Page 61 of Wolf

Never again, I swore. Never again would Ihurthim.

Never.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Wolf

Beingface to face with this small, thin girl, I almost couldn’t believe she was what we were all about to go to war over. I also recognized her as the girl Jax had been trying to pick up on the way into town from when we’d been heading back from my meet with Charon. In the heat of the moment at the house, I hadn’t even thought about it, but back then, all I had on my mindwasAnna.

Not that she wasn’t right with what she said. For a second, with the barrel pressed against my head, I had lost to her. She used my guilt as a knife to bury in my chest in penance for letting Anna get hurt. She read me like a book and used it against me. She probably shot me for the samereason.

“Shooting him because you were jealous was childish,” Anna remarked as she stood looking down at Ash tied to one of the metal chairs withcrossedarms.

She shot me because she wasjealous?

Ash didn’t reply; she just looked up at the dim buzzing light of one of our interrogation rooms and grumbled. “The lights are too bright,” said the girl withsunglasseson.

“Get over it,” Annagrowled.

Her head lolled against her shoulders, purposely avoiding the corner of the room where Lamb stood, watching her with narrowed eyes and tightlyfoldedarms.

“So,” Anna said, luring Ash’s attention back to her. “You wanna tell me whereyou’vebeen?”

“A little bit of here and a little bit of there.” She shrugged, looking in Anna’s generaldirection.

Anna went quiet then, her eyes flashing with a bit of everything, the usual bullheaded woman carefully thinking over her words as she regarded her supposed best friend. The same best friend that ended up getting her stabbed with this shit—which I realized would have been a good comeback to her in thehouse.

“You know these aren’t necessary, right?” Ash grumbled, tugging on the bindings holding her onto the chair. “I’m not goingtorun.”

“Your history says otherwise,” Anna grumbled. “RememberMadrid?”

“Oh, come on,” Ash groaned. “That was ages ago, and the bellhop untied youlater.”

“You chained me to a fucking radiator in the middle of July!” Annasnapped.

Ash let out a soft whine. “Come on, untie me.” She lifted her foot, nudging it against Anna’s shoe. “I’m sure your big, bad, and uglies will stop me from leaving. Unless you don’t trust them to keep a hold on me?” She said the last comment while turning her head in my direction, a small smirk on her lips,challengingme.

I couldn’t stop thegrowl.

“Stop provoking him,” Anna said, kicking Ash intheshin.

“Bitch,” Ash hissed, and Anna shrugged, walking over to me and holding outherhand.

I didn’t want to hand it over. I really didn’t. But I did anyway, giving her the blade and watching her maneuver around the back of the chair, cutting through the ties as the bitch I was seeming to dislike more and more was set free in mycompound.

She stood tall, her dusty boots wrinkling as she stretched up onto her toes in a long, lithe pose. Dropping down onto her heels, she looked to Anna. “Where can I get a drinkinhere?”

“From him.” Anna jabbed her thumb in Lamb’s direction, causing Ash to instantly frown. “Butnotyet.”

Ash cocked her head to the side, studying Anna’s gaze as it wanderedtowardme.

I saw the moment she understood what Anna wanted. It was the moment when the carefree attitude dropped and I got a good look at the fortified stone walls athercore.

Her expression sobered, her jaw tensing, as she looked down at the blonde she was ready to kill amanfor.

“They want the story,” Ash stated, biting down on her lip, not looking pleased in the slightest bit. Her eyes didn’t leave Anna’s, but if they had, I was sure she’d be glaring daggersatme.

“The whole story, Ash,” Anna said softly, her eyes locked on Ash’s until whatever message passedbetweenthem.

---