The Life of Anna, Part 5: Emerged (50 page)

“Yes,” I said quickly.

As Simon walked away, another man
approached the table and this time you nodded and went onto the
dance floor with him. He pulled you to his body and put his hands
right on your ass. A moment later, you gave him a seductive smile
and put your arms around his neck.

I growled. “How can she do that!” I
exclaimed, gripping my beer bottle tightly.

“Alex, you’ve been gone for years,” Seth
reminded me gently.

“But she’s engaged to my
brother.”

“Who is treating her like shit.”

I didn’t like the reminder of what Kurt
had done to you. But still...had you turned into the type to go out
and cheat? Was it cheating if the engagement wasn’t real? From what
I understood, Kurt had made it clear that you could do whatever you
wanted when he wasn’t in town. Did you go out every weekend and
find a different guy to fuck?

I could feel my anger rising, and when
the man you were dancing with leaned down to kiss you, I squeezed
my beer bottle so tightly it broke.

“Whoa!” Seth said, grabbing my arm. “I’m
thinking this wasn’t a good idea.”

“We didn’t know she’d be here,” I
snapped, and stood with my fists clenched. It would have been fine
had you.... God, the man’s hands were on your ass and crawling up
your skirt.

I had taken two steps forward when Greg
and Tony grabbed me at the same time you pulled away from Groping
Man. You shook your head and stepped further away. The man grabbed
your hand, but you pulled away and went back to your seat.

“Good girl,” I breathed, and collapsed
back on the couch.

“Apparently....” Simon trailed off as he
looked at the glass on the table. “What happened?”

“Someone groped Anna’s ass,” Tony said
with a chuckle.

Simon let out a small smile, but didn’t
allow more expression than that. “Well, I hope this doesn’t cause
more beer to be wasted, but I got the information as
requested.”

I turned quickly. “What’s going
on?”

He shook his head. “According to the
bartender who is a friend of Cameron, the guy she’s with, she’s
engaged to a fuckhead and is in desperate need of a cock between
her legs.”

I didn’t know whether to laugh or curse.
To hear my brother referred to as a “fuckhead” was extremely
amusing. That you were desperate for a fuck angered me. Kurt should
have been visiting you. You have needs. You have the strongest sex
drive I’ve ever seen in a woman.

A plan formed in my head. “What’s the
closest hotel?”

“What are you thinking Alex?” Greg asked
in a wary tone.

“She wants sex.” I shrugged. “I’d rather
her be with me than some asshole she picks up here.”

“You can't!” Greg protested. “You can’t
reveal yourself this soon.”

“She doesn’t have to know it’s me. She
can be blindfolded. Isn’t that the big thing in romance novels now?
The mystery and all that shit?”

“You’re a big guy, Alex. How are you
going to keep her from knowing?”

“It’s been years. She’s absolutely
convinced that I’m dead.”

“What about your piercings?”

“I won’t let her touch me.”

“She’ll know your voice.”

“I won’t speak.”

Seth raised his eyebrow. “You won't
speak? How will you get her into bed if you don’t speak?”

I glanced at Simon. “Simon can make the
arrangements with her. Kurt told her things had to remain private.
I can offer her privacy. Something likely these men can’t. It will
be noticed if she goes off with one of them.” I glanced at Greg.
“Go find a hotel with a suite and have it made up nicely. Good
smells since she’ll be blindfolded.” I looked at Tony. “Go find a
good blindfold.” I looked at Seth. “Stay with me to make sure I
don’t kill any of the guys who approach her.”

Anna did not have the amused expression Alex
had imagined she’d have when he finished his story. He would have
thought her to be giggling at his silly jealousy, not staring at
her hands in her lap.

He glanced at Seth who shrugged. Seth was as
confused as he was.

“Anna?” Alex’s voice was soft.

“You slept with Irina?” she whispered.

“I—”
Fuck
. He hadn’t realized he’d
mentioned her name. Until now. “It happened when I came to you. I
had to take in the Immortal essence, but I couldn’t take it
straight and—”

“I’m very familiar with the process, Alex,”
she said bitterly and stood.

“I didn’t ask for Sebastian to bring her,” he
said softly.

“You fucked her so you could come and
manipulate me into breaking up with my boyfriend.” It wasn’t a
question and Alex realized how bad it sounded.

“It wasn’t like that. I— I didn’t know what
was going on when I’d finished—”

She shook her head and put her hand up, palm
out. “I know exactly what happened. You don’t need to tell me.” Her
jaw was clenched and she took a deep breath. “I need some air.” She
turned and glared at him. “Don’t send Seth to follow me. It’s the
middle of the day.”

Anna turned on her heel and left the room,
her light footsteps disappearing down the staircase.

Alex looked at Seth. “Is it wrong that I
don’t understand why that upset her so much? She would have to know
I’d slept with the other Elder-Mistresses before.”

Seth frowned. “I dunno. How she put it
sounded really bad.” He sighed. “I understand why you did it,
but...yeah, I don’t know why either.”

Alex ran his hands through his hair. “I can’t
do anything right with her.”

“Did you tell her about Yelena?”

Alex shook his head. “She won’t take that
well either.”

“Who’s Yelena?” Anna’s soft voice came from
the stairway.

Alex glared at Seth and then turned to look
at Anna. “I thought you were getting air,” he said, a little too
defensively.

“I realized I was being oversensitive and
came back to apologize.” She stepped towards him. “Who’s Yelena?”
she repeated.

Alex sighed. “Peter’s cousin. Vlad’s middle
daughter.”

Her face stilled, and he was a little in awe
that he couldn't tell what she was thinking. “What should I know
about her?”

Alex cursed to himself again. “She came to
visit me when I was imprisoned. She...posed as a
Dirne
,
but I knew who she was. She...became pregnant.”

Anna’s face paled, but her expression didn’t
change.

“She lost the baby. She got married last
year. I only used her to get even with Vlad. I didn’t have any
feelings for her at any time.” Anna nodded, face unchanged, and
Alex started feeling defensive. “You were pregnant while I was
gone, too, you know.”

Her eyes widened slightly. “You think I
wanted Devin to do that to me?”

“I meant with Vati’s child.”

Her mouth opened in shock. “I didn’t ask him
to get me pregnant,” she said after she recovered from his low
blow.

“But you went along with it.” Why was he
picking a fight with her?

“I didn’t know what was going on.” Her eyes
widened. “I didn’t know what was going on!” Her voice rose higher
until it squeaked on the last word. “I didn’t know!” Anna fled the
room. He could hear her crying in the stairwell as she went back
down to the lower floors.

Guilt immediately flooded his heart and he
looked at Seth, full of shame.

“It’s gonna take a while for you guys to get
used to each other again.” Seth gave him a sympathetic smile. “You
want me to follow her?”

Alex shook his head. “It’s daytime. I will
respect her wishes.”

Anna ran to the bedroom to dress quickly and
then left the condo and wandered around the park for a good hour
before sitting down under a tree and staring at the ground.

Alex’s words had opened a wound that hadn’t
healed. Her insecurities from not being a proper Elder-Mistress.
She hadn’t known what was going on the day that she became pregnant
with Wilhelm’s baby. Either at the funeral or after Wilhelm had
disciplined her. Alex sleeping with Irina shouldn’t bother her, but
her name reminded Anna of that horrible day. A reminder that she
didn’t fit in. Anywhere, really.

Alex had slept with Irina so that he could
tell her to break up with Hugo. That made her mad.

She pulled her phone out and called Hugo. She
didn’t know if he’d still be in rehearsals, but figured she’d try
anyway. He picked up after the third ring.

“Katrina? Is everything okay?”

She tried to talk, but suddenly burst into
tears.

“Katrina? Are you okay? Is Alex okay?”

Her voice squeaked. “Are you home?”

“Heading there now. Why?”

“Can I come over?”

He hesitated. “I don’t know if that’s a good
idea.”

Anna sniffed. “Please? I...I can’t go home. I
just need to talk to someone.”

Hugo sighed. “All right. Where are you?”

“In the park.”

“Do you want me to come find you?”

“No.” Her crying began to subside. “No, I’m
okay. I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

Anna sat on Hugo’s comfortable, black leather
couch, remembering the last time she was here. The subject on her
mind was much the same as it was presently.

Hugo handed her a glass of water and then sat
down next to her. “What’s going on?” he asked in a gentle
voice.

Anna held the cool glass in both hands and
studied it. “Alex and I spent the morning talking,” she said in a
soft voice and smiled slightly. “He told me about what went on
while he...was gone...and stuff.” Her jaw began to tremble. “He
told me that he slept with....” She stopped. How much did Hugo know
about her life? About what she was? His expression was one of
surprise. “He....” She stopped again and leaned forward on her
legs.

“Katrina, you don’t have to tell me if you
don’t want to.”

How could she explain without confusing him?
“The day you and I broke up...I...had a dream about Alex. He
pleaded with me to not give up on him returning, which is why I
called Wilhelm and found out the truth of my future. Or, at least
kind of the truth.”

Hugo’s brow raised. “Okay...?”

Anna chewed her lip for a moment. “It...it
wasn’t a dream. He...really came to talk to me, though I didn’t
know it was real at the time.”

Hugo’s expression hadn’t changed. He looked
confused, but supportive.

“In order to...do that, he had to...do
something. That
something
involved him having sex
with...someone I don’t really...get along with.”

“He used sex to visit you?”

Anna sighed. “It’s hard to explain without
going into a lot more details, but in a roundabout way, yes. He did
it to manipulate me into breaking up with someone I really didn’t
want to break up with.” She took a sip of water and stared back at
the table in front of her.

“Ah.” Hugo rubbed his head. “That seems...not
nice.”

Anna smiled at his diplomacy. “Then I found
out that he got someone pregnant when he was there, and threw in my
face that his dad got me pregnant.”

“His...dad...?”

Anna exhaled sharply. She realized how that
sounded. To someone outside the Brotherhood, that would sound
really bad. Her shoulders slumped and she closed her eyes. “In the
world that I live in, he has a right to do that...,” she said
lamely.

“You’ve slept with your husband’s...dad and
brother...?”

Her face burned. She shouldn’t have gone to
Hugo. She should have gone to Aaron instead. He at least understood
the strangeness that was the Brotherhood. “I haven’t slept with
Kurt in a while....”

“But you were engaged.”

“He wouldn’t sleep with me.”

“Oh.”

The room was quiet and Anna felt awkward.
“I’m sorry, Hugo. I shouldn’t have come to you about this....” She
stood, but he grabbed her hand.

“Why
did
you come to me?” he asked
in a hoarse whisper.

Anna turned to look at him, her heart aching.
She never had a chance with him. Their relationship was doomed from
the beginning. “We never had a chance...,” she whispered, eyes full
of grief. “I’m so sorry, Hugo. If I’d known—”

“I don’t regret a moment of time I spent with
you, Kittycat.”

Tears burned her eyes at his use of his pet
name for her. “If Alex hadn’t come....”

They gazed into each other’s eyes. Damn Alex!
Damn him for coming back. Why couldn’t he have stayed where he was?
Why did he have to come back and ruin things? She’d had a life.
She’d been happy. And he had to come back and ruin it all.

Anna slowly sat back down. “I miss you,” she
whispered.

Hugo reached out and caressed her cheek. “I
miss you, too.”

She leaned forward, brushing her lips against
his. He jumped slightly at her touch, but didn’t back away. “I
didn’t want to break up with you,” she whispered, running her hand
over his shoulder and around his neck. “I didn’t want to leave
you.”

Suddenly, Hugo’s arms wrapped around her and
held her tightly against him. He cupped the back of her head and
crushed his lips against hers. She opened her mouth, letting him
thrust his tongue in and out slowly, sensually. She moaned softly
and clung tighter to his shoulders.

He pulled her onto his lap, her legs
straddling his, and she pressed her hips against him. His cock was
straining against his sweatpants and he groaned when she pressed
against him. She smiled against his lips.

His hands slid under her t-shirt as he kissed
her and she shuddered as he caressed her back. She slid her hands
down his torso and brushed his cock, making him jump.

“Katrina...,” he murmured.