Bound By Roses (Ash and Roses #3)

Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

ABBY

‘ I need to feel you. Everywhere.’ I don’t speak the words aloud, but I know he hears them.

My mate.

Those two beautiful words keep repeating in my mind. The two words I thought I’d lost forever, only to be reforged stronger than I ever knew possible with nothing but a kiss.

A kiss my lips are still very much engaged in.

I feel Quinn shift, though he doesn’t break our connection. Not even when he lays me down on my back, slides my pants down my hips, and slips a finger—no, three fingers —inside me.

‘Gods, Stabby. You’re already so wet.’

‘ Then what are you waiting for?’ Even my thoughts are breathless and laced in desperation. I’d meant what I said. I need to feel him everywhere. Every inch of my skin craves his touch and the static charge that comes with it.

It wasn’t like this before. The bond that once existed between us was amazing, but this is unbelievable. Other-worldly. Insatiable.

A whimper escapes me when the sensation of his fingers disappear, but then I feel him, full and hard as he thrusts inside me with a moan that breaks through our kiss and forces me to take in a breath of air.

His hands find their way under the loose fabric of my shirt and slide upwards, hesitating only a moment on my breasts. A memory of his teeth nipping at them flashes through my mind, and I can’t tell if it came from me or him. His breath hitches and I instinctively know he’s thinking the same thing. Whatever this new bond is between us, it’s on an entirely different level.

In one swift motion, he pulls my shirt up over my head and tosses it carelessly onto the bed beside us. I didn’t even notice that we’re on the floor, and I really couldn’t care less. Just being with Quinn, feeling his hands running across my skin, touching me in as many places as he can, as if he needs this as much as I do, is all that matters.

He moves, thrusting deeper, and a sudden flash of pain hits me. Just as I knew what he was thinking, I know this pain isn’t mine. I open my eyes just in time to catch his wince. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he says, resuming his rhythm. I feel the sensation again in the same moment his face twitches.

“Roll over,” I say, and he rolls us without argument.

He sits up so that he can kiss me and so I can feel his bare chest against mine. The mysterious pains have ceased, so I roll my hips and ride his cock with no attempt at being gentle. I don’t need to ask if he’s enjoying this because I can feel that he is. He’s open to me, just as I am to him; every sensation between us shared.

I know he’s close, and so am I. I don’t need to slow his orgasm, but I lean forward and bite his neck anyway. His gasp and the arousal that comes with it sends me over the edge and my teeth clamp down harder. His release follows just seconds behind mine and goes on both forever and entirely not long enough. All I can do is hold on to him and ride the wave as it crashes into me again and again and again.

When we’re both heaving heavy breaths, he wraps his arms around me and locks me in an embrace that I never want to escape from. I long for the warmth of his body to swallow me whole so that this small moment in time can become our permanent reality.

The golden vines snaking down my arms glow, as does the newly formed rose on his chest. I nuzzle deeper into him and kiss it.

We’re alive. We’re together.

‘Safe and together,’ he says through our bond as if he were thinking the same thing.

Though I don’t know if I’d say we’re truly safe. No matter how good Quinn is in bed, even his cock doesn’t have the power to make me forget. Shadows linger, even in a moment as precious as this.

A sudden knock on the door brings me back into the light. It opens just as suddenly, and Quinn barely has time to drape the blanket around us before Aurelia enters with a disapproving scowl etched onto her face.

“Is privacy not a thing in Marein?” Quinn growls.

Aurelia’s eyes narrow in response. “Not when someone is not where they are supposed to be.”

I look to Quinn. “What is she talking about?”

“Nothing. I’m exactly where I should be.” He brushes a lock of hair back from my embarrassingly sweaty face.

“Your bond is back,” Aurelia says, more of a statement than a question, though there’s a definite undertone of surprise and a slight raise to her brow as her eyes settle on me. “Then maybe you can talk some sense into your mate. He was to report to the healers over an hour ago.”

“Healers?” I ask and think back to his winces and the phantom pains I’d felt entwined with our ecstasy. Blurred memories of the battle we’d faced the night before come back to me in a rush, as does the image of Quinn’s bloody leg.

Before he can stop me, I pull back the blanket from his lower half. The blood drains from my face the instant I see the blood draining from him, seeping from the wound on his thigh. It seems our quickness to become one has torn open whatever stitches the healers already put in place. I quickly apply pressure, though I’m not sure if I’m even making a difference. There isn’t a lot of blood, but my hands seem to do nothing to stop its flow, regardless.

Quinn sucks in a sharp breath as I press harder.

“Serves you right,” Aurelia mutters. “Healers. Now .”

“We’ll be right there,” I promise her, hoping the authority in my tone matches hers. What the fuck was Quinn thinking allowing me to be so rough with him?

“We’ll need to see if that locks,” he mutters as Aurelia exits, shutting the door behind her.

Is that all he has to say? I push myself away from him and hastily begin the search for my shirt. I can feel his eyes on me.

“Stabby?”

I don’t answer him. My heart is pounding in my chest, and my head feels like it’s spinning. I have to grab hold of the bed so I don’t lose my balance. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Quinn try to stand. He slips, either on the blood or the inability to put enough weight on that leg to hoist himself upright.

“Stabby, talk to me.” There’s genuine concern in his voice now, and my panic turns to anger.

I risk the dizziness and whirl around to face him. “You can’t keep doing this!” I don’t mean to yell the words, but I don’t regret them in the slightest.

“Doing what?”

I drop to my knees in front of him so that he can look me in the eyes and see the seriousness in them. “Not taking care of yourself. Last night showed me how it would feel to lose you. I can’t go through that again. Not ever. It would destroy me.”

He presses his hand softly against my cheek and catches a tear that I didn’t realize had fallen. “You’re not going to lose me. The only reason Aurelia is on my ass is because I dripped blood on her floor. This will be nothing but a scar in a matter of days.” He takes my hand in his and presses it flat against the scar on his chest. The scar I created when I drove my knife into it. Although he doesn’t say it, I know this is his way of telling me that he’s survived worse.

“I’m not worried about your leg.”

His face hardens. “Then what?”

“It’s just…” I groan, exasperated. I take a moment to find the right words, and he waits for them in silence. “This is what you do. What you always do. Tess isn’t here to put you in your place, so I need to be able to trust you to ask for help when you need it.”

“Okay,” he agrees.

“Okay?” I was expecting some kind of argument.

He leans forward and kisses the top of my forehead, letting his lips linger there. ‘The last thing I want is to be the source of your worries.’ He pulls away and offers me a smile. “Help me get dressed?”

I pull him to his feet. He buttons his pants as I search for both of our shirts. It isn’t until I pull mine back over my head that I realize how desperately we need something new to wear—and a bath. We’re both still covered in sand and dried blood from the night before, but getting clean is going to have to wait until Quinn’s leg is taken care of.

I let him lean on me as we hobble out of the room and down the glass tunnel hall. There wasn’t much of time to appreciate the design of this place when we arrived yesterday, but now that no one is trying to kill us—at least not right this moment—I find myself marvelling at the shimmering hues of blue and green that encompass us.

I finally understand why they call this the Jade Coast. The water seems to turn from blue to green the closer it gets to the bottom, and I can’t help but wonder what gives it that striking colour. I think back to the glowing algae that lines the pool where Jade still floats, but quickly stop myself.

I can’t think about him right now. Not yet.

As we move deeper through the tunnels, they remind me less of Lunae. Sure, there were tunnels beneath the city just like there are here, but Lunae’s are scattered and disorganized. This underground city is nothing but ordered.

From what I can tell, it’s divided into four quadrants of sprawling tunnels lined with rooms on either side, leaving the heart of the city a communal dining hall. I won’t know for certain until we eventually make our way inside, but from the small glimpses we’ve had when we passed by some of the various entrances, I’d say my theory is correct.

It doesn’t take us long to reach the quadrant that houses the infirmary. It’s just how I remember it from last night—except much busier. Last night, the only occupied bed before the battle began was the one Rhett sits on now. And after the battle? I have no idea. This room could have been just as busy as it is now and all I would remember is the pain in my chest from two broken bonds, and the choice I made to keep Jade alive.

Rhett’s eyes brighten when he spots us. “You two look like shit,” he says when we reach him. Quinn stumbles and has to grip the edge of the bed to maintain his balance, the blood trickling down his leg already beginning to pool beneath where he’d stopped. Rhett’s eyes move from the crimson puddle to me. “I know you said you didn’t want to see me out of this bed, but—”

“Yes,” I say hastily, giving him permission to slide off the raised thin mattress so Quinn can clamber atop. “You’re not going to be the next to bleed out in front of me, are you?”

Rhett laughs, but it turns into a wince. He pulls up the side of his shirt to show me the bandage wrapped tightly around his waist. I assume he has a matching one over the injury on his shoulder. “They’ve got me so wrapped up that I could probably do a backflip and nothing would tear.”

“Let’s not test that theory,” I mutter before turning my attention back to Quinn. There’s a look on his face that tells me he already knows what I’m thinking.

‘I didn’t exactly give them a lot of time. My only priority was getting somewhere I could be alone with you. All I wanted to do was curl up against you and pretend that our bond was still intact.’

I reach out and cup his cheek. He leans into my hand and kisses my palm.

“Oh, wow,” Rhett exclaims. “You got your bond back.”

Quinn laughs softly. “Are we that obvious?”

“You two don’t do subtle.” He turns from us and waves to a nearby healer who looks about done with someone three beds over. She nods once before joining us a moment later. “This is Ocena. She’s got the gentlest hands out of all of them, let me tell you.”

The young woman with long blonde hair that shimmers like the sun on the sea laughs once, short and sharp. “That is because everyone else was too busy holding you down.”

I’d shoot Rhett a disapproving look, but I’m far too focused on Quinn. That is, until my eyes shift towards the closed door of the room where Jade is likely still inside. A wave of guilt hits me and the only thing that breaks through it is a gentle squeeze of my hand.

“You should check on him,” Quinn suggests, but I shake my head.

“Later. Right now, I’m exactly where I should be.”

He smiles at my use of his earlier words, but it quickly vanishes when his pants are unceremoniously torn open by the healer at our side.

She makes a sound of disapproval. “You have ripped your stitches.”

“I sincerely apologize,” Quinn tells her. “It won’t happen again.” Judging by the glint in his eyes and the slight upturn to one side of his lips when his gaze meets mine, I don’t think he means that at all. My core heats at the thought of him and I finishing what we’d started this morning and—Oh, Gods. Am I blushing? The widening of his smile tells me I am.

I quickly turn my attention to the gash on his leg to distract myself from the filthy thoughts already trying to make their way into my mind. “How did this happen?” This is the first time I’ve thought to ask. Quinn was fine before Jade collided with the beach.

“Imelda’s sword. She pushed past me when she realized what was happening and her blade clipped me as she went. I was only just able to roll out of the way before Jade… Well, you know.”

I do know.

I know very well what Jade did and the state he was in afterward. The state he’s in now. I should check on him once Quinn is taken care of, but I don’t think I can. Whatever pain his future holds from this point on is my doing. I knew the right thing was to let Jade die peacefully, but I just couldn’t lose anything else. Now, if he survives, he’ll feel the same loss of the bond I’d felt last night. And worse, he’ll have to see me truly bonded with Quinn—and that’s if he survives this.

I’m cruel and selfish and—

Quinn sucks in a sharp breath that brings my focus back to him. He leans towards the healer to get her attention. “I know I said no last night, but I’m saying yes now.”

I don’t know what he means by that, but Ocena certainly seems to. Her eyes light up and she rushes away, only to return a moment later with a jar in her hand. She slips a small hand inside and when it emerges, a large glob of something red and slimy balances on two fingers.

“This will be painful for a moment, but then you will feel nothing.”

“She’s not lying,” Rhett quips. I’d almost forgotten he was here. “That stuff burns like the fires of Dragoria.”

Quinn nods, accepting both warnings, and I take his hand in mine. When I press against our bond, I find he’s put up a mental barrier to keep me out.

Before I can argue, Ocena smooths the glob into the open gash. Quinn’s neck arches back sharply and his hands ball into fists. “Fuck,” he groans and then bites down on his lip. The pain seems to last only a moment because as quickly as it came, his body relaxes, though his breathing is still a little shaky.

“Better?” Ocena asks, resuming her stitching of the wound.

“Much. I don’t feel a thing. What is that?”

“It is made from an ocean creature. The pain it inflicts is how it defends itself from predators. Even in death, it lingers.”

“How long will it last?”

“Relief can be felt for up to 24 hours. Less if it is washed off. I am assuming after this you will want to bathe, so I will give you a jar so you may reapply as you desire. You must return once you are clean so I can wrap this properly. I will not have you tearing your stitches every day. We do not have the time or the resources to accommodate your carelessness.”

My face heats again when I see the look on Quinn’s. At first I’m thankful he doesn’t make a comment to worsen my longing to get him alone again, but then his words register. “How is Jade?”

Of course I want to know how he is, but it’s easier not knowing. Without the answer to that question, I can force myself to pretend he’s not burned to a crisp and barely clinging to life because he’s already dead to the world thanks to the flower I forced down his throat.

“He is…” She sighs. “He is the same. You may visit if you would like. The Regent is in there with him now.”

“Still?” Rhett asks.

She nods, and there’s something morose about it. “He has been with him all night. Perhaps you can convince him to rest.”

“There’s no convincing Merrick of anything, but yeah. I can try.” Rhett moves for the door and I avert my eyes just before he opens it. I doubt I could see inside from here, but I can’t take the risk. This may be my fault, but I’m not ready to take responsibility for it yet.

Quinn slides off the bed with ease and seems to have no trouble putting weight on his leg, thanks to whatever creature produced that slime. I follow his gaze to the door where Aurelia stands. Her arms are crossed and draped over them is what looks like a new set of clothing for Quinn and I.

Oh, I hope I’m right.

“I see you finally took care of that leg,” she says when we join her. “Now you must get cleaned up. Today has been hard enough without the two of you walking around like stark reminders of battle.”