Page 23 of Wolf

“No,” Wolfgrunted.

“Jeez,” I sighed, taking another drag of the cigarette. “You’re sogrumpy.”

He cocked an eyebrow at me, whether in annoyance or amusement, I couldn’t tell. I swore his face was made for the sole purpose of frowningatme.

He finally unwound a single arm from his chest but didn’t move from the wall where I still stood between his legs. His arm reached out, snatching, without the gentleness I had given him, the cigarette from my fingers. “Don’t touch my cigarettes,” he said, lifting it up to his thin lips, purposely letting them touch the faint red mark my lipstick had left around it. He took in a deep breath before letting the smoke blow out of hislungs.

I scoffed. Reaching up and snatching the cigarette right back from him, I wrapped my lips around it and pulled in a deep breath. I held it tighter in my mouth, making sure I left a darker mark as I filled my lungs with smoke. When I finally pulled it from my lips, I pushed onto my tiptoes to blow the smoke into his face. “Fuck yourrules.”

Wolf’s chest stretched as the smoke was sucked into his lungs, his eyes never leaving mine as he allowed it to swirl in his chest before the smoke came back out of his lips on a deep, rough growl. I watched, unable to look away as each cubic meter rolled from his body, mesmerized by the dirty and hot feeling it left burning in mychest.

His eyes narrowed on me as I took a small step forward. Lower against the wall, his face was closer to mine, and I let my blue eyes clearly drop down to his lips then back up to his eyes. He didn’t move, but it was like I could hear the rippling of his muscles beneath his gray shirt as I leaned my chest forward, allowing it to press against the arm still wrapped around his chest. His other arm was clenched into a tight fist by his side, as if forcing himself not to reachforme.

I knew I was baiting him, knew I was practically begging him to make a move. But I also knew he wouldn’t. As much as I knew I was the one who always ran away, Wolf never chased. When he had his lips on my neck, he had hesitated, which had given me the opportunity to get away. Whatever moment we shared, whatever chemistry, none of it could break the stalematebetweenus.

The thought forced a pathetic laugh from my lips as I shook my head. I looked up, watching him frown as I took a step back. “This is stupid,” I said. “I’mgoingba—”

I didn’t get a chance as hands came around my waist, dragging me back. I met a face full of his chest, but as I turned to snap, my words werestopped.

I was tangled with the taste of whiskey, smoke, and most of all, Wolf, as his hands latched to my sides, pulling me with almost impossible strength into his hard body. His tongue wrapped around mine, forcing it out to play as he growled againstmylips.

I tried to fight, but I found my strength slipping as his hand reached up and tangled in my hair. He pulled, forcing my head back and giving him more access. His kiss was hot and demanding, and I found my body softening into his as he dragged the fire I kept buried deep out into the open. I moaned against his lips despite myself, and his hand tightened inresponse.

When he pulled away, I found myself gasping for air as his eyes glared into mine, alight with fire and fight. “Don’t think I won’t bite,” he growled. And then his hand untangled from my hair and he stepped away before turning and walking back into thecompound.

My hands reached up to feel my hot, swollen lips, my mouth feeling lonely at its emptiness as my eyes were drawn down toward the cigarette abandoned on theconcrete.

I lifted my boot, slamming it on the floor and squashing the burning tip with myfoot. “Shit.”

Chapter Nine

Wolf

“Shit,”I hissed, leaning back into my office chair. I looked down at my hands, my fingers tightening around each other, feeling the need to go for another cigarette despite just having had one. My tongue swirled in my mouth, still holding the lingering spicy taste of Anna. I wanted to think more about it, perhaps go out and find her to torment myself like the masochist I was beginning to think I was becoming, but instead, my eyes rested heavy on myhands.

I looked down at the faded ink. They were what had traveled with me to the States, and the news I just received made them feel heavy onmyskin.

“Don’t think too much about it, boss,” Lamb said, his body leaning up against the door. He held in his hand his sleek black phone, this time acting as an ominous sign. I couldn’t take Lamb’s advice as my mind stayed hitched on the information Lamb had justgivenme.

Ties to the Bratva. My back almost ached, as if the tattoo I had long since covered up had only just been done. I could feel all the snaking lines of the crucifix that had armored my back once a long time ago, back when it had defined me. Now my club crest covered it, but at times like these, it felt as if it was still there, hidden beneath the skin...waiting.

It was as if I could smell the musty prison walls again, along with the harsh liquor and the gun powder. The warm air filtering through the club did nothing to dissipate the growing chill in mybones.

I thought back to the words I had said to Anna. They were the same words Roscoe had said to me when I was prospecting in the club. But fuck, this was one fight I thought I’d won a long time ago, but hearing those words again just dredged up the past, immediately putting meonedge.

Lamb’s eyes traced my reaction, but he said nothing. Lamb had never been the reassuring type. He was a cold bastard mostly, too cunning for his own good, and a cruel, toying fucker twelve months of the year, but he was a loyal idiot, and no matter how the years had gone by for us, he hadn’tchanged.

Loyalty is what protects the club, because if brothers have our backs, then we've got our brothers’ backs, and that's what keeps us alive.Lamb had been the first one I’d said that to when he’d been a stupid fuck all those years ago, and after him, it hadstuck.

He was dressed in his club cut, jeans, and boots, and although he was slenderer than the rest of the brothers, he still had deadly fighting skills and fit in just as well as the restofthem.

Lamb ran a hand through his blond hair before he straightened from the door. He didn’t move away from it, though, as he rarely did. Corners were his favorite places to stand, always able to keep an eye on anything that caught his attention. It was for the same reason I had a favorite stool in the bar, except Lamb’s preferred place was standing behind it. The position allowed him control over theentireroom.

I looked into his eyes, their depths almost endless with cunning intelligence that he often kept hidden around the otherbrothers.

“Do we know what he wants yet?” I asked, shifting my focus out of the past and back intotheroom.

“No,” Lamb said, scowling at the floor. There was little Lamb didn’t know, and even less that he couldn’t find out. It must have been grating on his nerves. “Knowing he has ties to the Russian mafia makes it less likely that he’s after drugs, or guns, or anythingmaterialistic.”

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