forward in his seat, and I recognized that cruel smile. “Don’t forget the three thousand you just had to pay to bail out their asses,” he added. “Three grand!” I yelled in surprise, turning back to Jax, Pretty, and Mint. “The fuck did you bastards do?” “It was fine until that sly fucker”—he pointed to Lamb, who still sat in his Italian suit and tie —“suddenly disappeared and Jerimiah turned up! I call setup!” Lamb just smiled back. I’d known Lamb for years and trusted him completely as my vice president. But I also knew he had a sadistic streak in him that made him love fucking people over, and a setup with the sheriff wouldn’t have been the worst thing he’d done. “I don’t think we need to give a fuck about that now, Prez,” Hunter said, his hands balled into fists on the table. He didn’t look happy with this morning’s bullshit, obviously being torn away from his new wife and nephew and getting pissy for it. “I don’t see why we should give a fuck,” I replied. “We ain’t taking that deal. I’ve known you fuckers long enough to know that you’d have wanted to beat the fuck out of Charon just for offering.” “True,” Pretty interjected, a hand running

through his pale blond hair laced with dirt and blood. “But I still don’t like that Charon was suggesting we’d ever want to be taken over by the bastard.” I saw Jax and Mint nod their heads in agreement. Obviously, they’d been filled in since managing to stagger their asses onto the compound. From the looks of it, they hadn’t even showered before they all made their way into Church. “An alliance, not a takeover,” Polo corrected, running his hand down the length of his beard. His voice sounded venomous when he said the words, but his eyes looked considering. “For whatever the fuck reason, he likes you, Wolf. Respects you,” he said as he looked straight at me. “But I still don’t fucking like it. You can’t trust a shady fucker like Charon. Too smart for his own good.” “What did you think he meant by ‘the time will come?’” Jax asked, looking over to Hunter. “Charon said it himself,” Hunter explained. “The bastard who killed Spider and put a reward out for info on us.” I growled. “None of what Charon said fucking matters until we know for sure this info is legit—” “It’s true,” Lamb interrupted my rant. His voice was dark. None of the humor seen earlier remained. He met my gaze and held it. “Charon’s intel is true.” “Fuck,” I hissed. I never doubted Lamb’s

information. He must have called a few of his contacts straight after Charon left, and Lamb never gave false information. I turned back to him. “What do we know about this guy?” “Not much,” Lamb growled. I could see his own annoyance and frustration about his limited intel. “The bastard is a ghost. Don’t know why he put the bounty out, don’t know who the fuck he is. Fuck, I don’t know if he actually exists. I only managed to confirm about the bounty because the bastard wanted us to. He wants something from us, but he must be expecting us to know what it is.” I felt my head begin to throb with an oncoming headache and knew it was only fractionally due to the physical head traumas. This shit was getting out of hand, and I was getting more pissed by the second. “Right,” I said, sitting up in my chair. “I want everyone to find out anything they can on the moves this guy is making and what the fuck Charon is up to at all times. I want an eye on anything and everything, and if anyone has a fucking clue about what it is this guy is after, I want you to tell me straight away. I don’t give a shit if I’m in the shower or have my dick buried to the balls in some chick. I want to know. Understood?” Various nods of confirmation came across the table. I picked up my gavel. Before I moved to close down Church, Jax looked to me and said,

“What about going into lockdown?” “I considered it,” I answered, looking amongst my men. “But I don’t want to if we don’t have to. I want to wait until we know something more about this guy, but I want you all on high alert. No slipups. No fuckups. I don’t want anyone getting caught in any shit on this." I let my gaze hit each and every one of them. Our club might be small, but we were still strong. I had expectations of my men and had no doubt they’d live up to them. The guys all nodded, and with that, I slammed the gavel down on the table and officially called Church done.

I

t had been a day or so since Charon’s visit. I stood in the compound in the middle of the day, filled with brothers drinking and smoking and relaxing, working out the tension brewing with our latest news. It felt too quiet. I looked to Lamb, who sat behind the bar, rearranging shit like always. Pipe had been in the bar the night before and had slightly shifted a bottle or two, and as usual, Lamb was there to put things back exactly where he decided they were meant to go.

“Where is she?” I asked, creeping my way onto my stool, not without checking all the screws were still in it. It was my favorite stool, right at the end, which gave me a sweeping look of the room, and it was common knowledge this was where I sat. Common knowledge that had landed me on my ass a few weeks ago when Anna had taken all the screws out of it. “Not here,” Lamb pointed out the obvious, earning a glare from me. He flashed me a grin before sobering. His pale brown eyes looked toward the door as if expecting her to walk through it any second. When she didn’t, he set the last of the bottles down in their correct places and pulled his phone out of his pocket, firing off a quick text. He didn’t say anything as he got me a cold beer from the fridge and set it down in front of me. I popped the cap with my hand and let my gaze wander around the bar. My eyes landed on Georgia. She sat on the side of the pool table, where a few of the brothers were playing a game, but the second she noticed me looking, she hopped off and moved in my direction. She strutted up, sashaying her hips in those tiny pink leather shorts, partnered with a cropped top that exposed her tits through the lace. Normally, I bitched at the girls for wearing little shit like that during the day, since kids were in and out of here constantly, but it was a Monday, and if any kid

walked in here while they were supposed to be at school, seeing slutty girls would be the least of their problems. Her long nails slid up my arms, softly scratching across my skin, knowing I liked a little bit of pain to curve off my pleasure. She didn’t tease me with words and pointless flirting; she knew I hated that shit. Instead, she just let her hands skim under my shirt toward my jeans and belt. Her eyes never left mine as she reached down to palm my half-mast erection through my jeans. Lamb’s phone beeped with a returned text, and I saw him pocket it without looking up. I was about to ask what he was doing by not telling me when I heard that sound. Anna’s red boots were the first thing through the door, and the rest of her that followed was just as tempting. She had swapped out her lawyer outfit in exchange for her casual club clothes. Like Lamb, the pair of them had separate wardrobes, one for work and one for the club, but I didn’t give two shits what Lamb wore. I did with Anna, though. Her curved thighs and legs were hugged by jeans like a second skin. The waist dipped low, exposing the piece of skin where her stomach ended and her mound began. She had on one of those bodice-things the club girls liked to wear, but unlike Georgia’s that was basically just a bra, Anna’s reached down across

her ribs and hugged them tightly, and the cups of the front were black leather that hid just enough of her skin so her nipples didn’t show but instead pushed the tops of her globes out like ripe apples. A thin necklace hung in the deep valley between, not taking away the treat of her pale collarbone and the soft curves of her shoulders. Her makeup was minimal, except for the bright-red lips that were plump and rounded, daring to be bitten. She looked around the bar, running her hand through her hair and exposing some of the tattoos she had inked on her skin. Words were written in Elvish scrolled down her arm and carried on down her side and across her breast. I didn’t know what it meant, and she refused to ever fucking tell me. I didn’t give enough of a damn to learn Elvish to translate it, but the curiosity was still there. I was acutely aware of Georgia’s eyes darkening at the growth of the erection in my jeans as I watched Anna strut her way over to the boys and start talking and laughing. It was fucking ridiculous that I had to go through this every time I saw her when all I wanted to do was tear a hole in those jeans and fuck her until she submitted to me. But not this girl. This game with Anna was playing with fire; just a single slipup would put me in a coma. I had only gotten as far as the emergency room at the hospital, but the game had escalated over the years, and I

wouldn’t be surprised if she started poisoning my beer. If she did, she would give me the antidote, but not until I begged for it. It was just the kind of bitch she was. “Lamb,” Anna called out, moving in my direction. She reached the bar, purposely ignoring my gaze, and leaned over the wooden counter, her tits looking like they were about to pop straight out of that tight-ass corset. The growl that came out of my lips was conflicted. I wanted her to put her tits away, so no other man could ogle them, but at the same time, hiding those tits would be a sin. I used to be an ass man, figuring a girl with firm tits was as good as any, but when I met Anna, I’d been mesmerized by her tits. I saw the hair on Anna’s arms stand up as I looked over Georgia’s shoulder. Georgia had taken my growl as a moan from the way her hand had slipped underneath my belt and was rubbing her hand along my hard dick. In my head, Georgia’s face had long since been swapped out for Anna’s. I was aware of her purposely ignoring me, but I was also imagining her stroking my dick with soft, slow pumps to draw out my growing need. My eyes looked past Georgia at Anna, who was now talking to Lamb. I could see the fight between her body and mind. Her head’s will to ignore me

was conflicting with her body’s heat growing for me, knowing what Georgia was doing, and knowing my eyes were on her. Her long, red nails tapped impatiently on the bar and her thighs were pressed tightly together. Her ass perked slightly high in the air as she leaned forward, her breasts on display. She was a bitch in heat; her body knew it, but her mind resisted. I let out a small rumble as I thought about Anna’s red nails running up the side of my dick, and I heard a tremor in Anna’s voice as she spoke to Lamb. Lamb ignored what was going on but was purposely elongating their conversation to see more of Anna’s amusing reaction. Of course, Lamb just liked to fuck with people, and although I was his main source of entertainment, always had been, Anna was no exception to his games. Though she was significantly less picked on. Lamb then frowned as Anna passed him a piece of paper, and he took his phone out of his pocket and began typing something in as he walked away. Anna proceeded to look everywhere else but in my direction as she waited for Lamb’s return. She could have gone to sit with one of the boys who were doing their best to stay occupied in their own happenings, but she didn’t. She stayed exactly where she was at the bar. Georgia pulled my erection out of my jeans, and her head went down to the tip as I was growing

closer to the edge. She licked the precum and sucked the rest in her mouth. She could only get her mouth around the first half due to my thick width and length, and when Georgia began to groan, things changed. Anna turned to look at me. Her eyes were narrowed in a glare, but she couldn’t hide the heat inside them. She held my gaze, desperate to battle me in a contest of wills as she fought not to look down and not to look away. She wanted to show me it wasn’t getting to her, but I knew lust. And I saw it in her eyes. I wasn’t the only one imagining her in Georgia’s place. I saw her lips move as her teeth reached out to bite them but stopped halfway. Her scowl turned into half-lidded eyes as Georgia moved faster and faster on the length of my dick until I let out a soft growl as my hot cum went spilling into the back of her throat. Georgia licked her lips as she lifted her head, and I tucked my dick back into my jeans and zipped them up. When she looked at my face, she finally noticed what I was looking at, and with a huff under her breath, she flashed her eyes at Anna before walking away. Anna let her eyes follow Georgia instead of looking at mine, and when Georgia walked out of sight, her eyes moved back to the bar, but on their return trip, they got stuck. Her eyes met mine

again, and it was like a flash of heat burst through us both. I saw her thighs tighten, and despite my recent release, my half-mast erection returned. “Where did you get this?” Lamb said as he stepped back up to the bar, cutting our moment short. Anna immediately cut her eyes to Lamb and the paper he held in his hands. She plucked it back out of his fingers, folded it up, and pushed it down between the valley of her breasts. “A source,” Anna said, sounding smug that she’d obviously beaten Lamb to something. But Lamb didn’t seem as bothered as he usually did. Instead, his eyes narrowed on her. “You shouldn’t investigate this any further on your own,” he warned, his voice taking on a tone that I didn’t like. “Investigate what?” I interrupted, my eyes looking to Lamb’s. “None of your damn busi—” Anna began, but Lamb cut her off. “Our new enemy,” Lamb informed me, earning him a betrayed glare from Anna. I felt my heartbeat increase and a different heat rise up as I turned my gaze toward her. “You’re looking into him?” I repeated, my voice deep and filled with a warning that told her the only answer I wanted to hear was “no.” “You said you wanted everyone on it,” she snapped, her hands moving to her hips as her blue

eyes took on a defensive hue. “I’m on it.” “I didn’t say 'everyone,' Anna, and you fucking know it,” I argued, rising from my stool. She jumped to her feet but took a step toward me, my extra foot and a half of height not daunting her in the slightest as she was more than ready to go toe to toe with me. “I don’t know shit, Wolf. And neither do you. That’s the problem,” Anna hissed, her arms crossing over her chest, near pushing her breasts out. “You always forget that I’m this club’s lawyer whenever it's convenient for you. I get to protect this club however I like.” “No. You don’t,” I growled, my hands itching to grab her by the hair and drag her back into my room to spank her ass until she fucking understood. “I’m the president of this goddamn club. Not you. When I say I don’t want you meddling in dangerous shit like this, I fucking mean it, and all you’re supposed to do is fucking listen.” “It doesn’t work like that in this day and age anymore, you caveman,” Anna retorted. “I’m not going to sit around like some precious little girl while you big boys go and get dirty for my sake.” “I’m warning you, Anna. Don’t get involved,” I growled. “Fuck you,” she spat, turning on her heels and storming out the door with a bang. I listened to her engine start up and her wheels squeal as she spun

out of the compound and onto the road, leaving only silence filling the bar. I looked around and saw that the brothers had dispersed during our little fight. Only Lamb stood behind the bar, still looking down at his phone and where the absent paper had sat. “What did she find?” I asked, looking one last time before I turned back to the bar. “Information on real estate in the nearby area that’s all been bought by the same buyer. Looks like it’s the guy we want. I just made a call to confirm it, and it’s legit. But with the quality of this info, I don’t like the idea of who this source is, nor who they’re connected to,” Lamb answered, typing more letters on the screen of his smartphone. He glanced at me and my silence and then to the door. “You made her so mad she didn’t even think to hit you once before she left,” he added, reading my mind. I didn’t like her when she got like this. Hitting me to vent her frustrations at least meant I knew her head was screwed on straight and that she’d just clear the tension between us. When she didn’t, it meant she was carrying that anger around, and I didn’t like it one bit. I just hoped my bad feeling was unwarranted.

Chapter Four

ANNA

A

s I stood listening to the distant sound of cars passing, trying to avoid standing in any discarded trash or touching the damp, moldcovered wall, I was beginning to regret this. I checked my watch for the umpteenth time, reiterating our meeting conditions over and over in my mind despite knowing I was on time and in the right place. I wanted to text him that I was here because I hated to be kept waiting. But I held back, knowing that it was dangerous enough as it was. I grew impatient as the clock hand told me he was ten minutes late. I paced up and down the alley, my pulse spiking every time I heard someone walk past the open alleyway. Some would give me a passing look, but thankfully, this wasn’t Fellpeak and nobody knew me here. I was in our neighboring city, which was almost four times the size of

Fellpeak and, thus, gifted me the anonymity I needed. The bad thing was that this was Hell’s Runners’ territory. Their compound used to reside in the town just north of us, but since the Grim Reaper’s took them over, they moved it into the city so they could have tighter control over their investments. I just hoped to God none of them spotted me. The only ones who could possibly know who I was would be Chains, the Hell’s Runners’ puppet president, and Charon, who had been the one to put me in this stupid mess. I was here running up my own lead, ignoring the warning Wolf had given me and not giving a shit about doing so. I was as much a part of that club as any of the boys, and I had the right to defend it as I saw fit. The only things that kept me apart were my big tits and two—not one—holes between my legs. I grew up with three brothers, and then and now, I let no man push me around. Not even Wolf. If the fat bastard thought he could get one over on me, he had another thing coming. I heard footsteps behind me, and just as I was about to dismiss them as another passerby, I saw the shadow loom up under my feet. I whirled to face the stranger hidden by a baggy hoodie with a logo I didn’t recognize and baggy tracksuit bottoms and shoes. They were about my

height with my heels on, but as they shuffled into the alley, I still took a step back, just in case. They reached for the hood that had been almost entirely pulled over their face and looked up at me, and I couldn’t believe my eyes. “You’re Lizard?” The words blurted out of my mouth. “Don’t sound so surprised.” He gave a weak laugh. The shrug of a smile he granted didn’t reach his eyes. My surprise, however, was warranted as I looked at his face. He was a kid, barely older than eighteen or nineteen. His face still had zits on it! And here he was, dealing me shady information on a powerful opponent. “You sounded older on the phone,” I said, looking down at the cell phone in my hands, wondering how I misjudged him so much. His voice was so crackly and worn, like an aged smoker, that I didn’t even consider he could be this young. “Yeah, well, life’s a bitch, ain’t it.” Lizard shrugged, his voice filled with the devil-may-care attitude. “Now, quit with the small talk. It’s dangerous enough for me to be out here. Where’s the cash?” I reached into my purse, pulling out the brown envelope filled with five thousand—a small price to pay for some big information in my books. I wasn’t even sure if he really understood how valuable this

information was. Lizard carefully counted the money, making sure the whole five thousand was there. I saw him pause and frown as he counted, struggling with the math. When he finished counting, satisfied with the amount, he pocketed the cash in his back pocket and came closer. I hid my disgust at his smell and focused on his words. “I told you on the phone about his investments,” he said, looking at me for confirmation. “Yeah, some empty lots and real estates,” I answered, and he nodded. “Well, shit’s actually way worse than that,” Lizard continued, reaching into his other pocket and pulling out a crudely rolled cigarette and what looked like an already used filter. He patted himself before looking to me. “You got a light?” I pulled out the lighter I always kept on hand just in case I wanted to ever follow through with burning Wolf’s hair off and handed it over. He lit his cigarette and pocketed my lighter, but I didn’t say anything; I just waited for him to continue. “He’s been taking over businesses; even some other MC clubs have been receiving offers from him, but from what I heard, they’re too cautious about the Grim Reaper’s stakes in the area to take them, though a few smaller clubs have come under

his wings. He’s also been buying up all the empty factories and warehouses over in the industrial district. You know that one a few miles from here?” I nodded; I knew the place. I knew Wolf also had a few businesses there, just small-time producers, one of the few legitimate investments belonging to the club. “And?” I pushed. “And he’s even got politicians in his pocket. Got word that he’s looking for something, and the Black Angels are key to getting it, whatever the fuck that means. But if I were you, I’d watch your back. Bastard seems to have bottomless pockets, and money can get you a great deal in this world.” I didn’t like how many of Lizard’s claims came from word of mouth, but with how sneaky our enemy was being, it was difficult to think that there’d be a way to find any more solid information on him. “But what’s this thing he’s looking for?” I said. Lizard was about to open his mouth when the sound of screeching tires filled our ears. The light coming in from the street was cut off and the door was opened with people jumping out the side of the van before I could even think to move. Everything happened so fast, it was like a blur as guns were raised and the suppressed sound of gunfire echoed in the cramped alleyway. I looked to Lizard and watched as several red patches bled

through the thick hoodie and his body crumbled to the ground. I didn’t think twice about him as I whirled behind the trash containers for cover. A rain of bullets flew in my direction; the sound of them chewing through the metal to the other side of the bin drilled into my ears. I fumbled for my boot, my fingers finding the hole that acted as a handle before pulling out the blade. The handle was formed by four holes that worked as a secondary knuckle duster, but the end was a blade, and I fed my fingers into the holes just as someone stepped out in front of me. Cold metal pressed against my forehead, and I looked up to see a man standing above me. His face was covered in a balaclava; only his dark eyes peered through. I recognized the stance and the allblack clothing choice and weapons as mercenary wear and knew immediately who these guys belonged to. Just as I saw his eyes crinkle with smugness, thinking he’d caught me, I pressed the knife a little harder into the material. His eyes widened and dropped down as he looked to where my hand was pressing the blade hard against his crotch. The material was thinner in this area, and I read the regretful mistake in his eyes. “Want to see whose reflexes are faster?” I growled, my eyes daring his trigger finger to even

flinch. I had too much will to back down and refused to lose to a cowardly, shameful bastard like this. I pressed the blade harder and caused a tear in the material. “I don’t hesitate.” “Come on!” a voice at the other end of the alley yelled. “Leave her! Let’s go!” I watched the battle in his eyes, reading his bloodthirsty want to kill me. The voice, a female one, I realized this time, yelled again, and the battle ended. He pocketed his weapon and stepped back, keeping his eyes trained carefully on me until he was just out of my reaching distance before he turned and ran back to the van. He jumped in the back; then the van door closed and it screeched away. I allowed myself a soft breath of relief, but an overlapping gasp from ahead of me had my heart racing hard. I slid my knife back into the edge of my boot, concealing it back in its place in the leather, and scrambled out of my hiding place. My run stuttered as my eyes washed over the pool of blood bleeding into the gaps of the concrete and the upturned face of Lizard as he struggled to gasp for air. His voice gargled and blood spluttered up from his mouth. I ran to him, dropping my knees into the blood and fighting the shiver at the warmth of it absorbing into my jeans as I lifted his head and placed it on my lap. “Shit!” I hissed, my hand pressing against one

of the open bullet wounds, trying to stop it. But there were too many. He was riddled with holes that poured blood. I couldn’t understand how he hadn’t died already. When I heard a wheezed breath, I looked down to his face. He had a few scars here and there, and despite his eyes looking aged beyond his years, I could see the child still in him. I saw his panic as he struggled to breathe. I saw the confusion as he wondered why there was liquid filling up his throat. I saw the moment of comprehension when he knew he would die. Images too close to the surface threw themselves before me, but I shoved them down before they could catch me, choosing to focus on this boy here and now growing lifeless in my arms. I refused to look away from his eyes, whispering things over and over again to reassure him. I wouldn’t be able to remember what I said. I seemed to drown in the numbness anchoring me inside my own head, where no thoughts could comprehend what was happening. There was just this raw, painful emotion that made me feel heavy and filled to the brink of bursting. But I didn’t think about it. I just watched as the surreal image of this boy dissolved into nothing. His shaking limbs lost their strength and settled beside him. His chest, shivering and desperately reaching for breath, slowed to stillness. His quivering mouth

relaxed. And unlike in the movies, his eyes were open as his life left them. He was looking up at me, and that’s where they remained. In them, I saw a reflection of my face, where not even a single tear had dropped. If the eyes captured their last look on life, his would contain an image of a woman who didn’t even cry while a kid died in her arms. And knowing that look in the world he grew up in, he’d realized that he wasn’t the first person I’d watched die.

Chapter Five

WOLF

T

he tread on my wheels were nearly gone by the time I tore up turf outside the dilapidated diner. Its sign was hanging on by only one or two screws, looking like it was about to fall off at any moment. I pulled up under it anyway, seeing the other bikes already parked up outside the building, and hauled my ass around the side of the diner where I saw my men gathered. Blue and red lights painted them with stern faces as they talked to some of the officers. I moved over to where Lamb stood, more than likely having finished gathering the information. He leaned up against one of the walls where you’d usually see a man smoking a cigarette. Lamb didn’t smoke, however, and instead, his eyes were going over everything and anything. I looked down to the black body bag on the

ground and the red bloodstains dried on the concrete. Lamb frowned, and when he saw me coming up to him, his frown only deepened. Before I said anything, though, Lamb just pointed his gaze over to an ambulance in the midst of the cop cars. It had its back doors open and police and a paramedic surrounded the girl sitting on the steps. She had a blanket wrapped around her, keeping it draped loosely over her shoulders. Her head perked up in my direction, and when her eyes met mine, they only held them for a second before looking down and away. “Fuck this shit,” I growled, looking back to Lamb. “Is everything covered?” “It’s already sorted. They didn’t find a weapon on Anna and there are other witnesses placing the van and the gunfire on the street during the time of the attack. They’re ruling it a mugging. Anna has no guilt to bear in this.” “At least we don’t have blues on our tail. What I’m more concerned about is whose fucking territory this is,” I growled, running a hand through my hair. “I think we’re about to see to that,” Lamb said just as I heard the roar of bike engines race up the street. I stood with my shoulders squared and watched carefully as the Hell’s Runners’ bikes pulled up outside the diner. The blues looked up from what they were doing, but upon seeing the

Runner’s cuts, they quickly went back to their business. I felt the presence of my brothers sweep up behind me. Jax wasn’t among them, but I had an idea where he went as the rest of us faced the arriving club. I recognized Chains as he pulled up in the front. He pulled off his helmet and glasses, and it still stunned me to this day how much he looked like Noble. He was the spitting image of my old sergeant at arms. The same blond hair and broad build. His hair was cut short, however, almost right to the skin compared to the long mutt that Noble had grown. I felt Hunter stiffen beside me, a tense air beginning to rise as he looked at his half brother. Noble and Hunter had been full brothers by blood, and in the aftermath of Noble’s death, Chains had been revealed as his half brother. Hunter still couldn’t stand Chains, but I, on the other hand, had once worked with him in order to help him cut loose a few troublesome brothers from his club. Despite that, he had chosen to go to the Grim Reapers instead and was now under their thumb. “Wolf,” Chains greeted, his voice a deep baritone as he walked up to me. By the sound of it, he had been smoking more. Fucking over your club would do that to you. “Chains,” I returned. “You look like shit.”

“I’m not here for small talk, Wolf,” he responded, his two sidekicks coming up at his rear. Neither of them wore the V.P. badge, which was all I needed to confirm that he still hadn’t chosen one. The boy was leaving himself open without one. “What’s your club lawyer doing causing shit on our territory?” “She wasn’t causing shit,” I responded. “Shit just happened. It was a mugging.” “Don’t try to bullshit me, Wolf,” Chains growled, obviously not liking my ignorant attitude. He’d best be careful where he put his boots because I was on a fine line with what just happened, and with every passing second, it was getting slimmer and slimmer. Chains looked past me to where the body was lying in the middle of the alley. “A mugging where your lawyer happened to be standing next to Lizard? One of the Grim’s informants? Seems highly unlikely, if you ask me.” “It’s unlikely to be hit by lightning. That shit still happens.” I was fed up with this tedious argument before Chains and his goons showed up and couldn’t be bothered to parry with a baby-face president-in-name-only like Chains. “If you’re here because your big boss’s informant got killed, then go deal with that shit yourselves, since it wasn’t our girl who did it. Now, I’m fucking fed up with this shit, and I don’t have any more time to deal with

you. We done here?” “I ain’t going to start a turf war with this bastard lurking around the west coast. I know Charon keeps approaching you, but this area isn’t run by the Grim Reaper’s, Wolf. It’s run by me. I get the final say on shit,” Chains said, his hands unconsciously pulling on the jacket that held his presidential patch. “I worked too hard for this club to have it destroyed by a turf war. That’s the reason I’m letting you go. Got it?” I looked him up and down and heard the will in his voice. I’d figured it would have died out after being unmanned by the Grim’s takeover, but it seemed to have survived. Whatever plans Chain’s had, they didn’t end with ridding his club of troublesome members, nor taking the pseudo president’s seat. I had a feeling the Grims were going to have their hands full with him. With one last glance at the man, I turned without answering and walked away, the action a symbol in itself. My men fell in line behind me, Hunter being the fastest to turn away without looking back, and we made our way back over to the bikes. The Runner’s watched as our boys saddled up and Jax walked back over with Anna. She stood quietly beside him, tucked under his arm. Her face was looking up, but it was cold and distant as she looked at the boys. They all made soft gestures

toward her, but that was all. Jax brought her to me, and I slid off my jacket and pulled it around her. Blood was evident on her clothes, but we didn’t talk about it as she slid her arms into the sleeves and waited as I sat down on my bike before she slid on behind me. Her arms came around my waist and held tight as I fired up the engine and turned out of the old diner’s parking lot before hitting the road out of town. I hit the gas and left Chain’s town behind as we made our way back to Fellpeak.

I

felt the wind whip across my face, the humid air cool and moist as my tires raced across the pavement. The only protection was the heat wrapped around my back and the arms tight across my wide chest as they failed to meet around my width. Anna was silent behind me, and despite our speed and the loud rush of the wind beside us, she’d usually be giving me as much mouth and sass as she had the day I met her. My mind struggled to think too far beyond anything except her silence, too worried to let my emotions take off during a ride back with my brothers behind me and Anna on my back.

Instead, the memory of the day I met Anna resurfaced, and my thoughts were subdued by the sound of girls, brothers, and music from over three years ago. “Oi, asshole.” My hands had paused on Soul’s hips, her white hair flipping over her shoulder as she’d turned to the sound of the voice. I’d almost looked straight at her, the small, only just five-foot woman with the full rack that stood behind me. Baby blue eyes narrowed in a harsh glare, short, spiky blonde hair styled in a way that clashed hard with the two-piece dress suit she was wearing. She looked familiar somehow, but then again, I’d fucked a lot of girls. “I think you’re in the wrong place, myshka,” I growled, wanting to get back to the skinny, twentysomething girl practically whining to take my dick. “I don’t think so,” she growled back, undeterred by my cold welcome, her eyebrow rising as she jabbed her finger over her shoulder to where the door was. “You’re the new president, right? I heard you’re looking for a lawyer.” “Yeah?” I sighed, my once appreciative gaze of her curvy figure now turning into a flat glare. “You here to give a suggestion.” “Yep,” she popped, her red lips raking over each other. “You’re looking at her.” I scoffed, my flat mouth turning into a smirk as

I looked at the confidence radiating from her baby blue eyes. She was serious. “Babe,” I chuckled, pushing Soul off my lap as I rose from my seat. My height dwarfed her tiny size, even more so than I’d thought, and as my shadow loomed over her, I only saw her glare harden on me. Her reaction to what I said next made sure her eyes weren’t the only thing to harden. “Ain’t no woman going to be a club lawyer, babe. If you wanna play with the big boys, then try parking that ass on my lap, and we’ll play.” The girl's hand lunged faster and higher than her reach, wrapping around the collar of my shirt and dragging my tall height down to her level as she shoved her lips against mine. Her red lips forced mine open, her tongue tangling with mine, doing a thing with her tongue that sent shivers down to my dick, making it rise to attention. Heat stirred inside me as I decided it was my turn, but I never got a chance. A sharp sting radiated down my lip as my mouth swelled with the metallic taste of blood. The blonde pulled back, her tongue running along her lips as, without letting her eyes leave mine, she said, “I play dirty, you fat bastard, and I let no man tell me what to do. So you’re going to hire me as your lawyer, and you're going to take it with a bucket of salt before I unman you in front of all your boys.”

I had no idea what she meant until I felt the thin prick of the tiny blade against the bulge of my jeans. “You’re playing a dangerous game here, girl,” I growled. “It’s Anna.” She smirked. “Remember it this time.” With that, she tucked the little blade back into whatever crevice it came from, turned, and began to sashay away, leaving me standing there, curious bastards staring at me from all around, listening to the sound of those red boots clicking to the throb of my dick as I watched her round ass walk toward the door. “Hey, bitch,” I yelled, a little annoyance rising as my brain caught up, causing her to stop in the doorway. “I haven’t accepted your deal yet.” She turned so slowly that her saccharine smile and lethal baby blue eyes stayed long on my face when she purred, “You’ll come to me soon enough, big boy.” Then she’d left. And come I had. We pulled into the compound; Anna seemed to have sobered up during the ride. Her wind-torn hair was all over the place, and she was trying to smooth it down as she slid off my bike. She took off my jacket and handed it back to me. I put it on, realizing it now smelled like her. She looked down at her clothes and frowned.

“I need new clothes,” she said, turning to look at the lot before she stopped. “I left my car,” she added on a soft note, her eyes focused on the concrete. I turned off the engine before rising from my bike and taking Anna’s wrist in my hand. She didn’t fight me as I guided her in through the club doors and into the bar. I stopped at the edge of the bar, reaching to pluck a spare set of keys for one of the cages we kept in the parking lot from behind it. I threw them at the next unlucky bastard to walk through the door. Mint caught them out of the air with fast reflexes and looked in the direction they came from, then glancing at the keys before giving me a curious look. I turned back to Anna, pulled her keys out of her hand, and threw them to Mint as well. “Go get Anna’s car,” I commanded. Mint nodded, looking for the second unlucky bugger to come with him. He looked at Jax first but quickly settled on Pipe instead, who didn’t bother to bitch as he got up and went with him. Prospects didn’t get to give a shit, after all. I headed back toward my room, the only one on the ground floor next to my office, and pushed Anna inside. She stood with a frown as she looked around the room. Her eyes narrowed on the pack of cigarettes and a couple of empty whiskey bottles on

the bedside table. She didn’t say anything, though. Her eyes just proceeded to look everywhere and anywhere. I leaned up against the door, folding my arms against my chest. “I told you not to look into it,” I said. My voice was hard and rough, and I watched as Anna stilled with uncharacteristic caution. “But you did it anyway. You disobeyed me. And your informant got killed and you almost along with him.” “You think I don’t know that?” Anna bit back, her voice a conflict of annoyance and resignation. “No, I don’t think you do,” I growled, shoving myself off the door with force. I had held off on this shit while we were at the diner on another club’s territory, but now we were back under my roof. I had shit to say, and Anna was sure as fuck going to listen to it. “I think if you knew the danger you were putting yourself in, you wouldn’t have gone and fucking done it.” “I had it under control,” she argued but still didn’t dare look at me. I walked toward her until I stood within reaching distance. I leaned down close to her face, and with a snarl, I growled, “If you had everything under fucking control, he wouldn’t have died.” “You know what?” Anna snapped, spinning so fast her face almost crashed into mine. “I don’t give two shits what you think, Wolf. Shit happened

that was out of my control. His death isn’t on my hands, so stop making me out to be the bad guy!” She shoved at my chest, forcing me to take a step back. She marched her way to the door, grabbing the handle and pulling the door back. I slammed it shut with enough force to make the wall shake. My palms lay next to her head, my arms caging her in. I leaned in close again, letting my lips come near to her ear. “Don’t you fucking run away from me,” I growled. “I can do whatever the fuck I like,” Anna hissed, moving her head away from me. I scoffed. “Yeah, and look where that got you.” She screamed in frustration, shoving at me again and again as she tried and failed to break out of my hold. “What do you want, Wolf?” she yelled, her nails digging hard into my skin. “What do I have to do for you to get the fuck off my back?” “Don’t pretend it didn’t happen,” I snapped. Anna’s fight stuttered and died, her grip relaxing. Her eyes fell to my chest, distant. A look washed over her face, and I didn’t like what it did to her. Her shoulders drooped, but her hands still held on to my arms, as if my body anchored her to the here and now. I dropped my head, letting it fall to the side of hers, my cheek touching her cool skin. “Don’t pretend like it doesn’t affect you; I can see it’s got to you, so don’t pretend it hasn’t. Don’t put that

shadow on you,” I whispered. “I was the last thing he saw, Wolf,” she whispered, her voice so very soft and injured. “I was the last thing he saw as he died. He was just a kid. Barely older than twenty, and it was my fault he died. It shouldn’t have been me he saw... not me.” Her head fell forward against my shoulder. She wasn’t crying, but her breathing caught every few seconds. She was quiet for a long time. I felt her head shift on my shoulder every now and then as if moving to free her mouth to speak. But then she’d think twice and her mouth would close. I didn’t think she would ever say it, but I didn’t move, and only after another minute or so, she pulled her head back. “I didn’t cry,” she confessed on a desperate and soft note. Her blue eyes looked up to mine as if I could give her an explanation, or some kind of reassurance, but I had no idea what she was asking of me. “You’re supposed to cry,” she added. “When someone dies in your arms, you’re supposed to cry. But I didn’t.” Anna shook her head, her eyes becoming absorbed with despair. “I can’t even cry now...What's wrong with me?” The question was spoken into the air; she expected it to be rhetorical, but I didn’t let it. “There’s nothing wrong with you,” I answered. “Not everybody cries. Just because you didn’t cry,

it doesn’t mean you didn’t care, and it’s not your fault, Anna. I know that when shit like this happens, it may feel like it, but it wasn’t your fault. Lizard made his own choices that got him that far. In the end...” I paused, feeling the words hit close to home. “In the end,” I started again, “it was his decision to meet you. His alone.” Anna’s eyes lowered once again, and I hated the defeat that was still buried under her skin. She didn’t believe me. I opened my mouth to speak again when a knock sounded on the door. Anna flinched in surprise and her eyes jumped up to mine. “Prez,” Hunter’s voice came from the other side of the door. “What is it?” I asked, hoping it was something I could put off until later. “Church is ready,” he said, followed by the sound of his footsteps walking away. “Fuck,” I groaned, knowing it was something I had to deal with immediately. This shit couldn’t wait. I dropped my arms from the door and stepped back away from her. Anna’s body shivered as my warmth left her, and as much as I wanted to bring her back into my chest, I fought it. I reached my hand out to brush down the side of her cheek and said, “Stay here,” before letting her step away from the door so I could exit through it.

I hesitated as I left, and as much as I hated myself for it, I turned to look back. Anna’s eyes were pinned on me, watching me go. Fuck, she looked so vulnerable and open. It was the first time I’d seen her like this, and it tore at me to let her go, but I had no other choice. My club needed me. So did she. But club always came first. That’s what being president meant. I closed the door behind me and headed to Church.

I

sat at the head of my table for the second time this week, pissed that we had to hold a second meeting when we weren’t even halfway through the week. We normally only had one or two meetings a week. Everyone’s club workload was divided in a way that meant they could handle their shit on their own, and even if they had an issue, Lamb could normally sort it on his own. Everybody was always busy doing something, so we weren’t thinking of expanding our investments at the moment, which meant fewer club decisions to be made; it was supposed to mean less Church.

“Somebody better tell me quickly how the fuck Anna almost ended up with her head blown off while we were none the wiser,” I growled, my hand clasped tightly around the handle of my gavel, ready to throw it at something at just the thought of what shit could have gone down. “They followed Lizard, the kid who got killed,” Hunter explained. “He was sprouting shit on the guy who’s got his eye on us, and that’s the information Anna got her hands on.” “What did he manage to tell her?” Pretty asked, looking at me. But it wasn’t me who knew. “Nothing you’re gonna like,” Jax answered, his eyes also on me. I felt my hands squeeze the little wooden handle. “Anna said Lizard had found out that the bastard’s been buying up real estate left, right, and center, all in our surrounding areas— including the empty factories in the industrial area north of Fellpeak. Been getting as many clubs under his wing as he can. Most of them refused offers from him because the west is still under Charon’s influence, though he’s turned a few. Got himself some dirty politicians, too.” “Fuck,” I growled. It was worse than I thought. “How the hell has this guy been moving around like this without us knowing about it? Somebody buys up a shit-ton of property, some fuck’s got to notice, especially when it’s on our territory.” “It’s because he’s been flying low under

Charon’s radar, basically hiding behind him. People just figured it was the Grims buying up more investments. It’s not uncommon for them to buy shit under false names. Nobody put the dots together until Lizard did.” “But what the fuck has it got to do with our club? The fuck did we do to have this pain-in-theass bastard on our backs?” I pried my fingers from the gavel and threw it aside on the table, concerned I was going to start throwing it at my brothers’ heads. I would have if I didn’t have just as much a part in not noticing as the rest of them. “He’s looking for something,” Jax informed the room, his eyes narrowing. “Apparently, we’ve got the key that’ll lead him to it.” “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” I snapped. “A fucking key? This isn’t some kind of treasure hunt shit.” “I don’t think he means a literal key,” Lamb interrupted. “Whatever it is, it’s the means to getting what he wants. Be it a person or information.” I looked around the room at my brothers. Neither the old ones nor the young ones looked like they had a fucking clue what he was talking about. “Anyone got anything they want to confess?” I turned and looked at them all one by one. “Someone hiding some secret stash of gold or some shit we need to know about.”

Nobody moved, and I thought we were going to remain in silence until I saw Jax open his mouth, and I just knew some bullshit was about to come out of it. “Not unless he’s after my Italian underwear collection.” It got worse as his expression turned into genuine concern. “That shit cost me a fortune.” “Wait.” I saw Pretty look up from his seat, his eyes dancing with light as he turned to Jax. “What about my stamp collection?” “You have a stamp collection?” Jax scoffed, looking like his eyes were about to pop out of his head. “No,” Pretty scoffed. “I was kidding, you dick. Do I look like some pussy to you?” “Hey,” Polo snapped from across the table. “Ain’t nothing wrong with collecting stamps.” “There ain’t nothing wrong with it,” Jax returned. “If this were still the 1950s.” “You bastard—” The gavel slammed down on the glass table and sliced through the noise like the crack of a whip. Silence fell upon the whole room as their gazes traveled to me. “I run a fucking motorcycle club,” I growled, looking at each and every one of them. “Not a goddam fucking nursery!” “Sorry, Prez.” Jax raised his hands in surrender. Pretty apologized in a similar suit, and Polo gave a

huff and looked away. I’d known the old man my entire time in the MC; he’d been a hardass from the very beginning, and getting a full apology from him was like trying to get blood out of a stone. Not to mention, I didn’t have time to grill him, so I let it be and got on with this shit before I managed to blow my cap and smack one of them into a wall. “We’re going into lockdown. We don’t have a fuckin’ clue what this bastard is after. With what happened with Anna today, I’m not taking any chances. I don’t like this shit happening so close to our turf, so I want everyone in. Part-timers, weekenders, the whole lot. I don’t give a shit if we don’t have enough room; you bastards are going to have to share. And if you even think about bitching about it, I’m gonna knock you into next week. Am I clear?” “Yes, Prez,” echoed throughout the room, some of the bastards grumbling under their breath but conceding to my authority nonetheless. There wasn’t much more to argue on, since none of us had a clue as to what the bastard wanted, nor who he was. With everyone in agreement, I told Jax to fill Mint in when he got back, and I slammed the gavel down once more, getting the fuck out of that room as fast as I could.

Chapter Six

ANNA

I

got out of my car, popping my trunk and reaching for my bags as I heard his familiar voice roar across the car lot. I made a point of ignoring him as I continued to pull my bags out and shut the trunk before locking it with the key. His towering shadow swallowed me as I opened my purse and dropped my car keys inside. I then proceeded to count the bags I had on the floor to make sure I got them all, despite already knowing I did. I waited until I heard his growl before I looked up from my bags and pretended to feign surprise at him. “Oh, I didn’t see you there,” I said, drowning my voice in that fake, crappy-acting voice on purpose. He did that thing where his height seemed to grow, towering over me like a huge, enraged

giant as his heavy brow formed that perfectly constructed scowl across his face, squinting his deep brown eyes into tiny slits. I ignored his anger and instead pointed down to my bags. “Since you’re here, get those for me,” I ordered before strutting past him toward the door. He followed me in silence, and I huffed when he didn’t pick up my bags. I continued walking until I got inside the bar, ignoring the presence behind me, my eyes scanning the crowd. Brothers from all over had turned up to the lockdown, and many were still piling in as the retirees and weekenders filled the room from wall to wall. I spotted Mint behind the bar with Lamb, but upon seeing what followed me, the new recruit ducked away before I could lock onto him. I considered Lamb, but from his growing grin, I figured it was best not to put fuel near the spluttering fire behind me. I eventually found Pipe talking to one of the younger weekenders, Moon, before I caught his attention. “My bags are by my car. Can you fetch them for me?” I called out to him. His eyes looked up to Wolf, who emitted a controlled, silent rage as he patiently followed behind me, and the prospect was out the door before I could add please. I even watched as Moon quickly followed behind him. Pussies. With that out of the way, Wolf moved from

behind me and began walking toward his office. The crowd parted like Moses and the Red Sea as they all took one look at his face before scuttling out of the way. I trailed after him, knowing it would be better to get this done sooner rather than later. He waited until I shut the door before he began yelling. “What the fuck did you think you were doing?” he roared, his eyes almost bulging out of his head. “Collecting my clothes?” I replied with a shrug, my expression a mask of confusion and innocence. “Don’t get fucking snarky with me, Anna,” he snapped, punctuating my name with his beloved growl. I couldn’t help my scoff. “Did you hit your head again yesterday?” I wondered, looking up at the bruising around his cheekbone. “Because I swear you must have forgotten who I am.” I could see his eyes flash with the memory of what had happened when he’d returned to his room the night before. Of course, upon entering, everything would have looked normal to him. Until he reached for one of the many whiskey bottles on his bedside table he drank before bed without fail. People thought the fact he slept like the dead was a part of his disposition, but it was actually because the bastard drank himself to sleep every night. I peeked around him, my eyes peering through the connecting door to his bedroom just enough to

see that the bedside table was empty, noting their absence. I would have got rid of them, too. It would be dangerous if someone unknowingly drank from it. “Oh, I see what it is,” I cooed, nodding my head with understanding. “You woke up on the wrong side of the bed, didn’t you?” It was like there was a little meter on his chest, and with my comment, I saw it fly into the red zone as steam began to pour out of his ears. “For fuck’s sake, Anna!” Wolf snapped, his hands coming up on either side of my head. They hit the wall so hard, I wondered if he’d broken a bone or two as his face leaned close to mine, his lip curling up in a snarl. “Stop fucking pushing me.” “Why? What are you going to do about it?” I taunted, pushing my face closer to his. I blew a hot breath across his lips, and much to my surprise, Wolf didn’t bite at my teasing like usual. Instead, he shoved himself from the wall, walked over to his bookshelf, and threw his fist into it with such a force, the wood split around his knuckles. “Wolf!” I screeched in surprise. I reached for his hand as he snatched it from the bookcase. Wood splinters crumbled to the floor. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” I snapped as I checked his bloodied knuckles. “You!” he roared. He pulled his hand out of

mine and wrapped it around my biceps to give me a rough shake. “You’re my fucking problem!” “What the fuck did I do?” I pulled out of his grasp as my hands defensively propped on my hips. “You almost got your head fucking blown off yesterday, that’s what you fucking did!” I watched as his bloodied hand ran through his long hair, tugging on it with such a force, I wouldn’t be surprised if he tore a clump out of his head. As he began to pace up and down the small confines of his office, I felt my hands slide off my hips. After my conversation with Wolf yesterday, I’d been left feeling raw and exhausted. Mint still hadn’t returned my car, and the idea of going back to my empty house didn’t appeal to me, so I ended up stealing one of the empty rooms at the far side of the compound. Everyone had heard Wolf’s yelling last night, probably after having a swig of his whiskey, plus whatever the fuck was in the blue bottle I found in the pantry that I added to it. To my surprise, he didn’t to attempt to catch my ass like usual. I managed to pass out from exhaustion and fell into a fitful sleep, riddled with nightmares and flashes from the past trying to crawl back into my mind. So, when I woke, still tired from the day before, to find out that we were going into lockdown, I decided to wrangle my keys from Mint, who had left my car in the parking lot, thank God, and go collect my clothes from my house.

That had given me enough time to calm myself before returning to the compound. “I don’t see your problem, Wolf. I just went to get some clothes. I was barely gone half an hour,” I snapped. “You should have told one of the brothers to go fetch your shit,” he argued. “Yeah, right,” I scoffed. “I ain’t letting a dirty bastard like Jax loose to enjoy a free-for-all in my panty drawer.” “Then you should have taken one of the boys with you.” “I’m perfectly capable of going and fetching my clothes. It’s a ten-minute drive at most.” I walked past him into the bedroom, getting fed up with this conversation, and dropped my ass down on his bed. The softness of the mattress welcomed me; it was like a bomb exploded as I sat down, and I suddenly found myself completely surrounded by the scent of sex, whiskey, and most of all, Wolf. He had a scent that was like a male musk—warm, spicy—and it tasted almost hot on my tongue as I breathed in the air. I noticed his silence as he watched me, his eyes darkening at the sight of me sitting on his bed. It lasted but a moment before his stubborn annoyance snapped back into place. “You want facts, Anna?” Wolf asked. He dropped onto his haunches in front of me, and

despite the fact that his bed was high off the ground, his face was now right in front of mine. Wolf had a habit of liking his face in mine when he wanted to make a point, but actually having him at my level felt odd. “The fact is, that bastard’s goons have seen your face. They killed Lizard because he was spreading the word, and the only reason they didn’t kill you was because you’re quick witted. I know about that hidden knife in your boot. I’ve seen you use it before, and the fact that it’s hidden so well is the only reason you weren’t arrested for murder. But it won’t be long before he knows the information got out. And it doesn’t take an idiot to put two and two together and figure out it was you who his tongue slipped to. Those are the facts, Anna.” His voice seemed to soften, but it still held its crisp tone. His hardened scowl faded as his gaze seemed to look deep into my eyes, like he could see straight inside my mind. “You slipped out of the compound this morning and didn’t tell anybody where the fuck you were going. Nobody fucking knew. That bastard’s goons could have been waiting at your house for you and shot you in the back of your head in a second. That’s a fact.” Wolf took a deep breath. His aged, worn face softened. “I don’t want one of my brothers to come to me one day and tell me they got to you. That’s one thing I won’t let become fact. But you’ve got to work with me, Anna. You’ve got to stop being so

reckless.” I knew he was right. I had been reckless when I went to meet Lizard, even if we’d gained valuable information. I did it for the club, and as much as my reasoning had been justified, it didn’t mean my methods were. I studied his face. Taking in the age lines in his forehead and the wrinkles in the corner of his eyes. He had laugh lines on either side of his mouth, shadowed by an unshaven jaw. He looked older than his forty-five years, and I knew part of that probably had to do with me, but I knew part of it didn’t, too. Wolf had these whiskey-colored eyes that had seen the bottom of a bottle one too many times. They were eyes that had been worn long before he ever reached the shores of the United States. I looked into those eyes and let a small smile pull on my lips. His eyes narrowed with suspicion, and for good reason, since I leaned forward and whispered, “You still haven’t said thank you.” Wolf’s breath came out of him in a heavy, long sigh that told me he had all but given up hope for me as he grumbled under his breath. “You want me to thank you?” His head snapped back up with a speed that made me jump. His eyes traced down over me to where I sat on his bed, and I watched as they darkened. “I will thank you.” I quickly jumped and darted out of his reach as

he stood to his feet. I bounced over the opposite side of the bed, my arms at the ready to defend myself, eyes searching for whatever I could use as a weapon. When I realized he hadn’t made a move toward me, I took my turn to narrow my eyes on him. I watched as a long, saccharine smile curved on his face before he turned and walked out the room without a word. I had a bad feeling about this...

“T his isn’t what I call a thank you,” I snapped,

my hands going to my hips. Wolf didn’t even bother to look at me as he grumbled, “Quit bitching and get in.” I looked down at the long, silky, red sheets that I’d sat on an hour ago before I’d been notified of their sudden importance in my life. Wolf had the thin sheet pulled up over his shirtless waist as his club tattoo, spanning ever his wide shoulders and back, was presented to me in the dim light. I tried not to let my eyes run down the smoothness of his back and the firm muscles that rippled underneath his broad frame. “No,” I hissed, seething at what this bastard did to me.

“Anna,” he growled in a low warning. He still wasn’t looking at me. I saw his back vibrate at the sound, and the acoustics of his body piqued my curiosity—not enough for me to get over being pissed at him, however. “No. Why did you change the sleeping arrangements?” I snapped, looking down at my pitiful pile of bags in the corner of the room before looking back to the bed. “I don’t see why I should be in here with you.” “Because nobody else wanted your demanding ass. Now get into bed.” “Of course, they want my ass. It’s a great ass,” I argued then turned back to my bags. I picked one up, aware of Wolf finally turning over in the bed. “You’re right,” Wolf said, and I turned to find his eyes glued to my ass, my thin cotton leggings and plain tee that I had changed into earlier doing little to hide my physique. “Now, park it in the bed before I come and put you in it myself.” I leveled my gaze at him. “You know what? I can see you’re going to be pissy about this whole thing, so I’ll just go share with someone else.” I reached down for my bags but didn’t get more than two on my arms before I felt Wolf appear behind me and grab me by the waist. I watched my bags land on the floor as I was hurled into the air. I could barely let out a small screech before I landed on the hard bed, thrusting

all the air out of my lungs, and tried to catch my breath before Wolf’s long, hard body surrounded mine. His thick arms circled around my stomach from behind as his body dropped in beside me. My petite body fit into the curve of his so perfectly it became my custom-fit jail cell as I struggled to even move an inch away. “Wolf!” I snapped, scratching at his arms. The fat bastard ignored me, choosing to release one hand to grab the thin sheet and pull it over us both. He hit the light switch on the wall before letting his arm wind around my stomach. I continued to threaten his balls for the next ten minutes, but when he didn’t stir, I finally gave a huff of defeat, letting my frustration fade from my body as I relaxed against him. I turned my head enough to see his face resting with his nose pushed into the crook of my neck. Soft, warm breaths rolled over my skin. His eyes were closed and his body slack, but the arms around my stomach were like a vice locking me in, and I had to wonder whether he was really asleep. Then again, Wolf had taken a large swig of whiskey before climbing into bed the first time. He had found a new bottle, which he’d forced Jax to taste first in case I put bleach in there again, the risk acting as punishment for his moonshine antics at the beginning of the week. In all fairness, Jax was the only one to survive

without a hangover after a night of moonshine. Everyone else drank enough that they didn’t really get hangovers, but when Jax whipped the homemade liquor out after everyone was already smashed, there was a slim chance of survival. But even without his moonshine, Wolf could drink himself into a sleep that not even the apocalypse could wake him from. I looked at the wall to where I could see a faint slither of red in the darkness standing out against the black paint. His room had once been red, but after I did a slight remodel, he was forced to paint it black to cover up the baby pink and My Little Pony stickers I had managed to cover the wall in. He hadn’t woken a single time then, either. My gaze trailed down to my stomach, or more specifically, to the hands tightened around it. The thin sheet had slipped down his broad shoulders and now rested against his hips again, which was fine since the bastard had a body temperature of a volcano, so I was hot even without it. It had been one of my many complaints that he had ignored. Despite my better judgment, my small hands reached up and skimmed over his. My fingers mapped out each tattoo inked into his skin. Many people overlooked his tattoos because they just fit with his biker image to the point that nobody really questioned him. But I knew different. As my eyes looked over his worn hands, I could see the life he

had left behind in Russia. From the forked cross on one finger to the skull, gun, and knife and the letter K on the back of his hand, naming him as a killer. There were a few others I recognized; jail time tattoos at tough prisons, Xs on each of his knuckles keeping score of the number of times in prison, totaling up to six, and the small bird on his thumbs resembling freedom. Although I couldn’t see, I also knew he had the outline of a black pawprint etched into the back of his neck. The tattoo was unfinished, and I knew he grew the length of his hair to cover it. It came down to his shoulders at the back, but he always pushed it back away from his face so it often looked shorter than it was. Every so often, I heard him bitch about getting it cut, but even so, he never did. I’d considered setting it on fire multiple times, even gluing it together, but unfortunately, I neither had glue nor a lighter within reachable distance, not to mention I was pinned to the bed. I tried to wriggle forward again, but he didn’t move, so I finally allowed myself to admit that I wasn’t going anywhere. I breathed in the deep smell of smoke and whiskey as his breath tickled my shoulder. I paid too much attention to it as it left soft tingles over my skin, and before I knew it, my breath had synced with his. With each breath in, my chest rose, and with each one out, my own chest sank.

The monotonous attention to each one had my eyes growing heavy, and his smothering heat sent me into a drowsy spiral until soon enough, I was swept into a deep sleep.

T

he nightmares came in the early hours of the morning. My exhaustion only provided me with enough protection for a few hours of dreamless sleep before blood began pooling at my feet as I looked down to see my chest riddled with bullet holes. And then there I was, looking up at myself, realizing I had taken Lizard’s part, looking at my mask of coldness as I died in my own arms, choking on my own blood and wondering when it was that I lost the ability to cry. I wished I hadn’t thought of the question, because suddenly, I was back in that room, looking down at the papers, at the knife wedged in the victim’s chest, blood having poured out of their chest and out onto the old, worn bricks of the house they took their last breath in. I panicked, my hands reaching into the photograph, trying to wipe away the blood until it seeped through my fingers. Then abruptly, they weren’t looking at me anymore. Lizard was, his eyes a ghostly white, his lips moving, forming the

words I never wanted to hear. “This is your fault.” I was thrown into the darkness of a room, disorientated and panicked as I fought to catch my breath. My body was covered in a cold sweat, and my hands were grasping around me, trying to feel anything. Where was I? What was happening? Suddenly, something caught my wrist, and I opened my mouth to scream. “Anna!” a familiar voice called to me. I knew the accent. I knew the voice. “Wolf?” I breathed. “Yeah,” Wolf grumbled, his hands coming to my biceps. “It’s me, Anna. You’re at the club. You’re fine.” I dug through my haze, and one by one, I strung reality back together with my memories; the shooting, Wolf yelling at me, telling me to get into bed, and... I looked around the dark room, or more specifically, Wolf’s room. When I had conceded to Wolf’s persistence to get into his bed, I was planning to wait him out until he fell asleep before I went to find one of the other club rooms to crash in. I must have crashed here instead. “Shit,” I breathed, feeling a cool breeze nip on my bare skin. I looked down to see the huge T-shirt covering my chest and followed the material down to where it gathered at my bare thighs.

“My clothes?” I said, my voice dipping low in warning as I looked up to see Wolf’s face. Unfortunately for me, Wolf had no such shame, and with a slow, smug smirk, he said, “You don’t sleep in clothes.” “Um, I do,” I argued. I usually slept in silver nighties and sexy pajamas because it felt good falling asleep knowing you looked sexy as fuck, without needing anybody to tell you that. I didn’t bring them here though, not if it meant Wolf getting a high out of it. “You were tossing in your sleep. Your clothes were wet with sweat. I had them changed for you,” he explained, letting his dark eyes roll down over my attire with slow, satisfying appraisal. “Fuck, Hunter said it before, but I didn’t think I’d like you in my shirt as much as I do.” Just the mere idea that he was enjoying it made me grab the hem of the shirt, pull it over my head, and drop it into a pile on the bed without a second of hesitation. I folded my arms over my black laced bra and raised my brow at him, daring him to challenge me. Wolf smiled. “Fuck, I love it when you do shit like that.” He drooled over my lace bra and panties despite having probably already done it earlier when he’d— “I didn’t,” he interrupted my thought. “Didn’t what?”

“I didn’t strip you,” he said, smirking at my surprise. “You were dead asleep, so I got Kay to do it. Made me hand over one of my shirts, since your tits are too big for her or Bell’s clothes. And all your clothes are tight as fuck.” “Hmm,” I murmured, looking down at where my breasts were packed into my lace bra as if I only just realized their size. When I looked back up and saw Wolf also giving them a thoughtful look, I growled. “Feel free to put the shirt back on,” he offered, lifting the material back up off the bed and offering it to me without taking his eyes off my chest. “Either way, I’m good.” “You know what?” I hissed, snatching the shirt out of his hands as I scrambled out of the bed. “Fuck you,” I hissed, then pulled the shirt back on over my head. I turned to leave, but Wolf’s hand lunged for my wrist so fast I didn’t have time to move out of his reach. “Where are you going?” he growled. “I’ll sleep somewhere else,” I snapped, returning to my original plan of commandeering one of the empty rooms in the compound. “No.” Wolf’s stern voice made me stagger to a stop. “No?” I parroted, sure he didn’t just say that to me. “No.”

“What makes you think you have any right to tell me what to do?” I growled. The second the words left my mouth, my wrist was yanked downward, and a small yelp managed to escape from my mouth as I felt my body fall forward. His hands came up around my sides as he lifted me with ease until I found myself straddling his lap, my lace panties providing barely any protection from the heat of his body warming my cool cheeks. I looked up to argue, but apparently, his point wasn’t made as his eyes locked onto mine, and suddenly, I felt as if I couldn’t move. “You’re not sleeping alone tonight, Anna,” Wolf said, his brown eyes determined. “Not after what happened to you. And not after what just happened two minutes ago.” “It was just a nightmare, Wolf. I’m not five. I’ll get over it,” I grumbled, my voice softer now. “I don’t care.” Wolf wrapped his hand around the back of my neck, its huge size making my spine feel tiny and fragile under his grasp. I tilted my head back to meet his eyes as he lowered his. “You almost died, Anna. Somebody died in front of you. I’m not letting you face that alone.” The empathy his voice held drew out the vulnerability I was trying to hide. It made me feel exposed, and my heart swelled with a deep-seated, heavy feeling that kept me pinned to his lap.

I looked into his whiskey-colored eyes, remembering the times when I used to joke that Wolf’s eyes were once a clearer color that had been dyed over the years since he had started taking a bottle of whiskey to bed. The heat of his hand against my skin felt warmer as the openness in Wolf’s gaze reminded me of the half-finished paw-mark on the back of his neck. I reached up, my hand brushing along his collarbone, following the curves and ridges of his muscles, and his shoulder as I extended back under his long hair until my small fingers brushed over where I knew the tattoo rested. Wolf’s body tensed, but it only lasted a moment before he put his defenses down and his body relaxed. I ran my fingers along the skin, the tattoo so old it had lost any of the ridges on his skin. I was so lost in the feeling of it that I didn’t notice the soft words slipping from my lips. “What do you dream of, Wolf?” “I don’t dream,” Wolf whispered, not surprised or hesitant to answer. “Never dream.” I nodded my head, somehow sated by his answer. Wolf lifted his free arm, reached over to where the whiskey sat on the bedside table, and pulled it toward him. He unscrewed the lid, the cap spinning off with expert ease and enough speed to fall from his grip, dropping to the floor and rolling across the

wood. I listened to it disappear to a place where we wouldn’t be able to find it. My eyes were mesmerized as he brought the bottle to his lips, his eyes on my face as he tipped it upward, a mouthful of whiskey swallowed before he pulled the bottle away. I watched as his tongue slowly collected the moisture left on his lips before it disappeared back inside his mouth. Without a word, he tilted the bottle toward me. My hand reached out, my fingers brushing Wolf’s as I brought the bottle to my face. The sharp smell of the whiskey made my heart race as I pressed it to my lips, the glass still warm from Wolf’s touch. He wordlessly watched as I tilted my head back and let the warm liquid rush down my throat, the burn hitting the bottom of my stomach before pooling and spreading across the rest of my body. I didn’t put the bottle down until I needed to surface to breathe, the alcohol hitting my senses hard. Wolf took the bottle from my hands and set it back on the bedside table. My face felt warm and my body limp as I let it lean forward, my head fitting in the gap where Wolf’s neck met his shoulder. I sat there for a long time, matching my breathing to his own, feeling the warm alcohol slowly take its desired effect as my drowsiness began to grow.

At some point, Wolf rolled us both back onto our side, tucking me into the warmth of his chest, his chin resting on the top of my head. “Wolf?” I whispered. “Yeah?” he grumbled, his own tiredness clear in his voice. “How do you do it?” Wolf was quiet for a moment, and had I not been on the verge of falling asleep, I might have thought my question was too vague for someone to understand. But somehow, Wolf knew exactly what I meant, and with a worn, tired voice, he said to me, “You pick your battles. Fight what you can today, and what you can’t, know that you can fight it tomorrow or the next day. Don’t be impatient. Every fight can be won. And you will win one day. Make sure when your time comes, you die a champion. Make sure you never let it break you.” Every word was so perfectly repeated that I knew they were ones that had been told to him a long time before. And now it was his turn to tell them to me. I pressed my face deeper into his neck, and in the night, my voice was soft and quiet when I whispered, “Thank you.” Then I fell into a peaceful sleep and didn’t stir again until morning.

Chapter Seven

WOLF

R

ustling woke me from my sleep as I tightened my arms around the empty space in front of me. I groaned, realizing my grip must have slipped when I finally fell asleep last night. Anna had slept through the rest of the night. It had taken her almost an hour to fall asleep when we’d first gone to bed, and it had taken nearly all my might not to move as her hands traced each one of my tattoos. Her touch was timid and even soft as she delicately smoothed over my knuckles and fingers one by one. It was one of the rare times I’d ever seen her so gentle and quiet, and it surprised the fuck out of me. I was just glad she didn’t notice my erection growing under my boxer shorts. If expecting Anna to go straight to sleep was a mistake, then putting my nose in the crook of her neck so all I could do

was smell her was a colossal fuckup. And then, when she woke up after her nightmare... The moment between us was deeper than I’d felt with anyone in such a long time. And when she touched the back of my neck, the black paw print, I could barely hold on to myself. I wanted to shut her down like I did whenever anybody mentioned my past, but I didn’t. Anna was so vulnerable that I couldn’t bear to shut her out; so instead, I opened my soul to her. And once I opened myself and saw Anna open herself in return, accepting what I had done—which I hadn’t for almost twenty years— felt easy. It had felt right. Anna had felt right. Overall, I woke up with my emotions raw and my defenses violated and in desperate need of a tobacco fix. I reached my hand out for my cigarettes and nearly groaned when I remembered I’d put them on the other bedside table. I let out an annoyed growl before flipping over onto my other side and— “What the fuck?” spluttered from my mouth as my eyes moved to the round, beautiful ass pointed high in the air, only a single pair of black lace panties sliding between each cheek. Anna leaped up at the sound of my voice, her clothes in her hands pinned to her chest as her eyes whirled to meet mine. I didn’t think it could get worse, but as my eyes rose and saw that she was

also only wearing a deep red, lace bra that peaked out just behind her clutched clothes, I knew that I was wrong. “Don’t scare me like that!” she snapped. Her eyes looked down at her bags before looking back to where I lay in the bed and then down at the clothes pinned in front of her chest. “I could say the same thing,” I ground out, my eyes sinking back down across her body. I could feel my mouth watering at the sight of her deep, sultry curves. Where you could see the ribs of the girls in the club, Anna’s body was covered in soft, cushioned skin that smoothed over her bone structure. Her broad shoulders and heavy rack balanced with her wide hips, both covered in a soft, almost innocent pale-pink skin tone. She didn’t have a thigh gap, and the way her legs pressed together only made me want to sink my teeth into them. I could imagine my marks all over her skin, and the image near made me explode then and there. Fuck, it was too early for this. It must have been written all over my face because, as my eyes rose back to hers, I saw Anna take an unconscious step back. “I’m going to get a shower,” she snapped, taking her clothes over to the door. When I quickly rose out of bed, Anna stopped in her tracks, her eyes going down to the bulging

erection in my boxers. I didn’t even say anything before a husky but firm “No” came out of Anna’s lips. Whatever moment we shared last night obviously became invalid now, because Anna was back to normal, which meant I needed to prepare myself to get burned. I’d always been the type who liked to play with fire. “That word isn’t allowed in this room,” I growled, my feet prowling across the wooden floor, my eyes locked onto hers. “I don’t care about your rules, Wolf,” Anna scoffed, bundling her clothes under her arm as she set one hand on her hips, jutting her waist to the side. “And the only reason I’m in this room is because you won’t let me sleep in someone else’s room.” “You’re free to go sleep in another room,” I said and watched her eyes widen with surprise. “But if you do, they die.” “What?” Anna snapped. “Don’t be fucking ridiculous. You can’t kill one of the brothers for letting me sleep in their room.” “I can,” I promised, taking a step toward her. “And I will.” Anna took a step toward the bathroom as her eyes searched my face. Judging by the deep scowl, I knew she could tell I wasn’t joking. Even so, I saw her eyes flicker to the door with longing.

“Try it,” I dared. She whirled her head back on me with a vicious scowl. “Fuck you,” she snapped, picking up her feet and barging past me and into the bathroom. I let her go, watching her ass move in those tiny little panties while forcing myself not to move before I went and tore them apart. “Fucking perv,” she hissed, punctuating it with a slam of the door.

Chapter Eight

ANNA

“A untie Anna,” Adair called, tugging at my

shirt and pulling me from my daze. My mind had been going over last night again and again as I looked into the empty screen of my phone. I turned the phone off, tucking it in my back pocket as I looked down at the young boy. His blond curls and bright green eyes were the spitting images of his father’s. I felt my heart pang just a little as I reached up and helped him climb onto my lap. Noble had been a brother in the club, one who’d filled his life with women, sex, and bikes and did it smiling all the way. He’d been a carefree bastard, and I’d liked that about him. His only problem being the nonstop flirting. “Mia and Chloe asked me to choose between them,” Adair announced to me. “But I don’t know who to choose.”

Yep, that trait had been passed on to his son, too. I forced myself not to burst out laughing at the kid’s deeply concerned frown, obviously feeling that it was a very serious issue to him. Adair had only just turned four years old, and the girls he had to choose between were six and eight. Chloe and Mia were Ripper’s two daughters, and they’d both been smitten with him ever since he joined the gang a year ago. “Don’t even think about it,” Hunter interrupted as he dropped down beside me, his wife, Mallory, squeezing in next to him. “I’m fed up with Ripper being up my ass about you flirting with his girls.” “It’s not my fault, Uncle Hummer!” Adair whined, giving him his best puppy dog eyes. A new skill he’d mastered thanks to Jax’s helpful tutoring. I flashed a look up to Mallory, whose eyes softened on her little boy. She didn’t get in between them, though, choosing to just watch from the side as Adair continued to defend himself against his uncle. Hunter had been Noble’s brother, and once he’d learned about Adair being Noble’s son, he had literally dragged Mallory back home to Fellpeak so he could raise his nephew; and after a long year, the two finally got married. Adair climbed off my lap, upset after losing an argument with his uncle, and headed back over to where the two girls were.

“That’s new,” I said, watching his little feet stomp on the floor as he weaved through the brothers that were crowded in the small confines of the compound. Many stopped to talk to him, now referring to the boy as “Prince” for his kind but flirtatious ways similar to his father’s, but Adair ignored them in his escape. “Kid doesn’t like doing what he’s told.” Hunter sighed. “It’s a genetic flaw.” Mallory slapped his chest, giving him a mock scowl. “He just really likes Mia and Chloe equally.” Both Hunter and I scoffed at that one. The kid was such a flirt. He just loved the attention. I looked down at my phone screen, realizing I had brought it out into my lap after Adair left. “No new messages” blinked up at me. I sighed and turned the screen off, flipping it over on my lap. “Expecting a call?” Hunter asked curiously, looking over my shoulder at my phone. “I’ve already learned not to,” I grumbled, scowling at the phone once more, ignoring both Hunter and Mallory’s curious looks, both waiting for me to elaborate further. I didn’t. The two just nodded and accepted my answer, leaving me to stew for a few more moments before the pest made his appearance. I watched as Jax released one of the girls from under his heavily tattooed arm with a wet kiss

before he swaggered over to our corner. His dark eyes searched around the room as he dropped himself down on the coffee table in front of us. Not finding what he was looking for, he turned back to me and, with a sly grin, said, “Hiding from Wolf, huh?” “No,” I denied, but obviously Jax didn’t believe me. Just as he opened his mouth to argue with me, the man in question stormed into the room. His footsteps were heavy as he marched along the dark oak floors. Eyes turned his way and watched as their president moved through the crowd. He didn’t stop to talk, pushing his way through until he found himself by the bar. Lamb stopped what he was doing to meet Wolf’s eyes. Their lips began moving, and although everyone else had gone back to their own business, I couldn’t take my eyes away from the huge Russian, watching carefully as his frown deepened the longer his conversation with Lamb lasted. By the time it was over, Wolf’s face was contorted into a deep scowl. Lamb put a beer on the side of the bar, and Wolf picked it up as he moved toward the back door, opening it up and stepping out into the back garden before shutting it behind him. I didn’t wait as my legs had already lifted me from the couch, ignoring Jax’s jibes as I made a beeline for the same door. I slid it open, letting the

warm afternoon air hit my skin as I stepped out onto the concrete. The large yard, fenced off by a chained fence on three sides, the other leading round to the car lot, was in the process of turning from green to yellow with the change of the seasons. I stepped onto the concrete path around the side of the building and, seeing no Wolf in sight, followed it around the back of the building. Sure enough, hidden in the shadow of the compound, stood a lone man with a cigarette in his mouth. Wolf kept the cigarette between his lips, his other arm crossed over his chest as he looked up into the sky, puffing a breath of smoke into the breeze. Noise was absent behind the building crammed top to bottom with big, burly bikers inside the soundproofed walls. Despite being on the edge of town, the club was still close enough to houses that they worried about noise complaints, and so soundproofing had been the solution to stop the sheriff coming to the property to arrest them for something whenever he could. As I approached, Wolf turned to look at me. His eyes scanned me from the tips of my boots to my tight blue skirt and red shirt. It covered my chest this time, since I didn’t have the chance to actually choose my clothing when Wolf woke up this morning and ate me alive with his eyes. Then he

pissed me off, so I had made it to the bathroom before I realized the clothes I had grabbed. I wasn’t a vain person, however, and didn’t really mind the clothes. It didn’t stop Wolf, though, as his eyes lingered an extra second on where my curves were most pronounced before turning and staring back into the distance. His shoulders slumped further with every step I took until he was lounging against the wall, lessening the distance between our faces by a few inches. He was still taller than me by a long shot, but at least this way when I stood in front of him, I didn’t have to crane my neck to look up at him. His eyes were trained on me as I blocked his view, but aside from that, he didn’t move. I stood and watched him take one deep, long breath of his cigarette, blowing the smoke out one side of his mouth so it didn’t touch me. I waited for him to explain what his heated conversation with Lamb was about, but after another minute passed and he didn’t say anything, I gave up. I stepped forward, positioning myself between his outstretched legs. He didn’t move as I reached up and gently plucked the cigarette from his lips. I put it between mine, taking a long drag, the familiar feeling of nicotine spreading through my lungs. I held it for a moment longer than I should before

blowing the smoke in the breeze. I saw Wolf’s eyes darken and his arms tighten around his torso at the view I was giving him. “Heard any news yet?” I asked, veering away from the growing heat in his eyes. “No,” Wolf grunted. “Jeez,” I sighed, taking another drag of the cigarette. “You’re so grumpy.” He cocked an eyebrow at me, whether in annoyance or amusement, I couldn’t tell. I swore his face was made for the sole purpose of frowning at me. He finally unwound a single arm from his chest but didn’t move from the wall where I still stood between his legs. His arm reached out, snatching, without the gentleness I had given him, the cigarette from my fingers. “Don’t touch my cigarettes,” he said, lifting it up to his thin lips, purposely letting them touch the faint red mark my lipstick had left around it. He took in a deep breath before letting the smoke blow out of his lungs. I scoffed. Reaching up and snatching the cigarette right back from him, I wrapped my lips around it and pulled in a deep breath. I held it tighter in my mouth, making sure I left a darker mark as I filled my lungs with smoke. When I finally pulled it from my lips, I pushed onto my tiptoes to blow the smoke into his face. “Fuck your rules.”

Wolf’s chest stretched as the smoke was sucked into his lungs, his eyes never leaving mine as he allowed it to swirl in his chest before the smoke came back out of his lips on a deep, rough growl. I watched, unable to look away as each cubic meter rolled from his body, mesmerized by the dirty and hot feeling it left burning in my chest. His eyes narrowed on me as I took a small step forward. Lower against the wall, his face was closer to mine, and I let my blue eyes clearly drop down to his lips then back up to his eyes. He didn’t move, but it was like I could hear the rippling of his muscles beneath his gray shirt as I leaned my chest forward, allowing it to press against the arm still wrapped around his chest. His other arm was clenched into a tight fist by his side, as if forcing himself not to reach for me. I knew I was baiting him, knew I was practically begging him to make a move. But I also knew he wouldn’t. As much as I knew I was the one who always ran away, Wolf never chased. When he had his lips on my neck, he had hesitated, which had given me the opportunity to get away. Whatever moment we shared, whatever chemistry, none of it could break the stalemate between us. The thought forced a pathetic laugh from my lips as I shook my head. I looked up, watching him frown as I took a step back. “This is stupid,” I said. “I’m going ba—”

I didn’t get a chance as hands came around my waist, dragging me back. I met a face full of his chest, but as I turned to snap, my words were stopped. I was tangled with the taste of whiskey, smoke, and most of all, Wolf, as his hands latched to my sides, pulling me with almost impossible strength into his hard body. His tongue wrapped around mine, forcing it out to play as he growled against my lips. I tried to fight, but I found my strength slipping as his hand reached up and tangled in my hair. He pulled, forcing my head back and giving him more access. His kiss was hot and demanding, and I found my body softening into his as he dragged the fire I kept buried deep out into the open. I moaned against his lips despite myself, and his hand tightened in response. When he pulled away, I found myself gasping for air as his eyes glared into mine, alight with fire and fight. “Don’t think I won’t bite,” he growled. And then his hand untangled from my hair and he stepped away before turning and walking back into the compound. My hands reached up to feel my hot, swollen lips, my mouth feeling lonely at its emptiness as my eyes were drawn down toward the cigarette abandoned on the concrete. I lifted my boot, slamming it on the floor and

squashing the burning tip with my foot. “Shit.”

Chapter Nine

WOLF

“S hit,” I hissed, leaning back into my office

chair. I looked down at my hands, my fingers tightening around each other, feeling the need to go for another cigarette despite just having had one. My tongue swirled in my mouth, still holding the lingering spicy taste of Anna. I wanted to think more about it, perhaps go out and find her to torment myself like the masochist I was beginning to think I was becoming, but instead, my eyes rested heavy on my hands. I looked down at the faded ink. They were what had traveled with me to the States, and the news I just received made them feel heavy on my skin. “Don’t think too much about it, boss,” Lamb said, his body leaning up against the door. He held in his hand his sleek black phone, this time acting as an ominous sign. I couldn’t take Lamb’s advice

as my mind stayed hitched on the information Lamb had just given me. Ties to the Bratva. My back almost ached, as if the tattoo I had long since covered up had only just been done. I could feel all the snaking lines of the crucifix that had armored my back once a long time ago, back when it had defined me. Now my club crest covered it, but at times like these, it felt as if it was still there, hidden beneath the skin... waiting. It was as if I could smell the musty prison walls again, along with the harsh liquor and the gun powder. The warm air filtering through the club did nothing to dissipate the growing chill in my bones. I thought back to the words I had said to Anna. They were the same words Roscoe had said to me when I was prospecting in the club. But fuck, this was one fight I thought I’d won a long time ago, but hearing those words again just dredged up the past, immediately putting me on edge. Lamb’s eyes traced my reaction, but he said nothing. Lamb had never been the reassuring type. He was a cold bastard mostly, too cunning for his own good, and a cruel, toying fucker twelve months of the year, but he was a loyal idiot, and no matter how the years had gone by for us, he hadn’t changed. Loyalty is what protects the club, because if brothers have our backs, then we've got our brothers’ backs, and that's what keeps us alive.

Lamb had been the first one I’d said that to when he’d been a stupid fuck all those years ago, and after him, it had stuck. He was dressed in his club cut, jeans, and boots, and although he was slenderer than the rest of the brothers, he still had deadly fighting skills and fit in just as well as the rest of them. Lamb ran a hand through his blond hair before he straightened from the door. He didn’t move away from it, though, as he rarely did. Corners were his favorite places to stand, always able to keep an eye on anything that caught his attention. It was for the same reason I had a favorite stool in the bar, except Lamb’s preferred place was standing behind it. The position allowed him control over the entire room. I looked into his eyes, their depths almost endless with cunning intelligence that he often kept hidden around the other brothers. “Do we know what he wants yet?” I asked, shifting my focus out of the past and back into the room. “No,” Lamb said, scowling at the floor. There was little Lamb didn’t know, and even less that he couldn’t find out. It must have been grating on his nerves. “Knowing he has ties to the Russian mafia makes it less likely that he’s after drugs, or guns, or anything materialistic.” “How are we supposed to know anything about

this fucking key if we can’t even figure out what he’s after?” I snapped, forcing myself to stay in my seat so I didn’t break anything. I already had to throw out my bookshelf after I put a hole through it. It had taken me fucking forever to put that thing up when I got it, and being forced to throw it out only put me in a more pissed off mood. “What the fuck could a small-town MC like ours have for a man like him?” Lamb was quiet, in thought for a long while, until he suddenly said, “What makes an MC unique?” He turned his head toward me. His pale brown eyes waited expectantly for my answer. I figured he already had an answer in mind, and yet he still wanted to hear my answer. I had to admit, this part of his personality was a bitch, always acting like he was testing me like some damn kid. I took a moment to think it over, but only a single obvious answer came to mind. “The members?” I thought back to the clubroom packed full of Black Angels, their noise smothered by the soundproofed walls. You’d never find another bunch quite like them. Lamb didn’t tell me if I was right or not; instead, he just watched me expectantly. “But that would mean he’s after one of the members. More so, he believes one of them can lead them to what he wants,” I continued, wracking my brain. “But one of the brothers would have told

us if they knew something. I trust each and every one of them. They wouldn’t hide shit knowing the force it's bringing down on the club. They know how much I hate doing anything blindly.” “Which is why we should work under the assumption that they’re as unaware of it as we are,” Lamb finally joined back in. “If the brothers begin to suspect someone of holding back, it could turn into a paranoid riot in there during lockdown. Being in close quarters would just aggravate them. We don’t want to start a shit fest if we’re not sure.” “But, surely, they would know if they had information that important,” I argued. As much as I hated the thought of one of the brothers holding back on me, I hated the idea that they would have had to lie to my face when I had asked them if they knew anything. “Value varies from person to person,” Lamb interrupted. “There’s no way of telling what’s valuable to one person compared to what’s valuable to another. It’s likely that whatever he’s after is of a personal value to him.” “So, in other words, we have no fucking way of finding out what it is.” I sighed, my hand pinching the bridge of my nose, trying to soothe the headache beginning to form behind it. “My guess is, when the message was delivered, he was expecting the key to know who they are.” Lamb looked in the direction of the club to where

the boys were no doubt starting to get drunk, since all the club kids would have been taken up to bed and out of the way by now. “But I don’t think they’ve realized it. And if they haven’t, I can’t imagine they would even if we asked them.” “This problem just keeps getting fucking worse,” I growled, pushing my chair back and rising from it. I looked to Lamb, who didn’t move from his spot as I passed him. “I’m fucking whacked, and I’ve got a killer headache. So you better tell me now if you’ve got anything else to get off your chest, because if not, I’m grabbing myself a drink and calling it a night.” When Lamb didn’t say anything else, I took it as my cue to leave. “Set up Church for tomorrow morning. And by morning, I mean not until after ten,” I ordered as I opened the door. I was met with a sudden blast of loud music, laughing, and the sounds of glasses being broken as I stepped out into the hallway and headed for the clubroom. It was almost one as I moved up to the bar where Baby stood making drinks. The rest of the girls had managed to find themselves a man or two and were draped across them, keeping their boredom at bay as the girls got to play harem. “Beer,” I said, immediately stopping her from whatever she was doing to come down and place a bottle in front of me. She also reached down and tossed me a packet of painkillers from below the

counter. I popped two in my mouth before I handed them back to her, letting her place them under the counter before she went back to doing whatever it was she was trying to do before I interrupted her. That’s what I liked most about Baby. The girl was low-maintenance, knew how to blow a man just the way they liked, and fuck them however they wanted and didn’t bitch or gossip about it afterward like most of the girls. She was there when she was needed. She also never went looking for scraps, like Georgia often did. Then again, the men liked her enough that her time was nearly always occupied, so she didn’t have to. Just as the thought crossed my mind, I saw Jax lean over the bar, his hand pulling Baby forward by the valley of her shirt, exposing a trove of her soft brown skin before whispering in her ear. He didn’t need to sweet talk Baby into bed, but that was just Jax’s deal. Not a moment later, the Amazonian woman disappeared up the steps, as did Sweets and Ember when he flagged them down. When the men started bitching about Jax stealing the women, long after he’d gone, I had enough of this day and figured I’d call it a night. I made my way toward my door, wondering what was waiting for me on the other side when I heard her voice. She wasn’t in bed.

My need to sleep was overpowered by my curiosity as I heard her howl from the pool room. My feet were moving. I took my beer along with me as I stepped into the room. I found myself looking at a disaster. Pretty and Pipe both stood in nothing but their underwear as they huddled by the furthest end of the pool table —a.k.a. as far away from Anna as they could get. Anna was leaning on the pool cue, checking her nails with a saccharine smile on her lips before looking back up at her prey. Lamb, who I hadn’t noticed come up behind me, lost immediate interest in seeing the boys’ obvious loss at strip pool and went off in search of a quick bed partner to waste his time. I was tempted to tell him that he should go take one off Jax but couldn’t as Anna turned around and noticed me standing in the doorway. Her chest puffed out in arrogant pride as she smirked at me. “Prez!” Pretty called. “She cheated!” I didn’t know what the fuck he was telling me for. It only took one look to see that the bastards had been played. “I did not,” she scoffed. “You guys are just shit at pool. And the only person good at pool is too grumpy to play.” She pointed over at Mint, who had Georgia draped over his lap. She had a beer in her hand, sucking on it while Mint had his hand under

her shirt, playing with her nipples as she gave soft whimpers. He didn’t seem to be bothered to do anything more, and Georgia looked too drunk to care. I looked to Kay, the ex-president, Roscoe’s widow, who sat in the chair next to Mint, more than pleased to watch the outcome of the game. Bell, her daughter, sat next to her, her eyes pinned to her mobile phone as she attempted to ignore everything in the room. She had recently become more attached to that thing than reality, and he’d noticed she’d been coming to the clubhouse less and less. “I am pool Queen!” Anna declared, bringing my focus back to her. She lifted her cue and pointed it at the boys, looking slightly unsteady on her feet. “You have one more chance to redeem yourselves.” They both began to whine, and just as I was thinking about walking away, I instead found myself downing the rest of my beer, setting it on one of the tables, and reaching for a cue. “Can’t call yourself Queen without first playing all the competition.” Anna raised her eyebrows at me with a scoff. “You call yourself competition?” “Play me and find out,” I challenged. A sober Anna perhaps might not have taken me up on the challenge so easily, but alcohol only seemed to make her bad traits worse as her competitive

nature won. “Fine,” she relented, lifting her cue and pointing it at the boys and then me. “But since you’re joining the game midway, you have to play it fair to the other two.” She lowered the cue at my shirt and then my jeans. “Off,” she commanded. I set my cue aside as I slid off my cut and then reached for my shirt and pulled it over my head, dropping them both onto the back of a chair. Next came my boots and my socks. Anna watched with a meticulous eye as each piece of clothing came off, her eyes now feasting on the naked skin that was revealed to her. My hands wore the most tattoos, my back only covered by my club patch and the paw print tattoo on the back of my neck. On the other hand, my chest was surprisingly bare, with not a single tattoo in sight. Ready to play, I picked up my cue. “You just going to stare at me all day, or are we going to play?” Anna frowned at my jeans. “You haven’t taken your jeans off yet.” “Rules are that I have to be down to my last pair of clothing.” I gave her a shark-toothed grin. “I am.” Anna breathed a soft “Oh” as her eyes all but burned through the thick material of my jeans at the revelation that there was nothing else under them. “You know what?” Anna said, the lust in her eyes

being replaced by her arrogance. “I’ll let you have this turn. Call it a handicap for having those two on your team.” I heard Pretty’s exclamation behind me, but I ignored him, looking down at Anna. “You sure?” “Yup,” she popped, her red lips matching the drunken flush of her cheeks. “Okay, then,” I said, stepping up with my cue. “You’re solids,” Anna added as she picked up a cube of chalk and began rubbing it over the tip of her cue. My eyes stayed glued to the action, watching as her long fingers gripped the neck of the cue to keep it still as she was gentle with the chalk, rubbing it softly until the blue powder covered the end. When she put the chalk down, I shifted my stance, relieving the slight pressure in my jeans as I forced myself to look down at the table and assess what I was dealing with. From the look of things, the boys hadn’t even managed to pocket a single ball, and yet half of Anna’s were missing from the table. Poor boys seemed to have walked right into a trap. I couldn’t blame them, though; this was the first time I’d ever heard of Anna playing, neither of us having ever picked up a cue around each other—mostly because I didn’t want to end up staked with it. I leaned down over the table, positioning the cue between my fingers as I pointed the tip at the white ball. A solid sat hanging over the edge of the

right corner pocket, and with a quick jerk of my arm, the cue surged forward, sending the white ball flying. It hit the solid ball and dropped it into the pocket. “Lucky shot,” Anna scoffed, bending her ass over and giving everyone a good view of it as she began to unzip her boots. “Not them,” I interrupted, catching her attention. I held her gaze and made my voice clear as I elaborated, “They come off last.” Anna’s eyes widened in surprise before narrowing. Her arrogance faded away quickly as she rose to stand, her hands going to the waist of her skirt as she began pushing it down her legs, revealing those thin, black lace panties beneath the hugging black tights. She made sure to take it off slowly, her ass perking in my direction as she slid it down her calves and over her boots. Once Anna stood straight again, I became aware of the boys giving me curious looks, none of them having once seen me play. I also became aware of Lamb’s return as he situated himself at the doorway with Ember, who he must have stolen from Jax, draped around his waist. He didn’t pay her any attention, his one-track mind now focused on the game in the pool room. Anna stepped aside as I moved around to her end of the table. I leaned over again, Anna’s eyes watching my every move with newly acquired

caution. I lined up my cue and popped the white ball forward. This time, it hit the ball with enough force that it also knocked into a second ball, both of them subsequently falling into the pockets. I straightened and turned to look at Anna, whose face was now screwed into a scowl as she realized she had been played. “Two more.” Anna didn’t refuse as her hands clutched the hem of her red shirt and pulled it up over her head before dropping it on the floor next to her skirt. My mouth watered at the sight of her rounded globes bedded in that red lace bra. Knowing it didn’t match her panties only made it better. For the second item, I expected her to go for the tights, but instead, her arm bent around her back, and with one hand, the bra popped loose and the cups fell open, revealing two pink nipples softened by the warmth of the room. The bra dropped into the pile on the floor, and I became aware that even more brothers had gathered in the doorway. Anna placed her hands on her hips, unabashed, as she gestured for him to go on, making her tits wobble. I felt the need to stop them by sucking them into my mouth, but I held off and instead turned back to the game. I heard Pretty move over to the newly arrived Jax, who was demanding to know what the hell was

happening until he caught sight of Anna and listened to the half-naked Pretty give a quick rundown before focusing his surprise on my pool skills. I was shocked to see how surprised everybody was. It occurred to me then that the only time I used to play pool was when I would play with Roscoe, back when we kept the pool table in the basement. The bastard would give me a run for my money, pretending to let me get close to winning before ripping the victory from underneath me in the final moments. I popped my cue and sank another ball, the action punctuated with a click of Anna’s tongue. She turned, unzipping her boots and putting them to the side before she reached up to the edges of her black tights. She started slow, making sure she had everyone’s attention as her nails pulled them down bit by bit. Her eyes didn’t move from mine as she reached down her calves, soothing her hands over her skin as the first leg came free and then the second. The tights joined the pile, and she put her feet back in her red boots, zipping them up over her bare legs. She straightened again, her eyes blazing with challenge and fight, and I fucking loved it. My dick was now straining against my zipper, no doubt leaving it with a tooth print as it demanded attention. Anna’s attention. I was quicker this time, leaning over with the

cue and lining it up. I paused. Just as I was about to move my cue, my eyes were drawn to Anna as she leaned over the table, her tits falling in front of my face as she tried to distract me. I couldn’t help myself as my eyes wandered up the fleshy skin, following the dip of her collarbone, up the thin tendons in her neck, over her lips and flushed cheeks, all the way to those narrowed baby blue eyes. I could see lust blazing underneath the carefully constructed surface that made her seem as though she was just pissed and daring. But she couldn’t hide it from me. Not being this close. Not when I could see the way her nipples hardened the longer she kept her eyes on me. I wondered if she was wet for me. I bet if I took a deep breath now, I’d be able to smell her sweet juices from here. I wondered if they’d taste the same as they smelled. The thought was too much for me, and I was nearing the end of my tether. But I hadn’t given up my challenge to Anna just yet. So just for her, I made sure to keep my eyes on hers, keeping my gaze away from the table as I moved my cue forward. I heard the loud crack of the ball in the silence of the room, and then the growing noises of tension from the crowd as two more softer cracks filled the room. And finally, the soft click as two more balls

dropped into the pockets. The room went wild at pulling off pocketing two balls without looking, but it didn’t take long before they all began chanting. “Off! Off! Off!” they demanded. Anna bit down on her lip, but despite her annoyance, she wasn’t the type to back down from a bet. She reached to her waist, her fingers hooking around the edge of her black panties, beginning to move them down her hips. That’s as far as she got. I abandoned the cue stick, ducked my head to her bare waist, my hands going around the back of her knees, and stood. She squealed as I felt her cushioned breasts land against my bare back, her hands grasping the waist of my jeans to stop herself from falling. The boys yelled out as I turned and walked past them. They all bitched and cried, and whatever the fuck those pussies did for taking her away, but I ignored the lot of them as I made my way back to my room. I heard Anna’s gasp as her hands slipped from my jeans, her nipples brushing up against my back. Even I came to a stop as her hands quickly scrambled to grab my waist again and lift her breasts away from my skin. I continued walking, kicking my door open with my boot before setting her down and turning to shut it, cutting off the rest of the noise from the club.

I turned back to Anna, who had a deep scowl on her face as she stood there with her arms folded across her tits. She hid her nipples, but the rest of her breasts just spilled out over the top of her arms. “You played me, you bastard!” she snapped, making her boobs jump. “I did the exact same thing you were doing,” I argued, my eyes watching as her nipples slip into view above her arm. My eyes then scanned the rest of her body, tuning out whatever comeback she had as I admired the tiny black lace panties and the red boots. “I sank two more,” I reminded her, cutting off whatever she was in the middle of ranting. I pointed my hand to her black panties, and just like she had with the cue, I demanded, “Off.” Anna’s eyes flashed with a bout of lust, but she quickly smothered it under her glare. “You can’t be serious.” I took a long stride into her space, close enough to smell her hot, spicy scent as her eyes went to mine. My voice was low and husky when I repeated, “Off.” I kept my eyes on her, curious as to what she would do. Her eyes grew rounder in a small moment of panic as I saw her mind running through any and every excuse to get her out of this one. I’d had a piss-poor day, and it had only gotten worse until I walked into that room. I was still wound up from the news, and I knew the best way

to blow off steam was to find Anna. It was a way to get rid of the tension without having to shove my dick in some club whore. Our little dance managed to temporarily dissipate some of our growing lust for each other and allowed us to go on for another day without breaching our unwritten contract. I marked all the possible weapons around me and waited for her assault. It was easy to imagine how surprise I was when her hands reached for her panties. Her tits fell free as she curled her red nails and small fingers underneath the black lace. My eyes stayed on her action when, in slow, soft movements, the black lace traveled over her large thighs and down her calves, past her leather boots, and then onto the floor beneath her heels. When she straightened, her gaze timidly reaching up to mine, the girl in front of me had done a whole one-eighty. Dressed in her underwear, she had been giving me shit, but now, her body exposed to me—her boots excluded—she looked shy, and the pink flush on her cheeks had turned into a deep red blush. I’d figured I’d only tease her and then let her escape. She normally never let it go this far, and part of me wanted to say it was the alcohol, but I could see her eyes had long since grown sober. But now she stood in front of me all shy and innocent, and whatever restraint I’d had was gone. This

contract was done. My lips crashed against hers with such a force I heard her gasp in surprise. But it soon changed into a moan as my lips sucked her tongue from her mouth before my own plundered in. My hand reached up into her short hair, tugging on it until she tilted her head back to relieve the pressure, allowing me more access. I nearly came at just the inhibited taste of her spicy, hot flavor. Her tongue fought with mine in a battle of desire as I felt that feisty fire revive inside her. Her hands reached for my head, her fingers grasping my hair and pulling me closer to her. My hands reached around her bare ass, lifting her body up against my chest, her red boots wrapping around my waist. Her bare pussy landed on my stomach, and I groaned at the warmth of her wetness pressing against my skin. We kept up our frenzy of kisses, both of us refusing to give up to the other, until my hands squeezed the round globes of her ass, forcing her legs to clamp tighter around me as she groaned, allowing me to plunge deeper, taking control of the kiss at last. I stepped forward, feeling my shins hit the bed, and wasted no time in dropping her onto the mattress and pressing myself down on top of her. The kiss broke for a second, and she gave a short gasp before I reached up and covered her

mouth with mine again. She groaned as my hands slid down her bare thighs and pushed them wider to accommodate my broad build until our pelvises were pressed against each other. When my jeans rubbed against her wet pussy, Anna let out a groan of appreciation. My hands reached down between us, my finger finding her hard clit and pressing down. The kiss broke on her loud whimper as I rubbed my finger in circles. I placed kisses down across her collarbone before my lips found her nipple and I sucked one into my mouth. I matched my sucking and licking with the timing of my finger rubbing her clit. My other hand released her hair then came down to her other nipple and pinched it. She began to wriggle beneath me, but I applied more of my weight to her body, pinning her in place. My mind blurred as my lips abandoned her nipple and moved down her stomach, her skin rising to meet my lips with every heavy pant of breath. I paused above her mound, my teeth aching to sink into the bare, flawless skin of her pussy. “I’m going to fuck you with my tongue, got it?” I growled. I looked up to where Anna’s blue eyes were staring down at me in anticipation. “Got it?” I repeated, leaning down to blow a

breath over her clit. “I got it,” she said in a rushed breath. “I got it.” The thought possessed me, and I lifted her legs up over my shoulders, her red heels digging into the skin on my back as I leaned my face down to her glistening pussy. I took a long, deep breath, smelling the scent of Anna that I had spent three long years longing for. It filled my nose like a drug, and my mouth buried deep into her folds before I could even think about it. My tongue lashed against her, each time rewarding me with a moan as her hips lifted off the bed. I splayed one hand over her stomach, pinning her to the bed as I moved my mouth up to her clit and sucked it into my mouth. “Wolf!” she cried in desperation, and I found my body halting. It was as if her voice had turned a switch in me, and I was rising away from her in seconds. Her eyes darted to me with confusion and panic as I stepped away. I reached for my jeans, undoing my belt and letting it drop to pile on the floor. “Two items had to come off,” I said. I knew the rules meant two had to come off her, but there was no way in fuck I was letting her take those boots. Which meant my jeans were coming off instead. Her eyes immediately dropped down to my erection, standing at attention as her eyes glistened

over it. They darkened in lust, but at the same time, I saw a clarity breaking through as she realized I was doing the complete opposite of running away. “Wolf...,” she said with caution, but there was no stopping me now. I had long since grown tired of our game. Three years was long enough, and tonight, I didn’t have it in me to walk away from her again. She had nearly died only a few days ago, and seeing her bare and watching her desires cave for me, I couldn’t resist. No more. Anna must have seen the look in my eyes when hers surged with a single flash of panic until I knelt in front of her, my tip lining up in front of her entrance, and I watched with pleasure as her lust took control. “Put your hands on the headboard,” I ordered, my eyes watching her carefully. Anna’s gaze flickered between the headboard and me. “Now,” I demanded, my hands wrapping around her waist. My eyes held hers with an unrelenting force. “I’ve had to wait three years for this moment, Anna, and gentle just ain’t in my nature anymore.” “But I thought—” Anna began, her eyes flickering down to her pussy. “When you come, you’re going to come around my dick, and you’re going to scream my name,” I

told her, pressing my tip against her entrance. Anna opened her mouth, but I’d had enough of her arguing. Feeling her pussy throb against my dick tore my last tether of self-control to shreds. Her words turned into a shocked gasp as I surged into her. She was so fucking tight that I had to hold myself together to stop myself from coming straight there and then. I fought through, taking deep breaths, looking down at Anna as her eyes closed in pleasure, her tight walls accommodating my size. I had waited three long years for this pussy, and the feeling of her velvet walls hugging my dick was better than I’d ever fucking imagined. The more I realized how long I’d been anticipating this moment, the more my impatience grew. I knew Anna hadn’t completely adjusted yet, but I couldn’t stay still any longer. “Anna,” I growled, my voice cracking on the sound. Her blue eyes flickered open, looking up to meet mine. “Don’t close your eyes.” With that, I pulled back, watching as she gasped in surprise, before I surged back in, filling her to the brim as she let out a long, loud groan. I pulled back again, watching her face every time I pushed my length back in until we began a steady rhythm that got faster and faster with every thrust. “Harder,” Anna demanded, her heels digging

into my ass. I removed all reserves I had and thrust into her with all my strength. She cried out in pleasure, her hands finally reaching to grab the headboard to stop herself from falling off the bed. I did it again and again until she let out a cry louder than the rest. Found it. I pulled out and leaned back, both of my hands going to her hips, her legs sliding down to my thighs as I repositioned myself against her entrance. I pushed back into her, the angle and the speed making it possible to hit that perfect spot, and I saw as the intensity of her pleasure cross her face. Her delirious cries filled my room as I filled her over and over and over again until I felt her tight cunt ripple around my dick and her thighs tighten like a vice around my hips. I leaned forward, my body covering hers again as I leaned my mouth over her neck and bit down. Anna’s orgasm hit her hard and fast, and her walls clamped around my dick with all her strength as she cried out her pleasure. I was only two thrusts behind her as I crashed back into her pussy, my dick exploding inside of her as my own orgasm rocked through me. As we both came down, I pulled my teeth from her neck, placing a soft kiss against the bruised skin before I sat back. I pulled out, watching as some of my cum

leaked from between her legs before dropping down beside her. Our heavy, panting breaths mingled as we lay there, our hot, sweaty skin clinging to each other. Only a minute more passed before Anna turned to move away, but I didn’t let her. My arm circled around her waist, dragging her back toward me. “Wolf—” she began, but I cut her off with a hard kiss against her mouth. “Got to sleep,” I demanded, dropping my back down into the mattress. “At least let me—” “Sleep.” I heard the soft sound of Anna’s readied breath one more time, but thankfully, nothing followed and she didn’t argue anymore. My hand reached up to the light switch just above the headboard, sinking the room in darkness as I pushed all and any thought away, figuring I’d deal with it in the morning. I buried my head into Anna’s neck, feeling the small ridges of the bite marks on her neck as I let sleep sweep me away.

Chapter Ten

ANNA

I

abandoned my boots at the side of the bed and ignored the stickiness between my thighs as I tiptoed across the hard, wooden floors. The ground was shockingly cold compared to the cocoon of dense heat I had been sleeping in, and I felt goose bumps run up my calves as I stopped to pick up the outfit of clothes I had already laid out so I wouldn’t be rushed into any outfit like I had been yesterday morning. I also became aware of the fact that I had left my stripped clothes in a pile on the floor of the pool room, and had already accepted that the club girls would have claimed them for their own. I held back my sigh, sneaking into the bathroom and putting my clothes on the toilet. I wanted to lock the door, but I couldn’t risk making a sound. Wolf may sleep like the dead, and any attempt to

wake him was more or less futile, but I had a feeling fate wouldn’t be kind enough to let me rely on that fact. If I were to lock the door, I’d bet it’d be the one time Wolf was sleeping light enough to hear it. Not to mention, the reason he slept as soundly he did usually was because his blood toxicity levels were through the roof, and since he didn’t even drink a drop of whiskey before passing out last night, I couldn’t rule out the possibility that he was naturally a light sleeper. So, I gave up on the lock but thanked God that the walls were soundproofed as I turned on the shower. I opened the shower door to step in but paused as I caught my reflection in the mirror. My eyes went straight to the mark on my shoulder. Deep red teeth imprints stood out against my pale skin like a prostitute in a nunnery as my skin purpled beneath each mark, the color almost as dark as my tattoo’s ink. That wasn’t all. Small but faint bruises wrapped around my thighs in the shape of big, muscular hands that had held my legs around his waist, stopping me from falling off the bed while he had pounded into me over and over again. I quickly looked away, ignoring the hot flush that channeled through my body, and stepped under the shower’s warm spray, loving the way the heat bled into my aching muscles. I stood there for a long time, my eyes looking

down as if pondering what bottle of shampoo to use despite there only being one, while my mind crawled inside my skull. I shouldn’t have done that. The voice in my mind said it with a resignation that allowed me to accept that what we just did had been long since overdue. Ever since I had met Wolf, we were like two freight trains on the same track; we only had so much track between us, and at last, we finally collided. It had been a hot and wonderful disaster, as I knew it would be. The sex was amazing; my tired and worn muscles were the epitome of our clash in the sheets. I wasn’t a virgin, but sex with Wolf was a whole new shade of color. The man had reached me where no other man had been capable of touching before. He’d built me up to a new height, and the ride back down was a roller coaster. Now I was stepping off the ride and bathing in the aftermath of our lust. My hand reached down to smooth over my now clean thighs, the traces of Wolf having been washed down the drain. He had fucked me bare. If the breach of our relationship had knocked me off balance, this floored me. Wolf would be the last person to fuck anybody bare. Not if it meant risking everything on the 0.01 percent chance that my birth control pill would fail.

My arm reached up, as did my other, and they wrapped around my chest, hugging myself as if to comfort me from the sudden loss of stability. I stood there a moment longer, my forlorn feelings turning into annoyance at myself for acting like some pathetic girl. Wolf fucked me. So what? That didn’t mean anything had to change. I was strong. Fucking a man once, no matter how great the sex was, wasn’t something that should concern me. Riled up at myself, I reached for his shampoo and squeezed a dollop—perhaps a little too big— into my hands before rubbing it into my hair. I was midway through rinsing it when hands came around my hips. I let out a sharp gasp, turning on the huge man as he dropped his head beneath the shower’s spray. His dark brown hair, peppered with gray and white streaks, soaked up the water, darkening the color. The strands stuck to his chiseled face as it turned up toward the showerhead. I hated the way my eyes ate him up. I became mesmerized by a tiny drop of water as it rolled down his strong face, then down the edges of his shadowed jaw, following it down his thick neck into the dip of his collarbone. It pooled for a moment and then broke free of the crevice and slid between his crafted pecks, dusted with a dark layer of chest hair and prominent abdominal muscles with a dark trail leading past his

pelvis and then down to his... A growl made my eyes jump back up. His eyes were fixed on my face, his body leaning over my short stature, arms pressed against the wall by my head and behind me as he closed me in. The water from the shower cascaded over his face before it dripped onto my shoulder and across my back, the warm heat now feeling like a scalding burn as it trailed my spine. I swallowed, my eyes not leaving his dark brown ones as they leaned closer to mine. His face was shadowed from the bright bathroom light, which gave his hard face a deep sharpness. “What are you doing?” he growled, his voice husky and cracked from sleep. “I… uh…” I broke my eyes away from his. They went to the small gap between me and the shower door and the door that was key to my escape that lay beyond it. “I was just leaving.” “I don’t think you were,” Wolf growled, his body closing in on my tiny bubble of space. I stepped to the side, attempting to duck under his arm in the gap, but he saw it coming and stepped in my way before I could take a single step. When I went to the other side, he did the same thing, each time his body moving closer and closer. My space diminished, and I felt my back hit the wet, cold tiles of the wall. I let out a gasp at the cold touch. Wolf took advantage of my surprise and pushed

his body up against mine. He held me against the wall as his hot shaft pressed against the base of my stomach. His eyes narrowed on my body, but having me trapped made the rest of him relax as his hands came down from the wall, reaching to the sides of my face. The room was filled only with the monotonous sounds of the shower hitting the floor, the both of us now moved out of the way of its spray. My body broke out in goose bumps, and the heat of his hands felt as if they were burning through my skin as they moved down my jaw, my neck, and my shoulders, his eyes tracing the path. He paused over the bite indentations on my skin, his fingers running over them softly before moving them away. His head came down and his mouth fixed over the marks, making me whimper as his tongue traced each ridge with its tip. Heat burst up from my core, lighting my body with a feverish quiver that made me feel as if Wolf had only been buried between my legs moments ago. “Wolf,” I breathed, my hand reaching for his hip as I steadied myself against the bathroom wall. When his teeth raked over the mark, my thighs clamped closed, trapping his long shaft between them. A reverberating growl came from the depth of his chest, so dark and deep and rough in a way I’d never heard it ever before that my body tensed at the sound. His mouth abandoned my neck, his eyes

taking on a feral sharpness as they locked onto mine. He kept his focus on me as he slowly pulled his hips back, his dick pulling away from between my soft thighs until only the tip was pressed between them. A long, hard groan came from his lips as he slowly pushed it back in. The small action made me feel hot and dirty as he pulled out of my thighs again before thrusting back in. My damp thighs were coated with a second layer of wetness, and Wolf growled his appreciation as he slid his dick out and in as far as he could before his tip came out the other side, just brushing against the globes of my ass. My eyes settled on the few inches that my thighs didn’t cover, and I couldn’t resist as my hands went down between us, reaching for him. “No touching.” Wolf’s sharp voice had my hands freezing. I looked up to where his arms were both pressed tightly against the seemingly small shower cube, his hands tightly squeezed into hard, white fists. Seeing him on the end of his tether with his dick pressed between my legs spurred me to move. This man was at my mercy, and the idea of it made my body buzz with boldness. “Fuck your rules,” I purred, my hand reaching down and encircling the remaining length of his dick. He hissed as my fingers wrapped around him, my nails grazing his wide shaft as my small hands

just fit around his width. Wolf’s mouth clamped down shut, his jaw ticking with the tension he was using to keep his teeth pressed together. His whole body flinched as I squeezed, his pupils dilating with pleasure. “Move,” I demanded, my other hand pushing against his hip. He growled at me, his eyes flashing with annoyance at my tone, but he was soon lost to his desire as his hips coaxed back out from between my wet thighs and hand. I parted my legs and lifted his dick, repositioning him a few inches higher so my wetness touched his length. I closed my thighs back around him, watching his muscles tense at the pressure before he pushed his hips forward. His chest vibrated with a deep rumble as he pulled his dick back out and then in again, his body building up a steady pressure. My hand worked the rest of his length at the same time, alternating between squeezing my tights and my hand and watching his strong façade falter just a moment as he teetered on the edge of insanity. Controlling him like this made me go crazy with power. I had this big, almost seven-foot Russian ex-con motorcycle club president literally in the palm of my hands. He must have seen the look in my eyes because he gave a warning growl, one of many different ones he had mastered, and pushed his hips forward suddenly. His dick pressed up against my folds and

my whole body flinched at the sudden blast of pressure through my core. Wolf didn’t stop there. He pulled back and thrust forward, making sure his dick slid with slick ease through my lips. I moaned, my hand weakening around him as he moved faster. His shaft rubbed along my core; it was like the table had suddenly turned and I found my own hands reaching out to his arms to steady myself against him. The sound of the shower drowned out my gasps and moans and whimpers as I built higher and higher, and when I thought I couldn’t go much more, Wolf pulled out further, his dick catching my clit as he rammed back in. My orgasm hit me like a sledgehammer, and I cried out at the burst of pleasure that flooded me. Wolf moved like a powerful, fluid beast as his hands came up under my ass, picking me up off the ground, and pushed his dick straight into my core. With two hard thrusts, heat burst through my abdomen. Wolf held me tightly as the two of us rode down from our highs, my body quivering against his rocksolid mass before he teetered forward and his head dropped down against my neck. We both leaned against the wall, panting and quivering in the aftermath of our pleasure for what felt like the longest time before Wolf pulled out,

lowered me to my feet, and stepped back underneath the water. He reached for the shampoo, pouring it into his hands before reaching up and massaging it into his hair. I watched him for a long minute, still resting against the tile walls now, covered in sweat. “What are you doing?” “Washing my hair,” he said, putting his head underneath the water as all the suds washed away and down the drain. “Come here.” Before I could answer, his hand wrapped around my waist and pulled me forward. Cold soap pressed against my skin as Wolf moved his hands across my body, starting at my shoulders and working his way down. I watched silently as his hands smoothed over every curve as if savoring each one. His hands slid down between my thighs, and the muscles flinched at his touch. My hand reached to his shoulder to steady myself as he rubbed close to my sensitive center before moving away again. He washed away his cum without blinking as it slid down my leg. “What are we doing?” I whispered, too tired and raw to beat down my growing concern. Wolf didn’t flinch as he continued his path down my calf, soothing the soap over my pale skin. “Don’t label it.” “Three years, Wolf,” I said. “Three years we played this game, and now it’s finally over, so I

want to know what it is we’re doing.” He sighed, placing the soap back on the holder in the shower before rising to stand. His dark brown eyes looked into mine, the height difference between us feeling non-existent as he reached out and smoothed a hand over his mark on my shoulder. “We’re doing what you’ve been running from for three years.” “Me?” I scoffed. “You were running just as much as I was.” “You think the reason I didn’t take you was because I was running from you?” Wolf shook his head, the water from his long hair flicking against the shower walls. “I wanted you since the second you walked through those doors demanding I make you my lawyer. And I know you’ve wanted me, too. But you know what else? You were hesitant. Every time I came close, I saw your walls go up. For whatever reason, you thought you couldn’t have me. You’ve got your past; I’ve got mine. Your past taught you not to get close. Mine taught me that you have to hold on to what you got while you got it.” His hand wrapped around the back of my neck, his fingers tightening around the muscles until my head tilted back. He leaned forward, his dark eyes pinning mine. “I waited for you, Anna. But after the other day, the waiting is over. No more running away.” His hand came down and ran a finger through my sore pussy. “This is now mine.

You’re going to come around my dick screaming my name every time, and that’s all you’re allowed to do. I’m not going to fuck you with a condom on. I’m clean, and I know you’re on the pill, so bare is the only way you’re allowed to take me. You’re mine now, Anna. And nothing is going to stop me from taking you.” With that, his mouth crashed down on mine, his force almost overwhelming me as his tongue plundered into my mouth, tasting every inch of me, touching what he could reach as if he had to have every part of me, dragging desires I had tried to suppress to the surface as my body raged with a fire I was beginning to think would never be sated as he showed me everything I could have. Everything I told myself I didn’t want. Everything I fooled myself into believing I didn’t need. Wolf pulled away, releasing me as he stepped back and out of the shower’s spray, leaving me standing there under the water, my body on fire. His eyes raked down over my quivering body, and with a wide, devilish smile, he opened the shower door. “No touching the showerhead,” he commanded as he stepped out into the bathroom and shut the shower door behind him. I stood there for all of a second in shock after he left me there, obviously with the intention of getting me hot for him again and leaving me

hanging. My lust turned to annoyance, and a loud voice rose from my chest. “Fuck you!” I seethed, reaching for the showerhead. I heard his laugh as he shut the bathroom door. Fat bastard.

Chapter Eleven

WOLF

“I

wasn’t going to ask, but I’ve changed my mind,” I began, watching as Lamb’s gaze cut to me. I was ignoring his advice, and from the looks of it, Lamb wasn’t surprised at all. He’d spent the whole ten years we’d known each other picking apart my personality for his own amusement, and in return, I ended up seeing all of his. I knew all the sides of Lamb, including the darker sides he hid from the rest of the brothers. I looked among my club brothers, watching as curiosity painted their faces. “We reckon this bastard wants a certain person for some kind of personal grudge or whatever. When he passed on the message, the key should have known who he was. I trust you bastards enough that you would tell me if you had connections to a person who would interest this guy.” I paused, giving them a moment

in case anyone had anything they wanted to confess. But when no one spoke and the brothers looked around at each other expectantly, I carried on. “This means we still don’t know who this guy wants. It seems none of you know him personally, but someone you know has a connection, so I want you to make sure the people close to you don’t know him.” “What about the girls?” Jax asked. Of course, the girls would be the first thing that came to mind. “We’ll get Baby or Anna to check them,” Lamb answered, looking to me for a final approval. “They’re more likely to get straight answers from them. They’ll clam up if they think they’re in trouble.” I nodded. Most of the girls had the same deal as the guys. There were only so many ways a girl could end up at an MC club, and the majority of them weren’t good. “Right. Do that. But remember, boys, loyalty is what protects the club because—” “If the brothers have our backs, then we’ve got our brothers’ backs,” Jax interrupted. “And that’s what keeps us alive,” Pretty finished, bumping fists with Jax as the two gave me a childish grin. “Cocky shits,” I grumbled. Jax and Pretty shared a laugh between them, and I watched Mint look away from them, hoping

not to have any part in their antics. Just like the night of drinking, I doubted Mint would be able to escape. He was a part of the younger sect of the club, and the young ones all liked to group together, with Jax normally being their ringleader. My eyes moved over to Hunter, wondering if he had anything to add, and from the amused smirk he had on his mouth directed at Jax and Pretty, he had obviously been beaten to the punch. Hunter was thirty-seven, making him the oldest of the little shits, but considering I’d known him when he’d been running around the clubhouse at sixteen, following his older brother everywhere, he would forever be a kid to me. When he caught my eyes, his smile dropped. Only a second later, a knock sounded on the door and Hunter was the first out of his chair. Jax mouthed something to him along the lines of “pussy” as Hunter reached for the door, earning Jax the finger. Hunter swung the door open, and a tall, darkhaired Amazonian woman stood behind it. Hunter leaned down, and Baby quickly spoke in his ear. The lightened mood in the room faded quickly as Hunter straightened back up and swung his head around until his jade eyes hit mine. “Reaper,” was all he had to say. I was out of my chair in a flash. I abandoned my gavel and stormed past Hunter and Baby with the brothers following

me through the clubhouse. My eyes scanned the entire room, and of course, Anna wasn’t there. Instead, my eyes found her ass standing by the gate with her hands on her hips as I came out the door and into the car lot. The biker had his face covered with a gray face mask, his helmet hiding the rest of his head. Behind him, two other Reapers sat on their bikes, covered in a similar fashion, so it was impossible to tell the three apart. But I didn’t have to recognize them to see the one who rose from his bike to come to the gate was the messenger. Anna whirled to see me standing there, and she must have read the anger on my face, because whatever she opened her mouth to say, she snapped it shut pretty quickly and stepped aside next to Pipe as I came through. “What the fuck do you want?” I snapped. Even though I asked, I had a pretty good guess why he was here. His eyes, shaded by his helmet, scanned across the metal gate. “I’m not fucking opening it, so you might as well state your business and get lost.” I folded my arms over my chest. “Charon wants a meet,” he said, his voice deep and timbered. He was of an average build for a biker and didn’t have anything to identify him by. “Then why didn’t the fucker come here

himself? Last time I checked, he was still a dumb enough fuck to come onto my compound without permission.” His eyes narrowed, obviously pissed at my disrespect, before he shook his head and the emotion disappeared. “Figured this time you wouldn’t be so welcoming, considering you’re on lockdown. Can’t have our prez having his head blown off,” he explained. I let my eyes drop away to scan his vest, noticing the V.P. badge on his chest. It looked like the big, mysterious biker group liked dealing with their business personally. Color me surprised. “Where?” I said. I noticed Lamb on the edges of the group. Instead of watching the brothers, he was watching me. He had probably long since finished looking them over and instead was reading me. “Connie’s in Redwood,” he answered. “Third booth in the back. He said you can bring the spunky blonde if you like.” I saw Anna’s spine straighten out of the corner of my eye and quickly shot her a glare. Her head then snapped to me and redirected her fight. She faced my glare with one of her own, but thankfully didn’t say anything and instead huffed, folding her hands over her chest and looking away. Yeah, no way in hell was she going. I looked back to the Grim Reaper’s vice

president. “Two hours,” I replied to the rider. He nodded. The brothers and I remained a united front as we watched the Reaper to get back on his bike and them to fire up their engines. We waited until they had pulled out and driven long out of sight before I turned and led the group back to the club. The girls looked up as we stepped in, scanning us for any signs of harm. At their relief, some of the kids got the go-ahead to start running around and playing within the small confines of the clubroom. I didn’t want to head back into Church, so I just called to Lamb, Jax, and Ripper above the crowd. “You’re with me. We leave in ten.” I wanted to give those Grim Reapers time to get the fuck out of our town and had a certain blonde to corner before I left. Lamb came up to my side as I carried on toward my office. “He picked a place outside of town,” Lamb stated. “Yeah, I don’t like it,” I replied. I pulled out a key from my pocket; then we entered my office. “Which is why I’m not taking many. I don’t know what Charon’s up to having us meet outside of town, but it’s not good. I don’t want to leave the club unprotected. I want you to get a proper read on the guy, tell me if he’s holding back.” Lamb nodded. “I’ll go get my shit.” I dropped into my office chair, putting the key

in the lock above my drawer. I pulled it open, seeing my .500 Smith and picking it up. I slid the revolver into the back of my jeans, covering it with my shirt, and pocketed an extra pack of ammunition before shutting the drawer closed and locking it. In the less than the minute that I’d been gone, the brothers had spread out in the room, and so had the girls and the kids, business trying to return to normal after our unwanted guest. I found Anna sitting on one of the club couches, a book in her hand as she read despite the noise. She only looked up when Mallory stood above her, and the two began talking about it. She looked down at her phone quickly before sighing and putting it back down. When Mallory spotted me coming over, she quickly said something to Anna and ran after Adair as the brat went in search of Jax. Out of all the role models the kid could’ve picked, it had to be Jax. I’d need to tell Hunter to put a pin in that quickly before I ended up with another Jax. One was enough of a headache; a second would be the death of me and the club. I stood above her, watching her pointedly curl her feet up on the couch and burying her nose back in her book. She had her reading glasses on, which she normally refused to wear in front of anyone despite the sexy-as-fuck uppity look it gave her.

I stood there for a long time with my arms crossed over my chest as I waited for her to look up. She didn’t. She was probably still pissed about the shower and the fact she wasn’t allowed to come. But I meant what I said in the shower. The girl was mine, as much as she didn’t want to admit it. I’d just have to show her. I leaned down, my hand reaching under her jaw and grabbing her face, forcing it to turn toward me. She opened her mouth to speak just as mine smashed against it. Her hands came up around my wrist, trying to break free of my grasp, but I didn’t let her. I growled for her to open her mouth, but she resisted. I sucked her lip into my mouth and let my teeth graze against it, but her teeth just shut down harder. If she wanted to play that game... I bit down on her lip until I tasted blood. When she gasped, I took the opportunity to slip my tongue in. I sucked hers into my mouth, forcing her to respond and also not enabling her to bite me back. I ran my tongue along the roof of her mouth, which was enough to make her moan and relent. She kissed me back, her hands anchoring me rather than trying to push me away as the metallic taste of her blood mixed between us. When I pulled back, Anna’s eyes were glazed with lust and she was panting. It nearly killed me to stand back up, but I had business to attend to, and I

had gotten what I wanted. I knew everyone in the club was looking at us, despite their best attempts not to. We had a famous reputation in the club. I could even hear the exchanging of money behind my back—mostly to Lamb, probably. “Be ready for when I get back,” I growled. Anna’s hands grasped my hair, pulling me back to her mouth as she sucked my bottom lip into her mouth. “Shit,” I hissed as I tasted the blood from where the bitch had bitten me back. “Fuck you,” she hissed, giving me a sweet smile before she rose from the couch and sauntered away. My dick twitched in my jeans as I watched her leave. Fuck, I was so screwed. “You ready to go, boss?” Lamb said, coming up beside me as I watched him pocket the wad of cash in his back pocket. “How much?” I responded, walking alongside him as we headed to the door. “Three grand.” He grinned. I looked up and around at my annoyed brothers now scowling at me as if it was my fault the fuckers had bet too much against a money shark like Lamb. “You know you’re a sick fuck betting on me and Anna, right?” He answered with a smile. Of course, he didn’t

give a fuck. I shook my head, walking to the bikes where Jax and Ripper were already waiting. I dropped down onto my 2006 Harley Fat Boy and started the engine. I looked to the door as if expecting Anna to be waiting there, watching me leave, but she wasn’t. I shook my head, clearing my mind of Anna as I pulled out of the lot and rode past Pipe before he shut the door behind us. We had business to attend to.

A

s we pulled up outside Connie’s Diner, I wasn’t even surprised at the lack of bikes in the parking lot outside the front. I only spotted Charon’s smoke-colored one. I didn’t let myself get complacent with Charon’s seemingly carefree attitude and made our small group park near the entrance of the door in case we needed to make a quick getaway. Lamb and Ripper parked up either side of me, while Jax parked furthest away. Jax and Ripper stayed outside, as Lamb fell in behind me and we walked to the door. I could see Charon sitting in the third booth at the back through the glass door. His gaze was directed out a

window as if he didn’t notice us pull in. He did, of course, but he still feigned surprise as we walked up to the booth. Connie’s was a nice place, classic taste, but a quick glance at the menu showed it had variety, not just classic foods but some other interesting things I wouldn’t mind trying if I weren’t here on business. I slid in opposite Charon, who smiled as he met my eyes. Lamb took up the closest seat at the bar instead of next to me, taking a menu out to look over the contents, his eyes flashing with the same curious interest that mine had. A waitress came over and filled me a cup with coffee before Charon gave quick thanks and she scuttled away to serve Lamb. “I’m glad you got my message.” Charon smiled. “I was beginning to think you stood me up.” “Why am I here, Charon?” I said, knowing I wasn’t late to our meet and not in the mood for his bullshit. “A little birdie told me you’d gone into lockdown. Figured I’d be shot on sight if I turned up unannounced again after your old lady’s close shave with a gun.” He looked into the direction of the bikes, to where Ripper and Jax decided to glare back before turning back to me, disappointed. “I see you didn’t bring her.” I wasn’t surprised Charon found out about the incident. Chains may be acting president of the

Hell’s Runners, but he was still under Charon’s thumb, so in essence, it happened on Charon’s territory. “You still might,” I said, ignoring his comment about Anna. Had I brought her, she’d probably have bitten his head off. She was still pissed about the fact he put Mallory in between his clash with the Hell’s Runners’ ex-president. Then again, that overly protective side of hers was one of her good points. “I hope not.” Charon shrugged off my threat. “Anyway, I heard that our new friends are interested in one of your people.” “You’re a bit late on the news,” I scoffed, taking a mouthful of my coffee, surprisingly enjoying its taste. “That’s not like you.” Charon gave a petty laugh. “Yeah, well, your blonde must have made an impression on my contact, since he gave her all the information I wanted before he gloriously met his end.” He sighed, his face feigning tiredness. “Took me a while to set up a new contact. Lizard had so much potential. It was a shame to lose him.” His gaze flickered up to mine. “I guess it was lucky nobody else got hurt.” I kept his gaze, not liking the way he said that last part. But Charon just shrugged and looked away, waving the waitress over to refill his coffee cup. She moved to refill mine, too, but I stopped

her. “I’ll be leaving soon,” I said, and she nodded before walking away. “Get on with it, Charon.” Charon looked amused and finally got down to the thing we were both here for. “The offer still stands,” he said. “Not a takeover like with the Hell’s Runners. An alliance.” “Why?” I asked. We both knew Charon was approaching us for a reason. If he wanted us, with all the influence he had, it would probably be possible to try to take us over by force. Why bother with an alliance? “I know potential when I see it, and I don’t pass it up easily,” Charon said, for once with seriousness and honesty. “Not to mention, you must be pretty important with all the attention you’re getting. Then that group has always been a scrupulous and absolutely horrible for business.” “That group?” “Oh? Looks like I’m back on top with my info.” Charon smirked, looking pleased with himself. “I suppose you’ve heard of their Bratva relations by now? Or rather, I know you have.” It clicked. “You fed Lamb that information.” “I couldn’t have gotten you to come here if you didn’t feel threatened. Knowing your past, I suppose learning about the Bratva did the trick.” Charon took a long sip of coffee, while I immediately felt the room drop into freezing territory as Lamb became deadly still in his seat. He

may have been a few meters away with his back to us, but with the intensity he was radiating, he could have been pressing a knife into Charon’s neck. One thing Lamb never took lightly was being outsmarted. Charon must have sensed the beast he’d provoked, because he ignored Lamb instead of poking at him to wind him up, which I was beginning to think was his hobby, and moved on with the conversation. “Yes, anyway, the group your old lady had the pleasure of meeting are a ragtag group of ex-Bratva and ex-military mercenaries called the Blek Dzhek—I hope I pronounced that correctly?” “The Black Jacks?” I translated. He pronounced it perfectly, but I didn’t give him the satisfaction of telling him that. “I’ve never heard of them.” “You wouldn’t have.” Charon pushed his coffee cup aside, fixing his golden eyes on mine. “They’ve been operating only in the southern parts of Russia, up until now, that is. Business seems to have brought them to our beloved United States, specifically whatever business they have with you and your boys.” “We don’t have anything they would want,” I argued, trying to figure out what a group like the Black Jacks could ever want with my club. “You’re misunderstanding.” Charon sighed.

“The Black Jacks are after money. Not yours, of course. They want the money of whomever it is that commissioned them to work here. What they’re after is what their benefactor wants.” “Their benefactor?” “Now that’s something I can’t help you with.” Charon gave a disappointed sigh, shrugging his shoulders. “As much as it pains me to stop the story at the best bit, I don’t know who the man with the big bucks is, and thus, have no idea what it is he’s looking for. And since it seems to be of a personal nature, I wouldn’t be able to even fathom a guess while he remains anonymous.” I looked down at my coffee, wanting so badly to throw it across the room. I felt as if I had been tossed into a well and was still falling, the light getting smaller and smaller by the second. Tearing apart a club like ours brick by brick would be nothing for a man with the money to import a Russian mercenary group to do his bidding. I had to think of the club first. I was the president. And just like Charon said, there was no way we could figure out what they were after if we didn’t know who this bastard was. I just wished I knew what they were after, though if it was a person, I knew deep down that I wouldn’t give them up, not if that person was one of ours. “Take my offer,” Charon urged, his voice almost sympathetic. “With opponents like the

Black Jacks and whoever their benefactor is, you’re going to need it, and this is the last time I’ll offer it.” I knew I had to take it. I had no other choice. To take on someone like this for the sake of my club, I had to do it. Sometimes to get out of the hands of a demon, you had to sell your soul to the devil. Or in this case, the Grim Reaper. I slammed my hand down on the table and stood. “Fuck.” Charon didn’t look at me as he stared out the window. “I’ll take that as an agreement then.” He took a mouthful of his coffee. “I’ll send someone to go over the details on another date.” “You don’t have to go over the details, Charon,” I growled, whirling to face him. “If you screw my club over, I don’t give a shit how big you are. There’ll be retribution.” Charon smiled. I grabbed my coffee, downing the rest of the hot liquid, and slammed the cup back down on the table before turning on my heels. I stormed from the diner, Lamb falling in behind me as we walked into the car lot. I met the inquisitive faces of Ripper and Jax as I dropped down onto my bike and fired up the engine. I just shook my head at them as they joined me. “This person better be fucking worth it.”

O

n our journey back, Jax took off ahead like he always did. I figured the next time we’d see him would be back at the compound, but instead, his bike was pulled over on the side of the road. Our trio pulled up behind him on the shoulder. As soon as I took my helmet and sunglasses off, it was easy to tell Jax was getting blown off. It was a rare sight, and I lingered to watch the brunette ignore his southern charm and continue walking without looking back at him. “Come on, you’re obviously heading into town. This is the only road in, and you’ve still got four miles or so to go in this hot sun.” Jax said, shrugging toward his bike. “Let me give you a ride.” The brunette, dressed in shorts and a tee, had soft, tanned skin, darkened by repetitive exposure to the sun, so I doubted the heat would bother her. Not to mention, she was wearing thick boots made for long-distance walking that were well-worn but still in good condition, so I doubted the distance bothered her, either. She had a backpack over her shoulder, a pair of sunglasses on her face, and a flat smile at Jax’s advances. Jax pulled out all his best coaxing to get her to get on the back of his bike, but she continued to

remain impassive, her face, the part that I could see of it, seemed to grow tired of his constant attempts. I sighed, looking back to Lamb as he watched the exchange. He had left the diner pissed, and to some degree, I could tell he still was, but as his eyes locked onto the girl and he quickly analyzed everything about her, a cold calmness fell over him. I looked back to the girl, who much to my surprise, was now locked onto Lamb with a cautiousness that flew up like Fort Knox as she noticed his interest. Lamb seemed to sit straighter on his seat, his sunglasses lifted from his face as his eyes narrowed on her. Some strange exchange had piqued Lamb’s attention, and his eyes scrutinized her. Her gaze only lasted a moment, though, before she quickly returned her focus to pointedly ignoring Jax’s attempts at flirtation and, now, ignoring Lamb’s stares. For a second, I would have considered that he was interested in her, which was an almost impossible thing for Lamb, since he grew tired quickly of things once he understood them, even more so of people. The reason he fucked with the brothers was because he got bored and loved to see them pissed off. Apparently, pissed off was an interesting emotion, according to Lamb, which was what made me the bastard’s favorite chew toy. I turned my engine back on, and Lamb turned on his. I looked back toward him. He was already

pulling back onto the road, his shades sitting over his eyes, head turned away from the girl. Just as I thought, his interest was gone. I took one last look at the girl, figuring that Jax would be riding back alone, and pulled onto the road, giving Jax one last look before I headed to the clubhouse.

Chapter Twelve

ANNA

N

o new messages. I pulled myself up from the couch, discarding my book on the table, not caring if one of the girls robbed it. Not that they’d care for such a thing. Bitches probably didn’t even know how to read. I heard the door open with a bang, and in walked Jax, looking like he’d been slapped with a wet fish, before Wolf, Lamb, and Ripper followed in behind him. When Mia and Chloe ran into their father’s arms, Ripper picked his little girls up with ease. I saw his boy, Alistair, his stepson from his deceased wife’s last marriage, hovering on the stairs. He tried to hide it but looked relieved when he saw Ripper was back safe. The moment Ripper spotted him, however, Alistair turned and fled. Ripper sighed, but he still had a gentle smile on his

lips as he set his girls down. Wolf, on the other hand, was on Jax’s tail. “Why the fuck do you feel the need to race our asses just to get back first?” “Don’t complain just ’cause you’re getting old,” Jax growled back, settling at the bar as Lamb slid around the other side next to Sweets, who grabbed a beer for Jax and set it in front of him, giving him a display of her fake tits. “Don’t bitch just because you didn’t get your dick wet,” Lamb quipped, smirking at Hunter, whose joyful face mirrored Lamb’s as he took in Jax’s sour expression. “It wasn’t the first time.” Hunter laughed, patting Jax on the back, reminding him that Mallory had flat-out rejected him last year. “And it probably won’t be the last.” Pretty smirked, wrapping his arm around his shoulder. “Oh, you wanna go, fucker?” Jax growled, jumping to his feet. Pretty didn’t back down. “You sure you can handle me with that bruised ego you’re carrying around?” Pretty laughed, coming toe to toe with Jax. Pretty was just a bit taller and broader than Jax, and although Jax knew how to fight dirty, Pretty had been fighting on the streets long before he had joined the Black Angels. It would be a fair matchup. Normally, I would have gone over there and knocked them down a peg or two before they

started breaking shit like usual when they sparred inside, but I felt too pissed to bother. Instead, Wolf stepped up, clamping his huge tattooed paws on both of their shoulders. “Take it outside,” he ordered, but his death grip on them told them he didn’t want them fighting anyway. Their winces showed they got the message. He let go before facing the room of cramped bikers. “Lockdown is lifted!” Cheers erupted throughout the room, and they became even louder when Mallory suggested a club barbecue to get rid of all the excess food, not wanting to waste it if everyone was going home tonight. Though a club barbecue meant a party later on, which in turn meant everyone was going to get trashed. And since nobody was allowed to ride drunk, not unless they wanted Wolf on their ass for it, that also meant everyone would end up crashing at the club anyway. I sighed, dropping my head down into my open palm. My finger clicked the button on the side of my phone before I realized it and my clear display flashed up at me. For a second, I felt calm. And then I didn’t. I let out a loud, frustrated hiss, throwing my phone on the table. “Woah there, Anna,” Pretty said as he came up next to me and looked down at my phone with those soft blue-gray eyes. “Wouldn’t leave it there, or you won’t get it back.”

“Bitches can have it. It seems to be doing fuck all for me,” I seethed. I glared at it and wouldn’t be surprised if it set alight with the will I was throwing into it to just combust. “Knew you were pissed earlier, but I figured it’s ’cause your old man was gone,” Pretty said, throwing his hands up defensively as I turned on him. “Since he’s back, I’m beginning to think otherwise.” “If I were in a fucking mood, Pretty, you’d know about it,” I hissed. “Because if I were in a mood, it would be at you for leaving your shit around the clubhouse all the time.” Pretty’s face turned downcast in an instant. “I came over here to cheer you up, you know,” he said, blond hair falling over his eyes. “My bad.” He turned and walked away, making me feel bad for snapping at him. But he wasn’t the first, and I had a feeling he wouldn’t be the last. Everyone had been keeping a distance, but with the excitement in the room for the barbecue, I had a feeling one of them would come into striking distance soon enough for whatever the fuck reason. I didn’t want to snap at them, but this bubbling frustration that was locked inside me wasn’t disappearing just because I wanted it to. “Fuck,” I hissed, scooping my phone off the table. I turned and found myself smacking bang into a

hard chest. I had moved fast enough that I was sent staggering back, and the only reason I didn’t land flat on my ass was the huge hand coming around my waist. “Hands off, assho-” I snapped, looking up. “Oh shit.” “Oh shit is right,” Wolf growled, dark eyes flashing under his heavy brow. “Come with me. Now,” he demanded, sounding pissed as he grabbed me by the wrist and began dragging me off through the clubhouse back to his beloved punishment room, where he threw me without care onto the bed like discarded socks. I hissed at the careless action as I went to get back up, but Wolf’s huge hands were now on my slim shoulders and shoved me back down. “Sit the fuck down,” he snapped before letting go, leaving a lingering burn of warmth on my pale skin. I didn’t bother trying to get up again, knowing he’d just shove me back down anyway. So, I folded my arms over my chest and fixed him with a glare instead. “You better have a good reason for this.” “Verbally throwing the brothers on their asses for doing fuck all good enough?” Wolf growled. I opened my mouth to argue, but Wolf beat me to it. “Just ’cause you’re pissy, Anna, doesn’t mean you get to go around tearing the brothers a new one.” “Whatever,” I hissed, knowing he was right but still too annoyed to care. I kept my eyes away from

his but made a point of keeping my arms folded over my chest. “So?” Wolf probed, a thick eyebrow crooked at me as he folded his own huge forearms over each other, making the muscles bulge under his skin and his shirt tighten around his biceps. “So, what?” I snapped, trying not to let my eyes be tempted. I was annoyed, for Christ’s sake, not some drooling teenager. “So, you going to tell me what’s got your panties in a twist?” Wolf pushed, his eyes curiously skimming over my face, looking for some kind of tell, which I knew for certain I didn’t have. “Do you want the list in chronological order or alphabetical?” I retorted. “I mean the real reason,” Wolf argued, seeming overly patient in finding out the answer compared to usual. “You’re not normally this much of a bitch.” I growled at the comment, but Wolf was right. Again. I was a controlled person and never let my emotions get the better of me; it was difficult to get me riled up. I had an attitude, of course, but I wasn’t an indiscriminate bitch and didn’t take to being cruel for my own pleasure. Unless it was Wolf. With Wolf, all bets were off. Nevertheless, unless you did something above the bar I’d set, the bar which meant that I’d kill you and feel good about it if you did something beyond it, I didn’t

normally get this bitchy. I stayed silent, not wanting to talk about it. If I did, I feared I’d go on a massacre and wouldn’t be able to stop until I tore that person who put me in this goddam mood to shreds. As I stayed silent, I saw Wolf give an overly dramatic sigh. “You’re not going to tell me,” he stated. “And you don’t look like you’re going to come out of that mood on your own anytime soon.” I stood from the bed. “If you get it, let me go.” “I said you wouldn’t be able to get out of it on your own,” Wolf rumbled, his hand reaching for the door and turning the lock with a soft click. The sound sent my body on high alert as my gaze jumped to him, my arms dropping down by my side. “What are you doing?” I asked, my voice betraying my defensiveness. “I’m going to help you get over your mood.” “No, you’re not,” I argued. Wolf smirked. “Oh, I am.” He came to stand in front of me, but his hands didn’t move from his sides as he let his gaze go over every inch of my clothes. My leather sleeveless shirt and the matching skinny jeans were suddenly too tight for my skin. “Off,” Wolf commanded. “All of it.” “No!” I snapped. “I’m not fucking you, Wolf.” “Who said anything about fucking?” He grinned.

“You bastard.” “Take them off or I will,” he threatened. “Fuck you,” I hissed, barging past him and heading straight for the door. I didn’t make it far as Wolf’s body suddenly came up behind me. I gasped as I ended up with a face full of door. “You bastard!” I growled, shoving my hips back in an attempt to throw him from me. He grasped my hips and pulled them backward, making me fall forward against the door. “Wolf!” “Good. Get angrier. The angrier, the better,” he growled, but he sounded distracted, and I knew why as my belt was suddenly ripped from my jeans. His hands didn’t waste time as they came around the front. I couldn’t move my arms enough to stop him as he flipped my button loose and pulled down the zipper. My skinny jeans, which were a bitch to get on because they were so damn tight, were suddenly ripped down my legs with ease. “Wolf!” I hissed, but he didn’t stop as he dropped to his knees. His hands came up and held each of my ass cheeks in his palms as he began massaging them in circles. “Love this ass,” he growled. “My ass.” “Jesus, you Neanderthal!” I snapped. “It’s my —Ah!” I yelped, the sharp shock of pain shooting through my entire body. “You did not just bite my ass!” I screamed in fury as I released my hand, stretching in an awkward position to touch the

burning mark. He slapped it away and brushed his thumb over the ridges, causing me to hiss. “Put both your hands on the door,” he ordered, rising to stand behind me. “No,” I growled. “I’m not letting you fuck me against the door like some—” I cried out as his hand came down hard on my ass cheek. The mark burned like lemon in an open wound as I whimpered through the pain. His large hand covered the burning hand shape on it, and the pain soothed into a sore ache. “When I fuck you,” Wolf growled, “whether it be on the bed, in the shower, on the floor, or against my fucking door, I’m fucking you like you deserve to be fucked. Like an old lady does. Not like some club slut or whore. Understood?” I wanted to argue that I wasn’t Wolf’s old lady, but when his other hand came down on my ass, I cried out with more pleasure than pain, and suddenly, my argument was forgotten. “Understood?” Wolf repeated, rubbing his palm into my tortured skin. “Yes,” I gasped. “Yes. Understood.” “Good. Now, hands on the door,” he demanded, and this time I listened and pressed my hands against the wooden frame. I was rewarded with a lustful growl as he reached for my purple lace panties and slid them down my legs. My breathing got harder as I felt a cool breeze

brush my legs. I had no idea when I got so wet, but when Wolf’s thick, rough finger traced a line from my pussy to my ass, I knew I must have been soaking because of the way it slid through with ease. “Wolf,” I half growled, half moaned as he traced the finger back up and down again. “Hmmm?” he murmured. I looked over my shoulder and watched him mesmerized as he slid his finger through my folds with smooth, gentle strokes. “Get off,” I hissed, fighting to hold on to my annoyance and not give into my need. No way was I giving this bastard the satisfaction he was after. “Wolf,” I hissed again, snapping his focus in half as his gaze jumped to mine with a burning fury that wasn’t there a second ago. I didn’t notice, but he had pushed his jeans down enough for his dick to stand to attention as he leaned forward and let it lie between my cheeks. “No.” Wolf grinned, lining his dick up with my entrance. “If you put it in, so help me God, I will cut off your balls and use them as furry dice in my car,” I threatened and watched in horror as his face only grew more lustful. “You’re seriously twisted if that turns you on.” “Only for you,” he growled, and our conversation was over.

He shoved his hips forward, his dick filling me with no warning whatsoever as I cried out in a mix of shock and pleasure. My hands slammed against the door as he pulled back out and, with a rough, fast thrust, he pushed himself back in. “Wolf!” I cried as he set the pace fast and hard, my arms shaking as each thrust sucked my strength from me. My orgasm came fast and hit me with no warning, my body crying out as I was blasted with pleasure. Wolf came a single thrust later, his heat seeping into my body before he pulled out, his arms coming around my waist before I fell to the floor. He lifted us both to stand where we collapsed against the closed door. His body radiated moist heat as his sweat mingled with mine, both imprinting on the doorway. “Fuck,” he panted. “You’re getting too old, Wolf,” I scoffed, seeing how tired out he was from one very hard quickie. “What’s your excuse?” he retorted, my panting in sync with his as he pinned us against the door. I let Wolf’s scent wash over me, ignoring the feeling of his liquid running down the inside of my leg. I breathed in the bitter scent of his cigarettes and his favorite brand of whiskey as his breath ran across my cheek. His huge frame felt comforting around my shorter one, and his warmth felt inviting in a way that I never wanted to leave.

I took a deep breath, letting the taut muscles in my chest relax, the tight leather of my shirt rubbing against the damp door. “Pretty called you my old man,” I said, my eyes turning to look into the deep mahogany of the door, remembering my argument from earlier. “Stop letting people get away with thinking I’m your old lady.” Wolf leaned down, his face pressing into the nape of my neck as the soft, weighted words fluttered across my skin. “I waited three years for you, Anna,” he whispered in his crisp, deep voice. “You’re not going to be anything less.” The softness in which he said it made me fall quiet, letting the words seep in. We’d spent three years avoiding the pull we felt toward each other, and now everything had changed. How did we go from that to this? I couldn’t understand. I spent years telling myself I didn’t want him, shouldn’t want him, but now he was offering himself to me anyway, and I couldn’t find reassurance that this was reality. “Do you really mean that?” I whispered, hating the insecure words slipping from my lips. “I do.” He didn’t hesitate. His face dropped down to the side of mine, bristles from the dark beard beginning to grow over his jaw from his lack of shaving harsh on my skin as his nose ran along the edge of my neck. His calloused, huge hands brushed down my sides, wide fingers almost

completely wrapping around my thin arms. A cold draft tickled my back as he pushed away, allowing me just enough room to turn to face him without stepping out from the comfort of his warmth. His aged, weathered face that made him seem so much older and more worn than his years hid an unknown past behind his deep amber-brown eyes that always reminded me of the whiskey he drank to sleep at night, giving me the same warm burn every time I drank them in. “I mean it, Anna,” Wolf said, his rough voice dragging me out of their depth. “I let you play your games, but I’m done waiting for you to come to me. You’re mine now. I learned the hard way that I should treasure the good things in life before they disappear.” His words caught me off guard, along with the slight hoarseness that hid beneath them and the momentary tension that fluttered in the muscles beneath his thick skin. “You think I’ll disappear?” I breathed, a question or statement, I didn’t know. But what I did know was that the second I said it, I saw Wolf’s open expression suddenly shut down. He stood back from the door, ignoring me as he crouched down to my feet, grabbing my purple panties and jeans, pulling them up my skin with ease before pulling up his own.

“I think I want to get a shower first,” I said as Wolf waited for me to button up my jeans, my purple panties peeking through them. His eyes narrowed on them as if we hadn’t just fucked out our frustrations on the door. “No,” was all he said, his arms familiarly folding over his chest, heavy brows narrowing his eyes. I looked to the shower door only an arm’s length away from me and watched as he stepped in the way to block my view. “You know what?” I hissed, my body straightening. I buttoned up my jeans and turned to the bedroom door, unlocking it with a sharp flick of my wrist. “Fuck you.” I threw it open, deciding to just go and commandeer one of the other brothers’ shower, since there was no way in hell I was going to walk around with him dripping into my panties and expensive jeans. I froze. “For fuck’s sake,” I whined at the sight of Jax’s smug face filling the doorway. He threw me a grin. “Feeling better?” “Asshole,” I growled, shoving past him. “I’ll take that as a yes, then.” Jax laughed as I struct my ass away as fast I could, Wolf’s chuckle following me all the way. Bastards.

Chapter Thirteen

WOLF

S

moke rose as the steaks were turned over on the grill. Hunter manned it, his young nephew hovering around his feet, looking at the food with avid interest. “Adair, you’ll burn yourself if you stand too close,” Hunter scolded him, but his face was soft as he looked down at his nephew. He roughed up Adair’s curls before pushing him off in the direction of the other kids. Adair grumbled but ran off to the group setting up a game of kickball on the grass. “When you going to announce the deal?” Hunter asked, turning over a browning steak. “Tomorrow,” I answered, unsurprised that he’d figured it out. All the other brothers probably guessed it, too. I took a drag of my beer as I set down a plate of raw steaks to be grilled, while Hunter put the cooked ones on a separate plate.

Kay, our club mother, appeared a moment later, and with a motherly pat on his shoulder and then mine, having to reach on her tiptoes to do both, she took the cooked food over to the table to be devoured by the other members. “Let them have this day, and I can tell them in Church tomorrow. Nothing’s going to change between then and now.” Hunter nodded, quietly turning over the steak on the grill, and I could sense there were words waiting on his tongue. “Spit it out, Hunter,” I said, setting my beer down on the side of the grill. Hunter did the same and put down the tongs, turning to me. His green eyes met mine at an almost similar level, considering he was one of the closest to me in height in the club, though he was still a few inches off. “You’re not up to something again, are you?” Hunter asked. I could see the tense look in his eyes and his shoulders bunch as he asked the question. I had gone behind Hunter’s back for the sake of the club last year, and although it had been the right choice, I had hurt Hunter in doing so. We had sorted out our differences, but although the punches got the load of it off our shoulders, I wasn’t naïve enough to think that our shared trust would snap back to the way it was after what I’d done to him. “I’ll do what’s necessary for the club, Hunter.

Even if I have to get my hands dirty,” I said, and when I saw the flash of anger in his eyes and his mouth jump to speak, I interrupted. “But no,” I said, stopping him, “I’m not up to anything.” Hunter’s anger dissipated, and his shoulder’s slumped, but his annoyance radiated from the click of his tongue and the jibe afterward. “You’re so fucking stubborn when it comes to your rule, Wolf.” “Club before all,” I iterated. “It’s a president’s rule. One Roscoe passed down to me, and one I will carry on.” “Problem is, you’re more of a crafty bastard than Roscoe,” Hunter grumbled, picking up the tongs again to viciously stab a stake and flip it. His green eyes cut across through the black hair falling in front of his face. “You know, you might find something beyond the club. Something that comes first.” I noticed his eyes switch across the yard toward the open door of the compound. My eyes found Anna, who was wearing a new pair of denim skinny jeans hugging that tasty ass of hers as she joined a short redhead, who I realized was Mallory, taking out the baked goods that the girls—Anna excluded, since she couldn’t bake for shit—had quickly whipped up in the kitchen. I looked to Hunter, who frowned at Mallory. “You’re not jealous that everyone is going to

eat your wife’s cookies?” I said, knowing the bastard had refused to let Mallory bake at the compound anymore after the one time she baked brownies for Hunter’s bachelor party to remind him what he was coming home to after the strip clubs and everyone started turning up at his house in the hopes Mallory would bake for them again. “It’s fine.” Hunter sighed. “She’s been baking at home so much I don’t know what to do with her. That and her applying to go back and finish college and cleaning anything she can get her hands on is making her so tired. Give her another ten minutes, and she’ll want to go nap on the couch.” Baking and tired, huh? Smugly, I took another sip of my drink before I reached over and clapped Hunter on the back. “Good luck, brother.” I laughed, leaving him confused as I went to go swipe myself some cookies. I sat down with a burger and a separate plate full of cookies that I had to fight tooth and nail with Jax and Pretty for, the fat fuckers, before I looked down at the table full of brothers. Some of them had gone to join in with the kids’ game of soccer, and the rest were laughing and joking with each other. What I was looking at now was the reason why I made that deal with Charon. It was these moments that I would happily sell my soul to protect. Because beyond the money and the guns

and the pussy, there was a family bond in the club. It was what mattered the most, and that was the main reason why we were all here. Not that I would let myself be led by the nose by that arrogant bastard. He may have been the head of the Grim Repeaters, but alliance or not, I meant what I said. I wouldn’t let myself be manipulated by the likes of them. Not my club. Not my brothers. “Wolf?” Anna’s sharp voice drew me out of my thoughts as I looked up to see her standing with a plate in one hand and the other propped on her hip. “Move,” she said, gesturing to the space on the bench on the other side of me. My eyes cut to the other end of the long bench, and I saw a gap she could easily have fit in next to Moon and Jasper. She ignored my long stare in that direction before I changed my view back to her and the nice eye-level view of her cleavage. “Move up,” she said, shooing me with her hand. I looked at the waving appendage, noticing the way she stood with her plate of food held securely in one hand, and smirked. My own hand flew out, circling her smaller one, and before she could even think to try and pull it back, I pulled. She half shrieked in surprise as her soft ass landed on my lap. “Wolf!” she snapped as she tried to push off me, grinding her hips into my lap, making a currently inappropriate member revive at

her touch. “Sit still,” I growled, and hearing the graveled tone of my voice, she stiffened like a rod. Fuck, I wasn’t sure if that made it any better. Even so, my arm wrapped around her waist, keeping her pinned down on top of me. I tensed when she opened her mouth, expecting a fight, but to my surprise, a large, heavy huff came from her lips as she dropped her plate down next to mine on the table and ignored me, picking up a chip and eating it without looking at me. The minx. I shifted so she fit better on my lap, her small frame tucked into my chest and underneath my chin, where the strawberry smell of her hair permeated my nose, and reached for one of my cookies. I looked up to see the brothers sending glimpses down my way and smirking at Anna, who pinned them each with a glare, daring them to say anything. They didn’t, of course. This woman. I shook my head and felt her shift on my lap. I was about to snap at her for moving, but when I realized she was taking the weight off one of her cheeks, specifically the one I’d bitten and spanked, my mouth clamped closed in a deep, satisfied smirk. I knew Anna was aware, but she pointedly continued to ignore me, her gaze avidly watching

the kids beat the adults, who were going easy on them. I didn’t think she realized it, but a small smile had taken over her lips, and despite Anna’s cold, bitchy exterior, I knew children were a soft spot for her. Hell, she had fallen head over heels for Mallory’s charming little boy the second he had come into our world; and I knew she often gave advice to Ripper’s little girls on how to deal with boys when she could—advice girls that age should not have. I had learned Anna had come from a big family, back when she lived in England, and had left them all behind three years ago when she had moved over to the US. I didn’t know why she didn’t go back and visit them, and she had never offered the information, and just like her tattoo, I never asked. “What?” Anna’s voice cut into my thoughts. She was looking down at me, frowning at the weird smile that had taken over my face. “Nothing.” I smirked, only seeming to irk her. She opened her mouth, ready to snap at me, but before she could, I lifted her ass up off my lap, forcing her to stand. “It’ll get dark soon. Go get the small flamethrower from my room, and we’ll get a bonfire started for later.” “You put the flamethrower in your freaking bedroom?” Anna flattened her gaze on me. “I know you made a spare key to the armory,

and I didn’t want you getting your hands on it.” Anna’s expression told me that one, she didn’t give a shit about me finding out she made a sneak spare key, and two, that she had thought about using the weapon at least once. Maybe more than once. Definitely more than once. I wouldn’t be surprised to find a little black book in her purse with all the plans she had designed to piss me off. She looked a little too pleased as she practically skipped off to get it before I could tell her where it was. I watched her leave, my eyes not leaving her before she disappeared through the door. A moment later, Kay came out, long, strawberry-blonde hair silvered with age, sweeping in the faint breeze as her eyes scanned the yard and looking disappointed before coming over to the bench where most of us were sitting. “What’s up, Kay?” I asked, noting the traces of worry on her face. “Any of you seen Bell?” “Bell?” I repeated, looking over the yard myself despite already knowing she wasn’t out here. I hadn’t seen the little princess since this morning after she’d said her good morning to me from behind the screen of her cell. “She probably got out of here the second lockdown was lifted,” Hunter said, taking up one of the empty spaces on the bench. “We all know she doesn’t like being here anymore.”

“That’s a bit harsh,” Mallory interrupted, coming up behind Hunter’s back and wrapping her pale arms around his shoulders. “Girl probably just wants to go have fun without twenty overprotective uncles scaring away all the boys.” “Bell’s still practically a baby. Ain’t no boy touching her if he’s got his wits about him,” Jasper snapped from the other end, earning surprise glances from the rest of the table. The older man had curled blond hair that framed a face that had, by God’s luck, avoided gaining any scars or marks whatsoever. The fucker didn’t even look as old as he should, and his clear blue eyes, not as pale as Anna’s, that were usually relaxed, formed a hardened scowl. “Told Roscoe I’d protect his little girl. Ain’t going to stop doing that just because boys have started looking her way.” “Christ, Jasper.” Hunter laughed. “The girl will be a virgin until she’s forty if you have any say.” I couldn’t disagree with Hunter. Jasper was pretty levelheaded and calm despite being one of the old timers who had run with Roscoe. When it came to butting heads and picking fights, Roscoe had been like an army on steroids. Which left Jasper to keep his cool, so aside from Lamb, who seemed to be universally capable of pissing everyone off, the only other thing that fired him up was his duty to protect Bell, Roscoe’s only daughter. It probably had to do with the massive

amounts of honor he earned as Roscoe’s right-hand man. Even though Roscoe had passed, it didn’t change Jasper’s principles. “Back in my day—” I heard all of a sudden from the end of the table, and everybody simultaneously groaned as Polo, Jasper’s polar opposite, stepped into the conversation. Hunter’s eyes widened in panic, looking to everybody and anybody for some kind of escape before the old man could get any more words out. His eyes landed on Mint, pleading to Mint’s paler ones. “What do you think about it, Mint?” Hunter blurted, cutting Polo off before he could get any further. But despite Hunter’s imploring gaze, all Mint said was, “She’s a grown girl. She can do what she likes.” “Too right!” Polo chipped back in. Everybody spun to glare at Mint, our one opportunity to be saved from Polo’s speech gone to waste. “A grown girl needs to make sure she finds a good man to claim her. A proper woman back in my day...” I was about to drown him out until suddenly, he yelled. “You!” His long, pointed finger flew out in Mallory’s direction, making the young, curvy redhead flinch. “Where is your cut?” “My cut?” Mallory repeated, confusion taking over her face. The girl hadn’t been club for long, so she didn’t know all the intricacies of being an MC

brother’s old lady. “Your ‘Property of’ cut!” Polo snapped with exasperation. “We haven’t done those kind of cuts for years, old man,” Hunter returned. “Bullshit!” Polo rose from the bench, his scowl bearing down on all the brothers sitting on the bench, looking at us all like dimple-faced brats. “A woman should wear her man’s patch on her back with honor! A true old lady brags who her man is. She shows it off like a symbol of pride! It’s club law.” I could hear the chime of a bell before I even looked to Mallory, whose brown eyes were growing wide, enchanted by Polo’s speech. Her head whipped down to Hunter the second Polo finished, and seeing the expression on her face, he let out a slow groan. “I’ll order you one.” He sighed, looking annoyed, but he couldn’t fool us brothers. We could see the sly, possessive grin behind the reluctant eye roll. Lucky bastard. “I’ve still got mine if you want to look at it?” Kay said, and that was all it took. Mallory lit up like a Christmas tree. “Really?” “I haven’t worn it since Roscoe’s funeral, but it should still be around here somewhere,” Kay said as Mallory gave her man a kiss before turning and running up to Kay’s side. Then the two gingers disappeared into the clubhouse.

With the women gone, the boys fell into conversation, but I wasn’t a part of it. Mallory wasn’t the only one who Polo’s words had reached. Anna was my old lady. I knew it, and everybody else was thinking it. Yet I couldn’t help but notice that glaring little detail that Anna had never once said she was my old lady. In fact, the only time she had mentioned it was when she was refuting the fact. At first, I had only thought she was fighting it because that resistance to anything I said was a fundamental part of her personality. She would never accept becoming my property without fighting it first. But what if I was wrong? What if Anna didn’t want to be my old lady at all? There was no denying that she had feelings for me, and I sure as fuck told her more than enough times who she was to me. But what if she didn’t want that? It was in that moment I realized I had never asked Anna what she wanted. This entire time I had been going off our chemistry and what had existed between us. Both of us had been going with the flow these past few days. Was she just going with the flow? Or did she want more, like I did? The thought became a virus and was eating its way through every core principle I had about me and Anna until suddenly, whatever the hell we had became a mystery to me. I felt a rush of insecurity

inside of me, and it had me up and out of my seat before I knew it. The brothers gave me surprised looks at my abrupt jump, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t paying attention. All I knew was that I needed to find Anna.

Chapter Fourteen

ANNA

W

hen Wolf eventually found me, I was sitting on the roof of the compound. Dusk was setting in and the breeze was faint as it tickled my skin. There was noise coming up from the garden as the boys got started on the bonfire for the night party. Wolf came over with a marching stride, looking full of emotion I felt too distant to recognize, never mind connect with. I didn’t bother to look in his direction. I only listened to the heavy pound of his feet, waiting until it began to slow and then stopped a few feet from me. I knew why he had stopped and why whatever was on his face shut down in an instant. My hand reached out, my fingers smoothing over the surface of the wooden box, feeling the rough inscription carved into the lid. I’d found the

box tucked in a compartment in the bottom of his wardrobe where he had stored the small flamethrower. Nothing would have ever prepared me for what was inside, however. “Have you opened it?” Wolf said, his voice quiet, cautious. I nodded. He returned the nod, his jaw shifting as he looked everywhere but the box. He stood, seeming uncomfortable and out of place for the first time since I’d met him. Understandably so. I glanced back to the box, the Russian letters on the lid. I lifted it from where it sat next to me on the concrete and placed it on my lap. “Who were they?” I whispered. Wolf’s eyes finally dropped to the box, his controlled mask cracking as bits of emotion started to peak through. He looked pained. But it was nothing compared to the sadness that filled his whiskey eyes. He took a deep, shuddering breath, unwinding the coiled fists at his sides as the tension seemed to sweep out of him. He moved forward, taking one slow step at a time before he dropped down next to me, leaning his back against the wall. “They were members of the Raff, a small-time gang I used to work for back in Russia. Cocky kids dealt a bad hand in life.” I could hear the affection in Wolf’s voice as he talked about them, probably

for the first time in a long time. “There were a few of them over the years, maybe twelve or thirteen,” he recalled, his eyes going distant, a fond smile forming on his lips. “You had the triplets first— Ivan, Aleksei, and Zach. They were always up to no good, but because they were triplets, they were all very small for their age and were able to fit into the tiniest of gaps. Then Vaughn, Oral, Luka, and Lada came over the next few years. The girls were trained in seduction, often left at a few of the prostitution places we owned. The boys trained to be nothing more than muscle, like myself. A few more came after that, all of them having no other place to go than the gang, forced into it to earn money for themselves after their parents abandoned them like sacrifices on our doorsteps. We weren’t soft on them, not when they needed to grow up in such a harsh world as ours, but we never turned them away. Maybe if we had, they might have been better off. “But then came along Sasha.” Wolf shook his head, tone light as a weary smile overtook his face. “It was 1993. I remember it being an especially harsh winter in Penza, my hometown, that year. I was wrapped up in my crappy little apartment with the fire on, which did nothing to warm up the room. I could have afforded a bigger place, but I was working most of the time for the gang and was barely at my apartment, so I never bothered. So

anyway, there I was, sitting by the fire, when suddenly I hear a knock on the door.” A big smile lit up Wolf’s face as he began shaking his head. “It was like the start of some feelgood movie when I opened the door. There was nobody there, and it was fucking freezing outside, so I thought someone was playing a prank on me. I was about to shut the door. Then I felt this sharp little kick against my leg. I looked down, and there was a white-haired, brown-eyed little boy, barely reaching my thigh, standing with his hands propped on his hips, glaring at me. I was stunned for a moment, before he demanded—actually demanded —my six-foot-eight ass to let him join the gang.” A laugh rumbled out of Wolf’s chest, the pure amusement of it something I hadn’t seen in him before. “Of course, I didn’t let him. I slammed the door in his face and told him to get lost. But that didn’t stop Sasha. He was like a dog with a bone and began following me around, glued to my side, bouncing off any form of discouragement I threw at him. I was supposed to be an enforcer for this gang, and I couldn’t even threaten off some six-year-old kid.” Wolf shook his head. “He ended up being nicknamed ‘Cub’ because he followed me around like some young wolf’s pup.” “That’s why you called yourself Wolf...,” I whispered, fitting the pieces together. I also thought

to the small paw print tattooed on the back of his neck, the symbolism now making sense as well. Wolf’s eyes flickered to me with surprise. He had been so caught up in his memory, he seemed to have forgotten I was even there. His hand reached up and rubbed along the back of his neck, dark hair falling over his face. “He ended up idolizing me. The years passed, and somewhere along the way, he ended up under my wing. He got along with the other kids in the club, and despite being younger than most of them, he was like their big brother. He was arrogant and cocky, and mostly trouble. But he had a heart of gold, that boy. Always ready to defend those he called family.” He paused, his hand tightening over the back of his neck. “So, when Oral got into trouble...” “He went to save her?” Wolf nodded, a soft chuckle under his breath. “Sasha had this huge crush on Oral. It was probably because he was easy on the eyes that most girls liked him, but in Oral’s case, she gave him a blackeye any time he tried to flirt with her. Another thing he must have picked up from me.” Wolf smirked, sending a glance my way. “But Oral worked in the local brothel, not as a prostitute, but as a handmaid. But not all customers thought that way. One of the men, some scumbag drug dealer, didn’t take Oral’s no for an answer.” Wolf didn’t

delve any further, but from the scowl on his lips, he didn’t need to. “Sasha was so pissed, and so were we. But when we told Sasha we’d handle it, it wasn’t enough for him. When he found out Oral was pregnant—” His hand hit his thigh, his fingers tightened into a white ball, as he bared his teeth at the ground. “—he flipped. He and the other boys, they all went to track the guy down. But they were stupid and rash, and they headed straight to his hideout, too arrogant to realize they were nowhere near strong enough to take down an entire drug hoard. We left as soon as we realized they were missing. They were gone barely an hour, but by the time we arrived... it was too late.” I held back a sob as Wolf’s head, which had lifted higher and higher as he told his story about the children, dropped when he had finished. I thought back to the contents of the box. The case files and information sheets were all in Russian, but the dates and the photos attached told me everything. Several children were massacred. Not killed. Not murdered. Massacred. “Were you the one who...?” The question was left hanging, but Wolf knew what I was asking. “Yeah. I got there first.” His voice cracked on the last word. I looked up to see a lone tear trail down his face. He didn’t brush it away or try to hide it. His tears of pain for Sasha and the others

should never have to be hidden. I reached out and placed my hand over his knuckles. He opened his hand, allowing me to fit mine in between. “The man who did that to them...?” I probed, squeezing my hand in his. My mind went back to my reaction when I first saw the photos of the grim attack. I had wanted to throw up at the sight of them, the impact of them so overwhelming that I had to escape to the roof before I forced myself to go through the rest. “They’re dead,” Wolf confirmed my thought. “We were supposed to get ahold of the drug problem in Penza years ago. There were no more reports after that. At first, I had thought Oral might have died, considering the extent of her trauma, but when I found no death certificate, nor a grave location, I realized that wasn’t the case.” “Where is Oral now?” I asked softly, unsure whether Wolf would divulge the information. But that was entirely not the case. “I don’t know,” he said after a moment, surprising me so much my repetition blurted from my lips. “You don’t know?” “The day after the burial, I left for America.” Whatever I was expecting him to say, that was not even close. The news shocked me so much I didn’t know how to respond. I just found myself staring wide eyed, speechless for once as I waited

for something. Some kind of explanation. But Wolf just continued. “I left a pregnant, scared little girl in a dark world, and I never went back. As far as I was concerned, everybody died that day.” Wolf withdrew, the tension curling his muscles tight into himself. The hand that held mine became taut, but it remained gentle as my own limp fingers felt cold in his grasp. My mind felt quiet as I looked to him for understanding. Looked for him to give me answers, to tell me the truth, just staring at him, at the face I knew so well, and the man who I’d looked to for the past three years. At the Wolf I knew. It was in that moment that I understood the truth was right in front of my eyes. The truth was in the faintness of the laugh lines in his face and ridges of his brow. In the way his hands unconsciously sought to touch those he held dear with a clasp of the shoulder, a pat on the back, a kiss on my skin. It was in the aroma of whiskey that tinged each of his warm breaths and in the hands familiar with the bottle, the hands holding mine. “You left her to protect her,” I said out loud, and Wolf spun toward me, surprise exaggerating the whites in his eyes as his pupils bore into mine. “Don’t look so surprised.” I gave him a soft bump with my shoulder. “People don’t change so easily. And I know you. I know who you are. You’re a

stubborn bastard, but you’re loyal. Loyal to a fault. In a world like ours, sometimes sacrifice is necessary to protect those you love.” Wolf’s face softened on me, that rough exterior seeming more like a characteristic feature than a wall of protection. “I figured, if I was gone, she’d be free from the gang, disbanding it before I left. I loved Sasha, but drug hoards were infinite. If our gang had remained, they would no doubt track us down and use Oral against us. I couldn’t do that to Sasha, not to the girl he liked.” Wolf’s torn voice went silent, and I couldn’t bring myself to fill the void it left, leaving the silence to drag on between us as my fingers brushed across the scars marring his knuckles and the callouses rough on his skin. “Am I a bad man?” I thought about it for a while. I wondered about my own family back home but knew my situation would never compare. I wondered, What if I were Sasha or Oral, but knew we probably wouldn’t think alike. And in the end, rather than give halfassed consoling reassurances, I told him, “I don’t know,” because the truth was all I could tell him. Wolf nodded and accepted my answer, letting silence once again take us, the box of Sasha and his friends’ lives by Wolf’s side until its harsh end sat quietly between us. For a long time, Wolf didn’t say any more. But

after his body relaxed and the disturbance of his emotions settled, he pulled the box onto his lap and opened the lid. He ignored the case details of the attack and instead pulled out a different little bundle of photos from the bottom of the box. My head lolled onto his shoulder, snuggled up to his warmth as one by one he went through the photos, telling me how old they were and what memory belonged to each photo. Sasha was a beautiful boy. He was slim but strong, with almost white-blond and long hair tied in a ponytail similar to Wolf’s, and brown eyes. He never seemed to get older than fifteen or so in the old photographs, so carefully preserved. The same could be said about the other children. Apparently, the triplets were pranksters; Ivan was the leader of their troupe, while Aleksei had been a pushover and crybaby. Of the two girls, both Oral and Lada were tough. They’d never let the boys push them around, choosing to rule over them instead, though I could tell they had a few of the older members wrapped around their fingers as well. Both beautiful, reaching only the ages of eighteen or nineteen before the photos stopped. The rest of the boys seemed to rally behind Sasha, however, considering he was the only one the girls couldn’t bully into submission. A golden sun in their own little youngster gang, always wanting to come on business deals, but with the exception of the rare

use of the triplets, they were left to “guard” their base. I wondered what they would look like all grown up now. They’d all be in their late twenties by now, all having their own jobs, adult lives. The triplets, perhaps, still playing pranks on everybody. The boys would maybe have jobs—no doubt all handson jobs with Wolf’s influence. And maybe Oral and Sasha would have been married with children of their own. It was a nice image that warmed me as I looked up to see that the stars and the moon were at their peak in the sky. The noise outside wasn’t too loud; the music was mostly muted from indoors, with only light chatter and the crackle of the bonfire filling the night air. “Leaving Oral,” Wolf said suddenly, “it messed me up for a long time. I was getting drunk in bars to mask my pain, trying to forget about her. I would pick a fight with whomever, just to distract me from thoughts of going back for her. That’s how Roscoe found me. I was drunk off my ass in a bar, beating up some prick. Apparently, I told him my story, and because Bell was around that age, he couldn’t bear to leave me alone. I didn’t want his sympathy though, and once I made that perfectly clear, Roscoe stopped being sympathetic and kicked my ass back into shape. Taught me that I should never try to forget her, that the sacrifice the kids made

should be honored, and that I do that by not shutting people out and making sure to treasure the things I hold dear.” Wolf turned to look at me, his face an open book, allowing me to see into this man who had remained half a mystery through most of the time I’d known him. He reached up, his hand cupping my face as the rough callus of his thumb brushed over my skin. “You’re one of the things I hold dear, Anna. You can give me as much shit as you want. You can try to near kill me every day. You can argue with me until I’m blue in the face. But I’ll love you anyway.” My whole existence throbbed at the mere mention of the L-word. My heart raced in my chest at the weight of his words, and for a person who had every comeback known to man at my disposal, I was lost for words. Wolf must have seen it on my face, too, because he suddenly let out a roar of laughter. “You’ll tell a deadly motorcycle club leader to fuck off to his face, but you’re scared of me telling you that I’m in love with you?” Wolf howled, nearly keeling over onto his side in his amusement. “Fuck you,” I hissed, slapping him on the arm. “This and that are different.” Wolf’s laughter calmed as he looked at my face. My eyes were glued to his huge leather-bound chest as I tried to process the words. Does Wolf love me? Do I love Wolf? Do I?

Fuck, I suddenly felt confused as it brought everything I had been trying to ignore into question. I knew something was happening between us, but I was pretending it wasn’t. Hoping that if I never acknowledged it, nothing would happen. How does someone even know if they’re in love? How does Wolf even know for sure? I wasn’t feeling some kind of impending eureka moment, ready to shout my love for Wolf at any second. Is that how it’s supposed to happen? I don’t know! How…? What do I…? Wolf pulled me forward, his lips crashing into mine, knocking my thoughts straight out of my head as he held my face between his huge hands and kissed me until I felt like my chest was about to crack open in two. “Don’t think so hard,” he whispered, his own breaths heavy in our kiss. “Just feel.” What? Feel? The hell does that mean? “I—” “How do you feel when I do this?” Wolf pulled me forward again, locking lips with mine and giving me no choice but to surrender to him as he growled against my mouth, the vibrations fluttering throughout my whole body, leaving me moaning in response. He pulled back, my fluttering eyes opening to see his deep brown ones looking back at me. “How do you feel?”

“I... I don’t know,” I breathed. My thoughts were barely coherent, never mind being capable of figuring out if I was in love with this man. “Then how do you feel when I do this?” Wolf offered, his eyes twinkling almost as if he was enjoying my confusion as he pressed a strong kiss to the side of my neck, moving slowly further and further down, his teeth grazing over my collarbone and making me gasp. “I…,” I panted. “I don’t know.” Fuck. I couldn’t think at all. Wolf pulled back again and looked into my face. “Then how about this?” His smiling face sobered, and I felt my body stand to attention as he leaned slowly forward, his lips brushing over the tip of my nose and across my cheek and jaw until they touched the hollow of my ear, his moist breath rolling over my skin. “Ya tebya lyublyu.” The difference was like night and day. I didn’t know Russian, but I knew. My heart fluttered, and unlike before, I felt something swell up inside of me, something big, something that responded to the meaning of the words. It was definitely a eureka moment. But was that really love? A soft chuckle tore me from my head. Wolf gave me a soft smile. “You still look confused.” He lifted his big paw of a hand, reaching up to brush a

few strands of my blonde hair away from my flushed face. “I think you know. But knowing and being ready to accept it are two different things entirely, so I’m not going to push you. When you finally get your stubborn ass to stop fighting it, you can get down on your knees and profess your love to me at any time.” “Like hell, I’d do that,” I growled back without missing a beat, covering the sudden wave of relief as Wolf offered me my temporary escape. The pressure was unbelievable. Saying how you felt about someone shouldn’t feel forced out just to escape from the weight of his expectations. “I’ll be waiting,” Wolf whispered, pressing a kiss to my forehead. He rose to his feet, picking up the wooden box and tucking it under his arm before he walked back over to the door. He paused with it open, turning back to me with a wicked grin. “Come to me on your knees at any time!” he yelled and ducked inside seconds before the heel of my boot crashed against the metal door. “Fuck you!”

Chapter Fifteen

WOLF

A

nnouncing the deal to the brothers the next morning had gone down pretty much how I had expected it to. No faces of shock or surprise met my eyes, most of them having figured it out beforehand. But this club wasn’t a dictatorship, and I didn’t want to go ahead with the deal if the rest of the brothers weren’t on board. But when I offered to go tell Charon right there and then that his deal could fuck off, none of the brothers concurred. They agreed with my decision, and Jasper even pulled me aside, mentioning that even though the club agreed with this choice, offering the boys a way out was the right decision. Since then, the club was eerily quiet. We heard no more news from Charon, and had no more incidents with the Black Jacks. Furthermore, Anna was avoiding me by holing herself up in her office

on the other side of town, and she even started going back to her own house instead of sleeping at the club. Ignoring my dick’s opinion, I was fine with it. I knew what I’d said to her had put her on the spot, and confronting what both of us knew was the truth was something I knew she had never been planning on doing. But once she stopped fighting and accept it, I’d be here. Telling her about Sasha and the kids wasn’t something I’d planned. The only other one I’d told had been Roscoe, and despite the other brothers having their suspicions, I’d never felt the need to share it with them before. But somehow, having it off my chest, having somebody else know about my little girl didn’t feel as bad as I thought it would be. In fact, it felt like a relief. Without knowing it, I had felt it was something that stood been between us, but now it was in the open and Anna had listened to my story without any judgment or sympathy. She’d simply accepted that it was just another part of me. “You look happy,” Lamb interrupted my thoughts. I looked up at him to see his sharp face and pale brown eyes frowning at me. “It’s disgusting.” “Fuck off,” I grumbled, wiping the smile off my face and shooting him a comfortable scowl before taking a sip of my beer. When I looked back at him, his expression had sobered and he turned his back to me, revealing the skull and wings of his Black

Angels cut. He was dressed in his club clothes for once as he began to mill around the bar, restocking for the party tonight with all the new booze that had been delivered this morning. “You sure about this party?” Lamb asked. “Yeah.” I sighed. “Can’t let them think they’re getting to us. But I don’t like how quiet it’s been, so I’m not letting my guard down; Pipe’s only allowed to let in members and affiliates. Nobody we don’t know.” “That a goo—” Lamb began, only to be cut off by a loud squeal. I spun on my stool to where the girls were sitting, watching as Mallory pulled out a long leather jacket. Her face brightened with the biggest smile before she pulled her curly red hair into a pile on the top of her head and slid the jacket on. “Spin!” Kay demanded, wagging her finger in the air. Mallory turned and presented her back. The black leather was christened with the same Black Angels’ skull and wings patch along with the official “Property of Hunter” rocker underneath. “What do you think?” Mallory looked like a kid on Christmas morning as she asked for Kay’s opinion first. “Hunter will love it,” Kay whispered, a soft smile taking over her face. “You know what?” Kay turned and took off down the hallway to her and

Bell’s club room, where they kept some of their shit. Everybody’s eyes followed after her in confusion until she returned only moments later, donning her own black leather cut. Wrinkles covered the old thing. Holes had been stitched, and the colors had slightly faded over the years, but Kay had been Roscoe’s old lady for almost forty years, and I knew leather never stayed that good quality unless it was well taken care of. Kay hugged the leather over her front, almost looking self-conscious in the thing. I got up from my stool, shaking my head as I headed over to the women. “Beautiful,” I said, throwing my arm over Kay’s shoulder, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “Roscoe loved it when you wore that thing.” Kay was like a mother to the boys in the club. She was a strong woman, had balls of steel, and was more than ready to kick our asses if we needed it. But she was also a gentle soul, and Roscoe had been absolutely whipped by this woman. He’d chosen well. “Don’t let Hunter see you in that thing.” I turned to look over to Mallory. “He’ll end up sobbing like a little bitch the rest of the night.” She laughed, her cheeks blushing a bright red. She was a sweet little thing but didn’t hesitate to bust my balls over shit like when Hunter and I ended up in lockup on his bachelor party. It was

Jax’s fault, really. “Speaking of bitching,” I said, looking over the gathering of girls. “I see Anna’s not with you girls.” “Ha.” Amanda, Polo’s old lady, who I was more surprised to see since she didn’t come around the clubhouse all that often, scoffed. Now, here was a woman who took busting balls as a hobby. "You know very well why she’s not here, Wolf.” “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I chuckled, earning a pinch in my side from Kay, who rolled her eyes at me as she walked away. “You might as well go find her,” Mallory said, reluctantly sliding off her new cut and putting it back in the delivery box. “You need to get out of here while we decorate this place.” “The decorations just arrived.” Lamb gave me a shit-eating grin, and suddenly, I didn’t like the fact that Lamb had been put in charge of ordering them. “Can’t have the birthday boy here, now can we?” Kay returned to me, pushing me toward the door just as Mallory swung it open. “All right, all right. I’m leaving,” I said, throwing my hands up. Kay couldn’t move my huge size, but she’d been around the club for decades, so she learned a thing or two about getting guys twice her size to move, techniques I’d rather not acquaint myself with again. “Tell your bitch she better be here tonight, or I’ll drag her here myself,” Kay threatened as a

parting gesture before my own club doors were shut in my face. Women.

W

hen I stepped into Anna’s office, she barely noticed my arrival. She was wearing her sexy uppity glasses as she stood looking down into a cardboard box, her knuckles pressed against her mouth, concern woven into her features. She was dressed in one of her dress suits, a black one with a tight blue blouse underneath, nearly the same baby blue of her eyes. For a moment, I was thrown back to the day I met her smart ass, wearing a suit similar to this in those redhot boots she could pull off with anything. Her mouth had grabbed my interest back then, and it hadn’t lost it since. I shut the door, the lock clicking and snapping Anna out of her head. The light glinted off her glasses as her head flicked up to see my face. The whites of her eyes widened in surprise. “Wolf!” she exclaimed, her hands slamming down on the lid of the box. I looked down at the box. “What’s that?” “Something for a client,” she said, lifting it off

her desk and moving to place it in a chest on the other side of the room, filled with more brown boxes stamped in red ink reading “Evidence.” She locked the chest, depositing the key back into a small compartment in her desk before turning to face me. “What are you doing here?” she asked, propping her hand up on her hip like she did every time she felt like taking a bite out of me. “Looking for my bitch,” I growled, my steps slowing as I prowled closer to her end of the room. “She hasn’t been around recently.” “Maybe she got tired of your demanding ass calling her a bitch,” Anna retorted, crooking an eyebrow at me. It was a pathetic effort to try to disguise the slow step back behind her desk. “I don’t think so.” I passed the side of the desk, watching as her tight-ass dress suit’s blouse couldn’t hide the quickening of her breaths. Her back hit the edge of the desk, and her hands fell back to brace her. I reached out to grasp her hips, loving how her skirt hugged the curves. I let my hands skim down the sides until my fingers just grazed the skin below the hem of her skirt. I kept my eyes on my hands as I watched them wander with a mind of their own when they hooked one finger under the edge of the skirt, sliding up her thighs and pushing the material up along with it.

My hands slid up under her ass, cupping the soft, full cheeks. I squeezed them in my palms, looking up to catch the hot, breathy moan as it tumbled out of her lips. A hot flush overtook her cheeks, but it was the glazed, lustful eyes that held mine through the lenses of her glasses that had me lifting her ass and dropping her onto the edge of her desk. “How about you tell me how much you missed me?” I growled, pressing my nose into the nape of her neck, my short beard brushing along her skin, the thrum of her pulse like a drum in my ears. “Come on. It’s my birthday after all.” “Fuck you,” she hissed. “Yeah, definitely my bitch.” I chuckled, pulling back to see her scowl at me. I was jerked forward when her legs hooked around my back until the denim of my jeans pressed into the silk panties exposed as her skirt rose over her hips. “Are you going to stand there all day, or are you going to fuck me, old man?” she growled, punctuating it with a squeeze of her thighs. “You better hold on then, girl, because I’m going to give you the best fucking of your life.” “Bring it on, big boy.”

Chapter Sixteen

ANNA

W

olf kept his word, and my ass was no doubt going to be bruise tomorrow from the pure strength I had to muster to stop myself from being thrown over the other side of my desk from the pounding he gave me. I liked to joke that Wolf was an old man, but truth be told, he’d proven to me many times that he was still kicking. But my ass was the least of my problems. I stood looking at myself in the mirror, wondering what the fuck I was doing. My red little number came down to the bottom of my ass, and it was what I had been planning to treat Wolf to as my birthday surprise to him. What I hadn’t planned to treat him to was the jacket on my back. That jacket being the “Property of Wolf” cut I

was practically glaring at in the mirror. The same one that Mallory had so kindly ordered for me, thinking that Wolf and I were already officially old lady and old man like the rest of the club did. Mallory had dropped by my office in the morning to give me the privilege of being one of the first to see her new property jacket while also handing me mine. I had opened my mouth, ready to blurt out my actual status with Wolf—his confession of love and my absolute confusion about my own feelings—but before I could, Kay had the thing out of the box and on my shoulders before I could argue. She shoved me in front of the standing mirror on the back of my office door and spun me around before I could argue. I couldn’t breathe. I near verged on a panic attack when suddenly everything hit me at once. I wasn’t one of those people to believe in “moments.” Just like eureka moments, they belonged in story books or movies. Certainly not ones starring me. But it had been swelling in my chest ever since Wolf had told me he loved me on the rooftop last week, and it all came slamming into me in said moment. I should never have been one to realize I was in love with a man by having his name stamped on my back. Not me. Never me.

But I did. And now the words were like a balloon filling my mouth, making me want to spit them out as fast as I could. But when I had been wondering what to do, Wolf had snuck into my office, and I panicked, shoving the cut and the box in my evidence locker. I looked at the cut now hanging over my dress and turned to face myself in the mirror. My dark makeup and grim expression made it seem like I was facing a firing squad, not a confession of feelings. I sighed. “What is that?” I shrieked in surprise, spinning on my heels to see Wolf’s dark, wide eyes. They were fixed like weights on the cut that suddenly felt heavy on my shoulders. My hands reached up to fist the material, trying to alleviate some of the weight. “This is... um…,” I mumbled for the first time in my life. Fuck, I wasn’t prepared for this. “A property jacket?” Wolf offered, stepping into the room and quietly shutting the door behind him. “With my name on it?” “Well, yeah. But this… it doesn’t mean—” “I think it does,” Wolf interrupted, catching me before I quickly came up with any excuse to ruin whatever the fuck I was attempting to do. “It doesn’t,” I snapped back on reflex.

Why was it so hard for me to be honest? Wolf smirked, stepping into my space as his hands reached out to touch the cool leather. His fingers slid under the collar and slowly drifted down the length of the jacket until they reached my waist, where his hands stopped but didn’t let go. “Say it,” Wolf whispered, the rumble of his voice drawing me closer toward him. He leaned his head in towards mine, swallowing me into his bubble. “Say the words.” “I...” I took a deep, shuddering breath, my eyes looking up to catch his. It was like they suddenly grew a gravitational pull, dragging me into their depths with such a force that my body screamed to resist. I could feel myself wanting to fight what I knew would change it all, and despite the urge, looking into Wolf’s waiting face, patient and absorbed in me, I couldn’t hold it in. “I love you,” I blurted. It wasn’t my most graceful announcement, nor my most confident one, my body bracing for the impact the second the words were out, but I had said it, and when I found the courage to look up, it only took a second for me to know I wasn’t wrong. The smile that Wolf returned had the ice around my heart turning into a puddle of mush. I wasn’t a mushy person, but all of this felt so sweet, so warm and gooey, and if I had to admit it, made me want to throw up in my mouth just a little bit. The words

felt almost... changing, as if some part of me was now different from the rest. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little bit frightened by the change, but there was a different part of me, a bigger part of me, that welcomed it. That wanted it. I shook my head, Wolf’s smile suddenly becoming contagious. “What have you done to me?” He chuckled, taking the words right out of my head. I opened my mouth to answer, but Wolf’s mouth took mine instead. It wasn’t like the hot, rough kisses we’d shared before. This one was soft, slow as he kissed my lips, pulling them into his mouth as if he was tasting them for the first time. When his tongue slipped into my mouth, it was gentle, exploring with a patience that had a slowburning heat rising from the tips of my toes across my whole body. My hands held on to his waist, scared my knees were about to collapse underneath me. I was panting hard when his lips pulled away from mine. They weren’t gone long, though. They moved to the edge of my jaw, his short beard and lips tracing the curve of the bone until he met my ear, where he placed a trail of kisses down the length of my neck to my collarbone. My legs quivered and my mind went fuzzy just from Wolf’s soft kisses, his hands holding on to my waist as my own hands weakened on his hips. “W-Wolf,” I

breathed. “We can’t.” He ignored me, his lips moving between the valley of my breasts, generously exposed by my little red dress. “Your party,” I continued my futile excuses, knowing that I would probably kill him if he stopped doing what he was doing for some fucking party. “It’s the president’s party,” Wolf grumbled, the tremor on my skin sensational. “The president can do whatever the fuck he wants.” “Oh,” I breathed, my fight lost as his finger slid down the cup of her bra, brushing the tip of my nipple. “Thank fuck for that.” Apparently, Wolf and I were the only ones who thought that. “Wolf!” Kay’s voice bellowed from the other side of the door, her fist banging against it. “You better put your dick away and get out here before I come in there and drag you out myself.” “Fuck,” Wolf hissed, his head dropping onto my shoulder. “There goes my boner.” I fought the laughter bubbling out of my chest, not doubting for a second that Kay would come in here and be able to drag him out by force if need be. The woman could move a mountain if she wanted to. Wolf lifted his head, his eyes twinkling down at me. “We’ll finish this later.”

“If you last that long,” I purred, offering him a wicked grin that made his eyes turn from lust to confusion and then concern in the blink of an eye. He didn’t get time to think too much about it, however, because true to her word, Kay barged in two seconds later and Wolf was dragged outside. Time to get the party started.

Chapter Seventeen

WOLF

I

should have known the second the stripper music started playing that Anna was up to something. Jax and Pretty both wheeled in a huge birthday cake, and by huge, I mean almost-the-size-of-me huge. I should have been overjoyed or at least turned on when the top burst open, confetti flying everywhere, covering the glittery pink “Birthday Girl” banners that Lamb—the asshole—had hung up everywhere, and a hot, blonde-haired and silvereyed stripper appeared, wearing only a G-string and flashing nipple tassels. She strutted her way over to me, her eyes eating me up. I wish I could say I had an erection as she came over, but fuck, I was too scared to have one. My eyes scanned the room full of hooting men and

women for my old lady, and when I couldn’t see her, I didn’t feel good about it. I wasn’t sure if she knew about the stripper, which was no doubt Jax’s idea, but I couldn’t relax. Something wasn’t right. I was too distracted looking for Anna that I didn’t notice the girl had climbed up onto my lap until it was too late. Her small ass ground against my jeans and my arms immediately went to lift her off my lap, only to never make it off the arms of the chair. I looked down to my wrists to see the metal cuffs chaining them down to the bars of the seat. “What the f—” “Look, don’t touch,” Anna’s hot voice whispered in my ear, making my dick stand to attention. “Anna?” I growled, more with weariness than lust as she sauntered around the chair, coming up behind the stripper. “It’s your birthday.” Anna gave me a hot, saccharine smile as she leaned her face down into the neck of the girl, her hand coming around the girl's side and plucking one of the tassels hanging from her nipples. The girl gasped in pleasure. “Enjoy.” I looked around the room for some kind of clue as to what was going on, because I didn’t dare believe what Anna was saying. It had to be a trap.

My brothers offered no help as more girls came parading through the doors, taking their attention. Drinks were getting passed around and everybody abandoned me. I looked back to Anna as she leaned back, reaching for the birthday cake on the nearest table and swiping a long streak of white icing onto her finger. “You can thank Mallory and Hunter for this idea,” she purred, smothering icing on the nape of the girl’s neck. “Holy shit,” I breathed, completely mesmerized as Anna flashed her teeth and dropped her mouth down onto the girl’s shoulder, sucking on the skin with enough force to make the girl wither on my lap, a quiet moan beginning at the back of my throat and exiting my mouth as Anna pressed a kiss to the bite mark, her eyes flashing up to me, reminding me of the time I did the same thing to her. She reached back for some more of the icing, the girl patiently sitting on my lap, awaiting Anna’s return. With Anna’s clean hand, she cupped the girl's chin and brought her to face her. Her iced finger pushed into the girl's mouth, watching with intense eyes as the girl obediently sucked her finger clean. I saw Anna’s knuckles curl as her finger moved inside the girl’s mouth, and whatever she did, the

girl liked it, groaning and shifting her hips on my lap, making me groan in return as my dick strained against my zipper. My hands jerked forward, wanting to grab her, but the metal dug into my skin, preventing me. “I said no touching,” Anna purred, clicking her tongue. This time, she reached for the girl’s tassels, grabbing the clips and popping them off to reveal soft pink nipples, dusted with a slight redness on the girl’s flawless, pale skin. Anna spread icing over the sore skin, her eyes locking onto mine as the girl whimpered. “Her name’s Satin,” Anna breathed into the girl’s hair. “I picked her myself.” The stripper was Anna’s idea? Fuck, I thought this whole thing was an impromptu revenge on me for Jax ordering a girl. I could never have guessed this was what she had planned. “Do you want a taste?” She held the girl’s breast in her hand, her other hand on the small of her back, making the girl lean forward until her icing-covered nipple was in reaching distance. My eyes studied Anna’s face, but all I could recognize was the growing heat in Anna’s eyes as I realized she was enjoying this, too. I leaned forward, taking the girl’s nipple in my mouth, the sugary icing coating my tongue before I popped it out of my mouth again and moved to do the same to the other one.

Anna watched me the entire time. By now, Satin was panting hard and Anna’s hand disappeared behind the girl, who now sat on her haunches above me. “Poor Satin looks like she’s near her end.” I only realized what she was doing when I heard the girl’s sudden gasp as Anna pushed her finger inside of her. “How about I help you over that edge?” I could hear my teeth cracking, my jaw clamping down hard enough to do damage as I barely held on to my sanity. The girl’s moans grew as Anna’s hand moved faster, and all I could see was Satin’s face as she gasped and cried out, her eyes rolling back in pleasure as she went over the edge. Anna pulled out her hand, licking her fingers clean. “Fuck,” I hissed. Anna looked down at me, at the hard erection imprinting into the crotch of my jeans, and smirked. “Not enough, huh?” she purred, blue eyes flashing with desire. Anna helped the delirious, exhausted Satin off my lap. “Go get yourself something to drink,” she said, slapping her ass as the naked girl staggered over to the bar. Anna lifted the edge of her skirt before she climbed on my lap, straddling my hips with her soft thighs. She unzipped my zipper, and my angry, red

erection sprung out, causing a momentary wave of relief at being free from the small space. I didn’t dare open my mouth to say anything, unsure if my jaw could even function properly anymore as Anna traced her finger over the tip, smearing the precum. “I guess I should probably do something about this.” She sighed as if it pained her to admit it. I let out a throaty growl as her hand encircled my base and squeezed. “Anna.” “Shh,” she purred, moving her hand in firm but slow, torturous pumps. She lifted her eyes up to mine and held them, her toying smile fading from her face as the lust grew, her hand moving faster and faster until I was near my edge. She must have seen it, too, because suddenly, she leaned her body forward, her red lips starting a trail of little, sharp nips up the side of my neck, curbing the pleasure with pain. “Anna,” I hissed, teetering over that edge, needing that extra push. I could feel her smile as she pressed her lips against my ear, her breath rolling over it in hot waves, and whispered, “Ya tebya lyublyu.” “Fuck!” I cried out, the chains around my wrists snapping as my white cum sprayed up and over the red of her dress, covering her in my seed. My hands came up around Anna’s hips before she almost toppled off the side of the chair. She was

panting as hard as me, her skin covered in a sheen of sweat as she gave out a quiet chuckle. “Happy birthday,” she whispered. “My birthday’s not over yet,” I growled, somehow finding the energy to grab her, toss her over my shoulder, and barge my way through the crowded room, shoving everybody out of my way until I was in my room, where I threw her sticky ass on my bed and dropped my pants. Anna’s eyes rounded with shock when she saw my erection begin to stand again. “Take it all off,” I growled, and Anna obeyed, slowly removing the property jacket and draping it over the back of the chair with care before pulling her dress over her head in one smooth motion. I groaned in appreciation when I realized she had gone without underwear and didn’t even bother trying to remove her boots. “Get on your hands and knees,” I ordered, loving the small flicker of fight in her eyes before she conceded, the lust winning her over. I reached into my bedside drawer, pulled out the bottle of lube, and squeezed it over my fingers. I chucked the bottle on the bed, and using my free hand, I splayed it over her ass cheek and pushed it to the side, giving me more access to her ass. My two fingers went in slow, her body trembling as I pushed them deep inside her ass. During sex, I had been slowly getting her used

to her ass being played with, and now she welcomed the feeling of my fingers as I moved them in and out, her muscles relaxed and responsive to my touch. “This ass is mine tonight,” I promised, adding a third finger to widen her. Anna’s body trembled, either at the feeling of my hand or the anticipation of what was to come. I kept moving my fingers in and out of her, reaching with my other hand to play with her clit, forcing her to relax as I made her wider and wider, accustoming her to roughly what she was about to get. “Wolf,” Anna moaned, her ass meeting my fingers for my quick thrusts. “Put it in.” I didn’t need to be asked twice. Satisfied with my preparation, I lined myself up behind her. I placed one hand on her hip and the other one splayed over her back, keeping her steady as I pressed my tip into her crease, lube oozing out of her hole. “Take a deep breath,” I ordered, waiting until I could feel her ribs expand under my touch before I began to push in. Anna’s breath immediately rushed out of her as I gently thrust, keeping my pace steady as she regained her breath, her ribs falling in deep, slow breaths. “Keep breathing,” I urged, nearly all the way in as she let out a soft whimper at the tightness. “I’m all the way in,” I announced, my voice

hoarse as the feeling of her hot anal muscles tightened around me. “Shit,” Anna groaned, shifting slightly and making my dick twitch. “You’re so big.” “Thanks.” “Fuck off,” she hissed. I waited until I felt her fully relax around me, her breathing back to normal. “I’m going to move,” I said, waiting for her nod as I slowly began to pull out, making Anna gasp and then moan in the process until I was almost all the way out. I was slow and steady with each thrust, letting her get used to the sensation until I heard that hot little moan. “Harder,” she groaned, her hands curling into the bed sheets. “Fuck,” I hissed, unable to hold on to my restraint as I began to move faster, Anna meeting my thrusts pound for pound. I could feel her as she neared the edge, her thighs trembling and her moans becoming short, quick stutters. I reached down between us, feeling my own end approaching, found her clit, and pinched. Anna cried out, her muscles squeezing around my dick as her orgasm rocked into her. I thrust twice more and pulled out just as my hot cum sprayed over her bare back, the white color glaring out against her red, blushing skin. Exhausted, I dropped down beside her and

dragged her limp body on top of me, too hot to even bother pulling the sheets over us. Anna’s eyes were closed in pleasure as she panted softly against my chest, about to fall straight to sleep after our workout, when I heard her soft, nearly incoherent voice. “Happy birthday,” she grumbled and then fell promptly asleep. Happy fucking birthday indeed.

Chapter Eighteen

ANNA

I

woke up a few hours later with my property jacket draped over my shoulders, alone and naked on Wolf’s bed. I looked up, my ass twinging, and saw that Wolf’s clothes were gone. I also noticed that my skin was clean and figured Wolf must have wiped me down after I passed out and went back to the party. Fucks me in the ass and then leaves me all alone. Bastard. I sighed—my annoyance short-lived because I knew he was probably dragged back to the party— and stretched, probing the feeling in my ass and determining that, despite being a little sore, it was manageable. I looked around the room, seeing the normal duffle bag of clothes I usually left on the chair in the corner was gone. It took me about five

minutes of rooting around before I found my clothes hung on one side of Wolf’s wardrobe. My heart felt funny, which I promptly squashed —it was just wardrobe space, for God’s sake—and pulled free a pair of comfy leggings and a long shirt. My boots were on the bottom, which Wolf must have also taken off me after my amazing new experience, and I put them back on. I was about to leave the room when I saw my property jacket laid on the bed. It’s too late to back out now, I thought to myself, grabbing the damn thing and putting it on, pretending to hate the way my back straightened with pride before stepping out into the clubroom. The room was still filled wall to wall with people, and when I checked the clock, I realized that I had only slept an hour or two at the most, meaning the party was in full swing. I felt like I was snaking endlessly in and out of people, and yet, my search for Wolf came to no avail. I did find Julia, however, who was having her fun with Jax as he dragged her upstairs to his bedroom. I hoped she wasn’t using my game with Wolf earlier as a reference to thinking Jax’s kind of kink would be fun. There was an extreme level of difference between handcuffs and Jax’s S&M. I would have laughed at the thought if a sudden dose of cold beer hadn’t hit me. I spun, furious that the beer was dripping over the leather of my jacket,

and turned on the assailant. “Shit, babe,” the guy gasped, blue-green eyes looking down at the damage he’d done. “I’m so sorry about your jacket. Here, you can use mine if you’re cold,” he said, pulling off his denim jacket, revealing a curling snake tattoo reaching up to his forearm, bright red eyes glaring back at me as he held the gray jacket out toward me. It took a second for my guard to go up. This party was only for club members and affiliates, and yet this guy had just poured his beer over my property jacket and treated it like a minor mistake. The property jacket of this club’s president’s old lady. “You’re not meant to be here,” I growled, deprioritizing the condition of the cut as my hackles rose. My voice must have dripped poison because the guy flinched in surprise as I called him out. His innocent, apologetic expression turned to cold ice in a flash, and I didn’t get the chance to scream as he shoved his hand over my mouth and pulled me against him. My heart raced as the adrenalin kicked in. I lifted my leg, about to show him that he messed with the wrong fucking girl when I felt the tiny prick in my side and my blood ran cold. “You’re a clever girl,” he whispered in my ear, the Russian accent I knew too well clear in his voice. “Now, I’m going to let go of your mouth

before someone thinks something’s up, and you’re not going to scream, you got me?” I nodded into his hand, the knowledge and information about what Wolf had found out from Charon swelling in my brain. This man was a Black Jack. No doubt about it. There was no way Pipe would have let him in unless... “What did you do to Pipe?” I growled the second he freed my mouth. “He’s indisposed,” he said, and the indifference in his voice made me think Pipe was in more trouble than I thought. My eyes darted over the man’s broad shoulder, looking for anybody for help, but there were too many people here to find any of the brothers, and the people around me didn’t notice my distress. To everybody else, it would have just looked like he was talking in my ear. I was on my own. “Why are you here? What do you want?” I demanded. “Everything else we’ve tried hasn’t worked. We needed to take extreme measures.” His voice was calm and collected as he kept the knife poking a hole through the thin material of my shirt. “You won’t gain anything by taking me hostage,” I growled, my eyes looking over to the bar, where I saw the crowd part, revealing Wolf, Jasper, and Polo sitting on stools, beers in their hands, drinking.

I begged the universe to make Wolf look my way as his eyes began to glaze over the room like they always did, and for a second, I thought they’d passed over me. But then they didn’t. His brown eyes did a double take as his eyes met mine, and a breathtakingly happy smile transformed his rugged face. Relief flooded my body, and at last, I thought I was saved. “I’m not taking you hostage.” For a second, I could swear his voice sounded sympathetic. Then he plunged the knife into my stomach. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, pulling the knife out and walking away. My whole world seemed to slow as my eyes became impossibly wide, stuck in a transcended moment of pain where time just waited. It waited for me to etch the smile on Wolf’s face as he moved toward me. It let me savor the way he walked with confidence and purpose, like I was his only goal. And last of all, it tortured me by allowing me to witness the painful moment of devastation when the crowd between us parted and his eyes dropped to the red soaking through my shirt and dripping into a puddle on the floor. The moment when my man’s world came crashing down around him. Wolf’s roar cut into my slow world and everything came rushing down on top of me.

I collapsed to the floor, hitting the ground long before Wolf could reach me, as screams and sudden shouting exploded around us. “Anna!” Wolf’s broken voice yelled as he slid to his knees, his hands shaking above me as his brain tried to process what he should do. He chose to press down on the wound, and I expected it to hurt, but instead, it just felt cold. A freezing, chilling cold swept through my veins as drowsiness took hold. “Pipe,” I breathed, my tongue suddenly feeling too heavy to move. “Check on Pipe.” “Don’t talk, Anna,” Wolf snapped, his eyes flicking to my face as he tried his best to offer me a controlled, confident smile through the tears rolling down over his big, rough Russian’s face. I became aware of someone else dropping down by my side, but I didn’t have the energy to waste looking at who it was. “Ch-check on Pipe,” I insisted, my breath soft and staggered through my chattering teeth. “Ccrap, why am I s-so cold?” “You’re going into shock, but you’ll be fine,” Wolf reassured me. “You’re going to be fine.” He took my hand, his other bloodied fingers brushing the hair out of my face. I could feel my consciousness sinking and tried to fight tooth and nail to stay awake, while Wolf begged me to keep my eyes open. But my fight was

fading. “Kiss me,” I blurted, the urgency to touch him, to feel him, suddenly overwhelming all my senses and thoughts. Wolf shook his head, his eyes glazing. “No,” he growled through clenched teeth. “I’ll kiss you tomorrow. I’ll kiss you the day after and the day after that. Not now.” “Wolf,” I hissed, my words taking way too much energy than they should. “Kiss me,” I pleaded. “Kiss me now.” I saw the conflict in Wolf’s eyes as he fought to be stubborn. But he took too long and my eyes closed, the darkness reaching to take me in its grasp. And then warm lips pressed against mine, and despite everything, I could taste his scent of expensive whiskey and cigarettes and remembered wishing it would never end. It was the last thing I felt before my world fell into silence.

Chapter Nineteen

WOLF

I

t had been a long time since I last prayed. I suppose it would have been natural for me to have lost faith in God after Sasha and the children had died. But that’s not why I stopped praying. I stopped praying because there was nothing for me to pray for. After leaving Russia behind, I had nobody to pray for happiness with, nobody to ask God to look over... nobody to ask God to protect. To save. I squeezed my fingers tighter. The overlaid fingers almost turning blue from the force of my hands pressing together, veins pronounced in my arms, head pounding from the thickness of my blood churning in my veins as I pressed every ounce of will in my body in the hopes that my prayer would be heard. That if my will was strong

enough, if it made my voice just that little bit louder... that it might be heard. Don’t take her. Don’t take another one. Not this one. The words were like a vicious cycle in my head as I was torn between the past and the present. Images of Sasha and the children were throwing themselves at me, the memories of their funeral, of their unidentifiable bodies in that small satin coffin overlaying where Anna lay in the hospital ICU bed. It was like a superficial weight on my chest that made the simple effort to breathe almost unbearable. I could barely stand to look at her, but at the same time, I couldn’t bring myself to look away. No matter which brother or woman told me to go home and rest, there was no one who could move me from that hospital chair. I was barely functioning, and it had taken a lot of coaxing just to get me to change my shirt. My other one had been covered in Anna’s blood, and so were my arms. Kay had been patient with me, though, using a wipe to clean the blood away from my skin. But my arms itched like it was still there, reminding me how it was still under my nails and in the cracks Kay had missed. My woman’s blood. Guilt churned at me. Guilt telling me that I should never have had that party. I should never have let my guard down, that this was my

punishment for doing so. I knew it sounded unreasonable, but sitting in the same place for over twenty hours, not moving, not speaking, barely functioning as my woman was in a hospital bed she might possibly not wake up from had me bordering on self-destruction. I couldn’t tell you how many times I prayed to whatever God would listen. How many doctors or nurses had checked her over and over again to see if her condition had changed. Each time they reassured me that she would wake up. That she would be fine. It didn’t stop the horrible pit growing in my stomach, though. “Coffee,” Hunter said, appearing beside me. He held out a Styrofoam cup of the steaming hot liquid, but my eyes cataloged only the tired expression of his face and the fact he was wearing the same T-shirt he wore to the party. He gestured one of the cups of coffee to me. I sat back into the cushioned hospital seat, feeling my stiff muscles ache in protest and my spine almost creak as it straightened for the first time in hours, and reached for the cup. I paused midway, though, my eyes locking onto that tiny little crack of blood hidden underneath my nail. My slight freeze was barely a millisecond, though, and if Hunter noticed it, he didn’t say anything as I lifted the cup.

Hunter dropped into the seat next to me, both of our massive sizes seeming to take up the small chairs with ease. It felt surreal, noticing that tiny detail, wondering how I could be so big when right now I felt so impossibly small. “Why are you here?” were the first words out of my mouth. They sounded a lot harsher through my hoarse throat than I had intended, but Hunter was supposed to be at the clubhouse with everybody else. Only Kay, who had jumped into action to stop Anna’s bleeding in the clubroom, came with me, and Lamb showed up a little while later. Hunter didn’t take any offense to my tone. Instead, he just gave a soft shrug, his eyes moving from me to look at the cross pinned on the far wall. His green eyes crinkled underneath the heavy fur of his brow. “Figured you could use the company. Lamb’s a good brother, but we both know comfort isn’t his strong suit,” Hunter answered. I nodded, accepting it. He was right; Lamb had your back and was the best V.P. I knew, but he wasn’t the cuddly type. “Pipe’s going to be alright, by the way.” Hunter said, filling the empty air with news I hadn’t even thought to ask for. Some president I am. “Got a grade 2 concussion so we’re going to have to watch him for a few days, but he’s otherwise fine.”

I nodded, wishing part of me could feel even a microgram of relief at the fact our newest recruit was alright after having his head smashed against a wall repeatedly and left to drown in his own blood before we found him moments after all hell had broken loose. He had been brought in the same ambulance as Anna. At the mere mention of her name in my thoughts, I found my head drifting up to her bedside. Hunter’s eyes followed, and his reassuring expression sank. “How is she?” Hunter asked, moving to brush a strand of Anna’s ice-blonde hair out of her face. She didn’t stir. She looked almost like a porcelain doll, laid in a white bed, her makeup gone from her face, the color drained out of her skin, and hair soft and flat against her bed pillow. The Anna I knew was loud, feisty, and wore the color red like it was the blood of her fallen enemies. She was passion and fire and everything explosive. This Anna wasn’t. Even when sleeping, Anna had always looked like she could bite my balls off at any second for looking at her, but this Anna... she looked simple... plain. I hated it. “She looks like a stranger,” I whispered, the confession cracking my voice ever so slightly. Hunter flinched at my words, his green eyes

tightening hard under his torn expression. Empathy resonated through him, and I remembered that only months ago, he had been looking at his own wife this way. Mallory had overdosed on a drug that had only been milligrams from slipping her into a coma. It had been touch and go for a week, but she pulled through. Hunter, on the other hand, had been a despairing wreck for months afterward. “It’s not your fault, Wolf,” he interrupted my thinking space. I looked up, surprised to be caught red-handed. Hunter gave me a sympathetic smile. “I can see the guilt.” He shrugged. “I saw it every day in the mirror for months after Mallory was hurt.” He sat his untouched coffee on the side of the table. “I abandoned her when she needed me most. That was on me. But this”—he gestured to Anna’s prone form—“isn’t on you. It’s not your fault.” I shook my head, dropping my gaze to look down into the hot cup of coffee. “I shouldn’t have held that fucking party,” I growled, my hands threatening to crush the cup in my hands and spill coffee everywhere. “It wouldn’t have made a difference,” Hunter growled, catching my attention. “They would have gotten to us one way or the other. If it wasn’t her, it would have been someone else.” A churning silence brooded between us, the heat of my coffee bleeding through the crap

Styrofoam and the cheap cup sleeve and into the skin of my hands—the hands that had beaten and bloodied anybody I saw worthy of it and anybody I deemed a threat. I was a reckoning. Death and destruction all within one body. And it only took one woman to tear me down. “I wish it weren’t her,” I breathed the words like a lodged stone in my throat suddenly coming free. “I wish it were someone else.” I felt like a dick for saying it. Wishing that on anybody else was horrific, but I wasn’t lying. “I know,” Hunter just said softly, his green eyes lingering on Anna’s face. “I know.” Our silence ended with a harsh knock at the door. On instinct, my head swung toward the bed, daring to believe that a loud noise might wake her. She didn’t move. Instead, Lamb stood in the doorway, his eyes reading too much into my movement but his face remaining as stagnant as always. He didn’t look at Anna, not once, as his eyes refused to move from mine. “Wolf,” he said, his voice holding a tone I had heard many times. “We need to talk.” I didn’t like what came after.

Chapter Twenty

ANNA

M

ost people have that moment of strange peace when they wake up after getting stabbed. That moment of disorientation when they don’t know where they are, what happened, or what condition their body was in. It must have been bliss. I was not most people. I awoke to a hot burn on my side, my pulse overly loud in my ears, and a terrible need to shoot a hole through that damn beeping machine. I suppose that’s what happens when somebody stabs you. I peeled my eyes open, the surface of them feeling dry and irritated as a dim light glared back at me. Moving on, I lifted my sheets and managed to tug the long skirt of my gown up without shifting too much on the bed to take a peek at my injury. A

white bandage wrapped around my waist, and as I ran my fingers across the surface, I brushed the sutures holding the wound closed. It wasn’t big, maybe a few inches long at the most. But the skin around it was purpled even beyond what the bandage covered. I looked for the clicky thing for the morphine drip. I had one next to the bed and checked the levels of morphine being fed into my veins. I was relieved when I realized that it wasn’t that high, meaning my wound didn’t seem to have caused too much damage or I would have been in a lot more pain. Moreover, judging by the location, a few inches above my hip to the left of my stomach, it didn’t seem to have been near any major organs beyond that of my intestines. I took a breath, noting my cotton mouth, and put my gown and sheets back down. As I looked up, I noticed for the first time the huge, bowed body in the corner of the room. Wolf’s size was hard to miss even in the space of the obviously private room. Shadows draped over him, the light from the early dawn not enough to fend them off. His long hair had fallen forward in front of his face, hiding no doubt an exhausted expression. I knew his character enough to know he hadn’t left that spot since I was brought in here. The cold and untouched coffee cups and the way the chair

cushioned around his body supported my conclusion. He was wearing different clothes since the party, which I suppose I owed to Kay. She was probably the only woman to be able to kick his ass into gear. I fought my chuckle. I probably wasn’t in a position to laugh, but after waking up after being stabbed, seeing Wolf exactly how I would expect him to be was comforting. He was such a straight arrow. I shook my head, fighting my smile as I glanced around for something in grabbing distance. I found the television remote on the small bedside table and reached for it. I bit down on my lip at the sting of the sutures pulling and fought not to hiss aloud as I managed to pick up the small device. And then I threw it. The plastic made a loud crack as the projectile bounced off his skull and clattered against the floor. It was followed by a sharp screech as Wolf’s chair flew backward into the wall, black skid marks marring the plain white linoleum. “Morning, Sleeping Beauty.” I smirked, his wide, animalistic eyes flashing as they hit mine. He was intense, rabid, and I watched as his senses came back to him. The change on his face was the telling of a dramatic movie, going from shock to surprise to fraying at the seams. “Anna,” his hoarse voice cracked. Those deep

whiskey eyes were ringed red, and the sharp features of his face were hollowed into the exhausted pallor I had expected. He moved faster than my eyes could track, and before any pain or discomfort could hit me, I felt his warmth swallow me whole, his shaking form surrounding my small frame in an instant. “I got you, Anna. I got you,” he whispered in my ear over and over. “W-Wolf,” I breathed, my voice thick and stuttering. “L-let g—” “I’m not letting go, Anna,” Wolf growled. “Never again, you hear me? Never. Again.” And that’s all it took. A few simple words, and my calmness was torn from me. The moments of my stabbing came back to me, my eyes having wanted to catalog every part of Wolf, but for the life of me, I couldn’t remember. I couldn’t remember what he looked like, what he smelled like, what he felt like. I remembered nothing. I was side swiped by the wave grabbing me by the heels and dragging me under. My lips trembled, my body shook, and my heart squeezed into a tiny, heavy pebble in my chest as everything hit me at once. “Wolf,” I whimpered, my fear, my shock, my pain, all of it reduced to his name.

I grasped his shirt, pulling on it as I pushed him away from me, pushing him away enough so his face pulled back, and grasped it between my hands. Tears rolled down his leather-skinned cheeks, the hard bones and the roughness of his stubble all at the end of my touch. His eyes searched mine, and I held his gaze, my senses eating up all that I could get ahold of. “Wolf,” I breathed. “Wolf… Wolf,” I said it over and over again. Each time felt intense with the fear of losing him, the fear of never being able to say it again. “Wolf,” I whispered, feeling the shaking in my body slowly relax as the relief replaced it. My hands eased against his back, my breath calming and my heart rate slowing until my desperation left only tired mumbles on the side of his neck as my exhaustion left me rolling into his chest. “Anna,” Wolf breathed, his hand stroking the back of my head and down my back, his chin nuzzling into the side of my face. “No matter what, I love you.” No matter what? I wanted to ask him what he meant, but when I tried to open my mouth, it felt too heavy and I couldn’t manage it. I tried to think, but my thoughts were too slow to process anything but the warmth surrounding me. “Sleep,” Wolf’s soft, tired voice breathed into

my ear, and for once, I didn’t argue with him and let myself be swept under into unconsciousness again.

I

sat in the big, plush leather seat in Wolf’s office as I watched the owner of the chair prowl around the small space. I painted my nails, letting the varnish flick from the tip, spraying the thousand-dollar oak desk with red paint. I did it so he couldn’t see it, letting the red build and build until he’d find a nice ruby patch later. It was a petty way to take out my annoyance, but considering I was supposed to be on bedrest for a few more days, I didn’t have much room for violence... For now. After the night at the hospital, I felt slightly disgruntled and humiliated because of my breakdown into Wolf’s arms, but that was just because of my prideful personality, so I didn’t dwell too much on it. What I did dwell on, however, was Wolf’s sudden distance. That “no matter what” itched at the back of my mind, and as I tracked his movement around his small office from the corner of my eye, the force I was flicking with slowly increased as he paid me little attention.

I covered my last pinky finger in a second coat of red, splattering one last bit of paint, and put the brush back in the pot, screwing the top shut. “What is it?” I said, setting the bottle carefully on the top of the desk. Wolf stopped abruptly, his hands holding open a blue folder from the top shelf of the new bookshelf he’d bought after smashing up his last one. “What?” he said, his bushy eyebrow arched at me. “What aren’t you telling me?” I replied, perhaps with a bit too much sharpness, as I narrowed my eyes on him. “I’ve known you long enough to see when you’re sulking.” Wolf wasn’t the type to sulk, not really. And what he was doing I wouldn’t call sulking, more of a quiet, distant brooding, but I knew he wouldn’t like me saying it. I expected him to snap back at me about the “sulking” thing, but instead, he just said, “I’m not sulking,” and turned back to his folder. I growled. I wanted to throw something at his thick head, but Wolf had removed anything that could be used as a projectile before he’d put me in his office. Bastard. “You’re quiet, Wolf,” I growled. “I know this isn’t just about what happened to me. Getting stabbed is more likely to send you on a rampage, not shut you down like this. In fact, I’m somewhat pissed you thought I wouldn’t notice. What the hell

is wrong with you?” “Nothing is wrong with me.” Wolf sighed, not even bothering to look me in the eye. “You know what?” I hissed, pulling loose one of the bobby pins from my hair, not giving two shits about my nails as I straightened it out and shoved it into the lock of the desk drawer, the lock popping open with a loud click. Wolf only just had enough time to turn toward me as I aimed his .500 Smith at him. “Answers,” I spat. “Now.” “You won’t shoot me.” Wolf sighed, turning his head away from me. “Wouldn’t I?” I purred, pulling back the hammer until it let out a sweet click. “I won’t kill you, Wolf, but I know where to shoot and not kill.” His eyes slid over to me with caution. I cocked an eyebrow at him. My threat understood, he snapped the folder closed and set it back on the shelf, his hand hesitating to leave the spine as it slid down the plastic. “I’m not the one holding back, Anna.” “What?” I frowned. Wolf turned back toward me, his hands going over the back of the two other chairs, his eyes meeting mine. “Tell me there are no secrets between us,” he demanded, surprising me. “A relationship based on pure honesty doesn’t exist,” I returned. “I have my secrets, you have

yours.” “That’s not what I mean, Anna,” Wolf growled, his fingers digging into the chair. “Then what do you mean, Wolf?” I argued, jamming the gun forward in his direction. He lunged, grabbing the gun and tearing it out of my hand with enough force to bruise my trigger finger. “Wol—” “Who are you protecting, Anna?” he snapped, stunning me. His knuckles bulging out of his skin of the hand gripped around the barrel of the loaded revolver. “Who are you the key to?” The key. Who am I the key to? “I—” “Don’t lie to me again, Anna.” Wolf unloaded the gun, the bullets pinging off the wood of the desk, and dropped the weapon down on top of them. He rounded the desk, turning the leather chair to face him, his hands dropping to the armrests, his face leaning in close and sharp as he practically spat the words. “Who are you hiding?” And it all made sense. “Oh my God,” I gasped, my heart rate turning into a racing dance in my chest, my limbs growing tingly and cold. “I’m the key?” Wolf took a step back, his whole body shocked by my reaction, by my surprise. “You didn’t know?” He frowned, his warm eyes rounding with remorse at his behavior, but I didn’t

care. I wasn’t listening. I launched myself up from the chair, my side burning at the sudden effort. Wolf moved to grab me, no doubt to push me back in my seat, but I shoved his hands aside. I stumbled toward the door, swung it open, and raced the short distance to Wolf’s bedroom. Heads turned as they watched me kick it open and rush inside, lunging for my purse off the chair and dumping the contents on the bed until my phone appeared in the chaos. I dropped onto the edge of the bed, my stomach muscles forcing me to double over as I fumbled with the unlocking code and scrolled down my infinitely long contact list. I clicked on “Unnamed.” The number rang and rang. I became aware of Wolf next to me, his hands gripping onto my shoulders as I breathed through the crippling pain in my stomach. “Answer. Goddammit, answer!” I snapped. The ringing stopped. No answer. “Fuck!” I hissed, throwing the device against the wall, smashing it into pieces. “Shit,” I groaned, my hand cupping my stomach from the pain. I felt dizzy, and my body began to fall forward. I hit something solid, but I couldn’t fight the pain. “Shit, shit,” I hissed, groaning as Wolf shouted something at me. But through all the pain, there was only one

thing plaguing my mind. Ash.

K

ay slapped my hand as I reached toward my stomach. “Don’t touch it,” she hissed, obviously still pissed at me for what I did. “You’re lucky you didn’t tear your stitches,” she continued to scold me, her head shaking as she carefully bandaged the wound. “Are you done yet?” I grumbled, the cold of the kitchen island counter prickling into my bare back. “I want to get off.” “Tough shit. You’re not moving from that counter until I’m sure this isn’t going to swell. The cold will do you good,” Kay argued, her hand pushing down on my shoulder, forcing me to lie back. “I’ll turn the heating up in here, but I swear to God, if you move, I will let you bleed out on the floor.” “And people think I’m the mean one,” I scoffed, earning myself a softened scowl from Kay’s direction. She brushed a hand through my hair, shaking her head at me with a sigh. She lifted a pillow from the floor and helped scoot it underneath my head before she placed a soft kiss on my cheek and went to the door.

“Prepare yourself.” She opened the door and in barreled the huge Russian man, Jax, Hunter, and Lamb on his heels as they all came into the room. “Nice.” Jax winked at me as he took in my shirtless form. Luckily, I was wearing a nice lacy bra that was one of my more conservative pieces of underwear. Just because Wolf and I were on the nosexual-activity-of-any-sort ban didn’t mean I couldn’t look good. Then again, I looked good in anything, stab wound or not. Wolf’s eyes were so fixated on me that he mustn’t have registered the comment. Hunter slapped Jax on the back of his head in Wolf’s place. Wolf’s eyes drifted down to my bandaged stomach, a frown deepening on his face. “Oh please, don’t look like I stabbed your puppy.” I groaned, reading the guilt deepening in the lines. “Your face is frowny enough without feeling guilty for this. It isn’t your fault.” He scowled at me, displeased I called him out on his martyred emotions. “Well, it’s not,” I huffed. “Not that it’s really my fault, either.” I heard Kay scoff at the doorway, sending me one last glare, reminding me of her threat before she stepped out and shut the door behind her. I looked at the four brothers, their eyes still holding their own reservations about my wound. I

saw Jax make a pointed attempt not to even glance any lower than my boobs. Not sure if I was thankful for that or not. “Who is it?” Lamb interrupted my thoughts. He’d checked out the wound when he’d first come in, but otherwise didn’t look too perturbed. In fact, I could see his cold, calculating self swimming just below the surface. I sighed, sinking my head back into the pillow, pretending to look deep into the steel ceiling. “Ash.” The name felt weird coming off my tongue, and it reminded me of how long it had been since I last said it. “Ash?” Jax repeated, his brow arching. “Ash was—is my best friend,” I divulged, nostalgia curdling in my chest. “We moved to the US together four years ago. Or rather, we ran away...” My mind flashed with memories. “Monster...,” they whispered over and over, but I shoved them back down where they belonged and carried on. “We thought we covered it up and got away, but apparently not.” I felt my wound twitch, reminding me of why I ended up on the cold countertop. “What did Ash do?” Jax asked, catching my gaze. “I…” I looked across each of their faces and felt my throat tighten up. I shook off the bad memories of that night, but other memories came

forth, reminding me of why I was so impatient. “Look, I’ll tell you everything, but first we need to find Ash. If they did this,”—I gestured down to my stomach—“then it won’t be long until they locate her.” Lamb nodded, his brain cataloging the information. The others looked like they wanted to press me for more information, but they didn’t, and I was glad for it. No matter what went down, this story wasn’t mine alone, and it didn’t feel right to tell it. Not when even I didn’t know everything. “Where is she?” Hunter stepped up, coming closer to the table. “I can’t tell you.” “Anna,” Wolf growled. “It’s not that I won’t tell you,” I quickly added, sensing his irritation at an obvious misinterpretation. “When I say I can’t, Wolf, it means that I can’t.” His frown only deepened, forcing my own annoyed growl out of my lips. “I don’t know where Ash is.” Wolf’s facial expression relaxed, but only slightly. He remained as intense as he was the second he had entered the room. He had one hand wrapped around mine, the muscles in his fist clenching and relaxing around my small fingers. “When was the last time you saw her?” Lamb asked. “Ash isn’t the easiest person to keep in touch

with,” I scoffed, considering how much of an understatement it was. “Last time I heard anything about her whereabouts was when Mallory saw her at the airport.” “What?” Hunter started. “The British chick that spoke to Mallory in the airport was her?” “When Mallory told me what they said, I figured it was her. Ash has always considered herself an advice Guru, but really, she’s just a nosy bitch. I don’t think she knew Mallory was connected to me, but with Ash, you can never know for sure.” Not that I would ever tell her that even I couldn’t completely read her to her face; she’d love to think she was shrouded in mystery. “So, how are we supposed to find her?” Jax asked, looking at me as if I might whip out an “Ash compass.” “You don’t,” I said, causing him to frown. “But I thought you said that the other guys were close to finding her?” Jax retorted. “No, I said it won’t be long until they do,” I corrected him, acutely aware of the confusion growing on the rest of the brothers’ faces. Even Lamb narrowed his eyes on me as he awaited my explanation. “You don’t find Ash. No one can.” “What do you mean?” Jax grumbled, getting that annoyed pout on his face, reaching the end of his patience. “You would have thought a group with Russian

killing machines like the Black Jacks would know where to stab someone to kill them.” I pointed at my wound again. “But I’m not dead.” Jax scoffed. “Pretty sure that’s ’cause you have a contract with the devil.” “Funny,” I huffed, shaking my head at him before looking at the adult brothers. “They missed my organs. On purpose, at that.” “Why?” Hunter asked this time, but it wasn’t me who answered him. “To lure out Ash,” Lamb answered, the cogs in his mind showing in his eyes as they put the pieces together. “If they can’t find her, the only other way is to get her to come to them.” “Well, to come to me, actually. There’s nothing like getting stabbed to draw her out into the open, and with no way of communicating with her from my end, I can’t tell her not to come.” I sighed. “The Black Jacks are going to be watching us like hawks, ready to grab her the second she surfaces.” Wolf tightened his grip on my hand, causing me to look at him. I realized he’d been studying my face, and his amber eyes narrowed on it, seriousness overtaking his brooding mask for once. “What do you want to do?” What did I want to do? Maybe someone else might not have thought Wolf asking me that was a big deal, but for a control freak like him, I knew it meant a lot more

than he might let on. “We need to get to her first,” I said, my mind reeling. “And I know exactly how to do it.” “I don’t think I’m going to like this,” Wolf grumbled. He was probably right.

Chapter Twenty-One

WOLF

I

sat in my office, reading over some of the annoying business briefs Lamb left me, trying to continue with business to keep our club afloat while we dealt with this shit. With the threat on our doorstep, we weren’t able to go on runs, leaving our profits slowly declining, and Lamb recommending we check into our investments as a means to stabilize us until this was over. I found my mind drifting back to the night of the party, and then to the moment I saw the panic flash over Anna’s face. It was the first time I’d ever seen such intense fear from her. I knew she had a past; there was a reason she had left England, dropped all of her native identifiers, including her accent, and always deflected any questions about it. We all had our past, and knowing that best myself, I didn’t think to ask.

I thought she would come to me in her own time. Like I did to her. I didn’t think it would come out like this. My mind came back to reality as I realized my eyes had mindlessly read to the bottom of the page, and because I hadn’t been paying attention to any of it at all, I had to go back and reread it for the umpteenth time. “Why not look into Mark Twain’s Tattoos?” Anna’s voice piped up from beside me. I looked up, seeing her hip propped against my office doorway, her hair tied into a small bun, short pieces of hair falling down the sides of her face. She had one hand up by her ear, fiddling with one of her earrings, the other wrapped around a small file hugged close to her chest, eyes drifting around the room until it met the IKEA bookcase. “I preferred the old one,” she sighed, pushing herself off the doorway before moving toward me. I moved back in my seat as she slid aside the paper sheets and hopped up onto the side of the desk. I would have told her off for moving around too much, despite her wound having almost healed, if she hadn’t bitten my head off the day before for saying something. “Here.” Anna slapped the folder down on my desk, her small feet kicking out of her boots as she placed them on either one of my thighs, her blue

eyes looking coy and playful, but she couldn’t hide the sharp, cautious way they studied my every expression. I ignored how her small feet pressed into my thighs and pulled my chair closer to the table, her knees moving to one side of my chin as I placed a small kiss to each of them, not taking my eyes from hers as I reached for the file. Anna didn’t say anything as I let my eyes move to register the blank front of the brown folder. “What’s this?” “It’s later,” was all Anna said at first before she let out a soft sigh and let her eyes glide to the paper in my hand. “I told you I’d tell you what my story is. This should explain enough for now.” I held her eyes for a moment and saw the way her shoulders folded slightly inwards, bracing herself. This folder was obviously important to her, and I couldn’t help but feel my heart rate increase that slightest bit as I opened the folder, feeling Anna’s feet slide off my legs to dangle above the floor. The first thing I saw was a photograph of a middle-aged man with dark hair and dark eyes. He was dressed in a tailored suit, and the photograph was posed. It was also accompanied by several group photos, some on podiums and with microphones as well, all focusing on the same man. “His name is Maximus Rothwell,” Anna

iterated just as I flipped to what I could only describe as evidence as she went on. “He’s a dirty politician in the House of Lords. He uses bribery and blackmail to get his way, using it to block or push through bills of his choosing. Building an empire on people’s money and disposing of anybody who gets in his way.” I saw the lists of money transfers and other photos of people that I could only assume were British politicians that I didn’t recognize. There were piles of lists, locations, and photographs of what I could see was the evidence that could bring this man down. But it wasn’t until I saw the very last page at the back that I realized that the other pieces of paper were just a prelude to the true blow that could put this man away for a very long time. “Why...?” “He’s the reason I left England,” Anna announced, her eyes softening as she looked down at the new, unblemished cover of the folder in my hands. “I had to run from him. I ran hard and I ran fast, and I never looked back.” “Ash—?” I began, but Anna already knew what I was going to ask. “She ran with me. She had it the worst, and I don’t think it’s right for me to say any more than this until we find her, but I figured I should give you a heads up before everything goes down.” My fingers involuntarily clenched the file,

crinkling the paper as I thought through Anna’s plan to lure out Ash. Anna just smirked at my reaction, not perturbed at all by any of this. In fact, she was oddly calm, almost mellow about everything. Anything we said or did just bounced right off her. Nothing was making her mad—other than my trying to bubble wrap her. If I had to describe the feeling she gave me, however, I would say it was like the calm before the storm. She reached forward toward my clenched fist, prying the folder out of my hands as she hopped off my desk, abandoning her shoes and walking toward the trash can. A lighter appeared in her hand, and I didn’t have to check my desk to know she took mine. She held the file over the desk and lit the flame. “Anna—” I didn’t get any more out as the flame caught onto the bottom of the page, and in a second, it was burning up through the paper as she dropped it into the empty metal can, watching the flames consume the paper, turning its trove of gold information into nothing more than dark ashes. “I have a copy,” she said quietly, her blue eyes reflecting the golden glow of the flames as they began to die out. She turned to me, and I looked up from the trash can to her. She seemed younger in the faint glow of the flames as she stood there, pint-sized

and facing an enemy bigger than any we’ve ever come close to, and I could see the concern, the worry, and the fear etched into her face. “We’ve got to get to Ash,” she said to me, her eyes not leaving mine. “We’ve got to protect her from him. No matter what.” I didn’t know what Ash’s connection to him was, or what happened, but I could hear the desperation in Anna’s voice, the slight tremor as dark thoughts ran through her head in the small seconds of silence before I got out of my chair and walked toward her. I reached up to tuck a fallen piece of hair out of the way as I leaned down and pressed a soft, gentle kiss to her lips. “We will,” I promised. “We won’t let him get to her, okay?” “Okay,” Anna whispered, pressing her head into my palm, her eyes shutting for just a moment. I breathed in the vulnerability and the strange possessive feeling of sick satisfaction that this situation, as fucked-up as it was, showed that she was able to rely on me, that she came to me in weakness. And no matter what, I couldn’t feel bad about liking it. “It’s really ugly,” Anna grumbled, and I fell out of my head as I saw she was back to looking at the wooden bookcase across the room. “You shouldn’t have punched a hole in the other one.” And whose fault was that?

I wanted to say it, but somehow, I just didn’t have the energy. Anna sighed, perking up as she circled around me, going to collect her boots before heading to the door, seconds before I realized why she was quickly escaping. I gave a loud cough, making her pause at the door, where she looked over her shoulder, feigning ignorance at my outstretched palm. “What?” she huffed. I just wagged my fingers at her. “Fine,” she growled, reaching back into her pocket before slipping her hand into mine, the expensive zippo lighter strictly meant to remain in my office appearing in my hand. “Fat bastard,” Anna growled, slamming the door on her way out, her fire, though not as explosive as usual, making a welcome appearance. That’s my bitch.

I

t was the day before Anna’s plan, and I couldn’t help the tension rippling through my body. Probably because it was a stupid fucking plan. A stupid fucking plan that would no doubt work. The plan was perfectly tailored to draw out this Ash

character, whoever she was, and I didn’t doubt Anna’s cunningness to pull it off. Didn’t mean I liked it, though. “Wait until you’re outside before breaking anything.” Jerimiah chuckled, his head looking down at a clipboard of paper in front of the town drunk handcuffed to the bench. “I’m not going to break anything,” I growled, although smashing someone’s face in, preferably a Black Jack’s, would feel good right about now. I’d settle for giving Jax a few bruises, though, if he were around. “Give the girl a little more faith,” the sheriff scoffed, enjoying my obvious anxiety about the fact this plan could go drastically wrong. “She’s a sharp one. She’ll be fine.” “She was stabbed only a few weeks ago,” I grumbled back. “So, she’s mostly healed, then?” He passed the clipboard to the receptionist, glaring at me, and used his other hand to clap me on the shoulder. “So long as you’ve got it all under control, she’ll be fine.” “There’s no such thing as controlling Anna,” I retorted and sighed, pulling my Harley keys out of my jean pockets. “Anyway, keep an eye out tomorrow. If you hear anything—” “Yes, I know. If it’s you guys, I’ll look the other way,” Jerimiah grumbled, shoving me toward the

door. “Now, get going before said woman comes after you. I respect the girl, don’t get me wrong, but she’s still a handful.” “Thanks, Jerimiah,” I said. The man was a pain in my ass, but I didn’t dislike him. “That’s Sheriff to you, boy,” he growled at me, and I realized this must be how Hunter felt every time I referred to him as a boy. I chuckled, opening the sheriff department’s door, and strolled out into the chilling weather, the cold of winter now setting in on our little town. It doesn’t snow where we live, in the middle of Oregon, but even in early November, the dip in the heat made a noticeable difference. I came down the steps, looking up to see Jax’s bike parked next to my Fat Boy. I didn’t have even a moment to be confused as to why it was abandoned there when Jax appeared from round the corner of the building next to me, his hands tightening the skinny belt around his waist. “Prez,” Jax smirked, unabashed in the slightest having been caught taking a piss behind the police station. “You can’t just use the toilets inside like everybody else?” I grumbled, looking at the wild man, his black hair in a nest on top of his head from where he’d forgone a helmet yet again. “You really think Jane would let me two steps

through those doors before having me thrown in one of the cells?” Jax laughed, knowing all too well how much the receptionist hated him. She would have him buried six feet under if she ever had the chance to put his flirtacious trouble-causing ass to rest. I shook my head, deciding that conversation was best left alone and travel down towards our bikes. Jax sunk his waist down into his seat first, his lean body fitting snug on his slim machine. “You talk to Jerimiah?” he asked, leaning back in his seat, soaking up the limited warmth of the sun. “Yeah.” I dropped down onto my Fat Boy, slipping the key into the ignition. “What are you doing here -aside from stopping for a piss, then?” “Finished up at the farm with Mr. Jenkins and saw your bike. Figured I’d ride back with you,” he offered, running a hand through his unruly, dark hair. “Anna put you up to it?” I interpreted, pausing before turning on the engine. “Lamb.” Jax chuckled. “Got drunk and lost a bet. He figured letting you get one or two in would make you feel better.” I chuckled. Lamb knew me well. “Nah.” I shrugged. “It’s not fun if you’re up for it.” “Never said I’d just stand there.” Jax flashed

me a wicked grin, daring me to pick a fight with the little bastard. I had strength in my size and a hell of a lot more experience, but Jax was a dirty fighter and his little tricks pissed me off just as much as they hurt, which was a lot. “Not today,” I grumbled, shaking my head. “I think this is the easiest I’ve ever gotten off on one of Lamb’s favors,” he said, making air quotes around the word “favors.” I knew exactly what it meant, but I had warned the brothers against Lamb. If they didn’t take my advice, then whatever they had to do was on them. I rolled my eyes as I turned the key to fire up my engine. Only it didn’t. “Something wrong?” Jax frowned, watching as I turned my key over and over again but nothing happened. “What the hell?” I growled, getting off and looking down at the bike. Jax got off as well, his eyes narrowing on the engine. I checked the main bits, but Hunter was the engine expert, not me. Jax crouched down next to it, his hands reaching for the metal. “Don’t touch if you’re just going to make shit worse,” I snapped, my mood dropping even more than I thought possible. “Chill, Prez. I hang around Hunter enough to have picked up some things,” he grumbled,

reaching his hands toward the engine as he began to fiddle. I wish I could chill, but something didn’t feel right. “Wolf.” Jax’s tight, deep voice came from down below. He barely ever referred to me by name. I snapped my head down to him, seeing his hands covered in black liquid just as the thin puddle of fuel crawled out from under the body of my bike. “Someone shot a hole in your fuel line.” “Someone… what?” I growled. “Jax, try your bike—” My phone rang in my pocket, cutting off what I was about to say. But it didn’t matter. Jax was lunging over his bike in seconds, his hand reaching for the key just as I put my phone to my ear. “I’m almost there,” Anna’s voice chimed down the phone. “Figured you were taking too long and you’d need some sugar to win over Jerimiah.” My head registered her words, but my eyes were on Jax, watching as his face grew concerned, no sound coming from his bike. He spun his head to look back at me, shaking it. “Tell me you’re driving,” I said into the phone, my eyes not leaving Jax’s face. “What?” Anna’s surprised voice came through the phone. “Of course, I’m not driving. Not allowed to do that for another week. I’m only around the

corn—” The echoing sound of screeching tires filled the air and the phone, Anna’s voice buried beneath it. “Shit,” I hissed, turning and running as fast as I could to the road, hitting the concrete within seconds. My eyes caught hers for barely a second before a huge guy dragged her into the van, the door slamming shut and the vehicle pulling onto the road. “Anna!” I roared, as the van’s wheels squealed around the corner and out of sight. Jax’s hand was dialing numbers faster than I could think, until suddenly, I heard the muffled sound of Lamb’s voice coming through his phone. I grabbed it from him, shoving it to my ear. “This better be a part of the fucking plan!” I bellowed down the device. “What?” Lamb’s suddenly alerted voice told me all I needed to hear. “The plan isn’t until tomorrow? What happened?” “If this isn’t us...” Jax voiced my thoughts. “Then who was it?” “I don’t know,” I growled, crushing the mobile phone in my hands and cutting off Lamb’s voice. Bubbling rage boiled inside me. Enough. I’d had enough. “But I plan to find out.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

ANNA

A

lmost shot. Stabbed. And now kidnapped? I’d had a hell of a year. I wiggled my wrists against the duct tape, keeping them strapped to each arm rest of the plastic recliner I was strapped to. Weird choice of chair, I acknowledged to myself. “It’s all we had,” said one of my capturers. He was the only one accompanying me in the room, the rest standing guard around the small, one-story abandoned house. He had long—and I mean downto-the-ass long—blond hair tied into a ponytail on the top of his head. It was so silky and glossy that I couldn’t help but be impressed at his hair management, especially on our side of business. He also had fairly feminine features, perhaps some Asian in him that also made his strength incredibly impressive, since he’d carried me bridal style into

the room after I’d bitched about my stomach wound. “I suppose I can’t complain,” I grumbled, leaning back against the plastic. “So... your boss isn’t coming?” “He was busy,” he answered, his voice low. “Sent me instead.” “Didn’t think he’d miss out on the chance to see me. He so kindly kidnapped me, after all,” I retorted. “Like I said,” the guy replied, moving over to the window, “he was busy.” “Right,” I huffed. “By the way, I wouldn’t stand so close to the—” His head surged forward, his skull splitting the glass before his limp body dropped to the floor. Maybe his strength wasn’t that remarkable. I looked up to his assailant and barely managed the annoyed grumble, “Ash.” “You don’t look happy to see me.” Ash’s soft, crisp English accent filled my ears as she turned to face me. Her long brown hair caught in the bitter breeze coming through the broken window as she turned to me. Light glinted from her glasses, not displaced even the slightest bit from her assault as she stepped over the limp body of my capturer, her boots crunching against the glass. I made note of the darkened color of her skin. I

had always been the paler one of the two of us, but she hadn’t been darker than me by much back then. Now she was a light brown, several shades darker than my near-ivory color. Her hair was also lightened by the sun, and her wardrobe had taken to the shorter side; shorts and tanks now compared to her old long jumpers and jeans. I frowned at the sunglasses, though. That was one thing that hadn’t changed. It never would. She gave me a gentle smile in answer to my frown, reaching down for my boots. She slid her hand down the side of the red leather and pulled out my concealed knife. “I’m pissed,” I admitted, waiting as she cut through the bindings and helped me up from the chair. “Well, you can take it out on me later.” Her rough hand wrapped around my wrist, pulling me forward as we moved toward the back door. “For now, let’s get out of here before the other men come.” “Ash.” I reached forward, pulling backwards. She halted, the smooth skin under my fingers flinching slightly as she turned toward me, eyes wide. “Why are you here?” Sunglasses or not, I knew her face, and as the hard line of her lips softened, so would her eyes as she said to me, “I’ll always be there for you, Anna.” She smiled gently. “So long as you need

me.” Ash looked back to the limp body on the floor, her hand wrapping back around mine. “Come on, we’ve got to—” We barely made it a step before the roar tore through the house. “Anna!” The front door shattered as it hit the wall on the other side of the room. I spun, my eyes going to the huge, raging Russian standing, heaving and panting, in the doorway, his amber eyes wild and his long hair falling around his snarling face. “Oh shit,” I breathed. “Oh shit?” Wolf growled, his voice barely contained as he stormed toward me. “You asked the Grim Reapers to kidnap you, didn’t tell me about it, leaving Charon—of all fucking people—to be the one to tell me, and all you have to say is ‘Oh shit’?” I had planned originally to have the Black Angels fake my kidnapping in order to lure out Ash, who was no doubt in town already, but I had to make sure it was believable. Ash was difficult to fool; there was no way I could tell him I did it so his reaction would be genuine. My wrist jerked me backward, suddenly pushed behind Ash’s slim but taller figure. “Back off, arsehole,” she hissed, keeping me pressed against her back. Wolf’s march stuttered, his eyes moving from

me slowly until they hit Ash’s. She didn’t even flinch under his gaze, and instead hit him with her own sharp glare. “Move,” Wolf growled. “Piss off,” she hissed, standing her ground. “You have two seconds to get your hands off my woman.” Wolf took a step forward just as the back door splintered open and in rushed the rest of the boys, their eyes going wild as they took in the situation. They had their guns drawn in seconds, each one trained on Ash. “No,” Ash growled. “Ash, wait, you don’t understand.” I tugged on her bare arm. “He’s—” “I know who he is,” Ash interrupted me. “I also know you did this on purpose to draw me out. Do you honestly think so little of me, Anna, to fall for something like this? How many years have we been doing this?” I growled at her. “If you know, then let me go.” I jerked my arm backward, trying to break free of her grip, but she tightened it instead, holding me in place. “No.” Ash reached into the back of her shorts, and for the first time, I noticed what she had tucked down there. She moved fast, the gun placed at Wolf’s temple before anyone could think to react. My heart rate hit the roof as I heard the resounding

shutter of the safety being switched off throughout the room. “Don’t!” I screamed, looking at the brothers. They ignored me, not making a single attempt to move their guns from the direction of Ash’s head. “Ash! Stop this!” I reached with my free hand for my boot and realized in a pitiful attempt that my knife was on the other side of the room where Ash left it after breaking my restraints. “Fuck!” I hissed. “You were supposed to protect her,” Ash growled, pressing the cold barrel of the gun to Wolf’s forehead. She tugged me, pulling my shoulder down and forcing a sharp hiss out of my mouth as my stomach muscles stretched my nearly healed wound. “You call that fucking protecting?” I watched the moment his anger faltered, guilt flaring in those amber eyes as they narrowed down on Ash. He didn’t refute her. “I left her in your care, Wolf,” Ash hissed. “For three years, I left her here. And you let the Black Jacks get to her. On your own turf.” Wolf still didn’t argue. Instead, I watched as the tension in his body began to unwind, his shoulders slumping in front of her. “You don’t deserve her.” I felt Ash’s grip tighten around my wrist. “I’m taking her with me.” “You’re not taking her anywhere,” Wolf growled, his anger reawakening as he stepped

forward, the barrel pressing into his skin. “I won’t let you.” “You can’t stop me,” Ash threatened, cocking the hammer back, her finger reaching for the trigger. “Enough!” I snapped, jerking my hand from her wrist with enough force to make her stagger back slightly. I leaped into the gap she left between herself and Wolf, the gun now pointed just above my temple. “Anna, move,” Ash’s voice softened. Her sunglasses hid her eyes, but the frown of her mouth said everything. “You don’t get to decide who deserves me,” I snapped, fed up with this whole shit. “You don’t get to decide where I go, either. And you don’t get to test my old man like this!” “Test?” Wolf repeated behind me, and I could feel even the other brothers flinch. Ash’s arm relaxed, the gun lowering slightly. “You got hurt,” she breathed, her bottom lip trembling. “I can’t forgive that, Anna. Not you.” I let out a deep breath, my anger dissipating temporarily as I saw the falter in her armor. “I know. But these aren’t the people you need to fight.” Ash didn’t respond. Not at first. Her jaw ticked as her mind fought for control. And when I opened my mouth to dissuade her some more, she let out a

sigh and her body relaxed, the gun lowering from Wolf’s head. “You done now?” I snapped, my irritation returning at this whole stupid charade, and propped my hands on my hips. "One last thing.” Bang. “Now, I’m done.” Ash grinned, opening her palms in surrender, the gun hanging off one finger as Wolf groaned behind me. He dropped down to his knee, and I spun to see blood seeping through the side of his jeans. The brothers rushed forward, Jax tearing the gun away from her hands and Hunter shoving her hard into the wooden floor with a strong, unyielding force. “Fuck,” Wolf hissed, looking down at his leg. I lifted my shirt off, revealing a tank top beneath, and pressed it to his leg. “It’s only a flesh wound,” Ash huffed from her position on the floor, her glasses pressed into the soft carpet of the abandoned house. “Fuck off!” I hissed, seething as I gave Ash a glare when she was lifted to her feet by Hunter, her hands bound behind her back with a pair of handcuffs. She frowned, but it only lasted seconds before Lamb reached for her and she jumped back a mile, her gaze snapping onto him, hackles rising.

Lamb tensed, his eyes narrowing on her, the cold Lamb flashing to the surface with… was that caution on Lamb’s arrogant face? Hunter raised a thick, black eyebrow at Lamb before handing Ash over to Pretty, who took her and led her out the front door, followed by Mint and Jax, as Hunter headed toward Wolf and me. Lamb came over to Wolf as well, giving him a hand to his feet when just Hunter’s strength alone couldn’t manage it. Wolf slung an arm over Hunter’s shoulder, and we turned to leave when suddenly Wolf stopped. His head turned over his shoulder, his dark eyes meeting mine with a glare I couldn’t decipher until I heard his next words. “I’ll deal with you when I get back,” Wolf growled. Fuck. That wasn’t good.

T

he drive home had felt like a funeral precession. It had been long and quiet as wave after wave of guilt hit me like a horrible, churning sickness as Wolf sat next to me in a cold silence. He was bristling with anger or annoyance, I didn’t know which, but when I reached for his

hand, I felt his body tense under my touch. And when he didn’t respond to the action, it felt as if a great cavern opened between the two of us. Hitting my problems head-on had always been my style. But this? With Wolf? This made me feel like meekly going to hide in a corner of shame. Fuck, I knew what I did was wrong, but calling Charon had been the only possible action. Ash had the sharpest instincts I knew. I couldn’t risk spooking her off. She was too close to get away from the Black Jacks now that she was in town. The only choice was for the Black Angels to come and protect her. Ash. I shook my head, wanting to growl my irritation at her stupid act. I couldn’t believe she fucking shot him. Well, Ash had always been defensive when it came to me, and although her reaction was one of the most extreme reactions she’s had, it wasn’t the most unpredictable. I should have seen it coming. Knowing she’d been in the car behind me, only a few feet from me, had made my stomach churn, however. We’d been best friends once upon a time, but after everything that happened, our relationship had changed drastically with Ash dropping off the grid. Wolf growled next to me, dragging me out of my uncomfortable thoughts. Kay pinched him in response, earning herself an under-the-breath

grumble as she finished stitching his leg up while simultaneously complaining about the messy state of his room, despite half of the clothes tossed around were mine. “You’re just like Roscoe,” Kay grumbled, applying the dressing. “Always leaving his crap everywhere. I had to clean up after him constantly.” She sent me a quick glance, which I scoffed at. Hell would freeze over before I’d clean up after him. I looked up at Wolf, wondering if he would make a comment about me, but he didn’t. He just sat in his brooding silence, not even bothering to tell Kay to stop nagging at him. Sensing the atmosphere, Kay gave up on any attempts to lighten his mood before she left me to my fate, pinning the bandage closed and packing away the medical kit. She patted me on my shoulder before heading out, shutting the door behind her. “Wolf—” I began, stepping toward him. “Don’t, Anna,” he cut me off, standing to put his jeans on and fastening his belt. He sat back down on the bed once it was done, pulling on his socks and boots before dropping his elbows onto his knees and letting his head fall into the palm of his hands. He was quiet for a long time, and I didn’t know

what happened to my courage, but I couldn’t find it in me to interrupt his silence. “How could you do it?” Wolf’s voice startled me. It was low and graveled, so quiet I thought I misheard him the first time until he went on to clarify. “How could you do that to me?” He looked up, his dark hair falling in front of his face as he shook his head at me, disappointment and even a hint of disgust engraved into every pore of his face. His lips flinched with a snarl as he met my eyes. “You faked your own kidnapping to make sure my reaction looked real.” He rose from the bed, and with it, his voice. “You made my heart stop in my chest, you put me through hell, just so I looked the part.” He took a step toward me, his raised voice snapping into a bellow as he screamed in my face, “You put me through hell!” “Wolf, I—” “No!” he snapped. “You don’t get to make up excuses. Fuck, you don’t even get to try and explain yourself for what you fucking did to me.” He ran a hand through his hair, almost tearing a chunk from his scalp as he paced in anger. His chest heaved out in loud growls as his anger continued to rise and rise until it peaked. “You don’t get to do that to me!” he continued, my body flinching at his every shout. “You don’t get to play with my feelings like that! Not after Sasha. Not after what happened to you.”

I felt like I had shrunk into the smallest piece of scum in the world, the guilt grabbing me by the throat and choking me. I felt worse than horrible, the feeling making me sick and disgusted to be in my own skin as I watched the man that I loved hurt right in front of me, knowing I did this to him. He looked torn, his eyebrows pinched together in painful despair, but his lips pulled back with vicious anger. “I love you, Anna, but fuck, I can’t do this,” he said at last, his voice broken and quiet. My heart dropped. “Wolf,” I whimpered, stepping forward, reaching for him. He stepped out of my reach. “You don’t understand, Anna.” Wolf shook his head at me, his eyes glistening under the light, his vulnerability exposed to me like fragile glass. “You’re it for me... You’re my last chance. If something were to happen to you, there’s no way I could go on. Not for this club, not even for my brothers. Not if you’re not there with me.” I grasped his hand, and this time he didn’t pull away. He let me tug it toward me, wrapping my other hand around it and squeezing. “I understand,” I whispered, my body shaking through the emotions, my eyes burning with the need to cry though I lacked the ability to. “I’m so sorry, Wolf. Shit, I’m sorry.” My head fell against his warm chest, his heart pounding beneath his ribs and my

own beating almost in sync. I stood there for what felt like an eternity, waiting for the moment he was going to push me away. Then I felt his hand thread through the hair at the back of my head, holding me close, and a sob of relief tore through my chest. He bent down, his head dropping into the crook of my neck as he pulled me against him. “Never do that to me again.” “I won’t,” I breathed, pulling him closer, breathing in the old smoke, whiskey, and everything I knew to be home, wondering how on earth I even dared to risk losing it. Never again, I swore. Never again would I hurt him. Never.

Chapter Twenty-Three

WOLF

B

eing face to face with this small, thin girl, I almost couldn’t believe she was what we were all about to go to war over. I also recognized her as the girl Jax had been trying to pick up on the way into town from when we’d been heading back from my meet with Charon. In the heat of the moment at the house, I hadn’t even thought about it, but back then, all I had on my mind was Anna. Not that she wasn’t right with what she said. For a second, with the barrel pressed against my head, I had lost to her. She used my guilt as a knife to bury in my chest in penance for letting Anna get hurt. She read me like a book and used it against me. She probably shot me for the same reason. “Shooting him because you were jealous was childish,” Anna remarked as she stood looking down at Ash tied to one of the metal chairs with

crossed arms. She shot me because she was jealous? Ash didn’t reply; she just looked up at the dim buzzing light of one of our interrogation rooms and grumbled. “The lights are too bright,” said the girl with sunglasses on. “Get over it,” Anna growled. Her head lolled against her shoulders, purposely avoiding the corner of the room where Lamb stood, watching her with narrowed eyes and tightly folded arms. “So,” Anna said, luring Ash’s attention back to her. “You wanna tell me where you’ve been?” “A little bit of here and a little bit of there.” She shrugged, looking in Anna’s general direction. Anna went quiet then, her eyes flashing with a bit of everything, the usual bullheaded woman carefully thinking over her words as she regarded her supposed best friend. The same best friend that ended up getting her stabbed with this shit—which I realized would have been a good comeback to her in the house. “You know these aren’t necessary, right?” Ash grumbled, tugging on the bindings holding her onto the chair. “I’m not going to run.” “Your history says otherwise,” Anna grumbled. “Remember Madrid?” “Oh, come on,” Ash groaned. “That was ages ago, and the bellhop untied you later.”

“You chained me to a fucking radiator in the middle of July!” Anna snapped. Ash let out a soft whine. “Come on, untie me.” She lifted her foot, nudging it against Anna’s shoe. “I’m sure your big, bad, and uglies will stop me from leaving. Unless you don’t trust them to keep a hold on me?” She said the last comment while turning her head in my direction, a small smirk on her lips, challenging me. I couldn’t stop the growl. “Stop provoking him,” Anna said, kicking Ash in the shin. “Bitch,” Ash hissed, and Anna shrugged, walking over to me and holding out her hand. I didn’t want to hand it over. I really didn’t. But I did anyway, giving her the blade and watching her maneuver around the back of the chair, cutting through the ties as the bitch I was seeming to dislike more and more was set free in my compound. She stood tall, her dusty boots wrinkling as she stretched up onto her toes in a long, lithe pose. Dropping down onto her heels, she looked to Anna. “Where can I get a drink in here?” “From him.” Anna jabbed her thumb in Lamb’s direction, causing Ash to instantly frown. “But not yet.” Ash cocked her head to the side, studying Anna’s gaze as it wandered toward me.

I saw the moment she understood what Anna wanted. It was the moment when the carefree attitude dropped and I got a good look at the fortified stone walls at her core. Her expression sobered, her jaw tensing, as she looked down at the blonde she was ready to kill a man for. “They want the story,” Ash stated, biting down on her lip, not looking pleased in the slightest bit. Her eyes didn’t leave Anna’s, but if they had, I was sure she’d be glaring daggers at me. “The whole story, Ash,” Anna said softly, her eyes locked on Ash’s until whatever message passed between them. Ash nodded, her eyes glaring holes into the floor. “Fine,” she conceded, chewing on her bottom lip. Then she turned to me, looking over Anna’s head, and despite not being able to see through her glasses, I could tell her eyes were meeting mine. “What do you know?” “The Black Jacks,” Lamb answered instead. Ash’s jaw ticked, but otherwise, she didn’t acknowledge him. “That’s it?” Ash snapped, head turning to Anna, forcing Anna’s back to straighten. “Don’t look at me like that, Ash,” Anna growled. “I also showed Wolf the file.” I saw Ash straighten her spine like a rod had been shoved up her ass. “You did what?” she

hissed, pissed, as a snarl broke through her teeth, not looking at me but directing her aggression toward Anna. It was the first intense emotion I had seen from her that wasn’t immediately shut down. I was aware of Lamb shooting a questioning look in my direction, but I ignored him. When I’d seen the file, I had wanted to show him it, but that was before Anna burned it, and from what I could read from her at the time, I wouldn’t be able to convince her to let Lamb have a peek. From Ash’s reaction, I could see how deadly protective they were of it, only solidifying my thoughts. I’d just have to deal with Lamb later. “Ash,” Anna said, her voice softening slightly, shaking her head. “They’re involved now. There was nothing I could do.” Ash clicked her tongue but otherwise didn’t argue with Anna as she dropped down onto the metal chair, lips flattening into a straight line as her head turned ever so slightly in my direction. “What’s your connection to Rothwell?” I asked, fed up that this interrogation wasn’t making any progress. My arms, wrapped so tightly around my chest, were beginning to ache. The sunglasses may have been shielding her face, but they couldn’t hide the soft, genuinely happy smile that pulled on her lips. “I shoved a knife into his wife’s chest.” The way she said the words—so casual, calm—

unnerved the very deepest part of me. I’d seen a killer in the past, hell, I’d met a serial one or two, but this girl... I hadn’t met anybody like her. At my silence, Ash must have seen my reaction, and I saw her walls shut back down, story time over. “That’s all you need to know,” she said, looking over to Anna. The disappointment was clear in Anna’s eyes as she shook her head at her, but Ash shrugged it off, pushing herself up from the chair and moving past Anna without a second glance. “Time for my drink.” Ash reached for the door, her body moving forward with the wide motion, only to find herself staggering to a stop as a figure blocked her path. Lamb looked down at her, forcing the brunette to lift her head up to face him. The carefree attitude around this girl turned guarded the second her eyes met his. Lamb’s previous stare had evolved quickly into a bone-chilling glare, his silver-brown eyes locking onto her with an absolute focus that forced her to stop in her tracks. Ash turned her head away, her eyes boring into his chest. “Move,” she growled, her sharp British tone ice cold. What felt like a lifetime passed before Lamb stepped aside, and Ash didn’t waste a second as she grabbed the door and lunged out of it. I sent Lamb a questioning look, but whatever had taken over him had passed, and he just gave me

a shrug before following her out the door. I stared at the metal door leading to the stairway to the upper floors, wondering what exactly I had just witnessed. “Don’t think too much about it,” Anna said softly, causing me to turn to look at her. She was staring at the door, too, her eyes slowly moving away from it before she looked at me, offering me a tired smile. “She has that effect on some people.” “I don’t like her,” I grumbled, unsure what it was exactly that I didn’t like. “There’s just something that doesn’t quite fit with her.” “Despite the fact she just point-blank told you she murdered someone?” “I’m not blind. I know she said it that way because she’s defensive. And I’ve lived enough years to know that that isn’t the whole story,” I grumbled, trying to work my head around it. “But she also helped out Mallory. I get the feeling there are more sides to this girl.” “I suppose it would appear that way to you.” Anna chuckled, reaching up to touch her ear, fiddling with the earring. I recognized it as a comforting gesture, and the foreign sight of it on Anna made me frown. Ash wasn’t the only unusual thing since her appearance. Even though it had only been a few hours, there was this side of Anna peeping to the surface, an Anna I didn’t know. “Why? What do you see?” I asked, despite

being unsure if I really wanted to know Ash’s true nature or not. I had a feeling getting to know this girl wouldn’t be quite the ride I would expect. “A girl who’s led a life spinning lie after lie to protect herself. She’s got one face but many masks, to put it eloquently.” Anna’s voice was soft, softer than I’d ever heard it, and despite the part in me that resonated with the gentleness of the sound, it didn’t last long enough for me to figure out for what reason. Instead, it turned into a harsh grumble. “Although half the lies the bitch pulls are utter bullshit.” I looked down at her, at the force she was glaring at the door with, and was reminded of what Anna had said earlier. “Madrid?” “Don’t,” Anna hissed, “ask about Madrid. Ever.” With that, the sassy blonde turned on her red boots and marched out of the room with an echoing force, leaving me helplessly wondering about it.

Chapter Twenty-Four

ANNA

“W ell... this is nice,” Ash grumbled, looking

around one of the spare rooms at the compound. It had a bed, two bedside tables, a lamp, and a set of drawers and an attached bathroom. I glared at the tall brunette’s back as she rummaged through the empty drawers. She chuckled when she found the bottom drawer shoved full of condoms, but it didn’t lighten my mood. “What the fuck was that?” I growled at last. “What was what, Anna?” Ash closed the drawer, hesitating before she turned to face me, her glasses reflecting my crossed arms and scowl. “Your story. You didn’t tell them everything,” I pushed, getting annoyed at her constant sidestepping. “I told them all they needed to know,” Ash retorted, standing then moving over to my side of

the room. “Everything else is unnecessary.” “You should tell them everything. They can protect you.” Ash stiffened, a frown appearing on her lips. “You’ve changed.” “You say that like it’s a bad thing.” Ash didn’t correct me; instead, she took a step forward, her hand reaching up to brush a stray hair out of my face. “You haven’t told them everything, either. I can see the way he looks at you. Are you sure you want to tell him everything? About our past? About who you really are?” She hesitated with her next words, her eyes skimming down to where I knew the scars from my wound were hidden. “About what you found out at the hospital?” Ash’s eyes, through the darkness of her glasses, looked up to me with the same steel-piercing stare I had known for years. The same glare that reminded me there was nothing to be hidden from Ash. “How did you—” “You still have me registered as your next of kin,” she answered, a small almost smug smile pulling on her lips. “So, let me ask you this: You’ve told him you love him, and I’m sure you do; that jacket”—she said on a bitter hiss—“is proof of that. I couldn’t imagine you allowing yourself to become property otherwise. And yet, you still keep secrets from him. You can’t tell him everything. So,

do you really love him?” “I do,” I growled. “Do you love him?” Ash repeated again. “I just said I fucking do.” Ash stepped into my space, her face coming close to mine, breath rolling over my cheeks, eyes so close I could see into them through the lens of her sunglasses. “Do. You. Love. Him?” “I do,” I breathed. “I really do, Ash.” Her eyes studied my face, and then the tension dissipated. She stepped back, her expression soft. “Then tell him everything.” “But you just—” “It doesn’t matter, Anna,” she interrupted, her thumbs gripping the loops of her denim shorts. “This is your future, now. Not mine. I told my half, basic albeit, but it’s not the whole picture. If you want any kind of life with this guy, you need to tell him.” “But everything is—” I paused, seeing Ash’s don’t-make-me-repeat-myself frown. “Are you sure?” She let out a tired grumble. “I just said so, didn’t I?” I replied with a soft sigh as she smirked at me. “Have you always been this easy to convince?” She laughed, earning herself a hard punch in the arm. She rubbed it, but her wide smirk had a foreign

chuckle rising from the depth of my chest. I was unable to contain it as we broke into full-out laughter. I reached my arms forward and wrapped them around her neck, dragging her down to my height, and despite her awkwardness, hers folded tightly around me. “I’ve missed you,” she whispered in my ear, her head in the crook of my shoulder as I did the same thing, breathing in her familiar scent mixed with the scent of salt and dirt from her wandering adventures. “Yeah, me too,” I admitted and released her. Moment over, she dumped her bag on the bed, the clink of glass bottles in her bag making me frown, but I ignored it as she flashed me a grin. “You need to tell me everything.” She sounded like an excited school girl. “Oh, so you don’t know already, Miss I’veobviously-done-background-checks-on-all-of-yourassociates?” I scoffed, dropping onto the side of the bed, making her bounce a little. She puffed at a brown hair falling over her face. “Oh, you caught that, huh?” “Yeah, I did,” I grumbled, glaring at her. “I had to make sure you didn’t end up with any dangerous nutters,” she whined at me in a pitiful defense. “Dangerous nutters?” I let out a loud laugh. Well, she has a point, I thought, thinking about

it. Jax, specifically. They were all weirdos. Dangerous, too. Not to me, though. “They good to you?” Ash’s voice suddenly turned serious, and I was caught off guard as she lay there, looking at me, her glare, even through her sunglasses, intense. “Yeah,” I said honestly. “They’re good.” “Good,” she said. “I won’t shoot them again, then.” “Too right, you won’t,” I growled. “Only I get to shoot them.” “Tell me, then,” she said softly, lying back down, head propped up by a tanned arm. “Tell me the story,” “All right,” I said, getting comfy, kicking my feet up on the bed and propping up a pillow. “Once upon a time...,” I began, watching Ash roll her eyes. And then I told her everything in detail this time, not brief like during our last meetups. I told her about how I got to Fellpeak. How I joined the Black Angels. And how Wolf and I came to be. And Ash listened quietly the whole time. She didn’t smile or joke. She simply listened to me as I told my story. And when I finished, we both curled up in bed and fell asleep next to each other for the first time in a long time.

Chapter Twenty-Five

WOLF

T

o say tensions were high would have been an understatement. Ash sat at the bar, her head turning as she overlooked the room through her dark sunglasses. As I assessed her from my leather seat on the furthest end of the room, I noticed how her gaze didn’t linger on the knife marks in the doors, nor the bloodstains that we hadn’t managed to get off the paint, nor the big and burly brothers who usually drew attention. No, it was focusing on the cracks in the walls, the slight lift of some of the floor boards, and the precise order of the alcohol lined up on the shelves; a bottle of Jack Daniels in particular. I must not have been the only one watching, because Lamb reached up to the shelf, lifted the bottle from its place, and broke the seal on the

unopened bottle. He set a glass in front of Ash and poured a double measure before pushing it toward her. I waited for her to take the glass, and so did Lamb. She didn’t take it. Instead, we watched as she reached down into the backpack she had apparently stored at Anna’s house before coming to her rescue—which Anna had sent a brother to go collect, compared to last time—and unzipped the tattered thing, reached in, and pulled out a glass bottle. She uncapped it, put the Jack Daniels bottle to her lips, and took a long mouthful before continuing to peruse the minute details of the room. I expected Lamb to annoy her about it like he would if it had been anything else. But ever since her arrival, Ash hadn’t been the only one on guard. Lamb may not have been looking at her directly, but his attention was glued to her. The calculative air about him that he normally hid was on full display as he took the abandoned glass, downed the whiskey, and put the bottle of Jack back in its rightful place. He had barely put the bottle back before Sweets leaned over the bar, her chest almost falling out of her little skimpy shirt. “Lamb,” she purred, flipping her long blonde hair, drawing his attention. Lamb turned slowly and leaned his hips back against the

shelves, folding his arms over his chest as he looked Sweets straight in the eye, not giving her tits a single glance. He crooked a blond eyebrow at her, taunting her to try harder. That was the Lamb I knew. Seeing his playful albeit sadistic side come out of the muted coldness relieved the slight restlessness inside of me. It had been there the second my eyes had landed on Ash, and I hadn’t been able to shake it since. The skin of my leg ached in memory of the gunshot wound in my leg. It was barely an ache, a flesh wound like she had said, and didn’t bother my walking like I had expected, despite having been shot only a day ago. I had thought Anna was wild when I’d first seen her. Now I was beginning to see that she wasn’t the only one. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know who taught whom. Thinking of Anna made me realize that she wasn’t there. My eyes scoured across the clubroom like lightning, and I knew for sure she wasn’t in the bedroom nor my office after she had stained my expensive oak desk because she was pissy at me. An unwarranted growl left my lips, and the noise drew attention from a few of the passing girls, all of them skittering quickly out of my line of sight. I looked up, seeing Ash almost completely done with her bottle of Jack in the five minutes I wasn’t

glaring holes into her, and I was sure she was a little unsteady. I looked to Lamb, wondering if he would take the bottle away from her, but noticed that he had long since abandoned the bar and joined Pretty on the couch, along with Sweets, Ember, and Georgia. He had probably lost interest in her after all. Just as my gaze left Lamb, I spotted one of the weekender’s old lady walk in Ash’s direction. I recognized the tall, busty brunette as Moon’s old lady of about two weeks—Michelle? Misty?—as she propped her hands on her hips, stopping in front of Ash. It wasn’t hard to hear her snap even on the other side of the room. “You need to stop perving on my old man,” she hissed, flipping her hair at her. Ash’s head tilted up to look at the brunette. As she set her bottle on the bar, the girl continued to spout random, possessive shit I’d heard several times before. I didn’t think Ash had been doing anything other than checking out every nook and cranny of this clubhouse, but instead of stepping in to stop it, I found myself inclined to remain in my seat, curious as to how it would turn out. I was also aware of a few nearby brothers glancing in my direction, waiting for a signal. “Moon is my old man. Only I get to touch him,” Moon’s old lady snipped, just as I noted Moon stepping into the room, spotting his woman, and

rolling his eyes before heading toward them. “Why the fuck are you even wearing sunglasses inside? Trying to hide your perving? How about we see what happens when I take them off.” The girl lunged for Ash’s face, and I saw Ash’s body rise out of her stool. I didn’t know what the deal with the sunglasses was, but I was more than sure that it was a sensitive topic, considering not even Anna asked her to take them off. I figured Ash was going to flip, and with my leg aching, I knew if she did, it wouldn’t be good. My mind flashed back to the house. I had noticed one of Charon’s men passed out in the corner, the glass from the window all the way around him, and knew a girl of her size should never have been able to take a man down like that. Not without some dirty tricks. Shit. I shoved out of my chair, ignoring the pang of pain in my leg, as Ash grasped the girl's shirt and… ...kissed her. Ash held the girl tight against her, her lips pressed to hers, her tongue delving into her mouth for a whole forty seconds before pulling back, leaving the other girl gasping for air. “Keep talking like that,” Ash purred, “and you’ll make me jealous.” Ash let go, and the girl stumbled back, her face

bright red and lips swollen. Even Moon stood gobsmacked a few feet away as the girl got her bearings. Speechless, she just stared at Ash for a long few seconds before she let out a loud huff, flipped her hair, and turned back to Moon, who was throwing a shit-eating grin at his old lady, earning him a hiss. “Told you not to start shit in here, Monica.” Moon’s face changed as he growled at her, and just as she was about to argue with him, he grabbed her by the wrist and tugged her outside. My eyes turned back to the room to see that they had all gone back to their business. All except one. Lamb’s head was lifted over the girl’s on his lap, his eyes completely focused on Ash. Ash, no doubt aware of her new attention, spun on her stool, showing her back to Lamb, and sucked back on her whiskey. Shit. My memory of Anna doing a similar thing to Mallory had my annoyance growing as I made my way toward Ash, trying to shove what she just did out of my mind. My towering body still dwarfed Ash, despite her extra inches of both the long length of her body and the height of the stool. At the intrusive shadow appearing over her drink, Ash poured herself another one into a shot glass provided by Pipe, who

took over Lamb’s position at the bar, and downed it. “Where’s Anna?” I grumbled, not interested in making conversation. As far as I was concerned, I couldn’t get my bearings with this girl, which made her unpredictable. And unpredictable meant distrust in my books. Ash tilted her head in my direction, opening her mouth as if she was about to answer. Instead, she took another shot and ignored me. A growl was out of my mouth before I could stop it, annoyance itching on my skin. I noticed Lamb appear at the bar. He overtook Pipe’s position and came over to our side just as Ash set down her shot and reached for the whiskey bottle. It was gone before she could grab it, Lamb sliding it underneath the counter. “Where is she?” I growled, her distraction now gone. She reached down to her bag, ignoring me again, and took out another bottle of whiskey, filling up her shot glass. “For fuck’s sake,” I snapped. Finally losing my patience, I took the whiskey bottle from her hand and slammed it down on the counter. “Tell me where my woman is.” Ash, at long fucking last, turned to me, a small smirk on her lips. “Your woman?” she sneered. “Yes. My goddamn woman,” I hissed, my hand

tight around the bottle. I wasn’t sure why I was getting so heated up, but fuck, this girl just got on my nerves. “Don’t know her,” Ash said, turning her head away. “For fuck’s sake,” I snapped. “That’s fucking it. Tell me where she is now, or I swear to God—” “Swear to God, what?” Ash retorted, stepping down from her stool to go toe to toe with me. “You always get this angry when someone tells you no?” “What?” “You gonna get angry like this when Anna tells you no one day? ’Cause she will,” Ash pushed, her toes lifting her higher into my face. “You going to swear to God at her, too, huh? You going to get mad? You going to hurt her like you want to do me?” “No!” I hissed. “Of course, I fucking wouldn’t. Anna’s my woman. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to fucking protect her, even it meant giving my life for hers. She’s the most precious thing I got; there ain’t no way I’d hurt her. Are you fucking crazy?” I went to move forward, but a hand across my chest stopped me. My head spun to Lamb leaning across the bar, ready to tell him to get his hand fucking off me as I told this bitch what was what, until I realized he wasn’t looking at me but Ash. Ash stood quietly, back on flat feet, her shaded

eyes pointed up at me, chewing on her lower lip. “You were done?” Lamb asked her, and it was at that moment I realized what she had been doing. She’d been testing me. Again. Testing to see if I was good enough for Anna. For her best friend. I also realized that all this time, when I said I didn’t grasp Anna and Ash’s relationship, that wasn’t true. I acted like I had been awaiting judgment on it, but deep down I had really been thinking of Ash using Anna’s selfless protectiveness. But it was this moment, now, that I realized Ash and Anna’s relationship was a lot stronger and a lot more intense than I had first thought. Ash was willing to challenge a huge man like me who towered her by over a foot and outweighed her by almost four times her mass for Anna. Jolted by the revelation, I barely heard Ash as she pointed to the glass doors and said, “Outside.” Her voice was a conflict of emotion, something telling me that despite revealing where Anna was, she wanted to stop me. I cast her one more look, watching as she went back to her whiskey, overshadowed by Lamb, before I turned toward the door and headed straight out of it.

I

found Anna lying on her back on top of one of the picnic tables, admiring the clear early winter sky. I patted Mint on the shoulder, sending him back inside to where it was warm, and headed over to my woman. When Anna noticed my approach, she tilted her head in my direction, waiting until I was standing over her, looking down at where her blonde hair was fanned over the wooden bench. Her baby blue eyes were muted in the dark light, and she was wrapped up in her thick property jacket. Then she started speaking. “That’s Orion,” she said, pointing up into the sky. I didn’t look up, instead taking in her face, the light smile on her lips, and the rare gentle expression, eyes glittering as she continued to move her hand around, pointing in different directions in the sky, naming each constellation. “Canis Major, Canis Minor, Gemini, Taurus...” Her hand dropped down onto her chest, her eyes still flickering between each one. “In July 2005, Ash and I were in college. We drove as far as we could from home for the hell of it and ended up in this field in the middle of Derby, looking up at the stars as she googled what each one was on her phone.” She then sat up, the wood creaking under her sudden movement as she hopped off, her feet touching the grass, the heels digging into the softer mud ever so slightly. “March 2008, we were at this

beach in Cornwall, and there was this surfer there who was getting a bit too handsy with her, so I ended up hitting him with his surfboard, but it was one of those cheap tacky ones, and it split over his head. And when he complained to me to pay for it, back before I knew where to hit for knockouts, Ash just kicked him in the balls and we had to leg it as fast as we could. Do you know how hard it is to run on sand?” Anna laughed, the noise filling my ears, one of the most pleasant sounds I’d heard from her outside the bedroom. She spun around on the grass, this lighthearted version of her bathing in the starlight as she practically glowed in front of me. Until she didn’t. “April 2012.” She stopped spinning, her hands dropping to her side. The gentleness of her expression soured into a painful wrinkle between the bridge of her nose, the saddened frown of her red lips, and the dropping of her eyes into the grass. “Ash went missing.” “Missing?” I repeated, watching as Anna’s face shut down, the emotion drawing back as a cold, calm voice entered the chilled air. “You wanted to know Ash’s connection to the Rothwells?” Anna asked me, the question rhetorical. “She’s the daughter they never wanted.” I felt my chest lurch as the words hit my ears. “Daughter?” I repeated, my eyes wide as Anna

nodded. “They were never a family, not really. They wanted a daughter for show. For their perfect political family, to keep up their ruse. And for a long time, she was like that. When I met her, she was like this little porcelain doll. She didn’t laugh or smile unless she was told to. She was a puppet on a string. Soulless. I couldn’t leave her alone, and bit by bit she began to break out of her shell, started doing things she wanted to. She became a real person. And that’s where it all went wrong. For every disobedience, every embarrassment and shameful behavior, she was... punished.” “Punished? What do you mean, punished?” I hissed, feeling a burn in my chest, which I saw reflected in Anna’s eyes. “Abused, beaten, tortured. Call it whatever the fuck you like,” Anna spat, her lip snarling, bearing her white fangs. “It went on for years and years until I’d finally had enough. I managed to convince her to leave. We were going to run where they couldn’t reach us. “We were supposed to meet up at Manchester Airport. We were going to get out of there once and for all. Get Ash away from her family and their abuse. When it got to an hour past the meeting time, I knew something was wrong.” Anna’s hands clenched at her sides, her top lip curling against her teeth. “I got to her home and was banging on their

doors, demanding I see her, but they kept me out, and no matter what I did, I couldn’t find her. I couldn’t even bring myself to care about the danger; I searched all their hideouts, their meeting places, properties they owned, but there wasn’t a single trace of her. It wasn’t until three days later that I got the phone call...” Anna paused, her lip quivering as she fought to take in a slow, deep breath, a shaky one expelled in return. “It was Ash.” She shuddered. “I was so relieved and so happy just to hear her voice, to know she was alive. “But that wasn’t all she had to say.” The single bit of emotion that had crept forward in Anna’s recount of events vanished, steel walls slamming up harder and stronger than I’d ever seen them before as she stood back, her blue eyes dead and icy, meeting mine straight on, empty of any affection I was used to seeing there. “Ash had been tied to a chair for three days, beaten, tortured, and you name it. It was Rothwell’s demon wife who had her, having volunteered to be the one to put Ash in her place. I don’t know how, but she had managed to get her ties free and grab a cell phone from one of the men who guarded her. She dialed me first, and I came straight away, but I arrived a moment too late.” Anna shook her head at me, her hand gesturing

to the ground, emotion beginning to creep into those blue eyes of hers as her voice tightened around the words. “Ash just sat there, next to her body, blood soaked into her clothes. There was a knife sticking out of the bitch’s chest like she had been fucking staked, and Ash was looking into the distance, quiet. When she heard me stop in front of her, she turned to me so slowly, blood running down her cheeks, eyes bloodshot. She was blind, Wolf. And then she turned and looked at me, and she asked, ‘Is she dead?’ She couldn’t see. She wasn’t sure. I told her she didn’t, but she just started to cry. She knew she killed her. “The knife went straight through the bone in her chest, the sternum cracking under the force and the blade wedging straight into her heart. She must have heard it. And heard when she finally stopped screaming.” She stood there silent, her eyes still holding mine, as if daring me to punish her, to accuse her, to challenge her part. But I didn’t. I was silent for a long time, waiting for the walls to give just a little, and when they did, the cold ridge of her face relaxing ever so slightly, I finally asked what I’d wanted to know all along. “What did you do?” “What else could I do?” Anna said softly. “I got her out of the country. I knew some people who exported abused zoo animals, and they helped me

get her out and overseas. I stayed behind. They had nothing to pin on me, and when it was all over, I got out as well. “We traveled around for a while. I got her some medicine and even managed a few black-market surgeries for cornea transplants. The damage to her skin healed, but her eyes weren’t the same. She can’t handle bright light, nor can she see very well, but she was doing better... physically. Mentally... she wasn’t the same person after what happened to her. It’s as if she’s not all there anymore, not interested, not... living. I find myself so scared of letting go of her because I’m so scared she won’t come back.” Anna let out a shaky breath then, the emotion clogging her voice as she tried her best to breathe through it, but the sight of my strong, beautiful, and so perfect woman fighting through the pain devastated me. I knew I should sit still, let her continue, but I just couldn’t fight the instinct that had my body dragging hers against mine before I could even think. She didn’t fight me; instead, her hands clung to my back, to the leather cut hanging on my shoulders, as she quietly breathed me in, holding me with her face buried in my chest. Nothing was said, nothing needed to be. I felt no shame in holding my woman. No shame in knowing that she wasn’t as strong as I thought she

was. And that was okay with me. Ash was obviously something precious to her, and to have had that thing hurt in a way that I could see had shredded her, only made me want to hold her closer. “I’ve got to protect her, Wolf.” Anna’s voice didn’t hesitate, didn’t crack. Not anymore. Now it was bold, it was steeled, and it had a hint of the darkness I knew she held tight to her when she spoke. “I didn’t protect her then, but now, here, I absolutely will protect her, and I will send to hell anyone who harms her.” That was my woman.

A

fter that, I found myself walking into the clubhouse, Anna tucked under my arm, her head lolling into my warmth, and considering she hadn’t bitten my arm off for the possessive gesture, I figured she was too tired to give a shit. My leg ached, but I ignored it as we stepped into the crowded room. My eyes instantly sought her out above the heads, and thankful to her height, I spotted Ash still sitting at the bar, her eyes looking deep into her half-full glass, her expression contrastingly sober. She spotted me walking in, and her eyes met

mine above the crowd. She looked to Anna, who hadn’t noticed her, her eyes focused solely on the hallway door that led to our room on the other side, before they came back to mine. It took less than a second for her eyes to switch from wide to conflicted as she took in my expression. She could tell I knew. I also knew why she had given me a hard time at the bar, and why she had looked like she wanted to stop me from going out there. I knew all of that, but there was one thing I didn’t know. Something I had to know. I pressed a kiss to the crown of Anna’s hair, making her grumbled drowsily. “Go to bed. I’ll be there soon.” She looked up in surprise, her eyes jumping up and then across the room to where Ash was sitting at the bar, looking at us. Her jaw tensed, and I could tell she wanted to stop me or say something. But instead, she just gave me a tug on my cut and said, “Go easy on her.” And with that, she turned and walked through the crowd, parting it like the sea as the sound of her boots gave warning to anyone in her path. As I made my way through the crowd, Ash looked me dead in the eye before snatching her bottle off the side of the bar and making her way to the front door. She slipped, almost unnoticed, through the crowd as I struggled to keep track of

her. I only spotted her again once she was at the door and made my way after her. I caught eyes with Lamb as I passed the bar where Ash had been, and his eyes leaped from the door to me. His look was stern but cautious as he flickered his eyes back to the door and then to me again, passing me a warning or a look of concern? I didn’t know. As the cool air hit my skin for the second time that night, I found Ash on one of the steel drums outside the door, her boots on a ridge on the side, letting them stay propped up, despite their unordinary length for a girl her size as she took a swig of the whiskey bottle. “Ask your questions,” Ash said, her voice apathetic compared to the grouchy bitchiness of all the other times I’d talked to her. I found it just as irritating, but considering her background, I also understood it. “Why did you come?” The question was simple enough, though it might have seemed vague. But from the way her eyes flashed, and by the way her hand gripped the neck of the bottle, she understood my meaning. And when she answered, I wasn’t surprised. “I’m done,” she said on a deep and heavy sigh. “Done?” “Yeah, done,” she repeated, bringing the whiskey bottle to her lips, her feet dropping limply

down onto the side of the barrel, the metal chiming at the contact with her boots. “Just done.” “What about Anna?” “What about Anna?” Ash grumbled. “Anna has her life here now, someone to protect her, to look after her. She looks... happy. And if she was willing to tell you everything, then she must trust you.” “How can you know that after just a day?” “I don’t need to know you.” She grunted, and it slightly pissed me off. “I know Anna. And Anna wouldn’t trust just anyone. You wouldn’t be wrong to consider yourself special.” Ash tilted her head at me, and I could hear the soft undertone of her voice as she said the last words, the sadness in them unmistakable. “Anna was...” Ash paused, her head cocking to one side as she struggled for words. I watched as her head gravitated upward, and I was reminded of Anna’s story about the constellations. “She was the last important thing to me in this world,” she said, a wistful smile on her face. “She gave up everything to take me somewhere safe. Her family, friends, country. I know it wasn’t easy for her. I wasn’t easy for her, either. But to know she’s cared for here, even if it’s not the safest place or with the most competent people”—I felt my leg throb in response to her jibe—“I know this is where she’s chosen to be. And if there’s one person I trust to make the right call, it’s Anna. That’s why I won’t worry

anymore. I don’t have to.” Her feet hit the floor and a cloud of dust fell off her boots. She turned and picked up her bottle, her brown hair brushing across her face as she looked down to tuck it under her arm and headed toward the door. “What are you going to do?” I asked, stopping her at my side. I didn’t look at her or even turn in her direction. My feet stayed firmly planted north, my eyes looking over the car lot and into the darkness of Fellpeak as the town turned in for the night. I heard the faint sound of cars on the main street a few blocks over. “Take care of her,” was all Ash said before she picked up her boots and continued toward the door. I wanted to grab her and ask her what she meant by that. But my body didn’t move. Because somehow, I knew. I knew, and in the future, I would probably regret not stopping her. Not asking exactly what she meant. But that wasn’t today. That wasn’t now. Now, I just watched her walk away and pretended I didn’t know.

Chapter Twenty-Six

ANNA

“S o,

you’re both from England?” Mallory asked, her big brown eyes wide as she stared at Ash, scanning her from head to toe. Ash smirked. “Childhood friends. Known the bitch for years.” “Said bitch is sitting right here,” I snapped, glaring at her. She only shrugged. “Said beep is holding my child,” Mallory snapped between us, “so stop with the B-word.” I looked down to the wriggling child on my lap, his blond curls brushing my chin. He was happily playing with my cell phone on an app I had downloaded for him. He was four years old now and found it fascinating to paint in the bike pictures that the app provided. When he finished one, he’d jump up and down on my lap and present me his amazing artistry before I put a different one on.

This one was being painted a ruby red color, which made my heart warm in my chest, considering that his father’s bike, one he was practically married to, was a ruby red Harley. “Good color, buddy.” Hunter’s voice came from over my shoulder, drawing mine and Mallory’s attention. Adair’s didn’t stray as he continued to scribble in the lines. Hunter was Adair’s uncle, though he acted more like a father the more time he spent with the boy. He ruffled his hair before dropping onto the other couch where Mallory had parked herself. He chucked his arm over her shoulder and planted a long, deep kiss on her before he faced us again, leaving Mallory a little flushed. I stared into his deep green eyes before saying, “You know, if you wanna go do something about that”—I gestured toward Mallory’s hot, red cheeks as she gave Hunter the “fuck me” eyes—“I’m quite happy to look after the munchkin.” I didn’t miss how Hunter’s eyes cut across to where Ash sat, nursing a bottle of rum after Lamb had managed to take away her last bottle of whiskey. She had only drank a little bit over the course of the morning and wasn’t anywhere near drunk, but I wasn’t surprised when Hunter said, “Nah, I gotta take him out in a bit. Gonna go check out the old garage on the other side of town; wondering if Mrs. Meyers would be interested in

selling up, since her husband passed away a few months ago and her son looks like he doesn’t even know to change the oil.” “And you’re taking a four-year-old child?” I scoffed. “Good luck with that.” Hunter rolled his eyes at me, flicking his black hair away from his face in the process. “I would take him with me, but I’ve got somewhere to be,” Mallory said with a soft sigh, giving her little boy big round eyes, and I knew it was because she was jealous about how attached Adair was to Hunter. The boy idolized him. “I’ll take him,” Jax popped up behind Ash a second later. She didn’t flinch, instead just turned her chin up to look at the supreme southern hotness. His dark, unruly hair was a lot shorter than Hunter’s, but it only served to highlight that gorgeous tan and add to the dark matrix of the tattoos covering him from head to toe. “No way.” “No way in hell.” “Like fuck.” Jax turned to look at us three with upturned eyebrows as we all simultaneously shot him down. “Sorry, brother.” Hunter chuckled, getting up from his seat to slap Jax on the shoulder. “But one of you is bad enough. I don’t need Adair to turn into you, too.” “Looks like I’ve got a free afternoon, then,”

Jax grumbled. He shook off Hunter’s hand, propped his own onto the back of the sofa where Ash was sitting, and leaned over it. “You wanna keep me company, darlin’?” My eyes, on pure instinct, cut over to the bar where Lamb was putting drinks away, and I swore to God, I saw Lamb turn away the second my head moved. I stared at him a while longer, but he didn’t glance back. “Get lost, Jax,” I growled at him as Ash continued to remain silent, content to just stare at him unfazed. “Where’s your new bum buddy anyway?” “Pretty’s at school.” Jax sighed like a sad, lovesick school girl. Ever since Hunter had gotten hitched to Mallory, his time had been filled up with her, the adorable little rug rat, and trying to get his hands on his own garage. All in all, Jax had been a little neglected recently, and so he’d become more attached to Pretty while trying to get his claws into Mint, too, though Mint was having none of it. “School?” Mallory wondered, tilting her head to the side in question, her long red hair falling over part of the couch cushion. “Yeah, he went back to get his GED. He’s at the local college over in Redwood.” “Good for him.” Mallory beamed, nodding her head. “I’d like to go back to school and finish my degree eventually, too.”

“You’ll get there,” Hunter said, coming around to the back of her seat and squeezing her shoulders. “But right now, you’ve got somewhere to be, and I’ve got to get down to the garage.” Somewhere to be again? How suspicious. I didn’t dig. I could pretty much figure out what was going on. Instead, I worked on prying my phone out of Adair’s small hands in exchange for a kiss, which I knew worked on the little flirt, before passing him off to his uncle. Hunter lifted Adair into his arms, and despite the year Adair had been around, I still hadn’t gotten used to their shocking contrast. Where Adair’s hair was blond and curly like his father’s, Hunter’s was a dark, almost black-brown. It reminded me of when I was first told Noble and Hunter had been related and had laughed in their faces in disbelief. I missed Noble. I sighed, moving on from the thought, as I noticed Hunter and Mallory had made it to the door and Jax had also managed to catch his girl of the week as she stumbled down from his bedroom. “You’re close.” Ash’s voice caught me. She was staring straight into my face behind her sunglasses, a bottle of rum tucked under her arm. “I never thought you would settle.” “I couldn’t run forever, Ash.” I cut her a look, but Ash turned her head away to gaze out the window. I shook my head. “That night,” I broached

instead, my eyes scanning her for a reaction. There was none. “What did you talk to Wolf about?” Wolf hadn’t said anything to me once he’d come to bed the other night, and he was gone before I woke up in the morning and every morning since, so I hadn’t had the chance to push the topic. I had told him to go easy on her, but I had no idea what he had asked, and from what I heard, Ash had gone back to her room without really talking to anyone once she came back inside. It had been a week since then, and despite Ash being on house arrest in the club because the Black Jacks were targeting her, I hadn’t managed to get anything out of her, either; her drinking, anti-social behavior, and pure stubbornness had made it difficult to talk about anything. As Ash pulled the bottle to her mouth, I knew we again weren’t going to get anywhere. I grunted, rising from the couch and walking away before I chose to punch her for pissing me off. I expected her to follow me as I headed toward the other side of the room, but after one look in the direction of the bar, where Lamb had just finished putting the stock away and was staring at the empty space where the rum was supposed to be, she sank back down into the couch and hooked one leg over the other, content to drift off into space. So instead, I made my way past Lamb as his eyes turned and landed on the back of Ash’s head. I

paid him no mind as I made my way to the office doorway, hearing Wolf’s gruff voice on the other side of it. I reached for the door handle but stopped when I heard another voice on the other side. “You can’t go,” Kay’s voice snapped. She sounded angry, which forced my hand to stop. “Kay—” Wolf began, but Kay was on him like a hound. “No, Wolf, you listen to me, and you listen to me good.” I heard a bang and figured it was Kay slamming her hands down like she always did when angered. “I didn’t want to say this to you, Wolf, because I know how much you idolized Roscoe and because I had hoped you wouldn’t be the same as him.” “Where are you going with—” “Roscoe wasn’t a good man, Wolf,” Kay interrupted. I could feel the tension rise on the other side of the door, knowing, even without seeing, the confusion and no doubt shock that would be showing on Wolf’s face. I could hear the pained softening of Kay’s voice as she broke the heavy silence. “Roscoe was an amazing president. One of, if not the best president in the club’s history. He was dedicated, always there for the club, and always ready to take the fall to protect one of his brothers. But all the qualities that made

him a good president ruined him as a husband and father. Where he was a hero in lockup for the club, he was a husband who had abandoned his wife and children. A man who never turned up to his daughter’s school plays and a father who was never home for dinner.” I could hear the torn-up emotion in Kay’s throat because I could feel it building up in my own. I hadn’t known Roscoe, but I had known of the legend, of the amazing man who all the brothers had looked up to. Wolf the most. And to hear him being torn down like that, I could almost hear Wolf’s heart breaking. The crack in his voice, the pure tear in his guttural words, had my own heart breaking. “Why are you telling me this?” he growled. “Because I heard your conversation outside with Ash,” Kay said, and I felt my heart leap in my chest. I could hear Wolf’s chair creaking as he rose to stand. “Kay—” “You know why I never divorced Roscoe?” Kay cut him off, her voice stern but gentle. “Because I fell in love with the Roscoe who loved his club. And that was fine with me. I never loved him less for any of it... I just wished that I had given my family more. That’s all.” I didn’t hear another word from Wolf. “That girl doesn’t trust easily,” Kay continued. I knew she was talking about me. “It makes it

difficult for her to open her heart, and she’s opened it up to you. Don’t abuse that, Wolf, because you won’t get a second chance.” With that, I heard Kay’s footsteps head toward the door, but by the time she swung it open, I was long gone.

I

awoke in the middle of the night, my stomach churning in the humidity of

the air. I tried to rise from the bed but found myself pinned down by Wolf’s humungous figure, naked, sweaty and poking me with his erection. I pushed at his shoulder, trying to move him, but his fat ass was too heavy. “Wolf,” I hissed, pinching his arm. “Wolf!” “Go back to sleep,” Wolf grumbled, burying his head into my neck, his dark hair falling over my face. Fuck, I understood why guys got so annoyed with girls’ long hair in bed. “I need to pee,” I snapped, giving him another push. Wolf grumbled something in return but lifted his shoulder off mine. A rush of cold air hit my damp skin when he peeled his away, skin that was stuck to mine with sweat, as he flopped back over to his

side. Jesus, the man was like a fucking furnace. I took deep breaths as I popped to the bathroom, relieved my bladder, and doublechecked that I wasn’t about to throw up before I grabbed my dressing gown from the back of the bathroom door. I slung it over my cold shoulders and tiptoed around Wolf, the man now spreadeagled, showing his bare ass on top of the sheets. I rolled my eyes and snuck out the door, shutting it quietly behind me. It was about 3:00 a.m. as I stepped into the clubroom, the clock catching my eye first. I saw Mint and Lamb finishing up a conversation as I walked over to the bar. “What you doing up?” I asked as the two took note of me. Perhaps a little bit too much on Mint’s side, but hell, I’d known for a long time that I was a sight to look at. Being in my nightie and silk dressing gown only emphasized it. So long as Wolf didn’t catch him… no harm, no foul. “Couldn’t sleep,” Mint answered me at last. Lamb, I knew, was a night owl, so he didn’t bother answering, instead picking up a glass and filling it from the tap. He placed the water on the bar in front of me without even asking when I heard the first heavy foot on the stairs. I caught Pretty coming down the steps, still fully dressed in the early hours of the morning, his short blond hair sticking everywhere and a pen

propped behind his ear. “Wow, you remind me of high school.” Mint chuckled, looking the young brother over as he sat down beside him at the bar. “I feel like it.” Pretty sighed, dropping his beautiful face on the wood with a thud. “I hate this homework shit.” “It’s the only way you’re going to get your GED,” Lamb added, setting a cold beer in front of him with his classic snarky smile. “You’ve always been a dumb shit.” “Thanks, bastard,” Pretty retorted, but it was only half-hearted while he opened his beer and downed the cold liquid. “It’s true,” I chuckled, nudging Mint in the arm. “Pretty first met the brothers picking a fight with Wolf.” Mint let out a surprising laugh as he looked to the young brother sending daggers my way. “How did you even hear that story?” Pretty growled, his bluish-gray eyes ringed red and half lidded. He looked like he was about to fall asleep right there. I looked at Lamb, who sent him his charming smile and a wink, making Pretty look like he was about to throw up. “Never do that again. That was gross.” Of course, Lamb just winked back at him again. “Urgh. I’m off back upstairs,” Pretty grumbled,

taking his beer and staggering away from the bar, throwing Lamb the finger over his shoulder. “So, who won?” Mint asked, looking at me. “Wolf or Pretty?” “I did,” Lamb answered for me, a proud smile on his face as Mint gave him a puzzled one back. He opened his mouth as if to ask, but thought better of it when the both of us could just see Lamb daring him to. He put his beer to his mouth instead. I was shaking my head at Lamb’s amused smirk when his expression sobered just as I heard Pretty’s soft, “Hey, wake up, beautiful,” across the other side of the room. I spun on my stool, hearing Lamb already moving around the bar as my eyes fell upon Pretty crouched down by the side of the couch. It was facing away from me; I could just see the brown hair over the top of the couch. Pretty reached toward Ash. “Brother, don’t—” But it was too late. Pretty’s skin touched Ash’s, and in a blur of movement, the table flipped, glass smashing as Ash tripped across it, falling on her ass. Pretty reached to grab her, but he couldn’t as she stumbled, not caring about the glass cutting into her skin when she shoved herself to her feet and back into the wall. “Stop!” I yelled, moving toward them just as

Lamb reached Pretty, grabbed him by the shoulder, and pulled him back. Ash’s brown hair hung down by her sides, falling over her face as her chest rippled with fast, hard breaths, the sunglasses very narrowly still propped on her nose as her head spun in every direction. I saw Lamb flinch as I came up beside him, his arms forcibly pinned by his side as he held himself and Pretty a safe distance away. Mint came up behind me, and I thanked fuck we had soundproof walls, since nobody else came rushing out. “What’s going on?” Pretty hissed, looking wide awake now, his beer smashed and spilled on the floor. I took a step forward, ignoring him. I saw Lamb’s arm move to stop me, his leather cut wrinkling as his muscles froze, his hand still in the void between us as logic took over. He let me move. I cautiously avoided the glass under my bare feet as I tiptoed across the gap. “Ash,” I called, as she stood there, her eyes scanning everything. “Ash.” She spun toward me, her pale lips parting as she suddenly straightened, her eyes doing a quick, clean sweep of the room before a rushed, “Shit,” came from her lips, realizing what had happened. “Come on,” I said, grabbing her by the arm and

pulling her away from the wall. “Let’s get you cleaned up.” Ash looked down at her bleeding hands, surprised to see them, and let me pull her along, avoiding the people in the room. I looked over at Lamb and gave him a small shrug. Lamb frowned at me, but then his face softened at Ash. It was probably one of the only human moments I’d seen from Lamb, and I managed to barely hide my surprise when it disappeared. He dragged Mint and Pretty to clean up, while I took Ash into the kitchen, where I pulled out the first aid kit from under the sink, thinking that the thing was getting a lot of use lately. Ash sat in a chair, hands out on the table. She didn’t say a word for a long time as I pulled out the antiseptic wipes, not even hissing at the sting as she watched me work. “Sorry,” she breathed. “I didn’t expect to fall asleep in front of them.” “It’s fine,” I said, pulling out the bandage. “It’s comfortable here. It happens.” Ash frowned at my choice of words, but I didn’t address it. Instead, I finished cleaning her up, escorted her back to her room, and then went back to my own, covered by a huge, warm, butt-naked man, and fell asleep myself.

“W

olf!” I cried out as his body thrust forward, finding my rise as I went over the edge. Wolf growled as he followed me over, his body collapsing on top of my back as our sweat mingled together. “Fuck,” he breathed, his hot breaths feeling humid on my damp, sensitive skin. I waited a few seconds to gather my breath before I reached back and clawed my nails into his side. “Get off me, you fat oaf.” I was rewarded with a harsh slap across my ass as Wolf rolled off me onto his side of the bed. “Hell of a way to wake up,” he grumbled, laying his palm across the hair on his chest as it moved rapidly in an attempt to catch his breath. I only grumbled a reply to him as I buried my head back in the pillow, the smell of my spicy body butter now mixed in with the flavor of his cigarettes. Speaking of which, he rolled to the side of the bed and picked up the packet of Java cigarettes, plucked one out, and put it between his lips, then cupped around his mouth to light it. He tossed his lighter back on the bedside table, letting it slide across the wood until it clinked against the glass bottle of whiskey, and let out a soft breath of cigarette smoke. The cloud gathered in the air before it drifted over to my side, and I tasted the dry, unique taste. My muscles protested as I pushed up off the

bed, where my worn body was content to stay, and rolled until I found myself draped over Wolf’s huge chest. He grunted at my sudden weight, but his eyes didn’t move from mine as their deep amber color watched me, slightly amused and still drowned in endorphins, as I reached to pluck the cigarette from his lips. His eyes narrowed, but when I leaned down and pressed my lips to his, feeling the soft brush of his new beard across my skin as I slid my tongue between his lips, his mind was appeased. Wolf’s arms reached up and threaded through my hair as his tongue came out to play. I stubbed the cigarette out in the ashtray on the bedside table without looking. One hand released my hair as it cruised down my back, over my rump, and grabbed a handful of ass. I released his lips with a hiss as he squeezed, earning me a reluctant grumble from Wolf’s lips. “Fuck me,” he growled, a playful light dancing in his eyes as he looked down on me. “The only thing that could make this morning better is breakfast in bed.” He looked at me in anticipation for a long few seconds. “If you want breakfast in bed, sleep in the kitchen,” I scoffed, pushing up off him, making sure to dig my nails into his thick chest, earning a

hiss of pain from him. The second I stood, Wolf’s hand whipped out across my ass in revenge, causing me to yelp. “Don’t sass me, woman,” he growled. “Fuck off,” I hissed, moving over to the wardrobe and picking out my clothes before trotting off for a shower. This time, I remembered to lock the door behind me. After standing under the shower for a long enough period—Wolf’s showerhead was almost touching the ceiling in order to accommodate his height, which forced me to step back a mile from the shower knobs to step into the spray—I dried, dressed, and brushed my teeth before opening the door just as Wolf’s phone began to ring. I knew something wasn’t right the second he answered it. Russian spewed from Wolf’s mouth in a loud, raging boom. He shoved himself to his feet. Any sign of his lax, after-sex high was gone, replaced by a rigid expression that sank deep into the lines of his face as his lips pulled back in a snarl, as he continued to shout louder and louder down the phone. He spun in his uncontained rage until his eyes hit mine, and he stopped dead. Whatever was said in his ear the second his burning gaze met mine made all the anger, the rage, and the destructive force of his expression disappear with the drop of

his shoulders. The hand that was crushing his phone became so loose I was surprised the phone didn’t slip from his hand, and the frightening, snarling expression turned into a smooth, flawless expression of cold, hard shock. His white-ringed, stunned, whiskey eyes stared dead at me, and even before hearing what he had to say, I felt my heart drop in my chest like a stone on water. Cold rippled across my body and the blood in my veins curdled. Wolf said something else into the phone and pressed his finger down on the classic button until the phone beeped and the line cut off. “The Black Jacks?” I interpreted. Who else would Wolf speak fluent Russian to? He gave a curt, stiff nod. “They want to make a deal?” I continued. Knowing they wanted Ash, I couldn’t imagine they would attack the club now, and considering the length of their silence the past week, I wouldn’t be surprised if they had only just found out we had her. He nodded again. My hands clenched and unclenched at my side as I let my eyes rake over Wolf’s stiff, almost rigid posture. The slackness of his shock had been replaced with muscles wound so tight, his bluish veins bulged against his skin, and his hands were tightened into thick, tense fists at his side, making the plastic of his phone creak. Even the thickness

of his jeans couldn’t hide the rippling of the skin beneath them as he all but turned into stone. I was reminded of Wolf telling Charon to take his deal and get the fuck off his property. He said that without a second of hesitation to one of the most influential men in the United States. Now, he stood silent, unable to even answer my questions with a simple yes or no. “Wolf?” I breathed, my voice quiet as he slowly took a step toward me and then stopped, not moving his eyes a single inch away from mine. His hands moved to reach for me, but they faltered and fell back at his side. Adrenaline coursed through my veins, knowing I didn’t want to hear what he had to say. Not with that expression. Not when he hadn’t even said no, never mind to fuck off. His flat lips broke apart, and for a moment, no sound came out. And then it did. “They want Ash.” He didn’t say no. He didn’t say no to them. “Why didn’t you say no?” I blurted, my whole body seeming to come to life as I broke out of the cold shell that had begun to take me over. Fire bubbled up from the pit of my chest, becoming a feverish burn as Wolf didn’t answer me. “Why didn’t you say no?” I screeched, surprised at the horrifying sound of it as it came out of my mouth, but I couldn’t look away from his eyes.

When he took a step forward, I almost jumped out of my skin as I leaped back to avoid him. His whole body flinched at my reaction, his stunned face shutting down as a hardened mask came slamming down in front of it. “Anna—” Wolf growled, his voice deep, guttural, and from what I knew, pissed as he went to move again. “No,” I snapped, shoving my palm out at him, stopping his approach. “You tell me why the fuck you didn’t say no. I want to know what the fuck they offered you.” Wolf’s dark eyes narrowed under his lowered brows, shadowing them from the light, making his warm brown now an almost black. I saw the hairs attached to the muscles around his mouth flinch as he suppressed the snarl he wanted to spit at me. “The club.” “The club?” I shook my head, my damp hair hitting the sides of my face. I could feel the lukewarm water dripping down my ice-cold skin. “What do you mean, the club?” “I mean the club, Anna,” Wolf growled, and despite my protest, he took a step toward me, rage in his eyes. “Do you have any idea who he is?” I frowned. “The Black Ja—” “Not the fucking Black Jacks, Anna!” Wolf roared, and it shocked me so hard, I slammed back into the bathroom door as I leaped out of his space.

“The guy who owns her is the fucking British government!” His voice tore through me, the words cutting deep into my chest, as every memory from my past came flooding up into my mind. Every time Ash came to me with a blackeye for escaping her house, every time men appeared to take her home and nobody but me batted an eyelid to stop them, the pure control her family held over her. “No,” I snapped. “He's not the whole government, Wolf! He’s just one ma—” “One man?” Wolf’s voice was almost mocking as he said, “He manipulates the entire government! You think he could do that on his own? That he doesn’t have other politicians on his payroll? That he’s just a good politician?” My hands pushed out in front of me before I even noticed them moving. I shoved Wolf hard enough that it caught him by surprise and he went stumbling backward, my bones vibrating at the sheer force I used. His sarcastic expression snapped straight off his face as I screamed at him, “What does it fucking matter?” “What does it matter?” Wolf returned. “He can tear our club down in a second! Even Charon won’t be able to fucking do anything to him!” “So, you’re just going to throw Ash at him?” I was vibrating, with devastation or anger, I couldn’t

tell, as the back of my eyes burned with tears I knew would never come. “You’re going to hand her over to a man who wants to put a bullet in her fucking brain?” “She’s not even a part of this club, Anna!” Wolf snapped back. “Holy shit,” I breathed. “You’re actually going to do it.” “I haven’t decided yet,” Wolf growled. “You haven’t decided yet?” I repeated, my voice filled with disgust. “You shouldn’t be considering it in the first place. What does it matter if she’s not club?” “Because club comes first, Anna,” Wolf growled, taking back the ground he lost when I pushed him. “I thought you understood that!” “I do! I understood that about you, and I was fine with coming second to the club!” I snapped. “But Ash is above club for me, Wolf. She’s everything! I’ve known her for years. I love her! I’m not handing her over to that scumbag—” “Even if she wants it?” I was stunned. The breath was knocked out of me by just looking at Wolf, at the square of his shoulders and the firm placement of his boots into the wood, the tightness of his lips. He believed that was true. “She doesn’t—” “She does,” Wolf cut me off, and for a moment,

I saw his face soften and his eyes fill with pity. “She told me.” “She—” I began to argue again, adamant Ash did not want to go back. And then I remembered Kay’s words. She had overheard his conversation with Ash. The conversation both of them refused to tell me about. And somehow, it led her to tell Wolf not to break my heart. It was then that I knew. “No,” I whimpered, shaking my head. “No.” I shoved past him, my wet hair plastered against my skin as I burst through the door, the wood echoing like gunfire through the compound. I flew into the clubroom the same way, all faces spinning with attention on me. It took me two seconds to know Ash wasn’t in the clubroom, so I rushed toward the stairs. I was vaguely aware of Wolf’s voice shouting my name, and a further string of Russian curses after it as more than one pair of boots came thundering in my wake. I took the stairs two at a time, and it was only a few seconds before I lifted my red boots with a force that I was sure would have broken my leg on any other day, as I kicked the door open. Ash leaped from her bed, eyes wild with surprise as she fought instinct until she took in my panting and no doubt furiously red face. “Is it true?” I roared with a volume that put

Wolf’s voice to shame as Ash’s body stood to attention. Her sunglasses were still on her face, but I knew her eyes were taking me in, taking apart every hint of emotion and body language that were no doubt clear as day. I saw the moment she understood, the moment when her face went from shock to pity. Hers and Wolf’s like two sides of a coin. “My father—” “I couldn’t give a fucking damn who your father is, Ash!” I snapped, lunging for her as I managed to grab a fistful of her tank, my nails scratching across her skin, making her hiss with pain and causing blood to bead. I smashed my face against hers, our foreheads cracking with the force and her sunglasses creaking as the plastic frame fought not to splinter. “I want to know,” I growled, my voice so low and deadlier than I had ever heard in my life, my throat burning as it scraped its way from the depth of my chest, “if you said Wolf could hand you over if he got the fucking chance?” Ash only paused for a single breath before she answered. “It’s true.” The crack of my knuckles smashing against her face filled the room. Ash went staggering back, her hands covering her nose that no doubt broke on impact, spewing blood down her face as she fell to the floor. But I

wasn’t done, and I lunged for her, a devastating, painful wave of emotion, that took the form of a terrifying rage that I couldn’t stop. “After everything!” I screeched, her now broken glasses falling from her face, fractures of the lenses buried in my fist. Clouded, gray eyes shot toward me, the sight of them only a fuel for my rage as her cold, broken voice from those years ago filled my ears. Is she dead? “After all the running! The fear! After everything he did to you! You want to throw it all away!” My voice broke as the sound began to disappear, the dryness of my throat preventing me from hurling all the pain breaking inside my chest. “I was fucking stabbed for you! I almost died for you! I risked everything!” Ash’s face contorted in pain as the tears that welled up and fell down her cheeks, mixing with the blood and mucus dripping down her chin, were no doubt burning her sensitive eyes, but even so, she didn’t sob, or whimper. She didn’t make a single sound. She just shook her head at me, and without any regret, she breathed, “I can’t anymore. I’m done.” “Done?” my hoarse voice repeated, unsure I heard her correctly. “You’re done?” “Yeah,” Ash said, holding her nose, her lips tightening, eyes glaring, as if stubbornly trying to

force her tears to stop. They didn’t stop. “I’m done.” “Fine.” And it was like the storm was over. All the energy, the anger, the pain. It just... stopped. Silence rang in my ears as I took one last look at her, her withering, pathetic, limp body looking up at me, shaking her head. “You know what, Ash,” I said, staring at her as her empty, fogged eyes looked up to me, ready for me to give her the final blow that would no doubt crush our relationship for good. Waiting for that goodbye. Those words that would tell her I would let her go. She deserved the satisfaction. “I love you.” And that, I could see, clear as day, broke her heart. And mine along with it.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

WOLF

A

s a president, I knew my shoulders would bear the responsibility of protecting my club. Before myself, before the ones I loved, before anything, it was truly and simply club before all. That was the duty I chose to dedicate myself to. It was the duty I honored with the highest pride, the duty I would dirty my hands to protect. I carried the flame from Roscoe, who had done exactly the same. It was why Kay’s words had hurt me deeply. I knew I must have glorified Roscoe’s legacy, and Kay had managed to tear it down. I always remembered Roscoe being willing to come to your aid when you needed it, was attentive and devoted to the club, to the point he always noticed trouble in you before you could even notice it yourself. He was also always there when you needed it.

Because he was never at home. Being a good president ruined him for his wife and family. If Kay had said that to me three years ago, I would have been disappointed, because three years ago, I wasn’t even thinking of a family beyond my brothers. And then along came Anna. She had burned down my walls and etched herself into me in a way that I could never remove. I would never have wanted to. She was hard work, but she was worth it. She put back in me the thrill of getting in deep with someone, and it was something I didn’t want to lose. Now, all of that was in danger. I could lose Anna. I could lose everything she had given me thus far, and everything she might hope to have given me. But even so, first and foremost, I was president of this club. This club was everything, not just to me, but to my brothers, too, and it wasn’t up to them to make that kind of sacrifice. It was for the president, so the brothers who chose to follow me wouldn’t have to. My body slammed hard against the wooden walls. My lip split as the metallic taste of blood filled my mouth. “Hunter!” Jax yelled as he struggled to drag Hunter’s huge weight back. Ripper lunged onto Hunter’s free fist that had just dished me the

throbbing ache, and no doubt crack in my jaw, as he leaned his weight against his chest. “What the fuck are you thinking, Wolf?” Hunter roared, not giving up his fight against the two barriers until Pretty had no other choice but to jump in and help drag Hunter’s 6’4” body as far away from me as they could. I noticed they were the only brothers forced to action as everybody else just watched. “You didn’t hear the phone call, Hunter,” I growled, standing myself back upright as I faced my brothers. “Then tell me what was so fucking important about that phone call that you’re ready to chuck a twenty-something girl into the mouth of her abusive father!” At that point, I saw Pretty stop trying to hold Hunter back; instead, his eyes cut to me and stayed hard as he constructed a carefully formed mask on his face. I realized by this point that Hunter must have heard the story from Mallory, who must have heard it from Anna or Ash herself, though I wasn’t too sure on either possibility, considering how tightlipped the two of them had been about their past. Expressions hardened throughout the room, some mixed with outright glares in my direction, while others were defended by caution as they hung onto my awaited answer.

“Polo,” I said, turning toward the older member as one of the ones giving me a hard glare. “Where’s your old lady?” “Amanda?” Polo’s voice instantly dropped, his old, weary face now a mask of viciousness and anger. “What has she got to do with—” “Just answer me, Polo,” I snapped, shoving a stick straight up his arse as his eyes flashed with fury at my tone. “I’m your fucking president, so answer me!” I yelled, losing my patience. Anger at my disrespect to an older, honored Black Angels member didn’t go amiss, and I saw Polo stew for a long few seconds before, through tight lips, he opened his mouth to spit out, “She out at the—” “Hair salon?” Cutting him off wasn’t taken as disrespect this time. No, Polo’s eyes grew wide for only a second before they furrowed with confusion. “How did you—” “She’s there right now, with Sofia and Roxy,” I elaborated, some of the brothers showing recognition at hearing the names of two retired members’ old ladies. “Mia, Chloe, and Alistair.” I spun, turning to Ripper, whose hand was tightened in Hunter’s shirt. “They’re out at Redwood Middle School. Mia and Chloe are playing hopscotch, while Alistair is playing soccer with his friends.” Ripper’s face lost all its color, the scar across

his face becoming a brandished dark pink, almost smooth across his square, jagged features. “Adair.” I turned at last, looking at Hunter. “Is drawing in the second-floor classroom of the elementary school. He’s drawing his dad’s bike. A ruby red motorcycle.” By now, my words had lost their harshness as the anger swept from the room, replaced by shock and devastation as one by one they all understood how I knew. “You wanted to know what I was told on that phone call?” I replied, making sure to meet each and every single brother’s gaze. The brown, the blue, the silver, the green, the blue-green, the bluebrown, the copper-colored, the mixed. Every single one of their eyes was looking to me now. To their president. But what they probably didn’t know was, underneath the shock, and the no doubt coming rage, was a helplessness that hung in the air around me, that weighed down on my shoulders, that quelled any hesitation I had. “So, you’re asking me why I’m ready to throw a twenty-something girl who isn’t even a part of our club into the hands of a guy who will no doubt kill her, then there’s your answer.” “But Anna—” “Anna,”—I turned, looking to where Jax stood staring at me, his eyes hard with conflict that I

didn’t want to bestow upon my brothers, that had made me not want to tell them the sickening truth about what that phone call had revealed—“will get the same answer you all did, and she will understand.” With that, I turned to reach for the door, and just as my huge hand engulfed the handle, the cold of it freezing against the clammy heat of my hands, a voice stopped me. “What if she doesn’t?” I didn’t have to look over my shoulder to know it was Lamb. I knew he wouldn’t be looking at me with a biased expression on his face. He wouldn’t be saying it as a way to make me stop and reconsider. He was saying it as simple fact. “Then she doesn’t,” I said, my voice a hollow even to my ears. “That’s all.” Then I opened the door and walked out.

I

t took Kay two and a half minutes to open the door after I knocked. Her long red hair, several shades lighter than Mallory’s and tinged with minor streaks of gray, slipped down her arms as they blocked the doorway. Kay was tall in comparison to the girls, but compared to me, she was barely significant. “Kay, move,” I growled.

“Don’t speak to me like that, you ass,” Kay snapped, her silver eyes glaring at me, telling me that she—unsurprisingly—didn’t understand, nor agree, with what I had done. “I fucking warned you.” She released her hand from the frame to jab me in the chest, not giving a shit about how tall I was. “But you didn’t listen, so whatever she has to say to you is exactly what you deserve, you hear me?” With that, Kay didn’t give me a chance to say anything as she barged past me, stomping her foot down hard on mine as she left. “Fuck,” I hissed, my foot throbbing hard, as I heard Kay’s feet march away. I shoved the pain out of my mind as I moved into the modest, neatly arranged room. One look in any of the brothers’ rooms would have told you that it was a man cave with barely a glance, but this room held two twin beds, both with neatly folded pale sheets and pillows, polished furniture, and window ledges with thin curtains, allowing the winter daylight to bleed through into the room. Anna sat on the furthest bed, her eyes not looking away or into the distance, but straight at me as I came into the room. Her red boots and socks lay in a pile on the side of the bed, her bare feet, toes painted with red and black nail polish, were hooked over each other, her top leg balancing a bag of frozen peas over her ankle, no doubt from

kicking Ash’s door’s almost completely off the hinges during her rampage. Her thrown hand was in a bowl of ice water, cradled in a thick towel on Anna’s soft thighs as she looked up at me. I took notice of her property jacket still on her shoulders, her shirt sleeves rolled up and her hair tied back around it. Her ice-blue eyes looked red but not inflamed, like they would had she been crying, though I knew she couldn’t. “The phone call—” “I know,” she interrupted me. Her voice was hard, and her eyes had me unable to move away from the inside of the doorway. “They threatened the kids and the old ladies, right?” “Then you under—” “No,” Anna growled, her lips curling into a snarl. “You do not get to ask me if I understand.” She took her hand out of the ice bowl, picking it up with her good one, and set it on the bedside table. She grabbed the towel off her lap, wrapped it round her hand, and kicked the peas off her leg, revealing a bruising purple mark on her ankle. “You do not get to ask me to try and be okay with the fact that you want to sacrifice my best friend.” I opened my mouth, but she shoved her finger up to stop me. “Regardless of whether she agreed to it or not. You do not get to make me understand that because she means nothing to the club, that she means nothing to you, that it’s okay for me to sacrifice my best

friend. You. Do. Fucking. Not. Get to make me be okay with you.” She shoved her finger at me, her top lip curling to reveal her snarling white teeth, distorting her angelic face. “You do not get to make it okay to sacrifice my best. Fucking. Friend!” She fought to suppress the anger on her face, but she couldn’t stop the curl of her lips as she took deep breaths in and out of her nose. “What I do get is that you want to protect the club. That is okay. Because it’s club before all, right, Wolf?” Her head shook softly, the snarl dropping off her face as her eyebrows turned upward, her lips trembling into an empty smile. “But what about me? What about who comes first for me? What am I supposed to do about that? How do I make that okay with me? How do I make it okay to sacrifice the only other person I love in this world?” She unwound the towel from her hands and reached back for the bowl, her shaking fingers stilling against the cool glass, condensation dripping onto her purpling fingers. I opened my mouth to speak, but I didn’t have a chance to say anything as the sound of shattering glass echoed in my ears, cold water splashing over my body while I managed to dodge the hurled bowl. “How can I make it fucking okay?” she screamed, her broken, hoarse voice filled with pain as she forced out the words. Her body dropped down back onto the bed in a

heavy breath, her head falling into her hands. I felt my own eyes burn as I looked at her. My heart heaving the heavy blows as it hurt to just breathe, to look at this woman, the other most important thing in my life broken and hurting, and although knowing that it wasn’t directly, I was the cause of her pain. “What can I do?” I begged. “Fight for her,” Anna replied, her eyes meeting mine, the baby blue dark and pained as she held my stare. “Fight for her like you would for any of the rest of us.” “I—” I paused. I wanted to say I would, I wanted to tell her those words just to take away her pain, but I knew it was a lie. The faces of the those who were staked in this deal were burned into my mind, and I knew, I knew I couldn’t say it. I shook my head. “There's too much at risk.” “Then go,” Anna replied. “But my deal still stands.” She turned away from me, and I felt my body scream in physical pain as her face dropped back into her palms, her blonde hair forming a wall between us as I stood there, desperation clawing up my chest with nowhere to go. There was nothing I could do. “Ann—” “Just leave,” she pleaded. “Please, just go.” I stood still, my eyes burning into the top of her

beautiful blonde head, buried into her small, pale hands, curled over on the bed, making her seem impossibly smaller than she already was. I wanted to beg her just to look into my eyes one more time, to smile at me, just so I could etch it into my mind, selfishly wishing that I hadn’t taken for granted the last one she had given me. I nodded, despite knowing she couldn’t see it. And despite every cell in my body screaming at me not to move a single step, I pushed through the pain and forced myself back to the door. “Wolf.” Anna stopped me, and for a second, a crack formed in the stone and a single slither of hope slipped in. “If you go through with that deal,” she said, her voice steady and calm as the words followed me, “we’re done.” I paused, half of my heart filled with my love for her urging me to turn back and hold her, hug her, and promise I’d fight to my death before I went through with that deal. But it wasn’t that half that made me walk out of that door. It was the love for my club. Club before all.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

ANNA

“T hey’re

gone,” Jax’s soft southern voice

announced. I let out a shaky breath, my head throbbing in my hands as I dropped it yet again. Pain radiated through my chest, and I felt like I was balancing myself on the edge of an endless hole just at the edges of my feet, leaning over it, my elbows on my knees, my hands holding back my hair as all I could do was stare down at it. “Are you sure you didn’t want to say goodbye?” he asked, the sound of his voice blurred as if I were deep underwater as he propped his slender hip against the door. His belt knocked softly against the wooden doorframe, and just at the corner of my vision, I caught the action of one of his boots hooking around the back of his other ankle.

I felt like I was going to be sick. “How am I supposed to stop them, Jax?” I breathed in through my nose and out through my mouth, trying to fight the urge to gag as my stomach curled, threatening to spill its contents. “What am I supposed to do when Ash doesn’t want to fight anymore and Wolf is forced to throw her to the wolves to protect the club? How am I supposed to stand in the way of that?” “Fuck, I dunno, Anna.” Jax sighed, unhooking his feet as he let his boot drop to the floor, crossing the wooden panels to drop down next to me. His heat felt humid as it touched my cool, goose bumped skin covered in a sheen of cold sweat. “You’ve done so much shit, I’m sure you could have thought of something. Sitting here like this, scared out of your mind, isn’t like you.” It wasn’t like me. I knew that. And the fear that was beginning to chew through my stomach lining was threatening to have me fire off the nearest gun into my head just to stop this horrible, overwhelming anxiety. What if they don’t come back? I knew what they went to do; I couldn’t have any part in it. And I knew that, if everything went according to plan, Ash wouldn’t come back. And if it didn’t... neither would Wolf. And if Wolf came back without Ash... I couldn’t.

I pressed my hand to my stomach, my finger’s numb against the softness of the flesh there. “You know Wolf didn’t have a choice, right?” Jax reached out his hand, flinching as it covered my own, his skin like a furnace as he felt the depth of the chill eating through my core. My stomach heaved, and I lunged from Jax’s side and raced for the toilet, barely making it before I threw up everything with horrible retching. Fuck, not now. Jax quickly ran clear from the room, and for a second I thought the bastard had abandoned me. Despite being slightly annoyed, I was mostly relieved, because I didn’t want him sticking around and making assumptions. But then he returned with a glass of water. Why did the bastard have to be so nice to women? “Hey, are you all right?” Jax’s concerned voice had my defenses up as his dark eyes traveled up and down my body. I knew he would see a pale, shivering girl heaving up all over the toilet in the late hours of the morning. The same hours I had managed to hide away from Wolf these past two weeks. “You don’t look all right,” Jax quickly concluded his own answer as he dropped to his haunches, reaching with his hand, the only part of his skin, other than his face and dick—yes, I had seen it before and yes, it was big, though not as big

as Wolf’s—that was spared of ink, and placed the rough, calloused skin on my forehead. “No fever, but why are you—” I saw the pupils of his eyes dilate, knowing he had managed to separate what was my fear for Wolf and Ash and what wasn’t. He opened his mouth, and my heart leaped with adrenaline. “Hey, are you—” I would like to say Jax simply stopped there and his mind got distracted by some kind of bimbo or club slut. But although his mind was distracted and I was saved, it was because of something much worse than Jax finding out the truth. Gunfire.

T

he first screams started only seconds after the first round of bullets went off. “Fuck,” Jax hissed, his hand immediately reaching out to wrap around my arm and pull me to stand. My stomach rolled with the fast movement, but I didn’t have the luxury to pay attention to it as I had to focus on staying upright while Jax dragged me out of the bathroom. I tried to pull out of his grip, but it was too strong, and all I did was jerk him, forcing him to turn and look at me.

“Let me put my boots on,” I argued, pulling free this time as he let me rush over to my red boots. I forewent my socks and ignored the ache in my ankle and hand as I forced my feet into them and did up the zips. The next thing I did after that was head straight back toward Kay’s side of the bed, reaching my hand deep into the drawer until I felt the cold press of metal against my fingertips. Thank fuck for Kay, I thought as I pulled the small Glock 19loose from the clasps holding it to the roof of her drawer. I almost dropped the gun as the metal slipped on the cold sweat on my hands, my shaking fingers unable to keep my grip. I took a deep breath and gripped the cool handle as firmly as I could with both hands, fitting it into my smaller hands. Though it wasn’t as comfortable as my slightly smaller CW9 might have been, I more than preferred the fifteen-magazine round, outdoing my own gun tucked into the bedside drawer on my side of the bed I shared with Wolf on the lower floor of other side of the compound, at only six rounds per magazine. I quickly dug through the other drawers in hopes for a second magazine but found my luck ran out. I turned back to Jax, who had his head out the door, leaning ever so slightly around each corner as he checked for enemies. I ignored my throbbing foot and made sure to

crouch lower against the opposite doorframe, giving me a wider view over Jax’s shoulder. He put his thumb and finger out, making the universal phone sign and putting it up by his ear then shaking it at me with a silent raised brow. I shook my head. My mobile still sat on my purse on the chair in my room, where I had put my clothes before I got my shower, and then it had been the last thing on my mind up until now. He bared his teeth in annoyance, letting me know he had no phone either. He nodded when the coast was clear, and after another quick check, I did the same. Jax gestured me with his thumb across the hallway where Hunter’s room was. Adair had started kindergarten recently, since Mallory insisted on Adair interacting with other kids his own age, but that had made Mallory come hang out at the club in the mornings, so I knew for a fact she was here. Whether or not she was in her room, which she usually wasn’t unless Hunter was here, too, was anybody’s guess. Jax dropped his shoulders low and quietened his feet as he moved from the doorway and across the hall, staying vigilant on his side of the hallway as I kept an eye on mine. Once he made it to the other side, he waited for my all-clear before he quietly opened the door to Hunter’s room. Jax dipped into the doorway, giving himself good cover before gesturing me across.

I didn’t linger in the doorway like Jax did, however. I made my way straight into their bedroom, my eyes going to the double and single bed tucked into the corner as I searched every inch of the room. Walking into the bathroom, the sight of the toilet made me want to go for a second round of hurling, and I felt myself gag before I managed to turn away when I found the room empty. I headed back out to Jax, shaking my head as he flashed his teeth again, both of us knowing his best friend’s wife was downstairs. Just as the thought crossed my mind, we heard another round of gunfire go off and screams and what sounded like a door being kicked in. Jax bolted out the doorframe, and I managed to lunge for him, just in time to catch him by the belt loops and drag his ass back into the doorway, biting my lip before I hurled on him in punishment. He turned to me, his eyes flashing with impatience and rage, but I shook my head at him, knowing we couldn’t rush in without knowing the situation. Jax took a breath and gave me a stiff nod before I let him go. But when I went to go first, thinking the cooler-headed of the two of us should lead, that’s where Jax put his foot down. He pushed me behind him before taking the lead out of the doorway and into the hall. We followed it until we came to the stairs, and

thankfully, we had corners and crevices in many of the walls, providing good cover as we made our way down the steps, one by one, pressed into the wall until I saw a flash of red hair. Mallory sat on her knees, her hands over her head in the center of the clubroom floor. I couldn’t see her face, but her shaking shoulders were enough to let me know what was going on. I also saw Pretty and Mint sitting in front of her, their bodies providing a barrier between them and what I guessed was the armed enemy. After taking another step down, I managed to peer over Jax’s tall shoulder and spotted Baby, Sweets, and Ember huddled on Pretty’s other side. I didn’t see Kay, and I knew Bell was at school. Everybody else was out, as mentioned in the phone call Wolf received earlier. The boys had wanted to call the kids and the women back to the clubhouse, but Wolf had forbidden it after Lamb warned that tipping them off might be a bad idea since they must have had men on all of them. I held my breath against my body’s wishes as Jax wound his hand out behind him to keep tabs on where I was. His hand reached to my arm, and as he took a risky step down to the edge of our cover, he flattened his palm, stopping me from following him. I saw Mint’s body stiffen from Jax’s movement, and Jax stepped back. Out of the corner of his eye,

though it was barely visible from his firm posture, Mint had noticed us. I breathed a sigh of relief, the wooden plank on the stair creaking ever so softly underneath my weight. Until I realized that it wasn’t my step that creaked. I only had enough time to turn around before I saw the barrel of the gun. Bang.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

WOLF

I

had a bad feeling. But a bad feeling was the least of my problems as we pulled up to the appointed place for the exchange, tasting the bitter irony of meeting up at the bullet-ridden warehouse where we had only been a few months earlier. “Bastard’s got a sense of humor,” Hunter growled, coming up at his side. His dazzlingly green eyes were dark as he turned from the warehouse to look at me, shaking his head. “This feels wrong.” “Dazhe v doline ten' smerti dva I dva ne delavit' shest',” I said, the words heavy on my tongue.

“W hat the fuck does that mean?”

Ripper grumbled, coming up on my other side. The light glinted off the scar on the right of his cheek, and he

looked upon the warehouse with irritated brown eyes, sympathetic, but not empathetic compared to the rest of us. When the shit fest between us, the Hell’s Runners, and Grim Reapers had gone down here, he had been left at the club to guard it just like Jax, Pretty, and Mint had. The ones left behind had seemed to be the most resilient about going through with this as well, and I didn’t want them to hesitate when it came down to it. “Even in the valley of the shadow of death, two and two does not make six,’” Ash roughly translated, her small brunette head coming up next to Ripper. “Leo Tolstoy.” “There ain’t much right in our world from the beginning,” I explained, looking to Hunter, who frowned at Ash’s translation. Her sunglasses were replaced with one of Bell’s old pairs, since hers had shattered upon the impact of Anna's fist. However, although they hid her eyes, they did little to hide the purple bruising around the front of her face from where Anna had broken her nose quite brutally. Hunter nodded at my words, and I found myself looking up at the warehouse, thinking about what I was about to go through with. Hunter wasn’t the only one who couldn’t settle on this decision. If you go through with that deal, we’re done. Anna’s face and words had been turning over and over in my head on the entire ride here. I knew

by going through with this, I would be sacrificing so much more than just Ash for my club. Just. The word made my stomach feel sick, disgusted with the fact my life had come to the point that the word “just” could come before a human’s life. Ash was about the same age as Oral would be, maybe a slight bit younger, and I was ready to hand her over to a man who was planning to kill her. “I’m guessing Anna gave you an ultimatum?” Ash’s crisp accent, almost as jarring as the cold, interrupted my thoughts. I looked down at her, finding her on my other side, unsurprised, as Lamb was now standing next to Ripper, handing him, Hunter, Polo, Jasper, and the other brothers extra magazine clips as Hunter unloaded them from the saddle bags attached to his bike. “Let me guess,” Ash said, reaching up with her tanned, slender hands to brush her hair away from her mouth as the cold wind chipped at everybody’s skin. “No me means no you and her?” My eyes narrowed on her, and she nodded her head, her lips flattening into a line. “Yeah, I figured as much. I was hoping she wouldn’t be like this.” She turned to look at the warehouse, but her expression showed she was looking distantly beyond anything around her. “Hoping she wouldn’t be like this?” I growled, pissed at the apathetic tone of her voice. “You

wanted her to be fucking flowers and sunshine when her best friend, the person she thought she had sworn and failed to protect, says she wants to hand herself over to the very same people she swore to protect her from?” Ash flinched hard at my words, but I didn’t feel the slightest bit regretful for saying them. “If you hadn’t fucking appeared, we wouldn’t have had to deal with this shit!” Ash’s anger must have flared, because she spun on me faster than I expected, and being she was taller than Anna, she managed to push up onto her toes and make use of the slight hunch in my shoulders to shove her snarling face into mine. “My father would have come whether or not I fucking turned up. I kept as far as fucking possible from her to make sure he never came anywhere near here! But Anna settled with you guys! She knew the risk of hanging out in the same place for too long. Deep down, she knew he would find her eventually and things would no doubt come to this, but she chose to ignore that and stayed anyway. She stayed for you. This is the only way I can protect her now, do you understand? I’m doing this for her! I’m doing this to make sure she can finally have the happily ever after love disaster that she wants. So she doesn’t have to be dragged through the mud anymore with me! She deserves a future!” The whole group around us became silent as they all turned to face Ash, eyes wide and

expressions shocked as Ash blurted out everything. I searched her face, her tinted glasses hiding her eyes but not hiding the way her body dropped back down onto her flat feet, her shoulders slumping with the weight as her anger drained from her. Her lips flattened into a thin line as she looked down at the ground, and I sieved through her words. “Then you lied about being done?” “No.” Ash shook her head. She reached up to her face, her rough, broken-nailed fingers running along the smooth sunglasses. “Running away from my family was always just a dream. I’ve been doing it for four years, but I’ve been fighting them for a lot longer than that, Wolf. The only thing that ever gave me hope, that ever made me want to fight, was Anna. I used to be an obedient good little girl until Anna showed me that that kind of life wasn't living and I should look for more. Fight for more. She was beautiful and dazzling in my dark world, and she was the hand who in my darkness moments saved me and showed what the real world was. But the one thing about the past is that it never completely goes away. Do you think my family would be okay with me murdering my mother and running away? Do you think I would have gone unpunished? There's no escaping the dark, Wolf. There is only running for as long as you possibly can. But I'm running out of road, and if my last thing to do on this earth is protecting her, then so be

it. Call it pretentious; call it selfish. I don't give a fuck. This is how I'm giving back to her, for everything she's done for me. I'm done letting her sacrifice everything for me. I'm done.” Ash shook her head before her hand reached up to the frame of her glasses and pulled them from her face. The cool tint of green, I realized up close, was tinged by the silver sheen of fog over her eyes as she turned to look at me, squinting against the brightness of the low sun before a small smile overtook her face. “A bird with broken wings can’t fly. I won’t ever be free, not while my family is around. So, you can let me do this, Wolf. You can let me do this, knowing this is what I chose to do. Don’t carry the guilt on your shoulders.” The smile didn’t look satisfied. It didn’t look happy. It looked lonely. Ash lifted the sunglasses to cover her eyes once again, and for whatever reason, I noticed for the first time the silver scars around her slender wrists faintly hidden by her tan. She didn’t acknowledge the way my eyes followed them as she released her grip on her sunglasses, comfortably setting them on the bridge of her nose, away from her purpled bruises. With her armor replaced, she turned and took a small step toward the warehouse. “Let’s get this over with.” She slung her rucksack over her shoulder and began walking.

I watched her walk away in the quiet wake of her words, the light warmth of the sun on my back like a push forward, but my feet didn’t get the message as her face replayed over and over my mind. “I know what she said,” Hunter said beside me, his eyes following the small, straight back of the girl. “But are you sure you want to go through with this, Wolf? There’s no going back, and making up for mistakes isn’t easy. Trust me.” I looked at him, a man who had given too much for the club and so much more for those he loved, and despite how true his words were, I couldn’t give him the answer they all wanted. “If I weren’t sure, I wouldn’t be here,” I said with a confidence I didn’t feel and began to walk forward into a deal I knew I shouldn’t make but had no choice but to go through with. By the time we entered the big warehouse doors, Ash had been placed in a circle of bikers. We didn't want to risk her being taken in an ambush in case any of the other parties had any dirty tricks up their sleeves. We had our guns loaded and down by our sides in case we needed them, not caring if it made us seem defensive because we were; I wasn’t ready to sacrifice a ready defense to posturize in front of men I had no doubt would outnumber us. Our feet echoed across the concrete slab, small

bullet cases rattling as they kicked into them. Thousands of them were dispersed across the warehouse floor, reminding me of the shit fest that had gone down here last time. I kept my eye on Hunter as his drifted around the room; he almost lost his wife here a few months back, and although I hadn’t wanted to bring him when I heard about the meeting place, I knew I needed Hunter’s quick reflexes if this broke out into another gun war. Shadows danced around the edge of the windows, their outlines cut through as light spliced through holes in the rigid metal walls. As I counted the men in black around the room, I noticed the tattoos many of them bore, and it wasn’t difficult for me to know these men were the Black Jacks. My total added up to around twenty, making it 2:1 against our ten. I also remembered Charon had told me that the Black Jacks had thirty members. It was possible Charon was wrong, but seeing his smug face in my mind made me highly doubt that. I didn’t like this. I disliked it even more as I heard the growing sounds of a car’s engine and the big garage doors began to open. Bright winter light cut into the shaded warehouse, and a whistling breeze caught everybody’s skin as the black SUV tore across the compound. I tensed up, forcing my hand to the side of the trigger so I wouldn’t pull it despite my instincts

telling me to take out every single man in this room. I noted my action reflecting in my brothers beside me, their own eyes jumping around the room as they kept the rigid posture of calmness. We stayed apprehensive as the vehicle pulled up only a few feet before us. The engine cut out, and silence dawned upon the room. It felt like a long few seconds before the click of the car door echoed in the huge chambered warehouse. A slight warmth hit my back, and I didn’t have to turn to know Ash had moved closer to me as the brothers tightened ranks around her. There was a slight quiver in her breath as the shining black door swung open. As the first polished shoe touched the floor, I knew this man was business. The cuff around his ankle was a tailor-made suit, the color a dark gray, and the socks white. By the second shoe, I could practically smell the lethality in the air as he cruised with smooth, simple movements out the car, not a single unnecessary movement expended until he stood facing us. When I’d heard it was Ash’s father coming, I hadn’t quite expected someone so... old. This man’s face was wrinkled, deepened with heavy frown lines around his face, and a lack of wrinkles at the corner of his eyes. His hair was short but styled over his head in a cut that might have been out of

date by at least fifty years, and he carried it as if he didn’t care. This man screamed old school, from the striped Armani suit to the silk-gloved hands tucking the golden cane underneath his arm. This suit didn’t wrinkle in the places it normally would in his movements, and I knew it had been custom tailored. Designed to hug, and hide everything he didn’t want to be seen. Pale green eyes reflected the late morning light as they narrowed on me and my brothers. He didn’t look surprised by much; even my height did little to impress him as the weighed brows sat close above his eyes. “Where is Alexandria?” he asked, not one for small talk, it seemed. I figured Alexandria was Ash’s real name, and I gestured behind me without moving a step. “Take your men off my people,” I demanded. “Then I’ll let you see her.” The man’s eyes darted across my face, slightly shocked at the audacity in which I told him what to do. I wasn’t sure how it was going to play out, but when I saw his lips flinch with what could only have been a smirk, I felt a momentary swell of relief. “Fine.” The man held out his hand, and only a moment later did both the front car doors pop open and out stepped two giants. I mean, I was tall, but these guys must have been at least seven foot. With

scars, piercings, and tattoos covering so much of their skin, the word “goons” immediately came to mind. One was dark haired, though, while the other had gone to the extent of bleaching his an almost yellowish blond. Both held many of the tattoos that I knew were faded old Russian military markings. They were strikingly different from the classic man’s attire. One of the men handed him a black phone, and the old man reached into his suit jacket, pulling out a pair of reading glasses. He balanced them on the bridge of his nose and dialed a number before lifting it to his ear. “Your work’s done. Come back,” was all he said before ending the call and handing it back to the blond goon. “Now, Alexandria.” He gestured his arm out to me as if expecting me to move. I didn’t. The man’s relaxed expression quickly turned into a frown as I saw his patience wear thin. He opened his mouth, probably to demand I move this time, but before he could, the shrill ring of a phone cut him off. The older man looked to his goon, but it wasn’t his phone that was ringing. I held out my hand as Polo placed a black burner phone inside it. “What’s that?” the man snapped, his aged voice

dipping into a hoarse growl. “Assurance,” I replied as I answered the call, placing the phone to my ear. “Wolf,” Amanda, Polo’s old lady, greeted me, her voice calm. “Big, tattooed, and ugly just walked off. He got into his car and left.” We had managed to call the salon on the sly and get in contact with Amanda only, considering she was the old lady with the most seniority. I knew I could trust her to keep her calm and not look suspicious when I told her something was up. This old bastard had been behind killing off Spider by saving him only to dump him in the nearby lake, so I couldn’t be entirely sure that I wouldn’t be double-crossed. This was the only way I could be sure. “Thanks,” I said, hearing her quick goodbye before I hung up the phone and passed it back to Polo, who dropped it to the floor before crushing it under his boot. With that, I stepped aside, letting Ash step forward. Her shoulders were squared, her chin raised as she took the long, confident stride around me, eyes forward as she faced her father. But she couldn’t deceive me. I could see the way her shoulder muscles rippled down her back through the exposed jacket. The way her bones looked like they were about to snap as she fought every urge not to curl

into herself and cower in front of this man. Her father’s expression suddenly changed, and darkness descended like a screen over his face. I saw him force down the need to snarl, his eyes shrinking into tiny slits as he regarded his daughter. “Alexandria.” He practically hissed the word, and the bad feeling inside of me only grew worse. Despite the fact I didn’t like her, every fiber and instinct in my body demanded I grab her and put her back behind me. Sacrificing herself for Anna was so wrong. So very wrong that I couldn’t help but think it was a mistake. I was only momentarily distracted by the anxiety clawing its way up into my brain as the older man snapped his eyes from his daughter and moved back to my face. The second man, the darker haired of the two, stepped out from behind his employer; he was large, muscled, and plain and simple a goon even without his all-black attire. This one I knew wasn’t a part of the Black Jacks or ex-military of any kind, and I was convinced even more so as he rounded the vehicle, popped open the trunk, and dragged from it a man with a black hood over his head, covered in all the prison tattoos, jewelry, and scarring I knew made him ex-Bratva. The goon shoved the man at my feet, pulling off the black cloth from over his head. Two green-blue bloodshot eyes ringed with dark

circles into a face rugged with a partial growth of stubble on his hard jaw and an almost gray, pale skin tone looked back at me. He looked young, but I could tell that was deceptive as my eyes read his tattoos as well, knowing he was of the older world. What surprised me the most, though, was the green snake curling up over his forearm, red beading eyes like rubies over the top of his wrist. I felt my blood rush with heat as I put two and two together. “You,” I growled, a red film threatening to descend over me as I realized who this fucker was. “A gift for your troubles.” The older man gestured to me, his wrinkled hand pointing down to the guy on the floor. The man snarled at me, his eyes feral with aggression to hide the concern for his life lurking behind them. I saw his palms flatten on the floor in front of him despite the ties around his wrist, knowing he was preparing to attack me if I made even a single move toward him. But despite the rage wanting to take over, the caution ringing as low as the bells at Perebor I had often heard back home in Russia prevented me from taking my revenge against the bastard for stabbing Anna. They were the bells that rang out during a funeral as a body was carried from the church building to their grave. I couldn’t help but hear them ringing in the back of my mind as the

silence continued to stretch between us. It was only as I heard the sound of small footsteps beside me that the tension around me snapped. I turned to look down at Ash as she shook away Lamb’s grip around her wrist, shaking her head at him. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but stopped with a single look in my direction. He pulled back his hand, his pale brown eyes glowering at the small brunette as she pushed passed him. I saw each of the other boys’ bodies stiffen as they all fought against their urge to stop her, but a single glance at my back prevented them from moving. Ash continued to step toward me, the small ponytail piled on top of her head swaying with her careful steps as she moved to my side. And then suddenly, she stopped. Her head snapped toward me, mouth parting as a force refused to let her move any further. “Wolf,” she said, her head then moving down to her arm, to where my hand was clamped down hard around her tiny, thin forearm. Her father’s eyes flashed with annoyance before letting a calmer, confident demeanor take over, waiting. “You can't back out now.” Ash’s voice was softer, almost lighthearted, as she said the words to me, but it wasn’t that easy.

I turned to look at her, making sure that I met her eyes beyond her tinted lenses and held them, desperately trying to see any splinter of emotion that would somehow stop me from doing the one thing I knew would ruin everything for me. “She won’t forgive me,” I said, looking at her, watching her expression falter, her soft smile flattened into a small frown. “If I let you go, let you do this, she won’t ever forgive me.” “‘Mistakes are forgivable if one has the courage to admit them,’” was all Ash said in return, reaching as she pried loose my hand, my eyebrows scrunching at her words. “It’s Bruce Lee,” she added, then she reached over to her free arm and tapped it. “It’s Anna’s tattoo.” Her Elvish tattoo. I had always wondered what it said, but never had the courage to ask her. “She had it inked so she would never forgive herself for not saving me sooner,” Ash said, a sad shrug rolling from her shoulders. “Maybe forgiving someone else can help her learn to forgive herself.” With that, she walked away from me, her back held straight as she headed toward her deepest fear. She paused in front of her father. His hand gripped tense around his cane as he regarded her with a disgusted snarl. “Wait.” She paused, her eyes looking up at her father. “How did you find me?” I saw her father’s top lip flinch as he slid his

glare away from his daughter’s face to mine before looking back down at her. “It was easy,” he growled, flicking his eyes back up to me for a second time. “I’ve been making connections to move over to the US, using motorcycle clubs since they have the connections to the gun, money, and drug movements, but then one of my connections became troublesome.” He paused for a moment, and we all knew who he was talking about. Spider. “I looked into the clubs he ended up clashing with, in case they would try cause trouble for me later on for interfering, and it’s a good thing I did because I noticed a familiar face.” Anna. “I finally had my connection to you.” I heard Ash’s hiss as he release his cane, his vice grip clamping down around her arm. “You have never been a disobedient child, but to have murdered your mother and run away? Do you know how many people thought it had been me? How much my reputation suffered from your disobedience?” The urge to run in there and pull her out of his grip grew in my chest as his voice rose and his grip tightened on her arm, turning it pale. But the itch on my skin as he went on and on about his reputation and the accusations rather than the death of his wife, the woman he had a child with, was what I had to fight the hardest as it screamed how

wrong this all was. I heard the sound of movement all around the room before I even realized my feet had taken two steps forward. Ash’s father snapped his head toward me, his anger stuttering as he realized we were all still there, and all I could think about was the rage inside me that wanted to tear his throat out. I suddenly didn’t care, just for a second, how he had his hands around the treasured members of our club, still practically in the palm of his hands; all I wanted to do was end him just to end my absolute disgust. “You can leave now,” the old man growled, his goon stepping toward me with wide shoulders and closed fists, drawing my attention. I flicked my eyes back to the old man, now making no attempt to hide his glare, daring me to challenge him, knowing I couldn’t afford to when taking down our club would simply be a case of a single phone call. “And don’t forget to take him with you.” I looked down at the shivering, ex-Bratva member as he glowered up at me, trying to look as though he wasn’t about to piss himself. I looked back to Ash and felt my anger spike. Bang. Everyone in the room flinched at the snap in tension as guns were raised and pointed, all of them focused on me as I lowered my smoking weapon to

my side. The man’s body swayed before it fell backward, blood oozing out of the hole in his skull. “You can keep him,” I growled as I looked one last time at the tanned skin of Ash’s back. She didn’t make a single attempt to look back at us as I turned, and with what must have been all the strength I could muster, I forced myself to walk away, my brothers falling into step behind me. I didn’t hear the car start up as we exited out the broken door of the warehouse, my body shaking with so much adrenaline and rage that my logical mind was struggling to keep ahold of it. Ash’s last words repeated over and over in my head, and despite what she said about Anna forgiving me, I couldn’t stop Anna’s face appearing in my mind. It was her face as she was telling me about her and Ash. The way she lit up as she pointed out the stars. The way she smiled and spun on the grass. The pain on her face as Ash broke her heart. My feet sped up over the pavement as I exited into the chilling winter sun and our bikes glinted at me, parked neatly in a row. Ash was the daughter of a dark politiciancontrolling family, and sacrificing her had just saved my club. But Anna wouldn’t forgive me. She wouldn’t forgive me for making this huge mistake. Mistakes are forgivable if one has the courage to admit them.

Fuck. My feet came to an abrupt stop on the ground, my eyes bearing down into the concrete. “Boss?” came Lamb’s tight voice from behind me. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck! “Wolf?” Jasper called a moment later when my silence continued. “This is a mistake,” I growled, shaking my head as I turned to look at my brothers’ faces. “This is wrong.” “What do you want to do, boss?” Lamb stepped forward, and with him, the echoing sound of the safety of his gun clicked off. Another click followed as Jasper met my eyes. And then it was Polo. Then Ripper. Then Hunter. Moon. Pick. Roy. Talon. Each one of them looked at me, and I could see it in their eyes. It would be the same look that was reflected in my eyes. Fuck. “Let's go—” I didn’t even have time to finish my sentence as I heard the resounding crash of gunfire echo across the warehouse. I was sprinting as fast as I could back to the warehouse, my gun by my side, grabbing the holefilled door and tearing it off its hinges just as the car’s engine rumbled through the room.

I watched in slow motion as Ash’s straightened body crumbled to the ground. “No!” I bellowed, my roar echoing through the room as I saw her father’s head snap up. He didn’t even blink as he handed his gun back to his goon, and before I could even raise my gun, he was in the car and slamming the door shut. My brothers came up behind me, guns firing at the lesser members hanging around the sides of the warehouse, half of them having disappeared in the moments we were outside. I lifted my own weapon and fired, the recoil burning my hands as I popped off shot after shot at the black SUV as it squealed away, the bulletproof glass deflecting each bullet as I ran in their direction Lamb came up beside me, his gun aiming with that deadly precision as he aimed lower on the car, but the car made it to the open gate just as Lamb popped a tire. It swerved, slamming into the side of the wall, chewing up the metal but not stopping as the driver regained control and the car spun out of sight. I reached Ash in what must have been a few seconds but felt like so much longer. I dropped down to my knees, seeing her shirt soaked in blood as her chest was spilling it. Her eyes were already closed, her chest still, and her face slack as she lay in a pool of her own blood. The red was so stark

against her pale skin that I hesitated to look down at her, stunned. Lamb, beside me, wasn’t so shocked as he grabbed her shirt with both hands and tore it straight down the middle. The thick blood clung to the material, and just for a few seconds, we had a clear view of the six bullet wounds riddled across her chest before blood oozed up out of them and covered her skin. Lamb slung his cut aside, the leather smacking against the concrete floor as the gunfire silenced around us. The other brothers rushed over just as Lamb pressed his shirt to the wounds, soaking up the blood before dropping his head to her chest, the side of his face being coated in a sheen of red. The only sound was the cold wind cutting through the holes in the metal walls as we all waited in a never-ending moment for Lamb to open his mouth. I prayed, for the second time in the last decade, that we got here in time. That we had a chance. I wasn’t that lucky. Lamb lifted his head and said the two words I knew would bring everything crashing down around me. “She’s dead.”

Chapter Thirty

ANNA

D

ead. The foreign man hit the ground, my skin and hair getting covered in the splatter of blood and other juices as his head shot back, a bullet hole perfectly between the eyes, Jax’s gun raised just over my shoulder. As his body hit the floor, there was a brief moment of silence that took over everything. Then, all hell broke loose. Black Angels appeared from hiding spots all over, firing off round after round as the girls screamed and leaped for cover. Jax swore violently beside me, leaping out into the fray as Mint and Pretty jumped up from the ground, pulling out guns hidden under the floorboards and under the table and firing off round after round at each unfamiliar face turning on us.

Mallory screamed, and I lunged for her, my body covering hers as we rolled behind one of the couches, my gun clattering on the wood as it slipped from my grasp. Her chest heaved over and over as she floundered beneath my body. I pinned her to the floor, my hand fumbling for the gun as it slipped on my blood-soaked skin. “Fuck!” I hissed as Mallory’s nail dug into my skin in fear as I helped pushed her up against one of the back of the couches, a bullet bouncing off close to my head. Mallory’s eyes went wide, and I could only think of the memories this was bringing back for her, but I couldn’t attend to my own psychological state, never mind hers, as all I could think about was survival. I peered over the edge of the couch, hoping to spot a second redhead, but ducked straight back down as cotton burst from the cushion, the bullet almost breaking through the interior wooden frame, the sound ringing in my ears. What I had seen was a girl lying on the floor, and I immediately recognized her as Sweets. I didn’t waste a second look to confirm that she was dead. There was no need to with her brains splattered across the floor. “Fuck!” I heard Jax yell from behind the table he had tipped onto its side as he bashed his gun into the wooden floorboards.

“Jax!” I yelled, catching his eye as he turned, and I slid my gun across the floor toward him. He gave me a grateful nod, discarding his own jammed gun, and began firing off shots into the other side of the room, followed by the sounds of bodies dropping down on the floor. Their side held the doorway. I counted women hidden and tucked away. I could see Baby next to Pretty, her body covering Georgia and Ember as they both shook with silent tears, their hands covering their ears, flinching with each gunshot. Baby remained impassive as she leaned out and around the tipped-over pool table, clocking where enemies lay, so Pretty could get them without wasting the bullets. I thanked God the clubhouse was practically empty. After the brothers had headed out to make the deal, anybody not club had left straight away, leaving only the club girls and the old ladies. I tried to reach for my knife in my boot, but from my awkward position on top of Mallory, my arms bracketing her in as I kept her close against the back of the couch where I knew a thick wooden panel was hidden inside, I couldn’t reach it. “Mallory,” I said, trying to rouse her brown eyes pinned straight ahead, in this case, at my chest as she fell into her shell-shocked world. “Fuck!” I kept my arm compact, but with all the force I could muster, I slapped her hard across the face.

She let out a yelp, distracting Jax for a second before he turned back to the bullets flying his way. But my hit did the trick as Mallory’s brown eyes leaped up to mine. “Mallory,” I said, fighting to keep my voice steady and calm, but the second I heard the creak of the floorboard so close it overrode the sound of the gunfire going off all around me, urgency overtook everything. “Knife. Boot. Now!” I screeched, and Mallory lunged for my boot, her finger hooking into the side of it and pulling. I heard it clatter against the floor just as I saw the pair of dark eyes leap from the side of the couch. Mallory let out a screech as a gun pointed at her head, but I was faster. I leaped low against his side, my compact force sending the man stumbling away from us, the gun going off into the ceiling, and both our bodies colliding with the wall. I grunted in pain, my hand and leg bursting with a excrusiating heat as my adrenaline couldn’t beat it down any longer. The man beside me didn’t stay down for long, however, as his hands wrapped around my shoulders and he rolled as he shoved me beneath him. His hands went around my small throat, their huge, meaty paws closing tight around my esophagus, stopping oxygen from reaching my head.

Dark stars rippled at the corners of my vision as I reached with my nails to gouge the man’s eyes out, but my arms couldn’t reach, and the panic set in as my sight got darker and darker and the floor rocked beneath me. I patted my hand around for my knife, but fuck, it might as well not have fucking existed, because I couldn’t find it. My limbs grew heavier and heavier, my movements weaker and weaker. It was only in the last few seconds that I felt the cool touch of metal, and for the life of me, I didn’t know how I moved. How I managed to lift my arm from the ground. How I managed to find the strength to swing it forward. I breathed first and foremost before I felt the hot wash of thick blood pour over my chest and stomach as I saw the deep gouge sliced across the man’s jugular. Pints and pints of the stuff washed over my rippling chest as I struggled to take in oxygen without drowning in the man’s blood. My eyes closed on instinct, burning as the liquid splashed into them, as the body collapsed down in a heap on top of me, his huge weight crushing my small body. “Anna!” Mallory yelled, her eyes desperately searching for life as she lay crouched on her hands and knees, ready to lunge forward. I realized she had been the one to throw me the knife as a streak from the already red-stained blade left a trail from

her to me where it had skidded across the floor. I went to open my mouth, to tell her I was fine, but it was at that point that I realized that she hadn’t been calling me in concern. She had been calling me in fear. I only had seconds to see the metal barrel pointed at my face. No. The man opened his mouth to speak, but blood spewed out as his gun dropped from his hands and the man followed after it into a dead pile of the floor. I looked up, and for a second, my mind screamed Devil. “Hey, spunky.” Charon’s eye crinkled as he looked down at me, savoring the way I was being slowly crushed to death by a corpse with my knife in its throat as gunfire rained down around him. “Red looks good on you.” “Charon?” I choked, unable to comprehend the molten gold eyes staring back at me with amusement. “Am I dead?” Charon laughed before finally reaching to grab the dead Black Jack by the shoulder and roll him off me. The relief of his weight from off my chest sent my head spiraling as my body jolted upward, my stomach heaving across the floor, vomit mixing with the blood into a new vile combination as I was reminded of the reason my stomach was so upset in

the first place. That’s when the adrenaline faded away and panic and clarity sank in. “Doctor,” I gasped, fighting my need to dry heave again as I heard the gunfire silencing around me. My hand pressed against my stomach as it throbbed painfully, my body wanting to double over as my head swam. I became aware of Jax rushing to my side from the other side of the room. “I need a doctor! Now!” I repeated, trying to stagger to my feet before dropping back down to my knees. Charon reached for me, but Jax growled when he got even a step closer. He scooped me up, wincing at my yelp of pain from my bruised fucking everything. I waited for his warmth to cocoon me, but it never did. A freezing cold ate away at my skin as I knew I was going into a form of shock or panic attack. Jax squeezed his arms ever so slightly tighter around me in an attempt to fight the shivers wracking my body. “Jax,” I rasped, my teeth chattering as he began moving across the compound, his feet following Charon’s dark figure as it leaped over bodies littering the floor. “Don’t worry, Anna,” Jax whispered. “You’re going to be fine, darlin’.” I hoped that was true.

Chapter Thirty-One

WOLF

A

mistake. It was the one thing as a president I could not afford to make. Not when making one could cost lives. I wasn’t God; I shouldn’t get to decide who dies and who lives, but as I pulled onto the compound, brothers behind me, the ambient noise like a blurred, static fog surrounding me, I realized that playing God was exactly what I had done. I had chosen who lived and who died. I had played with people’s lives in my hands and decided that the one would outweigh the others. And then, just as I had made the deal, I had gotten greedy and decided to go for them all. To save them all. And this was the outcome. “Brother.” A hand touched my shoulder, and the static around me snapped like an elastic band, throwing me back into the real world, startling me

as I turned on the person, realizing I had long since parked in the compound. It took me a second to recognize the messy black hair, tattooed skin, and dark eyes through the red drenching his clothes, skin, and hair. “Jax?” My heart sank in my chest, looking to his body covered head to toe in splatters of blood and dirt. “Wha—” “It’s the club. It was attacked.” No. “No,” I breathed, launching up and off my bike as I whirled toward the clubhouse, now noticing where the door was hanging off its hinges. All my other brothers had spun around to me, eyes wide as they locked at Jax. No. No. No. “What do you mean, it was attacked?” Polo roared, stepping forward to grab Jax’s arm off me and drag him toward him. “I mean it was fucking attacked! Those Black Jack bastards double-crossed us!” Jax yelled, breaking Polo’s hold on him as he shoved him away. “You were supposed to be bloody looking after it!” Polo lunged forward, but before he could connect, Lamb stepped between them, Jasper grabbing a hold of Polo.

“I did fucking look after it!” Jax bellowed, and Lamb stepped forward to hold him back. “We protected them as best as we could, but they outnumbered us! It was a fucking bloodbath.” I heard Polo continue to snap back at Jax, but I wasn’t listening. My boots were moving, propelling me forward through the air as dense as water as I headed toward the open door. I could see the bullet holes next to the hinges on the door, the black stains from explosives, and the splatters of blood along the side and floor before I even made it inside. “Anna!” I yelled, my voice a sonic boom as I burst through the broken club doors. I found my rampage stuttered as I was forced to face the clubroom. Everything wasn’t anywhere near broken; the entire room had been fucking obliterated. Holes filled the walls from floor to ceiling so much so I could hardly believe they were still standing. The pool table had a hundred pockets too many. Couches torn into like a rabid pack of dogs had mistaken it for prey. The wooden floors were in pieces as entire planks of floorboards had been ripped up and splintered into a thousand tiny pieces. The bar couldn’t even be called a bar anymore; every single bottle of alcohol was broken, spilling across the shelves, floor, and walls. “Wolf.” Jax’s voice caught me off guard, and I turned, spinning toward where my brother stood,

red dripping through a hole in his shirt, now noticing the deep wound as his form cut through the afternoon, light sinking in through the doorway. He moved toward me, slightly out of breath as he fought the anemia from his wound exaggerated by his quick sprint after me, but he didn’t make it as a hand clamped down on his good shoulder and spun him around. “Mallory?” Hunter’s hoarse voice cut faster than mine as his chest panted in heavy, panicked breaths, eyes wide and dilated as they hung on Jax’s every movement. “She’s fine, brother,” Jax said, gripping his best friend tightly on the arm as he reassured him. “Few bruises, but she’s good. She’s with Charon’s doctor guy. The first room in the back with Anna.” With Anna. His slight comment made me almost buckle with relief as the warm heat burst through the apathetic cold that I hadn’t realized had completely taken me over since the second I saw Jax. “Jax.” Ripper stepped ahead of me, grabbing Jax by the shoulder opposite his wound so he could examine the hole. “You all right, man?” “It’s fine. It was through and through,” he said, pushing Hunter aside, not breaking eye contact with me for a second. I couldn’t help the churning feeling in my stomach. The longer his dark eyes searched my

face, the longer his mouth opened and shut for words, the longer his body stood rigid as he looked at me. “Listen, about Anna—” “Jax!” Anna’s voice cracked like a whip across the room. I spun, turning to see a figure of red as Anna was dripping head to toe in blood, staining her skin, clothes, and hair a thick, ruby red. I was brought back to the night she was stabbed, and my heart nearly stopped beating in my chest as the sheer volume of blood covering her told me it couldn’t possibly be all hers. Her blue eyes cutting starkly through the smudge color on her skin made me immediately on edge. Her red boots clicked slowly, one by one across the floor. Pools of blood on the floor and a few stains were the only things left to suggest any bodies once lay there. She didn’t bother to move her hair as the strands weighted in the dry blood fell in front of her face and eyes as she stared at each one of the brothers behind me, one by one, counting the numbers. I saw the moment she knew the numbers didn’t add up, because whatever little spark in her eyes that was left shut down, and I saw the steel walls I had just managed to knock down go slamming back up. My heart dropped, punctuated by each of Kay’s

words as they replayed in my head. It makes it difficult for her to open her heart, and she’s opened it up to you. Don’t abuse that, Wolf, because you won’t get a second chance. You won’t get a second chance. It was like watching my nightmare come true, a flood of fear and panic taking over my chest as I realized the horrible, horrible mistake I had made. “Anna—what are you doing?” I breathed, my voice sounding hollow in comparison to her next words. “Hunter told me everything.” Her voice was quiet but firm. I watched as she slowly slid down the cuffs of her property jacket, pressing her shoulders back as she slipped the material off them, down her arms, and into her reddened hands. “Anna,” I pleaded as she held it out in her hands. She turned to Jax, holding open her hand, and at first, he was confused, but as she gestured to the gun I recognized as Jax’s on the floor beside him, he reached down, wincing as he went to move his primary shoulder before changing arms as he picked up the weapon, frowned, and handed it to her. “It’s jam—” With one, long strike, she slammed the gun down against the edge of the table. The noise rang

through the room as the bullet stuck in the chamber was dislodged and fell out the barrel of the gun, clinking as the crumpled shell bounced on the damaged wood and rolled before dropping through a hole in the floor. Jax looked at Anna and me as fear dawned on his face. Anna lifted both her arms, her cut in one and the gun in the other, the barrel pointed straight at me. “Anna,” I pleaded. “Jax!” I snapped the second I saw his body move to step into the way. “Don’t.” Jax looked conflicted as he and the rest of the brothers looked between Anna and me. Anna dropped the cut on the floor. She clicked back the hammer. And then she fired. Bang. Bang. Bang. Continuously without stopping, bullet after bullet tore into the leather, ripping hole after hole in the jacket over and over and over again. I felt each one in the depth of my chest as I watched in sick, dead silence. When the click of the empty magazine put an end to her firing, the room was completely silent. Not even the creak of the broken door could be heard as a small line of smoke from the barrel of

the gun drifted into the air. Anna dropped the gun into the shredded leather, and it clattered to the floor. She turned and looked to me. And that was the final blow. Because the fire in her eyes, the spark of desire, rebellion, and affection she always showed was gone. Her eyes were empty as she looked at me. Emotionless. She was done. And then she walked past me in silence, heading to the door, and walked straight out of my life. For good.

Chapter Thirty-Two

ANNA

I

shivered as the chilled wind hit my bare arms, my stomach, for once, not jerking in surprise at anything that had caught me off guard, however slight, as it had been doing for the last two weeks. I clutched the small bag of vitamins and even smaller envelope to my chest, tucking my arms close as I made my way across the lot and toward my little red Beetle, regretting that I hadn’t brought a jacket the entire time. When I spotted my car, I breathed a sigh of relief and tugged my purse in front of me as I dug through it for my keys. “Anna.” The voice next to me made me startle, causing me to drop my keys, bag, and envelope across the tarmac as Jax threw his hands up in front of him in surrender. “Jax?” I gasped, my hand over my heart as I

tried to breathe through the sudden wave of nausea Jax had incurred. I placed my hand against the car, breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth. “You bastard,” I hissed as the feeling subsided. “You almost made me throw up all over you.” Jax let out a soft chuckle as he dropped down to his haunches, picking up my stuff before handing it to me. “You heading home?” “No,” I said softly, “just putting some stuff in my car.” He nodded, stepping aside as I navigated around him to my door, throwing the envelope and bag on the side before pulling out the jacket I had in the back and shutting the door behind me. We didn’t say anything as I locked my car and began to walk to the other department of the hospital, away from the gynecologist department toward the main hospital, Jax falling into step next to me. He waited until we were inside, away from the bitter cold, when we were heading down the heated hallways towards Petersburg ward before he broached the subject he was here for. “Wolf wants to see you.” I didn’t reply. “Anna, it’s been three weeks,” Jax pleaded, his voice becoming desperate. “You need to let him explain.” “Explain what?” I replied, my voice apathetic

as I forced my eyes to the door at the very end of the long corridor, picking out sounds of trollies wheeling by, nurses gossiping, and pagers going off all around me. “About what happened with Ash,” Jax said softly, stepping ahead of me as he tried to meet my eyes. We passed the canteen, and I turned away from his face to see someone filling up his coffee, the dull tone of the machine I was familiar with pouring lukewarm, watery coffee into a crappy Styrofoam cup. I wanted to warn him that the cup would burn his hands if he didn’t wrap a napkin around it first, but I just kept walking, not caring when I heard the man’s startled gasp, followed by the cup hitting the floor, coffee splashing everywhere as we left the waiting room behind us. “What’s there to explain?” I asked, counting down the numbers as one by one they dwindled down until room 81-B was before us. “He made his choice.” Jax hesitated as I reached for the door handle and swung open the door. He held off following me in, pausing as I slid off my jacket and laid it out on the soft, cotton chair that had been placed by the side of the bed. I reached up and checked all the numbers on the machine, not understanding any of what they meant but still being able to tell that none of them had

changed. Which meant nothing had happened in the hour or so I’d been gone on the other side of the hospital. When I finally heard the boots enter the room behind me, I turned and saw Jax, his big, tanned and tattooed body dressed in only a tight white shirt, jeans, and boots, hovering in the doorway. “You can come in,” I said, lowering myself into the chair next to the bed. “It’s not like she’s going to bite you.” Jax frowned at me, his eyes full of sympathy as he forced his eyes up from the white floors until they hit the bed. I watched as they moved slowly up over the blue blanket over the end of the bed, up higher until he could see her hands by her side, machines attached to her fingers and an IV in her arm, and then higher and higher until he could see her peaceful, sleeping face, brown hair fanned out over her pillow, eyes closed and skin pale. He could barely hold them there for thirty seconds before his eyes fell back down to the floor in shame. “It’s not your fault, Jax,” I said softly, gesturing to one of the standard hospital chairs next to me. Jax looked up, his eyes flicking to Ash before they jumped back to me. “I should have stopped him before he went through with any of it. We should have. We’re all at fault.” “You’re right,” I said, reaching out my hand to

touch his. “But my deal was between me and Wolf only.” “Ha,” Jax scoffed, turning over my tiny hand compared to his large, calloused one, and started to play with my small fingers, his eyes heavy on my hands. “You make me feel like my parents are getting a divorce.” “I wouldn’t give birth to such a big baby.” I chuckled, squeezing his hand. It didn’t do anything to improve his mood, but when he squeezed my hand back, I felt a little reassured myself. We were quiet for a few moments, the sound of beeping and distant noise beyond the door filling the room; the clatter of dropped clipboards, opened and closed doors, and crying family and friends of patients. “Was the envelope...?” Jax left the question hanging, and I had to think what he was referring to until I remembered what it was he had seen me putting into the car. He’d had his suspicions that morning a few weeks ago, and after everything went down, I had no choice but to confide in Jax. “Yeah,” I said softly, thinking about the heavy weight of the photographs in my hands when the nurse had passed them to me. Putting them in my car had put them out of mind until now. Jax nodded again, creating yet another wall of silence. I watched him as he sat there, his eyes boring into the floor. He frowned, his mouth

opened and then closed as he tried to broach the subject. I waited, letting him take his time to word it before he picked up the courage to ask me. “Are you going to tell him?” Jax’s soft, southern voice finally asked me. I was glad it filled the room. The emptiness was almost overbearing when I was on my own, but with the concern across his face, I couldn’t take much pleasure in it. “You make it sound like I wouldn’t tell him at all.” I sounded lighthearted, triggering the frown on Jax’s beautifully sharp face to deepen. “I’ll tell him,” I answered, looking away from the brown eyes that saw too much as his attention clung to my every word. I had been kidding earlier, but Jax really did look like the lost child caught up in a parents’ fight. Jax and the rest of the brothers were dear to me, and I knew they cared about me, too. Half of them had respected my distance, while the other half that had the courage to come see me, all looked at me with the slight unease that their stubborn faces tried, and failed, to hide. I knew what caused their unease, nearly all of them a witness to the last time I saw Wolf, ending with my “Property of” cut, and our relationship, torn to shreds on the floor. I knew I had to meet him, to talk about everything, but when Hunter had rushed in to see Mallory and only moments later told me about what had happened, I just felt as if

the ice under my feet had broken, and under the water I fell. Everything felt surreal. Even looking at Ash now, the wires and tubes. I never thought I’d be able to be in a room with her and not be annoyed at her little remarks or quotes. Not yell at her or want to smack her for winding me up for fun. I had come so close to not being able to be near her at all, not after her heart had stopped from the shock of being shot. I had barely managed to thank Lamb after the doctor’s told me he was responsible for restarting her heart. I let out a heavy sigh. After everything with Ash, mine and Wolf’s issues were just too raw for me to deal with right now. I had too many things weighing on my shoulders, and facing Wolf was just not in my cards. “I feel bad hiding it,” Jax confessed softly, his eyes gazing down at our hands. He looked like he was confused that he was still holding it, but his hand didn’t move away. “You should come back and tell him.” And that was the epitome of their unease. They all looked at me, not wondering when, but wondering if I would come back to the club. I had come back to the club only for the small service we held for Sweets; she didn’t have family beyond the club, and even if she was one of the club whores,

she was still a person, so when Baby asked me to attend, I couldn’t say no. I liked Sweets, even if I didn’t go out of my way to know her, and losing her had been hard on the club, knowing we couldn’t protect her. But aside from paying my dues to Sweets, I hadn’t stepped back onto compound grounds since. If you asked me if heartbreak would keep me from coming to the club a few years ago, I would have told you that I wasn’t that weak. But I guess I was more fragile than I thought. “Not yet,” I said softly, feeling Jax’s hand flinch around mine. Every time I met with one of the brothers, and every time I didn’t address the silent question of my return, they all held the same, guarded, and secretly hurt expression. It was one of those times in your life when you realized how much you’re treasured. And it was sweet, it really was. But despite how much I loved the club, I just... I couldn’t. Not yet. Jax nodded, and that was the end of our conversation. We sat for a few more minutes in the comfort of each other’s company before a nurse came to tell me what I knew already. Her condition hadn’t changed. That she was recovering nicely. That they didn’t know when she would wake up. That being in a coma was normal. And every time I looked at them, listening to their words, it only reminded me that all nurses and doctors lied to make people feel better.

It didn’t make me feel better.

I

t was only a few more days before I saw Jax again, but this time he didn’t

come alone. “Anna!” Jax yelled as the door bounced off the wall, his dark hair in a tangled mess in front of his face, eyes wide and chest heaving as he struggled for breath. “I didn’t tell him on purpose, I swear! I—” That was all Jax got out before a huge hand tore him out of the doorway with enough force to send him staggering backward, ass slamming onto the floor and head cracking against the opposite wall. “Jax” I yelled but barely made it a step forward before a huge, thick wall filled the doorway. My head snapped upward, eyes meeting Wolf’s eyes, and as much as I wanted to scream at him for what he just did, I couldn’t. Not when I saw his face. It wasn’t angry. It wasn’t confused. It was... devastated. “Wo—” “Is it true?” Wolf choked, his voice a deep baritone of grief, upset and everything else, the noise strangled as it came out of his tight throat that

was bobbing over and over again as he tried to swallow down the emotion I knew was rising in my own voice. “I—” I took a deep, shaky breath. “Yes.” Wolf’s arm shot out to the doorframe, supporting his body as he practically keeled over. On instinct, I reached out to touch him as he sank lower, but the second my skin touched his, he leaped back from me as if I had stung him. His face whirled on mine, the color drained from it, eyes ringed in white, head shaking. For the first time, I noticed the dark circle under his eyes and the slight hollow of his cheeks. His beard, the one that had been steadily growing on his face the last few months, had become a wiry mess, his hair the same as it hung low down at his jaw, strands falling over his hollowed cheeks. He looked... older. So much older in only a few weeks since I’d last seen him. “Why didn’t you tell me?” his cracked voice growled, the hoarseness of it beyond that of his declined health. His eyes were pointed at mine, but I could see his gaze going way beyond me. “Why didn’t you tell me you were pregnant!” he roared, the anger seeping through. I looked at him, completely stunned, as his chest heaved with heavy breathing, eyes wild with rage as they glared down at me. “How dare you?” I snapped, a deep, thick burn

growing in the depths of my chest and slowly rising. “Why didn’t I tell you?” I retorted, my eyebrows rising to my hairline. “How could I?” “It’s not fucking hard, Anna!” Wolf snapped, stepping into the room, forcing me back a step. “It’s two fucking words. If you even had the fucking decency to come look at my face these past few weeks—” “And whose fault is that?” I screeched, my hands moving to shove him, his huge chest not even budging an inch. I raised my fist again, furious at the bastard for even suggesting this was anywhere near my fault, but I barely had an inch to move before his hand lunged out, circling my wrist as his body charged forward, shoving me hard enough into the wall that a startled breath was forced out of my lungs. “Wolf!” Jax yelled from behind him, but Wolf wasn’t listening. “I had a fucking choice to make, Anna!” Wolf yelled into my face, the whiskey heavy on his breath. “Why can’t you understand that I never wanted any of this to happen!” “Because my best friend is in a fucking coma she might never wake up from!”” I screeched. The words were torn from my throat, the sting and burn making it hard to breathe as I tried and struggled to break free. “You sacrificed her! You nearly killed her!”

“I tried to go back and save her! I fucking tried, but it wasn’t enough!” Wolf swung his arm back, and I couldn’t help but flinch as he swung. Jax’s voice and screams echoed behind it as I heard the rippling crunch as bone shattered against the wall. Wolf didn’t even utter a grunt of pain as he hung his head low, dropping it onto my shoulder, hot breath rolling over my ice-cold skin. “I tried for you, Anna. I made a mistake, and Ash got hurt because of it. And I was stupid and thought I’d be okay with it. But I wasn’t.” He took a soft, shaky breath. “I wasn’t because I knew I couldn’t bear losing you. And now you’re—” His breath shook over the word, unable to say it. “Please, Anna. Don’t push me away.” My eyes burned with unshed tears, my whole body still with the weight of his words, of his emotion crashing down on top of me. My stomach churned, wanting to throw up everywhere, but my throat was so dry I wasn’t sure if it could even function enough to do it. I saw Jax’s eyes over Wolf’s wide shoulder, like tiny little dots. His hands were out, body crouched slightly, ready to pounce, though I could see in his pained, confused eyes, we both knew he couldn’t stop Wolf on his own. But then I was no longer looking at Jax. I was looking past him, looking to the bed where a girl lay in a sleep she might never wake up from as Wolf’s words repeated in my head.

“Tell me you won’t ever choose the club over our child,” I breathed. Wolf’s head snapped back, his eyes jumping to mine, wild with shock and surprise. When he opened his mouth, I could see in his face that he was ready to answer in a heartbeat. But then I heard the hitch of his breath, the pause. He hesitated. “I won’t—” “Stop,” I gasped, the strength in my legs collapsing beneath me as my world fell down on top of me. Wolf’s eyes went wide as he reached to catch me. “Don’t fucking touch me!” I screamed, startling not just him but everybody in the room as they all flinched to a stop. Wolf’s eyes went wide, and I saw the slack of his jaw and the shiver of his chest as he looked at me with realization, and only second later, panic took over. His pupils dilated, breath hitching as his voice tightened in desperation, arms flinching as he went to reach for me but forced himself to stop. “Anna,” he pleaded, but he could see it in my face. He knew. “Get out,” I breathed, trying to remember how to breathe as I tried to recover from the blow of the realization Wolf had just delivered me. “Get out!!” I screeched, seeing him still standing over me.

“No, Anna.” Wolf shook his head. “I can’t lose you! Don’t do this.” I shook my head, then turned to look at him. I didn’t know what I had wanted to do with Wolf, what I wanted to tell him or talk to him about. But just then I realized what I wanted. I had wanted Wolf. I had wanted to have a family with him and go back to the club with him so we could raise our child together. I had wanted him to tell me our child would be above everything. I wanted to go back to him. But I couldn’t. “You just lost me, Wolf,” I said. I stared at the ragged, hurting man in front of me, and somehow, I fought the need to rush to him and tell him I was okay with his priorities. Circumstances were different now. My hand reached out, and like a protective cover, it circled my stomach. “I will not make the same mistake as Kay, Wolf,” I said, shaking my head at him but forcing my voice to be firm. “I will not let my baby come second, Wolf. Not to the club. Not to you. Not to anything. It deserves more.” I saw the moment Kay’s words hit. His body staggered back, breath stopping, expression appearing as if I had struck him with a sledgehammer. He turned and reached for something, and as his huge hand gripped the plastic handles of the bed, the file hooked on the bed fell

to the floor. It’s clattering against the tile floor jolted Wolf to the side as he spun to face the noise and stalled. He looked down onto Ash’s bed as if he had just realized she was there. And I knew that was the final blow, because he couldn’t stand in the room a second longer. His body spun, and not even looking at me as he turned, he shoved past Jax as he fled out of the room, the huge seven-foot Russian man running as hard and fast as he could. Finally knowing what his mistake had cost him. I didn’t even remember what happened after that. I was vaguely aware of my body falling into a pile on the floor, Jax dropping down to my side as he wrapped his arms around me, apologizing over and over again, but I wasn’t listening. All I could feel was the soft throbbing in my stomach, and despite knowing that it was the need to throw up and not the baby’s heartbeat, just the feel of it anchored me to the floor, the weight of this responsibility on my shoulders as I just threw away everything I’d ever wanted. For a child, sacrificing everything for its sake seemed like it would be the easiest decision in the world. The simplest. And when I learned the truth, it was easy. It was simple. To know that my baby had to come first was the easiest decision in the whole world. But having to give up what was necessary to

protect it was also the most painful.

I

heard a familiar gasp as I passed the waiting lounge of the Petersburg ward, almost ignoring it since it was a sound I heard nearly every time I passed, until it was followed by a string of even more familiarly colorful words. My feet stopped on the tile, my process of counting down the room numbers jolted as I spun on my sandals, head snapping to the watery coffee machine as I saw the familiar, tall, broad shoulders, and curled dark hair. “Hunter?” He spun around, spilling coffee all over his hand and gasping in shock as his unique green eyes snapped to me. It only lasted a second before his hand dropped his coffee, the cup falling to the floor, and Hunter’s swearing started again as his attention was torn in two. He looked to the coffee and then back up to me, but I was already moving. “Lamb!” I heard Hunter bellow as I raced down the corridor, ignoring all the numbers until all I could see was the window at the end and the open door next to it. Lamb stepped out the doorway just as I

approached, light breaking around his tight, slender figure as he opened his arms to catch me. What he hadn’t expected, however, was the bottom of my heeled sandal in his thigh, knocking him sideways, and more importantly, out of my way as I rushed around his falling figure. I heard his hand catch the doorway, stopping his fall, but by that point, it was too late to stop me. My sandals slapping against the floor of the dark room had heads turning toward me, but their attention only lasted a second, when Ash ignored my entrance and turned back to the hulking man at the end of her bed. “Thank you,” Ash said softly, and when I turned to look at her, brown hair tied up in a bun on the top of her head, eyes shallow, and skin pale from lack of sunlight from her hospital room—the windows shuttered close since her sunglasses had broken, not to mention the three weeks spent in a coma—I saw her looking down into her hands, a gentle smile on her face. “It’s fine.” Wolf’s deep grumble came from the other end of the bed. My head almost snapped off my shoulders as I spun to look at him. Wolf didn’t look much healthier from when I had last seen him; his eyes and cheeks were still hollowed and dark, but the wiry, wild hair growing on his chin had been cut and tamed into a smooth, dark brown beard around his face, and his long hair had been tied at

the back of his head in a low ponytail. His clothes also looked new and clean, and his shoulders were straighter. He looked... fresh somehow? Wolf then turned to look at me, and through my momentary stupor at his looks, I recalled the last time I’d seen him, the last time in this room. He opened his mouth, his dark eyes looking down at me as a tendril of hair slipped loose across his eyes, and I felt as if I was dangling over a cliff, waiting for his next word, whether it would push me into a rage or silence, I didn’t know. His mouth snapped shut. He shook his head at himself, took a deep breath, tightening the black shirt over his chest, before he moved his eyes back to Ash. He lifted his chin in her direction before turning on his heels and walking out, Lamb falling in step behind him as they left the room. I stood watching the empty doorway before I turned back to Ash, left feeling unsatisfied at the anticlimactic interaction. “What were you expecting?” Ash chuckled from my side, drawing my attention. She lifted her hand to tighten her bun and then stretched her arms above her head before wincing and dropping them. “I think last time was a once in a millennia event. Such drama.” “Don’t be cocky,” I snapped, annoyed after finding out that people in comas were aware of what was happening around them periodically.

Apparently, Ash had been a front-seat comatose witness to mine and Wolf’s outburst last time. “What did he say to you?” Ash looked out the window, her face solemn as she stared at the empty tree where pigeons had been sitting almost every day since Ash’s admission. “That I’m dead.” Her voice was so soft, I almost missed it. “It’s a bit bizarre and cinematic for my tastes,” Ash scoffed as she looked back to me, her mouth a wiry smile. “But apparently there’s a body in the morgue with my name on it, and all my hospital bills were paid under a false name, so in essence, I’m dead.” “Wolf did that?” I said softly, my eyebrows furrowing as I tried to think of how on earth Wolf would have gotten his hands on pseudo-Ash’s body, only one name coming to mind. “Yeah, I’m free now.” A long hand reached up and grasped the earring bejeweling her ear. “No longer a caged bird. I—why are you being so quiet?” My eyes bore into the tiled floor, and all I could do was feel a swelling emotion inside of me. My mind was working faster than I could comprehend, my body receiving the message before my conscious thoughts as my feet turned toward the door. “I’ve got to go.” “What?” And then I ran.

“Anna!” Ash’s voice echoed from the room miles behind me as my feet slapped against the hospital floor, shoving the blurry figures of doctors, nurses, hell, even patients aside as I rushed faster and faster across the floor, running past reception, barely stopping for the automatic doors as I slipped through the slight gap as they closed behind an entering patient, and burst out into the cold, chilling air. My eyes jerked to the left and then to the right as I spun, looking around the parking lot and— “Anna?” I spun to see Wolf’s wide, dark eyes looking down at me as I heaved for breath, the limits of my fitness now hitting me as I leaned over and breathed through the roll in my stomach, unsure if it was because of my unfit body or the baby. I heard Wolf’s feet move forward, boots coming into my vision but stopping just out of reach. “Why did you do it?” I breathed, standing up and straightening my spine as the need to throw up settled. Wolf didn’t seem to be paying much attention to my words as his eyes raked over my body, looking for something to focus on or panic over, only rising to my face when he saw that my only danger was sweat circles under the sleeves of my tight gray T-shirt. “Why did I do what?” Wolf replied, his face

visibly relieved as his eyes softened on me, his voice unusually gentle. “You’ve made a deal with Charon for Ash’s freedom, haven’t you?” I knew it the second Ash told me she was free. Our club didn’t have that kind of reach, and there was only one other man I knew that did. And I knew he wouldn’t do it for free. “Why?” I saw the back of Lamb and Hunter’s heads as they walked across the carpark to the black SUV I recognized as Hunter’s new one parked at the closest edge of the short-term stay car lot. Wolf didn’t pay them any attention as his eyes focused back on me and slightly narrowed before a deep sigh rumbled out of his chest, his eyes releasing me and drifting to look across the tall hospital building. “‘Mistakes are forgivable if one has the courage to admit them,’” Wolf said, and my loud groan followed it. “Ash,” I whispered, seeing as though she was the only self-proclaimed ambiguous advice guru any of us knew. Hopefully. “I think she meant it as advice for fixing my relationship with you,” Wolf admitted, his hand reaching up to scratch the back of his neck as his eyes cruised over the top of my head. “You did it for me?” It wasn’t hard to hear the warning irritation in my tone as my eyebrows rose so high they nearly touched my hairline, while my

voice dropped low enough to rumble deep in my chest. “No.” Suddenly, his eyes dropped to meet mine and held them as he continued. “I did it for Ash. I know she meant it as advice for you, but I also made a mistake with her. As for everything I did to her... this is the least I could do.” “But making a deal with Charon?” I shook my head. “The club—” “It doesn’t matter about the club,” Wolf interrupted me, his eyes dropping from mine at last. “I know it’s a bit late to be saying this now, but you were right. What’s the point in ‘club before all’ if the club isn’t happy? It took me fucking up big time before I realized it, but now that I have, I won’t ignore what I’ve done. I’ll make up for it.” I looked into his face, and although he wasn’t looking at me, I could see as his hard gaze bore into the floor that he was serious about this. About everything. “What you’ve done with Ash, that doesn’t—” “That doesn’t have anything to do with us, Anna,” Wolf finished for me, his head shaking as he looked at me. “I know what I’ve done to Ash won’t make it up to you, because I haven’t even begun to make it up to you yet.” He took a step forward, and for once, the sharp smell of his aftershave and mint mixed into his own scent caught me by surprise by how new it smelled and how long it had been since

I’d last felt him this close. “But trust me on this.” Wolf’s voice dipped low, the timber forcing my silence, and somehow, drawing me closer. “I will make it up to you, Anna. I won’t let you get away that easily.” The chill hit my bones deeper than the cold wind as Wolf stepped away, my body shivering, longing more for his heat to return than for a coat as I watched him walk away, his stride wide and confident, shoulders back, chin raised. Determined.

Chapter Thirty-Three

WOLF

P

ulling up outside of Connie’s made a heavy sigh leave my lips as I dismounted my Fat Boy. The suspension creaked as it righted in absence of my weight, reminding me of all the shit I’d put it through in the recent years. The thought made me notice the wear of my tires as well, and I mentally added my bike to my growing list of things to fix. “Come on, boss,” Lamb said, noticing me frowning at the bike. “That shit can wait until later.” I nodded without a word, irritated just to be back here as Ripper and Lamb fell in line beside me. I didn’t bother bringing Jax this time, seeing as he was the only brother Anna would let close at the moment, and I wanted him near her to look after her. It wasn’t like she was being cold to the

brothers, but they had all noted her distance to the club, which put me on the receiving end of a lot of pointed looks I chose to ignore. We headed up the steps, listening to the old wood creak before the bell rang out and announced our arrival. I didn’t bother to look elsewhere as Charon sat in the far corner, coffee in his hand as he looked straight at me, a Cheshire-cat smile showing white teeth under his smug face. “Wolf,” he purred, the corners of his eyes wrinkling the dark skin as he looked as pleased to see me as a cat that ate the canary. “Charon,” I replied, not hiding any of my irritation as I dropped into the leather chair. I didn’t trust the fucker plain and simple, and I didn’t give a shit if he knew. “So, how’s the little birdy liking her newfound freedom?” Charon asked, his yellow eyes flickering across the diner, trying to disguise his glance to where Lamb and Ripper were setting up at the counter and flagging down a waitress for coffee. “She’s stuck in a hospital bed for now. There’s not much she can do,” I grumbled, thinking back to my conversation with Ash. After hearing she had woken up, I figured it was about time I explained the situation to her. Lamb had sorted it only a day or so after she had been admitted to the hospital, under a false name of course, and with a little bit of persuasion of a few

of the doctors we knew who came to our parties, he had managed to blur what her injuries were on record so the only match to the gunshot wound on her chest would be to the body that turned up in the morgue, which had been burned and buried in the nearby cemetery. “Hmph,” Charon huffed, taking a sip of his coffee. “I owe you a favor,” I growled, my tone unhelpful, but I also couldn’t help it, since the words felt bitter on my tongue. “Not just for Ash, but for intervening during the attack on the club, too.” “So, you owe me two favors?” Charon asked, almost surprised that I’d offered them separately. I hated being in debt to the bastard, but it didn’t change the fact that I was. It also didn’t change the fact that I could see that the little glint in his eye wasn’t just because he had a new toy to use as he wished, but because his plan had gone so well. When Kay, who had managed to get out of the compound and to a phone, had called him, he was way too ready for help. Apparently, him and a group of his brothers had been nearby in redwood and had managed to get on the scene to lend a hand in the fastest time on record. I wasn’t mad at Kay however, how could I be? Half my Angels had been at my side and not at my

club, and from the numbers that had charged the compound, I knew she had no choice but to ask him. I knew it was unlikely that Charon knew everything that would happen—although he was about as predictable as a coin toss—but I still couldn’t fight the feeling this was what he’d wanted all along. And I didn’t have to. “I know this is what you wanted all along, Charon,” I growled, hating the stale taste of the words on my tongue. Charon’s dark eyebrow jumped, eyes glancing at me with a heightened focus, his golden eyes fixed on my next words. “Lamb figured it out,” I said with a sense of pride in my vice president as I could see the surprise in the flinch of Charon’s eyes as he knew, from meeting Lamb once, that I wasn’t lying. “He found out about the little warning notice you got from Ash’s father. Didn’t realize you were all so chummy with each other.” Charon let out a deep, lighthearted chuckle, his eyes rolling slightly. “We’re not,” he explained. “Our world is an old one, Wolf. Tradition runs deep.” “In the world of corruption?” I scoffed. “The only world that exists,” he retorted, his hands subtly rocking his mug, the sound of the bottom rolling over the wooden table filling the air

as I downed the rest of my coffee. I didn’t bother trying to ask him his reasons; he’d probably have his fun dangling false truths in front of me, never allowing me to reach the real reason. He’d be playing his games with the club in the future, no doubt, with our alliance and two favors owed, so I didn’t bother to start chasing his tail early. I went to rise from the table but paused when Charon stopped his mug, looked up, and with the playful curl of his lips replaced on his dark-toned face said, “If you knew, why did you still make that second deal with me?” “I owed a girl an apology; you were the only way to do it.” I looked out to the door, seeing Lamb and Ripper catch my eye from their seats, stopping the waitress who had just put down their food. She spoke to Lamb for only a few seconds, blushing heavily at his smirk before picking up the plates and heading into the kitchen before returning a moment later with two to-go boxes. “Even if it costs your club?” Charon returned to me. I looked at my brothers as they headed toward the door, their backs wide and strong, the skull and black wings crested over their wide shoulders protecting them with the same force it had done for generations. “The club will survive,” I said, lifting my chest. I looked over my shoulder, glancing down at Charon, with his connections, money,

power, and will, and added, “We’re not that weak.” With that, I turned my back on the president of the Grim Reapers, the head of the most powerful MC of the west coast, on the bastard that I owed too much, but I didn’t do it with weakness. I did it with strength. I did it showing the emblem with the meaning that went beyond a simple club, beyond a simple creed and pair of wheels. I did it showing that the Black Angels were more than just a club.

I

sat in the clubroom, still pissed about Charon despite the fact it was a few days since we’d had our little meeting, when the entire room went silent. I looked up from my stool to see Lamb’s hand had stopped moving, cloth around the glass as his head was turned away from me, light brown eyes narrowed. I spun on my stool, turning away from the annoying paperwork scattered across the bar top, and I looked in the direction that had everyone’s attention. Ash stood in the doorway, hair tucked up into a bun, dressed in what I knew was one of Anna’s

large hoodies and leggings as she staggered into the doorway, out of breath. “Ash?” I heard Jax’s voice first as he rushed to the door just as Ash began to sway forward. He lunged, catching her just as I heard the glass slam down beside me and saw Lamb’s body blur past me. He followed Jax as he picked her up and placed her on one of the couches as I moved from my stool and rushed over. “What the hell are you doing out of the hospital?” I growled, shoving my way into her line of sight. Her sunglasses covered her eyes, but I could see the glare that wrinkled her face and bowed her lips into a frown. My reflection glinted off the light cutting across her glasses from the few windows that weren’t boarded up—we were still waiting for the replacement glass to be delivered. “The food sucked,” Ash groaned, dropping a slender hand over her face as she took deep breaths in. “Is it just me or is the room spinning?” “For fuck’s sake,” I growled. “Kay!” A few seconds later, Kay came thundering down the steps into the clubroom, eyes wide and panicked as she searched for the people in the room, looking for danger. “What’s going—” She didn’t get time to finish before I heard smaller feet rushing toward the stairs, but they stopped at the top, and not even a heartbeat later, I

saw Bell flying down the stairs. Mint, who happened to be standing next to the stairs, turned and with his lightning-fast reflexes, caught her before she sent both her and her mother crashing face first into the floor. Bell’s long, dark hair hung like a sheet over the both of them. Mint spluttered as he tried to get it out of his mouth, while Bell quickly jumped back out of Mint’s arms and rushed back so fast, she almost hit the stairs. “Sorry.” She blushed, her face looking down to the wooden floors, bright red. “Jesus Christ, princess,” Mint groaned, slapping his lips as his fingers grasped a ghost of a hair. “Do you really need that much hair?” “Whatever,” Bell grumbled, her shocked expression turning into an eye roll as she turned away from him and moved over to her mother, who turned and without hesitation, smacked Bell upside the head, earning a yelp. “Don’t run down the stairs,” she scolded. “You’re clumsy enough as it is.” “Mom!” Bell gasped, holding the back of her head. Well, it wasn’t like we didn’t know. Bell must have been the clumsiest person I knew, which ended up in me forbidding her hanging out with Anna—as much as I could—considering the stupid situations that my girl got herself into. I heard Ash chuckle from beside me, and both

mine and Kay’s attention spun toward her. Kay took one look at Ash before the mothering fury descended on her beautifully mature face. Her short boots stomped across the floor as Ash all but went quiet, the gray pallor of her face turning even paler when Kay reached her. Her hand went to the hem of Ash’s hoodie, and without even a breath, she tore the material up over her torso, revealing the white bandages wrapped around her stomach. “What the hell is wrong with the two of you?” Kay snapped, seeing the little blotches of red leaking out of two of the six wounds padded with extra bandages under her chest. “I had no other choice.” Ash groaned as Kay took over, commanding Jax to grab a bowl of hot water, for Bell to grab her first aid bag for suicidal idiots, and for Mint to grab a towel and a bottle of water and the purest vodka. Lamb took over getting the bottle of water and vodka, handing both to Kay as she shoved the water into Ash’s palm, telling her to drink before she passed out. “I’d prefer the other one,” Ash said, eyeing up the vodka bottle on the floor. Kay only gave her one look before Ash quickly shut up. From what I knew, the nurses wouldn’t allow strong pain medication for Ash, considering she was an alcohol addict, but had her on small volumes of alcohol so she wouldn’t go into withdrawal before her injuries had healed.

“What do you mean, you had no other choice?” I interrupted as Kay got to work unwinding the bandages carefully from around Ash’s stomach, bitching about not being able to move her to the kitchen for stitching her up until she stopped the bleeding and assessed the damage. “How else would I get her here?” “Who—” I shouldn’t have even bothered to ask as the brand-new door burst open on the other side of the room, cold wind blistering through the clubroom as the devil herself came spitting fire through the doorway. “Ash!” she roared, her eyes blindly searching the room until she spotted her friend before she managed to drop behind the back of the couch. It was like an inferno had gone off inside of her as her eyes locked onto Ash, the white burning against her furiously flushed skin, a deep, grumbling growl coming from her lips. “You’re dead.” Anna’s feet rushed her forward in a blind rage as she headed for Ash, and I barely had a second to dodge around the couch and step into her warpath. Anna didn’t even look at me as she tried to dive around me, hands lunging out to grab Ash, who let out a shriek of fear. I moved on instinct, my head ducking down, arm going around her waist as I dropped my

shoulder just underneath her waist and stood. Anna let out a scream of both fury and shock as she went up and over my shoulder, her face meeting my back as I wrapped my arm around the back of her legs. “Wo—” she started to scream, but before she could, it ended in a gag as she slapped her hand over her mouth. “Shit!” I hissed, my feet rushing as fast I could straight to my room, through the mess on the floor, and into the bathroom. I barely set her on her feet before she turned and lunged for the toilet, hurling the contents of her stomach into the bowl. I scrambled around for the glass Anna insisted on leaving next to the sink, and filled it up, waiting for her to stop before handing it to her. Anna’s small hand shook as she took the glass from me and took a small sip through deep breaths as she rinsed her mouth out, spat it into the bowl, and flushed. “Shit,” she breathed. “Don’t do that to me ever again.” I looked down at her, her blonde hair tied into a small ponytail on the top of her head, skin pale and makeup free, as she shifted to sit her back against the counter. She looked so small and tired. “Are you always like this?” “Always pissed off or always throwing up into a toilet bowl?” she joked, chuckling to herself before meeting my eyes, her baby blue ones dulled by the

lack of light in the small en suite. She sighed. “Yeah, morning sickness—which is never strictly morning, may I add—is a bitch.” I watched as her eyes moved around the bathroom, slowly tracing everything as she sat there, nursing her glass of water, her hand rested across her stomach, her thumb brushing up and down in a thoughtless, casual movement. When her eyes made their way back to me, they turned into a scowl. “Why the hell are you smiling?” “It’s just...” I sighed, my hand reaching up to scratch my neck as I leaned against the wall and let my knees bend to slide down to the floor, the cold tile against my back making me shiver. “You look beautiful like that.” “I’m as sick as a dog, and you tell me I look beautiful?” Anna scoffed, shaking her head before her eyes began their second track around the room. I saw her pause on the clothes draped on one of the towel rails, no doubt noting that the laced bra and leggings draped over them were hers from when she had put them there a few weeks ago. I didn’t acknowledge the slight tweak in her expression, remaining silent as the coolness of the tiles bled through my cut and shirt into my back, causing goose bumps to rise on my thick skin. “What are we doing?” She sighed, catching my attention as her head lolled back against the counter. “How on earth did we get here?”

I looked up, the dim lighting reminding me that I hadn’t turned on the light when we’d barged into the room. A deep orange glow sank through the little window at the top, the streak way up above us as it brushed the ceiling and painted the white tiles a bright citrus amber. In the darkness, Anna’s skin and hair might have looked darker, but her baby blue eyes were bright, almost luminescent amongst the dullness. “It’s been a hell of a year,” I admitted, thinking back to how easy life was this time last year. Hell, Hunter hadn’t even met Mallory back then, and all we’d been thinking about were the cold runs ahead of us and how on earth we were going to ride if, for once, Oregon was blessed with snow and ice. Although it ended up being a mild winter again, we had all brought out the hot Irish coffee and camped inside most of the month, enjoying company, girls, and drinking to our hearts’ contents as we waited out the winter before we started taking more runs again in the spring. And then, when spring finally came, it had brought heaven and hell with it, and everything had been a hell of a ride since. “No kidding,” Anna scoffed. “First the Hell’s Runners, then the Grim Reapers, and now the guy who controls the English government.” Anna shook her head. “We sure have a way of dropping ourselves in big piles of shit.”

“We’ll get through them,” I said, my hands reaching for my forearms, the faded ink somehow like a script of history carved into my skin, a story reminding me of how I had gotten here. “We always do.” My eyes looked up, and I saw Anna’s blue somber ones looking back at me. In my forty-five years, I had seen enough hell in my life to know when heaven was looking back at me, and even in the dark, tiny confines of the bathroom, pale and tired, I could see the brightness she cast on me. The light she represented, and one of the only symbols of hope left in my life. “I love you,” I said so casually, and so calmly, the words just slipped straight out of my mouth. Anna’s blue eyes widened, her pale brows lifting slightly as her walls went up, soft, pink lips beginning to open. “I’m not saying this because I’m trying to win you over right now,” I reassured her. “I just wanted you to know.” Her lips closed and she nodded as her eyes dropped down to the white floor, looking far beyond the porcelain tiles. We sat in there for a moment longer, and when I was sure she wasn’t going to throw up anymore, I reached for the bathroom rail and pulled myself to stand. Anna’s eyes snapped to mine, our silence disturbed as I reached my full height, the bathroom

shrinking around me as I felt the blood rush back into my legs, making them twinge with pins and needles, before I reached my hand down to a doeeyed, uncertain Anna as she looked at the big palm in front of her. “Come with me,” I said, my voice calm and relaxed as her blue eyes studied me with caution, the corners of her eyes wrinkling back at the hand. “It doesn’t bite.” “I do,” Anna quipped dryly, but nevertheless, she lifted her small hand, and her fingers wrapped around the length of my palm, allowing my rough, calloused hands to hold her small, softer ones. Her skin was cool to the touch as I pulled her to her feet, careful to keep her balanced as she righted herself in her thin sandals on the tile floor. She was quiet but watchful as she allowed me to lead her out of the bathroom and through the doorway. We passed through the hallway and entered the clubroom. Heads turned our way, but my mind was quiet as we walked through the room, paying no attention to any of them as their eyes followed us out of the door. I was careful to keep my pace slow as we walked across the parking lot, and I made sure not to pay any attention to Anna’s curious looks as we passed my bike and the cars and headed straight to the gate. Pipe, who was wrapped up in a jacket, a smoke

on his lips, gave us curious looks as we passed him, an eyebrow raised to his hat. The sound of my heavy footsteps and Anna’s softer ones following behind me continued down the street as we walked five more minutes, down past the clubhouse to the emptier part of town a few blocks over, and the longer we walked, the closer Anna’s body drew toward my heat. When we were far enough, I slowed down to a stop and turned to face her. Her cheeks were flushed red in the cold air, faint clouds of cold air coming from her lips as her blue eyes studied my face, picking apart my silence. She looked around us, the urban area surrounding us with the white picket fences, driveways, and porches with those bench swings and flower boxes. “Wolf?” Anna said, with a tone of caution. I let my gaze wander to my right, to the house with the faded blue door and rustic wooden panels covering the brick walls, shutters closed over the windows. Anna’s eyes jumped from the house to me, back and forth, quicker and quicker. “What is this?” “I value my position as president,” I said, causing Anna’s gaze to stop solely on me. Her pink lips pressed into a tight line, eyes narrowed. “I love being around the club, I love being the person to protect my brothers and to lead them when times

get tough. I love that. I would do anything for the club.” I took a step back onto the white pathway leading up to the door. Anna’s step was reluctant, but as I tugged, she followed me stiffly up the pathway and up the creaking porch steps until we stood squarely on the ragged welcome mat. The iron number 1 reflected our images in a bronze wash as we stood close enough to smell the rusted hinges next to the aged paint peeling from the door. I let go of one of her hands only for a moment as I reached into my back pocket. Her eyes followed every millimeter of movement as I pulled out the silver key and placed it into the lock. The door clicked open, and due to the house being built on the slightest of hills, the door fell open in a slow, smooth gesture as it welcomed us in. I stepped in, but Anna stopped, her body halting on the welcome mat as she looked down to the threshold of the doorway. “I can’t.” She shook her head. “Wolf, with everything you said in the hospital room before, I—” “No,” I interrupted, Anna’s face stilling for a moment before her pale blonde eyebrows rose to her roots. “No?” she repeated. “I didn’t say anything to you in the hospital room that day, Anna. You didn’t let me.” I saw

Anna’s eyes narrow on me, and her lips begin to open as she no doubt was ready to argue with me, but I stopped her. “I hesitated. For a single moment, I couldn’t answer you. That’s what happened in that hospital room, Anna.” “That’s because you couldn’t say it. You couldn’t say that you would put our baby first!” “That wasn’t what you asked me, Anna,” I growled, stepping back out of the door and into her space. “You asked me whether I would ever choose the club over our baby.” “What’s the difference?” Anna yelled, her brows weighing on her eyes as she shook her head, her face hurt, victimized as she tried to pull out of my grasp. “Let go.” “No, Anna. I won’t let go because I’m going to clear this up right now, and you’re going to listen to me once and for all.” She looked down at her hands, to where her slender wrists were held between my thumb and forefinger, and then to the steps and down the porch before giving one last pathetic tug on her wrists, knowing they wouldn’t come loose, knowing there was no running away from this one. “You asked me whether I would choose the club over our child,” I repeated, keeping my voice steady and clear as I made sure to lower my head and look straight into her blue eyes. The slight ring of yellow around the center of her pupil was clear

and on me as I said, “I wouldn’t.” “But you said—” “I said nothing, Anna,” I growled. “I said nothing because I couldn’t think. I couldn’t say it thoughtlessly, because the one thing you don’t understand, Anna, is that our child and our club are no different to me.” “What?” she said, completely stunned as she looked back at me, her head softly shaking as she took another step away from me, tugging on her hands. “It’s ‘club before all,’ Anna. It always has been and it always will be.” “Then our child—” “Is club,” I finished, catching her by surprise. “What?” she blurted, the confusion written into the groves of her frown as she searched the softness of my face for the reason as I gave her, with the deepest simplicity, the answer that I had come to. The answer that I knew was true. And the answer that I knew was what I truly wanted. “My club is made up of the people closest to me. The people I know who are worthy of protecting, of sacrificing everything for. The club I chose to love. And my club is my brothers and their women. My club is you and it’s me. And our club is everything in between us,” I breathed, stepping forward, so close to Anna that I could smell that sweet but spicy scent of her skin as the soft clouds

of her breath touched me. “The reason I hesitated is because our child is already club. There will never be a day that I won’t put it above all, and there will never be anything I wouldn’t do to protect it. And just like I would never sacrifice a brother, and will never sacrifice you, I will never sacrifice our child. Never.” Anna stood still, her small head only reaching the middle of my chest as she looked straight forward, her face stunned, and her mouth speechless. I saw her mind processing my words, her face flickering from one emotion to the next so fast I didn’t know what to think, until I felt the timid but gentle squeeze of her hands in mine. I took a step backward, and despite not looking at me, Anna’s small foot took that one simple step over the threshold and into the hallway. “I bought this because it’s near the club,” I explained, looking up and around the interior, knowing it was completely different to every aspect of mine and Anna’s personality; the aged wooden floors, floral patterned wallpaper, and the single old rocking chair in the corner. “But I also bought it because that meant the club was near home. When I walk onto my compound, I can be the president I want to be, but I also want to make sure that when I step through that door, that I can be the husband and the father I want to be for you and for our child.” “Husband?” Anna repeated, her head snapping

up to me, just as I felt the small smirk pulling up onto my face. “I know everything I just said to you was a lot, Anna.” I lowered my body and got down on one knee. Anna’s blue eyes went wide, and her head pulled back as I pressed her hands against my lips, the velvet softness of her skin and the spicy scent of them treasured by me as I stared back into her eyes. “But I want you to know that, although I can’t guarantee that I won’t ever make a mistake again in the future, I will never do anything to risk losing you again. I will never hurt you like I have. And I will never make you feel like you can’t be with me. There’s nobody else but you. No other bitch for me. I need you.” Anna’s white teeth raked over her pink lips as she said, emotion tangled through her voice, “You think calling me a bitch is going to make me forgive you?” She couldn’t hide the slight smile pulling at the corner of her lips, the slightly paler pink her lips went as she bit down on the inside of her cheek to stop herself from smiling wider. “Yeah, I do.” “You’re a bastard, you know that, right?” “Yeah, I know.” I couldn’t help the smile spreading across my cheeks as I took a deep breath and looked up to the girl who was at the center of everything I ever wanted, ever needed, and could never live without. “Marry me?”

“No.” I felt my heart jump with joy as she acc— Wait. “What?” I blurted, my face taking on the shock as I quickly rose back up to my feet, my eyes bearing down on Anna as she pulled her hands out of mine, letting them flop down by my side. “What do you mean, you won’t marry me?” “I mean I won’t marry you,” Anna retorted, the sarcasm thick in her voice as she propped her hands on her hips, adding an extra eye roll as she pointblank rejected me. The stunning shock felt like a blast from a shotgun as every part of my chest began to hurt, and when I turned to look at her, to open my mouth and demand why she wouldn’t be mine, she held up a finger to stop me. “I won’t marry you, Wolf,” Anna repeated, rubbing salt in the wound. But then she lowered her finger and I noted the gentleness taking over her face as she looked at me, her lips showing the genuine smile. “But I’ll forgive you,” she said. My mind began to catch up as she added, “We can start from there.” “You forgive me?” I repeated, and it was as if a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I only now realized how much I had yearned for her forgiveness, more so than her acceptance of my proposal, more so than anything, as Anna’s arms reached up to the collar of my cut, grabbing a

fistful and tugging down. “I forgive you. Now, hurry up and kiss me before I change my mind; you’re too bloody tall for me to reach,” Anna growled, tugging hard on my collar, forcing my head down and toward her face as she pushed up onto her tiptoes. “As you wish,” I growled as my arms wrapped around her back, pulling her toward me until our lips crashed against each other. The sweet taste of her mouth was like a sledgehammer to my body as all of my senses were overwhelmed with the taste of her, yet I knew it wasn’t enough. Her hands that desperately clung to my cut let go and lunged around me, gripping the back of my neck, fingers catching the short ponytail at the bottom and pulling until a growl tore through my chest, urging me harder as I took a step forward, slamming the blue door closed as I pushed her back against it. She broke the kiss, pulling me back as her blue eyes looked into mine. “Wolf...,” Anna breathed. “What?” I panted back, my voice strained with lust. “I’m going to throw up.” Anna gagged, and in a second, I had her planted on her feet; then she raced toward the open door at the end of the hallway, lunged for the toilet, and hurled into the bowl. Still the most beautiful thing I’d seen.

Chapter Thirty-Four

ANNA

“S top trying to set it on fire!” Kay snapped

from across the room as she stormed over, grabbed my hand, and snatched the lighter right out of it. “Rude,” I hissed at her. “Didn’t your mother tell you not to steal?” “My mother told me that you shouldn’t try burning wallpaper off with a lighter just because it won’t come off easy!” Kay retorted, grabbed the scraper thing I’d tossed to the other side of the room, and planted it in my hand. “That’s a rather specific thing for your mother to say to you,” Jax quipped from his end of the wall, making both me and Mallory, who had been quietly trying to remove her corner of ugly flowery wallpaper, snigger. “You,” Kay growled, waving her scraper at him, “get back to your own corner before I pinch you.”

Jax winced even without Kay touching him, quickly scurrying over to the other corner of the sitting room to have at it again. “And you,” she said, pointing back to the wallpaper behind me, “need to put a bit more elbow grease into it.” “Elbow grease?” I seethed. “This piece of shit paper is stuck to this wall tighter than hoes are to Jax!” “Hey!” Jax yelled from his corner, not daring to come any closer as he glared his pretty brown eyes in my direction. “Hoes hold me way tighter than this wallpaper!” “Shut up, Jax,” Hunter grumbled, smacking him upside the head as he made his way into the room. He had his shirt, which was supposed to be over his chest, thrown over his shoulders as sweat dripped down his skin, his dark hair slicked back by his hand, and his jeans hanging low on his waist as he gave all of us something pleasant to look at while he moved over to his wife tucked into the corner. I had to admit, one of the only benefits of this godforsaken, piece of shit house was the tall ceilings, allowing the boys, who must have all been raised on steroids, to move freely around my little white-picket fenced house without having to duck under doorways. Wolf, at his tall six foot seven, only just made it underneath, however, which was a miracle in itself.

Hunter’s arms went underneath Mallory’s as he lifted her to stand, her rounded stomach looking massive against her small but curvy figure as he helped her into the old but surprisingly comfy rocking chair in the room before handing her a bottle of water and pressing a peck against her lips. I almost awed but feared I’d throw up at how disgustingly cute they were before I felt two huge, hot and sweaty arms wrap around my own stomach. Mine wasn’t anywhere near as round as Mallory’s was becoming, but the small bump was showing at eighteen weeks and suddenly, all my favorite, tight-fitting clothes didn’t fit, forcing me to wear long, flowy tops that instead of giving me a motherly glow made me look even shorter than I already was. Not to mention, I couldn’t even wear my boots anymore, since my ankles had begun swelling early at week twelve. “You need to let me burn this place down,” I growled as I felt the brush of Wolf’s beard against my neck, the heat radiating from his body tingling against my skin as he pulled me into his also bare chest, I realized as I felt the back of my shirt dampen with sweat. Gross. “Okay,” Wolf answered, his kisses moving up the corner of my neck, underneath my hair, which was desperate for a haircut; it was tied into a ponytail on the top of my head, further making me look like some kind of troll character.

“I’m serious, Wolf. This place is going to burn.” “Uh-huh.” Wolf then grabbed me by the hips as I heard Kay bickering with Jax, and Pretty as well when he walked in a second later, looking for the two escaped men to help with fixing the roof and replacing the rotted wood in our little house that was a door slam from falling apart. What on earth let Wolf convince me selling my old place for this one would be a good idea was beyond me. “You better not be agreeing with me to pacify me,” I growled, turning to look up into his amused brown eyes as he leaned down, and with the taste of the nicotine gum fresh on his tongue, he pressed a deep kiss to my lips, demanding entry into my mouth. His hand reached up to my hair, tugging free the tie and letting my blonde strands fall against the back of my neck, his fingers threading through them and pulling to grant him extra entry. I moaned against him, causing him to pull back, and with an annoying smirk, he said, “Of course not.” I glowered at him, but Wolf held up his innocent façade and passed me a bottle of water as well. “Where’s Ash?” “Bitch was supposed to be here an hour ago,” I growled, looking over my shoulder and around the room as if I might have overlooked her, which in Ash’s case, would be impossible with all her bitching and complaining the last few weeks about

her injuries, despite her release from the hospital— so long as she took it easy. But Ash just figured “taking it easy” was a pass from the doctors for being a lazy piece of shit. Not that she’d be able to pull the wool over my eyes. She’d been roped into doing this damn chore of helping remove the wallpaper as us women and Jax had been assigned to do, while the boys did the “heavy lifting” for only the manliest of men. Utter misogynistic bullshit if you ask me. “Want me to ask Lamb to go pick her up?” Wolf offered, but the bitter look on his face already told me all I needed to know about how much he wanted Ash around. The two of them might have a mutual understanding when it came to me, and God forbid the times when they teamed up for the sake of “what was best” for me—not that either of them had a clue about that—but they didn’t like interacting with each other at the best of times. I figured it was an underlying case of jealousy between the two of them. Best friend versus boyfriend and all, though it could just be that Wolf hadn’t really forgiven her for shooting him in the leg. “No, I’ll—” My phone cut me off as the device buzzed in my pocket, the factory ringtone almost deafening my ears as I dug it out and saw the name. “Speak of the devil,” I growled, hitting answer.

“Bitch, you better be on your way, because if you're not here in ten minutes, I don’t give a crap if you were shot six times or twenty, I will burn your hair off.” There was a pause of silence on the other end of the phone before I heard Ash’s amused but cautious voice. “Is it just me, or has pregnancy enhanced your darker nature?” “Darker?” I scoffed. “I’ve been pitch black from the very beginning. So, where are you? You on your way?” Another pause followed my question, and with it, I could hear the rush of traffic as it rolled by in the background of the call, and it only took a second for the dread to flood my system. “Ash? You’re on your way, right?” “Anna…” Ash’s voice came softly from the other side, and having known Ash for over twenty years, I didn’t need to hear any other words. “No,” I snapped. “No!” Everyone in the room spun around to face me, flinching at the sound of my voice as I hugged the phone closer to my ear. “I’ve gotta go, Anna.” “No, you don’t, Ash!” I yelled, my voice cracking on the words as my throat tightened as if a hand had reached out and was trying to squeeze it shut as I forced the words out. “You can’t do this! You can’t keep walking into my life, turning it upside down, then walking out again! You can’t

keep leaving me on my own like this!” “You’re right. I can’t.” Her voice was soft, almost wistful, and when I heard her next words, I felt my heart drop. “So, let’s make a promise. Like we used to when we were little.” “No,” I pleaded, “Ash, I—” But Ash continued. “I promise no more walking into your life, turning it upside down, then walking out of it again,” Ash promised, and I could almost feel the smile on her face. “Never again.” “Ash—” “And I promise to never ever leave you on your own again,” she said softly. I heard the rush and beep of a horn as it raced passed on the other end of the line. “So turn around, Anna.” “No.” I shook my head. “I don’t want to.” “Turn around, Anna,” Ash repeated. “Turn and look at all the people around you. You’re not on your own anymore, Anna. You don’t need me.” “If you do this, I’ll hate you forever!” I hissed but couldn’t stop my feet as I turned toward the room, looking at the faces of each and every person I loved. “I was never meant to be liked, anyway,” Ash said, the line beginning to crackle. “Don’t you dare say it!” I whispered. Wolf’s brown eyes looked at mine, but I couldn’t bring myself to meet them, couldn’t bring myself to think further than her voice on the other end of the line.

“I won’t,” Ash whispered. “You promise?” I demanded. “Ash? Tell me your promise. Tell me you won’t say it. Ash!” There was a long silence, but I could hear the soft whispers of her breath as I stood there, holding on to the phone with my strongest grasp, fingers clasped around the plastic. Please, I begged, please don’t say it. Don’t say it. “Goodbye.” The phone clicked off, and just for a moment, everything was quiet. And then I felt the softest, foreign touch as I looked down to the tiny, beaded dot on my hand. It slipped over my skin and down my hand, the water gone. And then a second fell onto my hand, and I knew. As I reached up and felt the dampness on my cheeks, as I saw the way Wolf’s brown eyes widened in painful sympathy, I knew. I was crying. And like a pin in a bubble, my world broke into sound, my sobs wracking through my body as Wolf’s arms dove around me, not knowing what had happened but pulling me to his warmth, holding me with all of his strength as my world was rocked around me. The phone dropped to the floor, but it didn’t matter now. Its use was over. She was gone.

Gone for good.

EPILOGUE Wolf

“I

’m going to fucking kill you!” Anna screamed, red-faced, into mine, her tiny hand beholding the strength of The Hulk as she squeezed it tighter than a vice until I felt the bones creaking in my fingers. “You did this to me!” I didn’t bother arguing with her, standing quietly as I fought the need to pry my hand out of hers, bearing the pain as she gave it another squeeze. “One more push!” Kay said, who stood in the midwife garment on the other side of the sheet, helpers on her left and right, as she ducked between Anna’s legs, eyes determined. “The baby’s crowning!” “Fuck!” Anna hissed, her eyes glancing up at me for a fraction of a second before Kay gave her the go-ahead and Anna let out a horrifying scream

as she pushed. And this time, I swore I heard the crack in my hand but bit down on my lip as I fought the queasy need to escape out of here. “You’re doing good, Anna,” Mallory said from her other side, her hand wrapped around Anna’s as she clenched down on a soft, gelled squeezy thing Hunter had gotten Mallory when she had gone into labor two months ago. She dabbed a cloth against Anna’s head and wiped away the sweat, going through the breathing motions with her. When I had tried to do that the first time, she had bitten my head of straight away, and an hour or so in, I had been screamed at to just stand still and shut up. So four hours on, I hadn’t moved an inch or spoken, letting Anna take her anger out on me as I reminded myself that this was, in fact, my fault, and every time Anna screamed, I told myself it would be over soon. “Here, it comes!” Kay called, the excitement evident in her voice as she peeked back over the curtain. “One more push.” “You said one more push four hundred pushes ago!” Anna screeched back, causing Kay to roll her eyes. “Come on, you big wuss,” Kay teased. “I mean it this time.” She looked Anna in the eyes, her silver ones holding onto hers as she said loud and clear. “One more push.” I could feel the huge burst of adrenaline, fear,

and excitement as both Anna and I knew Kay’s words were true, and for the first time in several hours, I turned to my girl, my other hand wrapping around hers and my probably broken one as I leaned down and pressed a kiss against her feverhot lips. “You ready?” I could feel the smile on my lips, and though I could see Anna’s body had no energy to return it, the way her blue eyes shone told me everything. “One more,” I said, holding her gaze. “One more,” Anna repeated, and with a deep, shaky breath, she let out the most terrifying, horrifying scream as she pushed all her last remaining energy into that one last big push. It felt like it would never end, until suddenly, Anna’s hand went limp in mine, her scream cutting off, and a big gasp of air fell from her lungs as the push was over. The silence that followed felt like an entire lifetime as my heart stilled in my chest while I—as we waited. And then we heard it. A loud, proud, and long cry broke the silence of the room as Kay stood back, lifting a wriggling, redfaced baby in her arms. “Congratulations, Mommy and Daddy.” Kay smiled as I moved, almost in a trance, toward her, turning in my blue gown as Kay came toward me, her eyes meeting mine, holding out the wriggling child. “Do you want to hold your son?”

“Son?” I choked, and I heard Anna sob behind me as I looked down at the small head of dark hair, his eyes closed shut, and skin a blushed crimson as Kay held him out to me. It was as if the world slowed as she raised the baby up to her chest and my arms reached toward him as she lowered him again onto my forearm and hands. His feverishly warm skin touched mine, and all I remembered thinking was how heavy he was as Kay moved her arms away. She turned toward the umbilical cord as she pulled out a small pair of scissors, but I paid little attention as the world stood still around me, as my son’s cries were the only thing to fill my ears, my eyes taking in every inch of blushed skin, dark hair, and chubby cheeks as the weight of him in my arms grounded me to where I stood. “Why are you crying?” Anna’s choked half sob, half laugh took my attention as I turned to look at her, feeling the burn of my eyes as I let the tears fall down my cheeks. “Our son,” I said, turning to look down at him and then up to Anna. Kay reached up and cut the umbilical cord shorter, and I began my first steps with my son in my arms as I walked toward my woman. Her baby blue eyes were filled with her own unshed tears as I stepped forward, reaching my arms out as Anna’s came out and wrapped around our son. I kept mine

on hers as her strength had all been zapped from her and supported her as she brought our son to the top of her chest and placed a soft, long kiss against his forehead. His cries seemed to soften slightly as she turned and looked down at our baby, our son, and said the words I had spent months longing to hear. “Welcome to the world, Dimitri Sasha Kazimirov.”

A

nna cried out as I sucked on her nipple, both still so sensitive, round, and not to mention, swelled several cup sizes, as I struggled to fit her other breast in my palm. “Stop teasing me,” she hissed as I let my cock rub up and over her clit, the throbbing length just teasing her lips, never making it far enough down to even brush her entrance. Her legs tightened around my waist, heels digging in hard to my pelvis as she urged me forward. “This is revenge,” I growled, nipping at the tender pink skin of her areola. “Revenge?” Anna growled. “For when?” “You didn’t think I noticed you this morning? Walking around in that silky red underwear you know I love, your tits spilling out the top of them,

ass begging me to bite it when you knew I had to head to the club.” “I wasn’t teasing you! I was getting dressed!” Anna’s nails dug hard into my shoulder, and I felt the hot bead of blood mix with the sweat on my skin as it slid down my spine. “You can’t lie to me.” I leaned my mouth down to the edge of her neck, my nose brushing aside the long, damp hair stuck to her skin. My lips opened, and my teeth slid over the unbroken skin. “Don’t you da—” Anna didn’t get chance to finish as I pressed my teeth into her skin and— Dimitri's cry stilled us both. The baby monitor on the side table of our master bedroom crackled with his cries, but the small size of the house allowed us to hear him even without the device. My son had a pair of lungs on him, that much was unquestionable. Anna let out a suffering sigh as I lifted myself up and off her. “Don’t go,” she whined, grabbing my forearm. “He’ll fall back to sleep in a minute.” “No,” I said, dropping down and placing a hard kiss against her lips. “I’ll go.” I got off the bed and slid on a pair of shorts as Anna sat up, her blonde hair sticking up at the back of her head, ruffled and disturbed, matching her expression. “You went the last four times.” She

placed a hand on my shoulder, using it to pull herself to the edge of the bed, and grabbed her silk dressing gown. “I’ll go.” “It’s all right,” I argued, grabbing her by her hips, loving the way I could still feel the warmth of her flushed skin through the silk of the robe. “You stay here.” Anna cocked a pale eyebrow at me. “Are we really going to argue over who goes to see him?” “Nope, because I’m the one going.” I pushed against her hips, and Anna’s knees hit the bed, her body going over with it as she flopped ungracefully onto the bedsheets. “Wolf!” she hissed at me as I slipped out the bedroom door. I followed Dimitri’s loud cries down the short hallway to the back bedroom, glancing at the wooden, hand-carved plaque bearing his name hanging on the wood before reaching for the door handle. The second my hand wrapped around it, silence flooded the house. I stilled, frozen in the tense silence as I waited for it to begin again. I opened the door to find the pale blue room covered in model bikes, cars, and stuffed animals on the other side as I stepped through the tall doorframe. My feet were quiet across the carpet as I

approached the crib to see a head of dark hair and pale, chubby cheeks wrapped up in a thin summer blanket. His eyelashes were long and dark, lips a light pink as his chest rose and fell, softly breathing over and over again. I listened to the gentle sound of it fill and empty the room, my eyes roaming over his features, a mixture of mine and Anna’s. As he was now, you could see nearly all of me in his square face, broad body, and dark hair. But when he was awake, his eyes were the same bright baby blue of his mother, and I was happier for it. I thought about his blue eyes and what perhaps they would look like the older he got. I wondered whose personality he’d inherit more of when he learned to speak, walk, and ride. I wondered whose kids he’d be friends with and what future partner he would choose to spend his life with. I wasn’t sure how long I stood there, watching him sleep, wondering about what his life and future would hold before I felt that tingling warmth spread across my back. I turned, spotting Anna standing in the doorway, hip propped against the door, arms crossed, and a beautiful, gentle smile on her face. Her blue eyes didn’t look away from me, hair pulled back in a headband, watching me silently. She didn’t say anything; she just watched me, just like I had watched my son. I felt my own smile pulling on my cheeks,

Anna’s not faltering as I made my way across the room toward her. She stayed put, only craning her neck further and further backward until I towered way above her. “What you looking at?” I asked, my voice low and amused. “I could ask you the same.” Anna smirked, her eyes dropping mine for only a second as she looked past me to where our son lay asleep in his crib. I smiled, my hand unconsciously reaching to smooth over the cooled skin of her neck, damp from sweat, but still fitting perfectly under my palm. I used my other hand to brush the long length of hair away from her face, leaning down the distance between us, pausing with my lips just in front of hers. Anna’s breath rolled against my lips, but she didn’t move a single muscle. “I have something for you,” she whispered between us, and her heated gaze cooled as she studied my expression, a curious frown no doubt appearing. Anna stepped back from our near kiss and disappeared into her office next to Dimitri's room. I stepped out of the doorway, closing the door behind me, leaving only an onlooker’s crack in the door as I spied the crib, waiting for Anna to return. She came back out into the hallway, a file in her hand as she extended it to me.

Last time she handed me one of these was when she had confessed about Ash and her past in England. I wondered if it was about her but doubted it as Anna refused to mention Ash since she’d left. I held her gaze a moment longer before Anna got fed up, and, cautious of Dimitri asleep in the next room, she gestured for me to read it. I gave in, turning to the brown paper file in my hands, but I didn’t make it past the title. Oral Sokolov “This is...” I couldn’t find the words as the weight of the paper turned to stone in my hands. “It’s the same girl. I thought it would be difficult to track her, but it turns out you weren’t the only one to move to the States, Wolf. She’s here in America,” Anna announced, voice cautious. “You can find everything in there.” I stared at the object in my hands. No longer just a piece of paper but a link to my past. A loose end I chose to ignore and leave unresolved. She was here. In America. “Oral’s in America?” I looked up to Anna, her mouth forming a small smile. “She and her son.” Her son. I felt the impact hard on my chest, suspended in a state of shock as I continued to just stare at it. Too many emotions were competing in my chest,

overwhelming me. I knew I stood in silence for a long time before Anna whispered softly to me, “Are you going to look at it?” I didn’t know what I was going to do when Anna handed me the file and told me what it was, but somehow, when she asked me that question and I truly thought about what I wanted to do, the answer came easily to me. “I’m not.” Anna looked taken aback by my answer, and even I’d admit it wasn’t what I would have expected, but my eyes traveled over my shoulder and through the crack in the door. If I listened hard enough, I could hear his soft breaths echo through the monitor in our room, and the one downstairs, as his life filled this house. I pushed the envelope toward her. Anna gave it and me a weary look. “Are you sure?” “I have avoided thinking about Oral for a long time. I was desperate to leave my past behind, and until now, I thought I had. I thought I didn’t need to know about Oral, that I shouldn’t care. But you telling me about her and her son made me realize that I hadn’t left my past behind at all. That I’d been waiting to hear exactly what you just told me. But that being said, Oral and Sasha’s son have their own lives to lead now. They’ve moved on.” I looked back to the door and the blue frame hanging

from it before looking back to my own woman, her blue eyes watching me so intently. “It’s about time I do, too. My past doesn’t need me anymore.” I gestured the envelope toward her, and this time Anna took it and walked back to her office, and I heard the faint sound of the paper shredder fill the hallway. She walked back out, her own face visibly relaxed as she gazed upon mine. She brushed up against my chest, her nipples poking through her silk gown into my bare shirt. “You’re past might not need you anymore, Wolf,” she purred, her hand slipping lower to the rim of my shorts as her finger pulled on the waist. “But I do.” She let her finger go, and the elastic snapped against my waist, standing my body to attention as Anna darted fast out of my grip, sprinting back toward the bedroom. I growled, turning on my heels as I came eye to eye with the frame in front of the stairs. I looked for a moment at the torn property cut hanging on the wall. The bullet marks made some of the writing indistinguishable, but if you looked carefully enough, you could still see the words would match Anna’s new property jacket hanging in the wardrobe. It would be the same jacket Anna never made a single mention of as I hung it up where I would see it every time I walked into our bedroom, reminding me of the same thing every single time I left and every time I came back home.

It reminded me of what I had to cherish. What I had to protect. And what I could never ever risk losing again. It was a warning and a reminder to never take for granted what I had. A warning I would never forget. “Wolf!” Anna hissed in a whisper, cutting off my heavy thoughts as she stood in the doorway, her silk dressing gown gone as she exposed herself in her beautiful, curvy glory, tits out, ready for battle as she cocked her finger at me, and with the grace of no lady, purred, “Come get me, you fat bastard.” “Oh, I will,” I growled quietly, my foot taking a step forward, her eyes growing with pent-up lust. “I’m gonna come take my bitch, however I want her.” “Fuck you,” Anna hissed under her breath. “I’m not your bitch.” She was. I was her fat bastard, and she was my bitch. That’s how it was. And how it would stay. I wouldn’t have it any other way.