chapter 4

Anna

“You have to learn to trust me at some point.”

The whisper in my ear heated my skin, and I tried not to wiggle against the body pressed to mine. I didn’t understand what he wanted.

“You. I want you.”

And he could always read my thoughts. Damn irritating.

His low chuckle filled the darkness as his hand slid over my belly. I was naked. I was always naked, floating in the nothingness, and he was always here.

A dream. Just a dream, except I wasn’t asleep. Not always. Not this time.

“It’s hard to see you and not touch you. To see you and know that you won’t let me hold you.”

Let him? Nobody let Jax do anything. If he wanted to hold me, he would.

And that’s how I knew it wasn’t real. This was just the mate I wanted. The hero. The one who would listen and understand.

That was not the real Jax Bishop.

“Are you wet, baby? Let me see.”

I never stopped him. Never wanted to stop him. My body never reacted this way to anyone, and what was the harm? Instead, I turned toward him, threw my thighs across his hip while his cock settled right against my wet pussy. He was always just as naked as I was.

“Always wet for me,” he growled. “Mine. You’re mine, Anna. I won’t let anyone else have you.”

“You’re nothing more than a fantasy. A dream. You’re not real,” I told him with a small moan as his hands raked down my body and pressed between my legs. “You’re just a way to drive myself to madness.”

“You’re the one making me insane. You won’t talk to me. Won’t let me in. All you’ll ever let me do is this.”

Grabbing my hips, he twisted onto his back, taking me with him until I fell over his chest. In that moment, like every time, I thought of pushing him away. It wasn’t healthy to fantasize about him like this. It wasn’t real. It would never be real.

But I didn’t stop. Ever. Glutton for punishment. That’s me. And when I settled on his cock, I moaned just a little as I tried to make room for this thick length. His grunt just made me more slippery as I wiggled.

“Fuck, Anna. You always gotta tease.”

“Not teasing. Just…uh…just figuring out what I like.” It wasn’t like I had a ton of experience. Or any experience. Mated three years and still a virgin. But I had this. This fantasy that wasn’t real.

“Do you like this? Do you like it when I fuck you, Anna?”

He knew that I did, so I just growled at him and shifted my position so I could take him in a little deeper. He let me play for a few minutes while pleasure coursed through me, but then he grabbed my hips and took control.

Helpless. I was always helpless in his hands, but I always felt safe.

Another way that I knew it wasn’t real.

Jax Bishop was not someone who was safe. Not for me.

But that didn’t stop me from screaming out his name as he fucked me into oblivion.

I was not in my bed.

Blinking, I stared down at the rag in my hand and realized I’d completely lost myself in one of those stupid dreams, and I wasn’t even in my bed.

Or in my apartment.

The bar was empty. We’d been shut down for two hours. Normally, by now, I was curled up in my bed with a book, but I hadn’t cracked open a book in three weeks. Not since Jax made Danny the manager. Now, like every night, I’d been given a ridiculous cleaning task that always took at least two hours. Tonight, I was oiling the baseboards.

All of them.

Never mind that we had buffer tools to handle this or even that the baseboards really needed a new coat of paint. No, Danny had decided that the place was far too filthy and needed a good shine.

And I was just the girl to do it.

I ached from my head to my toes. Danny hadn’t given me a single day off. The first time I refused to come down, he’d broken into my apartment and hauled me down to the bar himself.

I’d been wearing nothing but a T-shirt and a pair of panties, and that was how he made me work. And whenever there weren’t any customers in the bar, the employees would find ways to entertain themselves.

My bruises had bruises.

They had two goals. One was to make me cry. I’d come damn close when they’d taken the poker to the grill coals and scarred my legs.

The second was to see my wolf.

I hadn’t shifted once since my father was killed. Not when Jax demanded it so he could identify my wolf. Not when Parker pleaded that it would help me heal.

Now everyone wanted to see if pain would let her out.

I would die before I let any of these assholes get their hands on her.

The phone on the bar rang, and I jerked my head up. It was almost four o’clock in the morning. Who the hell would be calling Fanged Smiles at this time?

Convinced it was a wrong number, I went back to my job. I was so close to finishing, and Danny had already told me that I needed to be back at eight in the morning for inventory.

The phone rang again. With a sigh, I dropped the rag and crossed the rough wooden floor. Wiping my hands on my pants, I looked down and swore. My pants were streaked with the damn oil. It would be a nightmare to try and wash out, assuming that I would ever have the time to do laundry.

This was my only pair of jeans. Leaving the bar to go shopping wasn’t exactly an option.

I did my best to stay tucked away in my own corner, and I didn’t exactly have a ton of money. I didn’t get a paycheck, but I did get tips from people who didn’t know who I was.

Or at least, I did until Danny had copied the key to my apartment. My squirreled-away money disappeared, and a dead rat was left in my bed.

Paranoia dug deep. I’d searched my apartment for cameras, and while I hadn’t found any, I still only dressed and undressed under a blanket. I pulled my dresser in front of my door every night although I knew damn well it wouldn’t stop a werewolf who wanted to get in.

The phone rang again, and I picked it up. “Hello?”

“Anna?”

As soon as I registered the familiar voice, I froze. How the hell did she know where I was? It had been almost five years since I’d seen her.

Magic.

“Anna, you have to run. Right now. Don’t even bother taking anything. Just get to us now.” Static started to garble the phone. “There’s…danger…use you.”

“What? Repeat that?”

Suddenly, the line went dead. “I don’t remember giving you permission to use the phone after hours.”

Whipping my head around, I stared at Danny. The phone cord dangled from his hand.

Fuck, I thought he’d left hours ago.

“It was just a drunk dial,” I lied as I dropped my gaze. “I’m almost finished with the baseboards.”

“And look at you,” he slurred. “Such a mess.”

Shit, he was drunk. Risking his wrath, I glanced back up to his face, and my stomach tightened. Lust was written all over his face.

“I’m almost finished, and then I’ll get cleaned up,” I said steadily. “Do you want to wait?”

“No.” The phone cord dropped from his hand. “He always said that you were off limits, but he’s not here, is he? I don’t want to wait anymore.”

He took a single step toward me, and I knew that my luck had run out. Of all the ways this pack had found to torment me, no one had tried to rape me. I knew that had been because of Parker.

But Danny was right. Parker wasn’t here anymore. No one was coming to save me. I had to save myself.

I had to run.

The step stool was still against the back wall so I could reach the top-shelf liquor bottles. Ignoring the aches and pains of my body, I spun and jumped. Landing on the step stool, I vaulted over the bar. His fingers brushed against my pant leg, but I was sober and faster. As soon as I landed, I raced to the front door. It was locked to keep people from coming in but not from going out. The alarm blared loudly as soon as the door opened, but I ignored it.

The cool air rushed against my face, and I ran. We were right on the edge of the territory.

If I could cross that border, Danny wouldn’t follow. Pack members weren’t allowed to leave the territory without permission. If he stepped over, Jax would know.

I prayed that it would be enough to save me. Once I was over the line, I would do exactly what I’d been warned to do.

Run.

Lungs burning, I tried to ignore everything but freedom. If Danny shifted, this would all be over before it started. I couldn’t hesitate for even a moment.

It wasn’t like I’d exercised. In three years, I hadn’t stepped out further than the trash cans of the bar.

But I knew my escape route. I’d memorized a map. There was a river ahead, and it was the natural territory border. I could swim, some. More, I was hoping, than Danny.

“Get back here, you fucking bitch!”

A human voice. That was good. I might just make it.

There was no moon, and I kept my eyes trained to the ground as I entered the woods.

Tripping over a root and falling would be an embarrassing way for this to end. Branches scraped at me and slapped me in the face. Gasping for breath, I pushed myself to keep going, to ignore the pain.

Ahead, I could hear the rushing water. I was so close. Almost there.

Overhead I heard the low warning rumble of a wolf.

No. Oh God, please, no.

A dark gray wolf stepped out from behind a tree trunk, directly in my path. Narrowly, I managed to pivot at the last minute before running over them.

My ankle twisted, and white-hot pain shot up my leg.

With a cry, I went down. Instantly, a human was on top of me. Hands grabbed at my shirt, sliding it up while I shoved.

The wolf growled again, and it was enough to make Danny stop.

“She tried to run,” Danny slurred as he stood and hauled me up. Pain shot up my leg again, and I folded, but he didn’t ease up on his grip. “No need to bother Jax about it now. I’ll handle it and tell him in the morning.”

The wolf didn’t move, and Danny did a mock salute and began to drag me away. I had no idea who the wolf was, but I knew better than to beg for help.

No one would save me.

“You don’t want to do this,” I said through gritted teeth as I stumbled. It didn’t slow him down at all. He just dragged me. “I’m Dirk’s daughter, remember? Disgusting. You don’t want me. Not like this.”

The bar was in sight. The alarm still blared, a beacon of doom. I scrambled to get upright, to fight, but both my ankle and knee collapsed under me.

Danny didn’t say a word. Instead, he dragged me around to the wide entrance. As soon as the door closed behind him, he threw me on the wood floor and flipped on the light.

Frantically, I looked around for a weapon. Everything in the kitchen had been neatly tucked away for the night. Nothing was in reach.

“Time to teach you a lesson.”