Page 81 of Lamb

I stayed staring at my brother, watching those swirling eyes turn cold as I opened my mouth. “I have Ash outside, in the car.”

The warm sun-kissed tone of his skin washed from his face. “Motherfucker,” Jax hissed, dropping his hold and shoving me aside.

I turned, disheveled but free to look down at her. Our lawyer. Our president’s wife. Our MC queen.

She was still.

I’d spent years observing Anna; she was made from fire and brimstone, a volcano ready to erupt at a moment’s notice, but this wasn’t like anything I’d seen on her before. It was neither a fiery storm nor a bitter blizzard; it was just stone-cold silence.

I saw little movement beneath her features, her face able to conceal any emotion, if she felt them at all. It was like looking at a still ocean; I could see no movement despite knowing that a thousand trillion things lurked beneath the surface.

“Anna, babe,” Jax approached her, palms splayed, face a mix of uncertainty and panic. “We can explain.”

Anna’s hand shot up like a bullet, palm near slapping Jax in the face, halting him. She didn’t acknowledge him any further. Once again, her cold eyes slid to mine, no icy storm or sea of fire to be seen. She was cold, calculated, and collected.

He wasn’t her target. I was.

I met the silence of her expression, wondering if or what would be looming on my heels, whatever hell was about to break loose, or what cannon I couldn’t see coming.

“Club business or personal?”

I regarded her carefully, and her question even more so.

“Both,” I answered.

Her expression didn’t change. “Does Wolf know?”

I nodded and lied, “Only found out two days ago.”

“Okay.” Anna nodded, voice devoid of emotion, tone even and undisturbed. If she could catch my lie, she didn’t react to that either. Something was happening deep within her, tectonicplates shifting under the ocean, hidden and oblivious to those on land.

After a short, readjusting breath, she turned and walked into the depths of the clubhouse, leaving only cold, empty air following in her wake.

I watched her for a while, waiting until that pale blonde hair disappeared into the shadows.

Everybody else looked around, shellshocked; either at the news, Anna’s reaction, or perhaps both. It would be the first time hearing Ash was back on Black Angels’ land for most of them, and they’d have their own reaction to it.

A large part of me had my doubts that this would be the end of it. Another part, however, considered that Anna truly had cut off the ties that had bound the girls together. Where Ash’s wound had never begun to heal, Anna’s might already have turned into a scar.

“We’re fucked,” Jax breathed for the first time since this whole fiasco had begun. “We’re well and truly fucked.”

I sighed. “You’re overreacting.”

“I hope Wolf finds out first.” Jax slapped his hands together, and for the first time I’d ever seen, he began to pray.

“Why?”

“Because I’d rather Wolf beat me to death than deal with whatever hell Anna would summon.” He whimpered. “I’m scared.”

I rolled my eyes, turned on my heels, and left the poor man to his suffering.

Opening the compound doors once more, a pale-faced Mint made eye contact with me. Torn between following after me and Jax and watching Ash, he’d hung at the edge of the black SUV, door open, but his hand was anchored to the handle.

His expression didn’t change much, and I figured he didn’t know how to take my demeanor. A good reflection on thesituation would be clear, considering the building hadn’t blown up and I was walking out without a bullet wound. Mint had similar thoughts as the moment passed, and I watched some tension slip from his shoulders.

I walked toward him, the thick and damp Oregan air clinging to my skin. I could taste the storm brewing on my lips. Dark clouds began to cluster at the edge of the horizon as I hurried my pace past Mint and toward the back of the car.

I gave Mint a nod, and he leaned back into the car, popping loose the locks we had installed on our cages. It helped to prevent people from escaping. Except for certain redhead with a knack for jumping cars.

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