Misted (Team Zero #5) by Rina Kent

“Fuck.” There’s fumbling in the background. “On my way.”

I let the phone fall and apply both my hands on Hawk’s back. His heartbeat is fainting to a dull throb and I feel my own life fading to black with it.

“Please don’t leave me.” I place my forehead to his, sniffing back my tears. “I’ll tell you why if you open your eyes. I’ll tell you everything.”





Crow brought his French wife Eloise who’s a nurse and the best thing we can have under the circumstances.

I had to listen to Crow bitch about how he doesn’t like her in this life, but I tuned him out. He’s out scurrying the area and cleaning the bodies or whatever.

I’ve been going out of my mind, waiting for Eloise to come out of the room. My limbs are still trapped in a symphony of tremors while I pace back and forth like a madwoman. I’m still in my workout clothes with blood all over my arms my legs. Some of it is in my hair, too, from when Crow and I carried Hawk inside.

At times, I stop, clutch the wall for balance and fight not to break down in tears. I refuse to believe he’ll leave me. Not after all the hell we’ve been through. I was barely getting used to him close again.

I shouldn’t have. I knew the repercussions, but I still craved him, anyway. I still wanted to hug him, kiss him, run with him, and snuggle between his legs in small village festivals.

But we’re not normal. We never were and never will be.

If you get close to him, I’ll kill him in front of your eyes.

A scream bubbles in my throat as I fall on the last step of the stairs. It’s all because of me. I put him through this. Even if he kidnapped me to this place, I should’ve fought harder to escape. I shouldn’t have fallen into him again.

All this time, I’ve been doing it so well, I pushed him away so well, and although it bled my heart open, all I needed to know was that he was breathing somewhere.

But after his torture, he pushed back, and I couldn’t say no. I was so damn tired of being alone and denying myself the only thing I ever wanted.

Good fucking job, me. Now, I’ll lose him all over again.

The door opens. I jump to my feet and wipe my eyes with the back of my hand.

Eloise comes out and closes the door behind her. She removes her bloody gloves, and my stomach sinks knowing whom it belongs to. She slides the mask from around her face revealing porcelain skin and soft, calm features.

Her gentle green eyes meet mine, and I catch my breath.

“Is he…?” I can’t speak past the lump in my throat.

“He’s fine,” Eloise says in English with a slight French accent.

I release a breath, but I don’t allow myself to rejoice. “H-his spine. The bullet hit his spine, no? Will he…? is he… ?”

“No. It didn’t hit the spine. It only grazed some tissues. Actually, he was lucky. A millimetre to the right and it could’ve paralysed him.”

I sag against the wall. Tears of gratitude well in my eyes and I want to hug Eloise so badly like I never wanted to hug another person aside from Hawk.

Crow jumps up the stairs two at a time. His leather jacket is as impeccable as always. “He’s alive?”

Eloise fills him in on Hawk’s medical situation.

I leave them and trudge to the room. A small hand clutches my arm as Eloise’s scowl falls on my arm. “You need stitches.”

“I’ll do them later.”

“No. Now.”

Crow rolls his eyes. “You better listen to her or she won’t let you be, redhead.”

“I just need to see him.” I plead with Eloise. “Just a moment would do.”

Her features soften as if she can relate and she lets me go.

I walk into the room like a wounded, scared animal. My heartbeat throbs in my ears so hard, I can barely hear my footsteps.

The smell of antiseptic and the metallic stench of blood fills the air as I stop near the bed.

A bandage is wrapped around the upper side of his back, covering the feathers of his tattoos. I reach out a trembling hand towards his pasty white skin, all devoid of his usually magnificent tan. Before I touch him, I remove my hand.

What right do I have to touch him after I caused this?

“I’m sorry, Hawk. I’m so sorry.”

Tears blur my vision as I take him all in. His closed eyes, his frighteningly colourless skin. I press my lips to his forehead and that’s when I get a closer look at the small tattoo at his nape.

I thought it was an extension of the Hawk tattoo feathers, but it’s a name weaved in an intricate font.

Hellion.

He had me on him all this time.

I fall to my knees on the side of the bed and let my head drop in my hands as I break down in sobs.

If only that day never happened.





25





Mist





We had no warning when life turned black.



Past,

I pace the length of the motel room Hawk and I meet in.

My fingers clasp together, and I keep watching from underneath the worn-out curtains.

Since this morning, I have a terrible feeling about today. I even messed up and got my arm cut during today’s killing mission. Could be because I’m easing off Omega, or that the bastard gangster punched me in the stomach. I freaked out about my baby and shot him five times in the face.