Page 102 of Bound By Roses

Her eyes narrow on me.‘You wouldn’t dare.’

I cross my arms and try to look as serious as I can. It’s not fair that she’s absolutely adorable when she’s angry.‘Do you want to risk it? Or can I trust you to behave?’

She rolls her eyes and trots over to Ellis and Seamus before plopping herself down between them with a stubborn huff.

‘You won’t lose control,’I tell Ty because I know he needs to hear it. He’s terrified of what he’s become and of everything that’s coming.‘Now do it again.’

He shifts back and forth a few more times, and then I have him chasing a few of the wolves. He’s still unsteady in this form and his movements aren’t as fluid as they should be. Even in the rare instances he gets close to catching one of the volunteering wolves, they’re able to dart out of his reach at the last second. When the roles are reversed, he’s tackled within seconds.

The sound of heavy wings steals my attention and I look up just in time to see Jade shift back into his human form while still in the air, only to land on a large boulder protruding from the earth a few feet behind me.

“You always were a show off,” I mutter because I know he’ll hear me.

He laughs and then jumps down with a solid thud. “If you’re jealous, you could just say that.”

He moves to my side and for the first time, I get a clear view of the gashes on his chest that are nearly identical to the ones on Quinn’s. Quinn warned me through the bond, but seeing them in person hits differently.

“It’s rude to stare,” he says, without even glancing in my direction. Either he’s too interested in the poor show Ty is putting on or he just doesn’t want to look at me. Either option is equally possible.

“Quinn told me what you did. Thank you.”

He lets out a heavy breath, but still doesn’t look my way. “Don’t thank me.”

So it’s like that. “Fine. Then go away.”

He snorts a laugh. “And leave you with this mess? I’m surprised he can even stand on those wobbly legs. Is this what you call training?”

I hold back the words I’d like to spit back at him just as Quinn’s voice flits through my mind. ‘Problem?’

‘He’s been here two minutes, and he’s already bothering me. And so are you. Go to sleep.’

His beautiful laugh fills my head.‘I was asleep until someone started shooting waves of annoyance through the bond.’

I roll my eyes.‘We both know that’s a lie.’

He laughs again, but then turns serious.‘Ty needs all the help he can get and if I could, I’d be working him through the night. If Jade thinks he can help, let him.’

I groan and don’t care that Jade can hear it.‘Fucking fine, but only if you go to sleep.’

‘Deal. Be safe.’

‘Usually am.’

I wish I could wipe the smirk off Jade’s face. “Lover’s quarrel?”

“Do you want to help or not?”

He raises his hands in front of him in submission and then cracks his knuckles. “Say no more. But you might want to stand back.”

“What are you—” I can’t even finish the question before he drops to the ground and presses his hands flat against the soil. A resounding crack reverberates from below. I feel it in my feet and up my legs as the ground in front of us splits. What starts as a single rupture spiderwebs into multiple veins of fractured earth. Birds scatter to the skies and trees at the edge of the forest in front of us topple. My heart beats a frantic pace as the wolves jump back to avoid nearly falling into one of the gaps.

Jade stands and the shaking stops. “Let’s call it dexterity training,” he says over his shoulder before marching up to a divide and leaping over. “Chasing him clearly isn’t enough of a threat,” Jade says, speaking to the wolves now before focusing entirely on Ty. “If you fall, you die, so you’d better learn fast.”

Without warning, Jade waves a hand and I swear the red rings around his green eyes glow brighter. The solid ground around Ty breaks away from the rest. He tries to run left, but there’s nothing there but a wide gap. It’s the same on all sides, with only a narrow pathway of platforms he could use to make it across to solid ground.

That is, if Jade doesn’t decimate that piece of land, too.

I can’t even yell at him before Quinn’s panic shoots through the bond.‘What happened to staying safe?’

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