Page 99 of Bound By Roses

Erwyn’s blade is pointed down, but Quinn steps between him and Ty all the same. “I can’t let you do that.”

“He is no use to us!” Erwyn doesn’t have time to raise his sword before the other wolves take a protective formation around not just Quinn, but Ty as well.

“He’s one of us now. Even if you get through me, do you think they’ll let you live?” Quinn gestures to the wolves on either side of him.

“I’ll do it,” Ty says, and I almost miss it over the snarling all around us. “I’ll go back to Lunae. I’ll help you take down Imelda and stop Void.”

“Thank you,” I breathe, relieved that maybe now we can put all of this behind us long enough to get Quinn back to Tess.

Tess.

I turn to the wolf I recognize as Ellis, panic filling my heart at the thought of losing Tess. “Who was hurt?”

‘Jade.’

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

QUINN

“Make sure it lines up,” I tell Tess as she smacks my hand away for the third time since she started sewing up the gashes in my chest. There’s no way around the scars it’ll leave, but I want as little damage to that rose as possible.

“How many times must I tell you not to move?”

A few more, apparently, because she’s batting at my hand again. “I just don’t want the rose to—”

“To look disfigured. I know. That’s apparently all you’re worried about.”

She’s upset with me. How did I miss that? I lean back down on the bed and make a point of being as still as possible. Thankfully, Tess has a steady hand and enough experience patching me and the others up that this won’t take long. She’d probably already be finished if she didn’t need to keep swatting me away.

“Alright. Let’s hear it.”

“You don’t want to hear what I have to say.”

She’s right about that, but I also don’t want her sulking. “You’ve never silenced yourself before, and it’s not every day youhave me still long enough for a good berating. Don’t squander this opportunity.”

She doesn’t so much as smile, so I’m probably going to regret this. “You were reckless. Not only did you put your life in danger, you put everyone’s life in danger.”

“I didn’t have a choice,” I sigh. “You weren’t on that beach. You don’t know how close we came to losing people.” And thank the Gods for that. These aren’t just my people. These are her people. Her family.

She cuts the thread after her final stitch and then slaps my wound. “No.Youdon’t.”

I rub at the place she hit me and sit up. “That hurt, you know.”

Her face doesn’t soften. “You never should have changed him.”

Wait, that’s what this is about? “We couldn’t have known he would shift. It doesn’t work that way.” I shouldn’t have left him, but there’s no way I could have predicted this. And we needed answers. We’re one step closer to stopping Void because we finally understand what it is he wants.

“And how would you know? You’ve never seen it. You’ve never asked. And maybe that’s my fault. I should have made sure you understood the damage you caused. I know it wasn’t you and I’ve never blamed you for it, but this time you chose to do this to someone. I don’t care if he agreed.”

Oh, fuck this.

I turn to face her properly. “You think I don’t know? You think I didn’t wake up to what you calldamageevery time I shifted back? I hated myself for what I did to all of you. I still do! I made a choice and maybe it was the wrong one, but all I ever do is what I think is best. As much as I fucking hate to admit it, Jade was right. This is how we get into Lunae. This is how we savelives and then maybe—just maybe—I can make up for a fraction of thatdamage.”

She flinches at the harshness in my words, but I don’t take them back. She’s no stranger to calling me out on my bullshit, but this time she’s in the wrong. To even imply that I haven’t seen the harm that was caused by this curse is beyond cruel. She may have had to pick up the pieces when I couldn’t, but I was the one wishing for death just so that I could escape that guilt.

We look away from each other, neither of us willing to be the first to apologize. For quite possibly the first time, we’re at an impasse.

I move to pull on the shirt someone brought for me before sliding off the bed, but a knock on the door steals my attention.

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