Page 42 of Ruined Wolfsbane

“Just the ones that broke,” I tell him softly. “I know it makes me a big baby, but I don’t want to deal with more pain than I have to today.” I duck my head to avoid any judgement.

Placing a gentle finger under my chin, Xander tilts my face back to his. “Sweetheart, you aren’t being a baby. Grown men twice your size would be curled up, sobbing, if they had your injuries. You’re pretty damn strong to be up and moving, much less at school, in your state.”

A swarm of butterflies takes flight in my chest at his praise. He’s the hardest brother for me to read. I never know where I stand with him. Anytime he shows any positive emotion toward me, I lap it up like an attention-starved puppy. Not knowing how to react to a compliment, I simply say, “Okay.”

Xander’s mouth tips up on one side at my lame response. He really is gorgeous, especially when he smiles.

I don’t miss that Xander calls me “sweetheart.” Apparently, I’ve also reached the pet name stage with three of my professors.

I don’t have time to obsess over that fact because Bastian comes barging back through the office door. With a half bow and a flourish of his arm, he announces, “I come bearing gifts!”

“Oh, my hero!” I retort with a sugary-sweet, high-pitched voice. Bastian grins at my teasing.

“Heads up, bro!” Sebastian chucks a medical bag at Xander without warning. I don’t have time to even cringe at the upcoming collision before Xander effortlessly snatches the bag out of midair. I’m impressed by his lightning-fast reflexes. He’s as quick, if not a smidge quicker, to react than I am. I haven’t met anyone with reflexes as fast as mine.

“Stand against Bastian, Briar,” Xander orders, sounding almost identical to Malachi. “Bastian, hold her steady as I work.”

My lips tilt up as I do as he says. When I lean back against Bastian’s chest, he wraps his hand around my throat again, holding me still. “You and Malachi are so bossy. I’d think it’s genetics, but Bastian’s so chill. Why are you two so demanding?”

Xander lowers to his knees in front of me, and my mouth dries at the position. He glances up at me through blond lashes. “Bastian can be demanding, too. You just haven’t seen it yet.”

I laugh, trying and failing to imagine a bossy Bastian. “I’m not sure I believe you. When exactly is Bastian bossy?”

As I’m talking, Xander rubs a nifty numbing cream around the wound. It works so well I don’t even realize he started until I look down. I quickly jerk my head back up because it’s stomach turning regardless of who’s messing with my torn skin. If I had known he was planning to use something to numb me, I would’ve taken Xander up on his offer to redo all the stitches.

Xander opens his mouth to respond when Bastian beats him to it. “Don’t you fucking dare, Alexander. Karma’s a bitch. You share, and I’ll share.” My eyebrows rise in surprise at the vehemence in Bastian’s voice and him using Xander’s full name.

He really doesn’t want Xander to tell me, which just makes me want to know more. I hadn’t believed that Bastian could be demanding until he reacted so strongly to Xander telling me about it.

Xander chuckles at his brother’s reaction. “Fine. I won’t tell her. She’ll find out eventually, Sebastian.” I’m dying to know what Xander was going to say and what Bastian was promising to share in response, but I doubt he’ll tell me now that his twin threatened him.

He quickly finishes the two stitches and ties them off. When he’s done with that, Xander smoothly stands up and puts distance between us. He busies himself with snapping off his plastic gloves and putting the stitching supplies away.

Bastian gently turns me to face him. “How about some arnica cream, pretty girl? It’ll help a ton with your bruising.”

I’m all for anything that’ll make me heal faster. Shrugging my shoulders, I agree. “Sure.”

“You’ll need to take off your skirt for me to reach everything.” Bastian’s eyes bounce between mine, checking to see if I’m uncomfortable with his suggestion. I am uncomfortable, for the record. My torso and thighs are just one giant bruise. It’s not exactly an attractive look.

I know I shouldn’t care about how I look in front of them, but I do.

I’d rather they get their first look of me practically naked when I’m not such a mess. Snorting internally, I wonder when I’m ever not a hot mess.

But I need to heal. The faster I heal, the less likely Patrick will accidentally finish the job next time he beats me. Sighing, I nod and reach behind me to unzip my skirt. As it falls to the ground, the office door opens. My wide eyes meet Bastian’s similarly panicked ones.

This so doesn’t look good.

I’m mostly naked. At school. With two of my professors. One of whom is shirtless.

When Malachi is the one to walk through the door, Bastian and I let out matching sighs of relief. Malachi gets his first good look at us, raising his eyebrows at me. “What are you doing?”

That’s a great question. Please ask again later when I figure it out. Right now, it seems like I’m making spectacularly bad decision after bad decision. Like showing them what Patrick does to me. All my poor life choices will eventually blow up in my face.

“Stripping,” I tell him instead.

Malachi rolls his eyes at me. “I can see that, smart-ass. I was asking why.”

“Bastian’s going to put arnica cream on me.” I watch him hesitantly walk toward me. Malachi’s many things. Hesitant isn’t one of them.

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