“So, 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 double-checked 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 spread-eagled, 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.

* * *

“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 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.