The Life of Anna, Part 2: Entwined (3 page)

He thought he saw a shadow near the door, but when the girl stepped into the moonlight, it had shocked him so much he'd actually gasped, sat up and rubbed his eyes. He never did that; never betrayed his position. But he'd also never had a teenage girl show up in his room in the middle of the night. Well, at least since he’d left for college.

At his movements, the girl had frozen in the bright moonlight, eyes wide with fright. Alex stared at her as his mind tried to wrap itself around the fact that there was an unknown girl in his room. Was this it? Was this the girl he was supposed to help?

“Who are you?” he asked in German.

She didn’t respond and it pissed him off for some reason. Alexander Johannes Kunze Herzog von Hesse did not get ignored. Especially by females.

He jumped out of bed and glared at her for a moment before he realized he was naked. Cursing to himself, he reached around for the pants he had discarded earlier. He was glad to see she'd turned away. Perhaps this wasn't the girl Vati had spoken of; her kind were rarely shy. But as he walked towards her, his irritation melted away and he felt the connection that his father had told him about. She was the one who was in danger.

He knelt in front of her and gave her a gentle smile. “Who are you? How did you get in here?” he asked softly, so as not to frighten her. She just stared at him with her beautiful eyes, which he knew were green though they just looked dark in the silver moonlight. She was very pretty and he could imagine her getting plenty of attention from the boys at school. She would certainly continue to garner male attention as she matured. For multiple reasons.

She took a step forward and reached out to him. His heart beat rapidly, realizing that this could be his chance to save her.

“Alex, where are you?” his wife, Mina, called from the bed.

The girl froze. Alex didn't want to shout, but knew he needed to answer Mina. “I'm using the bathroom. I'll be there in a minute,” he said as quietly as he could, but needing Mina to hear him.

He looked back at the girl. He and his father had argued about his elopement with Mina a year ago, almost to the day. The reason for the argument was standing right in front of him.

The girl blinked and her eyes filled with tears. Alex desperately tried to think of something to say to her, but to his dismay, she faded into the darkness.

His shoulders fell as he sat back hard on his heels, feeling, for the first time in his life, the pain of failure. He didn't like it.

Alex stood and pushed the feelings away as he returned to his bed and his wife. He kissed Mina’s neck and reached around to caress her breast. Sex would make the pain go away. He was sure of it.

Anna's sigh brought Alex back to the present.

“Good morning
,
Schatzi,” he said in a low voice that rumbled from his chest.

She tried to move and he loosened his vice-like grip, allowing her to turn onto her stomach. Her eyes widened as she looked at him. Clearly, she hadn't been expecting him. Who could blame her? He'd been careful to maintain his distance to prevent Devin from finding out that Alex and his family knew about her. They’d barely spoken at all in the few days she’d been at his house.

“Good morning, my lord,” she said in a soft voice. She trembled and didn't make eye contact.

He relaxed as much as he could so she wouldn’t feel threatened, if that were even possible, and caressed her cheek. She shivered and goose bumps appeared on her arm. “How are you feeling?” he asked softly.

She looked thoughtful for a moment. “Fine, thank you,” she answered, but winced as she shifted on her chest. He wondered if her piercings were still sore. “Almost healed,” she added with a nervous smile and sat up on her hip. “How may I please you, my lord?” she asked in a soft, seductive voice.

Her breasts were right in front of his face. She reached out to his bare chest and trailed her fingers down to his stomach. His muscles rippled under her touch and her perfect breasts with their rosy nipples were very, very alluring.

He was about to lean forward and take one of those nipples into his mouth when something stopped him. She was not just another Manor slave. Yes, she was his slave, but did he want to treat her as such? Did he want to reinforce the lies that Devin and Jack had likely been filling her head with all these years? How likely was she ever to learn to love him if he treated her that way?

The last question cooled his blood immediately. No. If he treated her like a slave, then she would believe that he saw her that way. He needed to treat her as she was: a sweet girl who, if all went right, would be his wife someday. He needed to treat her with respect, which meant he needed to keep his body under control.

From what little Alex had learned over the last week, Jack had kept her hidden away the majority of the last four years, and Vati was almost certain she had been abused. From the way Devin treated her, he didn’t hold her in high regard either. She was a slave to Devin; a tool to be used and abused.

Alex wanted her love and affection, not her body. Well, no, he wanted her body, but not
just
her body. He wanted all of her. He was twenty-eight. He could keep himself under control.

Alex looked at her and grimaced. She frowned slightly, and stopped her hand, then took a breath and began moving her hand downwards again. She smiled seductively as her hand glided lower to the waistband of his underwear.

He snaked his hand out and grabbed her wrist firmly, holding it in place, but not squeezing hard enough to hurt.

She blinked, staring hard at his hand, obviously perplexed. Had a man ever stopped her hand before? Why would he?

She looked back up at his face, eyes wide, and then gave him a timid smile. “Please, my lord, let me....”

“No,” he growled.

She blinked rapidly and then tried to pull her hand away, wincing as if expecting him to hit her.

“Why are you wincing? I’m not going to hit you.”

“But you're angry with me,” she said.

“Anger is not justification for abuse,” he said firmly, and released her hand. Who on earth would hit her just because they were angry? What kind of sick world did she grow up in? “And I'm not angry with you.”

She frowned again, studying his eyes. “I know you're angry. I can feel it.”

Ah, she was sensitive to his moods. He needed to watch himself around her. He cupped her cheek gently and softened his voice. “Yes
,
Anna, I'm angry. But not at you.”

She snorted. “What's the difference?” Her eyes widened with horror and she clapped her hand over her mouth. She looked at him with tears in her eyes. “I'm sorry!”

His heart ached at her reaction. He tilted his head and brushed his hand lightly down the side of her face to comfort her. “You don't need to fear me,” he said in a gentle voice. “I won't hurt you.”

“It's okay if you want to.” She shrugged slightly and gave him a timid smile. “I heal quickly.”

A wave of nausea flooded his body. “Why would I want to hurt you? Why would anyone want to hurt you?”

“Men seem to like it.”

He clenched his jaw. “Did Kurt hurt you?” He would kill his brother if he had hurt Anna.

She gasped and shook her head. “No. No, not in the least. He actually....” She blinked back tears. “He's the kindest man I've ever met. And your father too,” she added quickly.

Alex arched his brow in amusement. He could think of many words to describe his brother: fickle, unreliable, erratic...but kind? Well, Alex supposed in his brother’s own way he was. He certainly wasn’t mean or cruel. “And what about me?” he asked.

Anna's eyes widened and she chewed her lip. She didn't answer right away. “I...I don't know,” she said slowly. She paused. “You seem to be angry a lot,” she whispered.

“I do?” he exclaimed in surprise. He knew his temper was a weakness and worked very hard to keep it under control. He didn't remember losing his temper this week, at least not in front of Anna.

“I'm sorry, my lord, I shouldn't have said that,” she whispered, closing her eyes and wincing again.

It distressed him that she assumed he would hit her simply because he was angry. He berated himself for his tone; he'd spoken louder than he meant to. He caressed her cheek, trying to assure her that he wasn't angry at her.

She opened her eyes and looked at him, eyes full of fear.

“Anna, I told you, I will not hurt you,” he said, intentionally speaking in a soft, gentle voice. Would she ever be able to learn to trust him? Was she capable of trusting anyone? What had happened to make her this way?

She cleared her throat and watched as he lowered his hand to the bed in front of his chest.

“My lord,” she began tentatively. “If you don't want me to please you...why are you here?”

He studied her for a minute. Why
was
he here? “Because I didn't want Devin to put you somewhere I couldn’t find you.”

After Alex had seen her in his room when she was younger, he and Vati had searched for her, but she had disappeared off the face of the earth. Vati concluded that someone was shielding her from his view; it was the only explanation.

Alex wouldn’t risk losing her again. He had told Devin to fuck off when he tried to take her from him after she’d fallen asleep. Devin hadn’t taken that well, but couldn’t prevent Alex from taking her. Alex smiled, remembering the fury in Devin’s face.

Anna traced a wrinkle in the sheets and sighed. “Why does it matter what Devin does to me?” she asked, her voice sad. “He's my Master. He can do as he likes.”

The finality of her statement made his heart sink. He wanted to give her hope. “No, he can't do solely as he pleases with you, despite his original plan. He has to deal with me now.”

Her head snapped up and her brow wrinkled in confusion. “I don’t understand. What do you have to do with me?”

It suddenly occurred to him that she might not know what the ritual had been about. Alex would bet anything that Devin had told her very little, if anything, about the truth of it. “He doesn’t have sole authority over you, Anna. He shares it with me.”

His gaze moved unconsciously down to her breasts, as they had several times in the last few minutes. That was not helping his resolve to keep his hands off her. He chuckled. “Perhaps you should lie down. Your nakedness is a bit distracting.”

He succeeded in receiving a shy smile from her and his heart lightened. She was absolutely stunning when she smiled.

She lay down with her head on the pillow and he brought the blanket up to cover her breasts before propping his head up on his fist.

He grinned. “Now I can concentrate better.”

She giggled softly and it warmed his heart.
What a wonderful sound.

“What do you mean you share authority over me?” she asked. Her eyes had lost much of the fear that had consumed them moments before.

“The ritual from last night, it was a bonding ceremony. A uniting of a master and a slave. If I hadn’t interfered...Anna, your mind would have been completely his. You would have lost...you.” He grimaced. “You would have become his puppet.”

“Oh.” She looked baffled. “And you stopped it?”

He frowned, wishing he'd been able to do more for her. Sebastian had enabled him to keep the worst from happening and Alex was grateful. He hoped Sebastian was still around and not in trouble. “Partially. He still can control you, but so can I. If either of us commands you to do something, you must obey.”

“I already try to be obedient.”

“I’m sure you do, but if I hadn’t interfered...if he commanded you to go jump off a cliff, you would have without a second thought.”

“But I wouldn’t now?”

“No. Any command that would end your life would have to be doubled by me. There are other restrictions too.” Alex sighed. “It’s complicated. Everything in the Brotherhood seems complicated.”

“What’s the Brotherhood?”

He waved his hand around vaguely. “All this is part of it. We…well, we control the world.”

Anna frowned at Alex’s words. Something called the Brotherhood controlled the world? How was that possible? She might not have finished high school, but she was fairly certain there were elected officials in most countries. Devin was the CEO of a bank, not a politician. America was an independent country...and Alex was German...oh, she was confused!

She could feel Alex watching her. She shouldn’t question him. He’d get angry. He might say that he wouldn’t hit her, but she knew enough about men to know that when they got mad, they hit.

“Oh.” What else could she say in response to that? Instead, she thought about what he had said about Devin. Why did Devin want to control her so completely? “So, you...saved me?” she asked quietly.

“Yes
,
Schatzi, I did.” He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and she shivered.

His hand lingered in her hair and she found herself leaning into him. “Why?” She closed her eyes. It felt good when he touched her; he was gentle.

“Because I had to.” He sighed and his hand dropped away. “We don’t know what Devin has planned, but we know it’s not a good thing for a man like him to have so much power. Devin would use you to control many people. We can’t allow that to happen. The entire world would be at risk. I had the opportunity and obligation to stop him.”