by A. E. Fisher
“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 sho
cked 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
“Fucking 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.