Hardened And Naked

TESSA MERCER.

I choked on my own saliva. The hot air thick with vanilla and musk scraped down my dry throat. My brain short-circuited. Every rational thought, every basic survival instinct demanding I drop to my knees and beg for mercy, evaporated into the humid steam of the bathroom. I stood frozen behind the cold marble pillar. My bare feet rooted themselves to the damp tiles. Alpha Garrick sto