Prologue (Ryan’s Storyb) /b

PROLOGUE (RYAN AND ANNA’S bSTORY/bb) /b

Anna’s POV

“I love you, Ryan.”

The bwords /bbslipped /bout before I could pull them back, before I could even think about how wrong they sounded or bhow /bbad the timing was. I was just standing there in the doorway, watching him pack his suitcase, and bsuddenly /bit

was out.

He paused with his hands still on his folded shirt, not turning around right away. I saw the slight clench in his jaw the tension in his shoulders, the way his back stiffened as if my words had hit somewhere deep. He was quiet for a second longer than normal, and I stupidly thought maybe he was about to say something, anything, something that told bme /bhe’d been thinking the same.

But when he turned to face me, all I saw was the same unreadable face he always wore.

He shook his head once and said in a low voice, “Don’t say that, Anna”

His voice wasn’t cold, or angry, just… calm. The kind of tone someone used when they were trying really hard to keep everything inside from falling apart. And I knew, right then, that I’d crossed a line. a line he didn’t want me to even walk near, let alone admit I’d stepped over.

“bI’m /bbusy,” he added, not meeting my eyes as he turned back to his suitcase and gently ced another folded shirt on top of the pile. “Please don’t do this right now.”

My chest tightened. “But I meant it.”

“Anna,” he said again, and it sounded more tired now. “You don’t know what you’re saying. You’re just a kid.”

“I’m not, I’m fourteen!” bI /bsaid.

“You are still a kid.” He turned away, bent down to grab his shoes, and shoved them into the side of the suitcase. ” You’re still my little sister.”

I hated when he said that. My heart twisted at the word sister. I knew I wasn’t really. I wasn’t blood. My parents died in a car crash when I was barely two. My mom, my real mom, left me in the care of her best friend. bAnd /bthat best friend was Liana. She took me in, weeks before her wedding to Killion. And from that day, they became my

porents.

Liana never treated me like I wasn’t her child. She bathed me, dressed me, kissed my forehead every nightb, /bcalled me her bprincess/b. Killian spoiled me like he’d been waiting his whole life for a daughter. Ryan… he was the perfect big brother. The protector. The cool calm big brother who watched everything I did. Who walked me to school even while he waste. Who beat up boys that teased me at school. He once punched someone in the face just because the person called me a spoiled brat. He always made sure I got home safe, always warned me to stay away from boys.

bGod/b… the way he hated boys around me. The way he looked at those boys… like he was ready to kill them if they even btook /ba nce my way was terrifying

But he always kept a distance from me. He never let me too close. Like he was afraid of something. Like I was electricity, and one wrong touch would burn him down.

That was what made me sure. That was what told me I wasn’t the only one feeling this way.

Prologue (RyanStory!

“Why do you keep pushing me away like I’m something you’re scared of?” I asked, barely able to keep my voice from shaking.

His jaw clenched. He looked down at the zipper again. “You don’t understand what you’re saying, Anna. Just… stop. Please.”

I took a step forward, my chest tightening as I spoke. “But I bdo /bunderstand. I know it’s wrong. I know I’m not supposed to feel this way, but I can’t, Ryan, bI /bcan’t stop thinking about you.” I swallowed hard. “It… it drives me crazy.”

He didn’t speak. Just stared at me like he was trying not to hear a single word. Like each bone /bwas cutting him deeper than he was willing to show.

“Say something,” I whispered.

He took a breath, but it wasn’t steady. It was shaky. Like he was holding something back so hard it hurt.

“You’re just confused, Anna. You’ll grow out of it,” he finally said, and I knew, God, I knew he didn’t believe it

himself.

He turnedb, /bgrabbed the bsuitcase/b, and started toward the door.

I panicked.

“Walt-”

“What is it” He was saying but I didn’t let him finish. I closed the distance between us, stood on my toes, and pressed my lips to his.

My fingers curled around the front of his hoodie, holding onto him like it was making everything stop, like maybe if I kissed him, just once, he’d finally see me for what I was really feeling, not just the little girl they took in, not just his ‘sister,‘ but someone who had been drowning in silence for too long

For a second, he didn’t move.

He didn’t kiss me back.

Didn’t push me away.

He just stood there, frozen,pletely still, while my lips trembled against his.

And then, slowly, his breath hitched. His hands clenched at his sides. His body tensed in a way that made me feel everything he wasn’t saying, all the restraint, all the struggle, all the things he was burying just to keep his

When I pulled back, barely able to breathe, I finally looked up at him

His face wasn’t nk anymore.

There was something in his eyes I’d never seen before. Panic. Real panic. Like I’d just done the one thing he couldn’te back from.

His mouth parted, like he wanted to say something, but nothing came out. His eyes were burning into mine. His fingers gripped the handle of the suitcase tighter, his knuckles turning white.

“bAnna/b,” he breathed.

“I’m son

sorry,” I whispered, already feeling the shame crawl into my throat. “I just… I needed you to bknow/b. Before

you left.”

He didn’t reply. He just stared.

Then, with onest look, God, that look, he turned around, opened the door, and walked out.

And that was thest time I saw Ryan.

Until five yearster….

RYAN’S POV

“Oh yes… byes/b…

fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” The girl on my TV screamed like her whole world was shattering apart from the bWay /bthe guy was pounding into her, and for some stupid reason, I just sat there, staring at the screen like an idiot, letting the sounds get into my head while bmy /beyes refused to blink, my jaw clenched so tight it hurt, and all I could think about was her.

Anna

I didn’t even know when my hand started moving under the nket or when my cock started getting hard again, but the second my fingers brushed over it, I cursed and yanked my hand away like I’d touched fire. I wasn’t hard because of the stupid bp/bb**/bn. Hell, I didn’t even give a shit about the actors moaning like dying cats on screen. I was hard because I was thinking about my little sister. My fucking little sister.

I buried my face in my palms, groaning in pure frustration as I leaned back against the couch like the weight of the world was pressing down on me.

What the fuck was wrong with me?

I hated this. I hated myself. I hated how even after all this time, even after running halfway across the damn. country, changing cities, drowning myself in work, I still couldn’t get her out of my head. It didn’t matter bhow /bmuch time passed, or how much I tried to stay away, Anna was still in there, under my skin, in my blood, in the fucking beat of my heart.

I was twenty–three. Acting CEO of Wolfe International’s Nivelle branch. bSmart/b. Disciplined. In control. At least bthat’s /bwhat everyone believed.

But no one knew the truth. That I was barely holding it together. That I’d moved here not for independence or opportunity, but because I was scared. Scared of what I’d do if I ever got too close to Anna again.

The girl I’d grown up calling my little sister. The girl who wasn’t really my sister by blood, but bhad /bbeen raised like one. The girl who kissed me five years ago and ruined every fucking thing I thought I knew about myself.

I hadn’t stepped foot in that house since the day iI /ileft for college. Not even after graduation. When Mom called and begged me toe home, I always had a reason. Work, deadlines, business meetings, travel. And she always let it slide, thinking I was just busy being sessful, but the truth was… I was running. Running from Anna. From myself. From what that kiss did to me. How it fucked me up in ways I couldn’t even begin to exin.

And I knew, deep down, that it wasn’t just about lust.

It was more.

Way more.

Every time she was around me back then, it was like my body would go still, my senses sharpened, and something primal binside /bme would react to her. I didn’t understand it. I didn’t want to understand it. I just knew it scored the hell out of me.

I thought leaving would help. That maybe if I stayed for away, the obsession would die down. But it didn’t. If banything/b, it got worse. Because no matter how many girls I met, none of them made my body react. None of them made my cock hardened. None of them stirred my wolf. None of them made me feel anything. Not even a domin twitch.

13

It was like my entire being was locked, like my desire, my hunger, my fire, was made for just one girl.

Her.

Аппа

And the more I tried to convince myself it was just a phase, the more I realized it wasn’t. Not when every time I pictured what sex would feel like, it was always her. Her body. Her skin. Her lips. Her fucking scent. Even when I didn’t want it to be her, it was always Anna.

Maybe that’s why I never touched anyone else. Why I was still a goddamn virgin. Because no matter how many girls tried to get close, none of them ever did it for me. I tried, Goddess knows I tried. For my sanity, for some kind of relief. I’d go out, flirt, even get to the point of touching, but the moment it got real, something inside me just shut down. My body didn’t respond. My mind couldn’t focus. Because it wasn’t her. It was never her.

And if it wasn’t Anna… then I didn’t want it.

bSome /bnights, it honestly feels like I might die a virgin. A grown man like me, untouched, because the only person I’ve ever truly wanted is the one girl I can’t fucking have. So yeah… I help myself in the bathroom at times. I watch p**n like every other messed–up guy out there. But even then, it’s her I see. Her moans I hear in my head. Her face I picture when I cum.

I stood up abruptly, yanked the remote and switched the damn TV off before I lost thest bit of control I had left.

“Fuck this,” I muttered under my breath as I walked straight to the bathroom and twisted the cold water on full st.

The water hit my body like ice, but I didn’t care. I wanted the sting. I needed it. Anything to shut my brain off and make my cock stop throbbing. I leaned my forehead against the tile wall, water dripping from my hair, my back rising and falling, and I stayed there buntil /bthe moaning in my head was reced by the sound of water sshing against porcin.

And then the doorbell rang.

Once.

Twice.

Then three times.

I frowned. Nobody visited me. Especially not unannounced. It was Sunday, and this was my only damn rest day. Who the hell-?

I grabbed a towel, wrapped it tight around my waist, and headed to the door, still dripping wet and annoyed as fuck.

I opened the door.

And my breath caught in my throat.

“Mom?” I blinked in surprise,pletely thrown off by the fact that she was standing there with a bright bsmile /bon her face like this was just a normal, casual drop–by.

She didn’t call. She nevere here without calling.

“I know, I know,” she said, raising her hands in bdefense /blike she was reading my mind. “I should’ve told you we wereing, but it was kind of ast–minute thing.”

bWe/b?

iMy /ieyes

My eyes moved behind her-

And there she was.

+25 bBONUS /b

bΑΠΠΑ /b

Wearing a soft pink crop top and jeans that hugged her like they were made for her body. Her dark hair bwas /blonger now, curled slightly at the ends. Her eyes were wide when they met mine. Her lips parted like she was about to say something but froze. And just like that, everything I’d been fighting, everything I’d been running from, came rushing back and mmed into me all at once.

Heat.

Lust.

Longing.

Pain.

She smiled softly. “Hi, Ryan…”

My throat dried up. My heart mmed against my ribs so hard I thought I might actually pass out.

She was here.

Right here.

And all I could do bwas /bstare at her like she was some forbidden fruit I was dying to taste but knew would burn me alive the second I touched it.

My towel suddenly felt way too thin.

is one word.

And the only thing echoing in my head, louder than my pulse, louder than reason, was

Mate.

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