Wrath's Storm: A Masters' Admiralty Novel by Mari Carr (desktop ebook reader .txt) 📕

within a few days, he worried the mental anguish she suffered would take longer to heal, and he didn’t even fool himself into pretending it wouldn’t leave a scar.

He continued his exam, lowering his gaze to her side. There was a small cut, but it was not too deep. He doubted it had even bled much.

When she realized what he was looking at, she explained, “He took me away from the hotel at knifepoint.”

“I should have protected you,” Jakob said, his expression filled with guilt.

Annalise shook her head quickly. “Don’t do that, Jakob. You were hurt. Badly. There was nothing you could do.” As she spoke, she rubbed a spot on her head.

Walt followed the movement, running his own hands through her hair, once again probing for bruises, lumps.

“He pulled my hair a few times. My scalp is a little sore. Nothing more.”

“What else?” Walt asked. “Where else does it hurt?”

“Just some more bruises on my shins. That’s the worst of it,” Annalise said. “You arrived before he…” She visibly swallowed, unable to speak the word.

Walt was grateful for that. He’d spent too much time this morning as Jakob and Annalise continued to sleep considering what would have happened if they hadn’t arrived when they did. She would have been raped, possibly disfigured. The bastard had been holding a knife, one he wouldn’t have hesitated to use if Jakob hadn’t reacted without hesitation.

Even so, it had been a close call. Too fucking close.

Jakob had remained silent through most of the exam, but now that Walt was finished, he stirred, sitting up next to her.

Jakob reached for her hand, lifting it gently to kiss the bruises around her wrist, left there from the cuff and the chain.

“Annalise—” he started.

“Please, Jakob. No more guilt. No more blaming yourself for things you had no control over.”

Walt reached out, placing his hand over Jakob’s, the two of them holding her hand. He’d never felt such an instant or powerful connection to two people, but there was no denying this pull, this desire. And it had less to do with sex—okay, the sexual attraction was definitely there—and more to do with who they were and how they made him feel.

While he’d grown up a triplet, Walt had always been the brother standing just a step or two away from the others, too focused on his career to join in on the more normal aspects of life, like friendship, dating…love.

“He’s gone,” Annalise whispered, the first sign that the magnitude of what had happened—ended—yesterday was beginning to sink in.

“He’s gone,” Walt repeated. “He can’t hurt you ever again.”

“I’m not sure I know how…how to live a normal life,” she confessed.

“Me either,” Jakob admitted.

“So what I think I’m hearing is that the two of you genuinely believe you were normal at some point?” Walt joked.

Jakob snorted, the uncharacteristic sound capturing Annalise’s attention.

“Wait. Was that a laugh?” she teased.

Walt was sorry she’d missed meeting drugged-up Jakob. That guy was a hoot.

Jakob smiled widely, but sadly, he didn’t speak, didn’t rattle off every thought in his head.

Walt missed the running diatribe and wondered how he could get Jakob to start sharing his thoughts again without having to inject him with another nerve blocker.

Annalise shifted slightly and Walt caught the glimpse of pain. Her shoulder was going to be very tender for a few days. He rose from the bed and rummaged around in his duffel bag until he found the bottle of ibuprofen. Tapping three out into his hand, he went to the bathroom and got a cup of water before returning to the bed.

“Here. Take these. They’ll help with the pain.” Walt handed her the tablets.

Annalise took them, then her stomach growled loudly.

“You need food,” Walt said, reaching for the room service menu he’d spotted earlier on the small desk in the corner of the room. He’d run down for a bag of ice later.

The three of them passed the menu around, called in their order, then settled on the bed, sitting with their backs against the headboard to wait for it to be delivered.

“I still don’t even know his name,” Annalise said.

“Axel Richen. Age twenty-nine. A software developer,” Jakob informed her.

“Did he mention anything about how he knew you?” Walt asked, curious. Apart from the few details she’d given them in regards to her injuries, Annalise hadn’t told them anything about the hours she’d spent as the man’s captive.

She shook her head. “No. And I couldn’t ask him without triggering his anger. His delusion allowed him to genuinely believe we were in a relationship. I didn’t do or say anything—well, I tried not to—that would contradict his belief. Asking his name or how we met would have disputed his worldview.”

“Now that we have his name, I bet Jakob can figure out where he met you or saw you,” Walt said, hoping, for her sake, there would be some kind of closure.

“In the end, it doesn’t really matter. He could have seen me on TV, or at a conference, being interviewed…” Her voice trailed off, and her expression turned almost rueful.

Jakob nodded, then looked to Annalise. “Intimacy seeker.”

She grinned. “Very impressive, Mr. Bauer.” Annalise leaned to bump her good shoulder against Jakob’s. “You continue to be my best student.”

“Well, that has some kinky potential,” Walt said.

“What?” Annalise asked, laughing.

Walt soaked up the sound. Annalise had a great laugh.

He kept smiling as he said, “Jakob nearly drowned in regret yesterday after some pretty powerful drugs.”

Walt had certainly captured Annalise’s attention.

“What kind of regrets?” she asked.

“Jakob…” Walt said, lifting his hand as if yielding the other man the floor.

“Walt.” It was incredible how much warning Jakob could put into his tone with a single word.

Of course, the funny thing was Jakob still didn’t understand the power of the triplet. “I believe it had something to do with a kiss. Isn’t that right, Jakob? Jakob is definitely hot for teacher.”

“Just a kiss?” Annalise asked, turning toward Jakob, catching on quickly.

Damn…Dr. Fischer would have zero trouble when it came to dealing with his