Page 53 of Wolf

She opened the door and in barreled the huge Russian man, Jax, Hunter, and Lamb on his heels as they all came intotheroom.

“Nice.” Jax winked at me as he took in my shirtless form. Luckily, I was wearing a nice lacy bra that was one of my more conservative pieces of underwear. Just because Wolf and I were on the no-sexual-activity-of-any-sort ban didn’t mean I couldn’t look good. Then again, I looked good in anything, stab woundornot.

Wolf’s eyes were so fixated on me that he mustn’t have registered the comment. Hunter slapped Jax on the back of his head in Wolf’splace.

Wolf’s eyes drifted down to my bandaged stomach, a frown deepening onhisface.

“Oh please, don’t look like I stabbed your puppy.” I groaned, reading the guilt deepening in the lines. “Your face is frowny enough without feeling guilty for this. It isn’t yourfault.”

He scowled at me, displeased I called him out on his martyredemotions.

“Well, it’s not,” I huffed. “Not that it’s really my fault,either.”

I heard Kay scoff at the doorway, sending me one last glare, reminding me of her threat before she stepped out and shut the doorbehindher.

I looked at the four brothers, their eyes still holding their own reservations about my wound. I saw Jax make a pointed attempt not to even glance any lower than my boobs. Not sure if I was thankful for thatornot.

“Who is it?” Lamb interrupted my thoughts. He’d checked out the wound when he’d first come in, but otherwise didn’t look too perturbed. In fact, I could see his cold, calculating self swimming just below thesurface.

I sighed, sinking my head back into the pillow, pretending to look deep into the steel ceiling. “Ash.” The name felt weird coming off my tongue, and it reminded me of how long it had been since I lastsaidit.

“Ash?” Jax repeated, his browarching.

“Ash was—is my best friend,” I divulged, nostalgia curdling in my chest. “We moved to the US together four years ago. Or rather, we ran away...” My mind flashed with memories. “Monster...,” they whispered over and over, but I shoved them back down where they belonged and carried on. “We thought we covered it up and got away, but apparently not.” I felt my wound twitch, reminding me of why I ended up on the coldcountertop.

“What did Ash do?” Jax asked, catchingmygaze.

“I…” I looked across each of their faces and felt my throat tighten up. I shook off the bad memories of that night, but other memories came forth, reminding me of why I was so impatient. “Look, I’ll tell you everything, but first we need to find Ash. If they did this,”—I gestured down to my stomach—“then it won’t be long until theylocateher.”

Lamb nodded, his brain cataloging the information. The others looked like they wanted to press me for more information, but they didn’t, and I was glad for it. No matter what went down, this story wasn’t mine alone, and it didn’t feel right to tell it. Not when even I didn’t knoweverything.

“Where is she?” Hunter stepped up, coming closer to thetable.

“I can’ttellyou.”

“Anna,” Wolfgrowled.

“It’s not that Iwon’ttell you,” I quickly added, sensing his irritation at an obvious misinterpretation. “When I say I can’t, Wolf, it means that I can’t.” His frown only deepened, forcing my own annoyed growl out of my lips. “I don’t know whereAshis.”

Wolf’s facial expression relaxed, but only slightly. He remained as intense as he was the second he had entered the room. He had one hand wrapped around mine, the muscles in his fist clenching and relaxing around my smallfingers.

“When was the last time you saw her?” Lambasked.

“Ash isn’t the easiest person to keep in touch with,” I scoffed, considering how much of an understatement it was. “Last time I heard anything about her whereabouts was when Mallory saw her at theairport.”

“What?” Hunter started. “The British chick that spoke to Mallory in the airportwasher?”

“When Mallory told me what they said, I figured it was her. Ash has always considered herself an advice Guru, but really, she’s just a nosy bitch. I don’t think she knew Mallory was connected to me, but with Ash, you can never know for sure.” Not that I would ever tell her that even I couldn’t completely read her to her face; she’d love to think she was shrouded inmystery.

“So, how are we supposed to find her?” Jax asked, looking at me as if I might whip out an “Ashcompass.”

“You don’t,” I said, causing him tofrown.

“But I thought you said that the other guys were close to finding her?” Jaxretorted.

“No, I said it won’t be long until they do,” I corrected him, acutely aware of the confusion growing on the rest of the brothers’ faces. Even Lamb narrowed his eyes on me as he awaited my explanation. “You don’t find Ash. Noonecan.”

“What do you mean?” Jax grumbled, getting that annoyed pout on his face, reaching the end of hispatience.

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