Wolf (Black Angels MC Book 2)

by A. E. Fisher

  “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.

  “Wolf!” 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 th
ey 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

  As 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.