Page 46 of Wraith: Lethal Impact

Dax steps into the small room, carrying a plastic medical kit. He closes the door behind him, cutting off the sounds from the main room.

He stops just inside the threshold. His frame dominates the cramped space, sucking the air from the room. The tension radiating off his body is electric.

"You're shaking." He drops the medical kit onto the edge of the bed. "That was a lot."

"I'm fine." I turn from the mirror. The icy water drips from my fingertips onto the concrete, matching the frantic rhythm of my pulse.

"You aren't fine." He closes the distance in two strides and stops inches from me. The heat radiating off his chest cuts through the damp cold of my clothes. "You're crashing."

"Don't diagnose me." I tip my head back to meet his gaze.

"I'm keeping you alive." His hands grip my shoulders. His touch is heavy, meant to ground me, to still the tremors tearing through me.

It does the opposite.

The contact ignites a fire in my blood. The crash never comes. The tremor in my veins mutates into hunger.

He starts to pull his hands back, reaching for the tactical distance.

I grab his wrists and stop him.

"Don't." My voice is a raspy whisper.

He freezes. The muscles in his forearms turn to granite beneath my grip. Under my fingers, raised lines of ink run along the inside of one forearm—three words in stark Latin capitals I can just make out in the dim light. Ex Tenebris Lux. I don't know what it means. Not yet. His gray eyes lock onto mine, searching for the panic, searching for the trauma.

He finds nothing but defiance.

"Lily." The single word is a warning. A plea for control.

"You lied to me." I step closer, eliminating the space between us. My chest brushes his damp shirt. "You let me believe my father was innocent. You protected my ability to function."

"I did." The sniper refuses to apologize.

"Then protect me now." I slide my hands up his arms, burying my fingers in the damp fabric.

The reality of my father's betrayal clicks into place. The innocent image he cultivated wasn't a father's pride. It was a commodity. He kept me fragile and untouched because it made me valuable. My virginity is the prize the Consortium wants to cage and sell.

I want to cut that part of myself out. I want to excise the porcelain ballerina before they get the chance to touch her.

"Sleep with me." The demand tears out of my throat.

His frame goes rigid. The intensity in his eyes fractures, replaced by shock. He grabs my wrists, pulling my hands away from his chest.

"No." His voice is a harsh command. He takes a half-step back, fighting to rebuild the distance. "You're in shock. You don't know what you're asking. I'm not going to take advantage of your trauma."

"Stop lying." I step forward, erasing the space he just made.

I press my body flush against his. Even through the damp layers of clothing, the straining ridge of his arousal is undeniable against my stomach.

A sharp breath hisses through his teeth. His hands tighten around my wrists.

"Stop pretending you don't want this as much as I do." I tip my head back, my lips inches from his jawline. "I feel you, Dax."

He shuts his eyes. The muscles in his neck jump as he battles his restraint.

"I won't lie to you. Not again." His voice is a ragged scrape in the dark room. "I've wanted you since the second I put you in my crosshairs." He opens his eyes, the intensity burning through the shadows. "But this is wrong. I'm not going to make your first time be in a decaying facility in the middle of a rainforest."

A breathless laugh escapes me. Heat flushes my cheeks, a shy contrast to my bold demands. "Not my first choice, but the dungeon of the love hotel isn't exactly an option right now."