Incipient: A Dark Paranormal Romance (The Marked Book 6)

by Bianca Scardoni

  With his chest rising and falling steadily, he lowered himself back onto me and then brushed his thumb against my cheek as though he wanted to trace the color that had appeared there.

  “I don’t want to stop either,” he crooned, his pointed gaze sliding from my rosy cheek to my eyes.

  Reaching up, I took his face in my hands and pulled his mouth back down to mine as everything around us blurred out of focus and then out of existence altogether. It was just me and Trace and this bed and this moment, and it was exactly the way I wanted it to be. No inner voice. No outside distractions. No hesitations.

  Closing his hands around my waist, he sank his shoulder into the mattress and then rolled over, flipping me over so that I was laying on top of him. A rush of air and excitement left my body, but Trace never missed a beat. His lips continued to move against mine as he slid one hand behind my back and unfastened my bra.

  My stomach tightened with anticipation as he flattened his other hand against my collarbone and gently pushed me backward so that I was sitting on his hips with my legs straddling his waist. With his eyes all over my body, he slowly dragged my bra down the length of my arms and then tossed it aside.

  The chilled air swept over my exposed skin, though I barely felt it through the feverish haze I was in as I watched him drink me in with loving eyes.

  “You’re fucking gorgeous,” he murmured as he lifted himself into a sitting position and circled his arms around my waist, pressing me closer. “You literally take my breath away, Jemma.”

  My bare chest pressed against his as I tightened my hold on him. “You know you don’t need to woo me anymore, right?” I said and then cracked a teasing smile. “You already got the green light.”

  His left dimple deepened as his lips curled up on one side. “I plan on wooing you for the rest of my life,” he said as he brought his hand up and then brushed a vagrant strand of hair away from my eyes. His gaze danced across my face, studying me, committing every feature to memory. It made my heart feel full, like it couldn’t possibly hold another ounce of anything without spilling over profusely.

  Cupping the nape of my neck, he drew my mouth down to his and kissed me unhurriedly, as though we had all the time in the world to worship each other. His tongue brushed against mine, gentle and slow, tasting my mouth as though it were a delicacy that deserved to be savored. I never knew kissing could feel that good—or be that intimate.

  Someone’s phone vibrated, causing Trace to break off the kiss and look around for the culprit, but I dutifully steered his attention back to me and shook my head. “Ignore it.”

  His gaze darkened, understanding what I was saying in that moment. I wasn’t going to let anything, or anyone interrupt us this time. The main gate to Hell itself could fly open and I wouldn’t move an inch from where I was.

  Lowering his mouth to my jaw, he peppered my skin with soft, exploratory kisses as he slowly made his way further down my body. A deep satisfied groan sounded at the back of his throat as he kneaded my breast with his hand and then brought his mouth down to it. My body arched into him—into his touch and his heat and his hardness, wanting to feel his hands and mouth all over my body for as long as I could keep them there.

  “Fucking perfect,” he murmured softly, his warm breath tickling my wet skin as he spoke to my breast.

  Giggling, I looked down and watched captivatedly as he moved from the right side to the left, making sure to pay each breast an equal amount of attention. My body was buzzing with electricity, my skin vibrating from our closeness as he licked and kissed and touched me like he had been born to do it. I couldn’t remember the last time I felt this good. This beautiful. This desired. This safe.

  “Jemma?” he prompted, his lips still gracing and mapping my body with delicious, even kisses.

  “Yeah?”

  “You know I’m in love with you, right?” he asked as he slid both hands under my underwear and squeezed my hips.

  I swallowed jaggedly, my breath coming out in pants. “I do.”

  “Good.” Mashing me against him, he flipped us over again so that he was laying on top of me again. “I just wanted to make sure you knew,” he said and found my mouth again.

  There was so much I wanted to tell him. So much about me, and us, and what I felt for him, but I didn’t know how to speak the words anymore. Too much had happened to go back to that place and yet I couldn’t seem to stay away from him. The pain of losing him the last time had nearly ended me and I knew I couldn’t go through that again, but the agony of staying away from him was even worse. And so, I bit my tongue and said nothing at all as he melted away every sour thought I had with nothing more than his lips and the touch of his skillful hands.

  Grabbing the hem of my underwear, he sat back on his legs and dragged them down my legs before tossing them over his shoulder. The iPod shuffled to the next song, something slow and rhythmic. With his heated gaze on mine, he undid his pants and freed himself. My heart thumped against my ribcage as he slid on the condom and then settled between my legs.

  Lowering his face, he brushed his nose against mine and then slowly entered me. My breath caught in my throat as every nerve ending in my body fired off. With his pelvis flush against mine, he paused a moment as though giving me time to acclimate to him before slowly drawing his hips back and eliciting another rush of air from me.

  “Do you want me to stop?” he whispered tenderly, kissing the corner of my mouth as he held himself back.

  Shaking my head, I slipped my hands around his waist and pulled him back down to me.

  His lips closed over mine as he slowly began to move his hips again. Within a few seconds, the uncomfortable feeling of stretching eased, leaving room for something that was far more dangerous.

  Pleasure.

  Not the kind you get from a vampire bite—that rush of dizzying emotions intrinsically tied to my darkness, to my addiction to touching the edge of death and then being pulled back from it. No. This was different. Slow. Sensual. Delicious. With Trace, there was no darkness. No knocking on death’s door. It was all light. It made me feel alive—made me want to be alive, and that was something I hadn’t felt in a long time.

  Clamping my legs around him, I buried my hands into his hair as he kissed me with the heat of a thousand infernos. With every thrust of his hips, I could feel that familiar buildup swelling in the pit of my belly. As if sensing my closeness, he picked up his pace just a hair, his feverish body engulfing mine like the heat of the sun as he stroked my tongue with his own, deepening the kiss into something that wasn’t even a kiss anymore.

  My thoughts scrambled as he gripped my hips and squeezed down hard, his pace even faster then. I could feel myself climbing up that mountain, rushing toward the edge in desperation, teetering around the peak.

  The heat of his skin.

  The wetness of his mouth.

  My limbs tingled with anticipation as I ached my head back and jumped, sailing, flying, free-falling through the air as wave after wave of pleasure wracked my body. I let out a soft moan though it was quickly swallowed up by Trace’s mouth as he drew out my orgasm with expert precision and then finally let himself go, burying his face into my neck with a delicious rumble that made my own chest vibrate.

  His body went slack against mine, his chest rising and falling rhythmically. Neither one of us moved or said anything as we lay there holding each other in the aftermath. All of the rush and adrenaline and unquenchable need had finally left my body and all I felt was sated calmness and serenity, like I was finally right where I was supposed to be.

  Trace pulled back a few moments later, learning himself on one elbow as his eyes found mine in the dim light effortlessly. A wide smile tugged at the corners of his lips.

  “What are you so happy about?” I teased and then laughed as he lowered his face and nuzzled his nose against mine like he had done earlier.

  It was such a simple gesture, but it made my stomach flutter as though a swarm of butterflies had taken flight
through my belly. I could so get used to feeling like this—to being like this with him. To the way he was holding me and looking at me. To how protected I felt when I was in his arms. And then a painful thought rose to the forefront.

  What if I lost him again?

  What if we were just doomed to repeat the past all over again?

  My breath caught as I struggled to take in a full lungful of air. Shit. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t—

  “Hey,” called Trace, his eyes tracking something on my face. “You’re not going to lose me, Jemma. I’m not going anywhere. Just take a deep breath,” he said as he sat back and pulled me up with him so that I was sitting in front of him.

  I shook my head frantically as he pulled on his boxers. “I can’t catch my breath.”

  “Just try to relax. Everything’s fine,” he said soothingly as he grabbed the blanket from the edge of the bed and wrapped it around my shoulders. “I’m right here, and I’m not going anywhere.”

  “But you don’t understand. You don’t have the full picture. There’s things you don’t know.” Words were spilling out of me like vomit and I really needed to shut my mouth.

  “Then tell me, Jemma.”

  My lips parted at the gentleness of his voice. Every cell in my body wanted to pour itself out to him, to lay down every secret I’d kept from him and beg for his forgiveness, but I knew I couldn’t do that. There were things he couldn’t know yet; dangerous things that could harm him. “I don’t want to hurt you, Trace.”

  “Then don’t,” he answered as if it were that simple.

  But it wasn’t that simple. Our past was just as tied to each other as our future was and I couldn’t see us having one without the other. What would happen to us when he learned the truth? When he found out what I’d done to him and how long I’d lied to him about it? The closer we got, the more fearful I became of the truth coming out.

  Of losing him.

  A part of me wanted to tell him everything right then and there. To unburden myself with the secrets I’d shouldered for far too long. But I wasn’t sure he could handle it and I refused to take the risk.

  Not when it came to Trace.

  Pulling in a shaky breath, I pushed the uncomfortable thoughts back into the dark recess of my mind. If I didn’t think about it, it couldn’t hurt me and that had to be good enough for now. Besides, we’d gone this far and this long without any of his memories breaking through. Nothing had cracked thus far. The spell had to be doing something right.

  That had to mean something.

  “Talk to me,” he said as he picked up my hand and held it, his eyes beckoning me to hand over my heart.

  “I’m okay. Really.” My voice cracked and I took in another steadying breath. “I was just having a moment.”

  “A moment?”

  “Also known as a minor panic attack.”

  His brows furrowed. “Do you want to talk about it?”

  I shook my head rigidly and dropped my eyes. “It’s just old baggage I still need to unpack.” I tried to play it off like it was nothing, though I wasn’t sure if my face was pulling off the farce or not.

  “So, unpack it,” he offered, his baritone voice filled with reassurance and comfort like he would be willing to shoulder every last one of my burden’s until kingdom come.

  “I will…some other time, though.” My cheeks stung with heat as the instant replay fired off in my mind. “I think I’ve embarrassed myself enough for one day,” I muttered, looking for a rock to bury my head under.

  He laughed as he reached out and touched my thigh, gently caressing it with his fingers. “You have nothing to be embarrassed about, Jemma. Not with me.”

  I arched my brow at him. “Really? Because I literally just ruined sex.” Dropping my head into my hands, I mumbled to myself, “Who even does that?”

  He laughed again, deeper this time. “Trust me, you didn’t ruin sex. Nothing could ever ruin that,” he said, gesturing to the wrinkled sheets and mess of pillows we’d just been laying on.

  Burning heat flooded my cheeks again, though this time, not from embarrassment. His eyes searched my face, moving with intent as my stomach swooped under the intensity of his gaze.

  “Let me take you out tonight,” he said, something deep and gravelly riding his voice.

  “Like on a date?”

  “Yeah. Like on a date.”

  I had to admit, that sounded really nice. And intimate. Probably not the best idea. Not that jumping in the sack with him was either, but that was beside the point. “We have that meeting tonight at Temple.”

  “Then after,” he said as his phone dinged from somewhere on the floor. “I’ll even let you pick out our costumes for the Halloween dance,” he said and waggled his eyebrows.

  “Really? And I can pick anything I want?”

  “Anything,” he said and then rubbed his jaw. “Just don’t put me in tights.”

  “Well there goes all my ideas,” I complained and threw my hands in the air.

  He shook his head as he tried to hide his smile. “So, it’s a date?”

  “It’s a date,” I agreed without giving myself any time to think about it. The more I thought about the things, the less time I’d spend with him and that was the opposite of what I wanted to do.

  Smiling victoriously, he reached down and pulled his phone out of his pants pocket and then handed me my own clothes, which had been strung all around the room. As he busied himself reading his text message, I retrieved my own phone from my jacket pocket and checked my notifications. There was a new message from William, the Senior Magister:

  Come to Temple ASAP. We have news on the Horsemen.

  My back straightened. I couldn’t tell if it was good news or bad news from his vague text, though if history were any indicator of future endeavors, chances were it would be crap news as usual.

  Trace cursed under his breath and my gaze snapped to his. Had he gotten the same text as me?

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, hoping it was unrelated. It was hard to speak openly with William when we were hiding so many pieces of information from Trace. Something I was feeling worse and worse about with each passing moment.

  “Nikki wants to see me.”

  Ice-cold panic clawed its bony fingers down my spine as my face lost all color.

  “She says it’s important.” His jaw muscle ticked in irritation. “I’m trying to get out of it, but she’s not giving up.”

  I was pretty fucking positive that I knew what she wanted to talk to him about since the last time I’d seen her she seemed hell-bent on passing that baby off on Trace.

  Would she really be stupid enough to risk Trace’s memories like this? She knew damn well that the slightest stressor could cause the wall around his memories to implode. Would she actually risk his life just to tell him something she knew deep down inside was a lie in the hopes of getting him back in her life?

  Of course, she would! This is psychopathic, Trace-obsessed, dark-magic-yielding Nikki we were talking about. She’d already proven time after time that her delusion knew no bounds.

  But maybe pregnancy had softened her…made her more nurturing and maternal?

  Or maybe it just brought out more of her crazy…

  I was seriously spiring.

  Pushing my panic away, I tried to reason with myself remain calm. I’d made it clear to her that the Council was not going to let this baby be born and she’d even seen the Horseman with her own eyes. Surely that had to be enough to make her think twice. Nobody in their right mind would be stupid enough to believe they were carrying an innocent human baby when the entire supernatural world was gunning for them.

  Except maybe Nikki…

  “Just ignore her,” I said, doing my best to keep the fear out of my voice. “You don’t have to go just because she texted.”

  “Yeah, I guess.” He thought about it for a moment and then shook his head. “But I probably should go.”

  “Why?” I shrieked.

 
“She needs to know that me and her are over, for good, and it’s better I do it in person.”

  “Is it?” I shrugged nonchalantly even though I was freaking out inside. “Texting seems fine to me.”

  Trace studied me for a moment and then cracked a smile. “You’re not worried about me seeing her, are you? Because you don’t need to be, Jemma. I’m not interested in Nikki.”

  That was true. He’d had plenty of chances to re-hookup with Nikki—before, during, and after my arrival in Hollow Hills but he never bothered. Something that would have been a clear message to literally anyone else, but not Nikki. Nope. That moron was holding out hope until the cows came home.

  But that wasn’t why I was dreading this meetup.

  “I just think she’s going to read too much into it. Knowing Nikki, she’ll probably convince herself that you wanted to do it in person just to see her again. She’s seriously crazy like that.” I mean, I wasn’t lying and there really wasn’t a nicer way to put it. Nikki was cray-cray and that was well before her pregnancy hormones kicked in.

  “Why don’t we go together then?” he offered as he hooked his finger under my chin to draw my attention back to him. “Anything I have to say to her, I can say in front of you.”

  “I can’t,” I said, though I was certain I wouldn’t go even if I could. If by any chance Nikki was planning on keeping Trace out of this pregnancy fiasco, she’d certainly have second thoughts about it after seeing me there with him. “I need to go see the Senior Magister at Temple,” I added as I slipped my arms into my bra straps and then fastened the back.

  “Right now?” he asked, concern knitting his eyebrows.

  “Yeah. I think he has some news about the Horsemen,” I said as I picked up my crumpled blouse and shoved my arms through the sleeves. “Maybe they finally translated the Sang Noir.”

  His eyes widened in surprise. “You think that’s why they’re calling the meeting tonight?”

  “Maybe.” I shrugged because I really didn’t know the answer to that. Whatever it was, it felt big and judging by the knot in my stomach, I wasn’t going to like it. Pulling on my underwear and then wrapping my skirt around my waist, I looked up and met Trace’s eyes.