Page 44 of Irreverent (The Marked Saga #7)

The following twenty-four hours had passed in a slow-moving blur. Trace had remained caught in a state somewhere between the living and the dead as I watched on dutifully, never leaving his side except to use the bathroom or stretch my legs every so often. I wasn’t sure how long the process would take or what to expect, but I refused to let him go through even a minute of it alone.

Tessa, Jaqueline and Gabriel had all been shocked to hear about my visitor from the future and were surprisingly unsurprised to hear what the Council had been planning for me. I had vowed in that moment to exact my revenge on them, to make them pay for what they had done and what they had tried to do. The Council’s days were numbered, and I was going to tumble their house like a falling stack of cards—but only when the time was right.

When my guys were finally back where they belonged.

Right by my side.

While Dominic hadn’t accepted my invitation to stay with me, I still felt as though I had broken through to him. I could see it in the way he had looked at me. The way he had touched me. The way his guilt had swallowed up the light in his eyes, as though he believed that he no longer had the right to look at me at all. All I could do now was sit and wait. Wait for him to make amends with the past. Wait for him to find his way back to me.

And wait for Trace…

My gaze drifted over to my raven-haired Reaper and then to Gabriel. Gabriel who had remained by my side every waking second of every day, like my own personal Guardian Angel. As if sensing my eyes, he turned and met my gaze from the armchair he was perched in. I smiled at him lovingly, grateful that I had been blessed with a friend like him.

The very best friend a girl could ask for.

The hours continued to turn around the clock as I patiently waited for something to happen. For anything to happen. The sun had long since set in the horizon, leaving a beaming full moon in its wake and desperation in my heart.

A knock sounded gently at the door and Gabriel and I both turned at the same time. I half expected it to be Tessa coming back with another round of food as she attempted to get me to put something into my stomach again. But I would not eat. Not then and not now. Not until Trace was alive and breathing in this world again.

My heart swelled in my chest and then all but leapt out from my ribs as I took in the short blond curls, the dark, crisp buttoned up shirt and pants, and the piercing, enigmatic eyes that had set my world on fire so many times before. Dominic bowed his head to me and then to his brother before taking a few cautious steps inside the room. His gaze fell heavy on Trace as he leaned his back against the wall and watched on. Not saying anything.

Just watching and waiting.

With me, and for me.

For Trace to finally wake from his transformative slumber.

My heart had never felt so full in that moment as I took in each of the reigning men of my heart. For all of the bad that had found its way into my life and all of the bad that had yet to come, I knew I must have done something really good along the way to be rewarded with three of the most exquisitely wonderful men I’d ever had the pleasure of knowing.

Somehow, I knew that no matter what horrible storm was getting ready to head my way, I would always find a way to make it out in one piece so long as I had the three of them by my side.

“Jemma. “Gabriel’s gravelly voice pulled me out of my errant thoughts as he gestured with his chin over to Trace. “His fingers are moving.”

My eyes widened into saucers as I sprang up from my chair and rushed over to him. While his eyes were still closed, his fingers were indeed moving. “What do I do?”

I asked no one in particular as I stared down at Trace and watched him stir to life. My pulse was thumping so wildly in my ears, it was making it hard for me to hear my own thoughts.

“There’s nothing you can do, angel. He needs to come out of it on his own,”

said Dominic, his voice drifting over me like a warm, comforting blanket.

I took a step back as Trace’s eyes began to move under his lids, whipping back and forth, as though he were caught in a dream he couldn’t escape. Every part of my being wanted to reach forward and comfort him. To pry him away from whatever was haunting him in this dream state and make it better for him.

His lids flew open, and I gasped as two of the most magnificent blue eyes made their debut back into our world. My heart pounded against my ribs as I took another curious step forward and then leaned down over him, putting myself directly in his sightline as I tried to soak up the new being before me. His gaze snapped in my direction, his eyes confused and unfocused, as though he were having a hard time blinking away the fog that was still clouding up his mind.

And then his eyes found me.

“Jemma.”

Gabriel’s voice sounded like an alarm bell in my head as I watched Trace’s pupils spread out like black ink in a glass of water.

The sight of it mesmerized me and I found myself unable to look away.

I’d seen that dark, feral look so many times before—in both Dominic and Gabriel’s eyes—but it seemed so foreign in Trace’s that it had rendered me completely silent and frozen in place. All I could do was stare at those eyes…

And then he was standing before me, so abruptly and unexpectantly that I hadn’t even registered the movement, or the sound of his fangs descending as he grabbed me by my waist, twisted us around and then slammed my back against the wall. Without warning or permission, he lunged into my neck, ripping into my flesh as though he were starving to death and had lost all sense of control over himself. Which, come to think of it, he probably had.

Gabriel and Dominic barreled across the room toward us, each brother grabbing an arm as they fought to pull my raven-haired Reaper off of me, but Trace refused to budge. His hold was unrelenting, and his body was as heavy and immovable as cement cinderblock against my chest.

“Get him off her!”

“I’m trying to!”

I briefly wondered why I couldn’t distinguish Dominic and Gabriel’s voices anymore, or why the front of my shirt felt so warm and wet, and then suddenly, Trace’s body was being dragged off of me. Furniture screeched and tumbled as the three of them sailed backward across the room, struggling to regain control over Trace.

Using the wall as an anchor, I leaned back and watched as they tried to wrestle my Reaper back into a standing position, both brothers shouting all sorts of wild and crazy things at him—things like who he was, and who I was, and reminding him that he loved me and didn’t want to kill me. Because, apparently, he’d forgotten.

I almost laughed at the absurdity of it all but decided to close my eyes instead, folding inward into that deep, dark chasm within myself that shut me off from the rest of the world when I needed it the most. But unlike all the previous times I’d ventured there, there was no fear in my heart.

Even as I felt the fire licking at my skin and smelled the smoke and brimstone inside my nose, I wasn’t afraid to keep falling into that buried part of me, reaching out with the tips of my fingers until I touched the side of me that I had been too afraid to meet until now. The pieces snapped together and then fused, and finally, I felt whole inside.

The room had suddenly become eerily quiet around me. Unsure of how much time had gone by or if anyone was even still in the room with me, I chanced a peak and was relieved to find that the three of them were still right there with me, and that they had even managed to settle Trace down.

It seemed like a cause to celebrate but then why were they all gaping at me with varying degrees of shock and horror plastered across their beautiful faces?

I pushed off the wall and frowned as their eyes widened even further. “What?”

I rasped, blinking at each of them. “Why are you all staring at me like that?”

Dominic’s gaze bounced to Gabriel as Trace just stared forward with a mixture of confusion and terror in his eyes. Was it my wound? I wondered as my hand rushed up to cover it. Was it really that bad, or was it something entirely different?

“Can somebody please answer me?”

I snapped, trying to keep the tremor out of my voice.

“Jemma…you…”

Gabriel shook his head, as though trying to summon his ability to speak again.

“What is it?”

I asked again and took a step toward them, but they all backed away from me at the same exact time. “What the hell is wrong with you all?!” I yelled, super insulted by the whole lot of them.

So much for being blessed. Bunch of freaking jerks!

Gabriel’s brows drew together as he squinted over at me as though needing to get another look—a better look. “Jemma…you…you have…wings.”

“I have wings,”

I repeated dimly, not understanding what the hell he was talking about. “Is that like, code for something?”

Gabriel shook his head and then pointed at something over my shoulder.

Slowly, as though half expecting an unknown beast to be standing there behind me, I followed his gaze and then gasped as I took in the outline of big, thick, satiny black wings protruding from my back.

MY BACK!

“What in the ever-loving fuck is this?”

I screeched, spinning around in frantic circles as though I could get away from them if I just moved fast enough.

It so wasn’t working.

“Well, isn’t that something,”

mused Dominic, a faint smirk curling across the whole of his lips. “Looks like you really are an angel, after all.”

To be continued…