Page 178 of The Life of Anna-Tenth Anniversary Edition: Act 1

Alex cursed and tossed his phone on the couch beside him. Rubbing his eyes, he leaned his head on the back of the couch. He was trying to finalize plans to return home to Deutschland. He didn’t need a mission to interrupt him. But when an Elder called, an Assassin obeyed. That’s how it worked. It didn’t matter that he was an Elder-Son. What mattered was that he was the best sniper The Brotherhood had, and when an important job came up, he and his team were called.

While it was unprecedented for an Elder-Son to be part of a Brotherhood Special Operations team—let alone a sniper—Alex had been determined to achieve both of his desires: to join the military and to fulfill his obligations to his father.

From an early age, he’d had an interest in the military, beyond just playing with his little army men as a child. When he was old enough to read, he read everything he could on military strategy, military heroes, warfare, anything he could find in the home and public libraries related to the subject.

At the age of fifteen, he’d bravely declared his intention to join the military after secondary school, only to be met with his father’s loud and clear disapproval. They’d fought for nearly a month. Vati was ready to disinherit his son, and Alex was ready to disown his family in order to do as he pleased. Finally, Mutti got involved and made them sit down and talk civilly. Their love for her was stronger than their anger at each other, and she knew it. After they’d both calmed down, Vati introduced him to the world of The Brotherhood. He’d taken Alex to the Schloss for the very first time and set forth the expectations for his son’s life.

Alex had known Vati was an important man. People in the city respected and deferred to him. When they had parties at the Kunzberg Landgut, important government officials were always in attendance. Alex had always just assumed it had something to do with the fact that they were wealthy and one of the few titled families left. But now he knew the truth; they were, in fact, the behind-the-scenes rulers of the State. Therefore, as Vati’s oldest son, Alex was expected to grow up to become the next Elder of Hessen instead of a military hero.

But Alex was persistent and, over the next several years with the help of a mentor, he convinced Vati and the other German Elders to let him train with the American Special Forces. In training, he’d unexpectedly discovered that being in the military given him the discipline to control the uncontrollable temper he’d inherited from his father, and also offered an outlet for it. After graduation, he formed his own team and become a Brotherhood Assassin. A decade later, Alex had surpassed all The Brotherhood’s expectations, becoming more valuable than they’d ever anticipated.

This was the first mission he ever recalled dreading. Not because of the target, but because of leaving Anna. He’d planned on spending time with her this week, letting her get to know him before he left so she’d look forward to seeing him when he returned in a few months.

Now he not only had to delay his move, he had to leave on Tuesday for who-knew-how-long, without having time with Anna. He raked his hand through his hair. Damn Devin for somehow making her afraid of him!

He needed to call her. As he reached for his phone, though, it rang. He half hoped it was Anna calling, but he frowned with disappointment when he saw the name on the screen. It was Greg. “Yes?”

“Made contact with Devin. He saw my tat and knows who I am.”

“Good. How did he react?”

“With suspicion, but he didn’t say anything.”

“Alright. Thanks.” Alex paused. “I got a call.”

“Shit. When do we leave?”

“Tuesday. Come on over. We’ll start planning.” He ended the call and held his phone for a moment, battling between duty and desire. Duty won. He got up to go find Seth and Tony. He’d have to call Anna later.

Chapter 78

Anna unlocked her apartment the next morning, exhausted and hurting. Playing pet to Devin, Trenton, and Maki was not easy. Especially after Devin had given her a pill that had both aroused and confused her. The whole evening was a blur once they arrived back at Trenton and Maki’s house. She had vague memories of lots of sex but couldn’t pinpoint any one particular event. Devin had woken her after a few hours of sleep on the couch to take her home.

She fell into bed without undressing. Healing required sleep. She would clean up later.

Her phone rang sometime later, yanking her out of a deep sleep. She groaned and slid out of bed and onto the floor to dig blindly in her purse for the offending object without opening her eyes. “Hello,” she said in a hoarse voice, her eyes still closed. Please let it be a short call.

“Hello, Anna,” came a deep, accented voice. Wilhelm? Kurt?

Her eyes snapped open and she pulled the phone away from her face. She squinted and saw Alex’s picture flashing on the screen. She shook her head and rubbed her eyes as her stomach fluttered with butterflies, though if they were from fear or excitement, she couldn’t quite decide. “Hello, Alex.”

“Did I wake you?” he sounded amused.

“Late night.”

“Ah.” He cleared his throat. “I was wondering if you were busy tonight.”

“Tonight? Um, no, I don’t have any plans.”

“Would you like to have dinner with me? Tonight, I mean.”

“I...” Anna bit her lip and she sat down on the bed. Why was he asking? Why didn’t he just tell her what he wanted her to do, like Devin did? “If you’d like,” she said softly.

He said something in German, then stopped. “I was speaking in German, wasn’t I?” He chuckled. “I’m sorry. I do that sometimes when I get excited.”

Her brows furrowed. It was hard to read someone over a phone call, and her exhaustion made it even harder. But he’d said he was excited and his voice sounded earnest. She realized she really didn’t know much about him. He’d just appeared in her life the same night he became her Master. She hadn’t spent much time with him and a vague memory of his kindness to her after that ritual poked at the edges of her mind. “It’s alright. I... I like hearing you speak in German.” Jenna had told her she didn’t understand why Anna thought German accents were soothing, but for some unknown reason, she did.

“You do?”

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