Anna pulled away from the embrace.
"But why shouldn't I fall in love, if Adam was showing great affection for me? It can't be reciprocated with any lesser feeling than what I feel."
"Anna, you don't have to reciprocate. It's not your love he wants. I'm sorry to have to say something so insensitive, but you should know that for him, you're just a young body that he can pick up and use whenever he wants. He's always had bodies, but from older, more experienced women. You're new to him. Don't expect too much from this relationship."
"It's no use knowing that, Jenna, my heart bleeds, I know you're telling the truth, but I can't convince my heart not to beat faster just by hearing his name."
"Oh, girl! I just didn't want to see your heart broken, but... Nobody knows tomorrow. Be happy, don't think, don't make plans. Just live."
The teachers arrived and Anna was distracted by her studies.
...
Two weeks went by and on those days, when Anna wasn't studying, she stayed in her room, because she liked the smell of Adam's perfume that lingered, getting fainter as the days went by, but she clung to that memory. In the calls she received from Adam, they talked about many things, except the shots he had taken. When she got on the subject, he said goodbye and hung up.
He told her that he had been shot twice, once in the arm and once in the leg. Anna knew that they recovered quickly, but she understood that the ammunition in the guns was designed to kill werewolves.
The werewolves, knowing that they were communicating, started sending questions about what to do about something that Anna knew was coded. What's more, the whole house began to treat her as the new head of the family. And this was bothering her, because she feared Adam's reaction if he ever saw or heard about this situation. He had left orders for everyone to listen to her, but Anna couldn't believe he thought they would consider her the boss.
Three weeks, which seemed like three years to Anna, passed. She was on the kitchen veranda with Jenna when she heard the sound of the big gate opening and the noise of a car. It made her uneasy, because these sounds had become rare after she learned that Adam had forbidden her to leave the house, because Ryan had sent men to kidnap her, and if they didn't succeed, they would set out to kill her.
Anna took the gun that Caricature had left her with one of the werewolves, who had since taken it everywhere she went in the house, and went to see what was going on.
She stopped before she got outside when she recognized Sarah and Kate running towards the car she had just entered.
Genevieve got out of the car in a red dress, with heels and, as always, very elegant.
Anna saw that all the men admired her. She did too. Sarah came up and pushed Genevieve.
Anna's lips became a line of disgust. She had to hit that woman. Tear her hair out. Then she'd make up that she'd had an outburst. And liking the idea more and more, with every step she took towards the woman she considered a snake, the car's back door opened and Adam got out.
Anna changed the direction and pace of her steps, because now she was almost running, and as soon as she was facing Adam, she threw herself into his arms, wetting his shirt with her tears. Adam had one arm prevented by the sling, but with the other, he squeezed her tightly, as if he could return the affection, and smelled Anna's hair for a long time, as if it were the scent he most wanted to smell, and that he had missed.
They were separated by Sarah.
"Please restrain yourself! Can't you see that he hasn't improved enough?" Sarah said coldly.
"Sarah... I need you to understand that I... I need to spend some time with Anna. I've waited for her for too long and I can't let her go now that she's here, that she's mine. And not just for her... There's something inside." He said, tapping his chest. "Something that draws me to her, as if she were the magnet of my soul. Something that makes me think that she will never allow my soul to be satisfied. Something that is only complete when I'm with her."
"I've never seen you talk like this, but... You must be delirious from the strong painkillers. Come on. I'll take care of you." Sarah said and left, dragging Adam into the house without him doing anything to resist.
"Come on Anna!" Genevieve's voice said behind her. "Sarah's in for a very unpleasant surprise today." There was laughter in the werewolf's sensual voice, and Anna stared at her uncomprehendingly.
"She's one point ahead of me. No matter what the circumstances, Adam brought her back. Sarah must have been the first woman in his life. He'll never forget that."
"Don't be an idiot! She wasn't the first woman in his life. I know, because I was Adam's first wife. He brought her back, I don't understand why either, but when he hears her words... he's going to sting her. Sarah has a very peculiar sexual appetite... You may already know that she was your father's mistress, and after he bankrupted his companies and lost his assets, she turned to Adam, wanting exclusivity in his life, and that's strange... By now, he must be wondering what is driving her to do this. What her motives are. Once he finds out, Sarah will lose all interest in Adam and he'll... well, I wouldn't want to be in her shoes."
"How could you know that?" Anna asked, haunted by the images in her mind of Sarah and her father together. She felt nauseous.
"The way Adam looks at her has changed, and when Sarah touched his arm to separate the two of you, he made an involuntary movement that gave away everything that's going on in his head. Trust me, and don't talk about this "connection" at any time. I've lived with mafia werewolves since I was a child. I understand their universe."
"I just trust you. I hope your every word is the truth of what's going to happen to this viper."
"Now we're going in and you must join them, wherever they are."