Page 38 of Blood So Brutal

“Come on,” he said, standing. “We’ll get you bandaged up before we start our journey. The last thing you need is an infection from the stables.”

I let him pull me up but didn’t miss the way he avoided my gaze as he led me to the back of the horse stables and began rumbling through the spare medical supplies.

The more steps I took, the more the wound in my ribs stung.

“Lift up your shirt,” he ordered, sounding more annoyed than anything. I did as I was told, rolling my fitted black tunic up just above the wound.

His jaw clenched as he studied it. “This is going to hurt,” he warned.

He wasn’t lying. I hissed in pain as he poured alcohol over the wound, catching it with a clean cloth and wiping the skin dry.

I tried not to flinch with every touch as he pulled out every small piece of hay. “Sorry,” he mumbled so quietly, I barely heard him.

“You can’t just heal me with your magic? Wouldn’t that be faster?”

He stilled, eyes widening. “Don’t say things like that around here. It isn’t safe.”

“What isn’t safe?”

His voice was hardly audible as he whispered, “I don’t have healing magic, Huntyr. I’ve never healed before.”

The lie rolled off his tongue effortlessly. Chills rose on my arms at the solemn tone of his voice. He could heal, I’d seen it.

But he let the wounds from his severed wings take weeks to heal. For whatever reason, he was serious about keeping his magic a secret.

He bent over, adjusting his gaze on my wound as he blew on the skin. Not only was his breath a nice relief from the stinging pain cursing through my torso, but his warm hands fell on my hips to hold me still.

I couldn’t control my body’s reaction to him—the goosebumps that flooded me, the wave of need. Too late, I secured the shield to our bond so he wouldn’t know what I was feeling.

But if he noticed, he said nothing. He worked in silence as he eventually pulled away and secured a bandage around my torso. I was still torturously aware of the brush of his knuckles as he lowered my shirt. “There,” he sighed. “That’s going to be sore tomorrow, but at least it will be clean. Now, let’s go. Jessiah’s waiting.” He stormed off, leaving me scrambling after him through the stables.

Wolf’s horse was much different than mine. The animal wasn’t white and feminine like my horse had been. No, Wolf’s horse was a shadow, sleek and black and absolutely massive.

“Holy shit,” I mumbled as Wolf led us to him. “That animal is huge.”

Wolf finally smiled, and I hated the way my chest twisted. “The biggest horse we have. I’ve had her since she was a baby. I haven’t ridden her in a while because, well, with my wings, there wasn’t much need.”

Guilt cursed through me. Fuck, I shouldnotbe feeling sorry for him. He was the one who betrayed me. He was the one who did this to himself.

Still, I dropped my gaze when he looked in my direction.

“Need help getting on?”

I approached the god of an animal slowly, making sure he warmed up to my presence. “I–” I took a long breath. “Yes.”

I could have sworn I felt something else through the bond then—something like relief. “Come on, Huntress. Up you go.”

The saddle was too high for me to hoist myself up. Wolf knelt down and gripped my foot, wrapping an arm around my leg as I pressed up on his shoulders to reach the horse’s back. Even in the cool morning air, I felt the heat through his shirt, felt everywhere his body touched mine as I swung my leg over the animal.

Wolf immediately backed up and gripped the reins, making sure to control him. “Good,” he muttered, more to the horse than to me. Then, he walked back over and hauled himself onto the saddle just behind me, like it took no effort for him at all. Aside from his thighs brushing against mine, he kept himself as far away from me as possible.

I didn’t care. In fact, I preferred it. Hells, I didn’t want to ride with Wolf in the first place, but I knew it took a lot more effort to keep himself away from me on that small saddle.

Wolf led the horse out of the stables into the morning light, where Jessiah waited for us on his own brown horse. “There you two are. I was starting to think you left without me.”

“Of course not,” Wolf joked, his chest barely brushing my back as the horse halted. “We need you to feed to the hungry ones if we get attacked on our way to Scarlata.”

“Very funny,” he replied dryly. Griffith finished securing the saddlebags on the back of Jessiah’s horse. “And I hope you both ate, because there is no way I’m letting you take my blood if we starve out there.”

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