Page 195 of The Life of Anna-Tenth Anniversary Edition: Act 1

He rammed his cock into her ass and found one last scream inside her. Pulling her up by her braid, he caught her torso. He bounced her up and down on his cock, but she didn’t feel it. Her body jostled against him, her head knocking back against his shoulder. He growled and dropped her onto the bed and fucked her ass hard. She stared at the wall across from her, her mind—in self-preservation—drifting back to class earlier in the afternoon.

His grunt was barely audible, but she could still make it out. A moment later, he slumped down next to her, snoring. She didn’t move except to close her eyes, praying for death.

Chapter 86

Alex didn’t know if the pounding was coming from inside or outside of his head. He opened scratchy eyes to an unfamiliar dark ceiling. The only light in the room came from a room in the distance. The pounding continued, and he realized someone was pounding on a nearby door.

He sat up. He was in Anna’s room. She was lying next to him.

How had he gotten here? He stood to answer the door and realized he was naked.

“Alex! Alex, open the fucking door!” That sounded like Seth.

He grabbed his jeans and pulled them on as he walked to the door. He cast an uneasy glance back at Anna as he hurried out of the room. Something was very wrong. He opened the door to the anxious and angry faces of Seth, Tony, and Greg.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Seth slammed Alex back against the wall. “Why are you here? Why did you leave the Manor?”

The three men glowered at him, and Alex stared, trying to understand what they were talking about. “I don’t know...” He motioned to the bedroom. “I just woke up, and I was here.”

“Where’s Anna?” Greg asked at the same time Tony asked, “Why do you have blood on your hand?”

Alex lifted his arm and squinted. His mouth dropped open at the bloody streaks covering his hand. “Oh, God!”

He pushed Seth aside and ran back to Anna’s room, flipping on the light as he stepped inside. He thought she’d been asleep...

Her arms were twisted strangely under her body. Her face was pale and bruised. He started to kneel, but Seth grabbed his shoulder and yanked him away, his eyes full of warning.

Seth smoothed the damp hair away from her face and slid his fingers to her neck to check for her pulse. “She’s alive.”

Alex’s stomach churned as he looked at her pale face. What had he done? Why was he here? “I don’t know what happened. The last thing I remember is going into the Red Room.”

Seth gently pushed Anna onto her back, revealing more bruising on her chest, and Alex winced. She didn’t wake. Seth brushed her hair back away from her face. Her pale skin made the deepening bruises look even darker.

Alex’s heart pounded in his ears. “Call Sebastian.” He couldn’t concentrate enough to mentally call him.

“He went back to Frankfurt,” Greg said.

“Then he can come back,” Alex barked, more out of desperation than anger. He was afraid he’d irreparably hurt Anna, and Sebastian could figure out what had happened faster than anyone.

Greg left the room to make the call. Alex moved toward Anna and Seth stepped in front of him, shaking his head. Alex leaned against the wall for support and watched helplessly as Tony and Seth straightened Anna’s limbs. Greg returned a few minutes later, accompanied by Sebastian.

Sebastian walked to the bed, his tall thin frame towering over her petite one. His expression was inscrutable as he studied her. “So this is her?”

Alex nodded, hopelessness filling him. “I don’t know what I did,” he whispered.

Sebastian turned his intense blue gaze on Alex, who cringed under the scrutiny. Sebastian nodded a moment later and then turned his gaze back to Anna. Seth and Tony moved aside as Sebastian sat next to her on the bed and put his hand on her forehead. The Immortal closed his eyes and was very still for several agonizing minutes. “I need a wet washcloth and some towels,” Sebastian finally said.

Seth nodded and hurried into the bathroom.

Sebastian turned to Greg. “If Alex wants your connection to him to remain hidden from her, you need to leave. She will wake soon.”

Greg glanced at Alex, who nodded, and he left. Tony went with him.

“Alex, go wash up.”

Alex went into the hall bathroom and washed his bloody hands. How could he have hurt Anna, the woman he loved more than anything else in the world? His chest constricted, and he struggled to breathe at the memory of her pale, bruised face. Leaning on the counter, he hung his head, eyes burning with unshed tears. He’d done something terrible and didn’t even remember doing it. A glance at himself in the mirror revealed dried blood on his stomach. He unfastened his jeans and a wave of nausea swept through his body at the sight of blood on his cock.

His knees gave out and he backed away from the sink, hit the wall behind him, and slid to the floor. He buried his face in his hands and wept. The woman he loved. He had done something unforgivable to her. How else could he explain the blood?

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