Page 51 of Wolf

And that’s allittook.

A few simple words, and my calmness was tornfromme.

The moments of my stabbing came back to me, my eyes having wanted to catalog every part of Wolf, but for the life of me, I couldn’t remember. I couldn’t remember what he looked like, what he smelled like, what he felt like. I rememberednothing.

I was side swiped by the wave grabbing me by the heels and dragging me under. My lips trembled, my body shook, and my heart squeezed into a tiny, heavy pebble in my chest as everything hit meatonce.

“Wolf,” I whimpered, my fear, my shock, my pain, all of it reduced tohisname.

I grasped his shirt, pulling on it as I pushed him away from me, pushing him away enough so his face pulled back, and grasped it between my hands. Tears rolled down his leather-skinned cheeks, the hard bones and the roughness of his stubble all at the end of mytouch.

His eyes searched mine, and I held his gaze, my senses eating up all that I could get ahold of. “Wolf,” I breathed. “Wolf… Wolf,” I said it over and over again. Each time felt intense with the fear of losing him, the fear of never being able to say itagain.

“Wolf,” I whispered, feeling the shaking in my body slowly relax as the relief replaced it. My hands eased against his back, my breath calming and my heart rate slowing until my desperation left only tired mumbles on the side of his neck as my exhaustion left me rolling into hischest.

“Anna,” Wolf breathed, his hand stroking the back of my head and down my back, his chin nuzzling into the side of my face. “No matter what, Iloveyou.”

Nomatterwhat?

I wanted to ask him what he meant, but when I tried to open my mouth, it felt too heavy and I couldn’t manage it. I tried to think, but my thoughts were too slow to process anything but the warmthsurroundingme.

“Sleep,” Wolf’s soft, tired voice breathed into my ear, and for once, I didn’t argue with him and let myself be swept under into unconsciousnessagain.

* * *

Isat in the big,plush leather seat in Wolf’s office as I watched the owner of the chair prowl around the small space. I painted my nails, letting the varnish flick from the tip, spraying the thousand-dollar oak desk with red paint. I did it so he couldn’t see it, letting the red build and build until he’d find a nice ruby patch later. It was a petty way to take out my annoyance, but considering I was supposed to be on bedrest for a few more days, I didn’t have much room for violence...Fornow.

After the night at the hospital, I felt slightly disgruntled and humiliated because of my breakdown into Wolf’s arms, but that was just because of my prideful personality, so I didn’t dwell too much on it. What I did dwell on, however, was Wolf’s suddendistance.

That “no matter what” itched at the back of my mind, and as I tracked his movement around his small office from the corner of my eye, the force I was flicking with slowly increased as he paid me littleattention.

I covered my last pinky finger in a second coat of red, splattering one last bit of paint, and put the brush back in the pot, screwing thetopshut.

“What is it?” I said, setting the bottle carefully on the top ofthedesk.

Wolf stopped abruptly, his hands holding open a blue folder from the top shelf of the new bookshelf he’d bought after smashing up his last one. “What?” he said, his bushy eyebrow archedatme.

“What aren’t you telling me?” I replied, perhaps with a bit too much sharpness, as I narrowed my eyes on him. “I’ve known you long enough to see when you’resulking.”

Wolf wasn’t the type to sulk, not really. And what he was doing I wouldn’t call sulking, more of a quiet, distant brooding, but I knew he wouldn’t like mesayingit.

I expected him to snap back at me about the “sulking” thing, but instead, he just said, “I’m not sulking,” and turned back to hisfolder.

I growled. I wanted to throw something at his thick head, but Wolf had removed anything that could be used as a projectile before he’d put me in his office.Bastard.

“You’re quiet, Wolf,” I growled. “I know this isn’t just about what happened to me. Getting stabbed is more likely to send you on a rampage, not shut you down like this. In fact, I’m somewhat pissed you thought I wouldn’t notice. What the hell is wrongwithyou?”

“Nothing is wrong with me.” Wolf sighed, not even bothering to look me intheeye.

“You know what?” I hissed, pulling loose one of the bobby pins from my hair, not giving two shits about my nails as I straightened it out and shoved it into the lock of the desk drawer, the lock popping open with a loudclick.

Wolf only just had enough time to turn toward me as I aimed his .500 Smithathim.

“Answers,” Ispat. “Now.”

“You won’t shoot me.” Wolf sighed, turning his head awayfromme.

“Wouldn’t I?” I purred, pulling back the hammer until it let out a sweet click. “I won’t kill you, Wolf, but I know where to shoot andnotkill.”

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