Page 46 of Illusory (The Marked Saga #8)

I bolted upright from a nightmare later that night, the chilling image still lingering in the dark room with me, as though the horror had followed me out of my dream. My legs were straddling a pale horse, thundering through the forest on its back, my face twisted and unfamiliar as I raced to reach him first. The baby . I could hear its cries echoing from deep within the woods, a haunting wail that gripped my chest, and I knew with a sickening certainty that I was there…to take his life.

“ No ,” I rasped, a cold sweat clinging desperately to my skin. I could still feel the wind whipping across my face, hear the pounding of hooves against the ground, roaring in my ears.

“It’s just a dream,” murmured Trace as he pulled the bedsheet around me and then gently brushed the matted strands of hair away from my forehead, our soulmate bond already thrumming soothingly beneath my skin.

“The Horsemen…the baby…he was…I was—”

“Shh, you’re safe, angel,” whispered Dominic, stroking my cheeks with the back of his knuckles. “Everything is fine. There’s no one here but us.”

Their presence comforted me like the gentle hum of a lullaby, and my racing pulse gradually slowed as I relaxed into the pillow, drawing in a shaky breath. I was safe. The baby was safe.

It was just a dream …

Everything is fine …

I sighed and then closed my eyes, my body humming contentedly as I repeated their words back to myself, over and over again until sleep finally reclaimed me.

* * *

I only vaguely remembered my nightmare when I woke up the next morning, the remnants of it lingering in my consciousness like wisps of smoke. My mind drifted to Trace and Dominic, remembering how they had been there for me, comforting and reassuring me that I was safe and sound.

They had stayed with me until I finally drifted off to sleep again, until the horror disintegrated and slipped back into the dark gallows from which it had come.

It had only been a dream, yet something about it felt like more —like a warning of what was coming. I wanted to piece it together, to work it out in my mind, but all I could focus on in that moment was the weight of limbs draped over me and the two hard bodies resting peacefully on either side of me.

Trace and Dominic’s hard bodies.

In my bed .

The realization jolted me wide awake, making my eyes snap open and my breath catch in my throat.

This was so bad. So wrong .

Despite all my effort and pushback, we were skirting dangerously close to the line of no return. I needed to vacate the bed at once. Perhaps if I just slipped away quietly, neither one of them would notice, and we could all just pretend that none of it happened.

Before I could map out my exit, Dominic’s hand came up to my face and brushed the back of his fingers against my cheek, instantly calming me.

‘ Happy birthday, angel,’ he said to my mind as he slipped his arms around my waist and dragged me toward him, pressing my back against his chest while he nuzzled his face into my neck.

God, it felt really nice.

Maybe this isn’t the worst thing imaginable , I thought to myself as I released the breath that had been trapped in my lungs and relaxed into his arms. I mean, it is my birthday, after all .

My gaze lifted to Trace as he stirred awake beside me. He rolled his head to the side and looked at me, his loving eyes still sleepy and unfocused, before suddenly jerking back, as though struck by a whip.

Black shadows poured into his eyes as he reared back and tried to scramble off the bed, but Dominic quickly reached over me and grabbed his arm to stop him.

“Easy,” he commanded, his voice low and steady.

“What happened? Are you okay?” I asked, panic rising in my chest at his sudden outburst.

“He needs to feed,” informed Dominic, still holding Trace’s arm and keeping him firmly in place as his bare chest heaved before me. “Calm yourself,” he ordered, and I looked back at him, thinking he was talking to me, but his eyes were on Trace.

Trace squeezed his eyes shut, his jaw muscle pumping violently as he struggled to slow his breathing. His brows were pinched together, as though he were in pain, and his nose was wide and flared. I wanted so badly to reach out to comfort him, but I didn’t dare make a move.

Snatching his arm back from Dominic, he raked his fingers through his hair and then he lay back down on the pillow beside us, staring up at the ceiling. I couldn’t tell if his eyes were still dark from the position I was in, but he still hadn’t turned to meet my eyes, so I imagined that they probably were.

“Trace, are…are you okay?”

“Don’t talk,” he ordered woodenly, still staring upward. Still not looking at me. “Just give me a minute.”

I opened my mouth to apologize and then slammed it back shut. He was trying to control the bloodlust, to quiet the beast and take control again, and he really didn’t need me yapping in his ear, distracting him. I watched the rise and fall of his bare chest, waiting for it to return to normal.

After a few tense beats of silence, his body finally appeared to relax before he turned to look at me. Brilliant blue eyes drank me in as he smiled victoriously, setting off both his dimples and making my heart warm and race at the same time. The look of pride on his face was delicious enough to eat.

“You’re getting really good at that,” I mused as I took in the blue depths of his clear, sparkling eyes.

“It’s easier now that I have a good reason to.” Smiling, he reached out and took my hand, interlacing our fingers. “It just takes me a second to remember, and then I hold onto that whenever the bloodlust starts to take over.”

“Hold on to what?”

“You,” he stated simply, making my stomach swarm with butterflies. I started to shake my head, but he just squeezed my hand and moved closer to me. “I know I’m not there yet, but I will be,” he said with conviction, as though he knew the bloodlust wasn’t going to control him forever—because he wouldn’t let it.

“That’s quite a gripping speech, Romeo, but you do still need to feed if you plan on making it through the day without attacking everything with a pulse,” reminded Dominic as I jammed my elbow into his stomach. “What? It’s the truth, is it not?”

“I know, but do you have to be so crass about it?”

“I was being direct,” he said beside my ear and then buried his face in my hair again, breathing me in. “Go on, Romeo. We don’t have all day.”

Trace cocked his brow as he watched him, the muscle in his jaw bouncing. “Then can you maybe stop pawing at her for a second?”

“And why would I want to do that?” asked Dominic lazily, his face still nestled against me.

“So that I don’t bite your neck instead of hers.” Trace shrugged indifferently. “But hey, it’s no skin off my back.”

Dominic hesitated and then pressed a soft kiss against the side of my neck before pulling back, though only slightly. His chest was still flush against my back and his right arm was still draped around my waist, while his other arm rested on the pillow, his head propped onto his closed fist as he watched me. Always watching. “Better?”

“Close enough,” said Trace without taking his eyes from mine.

Pushing up on his elbow, he inched closer until our chests were touching and then moved my hair over my shoulder, his eyes running mercilessly over my face—unraveling me and putting me back together again with just the sweep of his soft, loving gaze.

He paused to look at me, his thumb skimming over the seam of my lips as he smiled. “Happy birthday, Jemma,” he said and then gently kissed me.

Before I could react or say anything, he pulled away, his mouth already finding other spots to kiss as he slowly made his way down to my neck. The sound of his fangs descending and the feel of his lips on my skin made my thighs and stomach clench in anticipation.

Dominic’s palm flattened against my abdomen as though he had felt the surge. As though he knew I needed the anchor amidst the storm that was brewing deep inside me, his touch almost searing me through the thin fabric of my shirt. Before any rational thought could rear its head, Trace bit down, his teeth sinking into the skin just below my pounding pulse, and the storm broke free.

Ripple after ripple of toe-curling rapture rolled through my veins, making me sigh and melt into the small space between them. My lids fluttered hazily as Trace drank from me, each pull sending another wave of bliss crashing over me, pulling me deeper into the riptide I never wanted to escape.

The feeling was burning and ardent, radiating from where his mouth was latched onto my neck and suffusing every inch of my body with white-hot heat. There was no more thought, only the feel of his mouth on me and the rush of Dominic’s fingertips as he slipped his hand under my shirt.

I bit down on my bottom lip, suppressing the moan that wanted to surface. I would not moan. It would be wrong to moan. Completely inappropriate.

Shivers cascaded all over my body as Dominic traced teasing patterns against my abdomen, writing love notes against my skin that made me want to forget every vow I had ever made to let them go. All I could think about was Trace’s soft lips against my neck and how good it felt to have Dominic touching me again…even as his hand veered dangerously close to my underwear.

“You’re doing so good, angel,” he murmured beside my ear, his breath flitting over me like butterflies as he rolled his hips once —deliberately—as if to show me what I was doing to him.

My breath hitched as he moved his knee up against the back of mine and slowly eased my legs apart, his hand sliding into my underwear as he dragged his long, agile fingers down my center. A pleased noise sounded at the back of his throat, and then his fingers were moving again, slow at first, and then maddeningly faster as he applied just the right amount of pressure to make my vision blur.

I shuddered, arching into his hand as Trace continued to drink, his mouth wet and demanding against my throat. The harder Trace sucked, the faster Dominic’s fingers circled me, coaxing and tantalizing me with each deliberate stroke as they buried me in a haze that simultaneously detonated every nerve ending in my body.

My body writhed between them in need of a release, the pressure steadily climbing higher and higher, until I was sure I was floating off the bed, tethered to this world only by the hands and mouths of the two men who owned me.

Trace groaned against my neck as he took one final pull and then reeled back to look at me—to watch me—his hooded eyes practically fucking me as he waited for me to come apart.

Stars exploded behind my lids and his mouth was on mine, swallowing up my moans in a kiss that was meant to brand me. Pulsing waves of liquid fire roiled through my body, making me buck against Dominic’s hand and Trace’s mouth as I rode out every last drop of my orgasm until they gentled their touches and slowly shepherded me back down from the high.

As my breath steadied and the tremors gradually ebbed, the haze in my mind began to lift, leaving me acutely aware of every point of contact between our bodies. Trace’s lips on mine, his tongue teasing my bottom lip. Dominic’s hand between my legs, his fingertips resting gently against my sensitive core. Their chests rising and falling in tandem with mine as I struggled to catch my breath.

It felt like the quiet before the storm, and I could practically taste the freak-out edging its way to the surface.

Trace pulled back, looking at me with heavy-lidded eyes and a satisfied smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. He looked every bit like the cat who’d just gotten the cream, but it did nothing to ease the budding storm in me. None the wiser, Dominic pressed a kiss to my temple and then slowly withdrew his hand from between my legs, the drag of his fingers nearly making me whimper at the loss.

I felt a flush creep up my neck as my rational mind whirred back to life again, the full weight of what I had allowed to happen—what I had wanted to happen—crashing down on me like eternal damnation.

Oh God . I fucked up. Badly . I’d lost my mind and let things go too far. Crossed lines that could never be uncrossed. The throbbing aftermath still pulsing between my legs was proof of it.

Shame and guilt rose up in my chest, warring with the lingering euphoria and a swell of other emotions that threatened to choke me. Panicked, I tried to push up from the bed, to get away from them and what we had just done, but both their hands came out to stop me, pulling me back down to the spot on the bed between them.

“You’re freaking out,” said Trace, his hand cupping my cheek, his thumb rubbing soothing circles as he tried to calm me through our soulmate bond.

“What? No, I’m not.” My ears were ringing hysterically.

“Liar,” whispered Dominic, his hand splayed against my stomach again.

An unholy silence fell between us, drowning out everything but the thundering in my ears.

“I shouldn’t have…we shouldn’t have…” I stammered, my words barely above a whisper as I tried to voice the regret that was suffocating me. What would become of us now that the line had been so spectacularly destroyed? I had no idea how to navigate the wreckage, and worse, I wasn’t sure if any of it could ever be repaired again.

“Shouldn’t have what , angel?” asked Dominic, his hand still resting on my stomach, anchoring me to him even as I tried to pull away. “Taken what each of us wanted?”

My cheeks burned as I tried not to swallow my tongue.

“Come on, Jemma. Just lay back down and relax,” urged Trace, his baritone voice vibrating against my skin as he ran his nose along my neck. “You’re overthinking it.”

Overthinking it?!

“Well, don’t you think someone needs to?” I shot back, because clearly, neither one of them were thinking about anything at all.

“ Why ?” he snapped, pulling back to meet my eyes, his own narrowed. Upset. “So we can all go back to being fucking miserable again? So I can wake up without you for the rest of my life, feeling like I’m choking on ash and drowning in bloodlust? Is that what you want me to go back to?”

Fucking hell .

“No. Of course not,” I said, my hand instinctively reaching out to touch his cheek—to console him. That was the last thing I wanted for him. The thought alone made my heart feel as though it was ripping apart in my chest.

He pressed his cheek into my palm and closed his eyes briefly. “Then stop pushing me away, Jemma. Please . Stop running from me. I don’t want to be miserable anymore. I just want to be where you are,” he said and gazed back at me with deep, soulful eyes. “I’m not asking for anything more than that.”

I couldn’t bring myself to deny him in that moment, to remind him of all the reasons this was a bad idea, so instead, I said nothing at all, and I wasn’t sure if that was worse.

Dominic shifted beside me. “Laying it on a little thick, don’t you think, Romeo?”

Trace’s eyes darkened as he glared over at Dominic. “Fuck off, Goldilocks .”

My breath caught in my throat as I nervously looked between the two of them, certain that fists would start flying over my head any second then.

A beat of silence stretched across the room and Dominic chuckled before nuzzling his face into my neck again. “Touché, Romeo. Touché.”