Page 63 of Wolf

I glared at the tall brunette’s back as she rummaged through the empty drawers. She chuckled when she found the bottom drawer shoved full of condoms, but it didn’t lighten my mood. “What the fuck was that?” I growledatlast.

“What was what, Anna?” Ash closed the drawer, hesitating before she turned to face me, her glasses reflecting my crossed arms andscowl.

“Your story. You didn’t tell them everything,” I pushed, getting annoyed at her constant side-stepping.

“I told them all they needed to know,” Ash retorted, standing then moving over to my side of the room. “Everything else isunnecessary.”

“You should tell them everything. They canprotectyou.”

Ash stiffened, a frown appearing on her lips. “You’vechanged.”

“You say that like it’s a badthing.”

Ash didn’t correct me; instead, she took a step forward, her hand reaching up to brush a stray hair out of my face. “You haven’t told them everything, either. I can see the way he looks at you. Are you sure you want to tell him everything? About our past? About who you really are?” She hesitated with her next words, her eyes skimming down to where I knew the scars from my wound were hidden. “About what you found out at thehospital?”

Ash’s eyes, through the darkness of her glasses, looked up to me with the same steel-piercing stare I had known for years. The same glare that reminded me there was nothing to be hiddenfromAsh.

“Howdidyou—”

“You still have me registered as your next of kin,” she answered, a small almost smug smile pulling on her lips. “So, let me ask you this: You’ve told him you love him, and I’m sure you do; that jacket”—she said on a bitter hiss—“is proof of that. I couldn’t imagine you allowing yourself to become property otherwise. And yet, you still keep secrets from him. You can’t tell him everything. So, do you reallylovehim?”

“I do,” Igrowled.

“Do you love him?” Ash repeatedagain.

“I just said Ifuckingdo.”

Ash stepped into my space, her face coming close to mine, breath rolling over my cheeks, eyes so close I could see into them through the lens of her sunglasses. “Do. You.Love.Him?”

“I do,” I breathed. “I reallydo,Ash.”

Her eyes studied my face, and then the tension dissipated. She stepped back, her expression soft. “Then tell himeverything.”

“Butyoujust—”

“It doesn’t matter, Anna,” she interrupted, her thumbs gripping the loops of her denim shorts. “This is your future, now. Not mine. I told my half, basic albeit, but it’s not the whole picture. If you want any kind of life with this guy, you need totellhim.”

“But everything is—” I paused, seeing Ash’s don’t-make-me-repeat-myself frown. “Areyousure?”

She let out a tired grumble. “I just said so,didn’tI?”

I replied with a soft sigh as she smirkedatme.

“Have you always been this easy to convince?” She laughed, earning herself a hard punch inthearm.

She rubbed it, but her wide smirk had a foreign chuckle rising from the depth of my chest. I was unable to contain it as we broke into full-out laughter. I reached my arms forward and wrapped them around her neck, dragging her down to my height, and despite her awkwardness, hers folded tightlyaroundme.

“I’ve missed you,” she whispered in my ear, her head in the crook of my shoulder as I did the same thing, breathing in her familiar scent mixed with the scent of salt and dirt from her wanderingadventures.

“Yeah, me too,” I admitted andreleasedher.

Moment over, she dumped her bag on the bed, the clink of glass bottles in her bag making me frown, but I ignored it as she flashed me a grin. “You need to tell me everything.” She sounded like an excitedschoolgirl.

“Oh, so you don’t know already, Miss I’ve-obviously-done-background-checks-on-all-of-your-associates?” I scoffed, dropping onto the side of the bed, making her bounce alittle.

She puffed at a brown hair falling over her face. “Oh, you caughtthat,huh?”

“Yeah, I did,” I grumbled, glaringather.

---