Page 44 of Illusory (The Marked Saga #8)
The room fell to silence save for the chaotic thumping in my ribcage as Trace walked over to my bedroom door and locked it, sealing the three of us and our latest science experiment inside my room. Straightening his shoulders, he turned around and then propped his back against the wooden door frame, his striking blue eyes taking me apart expectantly.
My gaze wandered to Dominic, who was still standing halfway across the room with both hands tucked into his black slacks. If I didn’t know him as well as I did, I may have thought he looked a little nervous.
He drew in a deep breath, and for a moment, he just stood there, staring at me, his boundless eyes dark and unreadable, and locked on mine. Then, in one fluid movement, he closed the gap with a few long strides, his proximity instantly sending a shiver down my spine.
“A penny for your thoughts?” I asked, trying to ignore the butterflies waltzing in my belly.
“That’s still my line, love.” He flashed a lopsided grin, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes this time. “Are you certain you’re up for doing this tonight?” he asked, his tone surprisingly even despite the tension threading through the air. “We can wait until tomorrow if you prefer.”
I wasn’t sure if he was asking for my benefit or his, but I wasn’t backing down.
“No. I’m okay,” I replied, my words coming out far steadier than I felt on the inside. The uncertainty about what would happen next made my heart race, but the need to understand was stronger than my fear.
Of course, if I were being completely honest with myself, that wasn’t the only reason I wanted to do this.
Dominic hadn’t fed from me since before my wings appeared, and while part of me wanted to know for sure that my new appendages weren’t the reason behind it, the other part of me just wanted to feel that connection with him again—to feel that burning fire that ignited my soul, just as it had so many times before.
Dominic nodded, his gaze softening as he took in my resolve. He edged closer until his breath was ghosting over the shell of my ear. “Tell me where,” he whispered, his voice dark and stained with promises of rapture.
The sensation of his mouth lightly grazing my skin sent a rush of goosebumps cascading over me that muddled my mind and all the practical reasons we were doing this to begin with. Still, I could feel Trace’s watchful eyes boring into me from across the room as he looked on curiously. Despite this being his idea, his jaw was set tight, and his hands were clenched into fists at his sides.
There was a whole lot riding on this, and I needed to tread carefully.
“My neck,” I answered softly. “Same as before.”
Slowly, Dominic’s cool fingers traced my jaw, tilting my head to expose the delicate curve of my neck as he brushed his lips against my skin, making my heart feel as though it were going to punch a hole right through my chest. There was a barely perceptible hesitation—a moment where the world held its breath—then he parted his lips and pressed his teeth to my throat.
My heart stuttered, a shiver coursing through me as he slowly sank his fangs into my flesh, the sharp sting of pain lancing through my body for a heartbeat before it vanished, replaced by a sudden rush of warmth. Waves of it washed over me, spreading through my body as I clutched his shoulders, my breath catching in my throat.
Euphoria seeped into my veins, pooling in my chest and radiating outward, until every inch of me was being touched by it. Consumed by it. The world tilted, spinning, as Dominic’s grip on me tightened, his hard body pressing against mine and pulling me into him with an inevitability that left no room for escape.
The room fell into an eerie silence, broken only by the frantic thrum of my pulse in my ears and the soft, rhythmic pull at my neck. Even Trace remained motionless, yet I could feel his presence like a shadow, unwavering—watching us with the sharp, predatory eyes of a hawk surveying its contested territory.
My knees buckled as the heat swelled within me, narrowing my vision and pulling my eyes back into the dark recesses of my mind. The toe-curling sensations swept through me like a storm, devouring everything until even time itself seemed to dissolve. In that moment, nothing else existed but the all-consuming pleasure.
The last coherent thing I remembered was whimpering contently in Dominic’s arm before the wicked burn at my back yanked me out of my trance.
Rearing back, the rush of feathers and sharp pain across my back hit me all at once, nearly knocking me to the floor had it not been for Dominic holding fast to me, despite my having pushed myself away from him. The room blurred into a dizzying swirl of colors as my wings unfurled behind me, black satiny feathers billowing around us in a spectacular display of frightening beauty.
Dominic steadied me, his arms a fortress against the whirlwind of feathers and pain at my back that threatened to knock me off my feet entirely. I pulled in a jagged breath and then another as I carefully regained my balance.
Feeling stable enough, I looked up and met Dominic’s dark, glimmering eyes, nodding to signal that I was okay to stand on my own.
He released his grip on me and took a small step back, smiling smugly like he’d just unlocked a top tier achievement. “Be still my beating heart.”
Heat scorched my cheeks at his words and then my gaze wandered to Trace. He was still leaning back against the door, his eyes contemplative and a pronounced muscle flexing in his jaw.
Pushing off the wall, he approached me carefully as if I were a wild animal that might bolt at any sudden movement, but I could see the relief in his expression. This proved my wings weren’t negatively tied to him—to either of them—and I knew he was taking that as a win.
His gaze roved over me, ravenously cataloguing everything his eyes could see and maybe even the things they couldn’t, like my racing heart and the pulsing heat still sizzling under the surface of my skin.
“How do you feel?” he asked lowly, his gaze catching on my breasts as he wet his lips. Shadows danced through his eyes, telling on him again.
“I feel good,” I said, and surprisingly, it wasn’t a lie. Despite standing there in my bra and underwear with devil-marked black wings protruding out of my back, I felt pretty fucking fantastic.
Trace’s eyes lingered on me a moment longer before he stepped closer, his movements careful but deliberate. “That’s good. You look good. Really good,” he murmured the last part, his husky voice sending a shiver down my spine. His hand rose almost mechanically, as though driven by something beyond himself, then paused, his eyes searching mine for permission.
He wanted to touch me—to touch my wings.
Gingerly, I nodded and then held my breath as he reached over my shoulders and stroked the silky feathers with the pads of his fingers. A jolt of white-hot electricity shot through me at his touch, stronger and more intense than anything I had ever felt before. And that was saying a lot.
I gasped, half startled, half enraptured, and he quickly pulled his hand back. Our eyes locked for a moment, his gaze searching mine as the sound of my racing heart filled my ears. And then his mouth was on mine.
His lips claimed mine in a kiss that was both possessive and vicious, his tongue invading my mouth with feral strokes that made my thighs squeeze together. His hands clutched my body to his, fingers moving with purpose and command as they traced up the curve of my spine, pressing and touching and marking me.
The air around us thickened with an electric charge, a wild energy that seemed to draw us closer together. My wings, as if clearing the way for him, pulled back and then disappeared from view altogether as he walked us backward and pressed me up against the wall, his body pinning me with a delicious pressure that made my legs feel weak and heavy at the same time.
The pooling heat was quickly replaced with a needy ache that made my fingernails dig into his skin. I wanted to feel him on me—to feel him inside of me—and I was willing to do just about anything to get it. As if hearing my plight, his hands dropped down to my ass, kneading and squeezing before hoisting me up into his arms, my legs instantly tightening around his hips as he pressed into my center.
I only got to revel in the new position for a split second before his body was ripped away from mine, causing my feet to drop back down to the ground as I let out a frustrated groan.
“What the fuck are you doing?” roared Trace as he tried to shove Dominic off himself. “Get off me!”
“Calm yourself,” commanded Dominic as he jerked Trace around to face me. “ Look ,” he ordered, holding Trace by the back of his neck and forcing him to look at me.
He was still trying to shuck him off when he finally met my eyes and froze. “What the—”
“My sentiments exactly,” murmured Dominic.
The two of them stood there, shellshocked and gawking at me, and I already knew that was never a good thing.
“What? What is it? What’s wrong?” I asked, my voice strangled from the knot of fear that had made its way up to the back of my throat. “Is something weird happening with the wings?” I asked tensely, not feeling them anymore but unsure whether they were simply seeing something I wasn’t.
“No. It’s nothing like that,” assured Trace, his expression unchanging as he remained frozen in place.
“Then what?” I shrieked, my anxiety climbing with every unanswered second that ticked by. “What is it?”
“Your eyes, love,” said Dominic, and I instantly felt the tension ease from my shoulders, already knowing what his next words were going to be. “They’re glowing.”