Page 189 of Scars Like Wings

“None.”

I was taken aback. “What? How is that?—?”

“I have killed fifteen werewolves, nine wendigos, three fae, and one siren. I have killed more vampires than I can remember. I have killed over thirty-five shifters of varying species. And I have killed six witches gone rogue. I have kidnapped. I have tortured. I have maimed. I have done some fucked up shit, things that I regret, things I wish I could forget and that I will never say out loud because I don’t want to eventhinkabout them. But,” Quinn inhaled long and deep after her rushed words. “I haveneverkilled a dragon, and I won’t, unless they threaten you or my life.”

“Quinn—”

“My family has killed dragons. I will admit that. My father has done it. My mother has done it. My grandmother has done it. But we haven’t gone on a mission to do so inyears. It’s been… we lost too much.”

“Quinn—”

“I am a huntress, but I amnota dragon-huntress.”

I shook my head, clinging to my sides tight enough to sting. “Iama dragon-shifter, though. My parents were dragon-shifters, Quinn. They were hunted and murdered. My aunt, too. Icannotignore that. They would not want me to be so reckless. I can’t. I have lost so much. They sacrificed too much for me.”

“They are not ghosts, Byrd.” When I looked at her, confused, she came right up to me. I leaned against the wall of the elevator as she invaded my space. There was nowhere for me to go. She was all I could see, all I could focus on. She took my face in her hands, and all I could do was bathe in her honey stare. She continued, “They won’t haunt you, and you shouldn’t feel like they should. They want you to be happy. What happened to them was the worst thing to happen to you, but it willnothappen to us. I would never,everhurt you. I would nevereverlet anyone hurt you. You have to know that. It wouldkillme to see you hurt. Seeing you get stabbed today? I wished a thousand times over it was me. It took everything in me not to keep kicking that fuckingperrauntil she never could lay eyes on you again, let alone lift a blade against you. You don’t understand, Byrd.I love you. I would kill anyone just for thinking about laying a hand against you. You saw me today. You have seen me every day we have been together. I love you so much. I know you feel it, too.”

I sobbed big, ugly tears. Quinn delicately wiped away my tears with her thumbs. The action was so tender and soft. It made me cry harder. Her hands were rough, most likely from her work. This girl was capable of murder. She had used her hands to take the lives of monsters. She knew her way arounda blade and had used her knowledge in the past. She killed for profit. Her whole family did.

And yet.

Quinn also knew her way around a knife in the kitchen, cooking food that made me cry with how good it was. Those same hands knew how to retwist my locs and make them look better than anyone in a salon had. Her hands were always so perfect when they held me like I was the most precious thing to behold. She made me feel beauty in my personality, my appearance, my everything. No one made me feel more like I could do anything I wanted. She knew how to spoil me. She always knew the right words to say to bring me from the cliff of my own anxiety. Quinn could cut right to my broken soul, through all the defenses I had built. But when she saw the fragile and scarred thing that it was, she didn’t want to end it with her blade. She knew just how to protect and take care of it.

Her cousins may have murdered, but no one made me laugh harder and feel more like a member of their gang.

Her mother may have killed my people, but no one had made me feel more a part of a family before.

Her family reminded me of home.

Quinnwasmy home.

Ididfeel her words. Through all of my thoughts, I knew they were right. My dragon, fighting in my head, was right. Quinn healed that ache in my chest, that void that had existed since my parents died. She eased it. I was able to breathe with her around. I had been broken, so broken, but she held me together. Every time I felt like I was falling, she caught me before I came close to the ground. I felt safe because she had me. Always.

I loved her.

In spite of everything, I loved her.

I choked on a sob, my voice cracking as the words tumbled out. “But I’m a dragon-shifter. You were raised to hate me, weren’t you?”

Quinn shook her head. “They don’t raise us to feel anything either way, at least not in my family. We are trained on how to do our jobs. There are no feelings attached to it. As my father says, feelings get in the way, so check them at the door and get shit done. Do some members of my family only want hunters to be with hunters? Yeah, that prejudice exists. But I’m not like that.” Quinn’s lips quirked up. “My mom taught me not to see what a supernatural is, but the soul that is inside.”

I rolled my eyes and leveled her with a look through my tears. “You cannot ‘I don’t see color’ your way through this, ma’am. I have killed before. It was when I was young. They hunted me into a cave, and I killed some of them?—”

“You were in danger. It was self-defense, I’m sure.”

“You don’t know that. I’m a monster, a murderer. I didn’t know for sure they wanted to kill me, but they had tortured my mother and they were closing in on me. I had felt scared. I wassoscared, Quinn. My dragon took over, and she just wanted me to survive. I had to do what it took to survive, but they lost their lives. They could have had loved ones and families, and I just?—”

“Byrd, Byrd, breathe, baby. Take a breath.Respire hondo, yeah? Please, babe,” Quinn reassured, inhaling and motioning me to follow. I did as she instructed, but the tears continued to stream. Quinn looked into my eyes, hers full of worry. “You arenota monster, okay?”

“You don’tknowthat. You don’t know the whole story. Zaria mentioned your code?—”

“One, fuck that bitch until the day she dies. She’s wrong. We do have a code. We kill those who have killed, but it isn’t that simple. We kill those who have killed for the hell of it. They kill because they enjoy it. There is no reason for it. We killbadpeople, sweetness. Like that vamp on your birthday. The code is a means to solidify the abilities that we have. Hunters can sense those we need to… that we will be assigned to. I don’t sense anything like that from you.”

I sniffled. “Whatdoyou sense from me, then?”

“I sense a girl that has been hurt so many times that as much as you want love you are scared of getting hurt again.”

“Read me like a book, why don’t you?” I choked on another sob.

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