And my thoughts float away before he answers, my eyes getting too heavy to stay open.
“Is she okay, Hayes?” Puck’s voice brings a smile to my face and a lightness to my chest. And when I open my eyes again, I get lost in Hayes’s beautiful brown eyes. “I like your hair longer. And this,” I trail a finger over his nose, my nail tapping over his nose ring, “holy shit, Hayes, you’re completely guilty of being the silent sexy assassin and killing my resolve. So fucking gorgeous too. I mean, put your fingers in my pants and see what you do to me.”
“Hayes, is she okay?” Puck asks again, interrupting me.
Hayes has a cautious smile on his face, but any smile is a good one. He leans in and I close my eyes as he blows his warm sweet cinnamon scent over my face. It’s so calming and settling, and he keeps doing it as he talks to Puck. “Nope, she’s not okay. She’s all over the place.”
“Why did Koz shoot Tal?” I ask him, my thoughts moving back to what I saw before. I sit up, feeling more put together than a second ago. “Puck, did you talk to me?”
He tips his head. “I was on the phone. What’s going on?”
“I don’t know. I thought we had a conversation, but now I’m not one hundred percent sure. I feel like I’m caught driving a roundabout. I’m all floaty inside and getting too hot. Maybe it’s because of the syringe? How bad did I hit my head?” My fingers go to touch over where it hurts, but Hayes has something pressed against the spot.
“What syringe, Raney?” Puck interrupts, and I twist around and find his eyes wide as he searches for my answer. A layer of stress over his petrichor scent makes me fill with worry.
Before I can answer him, there’s a rush of movement around the car and Koz climbs in the back next to me while Talon jumps in the front.
“How badly hurt are you, Talon?” I ask, keeping my eyes locked on Koz. I can read him better.
“I’m not too bad, Lolli. Why?” Talon answers. And he sounds fine.
I rest my head back against the headrest, looking for some relief from my head-spins. It helps, but then I remember Tal’s question. “I saw Koz shoot you.”
“I thought about it, micina, but I didn’t want to ruin your special day,” Koz snarls, sweeping an arm around and pulling me onto his lap. I should have known he wouldn’t let me fight whatever is going on alone. His eyes are full of concern, he scents stressed. He also smells hurt.
“Why are you bleeding?” I say. The relaxed state I was in completely left behind as I once again get caught in a whirlpool of sicky sludge infecting my reasoning, sending me straight into a panic as I pull on his shirt and search his body. “Koz! Are you hurt!”
And then I go from panic to near hysterics when he takes a large shaky inhale, “Are you dying?” I shout, my thoughts keep leaping sporadically, dragging my emotions along for the ride and leaving me feeling and acting like a hot mess.
“It’s okay,” he insists. He leans back slightly and moves my hand to where he is bleeding. “It’s okay, micina, Lew will be able to patch me up.”
He cups a hand around my face, pulling my eyes from where he’s bleeding.
“Why am I so confused, Koz. Things aren’t right in my head. This isn’t shock, is it?”
“You’re okay. You’re still my strong kitten,” Koz answers before he removes my hands from his body and holds them like people do in movies when they have to tell you something awful.His eyes lock on the bruises around the dangling cuff I’m still wearing.
“I don’t feel strong,” I admit. And his eyes fill with sympathy and understanding.
“We’re also dealing with a couple of other issues too,” Koz says stoically, his scent tethering me to a calmer place, the same way his touch does.
I take a shuddering breath. “Okay. Start with the worst.”
“As if I would do that to you.” Koz shakes his head and smiles, and it’s one of those smiles that twists his lips and hits his eyes. And my heart erupts into dance. My ears also fill with Argentine Tango, but I’m starting to get used to the ping-ponging going on internally.
I physically shake my head to stop even crazier thoughts adding to the noise. And in the process, I knock my head against Koz’s.
“Ow!” I growl.
“Calm, omega,” he whispers, guiding me back to him with the smallest infusion of his alpha. And then Koz leans down and makes my state better, and worse, by kissing me hard despite the gentlest way his hands cup my face. “I owe you a sunset, my beautiful, packed omega.”
He steals my ability to speak. The moment, and his intimate words, making my head race, and my heart dance even more. While my temperature keeps spiking higher. But that’s the thing about being in love with Koz, he’s so consuming.
He watches me closely. His eyes darken when I have to blow a large unsteady exhale up, over my face. But shit, it’s hot, and getting hotter.
And the air is thick with their swirling scents. Each time I fill my lungs, all I can taste is dark chocolate covered cherries, along with fresh rain stirring. Fainter but still discernible is the scent of hot cinnamon donuts, campfire, and leather. I nearly get lost again until a tickle of warmth races up my spine, making me shiver.
He slides his jacket down my arms, “Getting hot, micina?”
