Page 25 of Illusory (The Marked Saga #8)

It felt as though the universe were conspiring in my favor to make my new life mission a reality, and frankly, I was loving every second of it. After being healed by Dominic and put back together again, we proceeded to do four more bloodsharing sessions throughout the course of the day. And with each round that went off without incident under our belt, Trace’s confidence grew exponentially as he steadily continued to gain control over his bloodlust.

While Trace was mostly still hanging back in-between sessions, there was a definite change in his demeanor toward me and a softening in his eyes where there had only been ice before.

Strangely enough, I knew I had Dominic to thank for that. Something I never thought I’d ever utter before today. Even Gabriel, who hadn’t exactly been on board with the plan at first, could no longer deny that Dominic’s methods were working. So much so that after the third session had gone off without a hitch, he’d even decided that his time was better put to use translating the grimoires. Elsewhere in the house.

Frankly, I was surprised he’d lasted as long as he did with all the touching and panting and feeding going on around him, but Gabriel was nothing if not diligent and devoted.

My safety would always come before his own comfort level.

“Are you certain you’re prepared to do another session?” verified Dominic as he held out his hand and helped steady me as I climbed back up to my feet.

I’d spent the last thirty minutes vegging on the basement floor as my body slowly regenerated its blood stores, and frankly, after being healed by Dominic for the third time today, I felt fantastic.

“I’m sure,” I said, trying not to sound too enthusiastic about it.

Even if the last couple of hours hadn’t been more action than I’d had in ages, and basically the stuff that all my fantasies would now be made of, I would still have jumped at the chance to do this for Trace. All I’d wanted to do since the moment he Turned was help him, and now, I was finally able to. Because the more times we did this today, the sooner he could join the world again tomorrow and get his life back. That was all I wanted for him.

I peered around Dominic’s shoulder at Trace who was still sitting on the ground a few feet away from us with his back pressed up against the steel bars and his legs bent before him.

He looked pensive, like he had a million thoughts weighing him down just then.

“Unless you don’t want to,” I said to him, noting that he hadn’t yet moved. Maybe he’d gotten his fill for the night and was ready to call it a day.

“No.” He pushed his hands through his hair and climbed back up to his feet, his eyes never leaving mine. “I want to.”

A rush of butterflies took flight in my stomach as he stalked over to me, shouldering past Dominic and then coming to a stop in front of where I stood, gazing down at me like I was the only person in the entire world.

My eyes, fickle as they were, slid to Dominic, noting his half-cast gaze and forlorn expression. My heart ached for him then, for what it must have taken out of him to do this for Trace. All day, watching as another man slowly built up his confidence so that he can eventually swoop back in and reclaim the woman that you yourself loved.

It was…unfathomable.

My mouth opened on an apology or some kind of magic word that would take his pain away and make this impossible situation somehow bearable for him. For all of us.

Don’t say a word, angel , he said to my mind as though he could sense what I’d wanted to say to him even before I’d uttered anything. Whatever you’re going to say. Don’t. This isn’t about me .

But it was about him, and Trace, and what he was doing for him— for me . Because he loved me. It was an impossible mess of a situation that I still had no idea how to unravel.

Trace lifted his hand to my face, cupping my jaw and recapturing my attention again. Our soulmate bond thrummed through the link and radiated outwards, making my body feel as though it were vibrating. His lips curled up into a smile that made both of his dimples pop off at the same time.

God, how I had missed those dimples.

“Tell me where you want it,” he said huskily, his ocean blue eyes raking over me as though he were trying to memorize my face all over again, to commit every feature to memory so that he’d never forget me again.

“Anywhere you want to,” I answered breathily as a dark blush coated my cheeks. I hadn’t meant for it to come out sounding so…lusty.

A gravel-filled hum rumbled out from somewhere deep in his throat as his gaze flicked down from my eyes and then dropped further down, and further still, like he was imagining all sorts of nifty places to bite me. “Anywhere?” he asked, his voice impossibly deep and making my skin catch fire. “Don’t say that unless you really mean it.”

Before I could say it again, Dominic stepped up behind me, his taut chest gently grazing against my back as Trace’s hand slid down from my face to the base of my neck, his thumb dragging against my skin like liquid fire. I bit down on my bottom lip, afraid of the sound that was trying to make its way out as Dominic’s hands flitted over my shoulders and then into my hair, gathering it all up into a ponytail and then using it to tug my head back, leaving my neck fully exposed and to the mercy of Trace.

Something about the way they were both handling me at the same time, so perfectly and coordinated, like they were an orchestra, and I was the instrument that drove their symphony and consumed their muse. It made my stomach tighten, and my thighs clench together.

Cursing my raging hormones, I swallowed against the dryness in my mouth and balled my hands into fist to keep from doing something crazy like reaching out and touching them. Both. At the same time.

Trace’s dimples flashed again as he flexed his jaw and then lowered his mouth to my throat, his fangs clicking out as he inhaled the scent of my skin, his lips raking over my neck and mapping every grove and hollow like he was charting a map to his buried treasure. To an unmarked spot that would be just his.

I liked the idea of him marking me like that. Dominic too. Maybe I even liked the idea of the two of them doing it at the same—

Sharp fangs pierced through my skin without warning, and I winced, but only for a split second before the bite turned molten and everything inside of me from the waist down liquified.

A pleased whimper sounded from me as Dominic tugged at the ponytail again, making my head jerk back further as his other arm banded around my waist, holding me tightly against him. His hand flattened across my abdomen and then stayed there, waiting, assessing, and then it was moving again, tantalizingly slow as he glided over my navel and slid further down, the tips of his fingers skirting dangerously close to the hem of my jeans. My breath stalled in my chest and my middle warmed with an unbearable heat.

The more they pressed my buttons, the harder I pressed my thighs together as they continued to stimulate all my senses at the same time and in the most dizzying of ways imaginable. The heat in my belly blossomed and then spread lower, my body squirming between them with a sudden aching need for more than just teeth and hands.

I squeezed my eyes shut, forcing the inappropriate thoughts out of my head.

A rumble vibrated against my neck as Trace shuffled forward, pressing himself against my body and pinning me back against Dominic in a way that let me feel both of them, wholly and completely and on every front, and made the inappropriate thoughts come rushing back into my mind like a geyser.

Had he done that on purpose? Was he teasing me or…testing me?

I wasn’t sure, and then Dominic’s hand was inside my jeans, and I was sure the two of them were conspiring to make me lose my mind entirely.

How was this happening right now? Was it even real or was I dreaming with my eyes open? The latter seemed like a very likely possibility considering how much blood I’d lost today.

Skillful fingers slid down deeper inside my jeans, gingerly stroking me over the fabric of my underwear, slow and torturous as if to draw out my need until that too was robbing me of my sanity. My hands fisted into Trace’s shirt, clawing and pulling as Dominic lowered his face beside mine to watch. His cheek brushed against mine as his teeth scraped the curve of my jaw, touching but not biting, and then dragging down the length of my neck.

I wondered what he was doing, and for a moment, if he was going to bite me too, and then his fingers pushed my underwear over to the side and all the thoughts in my mind tumbled away like ashes in the wind.

Yup. I was definitely dreaming.

A rush of liquid heat flooded my body and Trace bit down harder, the combination nearly sending me tumbling over the edge. It was all too much—too much sensation, too much to process—and yet somehow still not enough.

My hips bucked forward and up, starving for more friction, for the release that my body so desperately needed. Trace pulled back, his teeth leaving my neck so abruptly that I barely had a chance to protest the loss before his lips were on mine, pushing my mouth open and claiming me with so much force that I was sure I would’ve fallen back onto my ass had it not been firmly pressed against Dominic.

My greedy hands raced up to Trace, against the hard ridges of his chest and then into his hair that felt like silk and sex against my fingertips. My hips twitched and rocked again, chasing Dominic’s hand and the friction and the swirling fire building between my legs that spurred me on like a woman possessed.

Every nerve ending in my body was pulsing, tightening, vibrating, but before I could reach what I was damn-near starving for, I was abruptly jerked forward, away from Dominic’s hand and his grip on my hair and his hardness pressed against my back and up into Trace’s arms, my legs clamping tightly together around his waist.

His mouth was still on mine, devouring my lips and tongue as he spun us around, putting his own back to Dominic and then walking me backwards until my back hit the steel bars.

I’d meant to come up for air then, to slow everything down for a beat and figure out what the hell had just happened, but my grinding hips hadn’t received the memo. And then the building pressure was back, steadily climbing back to that soaring peak that made the world fall away from me as Trace thrusted his hips against my center, his tongue stroking mine possessively and without abandon.

I was so close. So damn close, and then he was gone too, stumbling back a couple of feet and taking his tongue and hands and hips and my orgasm right along with him. My feet dropped to the ground so ungracefully that I nearly went down with them had it not been for Dominic holding my arm to steady me.

He’d broken us apart.

Before I could orient myself or even regain my proper footing, Trace was barreling back, shoving forward again to reclaim me as Dominic stepped out to block him, shoving him back again with both hands. A threatening animal-like noise thundered through the room, but I wasn’t even sure which of the two had made it.

“Get out of my fucking way,” snarled Trace, his face lined with shadows and edges that made him look like he was willing to kill to finish what we had started.

All the heat and pulsating need that had been ravaging my body seconds ago had vanished as our daunting reality settled back into my stomach like a rock.

“That’s not going to happen, Romeo,” said Dominic, sounding far more relaxed than I knew he was. “Put a leash on it and settle down before you lose control.”

“I don’t need to put a leash on anything when it comes to Jemma. She’s my fucking soulmate,” growled Trace like a feral animal being challenged for his catch. “ Mine. When are you going to get that through your thick head?”

“She may be your soulmate, but she’s not yours yet,” answered Dominic, his own voice coming out low and measured. “I still decide when and how much you get to have of her, and I’ve decided you’re done.”

Trace laughed, but there was no amusement behind it. “You don’t decide shit.”

“And yet I just did.”

Trace’s back went ramrod straight, his dimples making a brief appearance as he gnashed his teeth together, flexing his jaw as he took a slow step forward. “Tell yourself whatever you need to, but we both know she’s going to spend the rest of her life with me . Your days here are numbered, plain and simple.”

Dominic’s eyes darkened to flint as a vicious smile curled his lips. “Are you suggesting I make them count, then?” he asked, matching his advance.

“I’m suggesting you take a hint and get the fuck out of here.”

“ Stop ,” I croaked, my throat achy and bone-dry as I tried to step up between them on shaky, jellyfish legs. “Please, both of you. Just stop .”

I hated seeing them like this—so hurt and angry and jealous and completely at each other’s throats. We should never have done this. I should never have allowed it. I hadn’t thought it through enough.

“He’s the one that needs to stop getting in my fucking way,” argued Trace, clearly not calming down, or stopping .

But Dominic wasn’t in the way, and I didn’t know how to tell him that without making him angrier.

“This isn’t his fault, Trace. It’s mine. This right here—” I said gesturing to the three of us and our sordid triangle of hell— “This is my fault. I’m the one that did this. I’m the one that fell in love with both of you. Don’t you see that? If you want to be mad at someone, be mad at me .”

“You wouldn’t have fallen in love with him if he would’ve left you the fuck alone instead of weaseling his way in every time he saw an opening.”

“And a great many there were.” Dominic scoffed. “I suppose someone had to be there for her while you busied yourself worrying about the witch’s feelings instead of hers. Then again, you’ve never been one to put her needs before your own, have you?”

Oh, my god .

“Dominic!” I screeched, panic completely seizing me. “Both of you need to stop right now!”

“What did you just say to me?” snarled Trace, ignoring me.

“As a matter of fact, you ought to be thanking me for keeping her alive when you were clearly incapable of doing it yourself.” Dominic’s lip curled into a vicious sneer. “You aren’t worthy of her. If not for your soulmate bond, you wouldn’t even be a contender here—”

“STOP IT!” I screamed, unable to hear another second of it—of them tearing into each other and blaming each other for something that neither of them were responsible for. For something that I was responsible for. “Both of you please just fucking stop!”

The basement lights were already flickering violently, and I knew it was my spiraling emotions manifesting themselves through the electricity. Dominic and Trace looked up at the ceiling lights and then at me, their knowing eyes assessing me. There were so many things I wanted to say to them then. So many apologies I wanted to make. But I didn’t know where to begin. I didn’t know which words would fix this. The web I had weaved was so wickedly tangled that I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to free either of us again.

“I hate this. I hate all of this so fucking much,” I said, tears blurring my vision as I shoved my way between the two of them and bolted for the stairs.

What we had done was wrong. We were wrong. And I hated it. All of it.

But mostly, I just really hated myself.