Page 48 of Wolf

“I’m not taking you hostage.” For a second, I could swear his voice soundedsympathetic.

Then he plunged the knife into mystomach.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, pulling the knife out andwalkingaway.

My whole world seemed to slow as my eyes became impossibly wide, stuck in a transcended moment of pain where time just waited. It waited for me to etch the smile on Wolf’s face as he moved toward me. It let me savor the way he walked with confidence and purpose, like I was his only goal. And last of all, it tortured me by allowing me to witness the painful moment of devastation when the crowd between us parted and his eyes dropped to the red soaking through my shirt and dripping into a puddle on the floor. The moment when my man’s world came crashing downaroundhim.

Wolf’s roar cut into my slow world and everything came rushing down on topofme.

I collapsed to the floor, hitting the ground long before Wolf could reach me, as screams and sudden shouting explodedaroundus.

“Anna!” Wolf’s broken voice yelled as he slid to his knees, his hands shaking above me as his brain tried to process what heshoulddo.

He chose to press down on the wound, and I expected it to hurt, but instead, it just felt cold. A freezing, chilling cold swept through my veins as drowsinesstookhold.

“Pipe,” I breathed, my tongue suddenly feeling too heavy to move. “CheckonPipe.”

“Don’t talk, Anna,” Wolf snapped, his eyes flicking to my face as he tried his best to offer me a controlled, confident smile through the tears rolling down over his big, roughRussian’sface.

I became aware of someone else dropping down by my side, but I didn’t have the energy to waste looking at whoitwas.

“Ch-check on Pipe,” I insisted, my breath soft and staggered through my chattering teeth. “C-crap, why am I s-socold?”

“You’re going into shock, but you’ll be fine,” Wolf reassured me. “You’re going to be fine.” He took my hand, his other bloodied fingers brushing the hair out ofmyface.

I could feel my consciousness sinking and tried to fight tooth and nail to stay awake, while Wolf begged me to keep my eyes open. But my fight wasfading.

“Kiss me,” I blurted, the urgency to touch him, to feel him, suddenly overwhelming all my senses andthoughts.

Wolf shook his head, his eyes glazing. “No,” he growled through clenched teeth. “I’ll kiss you tomorrow. I’ll kiss you the day after and the day after that.Notnow.”

“Wolf,” I hissed, my words taking way too much energy than they should. “Kiss me,” I pleaded. “Kissmenow.”

I saw the conflict in Wolf’s eyes as he fought to bestubborn.

But he took too long and my eyes closed, the darkness reaching to take me in itsgrasp.

And then warm lips pressed against mine, and despite everything, I could taste his scent of expensive whiskey and cigarettes and remembered wishing it wouldneverend.

It was the last thing I felt before my world fell intosilence.

Chapter Nineteen

Wolf

It had beena long time since I lastprayed.

I suppose it would have been natural for me to have lost faith in God after Sasha and the children had died. But that’s not why I stoppedpraying.

I stopped praying because there was nothing for me to pray for. After leaving Russia behind, I had nobody to pray for happiness with, nobody to ask God to look over... nobody to ask God to protect.Tosave.

I squeezed my fingers tighter. The overlaid fingers almost turning blue from the force of my hands pressing together, veins pronounced in my arms, head pounding from the thickness of my blood churning in my veins as I pressed every ounce of will in my body in the hopes that my prayer would be heard. That if my will was strong enough, if it made my voice just that little bit louder... that it might beheard.

Don’t take her. Don’t take another one. Notthisone.

The words were like a vicious cycle in my head as I was torn between the past and thepresent.

Images of Sasha and the children were throwing themselves at me, the memories of their funeral, of their unidentifiable bodies in that small satin coffin overlaying where Anna lay in the hospital ICU bed. It was like a superficial weight on my chest that made the simple effort to breathe almostunbearable.

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