Page 277 of The Life of Anna-Tenth Anniversary Edition: Act 1

“No. I need... sanity. Dancing gives me that.”

He was quiet for a minute. “I guess that makes sense.”

“Does Travis know?”

“Yeah. I called and told him. I’ll let him know you’ll be there tomorrow.”

“Thanks.”

“Try and get some rest.”

“I will. Bye.”

“Bye, Anna.”

Anna tossed her phone onto the bed and went into the bathroom to shower. When she finished, she wrapped herself in her robe and went back into her bedroom. Wilhelm was sitting on her bed, looking at his phone. He looked up and smiled as he slid his phone back into his pants pocket. “Jenna said she would happily move in with you.”

Anna nodded and sat on the bed, crossing her legs in front of her. “I thought she might.”

Wilhelm smiled and pulled her close. “I think, if circumstances were different, she would have been bouncing off the walls.”

She laughed softly. “I think you’re right.” She buried her face in his neck and inhaled. He smelled good. So good...

Anna closed her eyes as she pressed her body against Wilhelm’s, her breath catching in her throat. His presence was so comforting she wanted—no, needed—to be as close to him as she could.

He stiffened and she felt his body come alive against hers. Hers did the same. She leaned away and looked up into his face. His eyes were closed, but he opened them and gave a tight smile. “I wish there were something I could do to help you, Liebling.”

Her hand trembled as she lifted it and traced along his cheekbone, down over his mustache to his lips and over his chin. She searched his eyes as warmth flooded her body. A familiar warmth she remembered from long ago when her parents died and Devin soothed the anguish in her heart by touching her. The warmth from her desire for Wilhelm dulled the pain that had only grown worse in the hours that had passed since Ben’s death.

It wasn’t right. It hadn’t been then, and it wasn’t now. But she couldn’t stop herself from leaning forward and pressing her lips to his.

Wilhelm stiffened as Anna kissed him. Her lips were soft, urgent, desperate. She pressed her breasts against his chest and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

He willed his body not to respond, but it wasn’t listening. He scolded himself. A nearly fifty-year-old man could control himself around a beautiful young woman. Anna didn’t need sex right now. She needed a friend and father-figure.

Mustering all his inner strength, he gently pushed her away. “Anna, no. We cannot do this. You are grieving. I will not take advantage of you.”

Her shoulders drooped and she clasped her hands in her lap. “Wilhelm... I know... I’m sorry... I just...” She looked up, desperation in her eyes. “It hurts so badly.” She rubbed her chest and winced. “I don’t know how to feel better. How to process the pain. I can’t—‍” She shook her head. “I can’t handle...” She pressed her fingers to her eyes. “I don’t know how to deal with all this.” Her eyes watered as she looked up at him again. “When my parents died, Devin used sex to help me feel better.” She gave a helpless shrug and looked away, a single tear rolling down her cheek. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

Wilhelm’s heart broke. It didn’t surprise him to hear that Devin had used her vulnerability after her parent’s death to abuse her. But what that had done to her... He sighed. A good man would have taught the poor girl to grieve, to process her pain. But Devin was not a good man by any stretch of the imagination.

Devin had shown—once again—that his cruelty had no bounds when it came to Anna. How could the Elder have killed someone she loved right in front of her? Her sole desire was to please those around her, yet Devin seemed determined to break her over and over again. Why? She had never shown any hint of rebellion. At least, not until this happened.

If someone had told him a week ago that Anna had hit someone—especially her Master—he would have laughed and told them they were insane. But Anna had freely admitted to attacking her Master. Surely Devin realized what he was doing to her. The San Francisco Elder was treading into dangerous territory by provoking her.

He shook his head and took her hand. “The pain will ease eventually, Liebling,” he said softly. “It just takes time.” It would, but not anytime soon. Could he teach her to grieve properly? Was it even possible? She was a Half-Immortal. He’d never seen a Half-Immortal grieve, not even when her Master died—a good Master, not one like Devin. They were not prone to emotions or attachment.

But Anna... she was deeply human. More human than Immortal, it seemed sometimes. The passions of the Immortals combined with the vulnerabilities of her humanness were surely a constant war inside her mind and body. Add in the sexual and emotional abuse that Jack and Devin had heaped on her and it was a wonder she was able to function at all. Was it even possible for her to grieve as a normal human? Could she really be expected to process everything in her mind while ignoring the Immortal side of her? The part of her that processed everything through sex?

Wilhelm wiped her tear away with his thumb and sighed. Sex was everything to Anna—Devin and Jack had taken advantage of what she was to ensure that. Sex brought both pain and ecstasy. Emotional pain and relief. How she felt cared for and how she felt used. It was her emotional language. And if he rejected her now, it would profoundly wound her and leave her even more despondent than she already was.

Every moral fiber in his being told him to curl up behind her and hold her until she fell asleep. But rejecting her advances would compound the wound Devin had inflicted upon her. Which was worse?

There was no good solution. Either way, one of them would feel terrible in the morning. It was better for it to be him.

He cupped her cheek and leaned forward to kiss her. Sliding his hand around the back of her head, he deepened the kiss, probing at her lips with his tongue until she opened her mouth to him. He groaned as he explored her mouth. His tongue danced around hers, tasting and teasing her. God, she was everything he’d imagined she’d be.

Her hands moved into his hair as she kissed him back with desperation. He tugged at her robe and it came loose, sliding down her body to the floor. He ran his hands gently all over her soft skin as he kissed her mouth. Her nipples were hard as he caressed her firm, youthful breasts. He moved to kiss her neck and she sighed as he softly bit her neck.

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