Page 123 of Elven Crown

“What the fuck were youthinking?” Maxwell bellowed.

“Whoa, hey. Hold on a second.” Rowan looked genuinely surprised when he lifted both hands in concession. “This is all part of training, isn’t it? Figuring out how this stuff works?”

“And almost killing our commander in the process,” Maxwell snarled.

An easy chuckle burst through Rowan’s lips. “It’s not like I did it on purpose. I was—hey!”

Maxwell shoved him backward with both hands, snarling and growling as he and his fury drove Rowan farther and farther away from Rebecca. “Quit treating everything like a fucking joke! I told youexactlywhere to stand and how to set the appropriate power level, and you didn’t give a shit!”

“Oh come on…” Rowan staggered backward, lifted his hands even higher in front of himself, and offered the shifter a sheepish smile. “Honestly, I didn’t think it was gonna bethatintense.”

“No, you didn’t think at all!” Maxwell stabbed a finger toward the elf’s face as he loomed over him. “That’s your fucking problem.”

“My problem?” Blinking quickly, the elf feigned surprise. But when he spoke next, his voice adopted an indignant shift in tone before matching the violence behind Maxwell’s words with his own.

“Listen,pal. I pay attention when I need to. There’s clearly something up your ass today, and it’s not me. You want an apology? Fine. I’m sorry, okay? My bad. I’ll use a babysitter next time. Better?”

“You think that’s going to cut it?” Maxwell snarled. “Even if that was a real apology and you actually meant it, it doesn’t mean a damn thing right now. It fixes nothing. Look at what you did!”

He pivoted and pointed directly at Rebecca still lying on her side on the gym floor, motionless in a quickly growing pool of her own blood seeping out around the wooden shard in her belly.

Rowan followed the direction of Maxwell’s finger and caught Rebecca’s gaze. “Yeah, I know. You okay?”

Besides wanting to bash his face in? Sure.

She nodded as best she could and replied through gritted teeth, “I’ll be fine.”

It was true. She’d been through far worse, and shewouldbe fine. Rowan knew it just as well as she did, but it was merelyone more fun little secret to which no one else within Shade was privy.

More than anything, despite the pain in her belly and the stiffness settling into her limbs as she lay there on her side, this whole thing just felt remarkably awkward. Not to mention embarrassing.

“You arenotokay,” Maxwell told her with a frown, his voice surprisingly gentle. Then he whirled on Rowan again. “Andyou. You’re banned from so much as looking at that machine gun. Do you hear me?”

Rowan’s smile faded as he backed away from the furious shifter, his hands still lifted in surrender.

Now the elf looked confused beyond belief—not an expression Rebecca was used to seeing on him. That confusion had to be why he backed down now without a fight.

Rebecca could practically hear him asking why she pretended to be this weak and fragile or if she did it just for the added attention.

Another wave of agony rising against the constant pain everywhere else made her grunt, making Maxwell turn back toward her in concern.

The second he did, she caught sight of Rowan’s hands moving in a flurry of gestures specific to their shared Bloodshadow hunting party from back in the day.

“What are you doing? Just heal it.”

Easier said than done.

No one here knew anything close to the full extent of her abilities, and she couldn’t just tell him that.

Not with everyone crowding around her now, watching her every move and acutely on edge as they waited for whatever happened next.

Rebecca started to push herself off the ground, clenching her teeth with another grunt through the endless pain before she murmured, “I…think I’m just gonna go lie down for a bit.”

She noted the odd stares and hushed whispers rising all around her as she struggled to rise.

“Damn, Knox.”

“Total badass…”

---