Cress

Chapter 4

                 Scarlet pressed a cotton pad to the corner of Wolf's mouth, shaking her
                head. "She may not get in many hits, but when she does, she makes them
         count."
         Despite the bruise creeping around his jaw, Wolf was beaming, his
           eyes bright beneath the medbay's lights. "Did you see how she tripped up
                   my feet before she swung? I didn't see it coming." He rubbed his hands
             giddily on his thighs, his feet kicking at the side of the exam table. "I
                   think we might finally be getting somewhere."
                    "Well, I'm glad you're proud of her, but I think it would be nice if
               next time she hit you with her nonmetal hand." Scarlet pulled the cot-
                     ton away. The wound was still bleeding where Wolf's lip had broken on
        his upper canine, but not as bad as before. She reached for a tube of
       healing   salve.  "You might be adding a new scar to your collection, but
      it kind of matches the one on this side of your mouth, so at least they'll be
     symmetrical."
        "I don't mind the scars." He shrugged, his eyes taking on a mis-
chievous spark. "They hold better memories now than they used to."
        Scarlet paused with a dab of ointment on her fingertip. Wolf's atten-
tion had affixed itself to his own knotted hands, a hint of color on his
cheeks. Within seconds, she was feeling extra warm herself, remember-
ing the night they'd once spent as stowaways aboard a maglev train.

   How she'd traced her fingers along the pale scar on his arm, brushed her
   lips against the faint marks on his face, been taken into his arms ...
         She shoved him on the shoulder. "Stop smiling so much," she said,
  dabbing the salve onto the wound. "You're making it worse."
   He quickly schooled his features, but the glint remained in his eyes
         when he dared to look up at her.
            That night on the maglev remained the only time they'd kissed. Scar-
      let couldn't count the time he'd kissed her while she was being held cap-
       tive by him and the rest of his special operative "pack."  He had used the
        chance to give her an ID chip that ultimately helped her escape, but there
  had been no affection in that kiss, and at the time she'd despised  him.
      But those moments aboard the maglev had caused more than one
  sleepless night since coming aboard the Rampion. When she had lain
  awake and imagined slipping out of her bed. Creeping across the corri-
    dor to Wolf's room. Not saying a word when he opened the door, just
   pulling herself against him. Curling her hands into his hair. Wrapping
   herself up in the sort of security that she'd only ever found in his arms.
        She never did, though. Not for fear of rejection—Wolf hadn't exactly
        tried to conceal his lingering gazes or how he leaned into every touch, no
        matter how  trivial. And he had never taken back what he said after the
         attack. You're the only one, Scarlet. You'll always be the only one.
     Scarlet knew he was waiting for her to make the first move.
        But every time she found herself tempted, she would see the tattoo on
              his arm, the one that marked him forever as a Lunar special operative.
             Her heart was still broken from loss of her grandmother,  and the
             knowledge that Wolf could have saved her. He could have protected her.
        He could have prevented it all from happening in the first place.
         Which wasn't fair to him. That was before he'd known Scarlet, before
   he'd cared. And if he had tried to rescue her grandmother, the other op-
      eratives would have killed him too. Then Scarlet really would be alone.
      Maybe her hesitation was because, if she were honest with herself, she
           was still a little afraid of Wolf. When he was happy and flirtatious and,
     at times, adorably awkward, it was easy to forget that there was another
     side to him. But Scarlet had seen him fight too many times to forget. Not
     like the restrained brawls he and Cinder had, but fights where he could
     ruthlessly snap a man's neck, or tear an opponent's flesh from his bones
     using nothing but his own sharp teeth.
   The memories still made her shudder.
  "Scarlet?"
  She jumped. Wolf was   watching   her,   his   brow   creased. "What's
                wrong?"
   "Nothing." She called up a smile, relieved when it didn't feel strained.
            Yes, there was something dark inside him, but the monster she'd seen
         before was not the same as the man seated  before her now. Whatever
         those Lunar scientists had done to him, Wolf had shown time and again
       that he could make his own choices. That he could be different.
     "I was just thinking about scars," she said, screwing the cap back onto
the ointment. Wolf's lip had stopped bleeding, though the bruise would
last a few days.
Cupping his chin, Scarlet tilted Wolf's face away from her and pressed
          a kiss against the wound. He inhaled sharply, but otherwise became as
        still as rock—an unusual feat for him.
     "I think you'll survive," she said, pulling away and tossing the ban-
dage into the trash chute.
        "Scarlet? Wolf?" Iko's voice crackled through the wall speakers. "Can
you come out to the cargo bay? There's something on the newsfeeds you
might want to see."
      "Be right there," said Scarlet, stashing away the rest of the supplies as
   Wolf jumped down from the exam table. When she glanced over at him,
          he was grinning, one finger rubbing against the cut.
       In the cargo bay, Thorne and Cinder were seated on one of the storage
      crates, hunkered over a deck of paper cards. Cinder's hair was still a mess
    from her recent semi-victory over Wolf.
  "Oh, good," said Thorne, glancing up. "Scarlet, tell Cinder she's cheat-
ing."
       "I'm not cheating."
    "You just played back-to-back doubles. You can't do that."
 
   
     Cinder crossed her arms. "Thorne, I just downloaded the official rule-
    book into my brain. I know what I can and can't do."
         "Aha!" He snapped his fingers."See, you can't just download stuff in
     the middle of a game of Royals. House rules. You're cheating."
     Cinder threw up her hands, sending cards fluttering throughout the
    cargo bay. Scarlet snatched a three out of the air. "I was taught that you
    can't play back-to-back doubles either. But maybe that was just how my
   grandma played."
"Or maybe Cinder's cheating."
         "I am not—" Clenching her jaw, Cinder growled.
        "Iko called us out here for something?" said Scarlet, dropping the card
  back onto the deck.
   "Oui, mademoiselle," said Iko, adopting the accent that Thorne often
      imitated when talking to Scarlet, though Iko sounded much more au
      thentic. "There's breaking news coming out on the Lunar special op-
      eratives." The netscreen on the wall flickered, as Iko hid the ticking
     clock and palace blueprint and replaced them with a series of vids—
reporters and grainy footage of armed military personnel coaxing half
     a dozen muscular men into a secured hover. "It seems that since the
     attack, the American Republic has been conducting investigations into
the operatives, and a sting operation is going down right now in the
       three Republic cities that were attacked: New York, Mexico City, and São
              Paulo. They've already rounded up fifty-nine operatives and four thau-
maturges, to be held as prisoners of war."
        Scarlet stepped closer to the screen, which was showing footage from
         Manhattan Island. It appeared that this particular pack had been hiding
    out in an abandoned subway line. The operatives were bound at their
   hands and ankles and each one had at least two guns trained on him
   from the surrounding troops, but they all looked as carefree as if they
    were picking wildflowers in a meadow. One even flashed an amused grin
  at the camera as he was herded past. "Do you know any of them?
    Wolf grunted. "Not well. The different packs didn't usually socialize,
but I'd see them in the dining hall, and sometimes during training."