Page 11 of Irreverent (The Marked Saga #7)

“It’s not what it looks like,”

I said emphatically, but who the hell was I kidding. It was exactly what it looked like and Tessa and my mother, of all people, knew it.

“You’re feeding from my sister?”

roared Tessa as she stormed her way through the kitchen toward us. Her furious, gray eyes were fixed on Gabriel, as though she were planning to rearrange his vital organs with her bare hands.

I immediately jumped in front of him and held out my palms to her before she made good on the threat of death looming in her eyes. “Stop! This isn’t Gabriel’s fault. If you want to be angry with someone, be angry with me!”

“Oh, don’t worry, there’s plenty to go around,”

she snapped, glaring at me and then at Gabriel in the chair behind me before slowly squinting her eyes on him. “What the hell is wrong with him?”

My cheeks burned with volcanic heat. This wasn’t a conversation I wanted to be having, and most certainly not with Tessa. “It’s nothing. I just…”

I shook my head in frustration, not seeing the point in trying to lie to her any further. “I took too much, alright, but it’s nothing that a little more blood won’t—”

“YOU’RE DRINKING FROM HIM?!”

Her voice boomed across the room like an avalanche, and I instinctively flinched back from it.

Okay, wow, was that loud. “I can explain if you just—”

“Do you have even the faintest idea what the hell you’re doing?”

she went on as though I hadn’t tried to speak. “How could you be so incredibly stupid? So careless! I leave you two alone for five minutes and this is what happens?”

“Leave us alone?”

I scoffed in her face, my embarrassment rapidly morphing into full-blown anger. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve spent the majority of my life without you, Tessa. You are not my mother. I don’t have a mother, and nor do I need one,” I seethed, my gaze automatically bouncing to the woman who birthed me as she silently remained in the entranceway. “I’m more than capable of deciding what I’m going to do and when I’m going to do it without any of your help or input. I didn’t need it then and I certainly don’t need it now.”

“Clearly you do because you don’t know what the hell you’re doing right now,”

she said, taking an intimidating step toward me, as though trying to get me to cower away from her.

I quickly matched her advance. “I know exactly what I’m doing.”

“Oh, really? So, you’re aware that by bloodsharing with Gabriel like this, you’re risking creating yet another bloodbond on top of the one you already have?”

she asked condescendingly as though this were all news to me.

“Yes, I’m aware, being that that is the plan,”

I retorted and smiled sweetly.

Tessa recoiled at my words. “What are you talking about? What is she talking about?”

she barked, the latter question directed at Gabriel who was now sitting upright in his chair, his back as straight as board and his forearms resting on his thighs.

“Tessa, please,”

he pleaded, his voice low and soft. “If you’ll just sit down and let us explain—”

“Explain?”

growled Tessa, cutting Gabriel right the hell off. “How the hell are you going to explain to me that you’re feeding from my little sister and purposely trying to bond yourself to her? How, Gabriel? Because I know I don’t need to mention that if the Council ever caught wind of this, they would end you.”

“I’m aware of that,”

he answered calmly.

Meanwhile, my heart was slamming all over my chest. I hadn’t even considered what the Council would do to Gabriel in my bum-rush to get him to agree to this. I hadn’t even considered that he’d be putting his life at risk to do this with me.

“Does that not matter to you anymore?”

she asked, her volume dropping, as though she were genuinely curious to hear his answer. “Or are you so far gone now that you don’t even care about the oath you took?”

His expression turned pained as he hung his head in contrition.

Oh, for fuck’s sake. Refusing to let him bury himself in his shame, I immediately jumped to his defense. “This isn’t Gabriel’s fault. He’s doing this because I asked him to. If you want to be mad at someone, you can be mad at me. This whole thing was my idea—my one and only plan to get Dominic to turn his emotions back on. He’s just doing what I begged him to do…for me and for his brother.”

“What does Dominic have to do with any of this?”

she asked shortly.

“He has everything to do with this,”

I said as a spark of fire ignited my heart, absolving me of any of the guilt I may have felt a few moments ago. “Or did you think I was just going to leave him to his demon?”

She didn’t respond to my question, which was answer enough for me.

“I’m going to bring him back to me, no matter what I have to do,”

I affirmed, standing just a little taller as I said it. “But in order to do that, I need to have time with him. One on one time.”

“I’m still not making the connection.”

I rolled my eyes at her daftness. “How exactly do you expect me to have one on one time with him if he’s able to compel me at will? The only way to stop him from having any control over me is to break the bloodbond first.”

“Right.”

She snorted. “Well, news flash, Jemma. There is no known way to break an established bloodbond. You of all people should already know this.”

“Maybe. Maybe not.”

My gaze shot to my mother as she took a step inside the kitchen, her interest piqued at my statement. My focus returned to my sister. It was easier to face her than my mother. “Dominic saved my life when he stopped Engel from creating a bloodbond with me by creating a stronger one with me himself.”

Her eyes thinned pensively, as though she could see where I was going with this.

“So, who’s to say I can’t do the same exact thing to him? Who’s to say I can’t override my bloodbond with Dominic by creating a stronger one with Gabriel? I have to at least try, don’t I?”

And there it was. My entire plan in a nutshell, vomited out in the middle of the kitchen for everyone to see and take apart. But their efforts would be futile. I didn’t care what anyone said or how small my chances may have been. I was going to see this through to the end.

“It’ll never work,”

she said, her voice cold and flat. “Chances are, the only reason that worked with Dominic was because Engel hadn’t yet bonded with you. I’m sure I don’t need to remind you that you’re already bonded to Dominic. Sealed, signed, and delivered. What you’re doing with Gabriel…it’s untried and dangerous.”

“But it’s not impossible,”

I argued, and that was all that really mattered to me. I just needed there to be a possibility—one tiny bit of hope that this plan might actually work.

“And what are you going to do if this blows up in your face?”

asked Tessa, her eyes burning into mine as she planted her hands on her hips. “What if you end up bonded to two Revenants instead of one? Or something far worse than that?”

“I…I don’t know,”

I answered honestly because I didn’t. I hadn’t considered all the what-ifs or estimated all the different ways this thing could go spectacularly wrong. Mainly because I was terrified that I might abandon the plan altogether if I did. “I’ll cross that bridge if and when I get there.”

She scoffed like that was the stupidest thing she’d ever heard. “And you’re okay with this?”

she demanded; her sharp eyes filled with contempt as they swung back to Gabriel.

“I think it’s worth a try.”

He dipped his head in a nod. “What do we have to lose at this point?”

“My sister’s life for one. Or have you forgotten that she isn’t protected by the Amulet anymore?”

His expression pinched. “You know I would never hurt Jemma, Tess.”

“Not on purpose,”

she retorted and then squeezed the bridge of her nose, as though staving off a massive headache. “What about the Council? Do they know about this?” she asked without looking up.

“No, they do not,”

I answered and then took a commanding step toward her, drawing her frosty gray eyes back to me. “And you’re going to keep your mouth shut and make sure it stays that way. I don’t need another problem from them.”

She crossed her arms as though she were going to argue the point but conceded with a curt nod instead. At the end of the day, she was still my sister first and foremost, and I knew she would never do anything to put my life or safety in jeopardy. No matter how angry she was with me.

“Is it working at least?”

asked Jaqueline, my mother, her voice so quiet and unexpected that I nearly missed it altogether. “The bloodbond I mean.”

I glanced at Gabriel and then shrugged my shoulders. “I’m not sure yet. It’s only been a couple of days.”

Tessa’s eyes rounded with hope. “Then it’s not too late to stop this,”

she said, finding yet another opportunity to butt her nose in. “You still have a chance to back out of this.”

Her refusal to accept what we were doing was really beginning to grate on my nerves. “Read the room, Tessa. I’m not backing out of this.”

Jaqueline’s attention shifted to Gabriel as I rolled my eyes at Tessa. “Have you tried compelling her yet?”

He shook his head that he hadn’t.

“Well?”

asked Jaqueline in her deceivingly sweet voice. “What are you waiting for?”

All eyes fell heavy on me and Gabriel. I suddenly felt like a carnival side-show act, like they were all waiting on us to perform our little two-person act. The thought soured my stomach.

“I’m fairly certain we aren’t there yet,”

answered Gabriel, sounding about as off put by the request as I felt.

“You won’t know until you try,”

she pushed.

My eyes narrowed on her. “Why are you so interested in us testing out our bond?”

I asked, unable to hide the suspicion from my tone. “What’s it to you?”

She shook her head and then tucked a strand of dark hair behind her ear. I swear, she looked more like an older sister to us than our mother. It was kind of disturbing, actually. “I’m just trying to help.”

I laughed outright, but there was no humor in it. If she really cared about helping me, she would’ve stuck around instead of disappearing the first second the Council cut her loose. I had no idea what she was even doing here, but I knew one thing for sure. She wasn’t here because she gave a crap about me. “I don’t remember asking for your help or your opinion. Frankly, this is none of your damn business, or hers,”

I bit out, throwing my sister in for good measure.

Jaqueline lifted her palms and pursed her lips as if to say, ‘hey, it’s no skin off my back’.

The gesture only made me angrier. Sensing my ire rapidly mounting, I decided I’d had enough of this little family reunion and needed to call it a night before I went off the deep end and said something I’d really regret. I already had more than enough on my plate as it was. I didn’t need to add a World War III among my family to the list.

“Well, sister. Mother.”

I bowed in an exaggerated curtsey-like gesture. “As fun as this has been for me, I think I’m going to go stick needles into my eyeballs instead.”

Gabriel groaned at my statement and then rose from the chair. “I think we should probably all call it a night.”

“Good idea. So, where do you two plan on staying while you’re in town?”

I asked, bouncing a look between my sister and my mother. Not that I cared, really. I just wanted to make sure to avoid that part of town entirely.

“Where do you think?”

Tessa folded her arms across her chest. “We’re staying here.”

I laughed, waiting for the punchline. When nothing came, I wiped the smile off my face and shook my head. “That’s not happening. I’m not sleeping under the same roof as either of you.”

“Are you kidding me?”

Tessa’s expression morphed from offense to anger in the blink of an eye. “Give me a break, Jemma. Do you honestly think either one of us would hurt you?”

“Not physically, no, but I’m pretty sure I remember watching you try to vanquish Dominic right in front of my face, and I don’t intend on ever giving you another chance to do that.”

Tessa gnashed her teeth together. “I was trying to protect you from what he’d become.”

“Yes, and now I’m protecting him from what you’ve become,”

I spat back, not even bothering to mask my absolute disgust for what she’d almost done. At the irreparable heartache she’d almost caused me. “At least Dominic has an excuse for having zero humanity. Where the hell is yours?”

Tessa’s mouth popped open, as though she were going to say something back for me. As though she were lining up a comeback—some perfectly executed retort that would absolve her of my accusation. But absolutely nothing came. For the first time in the history of forever, I’d rendered my sister speechless.

Feeling satisfied, my cold glare slid from her to Gabriel and then softened on him. “Do you think you can help me bring my mattress downstairs?”

He eyed Tessa nervously before returning his gaze to mine. “Downstairs?”

he whispered, looking at me as though I’d meant to say something else. Something that made sense.

“Well, if they’re going to be sleeping in this house, then I’ll be sleeping in the basement with Dominic,”

I informed, loud enough for everyone to hear. Whipping around on my heel, I made it halfway to the hallway and then stopped, turning back for one last warning. “And just in case anyone gets any funny ideas, you should know that I sleep with a knife under my pillow and tend to get very stabby when I’m woken up unexpectedly.”

“Oh, nice,”

huffed Tessa, throwing her hands in the air. “You’ve resorted to threatening us now.”

“Don’t think of it as a threat, Tessa,”

I said, my saccharine voice coming out slow and even. “Just think of it as a friendly warning. Or better yet. Think of it as me trying to protect you from what you’ve become,” I added with a wink and then left the room without bothering to look back at any of them.