Almost 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 down-to-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.

* * *

The 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.