Page 29 of Irreverent (The Marked Saga #7)

My stunned eyes doubled in size as Dominic choked off my air supply and then yanked me forward by my neck, bringing me within mere inches of his face. The smallest hint of a smile curved his lips as he took in my frightened expression.

“Remove my binds,”

he commanded, smirking proudly as though he had already checkmated me. His fingers loosened from around my neck, making it obvious that he was certain that I was going to do exactly as he had compelled me to do.

Only he hadn’t compelled me.

My heart ignited as I realized my plan had worked; a bloodbond between me and Gabriel had formed, and it was overriding the one I had with Dominic just as I prayed it would.

Only he couldn’t know that—not yet. Not until he removed his hands from my throat.

Deciding my best move was to play along, I nodded and then watched carefully as he lowered his hand and waited. The smug victory was plastered all over his pristine, smooth face. The moment I was out of his grasp, I shot up and took two huge steps back, stopping only when I knew I was out of his reach.

“Actually, I think I’m going to leave them on,”

I informed, rubbing my hands against my sore neck.

His eyebrows pulled together in a mixture of shock and confusion as Gabriel stepped out of the shadows and calmly walked over to join us, stopping at the cell entrance and then leaning his shoulder into the bar.

Dominic’s mystified gaze bounced between me and his brother before settling back on me. “Well, well,”

he purred, his chains rattling as he attempted to sit up a little straighter. “It seems you two have been quite busy while I was sleeping.”

“You could say that,”

I answered, pressing my back against the steel bars as I soaked in the sight of him.

“I’m impressed.”

His eyes flashed as he searched my face. “How did you do it?”

“It was pretty simple, actually,”

I said and shrugged my shoulders coyly. “All I had to do was sever our bond, and the answer was right there in front of my eyes all this time. I don’t know why I didn’t see it sooner.”

The hint of a smirk curled his mouth. “Perhaps you didn’t want to see it.”

“Perhaps,”

I agreed easily because truth be told, I never really bothered looking for a way to break the bond. Probably because deep down, it had given me the perfect excuse to give into my feelings for him. To play in the darkness with him without ever having to question my reasons behind it. “But that was then.”

“Well, then. Do tell, angel.”

Hearing him use that pet name sent a wave of longing through my body, and suddenly, I was nervous to admit to him what I had done to get to this point. As though I’d somehow betrayed him. I quickly pushed those feelings down into the pit of my being and squared my shoulders. “The only way to break the bloodbond was to override it by bonding myself to someone else—just like you did for me with Engel.”

His expression remained blank as he stared at me in ear-splitting silence before flicking a casual gaze up at his brother. “Et tu, Brute?”

Gabriel’s jaw tensed, but he didn’t answer him.

“Well, this is a special occasion indeed,”

jeered Dominic, his eyes and tone as frosty as a snowstorm in December. “Saint Gabriel has finally tumbled from his high horse and rendered himself speechless in the process. Have you not anything to say for yourself, brother?”

“I did what I did to help Jemma,”

he answered unflinchingly.

“Ah, yes.”

His luscious lips pulled into a grin. “Tell me, brother. Did you help yourself to her as well? Did she give it up to you the way she did for me?”

Motherfu—

“You disgust me,”

seethed Gabriel as he pushed off the cell door and then glared down at his brother. “You should be thanking every god known to man that she’s still in love with you. If it were up to me, I would have done the world a favor and left that stake exactly where it was.”

“I have no doubt, brother.”

Dominic chuckled coolly, content that he had struck a nerve with his brother.

“Well, isn’t this nice?”

I asked no one in particular. “The three of us…together again. Just like old times.”

Dominic’s gaze slid back to me easily, his grin still held up in place. “Perhaps you should remove my constraints then, angel,”

he said, lifting up his chained hands again, “and we can truly make it like old times.”

The sinful glint in his eyes made my stomach clench and I had to remind myself that it was the demon part of him talking. The emotionless, uncaring, primal monster that wanted nothing but to satisfy his needs—whatever they may be.

“I bet you’d just love that, wouldn’t you?”

I said, kneeling down again with my back still pressed against the bars, keeping a good distance between the two of us.

His gaze dropped to the gap between my thighs and even though I was fully dressed in a tank top and pair of blue jeans, I could tell by the look in his eyes and the way he languidly licked his lips that he was picturing me naked.

“Indeed,”

he said and then flicked his gaze back up to meet mine. “As would you.”

Gabriel cleared his throat, probably wholly uncomfortable by the turn the conversation had taken. “I’m going to wait upstairs,”

he announced and then frowned as he looked down at me. “Do not cross that line,” he warned, referring to the line of duct tape we put on the concrete floor as a marker. So long as I stayed behind it, Dominic’s chains would prevent him from reaching me while Caleb’s magic would handle the rest.

I nodded that I understood and then watched as he tossed his brother a final glare before walking away, leaving Dominic and me to the demons between us.

The room fell silent in his absence as Dominic observed me for a long, quiet moment, his eyes assessing every inch of me, as though taking inventory. “It’s very brave of you to risk being alone with me like this, angel,”

he said after a short pause, his eyes still watching me with intent. “Have you learned nothing from our past encounters?”

Steeling myself, I took a seat on the floor and made myself more comfortable. “I’m not scared of you.”

“You should be.”

Darkness brewed in his eyes.

“And why is that?”

He smiled at me, though there was nothing sweet or friendly about it. “Well, firstly, you appear to be missing a very important piece of jewelry from around your neck,”

he said, his gaze dropping down to where the Amulet used to be before returning to my eyes. “And secondly, there’s still the small matter of how easily I can rip these chains from the wall and use them to snap your neck in two.”

My brows shot up in mock wonder. “Is that so? Well, golly gee. I’d love to see you try.”

His eyes thinned as though he were trying to read something from my face. Without removing his eyes from me, he yanked his arms forward in an attempt to rip the chains from the concrete wall. I inwardly breathed a sigh of relief when the chains failed to budge a hair. He smiled at me knowingly.

“You had them spelled,”

he said, and it wasn’t a question.

“Amongst other things.”

I leaned forward as though I were going to whisper a secret to him. “You might as well get comfortable, Dominic, because you’re going to be here for a very long time.”

His jaw muscle tightened as a shadow descended over his face. “Is that so, angel? And what prey tell do you plan on doing with me?”

“Anything I want.”

A fire ignited behind his eyes as though he liked the sound of that.

Sitting back, I smiled sweetly. “I could starve you, torture you, taunt you, force you to watch nothing but sappy, made-for-tv movies until you’re begging me to put you out of your misery. The possibilities are endless really.”

He chuckled. “Well played.”

I shrugged nonchalantly as though I wasn’t bursting with pride over finally gaining the upper hand on him. “Well, what can I say? I’ve learned from the best.”

“And the Amulet?”

he asked as he rubbed his jaw with his hand, the chains banging boisterously as he moved them back and forth.

“Collateral damage.”

“Tsk. Tsk,”

he said and shook his head. “How did you manage such a monumentally foolish feat?”

I bristled at his words. “It sort of just happened, you know…while I was cutting off your sire’s head,”

I added pointedly, wanting to even the pain score.

He answered me with a smile. “If you’re trying to make me feel something, you’re going to have to work much harder than that. My attachment to Pricilla went as far as what she compelled me to feel. Truthfully, you did me a favor.”

“I thought you had this big, complicated sire bond with her?”

“I did,”

he answered plainly. “But that expired when Pricilla did.”

Well, shoot. That was cold. So much for that angle.

He shifted against the wall and then gazed at me, studying me the way a predator watches their prey prance about unsuspectingly. “It seems I have much to be pleased about.”

My brows pulled together in confusion.

A devious smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. “Not only did you eliminate the only thing keeping a leash on me, but you also managed to destroy your Amulet in the process. It couldn’t have worked out better if I had planned the whole thing myself.”

There was no mistaking the threat behind his words or the way it made my stomach drop. Not that I was going to let him know that. “You talk a big game for someone’s who’s bound and shackled up in a homemade prison.”

“But I won’t be forever,”

he said matter-of-factly. “I have nothing if not time, angel lips, and when the time is right, it will be you sitting on this side.”

My skin prickled at his words. “See, there you go making empty threats again. You should really learn to play nice with me if you ever want to get out of here,”

I said, my voice filled with false bravado. I refused to let him see he was having any kind of an effect on me.

“Who says I want to?”

A dark stormed churned behind his eyes. “Perhaps this is exactly where I want to be.”

Another slither of fear shot down my spine. Even in his compromising position, the bastard was still somehow turning the tables on me and taking control of the conversation. And he was doing a damn good job of it too.

Pushing off the ground, I climbed back to my feet and glared down at him, seeing only the heartless demon that was running the show now. “Well, I guess this is your lucky day then,”

I said as I walked out of the cell and went to the mini fridge we had stocked in the basement when Gabriel moved his sleeping quarters downstairs. Pulling out a blood bag, I shut the fridge door and then walked back over to the cell door.

His face soured at the sight of the blood-filled plastic bag. Dominic had always only ever got his fill straight from the vein. Unfortunately for him, and me, those days were over.

“I was going to let you have a little snack, seeing as how you haven’t fed in weeks, but I can see you’re doing just fine without it. Maybe you’ll learn your lesson and play nicer tomorrow,”

I said as I tossed the blood bag on the small wooden table in front of his cell—making sure to keep it out of his reach yet tauntingly in his sightline—and then I slammed the cell door shut and locked it. The sound of clicking metal made him shift where he sat, his eyes narrowing in on me as though he were imagining all the ways he was going to make me pay for this.

“Sweet dreams,”

I said as I flicked off the lights and then walked out of the room, leaving him to his demon, and nothing but his demon.