21. Anna

21

Anna

Three weeks later

He was in my room again.

Not my room. His room.

Our room.

The door closed quietly, and I could feel the air shift around him, trying to make room. I was in his bed, the sheets pulled all the way up to my chin. Underneath, I wore a pair of cotton shorts and a T-shirt. Nothing that would seem sexy, nothing that would give him the wrong impression, but clothes didn't indicate intentions. I could have been bundled up in a parka jacket and snow pants, and he still would sense my needs.

My desires.

Damn it to hell and back, but it was hard not to want him. Especially here, in the middle of his room, in the middle of his bed. His scent was wrapped all around me, but then, that was the plan.

Sleep in his bed. Smell like him. Play the role of the dutiful alpha mate and pretend we hadn't been circling each other for weeks. Since he found out I was a null.

Since he wanted to use me.

"If you're going to fuck me, then come here and fuck me. Otherwise, leave me alone. I'm trying to sleep," I snarled as I sat up in bed and stared at him.

Something had changed since we'd seen the witches. Or maybe nothing had changed at all. I thought we'd made progress. That we were on our way to parting amicably. I have every reason to still hate him. He'd gone back on his word. Dragged me back to the Black Diamond pack so I could help him discover who kidnapped his witch and drained her of her magic.

Forced me back to the pack who hated me when he'd promised me my freedom.

But he looked at me with distrust as well. Distrust that I didn't deserve. It was fine when he thought I was my father's right-hand killer, but now that he knew the truth, he still watched me with a tightness around his lips.

He wouldn't tell me why.

With a low chuckle, he moved to the bed. Anticipation heightened inside of me. "You'd let me, wouldn't you? Let me inside you. Let me fuck you until you screamed. You want it," he said in a low voice.

"Are you going to pretend that you don't?"

"No. No point in that. My cock is so hard that it hurts."

"Then why are you just standing there? You want me to smell like you, but you don't want to smell like me? Double standard, isn't it?"

"I didn't come here to fight. Or to fuck you."

Liar.

"Someone just crossed into our borders, an old member of my pack who has since gone rogue. He's asking to see you."

"At three o'clock in the morning? He's going to have to wait." Annoyed, I slipped back into the bed and pulled the covers back up to my neck. If he wasn't going to tell me what was wrong, I wasn't going to beg.

"It's Dean Hewitt."

Hewitt. My throat tightened, and I sat up again. "Parker's son."

Jax just nodded. Parker and Dean had been estranged, but I guess somehow he'd found out that Parker died by suicide.

Most of the pack blamed me. Even Jax. Hell, maybe I even blamed myself.

Now his son was here to blame me too.

"He'll have to wait until morning to take a piece of me," I said as I slipped back in bed and squeezed my eyes shut. I would not cry in Jax's bed. I hadn't cried in years, but lately, just looking at my mate has been enough to unravel me.

"You'll be busy tomorrow." Something jingled over my head and dropped on the pillow next to my face. Opening my eyes, I frowned and snagged the set of keys. "The Fanged Smile is yours."

The bar. When I'd refused to move into his home, and even more so to move into his bed, he'd asked me what I wanted, besides freedom.

I wanted The Fanged Smile, and to my surprise, he agreed. Not just manage it but deeded it to me as well. I wasn't sure how that was going to work. When this was over, really over, I wouldn't be part of his pack anymore. How would I run The Fanged Smile then?

For now, it was my lifeline. Something to focus on while the pack schemed on how to get rid of me. Reaching out, I snagged the keys. "Thank you," I muttered.

"You're welcome."

I waited, but it wasn't like he was going to thank me. After all, I was just doing what he ordered me to do. Or what he tried to order me to do. In the past three weeks, he's tried to use the pack bonds to test me, as if he thought maybe my null abilities could turn on and off at will.

"Is there something else you wanted?"

"I'm assigning Finn as your bodyguard."

My head jerked up. "Excuse me?"

"You'll be at The Fanged Smile for most of your time, unless I need you. I won't be able to watch you," he said evenly.

"Worried your little hands-off policy isn't going to fly?" When those objected to him installing me as his mate, he made it clear that the penalty for hurting me was exile.

"I'm worried that Dean is going to be a problem. It will just make me feel better if there is someone I trust by your side."

"Trust? Remember what happened last time Finn tried to help us? I put on his clothes and you lost your shit. Are you going to be able to keep it together knowing that we'll be near each other?"

"Are you planning on fucking him?" He asked coldly.

"Putting on his clothes because I'm literally freezing to death is a far cry from fucking him."

"I suggest you don't put yourself in a situation where you need to wear his clothes." In the dark, I watched as he raked his hand through this hair. "You should get some sleep."

"What did the witches say to you, Jax? Other than there was some growing magical threat on the horizon where you might need me to detect?"

It was the first time I'd bluntly asked. When I'd been attacked, he'd been willing to let me go. We'd even started trying to trust each other. When I woke up, I wasn't allowed to leave, and he couldn't contain the disgust in his eyes when he looked at me.

When I was alone with the coven, I demanded answers from them. The mother and the maiden, who I thought were my friends, just looked at me sadly and told me that there was nothing they could do to help me.

What the fuck did that even mean? I didn't need help. I just needed to be alone, away from this stupid mating bond that I couldn't escape, away from my father's reputation, away from anyone who pitied me.

I just needed to start over.

"I told you that they said I needed you. Your abilities."

"What, and you hate me again for that? Because I'm a…you know." We didn't say it out loud.

A null witch was rare, a null wolf shifter was unheard of.

Everyone who found out tried to use me.

"What I hate, Anna, is not being able to be rid of you," he said tiredly.

The remark stung, and I just snuggled back in the blankets and tried to ignore his scent as it wrapped around me.

The door never opened again. After a few seconds, the blankets moved, the mattress dipped under his weight, and his hand settled on my waist. "I hate that my house smells entirely of you, and I fucking hate how all I want to do is fuck you."

I knew the feeling. Against my better judgment, I turned and stared at him. Did I haunt his dreams the way he haunted mine? Did I taunt and tease him in his mind the way he tormented me?

He pulled the hem of my shirt up and smoothed his hand over my naked skin. With a gasp, I arched into him. We hadn't touched since I'd moved in. Hadn't even talked about it.

Apparently, we were at a breaking point.

"I hate you," I growled as I ran my hands through his hair. "Make me come."