The Wolf Crown (The Wolf Kings #2) (MLM)

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN.

                Jack would spend the rest of his life grateful to Violet for her healing gifts. The gash in Tiberius's shoulder might not have been as deep as it had looked before they'd cleaned it, but once Violet had covered the injury with a mixture of herbs and water and Jack had bandaged it with the scarf from his satchel, he knew it would leave a fresh scar amid his old ones.

He slept fitfully now, his head on Jack's lap, Jack's coat blanketing him as the four of them sat in complete silence. Quartz had flown around the cave looking for any small pockets of air that he could carve through and make bigger. After had Violet had healed Tiberius, she'd tested her lightning against the wall of rocks and been forced to stop as the entire cave shook.

"Don't," Quartz had warned, "that might bring the whole place down on us, and I doubt we'll get lucky enough not to get crushed a second time."

"It wasn't luck," Jack had said hollowly, keeping a palm over Tiberius's heart to make sure it was still beating. "He kept his shadows around us to make sure we were safe. Not that it'll do much good if we can't get any air in here."

So they sat, thinking. Wondering. Hoping. Fearing, for their people, their friends. . . . Jack's eyes never left Tiberius's face, one palm sweating as he kept it pressed to Tiberius's chest, his other in Tiberius's curls.

He should've been searching every nook and cranny for some escape. He should've been racking his brain for anything that would bring the Shadow Wolf back. He should've done a million things he wasn't doing. He'd never been so useless in a crisis in his life. And he didn't care.

With Tiberius wounded, he couldn't seem to think at all. He bent over and pressed his lips to Tiberius's brow in a breathless kiss. He felt like his whole world was crumbling around him and all he wanted was to protect Tiberius. If Tiberius was okay, he would be okay. If Tiberius was okay, Jack could handle the rest.

"I'll never be able to thank you enough," he said, and looked to Quartz. "Either of you."

"I didn't do anything, Jack," Quartz scoffed, leaning his head back against the rocks. He had his knees pulled up, his forearms rested on them as he twisted the silver rings on his fingers. "As usual."

"You stayed calm," he said, "and you worked when I couldn't . . . can't . . ." He shut his eyes. "I'm sorry, I'm—I can't think when Tiberius is . . ."

He couldn't finish, opting instead on running his hand up and down Tiberius's chest, warming his already heated body.

"Jack," Violet said softly, "it's okay—"

"It's not okay," he said through gritted teeth. "It's not okay, all these fucking prophecies keep wanting me to do all this stuff and help all these people and all I care about is Tiberius and I can't think if anything happens to him, Violet, it's not okay."

He shuddered, curling in over Tiberius to shield him from the very dust in the air that threatened to suffocate him, heaving and not knowing what to do but protect. Protect his mate, his love. His whole world.

"Uh . . . dude," Quartz said lazily. "You're talking to the witch who had to kill her own fiancé, and the fairy that tried to do it first. Do we look like the models of fine leadership to you?"

Jack looked up, and found them watching him with a kind of understanding that only another leader could have.

"It is okay, Jack," Violet said softly. "We might not be werewolves, and you might be part human, but you're still a Wolf King. The mate bond affects you as strongly as it would affect Tiberius if it was you that was hurt, I'd be offended on his behalf if you weren't this distraught."