Page 71 of The Life of Anna-Tenth Anniversary Edition: Act 1

“I do?” His brows shot up. He knew his temper was a weakness and he worked very hard to keep it under control. Then he remembered seeing Anna with Tony, Seth, and his brother in his media room. He’d lost his temper. And at the ballet as well, when he caught Kurt and her in the—She was right. He sighed and shook his head at himself.

She hung her head and winced once again. “I’m sorry, my lord,” she whispered. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

Her assumption that he would hurt her because of her words deeply saddened him. “Anna, I told you, I will not hurt you.” With intention, he spoke in a soft and gentle voice. “I will never hurt you.” How terrible had her time with Jack been to make her so skittish?

She lifted her head and studied him for a long moment, though her eyes were still full of fear. “My lord,” she whispered. “If you don’t want me to please you...” She bit her lip. “Why are you here?”

“Because I didn’t want Devin to hide you away from me again.” After Anna had appeared in his room so long ago, he and Vati had searched everywhere for her, but she’d vanished from the face of the earth. Vati had concluded that someone very powerful was protecting her from being seen. An Immortal, likely, but Alex hadn’t been able to discover who. Yet.

He wouldn’t lose her again. He’d told Devin to fuck off when he’d tried to take a sleeping Anna out of his arms after the ritual in the Great Hall. Devin had been furious, but he couldn’t prevent Alex from taking her. Alex smiled at the memory of Devin’s frustration.

Anna traced a wrinkle on the sheets. “Why does it matter what Devin does to me?” she whispered. A tear slid down her cheek and Alex frowned. “He’s my Master. He can do as he likes.”

She spoke with such certainty his heart dropped, and he wanted more than anything to give her hope. “No, he can’t do solely as he pleases with you, despite what he intended last night. He has to deal with me now.”

Her head snapped up and her brows wrinkled in confusion. “I don’t understand. What do you have to do with me?”

It struck him that she might not know what the previous night’s ritual had been for. Now that he thought about it, Alex would have wagered his family’s entire fortune that Devin had explained very little—if anything at all—about the purpose of the ritual. “He doesn’t have sole authority over you, Anna. He shares it with me.” His gaze moved unconsciously down to her breasts, as it had several times within the last few minutes. The perfect mounds were not helping his resolve to keep his hands off her, and he chuckled. “Perhaps you should lie down. Your nakedness is a bit distracting.”

He succeeded in receiving a shy half-smile from her and his heart lightened. She was absolutely stunning when she smiled.

She lay down on her side, her head on the pillow, and he brought the blanket up to cover her breasts before propping his head up on his fist.

He grinned. “Now I can concentrate better.”

She giggled softly and it warmed his heart. What a wonderful sound. He gazed at her and gently traced his finger along her cheek.

“What do you mean that you and Devin share authority over me?”

His cheek twitched at the thought of sharing anything with Devin. “Last night’s ritual... It was a bonding ceremony. A uniting of a Master and a slave. If I hadn’t interfered... Anna, your mind would have been completely gone. Completely his.” He grimaced. “You would have become Devin’s mindless puppet.”

She glanced up at the bed’s canopy for a long moment and then looked back at him. “And you stopped it?”

“Yes. Well, partially. Not as much as I’d hoped to.” He frowned, wishing he’d been able to do more than split the authority between himself and Devin. Had he known ahead of time, the Immortal Sebastian could have prepared him better. But no one had imagined Devin would have drawn from the old magic to do a forbidden ritual. He hoped Sebastian was still around and not in trouble for helping Alex. “If I hadn’t, and had Devin commanded you to go jump off a cliff, you would have done so without a second thought.”

“But I wouldn’t now?”

“No. You are still your own person. You still have your mind and your will. You just...” He sighed. “You have two Masters instead of one.”

Her eyes turned sad, and she nodded and looked away, chewing her lip. “Okay.”

Alex sighed and ran his hands through his hair. “It’s complicated. Everything in The Brotherhood is complicated.”

“The Brotherhood?” She gave him a strange look. “You’re part of it—‍” She shook her head. “Of course you are.” Her brows drew together. “Devin’s mentioned it, but hasn’t really explained much about it.”

He stared at her. How could she not know what The Brotherhood was? She was an integral part of it. Had Devin not only hidden the truth of last night, but also failed to tell her about the world she was part of? How did one even begin to explain The Brotherhood?

He waved his hand around vaguely. “All of this is part of it. We... we control the world.”

Chapter 30

Anna blinked and stared into Alex’s face for a moment before remembering her place and looking down at his chest. The Brotherhood controlled the world? How?

Devin was an Elder in The Brotherhood. A leader. Elders wore diamonds. Alex’s father was an Elder, too. Did that mean Devin and Wilhelm controlled the world?

No, there were more Elders than Devin and Wilhelm. There were seven in America. Were there seven in Germany as well?

But what about the leaders of America and Germany? Presidents and such. Devin was the CEO of a bank, not a politician. How could he control the world as a bank CEO?

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