Chapter 4

• Anna
• “You have to learn to trust me at some point.”
• The whisper in my ear heated my skin, and I tried not to wiggle against the body pressed to mine. I didn’t understand what he wanted.
• “You. I want you.”
• And he could always read my thoughts. Damn irritating.
• His low chuckle filled the darkness as his hand slid over my belly. I was naked. I was always naked, floating in the nothingness, and he was always here.
• A dream. Just a dream, except I wasn’t asleep. Not always. Not this time.
• “It’s hard to see you and not touch you. To see you and know that you won’t let me hold you.”
• Let him? Nobody let Jax do anything. If he wanted to hold me, he would.
• And that’s how I knew it wasn’t real. This was just the mate I wanted. The hero. The one who would listen and understand.
• That was not the real Jax Bishop.
• “Are you wet, baby? Let me see.”
• I never stopped him. Never wanted to stop him. My body never reacted this way to anyone, and what was the harm? Instead, I turned toward him, threw my thighs across his hip while his cock settled right against my wet pussy. He was always just as naked as I was.
• “Always wet for me,” he growled. “Mine. You’re mine, Anna. I won’t let anyone else have you.”
• “You’re nothing more than a fantasy. A dream. You’re not real,” I told him with a small moan as his hands raked down my body and pressed between my legs. “You’re just a way to drive myself to madness.”
• “You’re the one making me insane. You won’t talk to me. Won’t let me in. All you’ll ever let me do is this.”
• Grabbing my hips, he twisted onto his back, taking me with him until I fell over his chest. In that moment, like every time, I thought of pushing him away. It wasn’t healthy to fantasize about him like this. It wasn’t real. It would never be real.
• But I didn’t stop. Ever. Glutton for punishment. That’s me. And when I settled on his cock, I moaned just a little as I tried to make room for this thick length. His grunt just made me more slippery as I wiggled.
• “Fuck, Anna. You always gotta tease.”
• “Not teasing. Just…uh…just figuring out what I like.” It wasn’t like I had a ton of experience. Or any experience. Mated three years and still a virgin. But I had this. This fantasy that wasn’t real.
• “Do you like this? Do you like it when I fuck you, Anna?”
• He knew that I did, so I just growled at him and shifted my position so I could take him in a little deeper. He let me play for a few minutes while pleasure coursed through me, but then he grabbed my hips and took control.
• Helpless. I was always helpless in his hands, but I always felt safe.
• Another way that I knew it wasn’t real.
• Jax Bishop was not someone who was safe. Not for me.
• But that didn’t stop me from screaming out his name as he fucked me into oblivion.
• I was not in my bed.
• Blinking, I stared down at the rag in my hand and realized I’d completely lost myself in one of those stupid dreams, and I wasn’t even in my bed.
• Or in my apartment.
• The bar was empty. We’d been shut down for two hours. Normally, by now, I was curled up in my bed with a book, but I hadn’t cracked open a book in three weeks. Not since Jax made Danny the manager. Now, like every night, I’d been given a ridiculous cleaning task that always took at least two hours. Tonight, I was oiling the baseboards.
• All of them.
• Never mind that we had buffer tools to handle this or even that the baseboards really needed a new coat of paint. No, Danny had decided that the place was far too filthy and needed a good shine.
• And I was just the girl to do it.
• I ached from my head to my toes. Danny hadn’t given me a single day off. The first time I refused to come down, he’d broken into my apartment and hauled me down to the bar himself.
• I’d been wearing nothing but a T-shirt and a pair of panties, and that was how he made me work. And whenever there weren’t any customers in the bar, the employees would find ways to entertain themselves.
• My bruises had bruises.
• They had two goals. One was to make me cry. I’d come damn close when they’d taken the poker to the grill coals and scarred my legs.
• The second was to see my wolf.
• I hadn’t shifted once since my father was killed. Not when Jax demanded it so he could identify my wolf. Not when Parker pleaded that it would help me heal.
• Now everyone wanted to see if pain would let her out.
• I would die before I let any of these assholes get their hands on her.
• The phone on the bar rang, and I jerked my head up. It was almost four o’clock in the morning. Who the hell would be calling Fanged Smiles at this time?
• Convinced it was a wrong number, I went back to my job. I was so close to finishing, and Danny had already told me that I needed to be back at eight in the morning for inventory.
• The phone rang again. With a sigh, I dropped the rag and crossed the rough wooden floor. Wiping my hands on my pants, I looked down and swore. My pants were streaked with the damn oil. It would be a nightmare to try and wash out, assuming that I would ever have the time to do laundry.
• This was my only pair of jeans. Leaving the bar to go shopping wasn’t exactly an option.
• I did my best to stay tucked away in my own corner, and I didn’t exactly have a ton of money. I didn’t get a paycheck, but I did get tips from people who didn’t know who I was.
• Or at least, I did until Danny had copied the key to my apartment. My squirreled-away money disappeared, and a dead rat was left in my bed.
• Paranoia dug deep. I’d searched my apartment for cameras, and while I hadn’t found any, I still only dressed and undressed under a blanket. I pulled my dresser in front of my door every night although I knew damn well it wouldn’t stop a werewolf who wanted to get in.
• The phone rang again, and I picked it up. “Hello?”
• “Anna?”
• As soon as I registered the familiar voice, I froze. How the hell did she know where I was? It had been almost five years since I’d seen her.
• Magic.
• “Anna, you have to run. Right now. Don’t even bother taking anything. Just get to us now.” Static started to garble the phone. “There’s…danger…use you.”
• “What? Repeat that?”
• Suddenly, the line went dead. “I don’t remember giving you permission to use the phone after hours.”
• Whipping my head around, I stared at Danny. The phone cord dangled from his hand.
• Fuck, I thought he’d left hours ago.
• “It was just a drunk dial,” I lied as I dropped my gaze. “I’m almost finished with the baseboards.”
• “And look at you,” he slurred. “Such a mess.”
• Shit, he was drunk. Risking his wrath, I glanced back up to his face, and my stomach tightened. Lust was written all over his face.
• “I’m almost finished, and then I’ll get cleaned up,” I said steadily. “Do you want to wait?”
• “No.” The phone cord dropped from his hand. “He always said that you were off limits, but he’s not here, is he? I don’t want to wait anymore.”
• He took a single step toward me, and I knew that my luck had run out. Of all the ways this pack had found to torment me, no one had tried to rape me. I knew that had been because of Parker.
• But Danny was right. Parker wasn’t here anymore. No one was coming to save me. I had to save myself.
• I had to run.
• The step stool was still against the back wall so I could reach the top-shelf liquor bottles. Ignoring the aches and pains of my body, I spun and jumped. Landing on the step stool, I vaulted over the bar. His fingers brushed against my pant leg, but I was sober and faster. As soon as I landed, I raced to the front door. It was locked to keep people from coming in but not from going out. The alarm blared loudly as soon as the door opened, but I ignored it.
• The cool air rushed against my face, and I ran. We were right on the edge of the territory.
• If I could cross that border, Danny wouldn’t follow. Pack members weren’t allowed to leave the territory without permission. If he stepped over, Jax would know.
• I prayed that it would be enough to save me. Once I was over the line, I would do exactly what I’d been warned to do.
• Run.
• Lungs burning, I tried to ignore everything but freedom. If Danny shifted, this would all be over before it started. I couldn’t hesitate for even a moment.
• It wasn’t like I’d exercised. In three years, I hadn’t stepped out further than the trash cans of the bar.
• But I knew my escape route. I’d memorized a map. There was a river ahead, and it was the natural territory border. I could swim, some. More, I was hoping, than Danny.
• “Get back here, you fucking bitch!”
• A human voice. That was good. I might just make it.
• There was no moon, and I kept my eyes trained to the ground as I entered the woods.
• Tripping over a root and falling would be an embarrassing way for this to end. Branches scraped at me and slapped me in the face. Gasping for breath, I pushed myself to keep going, to ignore the pain.
• Ahead, I could hear the rushing water. I was so close. Almost there.
• Overhead I heard the low warning rumble of a wolf.
• No. Oh God, please, no.
• A dark gray wolf stepped out from behind a tree trunk, directly in my path. Narrowly, I managed to pivot at the last minute before running over them.
• My ankle twisted, and white-hot pain shot up my leg.
• With a cry, I went down. Instantly, a human was on top of me. Hands grabbed at my shirt, sliding it up while I shoved.
• The wolf growled again, and it was enough to make Danny stop.
• “She tried to run,” Danny slurred as he stood and hauled me up. Pain shot up my leg again, and I folded, but he didn’t ease up on his grip. “No need to bother Jax about it now. I’ll handle it and tell him in the morning.”
• The wolf didn’t move, and Danny did a mock salute and began to drag me away. I had no idea who the wolf was, but I knew better than to beg for help.
• No one would save me.
• “You don’t want to do this,” I said through gritted teeth as I stumbled. It didn’t slow him down at all. He just dragged me. “I’m Dirk’s daughter, remember? Disgusting. You don’t want me. Not like this.”
• The bar was in sight. The alarm still blared, a beacon of doom. I scrambled to get upright, to fight, but both my ankle and knee collapsed under me.
• Danny didn’t say a word. Instead, he dragged me around to the wide entrance. As soon as the door closed behind him, he threw me on the wood floor and flipped on the light.
• Frantically, I looked around for a weapon. Everything in the kitchen had been neatly tucked away for the night. Nothing was in reach.
• “Time to teach you a lesson.”