“Cypress,” I yell at him. “Cy, are you—”
For one terrifying second, I think he’s going to fall while we’re still galloping at full speed, barely giving me time to grab Cerberus’s reins to pull him up as I signal Helios to slow. “Cypress, what are you—”
His body sways again, toward me, and I reach out a hand to steady him, pushing against his shoulder to keep him in the saddle. He winces immediately, flinching from evident pain before I pull my hand back.
It comes away red. And right then, I remember all the reasons I don’t believe in luck.
“Goddammit, Cypress.” Aiden’s voice has a sharp bite of reproach to it as he pours good alcohol over a wound that I hope only looks bad. “The hell were you thinking?”
I flinch as the burn hits, my head dropping back against the tree we made it to after I nearly fell off Cerberus.
Did I fall off?I feel like I did. Groaning at the pain, I take a sharp breath right as Aiden presses a cloth hard over the wound in my right shoulder.No, Aiden was there…
I wish he’d speak up, because I think he’s scolding me, shaking his head as he pulls the cloth back and examines the wound. There’s a dim light coming from a lantern hanging on the branch above to help him see, only I don’t remember putting it there.I don’t remember getting here…
“It’s deep. There’s so much… Fuck, Cy, there’s so much blood.” I nod, sure he’s right. Usually is. “You need stitches. I’m going to do it, okay?”
I nod again, and he presses the cloth once more on the wound,staying like that for several long minutes while he searches through a saddlebag with his right hand, producing a tin with a needle and thread that I can only presume is for this exact purpose. Or for clothes.Bet he’s good at sewing…at mending things. Suppose I’m about to find out.
Aiden stands briefly, holding the end of the needle into the flame of the lantern until it glows red, then drops into a crouch in front of me, threading the opposite end and nodding at the bottle of whiskey that has appeared in my left hand. “Drink.”
As directed, I take a long pull and that burns, too, making me flinch again, but I reopen my eyes in time to see Aiden unbuckling his belt. “Wolf…while I have certainly been looking forward to it, I’m not sure now is the best time…”
His head jerks up, and he gives me an incredulous look before whipping the leather belt the rest of the way free and holding it out for me. “Take another drink, then bite down.”
Ah, that makes sense. Still…
“I’m going to go fast,” he’s saying when I lower the bottle and grab for the belt. “Might not be the prettiest.”
I shrug. “Will match the rest.” Biting into the strip of leather, I wait for him to start as he hovers over the wound with the needle, his jaw clenched as tight as mine, and I want to tell him it’s all right. That this is nothing…
“You shouldn’t have gotten in the way,” he grits out, taking a deep breath in and then pushing the needle through my skin. “I would have been fine.”
I remove the belt from my mouth, swallowing a grunt of pain as he moves to the next stitch. “It wasn’t…something I was willing to risk.”
He makes another stitch. Then another.
“It’s not your job to protect me,” he argues. “That’s not the deal we made.”
“I made my own deal.” Another stitch. Another. Ithurts. Iforgot how much it hurts. “And neither—neither matter if you’re dead.”
“And what about ifyou’redead?” he snaps. “Did you think of that?”
Tears sting my eyes when he hits a particularly angry spot. “Not—not really.”
“Fuck.” Aiden finishes off the last stitches and then knots the thread, my shoulder throbbing like he’s still going. I close my eyes and lean my head back again to try to get myself to believe he isn’t. “Cy, I need you to…I need you to think about it.”
I crack my eyes back open, watching him as he rips a clean black shirt, folds the strips carefully over the fresh stitches, and then uses a few more to secure them. Will be good…the black…can’t see the blood that way. “Aiden.”
His hands are shaking now as he checks his work over, again and again. Again and again and again and— “Wolf.”
When Aiden looks up, his eyes are glassy. “Don’t.” He lets out a shaky breath, maybe the same one he inhaled before he started, then leans forward, pressing his forehead against mine. “Don’t fucking do that again.”
I savor him touching me, savor knowing he’s unharmed. “It’s going to be all right. Had worse.” I’m so tired. I know we need to keep going, but maybe if I could just rest for a bit…“It’s nothing, wolf.”
I feel Aiden shake his head before his mouth brushes against my forehead, where he murmurs, “Not to me.”
He pulls away, and I’d like to pull him back, but he’s looking toward the way we came.Or maybe it was the other way?