Page 39 of Illusory (The Marked Saga #8)

Squeezing the glass tumbler in my hand, I brought it up to my lips and took a sip of my drink as Dominic sauntered over to the spot beside me on the couch, making my pulse ratchet up even higher than it was already racing while Gabriel moved to take the seat in the armchair that Dominic had been sitting in before.

Musical chairs. How fun.

At least it would’ve been fun if it weren’t for the way my body viciously turned against me the moment Dominic stretched his arm along the back of the sofa behind me, his eyes still drinking me up like he wanted to have me right then and there on the couch.

He hadn’t even laid a finger on me and already my mind was clouding over with all sorts of dangerous things like doubt and bad excuses and burgeoning desire.

“This is nice, isn’t it, angel?”

I swallowed down the yes I wanted to answer and peered up at Trace instead, nervous that he would notice how affected I was by Dominic and be hurt by it. If he was hurting, though, he wasn’t showing it. I brought the glass to my lips and took another long sip, reveling as the alcohol burned its way through me.

“Tell me, angel. Have you given any more thought to what we discussed earlier?” he asked.

My wide eyes ziplined to Gabriel watching the exchange as the heat that had been in my chest rushed up into my face. Apparently, I hadn’t pummeled their insane idea into oblivion quite as well as I thought I had.

“No. I…” Jesus . I needed to change the subject. “I translated some of Elspeth’s grimoire,” I announced instead, obviously overstating my progress in an effort to distract everyone enough to change the topic. “I mean, not very much of it. Just a few things about the wings.”

“Really?” asked Gabriel as Dominic just smirked at me for god knows what reason. “What did you find out?”

“Nothing really. Just that they’re somehow tied to my emotions.”

Gabriel processed that and then nodded. “Well, that makes sense. Most of our abilities are tied to our emotions in one way or the other,” he said as Trace crossed the room and then came to sit down on the couch beside me. On my other side. Sandwiching me between the two of them. Again.

Fucking hell. Were they doing this to me on purpose?

I swallowed nervously, trying to bury the blush that I knew was getting deeper by the second.

“Did you figure out how to unsheathe them yet?” asked Trace as he propped his elbows on his knees, his studious eyes roving over me as our soulmate bond took flight under my skin.

I swallowed again, shaking my head.

“Maybe we can work on it with you tomorrow?” he offered and then wet his lips.

My gaze nosedived to his mouth and stayed there. “Work on it?” I asked, distracted as I busied myself fantasizing about his lips all over me, but also confused because I wasn’t sure how either one of them could possibly help me with this. Figuring out how to use the wings definitely felt like a me problem.

“Well, you said the wings are tied to your emotions, right?” he verified.

“Right.” I frowned, still not following.

“Then perhaps we could try riling them up to see if we can get your Angel wings to make another appearance,” chimed Dominic, snapping my attention to him as he casually brushed my hair off my shoulder, his eyes trailing down my back as though visualizing the wings as we spoke. A warm shiver spread over my skin, making me sigh.

Wait. Rile up my emotions? What did that even—I shook my head forcefully. Nope . Not going there. “That’s okay, I…I’m taking care of it. I downloaded an app,” I blurted out and then tried not to cringe at myself.

“You downloaded an app?” he repeated sweetly, his mouth tipping up into that crooked smile that could conquer kingdoms. “And what pray tell does this app do?”

“It, uh…it translates stuff—words. It translates Latin words to English,” I fumbled, sounding stupider with every second this conversation went on.

His smirk pushed up higher into his cheeks, reaching all the way up to those sinful eyes that knew me better than I knew myself. “Seems you’ve got it covered then, doesn’t it?”

“Completely.”

His gaze flicked to Trace as though they were sharing a silent thought. I pushed my back into the sofa, eyeing the two of them warily.

“Of course, we are pressed for time,” he went on, his eyes sliding back to mine. “Our way would definitely speed things up.”

“It’d be a lot less boring, too,” added Trace.

“Faster and less boring. Right.” I glanced at Gabriel, noting his raised eyebrows and parted lips. I didn’t even want to know what he was thinking just then. “I, um…I’ll think it over and, you know, let you know.”

“You do that,” said Dominic, picking up a strand of my hair and coiling it around his finger as Trace spread his legs and leaned in closer, his thigh pushed up against mine.

My breath hitched as a dozen different sensations coursed through my body at once. The two of them close like that, not really doing anything yet touching me just enough to drive me crazy…it was too much .

My body was literally vibrating, and it was taking every ounce of strength I had not to close my eyes and sink into it. Not to throw in the towel and give in to them right then and there—Gabriel’s audience be damned.

God, why was my body turning on me like this? Where was the solidarity? The sisterhood? All I could think about was how long it had been since I’d been with them. How easy it would be to give in. Just once . I could practically taste the relief on my tongue. All it would take was one simple word: Yes…

But a yes to which one? Trace or Dominic?

Dominic or Trace?

It was impossible to choose. And that was why we were in this mess in the first place.

Then again, I could always throw my conscious out the window entirely and just say yes to both of them. Judging by the way they were eyeing me, they might just—Woah. No . What the hell was I even thinking?

Get your head out of the damn gutter , I inwardly scolded myself.

Gosh, they looked so good, though. Felt even better. They really weren’t playing fair at all. Maybe if I just—

“I think I’m going to die of boredom,” announced Tessa as she waltzed into the room, snapping me out of my head and away from the cliff I was preparing to throw myself off of. She paused at the coffee table and looked down at the three of us, crossing her arms. Her hair was half up in a sloppy ponytail, like she couldn’t have been bothered to fix her hair after rolling out of bed. “Do I even want to know what’s going on here?”

I was about to ask the same thing about her new look. “Nothing is going on,” I quickly answered, though I sounded far too defensive for it to ring true.

She rolled her eyes and moved to the other armchair beside Gabriel, flopping into it and exhaling dramatically. “I’m going stir crazy in this house.”

“Maybe you should try leaving your room a little more often,” I offered.

“And do what? Sit here and watch you three be weird?”

The back of my neck prickled with heat as I avoided everyone’s eyes. “We’re not being weird,” I mumbled back, my cheeks damn near on fire.

“The problem is we’ve been in this house for too long,” she said, bouncing a look over at Gabriel. “What we need to do is go out for a bit and blow off some steam.”

Ooh . I liked the sound of that. “How about a movie? I’ve been dying to see—”

“We’re not going to a stupid movie,” she cut in, rolling her eyes at me. “I’m talking about going out for real.”

“Going out for real?” repeated Gabriel aghast, like she’d just suggested we sacrifice a virgin for Lucifer in the front yard.

“ Yes , Gabriel. Going out and having fun. You remember what that is, don’t you?”

“No,” he said sternly, though I wasn’t sure if he was answering her question or just the general notion of partaking in anything that might be constituted as fun . “It’s out of the question.”

“Why?” Tessa and I whined at the same time.

“Why?” he snapped back, his hard eyes zipping to mine. I immediately backed down, pressing my back into the couch where he couldn’t glare at me from behind Trace. “Have you forgotten what you’re up against right now?”

“No,” I answered quietly, staring down at my hands as I picked away at my cuticles. I mean, of course I hadn’t forgotten. How could I? It was the whole reason we were stuck in the house to begin with.

“Then need I really say more?”

I quickly shook my head, though I doubted he could see it from where I was hiding.

“But that’s exactly why we need this,” argued Tessa, apparently, not intimidated by him in the least. “Her birthday is tomorrow, Gabriel. This is literally her last night before god-knows-what happens to her. We should go out and have fun for once!”

“Jesus.” I made a face at her, not appreciating the ‘last night’ comment in the least. “Thanks a lot.”

“All the more reason to be cautious,” maintained Gabriel, refusing to be swayed by Tessa and her newfound relaxed lease on life. “This isn’t the time to be careless. The house is warded, and this is the safest place for her to be right now, so this is where we’ll be staying.”

“Since when do you get to decide for everyone?” asked Tessa, her balls of steel in perfect form tonight. “We’re five adults here.”

“And?” He raised his brows at her.

“And I say we put it to a vote.”

Gabriel smirked, but there was nothing friendly about it. “Go ahead.”

“All in favor of going out tonight?” she asked, throwing her hand up high.

Nervously and without meeting Gabriel’s eyes, I put my hand up, mostly because I didn’t want to leave my sister hanging out on the ledge all by herself.

“And all in favor of staying right where we are,” asked Gabriel, his jaw muscle practically punching a hole in his face as he put his hand up, with Trace following closely behind.

Tessa and I turned to Dominic. The tiebreaker.

‘Apologies, angel. But I won’t risk anything happening to you’ , said Dominic to my mind and then raised his glass.

Seriously? Thanks a lot, traitor.

“There you go. The nay has it,” said Gabriel, leaving no room for confusion or argument. “We’re staying right here where it’s safe. That’s the end of it.”

“Aye, aye,” said Tessa, saluting him. Though something about the mischievous look in her eyes was telling me that wasn’t even close to being the end of it. “Whatever you say, Captain Killjoy.”

* * *

The second I slipped away from the watchful eyes of Trace and Dominic, Tessa was on me like a rash, shoving me into the downstairs bathroom and then locking the door behind us. Thanks to my quick reflexes, I’d caught myself two seconds before I ended up face first in the toilet bowl, saving my sister from the hell she was going to have to pay had I stuck the landing.

“What the heck is wrong with you?” I barked, eyeing at her like the crazy person she was.

Her hair was still a complete mess and sticking out of the ponytail every which way, as though the whole thing were being held together by a flimsy piece of yarn. I could hardly take her seriously looking like that.

“We’re going out tonight, Jem. I have a plan,” she said and wiggled her eyebrows.

“Does it involve checking yourself in somewhere because I have to tell you, Tess, you’re really starting to worry me. And what is this exactly?” I asked gesturing to her hair and wrinkled two-day-old outfit. “Are you even showering anymore?” I asked more quietly.

“Do you want to hear the plan or not?”

I thought about it. Then thought about it some more.

“Fine.” She crossed her arms. “If you want to spend the last night before your Ascension cooped up in the house with the three wardens from Hell, then I won’t stand in your way.”

I quirked my brow at her.

“But I’m going out tonight. With or without you.”

“Do you really think that’s a good idea, Tess? Maybe Gabriel was right. This isn’t a good time. At least we know we’re safe here with the house warded.”

“It’s not like we’re being hunted down, Jemma. The Council’s waiting to make a move, probably for you to go to them, and the Sisters are obviously only concerned about the Incubator’s spawn. Things are quiet for once. It’s the perfect time to get away. Besides, no one will even know we’re out. We’ll dance, we’ll drink, we’ll have fun and then we’ll be back before anyone even notices we left.”

She seemed to have it all figured out.

“I don’t know, Tess,” I said and bit the inside of my cheek. As much as I wanted to get out of this house and have a normal night of fun for once, I couldn’t shake the icky feeling that we were doing something wrong.

“Jemma, please . You don’t understand,” she said, her voice turning ragged and pleading. “I need to get out of this house. I feel like I’m going crazy here. I can’t take another night of this. I…I don’t even feel like myself anymore.”

I stared at her, unable to argue that because she definitely had been out of sorts lately. Could I really blame her, though? Tessa was used to a nomadic life, always moving, always hunting something, and now because of me she was stuck in the house like a castrated dog and honestly, it hadn’t served her well at all.

Frankly, this house arrest was not serving any of us very well, but that was beside the point.

After all the sacrifices my sister made for me, was I really going to deny her one little night of blowing off some steam? What could it hurt? We were Slayers, for crying out loud. We’d lasted an entire summer together hunting everything from vampires to demons to rogue werewolves. This was child’s play compared to that.

Not to mention it might do me a world of good to get out of the house and away from Trace and Dominic, too. I desperately needed a moment to get out from their dizzying spell and sort myself out. Get my head back in the game.

“Okay, fine,” I finally agreed and then jammed my index finger at her as she grinned excitedly. “But if we get caught, you’re the one taking the fall for this.”

“We won’t get caught. And don’t worry, I can handle Gabriel.”

“Terrific. I’m glad one of us thinks so.”