Misted (Team Zero #5) by Rina Kent

Screw him for putting me through this.

I try to sit up, but I slide down against the sheets instead. They feel so harsh against my sensitive, sweaty skin. I fall on my knees with a thud. With a weak hand, I clutch the bedpost. My strength fails me, and I end up on my face.

My arms feel like jelly when I try to push off my face. The position with my head down brings bile to my throat.

The door swings open. Blinding light filters from the entrance and I screw my lids shut. Muted footsteps filter into my hazy head. Strong arms wrap around my shoulders and pull me up. My head lols back and falls against a hard, broad chest. This warmth. This damn warmth. Why did I lose it, again?

Hot breaths tickle against my ear and I nuzzle against it with everything in me.

“Hug?” I murmur in a slur that I don’t even understand.

“What are you doing?” Hawk snaps, obviously not hearing my pathetic loss of control.

“Throw… up…” Bile fills my throat.

He fumbles with something on the side of the bed then brings a black bucket my face. “Here.”

One sweaty hand clutches his forearm and the other grips the bucket as I empty my stomach. I go at it for so long until I’m dry heaving.

A strong, comforting hand rubs my back in slow, circular motion. Tiny tingles erupt on my skin and ignite a fire deep in my soul. Am I hallucinating now? Because I think Hawk is rubbing my back.

Once finished, I stare up at him. He pushes the bucket to the side and looks down at me with approval. He’s wearing a cotton grey T-shirt that flatters his broad shoulders and contrasts against the feather tattoos snaking up his neck.

I breathe in his cloves and ocean scent — and warmth. He’s just too warm. It’s been so long since I belonged in his embrace this way.

I’m definitely hallucinating. Is this one of Omega’s side effects that I didn’t experience before?

“You’ll feel better now that you vomited.” His deep voice drifts around me.

I want to remember that I hate him for doing this to me and for bringing out the monster I kept shoving back in the closet. However, I’m so groggy and weak and he’s just too freaking warm.

He can melt me if he holds me a bit tighter.

“Why are you so warm? Did you let other women have this?” I ask, then want to slap a hand over my mouth.

“What?”

I release a breath. Thank God my speech is too weak and slurred for him to make out what I’m saying.

“S-shooower.” I manage, gripping his forearm harder.

The ground drifts from underneath me when Hawk carries me as if I weigh a feather. I want to soak up the moment and wrap my arms around his neck, but I’m so weak. My hands and legs hang limp and awkward as if I’m paralysed.

I haven’t been this weak in my entire life.

Except when I lost everything.

Once we’re inside the cosy bathroom with white and blue tiles and a small window at the top, Hawk sets me on my feet in front of the large clawfoot bathtub. I sway and fall against his chest, barely opening my eyes. His strong arm surrounds my back while he reaches around me to open the faucet. Hot steam fills the bathroom and condensation coats my skin.

His fingers brush against my bare skin as he pushes my zipper down. I’m so out of it, but I can’t help the shiver running down my back and straight to my pulsating core. Will there ever be a day where he won’t spring my body to life?

My dress rubs against my sensitive skin as he pushes it down my shoulders. The black cloth pools to the ground around my wobbly feet. I stand in my black, lace underwear in front of him, feeling dazed, weak and anything but sexy. However, when I chance a peek at Hawk, he’s devouring my body with heated, fiery eyes.

It’s like he’s feasting on me in his mind. Every particle of my being leaps to attention with a smouldering desire that matches his.

He holds me upright with a hand on my shoulder and that point of contact blazes with scorching need.

His gaze trails from my half-naked breasts to my mid-section and it feels like he’s re-learning my body and running his fingers over every curve.

A moan lodges at the back of my throat and my nipples pucker and harden. The effect he has on me exceeds the confines of my body and touches a deep part in my soul.

The intimate moment halts when he narrows his darkening, ferocious gaze on my side. A small dagger tattoo rests right above my hip with thorny flowers twirling around the hilt and down to the pointy side. I wrap my arms around myself in a pathetic attempt to hide it. Hawk yanks my arms and imprisons them behind my back with one hand.

If eyes can shoot fire, my side will be burned to ashes now.

I bite my lower lip, somehow feeling exposed that he’s seen this part of me. My deepest, most vulnerable secret.

It took me all the courage I could muster to get past my fear of needles and let Ink tattoo this. I told him to black me out or do whatever it takes as long as I have this permanent reminder on my skin.

No one but me and Ink has ever seen this tattoo, and now that Hawk is studying it with such intensity make me feel so exposed. Does he remember it? It’s been a long time, but –

“You let Ink touch you?” he growls in a low murderous tone.

That’s all he thinks about?

I shouldn’t be feeling anything that he forgot about that, but my chest tightens, anyway.

Screw him.

Although I’m unable to stand on my own, I push him away, panting, and stumble into the now-filled bathtub. Water splashes all around me. My foot slips on the wet edge and I lose balance, almost falling off. A strong hand clutches my arm and he helps me sit down in the cool water. My sensitive skin soaks in the warmth. Not too hot, but not too cold either.