Page 100 of The Heat of Us

Peppermint as my pillow. Bonfires at my back. Freshwater hugging my middle.

“Try again, Hazel.”

“I am trying.” My head pounded from the effort.

A hand roughly grabbed mine and placed it on top of Adrian’s.

“I told you you had to touch him as well!”

I flinched from the rebuke. “S-sorry.”

He was like ice in my palm. There was no response as I curled my fingers around him. It was like holding hands with a corpse.

“Focus, Hazel. And find him in the bond.”

I took a deep breath and went back inside myself. Trying to find that thread that connected me and Adrian. It was so dim and fleeting. Always ever so slightly out of reach. I could only ever sense it on the edges of my vision no matter how hard I twisted and turned.

I screamed as the cold, clammy hand beneath me suddenly gripped my wrist. Immovable and inescapable no matter how hard I pulled. I stared in horror as Adrian’s face transformed into the lipless, vacant-eyed mask and bore directly into my soul.

I looked around at the faces around me. Begged and pleaded for them to help me.

No one cared.

“You did this to him, Hazel.”

“Now you get what you deserve.”

They watched as ice crept up my arm, spread across my torso and travelled up my throat, crushing my windpipe.

“Hazel!”

“Fuck, these are her nightmares, aren’t they?”

“It’s never been this bad before but the new nest might have triggered it. Don’t let her hurt herself!”

I bucked, trying to tear at the ice suffocating me. Trying to dig at my throat and chest.

“Sweetness, you’re not there. You’re here. With us.”

You’re mine, Zelly.

Peppermint blurred into lemons and evergreen. Chocolate and summer rain. They clashed and fought in my head.

Scent match scent match scent match.

I screamed, trying to get away. Thrashing, trying to find a way out until—

Fire swallowed me whole. I gasped, oxygen flooding my lungs. The sharp bite of whisky on my tongue and then heat. Smoke and spices burning away the chill all the way down my throat.

I blinked, only just able to make out the form of Remy above me, covering my body with his. His green eyes glimmered in the darkness. I surged up, hooking my hand around his neck and crushing my mouth to his. Wanting to taste his fire and light a pyre to all the memories screaming in my head.

“It’s ok, Hazel.”

He was kissing me back but not like I wanted. Too tender, too soft. Transforming my desperation into compassion as he held my cheeks and weathered the sharp dig of my nails in his flesh. A slow, steady thrum emanated from his chest and the timbre of it melted through me.

“You’re ok.” I followed his voice like a beacon. “You’re ok.”

The spasms wracking my body gradually stilled the longer he kissed and purred for me.

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