Crowed (Team Zero #2) by Rina Kent

My guilty pleasure these days is reading books about babies. The bookstore will get rich due to my endless purchases.

At times, I imagine Crow sitting beside me and reading with me. Again, I know it’s unhealthy, but I can’t help it. I don’t think the pain of losing him will ever settle in.

Somewhere in reading about the second trimester, I fall asleep. I barely register the book falling from my hand to the floor.

At that moment between wakefulness and sleep, Charlotte barks and Orange hisses. I release a soft moan. They’re bickering in the middle of the night again.

Strong arms surround me, and the scent of leather isn’t so washed-up any more.

It’s one of those dreams. I want to cry joyful tears. Those dreams were beginning to fade away. I was scared I would never see him again even in my sleep.

I stay still in his embrace. If I attempt to touch him or turn to see him, he will disappear. That’s what he did before. So this time, I’ll just remain cocooned in his hold.

His strong arms encircle my waist. His leg wraps around mine and his hot breath tickles my neck.

The leather scent is a lot stronger than in the previous dreams. His long, lean fingers glide into my hair. They seem so real this time. The caress soothes and lulls me to sleep.

Tears prickle under my closed lids. If I turn around, he will disappear. Again and again, he just disappears. All I’m left with is a bottomless void that refuses to be filled.

“Are you asleep, Eloise?” he asks in a low, shiver-inducing voice.

My eyes snap open and my entire body turns rigid. This… can’t be happening. Crow never speaks in my dreams. He just exists. I don’t even see him.

I slowly turn. God, I must be going insane. I’m starting to hear things.

I’ll just make sure he’s not real. Tomorrow, I need to find a new shrink.

My heart thunders in my ears as I make out the most intense, blue eyes I have ever seen. He’s staring at me with raw, deep longing that almost matches mine.

Crow.

It’s Crow.

That hooded gaze. These strong, thick arms caging me. Those bird tattoos peeking from the collar of his T-shirt.

He’s here and hasn’t disappeared.

I reach out a trembling hand to touch him. He will really vanish this time, but I can’t push away the need to touch him.

Just once. I want to touch him one more time.

My fingers connect with a slight stubble on his cheek.

It’s… real.

I gasp, bolting to the sitting position. “C-Crow? Please tell me I’m not going insane.”

His smile, eyes glinting with playfulness. “The one and only.”

Oh. Mon. Dieu.

It’s really him. It’s Crow.

Relief consumes me. I’m shaking. A shiver takes hold of my entire body.

He’s alive.

Wait. He’s alive. He’s been alive ever since that day he fell from the cliff and yet he made me believe he was dead. All those months of grief and counselling and working so hard to be fine has been for nothing.

I jump to my feet, anger shoots down my spine, almost on par with relief. I point a finger at him. “You were alive all this time but didn’t think about telling me?”

He stands, too. Now that he’s at his full, mesmerising height, that leather jacket stretching over his broad shoulders and those black trousers hugging his thighs, the reality that he’s alive strikes home. I almost fall to the floor crying, but the anger keeps me standing.

Mon Dieu. The intensity of the emotions is already crippling. Add the hormonal changes and I’m a mess.

“I can explain,” he says.

“Explain what? Explain that I mourned and I’m still mourning you?” Tears soak my cheeks and I wipe them with jerky hands. “How could you do this to me? How could you make me believe that you’re dead?”

“Do you think I wanted to leave you?” Veins throb in his neck as he advances. “I was dead without you all this time. It took everything in me not to blow my plans in the air and run back to you. But I couldn’t. Not before I made sure that you wouldn’t be in danger anymore. Hades isn’t dead yet, but he will be soon. Most of his assassins have defected, so he doesn’t have the luxury to go after you or me.” His hands cage my face, wiping my tears with the pads of his thumbs. “You never left my mind or heart during all this time.”

“I thought you were dead…” I choke on my words, hitting his chest with everything in my might. “And I’ve been trying all this time to move on.”

He clutches both my wrists in his hand and leans close until his scent is all I breathe. “Did it work?”

“Not in the least.” I stare at him through wet lashes. My fingers clutch his T-shirt tight to make sure he’s real and not a nasty dream.

His lips claim mine. The kiss isn’t gentle. It’s deep and passionate and matches the furious longing I have for him. His tongue swirls against mine. There’s no denying that he’s here.

Crow is alive.

I’m a crying mess now. Kissing him and sobbing. I cling to him, but my unsteady legs make me waver.

Crow takes me in his arms. He sits on the edge of the bed and keeps me cocooned in his lap. My arms circle his neck and my face buries in the crook of his shoulder as I cry my eyes out. Happy, but also wretched tears.

Crow holds me like a safety line. An anchor. He whispers soothing words in my ear and rubs my back.