Page 95 of Wolf

“I said nothing, Anna,” I growled. “I said nothing because I couldn’t think. I couldn’t say it thoughtlessly, because the one thing you don’t understand, Anna, is that our child and our club are no differenttome.”

“What?” she said, completely stunned as she looked back at me, her head softly shaking as she took another step away from me, tugging on herhands.

“It’s ‘club before all,’ Anna. It always has been and it alwayswillbe.”

“Then ourchild—”

“Is club,” I finished, catching her bysurprise.

“What?” she blurted, the confusion written into the groves of her frown as she searched the softness of my face for the reason as I gave her, with the deepest simplicity, the answer that I had come to. The answer that I knew was true. And the answer that I knew was what I trulywanted.

“My club is made up of the people closest to me. The people I know who are worthy of protecting, of sacrificing everything for. The club I chose to love. And my club is my brothers and their women. My club is you and it’s me. And our club is everything in between us,” I breathed, stepping forward, so close to Anna that I could smell that sweet but spicy scent of her skin as the soft clouds of her breath touched me. “The reason I hesitated is because our child is already club. There will never be a day that I won’t put it above all, and there will never be anything I wouldn’t do to protect it. And just like I would never sacrifice a brother, and will never sacrifice you, I will never sacrifice our child.Never.”

Anna stood still, her small head only reaching the middle of my chest as she looked straight forward, her face stunned, and her mouth speechless. I saw her mind processing my words, her face flickering from one emotion to the next so fast I didn’t know what to think, until I felt the timid but gentle squeeze of her handsinmine.

I took a step backward, and despite not looking at me, Anna’s small foot took that one simple step over the threshold and into the hallway. “I bought this because it’s near the club,” I explained, looking up and around the interior, knowing it was completely different to every aspect of mine and Anna’s personality; the aged wooden floors, floral patterned wallpaper, and the single old rocking chair in the corner. “But I also bought it because that meant the club was near home. When I walk onto my compound, I can be the president I want to be, but I also want to make sure that when I step through that door, that I can be the husband and the father I want to be for you and for ourchild.”

“Husband?” Anna repeated, her head snapping up to me, just as I felt the small smirk pulling up ontomyface.

“I know everything I just said to you was a lot, Anna.” I lowered my body and got down on one knee. Anna’s blue eyes went wide, and her head pulled back as I pressed her hands against my lips, the velvet softness of her skin and the spicy scent of them treasured by me as I stared back into her eyes. “But I want you to know that, although I can’t guarantee that I won’t ever make a mistake again in the future, I will never do anything to risk losing you again. I will never hurt you like I have. And I will never make you feel like you can’t be with me. There’s nobody else but you. No other bitch for me. Ineedyou.”

Anna’s white teeth raked over her pink lips as she said, emotion tangled through her voice, “You think calling me a bitch is going to make me forgive you?” She couldn’t hide the slight smile pulling at the corner of her lips, the slightly paler pink her lips went as she bit down on the inside of her cheek to stop herself from smilingwider.

“Yeah,Ido.”

“You’re a bastard, you know that,right?”

“Yeah, I know.” I couldn’t help the smile spreading across my cheeks as I took a deep breath and looked up to the girl who was at the center of everything I ever wanted, ever needed, and could never live without. “Marryme?”

“No.”

I felt my heart jump with joy assheacc—

Wait.

“What?” I blurted, my face taking on the shock as I quickly rose back up to my feet, my eyes bearing down on Anna as she pulled her hands out of mine, letting them flop down by my side. “What do you mean, you won’tmarryme?”

“I mean I won’t marry you,” Anna retorted, the sarcasm thick in her voice as she propped her hands on her hips, adding an extra eye roll as she point-blank rejected me. The stunning shock felt like a blast from a shotgun as every part of my chest began to hurt, and when I turned to look at her, to open my mouth and demand why she wouldn’t be mine, she held up a finger tostopme.

“I won’t marry you, Wolf,” Anna repeated, rubbing salt in the wound. But then she lowered her finger and I noted the gentleness taking over her face as she looked at me, her lips showing the genuine smile. “But I’ll forgive you,” she said. My mind began to catch up as she added, “We can start fromthere.”

“You forgive me?” I repeated, and it was as if a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I only now realized how much I had yearned for her forgiveness, more so than her acceptance of my proposal, more so than anything, as Anna’s arms reached up to the collar of my cut, grabbing a fistful andtuggingdown.

“I forgive you. Now, hurry up and kiss me before I change my mind; you’re too bloody tall for me to reach,” Anna growled, tugging hard on my collar, forcing my head down and toward her face as she pushed up onto hertiptoes.

“As you wish,” I growled as my arms wrapped around her back, pulling her toward me until our lips crashed against eachother.

The sweet taste of her mouth was like a sledgehammer to my body as all of my senses were overwhelmed with the taste of her, yet I knew it wasn’t enough. Her hands that desperately clung to my cut let go and lunged around me, gripping the back of my neck, fingers catching the short ponytail at the bottom and pulling until a growl tore through my chest, urging me harder as I took a step forward, slamming the blue door closed as I pushed her backagainstit.

She broke the kiss, pulling me back as her blue eyes looked into mine. “Wolf...,” Annabreathed.

“What?” I panted back, my voice strainedwithlust.

“I’m going to throw up.” Anna gagged, and in a second, I had her planted on her feet; then she raced toward the open door at the end of the hallway, lunged for the toilet, and hurled intothebowl.

Still the most beautiful thingI’dseen.

Chapter Thirty-Four

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