Wolff
The truck is warm against my back as I lean against the passenger door, watching the sun bleed across the horizon and turn the sky orange and gold.
It’s the first time I’ve let myself breathe all day.
AJ sits cross-legged on the tailgate, knees pulled up, light brown hair blowing across her face. She dyed it back to her natural color a few weeks ago, and it makes her look more like herself. She holds a carton of fries in one hand and stares at the fading light over the field, not saying much.
We drove out to the middle of nowhere to eat shitty fast food in the back of the truck and watch the sunset.
The wind picks up, pushing her hair into her mouth, and she tucks it behind her ear without looking away from the horizon. There’s a quietness to her that wasn’t there before. Not silence like she’s afraid to talk, but something calmer. Like she finally has space inside herself to just be.
“I can feel you staring.” She smiles without looking at me.
My fingers tap against the side of the truck, restless, the way they always are when I’m close to her.
It’s been a month since she got out of rehab.
Five months of rehab and therapy and my ugly fucking world crashing down around us.
It’s better. She’s better. But my brain never stops.
One more mission I had to finish before I could ask her this.
Now it’s done. The last loose end is tied off.
“You’re beautiful.”
She snorts softly. The wind catches her hair again, sending the strands across her face. She brushes them away with the back of her hand, smiling toward the horizon like she doesn’t realize she’s the only thing I’ve looked at since I picked her up.
Rehab gave her back pieces of herself. Not all of them. Maybe it never will. But she laughs again and sleeps now. She isn’t reaching for a bottle every morning just to make it through the day. It’s enough to let me breathe again.
I spent years convincing myself I didn’t need anyone. Depending on someone only gave the world another way to break you. Then she walked into my life and ruined every goddamn rule I’d ever lived by.
I need her.
I don’t know when it happened. Russia? Before that, when I was still tracking her. Maybe it was the first time she smiled at me like there was still something worth saving.
I don’t know.
I just know the thought of waking up tomorrow and not finding her somewhere in my house makes my lungs feel too fucking small.
“I want you to move in with me.”
Her hands still, a fry halfway to her mouth. “Seriously?”
“Yes.”
I need to know she’s there when I wake up. I need to hear her humming somewhere in the kitchen. I need Jackal snoring on my couch. I need the quiet to stop feeling so fucking empty.
She squints at me. “Are you asking? Or is that an order?”
“Which do you want it to be?”
“I don’t know.” She grins. “Maybe a little of both.”
“Move in with me.”
She stares for a second, then reaches for my hand. Her fingers slide between mine, and she tugs me closer, her knees parting to make room as I settle between them.
“On one condition.” Her mouth twitches.
“Name it.”
“You get mini cows.”
I let out a groan, dropping my forehead against hers. “Jesus Christ. Who’s supposed to take care of these damn mini cows?”
Her grin widens. “I know a guy.”
I lift an eyebrow.
“He’s kind of antisocial…but once you get to know him, he’s actually pretty great.”
“Oh, just pretty great?”
She laughs. “Fine. He’s incredibly handsome, annoyingly protective, and secretly has a soft spot for tiny farm animals.”
“I don’t remember agreeing to that last part.”
My free hand slides up her thigh, under the hem of her dress as her lips brush mine.
I slowly lower myself between her thighs, shoving her dress up as her legs settle on either side of my head.
“I got you a present tonight.” I press my mouth to her inner thigh, right below the hem of her panties. “But you don’t get it unless you come on my face first.”
She laughs breathlessly, fingers threading through my hair. “So bossy.”
Hooking my fingers in her panties, I pull them to the side, exposing her. The soft patch of hair above her slit makes my cock twitch. I like it better like this. Natural. Mine.
I drag my tongue through her folds in one slow, greedy stroke, tasting her. She’s already wet, sweet and warm. I groan against her and do it again, slower, letting my tongue part her lips and circle her clit.
“Fuck, Wolff,” she moans, hips rolling against my face.
I suck her clit into my mouth, tongue flicking fast and firm while I push two fingers inside her. She’s tight, hot, clenching as I curl them deep. I eat her like I’m starving, licking and sucking, nose grinding against her soft pubic hair while I finger-fuck her.
She comes hard, thighs clamping around my head, crying out my name as her pussy pulses around my fingers. I keep licking her through it, drawing out every shudder until she’s trembling and oversensitive.
When I finally pull back, my mouth is shiny with her arousal. I wipe my chin with the back of my hand and stand up, shoving my jeans down just enough to free my cock.
Grabbing her by the hips, I pull her to the edge of the tailgate, lining up and slamming into her in one deep thrust. She gasps, back arching, legs wrapping around my waist.
“Fuck, you feel so good,” I groan, fucking her hard and deep. “This tight little cunt was made for me.”
I pound into her, the truck rocking with every thrust. Her tits bounce under her dress, and I yank the neckline down, exposing them. Leaning down, I suck one nipple into my mouth, biting just hard enough to make her whimper.
She comes again, clenching around my cock, pulling me deeper. I fuck her through it as I chase my own release.
My hand slides up her body, fingers wrapping around her throat. Her eyes meet mine, wide and trusting, and she leans into it, lips parting on a soft moan.
“I love you,” she breathes, voice raw around my fingers.
The words slam into me. I thrust deeper, thumb brushing her jaw as I keep that firm, possessive grip.
“I love you too. So fucking much.”
I pull out and stroke myself fast, aiming at her stomach. Thick ropes of cum paint her soft skin, dripping down her belly and pooling in her navel.
I finally loosen my grip and slide my hand down to rest over her racing heart. For a long moment I just look at her—flushed, marked with my cum, dress bunched around her waist, legs still spread on the tailgate of my truck under the fading sunset.
Mine.
She reaches down slowly, fingers brushing the warm mess on her stomach like she’s about to wipe it away.
“Don’t.” I catch her wrist gently, pinning it beside her head. “Leave it. I want you wearing my cum for tonight.”
“What’s tonight?” she asks breathily.
I pull her dress back down, covering her, then lean in and kiss her slow and deep, tasting myself on her tongue. My hand stays on her wrist, thumb stroking the pulse point there. When I pull back, I rest my forehead against hers, breathing her in.
“Your present,” I murmur against her lips.
The house is silent when I wake on Wolff’s bed.
Moonlight spills through the wall of glass overlooking the back of his property, turning the room into shades of silver and black.
Beyond the windows, acres of open land stretch into the darkness, the same fields I’d wandered more than once while he hid inside pretending he wasn’t keeping an eye on me.
He got back from a mission yesterday afternoon. He disappeared for nearly two weeks, returning with fresh bruises, a split knuckle, and answers that never came. When I asked him questions, he told me not to worry about it.
Instead, he tossed my overnight bag in the truck and drove until the city disappeared behind us. We watched the sun melt into the horizon.
His house sits exactly like him—isolated, practical, and bigger than one man could ever need. The living room opens into a loft above, where his bedroom overlooks both the house and the windows stretching two stories high.
“Wolff?”
A heavy thud echoes from somewhere beneath me. Then another.
“Wolff?”
The sound comes again, followed by a muffled groan. I follow it down the stairs and through the hallway, toward a door I’ve somehow never had a reason to open before. Cold air leaks from the crack at the bottom. My bare feet are freezing on the wood.
I open it.
Narrow stone stairs descend into darkness. The air smells damp and metallic. My pulse gallops in my ears as I start down.
Another thud. Voices. Scuffling. I almost turn back and run. Then Graves peeks his head from around the corner at the bottom, blood smeared across one cheek.
“Ohhh, she’s here,” he says with a grin. “Perfect fucking timing, princess. We saved the best part for you.”
Wolff steps out behind him, covered in blood. It’s streaked across his chest, soaked into his sleeves, drying dark on his hands and jaw.
My stomach drops through the floor. “What’s going on?”
He crosses to me without speaking and takes my hand. His palm is warm and sticky as he guides me forward into the room.
I stop dead.
Akim and David are strapped to heavy metal chairs bolted to the concrete floor.
Both of them are wrecked, their faces swollen and purple. Clothes torn to rags. Blood drips steadily from split lips and broken noses onto the floor. Akim’s left eye is swollen shut. David’s cheek is split open, showing teeth.
David?
I haven’t seen him since I left for rehab. Dad just said the wedding was off. To focus on healing. He never told me why…
By the time I got out, David had vanished. The Sovereign never issued an official report. Just whispers that a Commander had gone missing.
“Wolff…what is this? What the hell is going—”
Wolff drops the wolf mask I’ll never forget at David’s feet.
My blood turns to ice.
“He’s the one who raped you in your house. Wanted you to believe it was me.”
David thrashes against the restraints as muffled screams pour into the gag. Tears streak through the blood covering his face.