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

by Bianca Scardoni

  My heart sank as my mind segued to Dominic. The void left in my life by his absence was as wide and deep as the ocean. Lately, I couldn’t even bear to think about him for anything more than a passing moment.

  What we used to be was so far removed from what he’d become, and what he tried to do to me, that I was no longer capable of wrapping my mind around it. He went from being my person—my everything—to hunting me down like it was open season for the thrill of it. But in my heart, I knew that it wasn’t the real Dominic doing these things to me. The man I knew him to be had loved me in the most intoxicating and freeing way one could love somebody. And so my love for him was ever present, even now, much like my love for Trace had been after his death.

  There was no denying that I loved them both, deeply and completely, and that I was going to need to find a way to save them. Trace from his own mind and Dominic from the demon that had taken over.

  And as if that wasn’t enough of a threat, I now had Mistress Nikki Parker on my ass, too.

  The sound of the doorbell echoing through the empty house startled me from my reverie.

  My heart pattered noisily as I cycled through the list of possible late-night visitors, though my mind went straight to my growing list of enemies. For one, I knew that Trace had a key and even if he had forgotten it, he wasn’t due back for at least another hour.

  Grabbing my dagger off the coffee table, I made my way into the hallway toward the foyer, searching inwardly for that familiar feeling that usually told me when Dominic was near.

  Feeling nothing, I sidled forward until I reached the window and peeked outside.

  No fucking way!

  Excitement burst out of me as I yanked open the door and all but launched myself at my sister Tessa.

  “Oh, my god, Tess! What are you doing here?” I squealed as I pulled back to make sure she was actually standing there before throwing myself right back into her arms.

  She laughed against my chest, but it was mostly muffled on account of how tightly I was squeezing her.

  “How did you know I was here?” I asked as I pulled back to let her catch her breath.

  “How else? I couldn’t find you at the Blackburn Estate, so I called Gabriel. He told me you were staying here,” she explained as I hauled her into the house by her jacket lapel. “The Council called me back,” she added pointedly.

  Well, that sobered me right up. Locking the door behind us, I turned and faced her. “How much did they tell you?”

  “Enough.” Draping her arm around my shoulder, she pulled me into a side hug and then walked us back into the living room, apparently knowing her way around well. “Why didn’t you call me?” she asked as we both sat down on the couch. She looked genuinely hurt that I hadn’t been the one to fill her in.

  “You know why, Tessa.” There was once a time when I’d been offended by my sister’s lack of involvement in my life. When I assumed every missed phone call or unanswered text message was because she couldn’t be bothered to care. But after spending the summer with her on the road, I knew better than that now. “I know what you’re dealing with out there. I didn’t want you to lose focus.”

  “I can walk and chew gum at the same time, you know.”

  I rolled my eyes at her. “You know what I mean.”

  “I appreciate you looking out for me, Jem, but it would’ve been nice to hear this from you and not the Council.”

  “Right.” She had a point. “Sorry about that.”

  “So, what are doing at Trace’s anyway? And where’s Dominic?” she asked, looking thoroughly confused since the last she’d heard and seen, me and Dominic couldn’t keep our hands off each other.

  “I guess Gabriel didn’t tell you.” Pulling up my legs beside me, I relaxed into the thick cushions.

  “Tell me what?”

  “Dominic’s Sire showed up in Hollow Hills a while back,” I said and then let out a heavy breath, not especially thrilled about having to recount that particular story.

  “And?” she prompted when I didn’t add anything more.

  I swallowed against the burn at the back of my throat and composed myself, refusing to let myself cry in front of my sister. “And she made him shut off his emotions. Every. Single. One. Of. Them.”

  Her eyes widened because she knew exactly what that meant. “Jesus, Jemma. I’m so sorry.”

  I went on to tell her about everything that had come after, including what happened in the woods last night. As much as I had tried to block out that terrifying night from my mind, it was right there with me no matter where I went. Oddly enough, it felt good to finally be able to talk about it.

  When I was done recounting that whole mess, I moved on to what was going on between Trace and me and how we had been slowly rebuilding what we had, and of course, Nikki’s very open threat on my life because of it. Not wanting to leave anything out, I also told her about my meetings with William and what they wanted me to do, making sure to include the part about how they had no idea what would happen to me if and when I agreed to do it.

  Her shoulders dropped as she heaved out a heavy breath. “How long have I been gone?” she asked, looking exhausted just hearing about everything.

  “That’s life in Hollow Hills for you. Never a dull moment.”

  “Yeah, I can see that,” she said as she sank back on the couch, her mind a million miles away.

  “I’m guessing you think I should do it, right?”

  “Do what?” she asked, distracted.

  “Let them anoint me as the Fourth Horseman, or whatever they called it.” Honestly, I wasn’t even sure why I was asking her. Of course, she would agree with them. Tessa always put duty above all else.

  Her and Gabriel were two peas in a pod like that.

  “Actually, no. I don’t.”

  I jerked back at her words, certain I’d heard her wrong. “Come again?”

  She studied me for a harrowing moment. “Listen, Jem. I’m all for kicking ass and taking names, but this is taking it a little far, even for me. There has to be another way—something else to try first. Preferably something tried and true.”

  “If there was another way, they would’ve mentioned it,” I said, despondent. “There would’ve been something in the books about this.”

  “Well, maybe this isn’t a books kind of problem. Maybe this is a throw-everything-you-have-at-the-problem-and-hope-for-the-best kind of problem, and I think I should be the one doing the throwing.”

  My shock at her disagreeing with the Council’s wishes quickly switched to horror as I understood what she was saying. “You’re not going to be the sacrificial lamb here, Tessa. Apart from the fact that I’m not okay with going after a pregnant girl regardless of who’s baby she’s carrying, she’s already too powerful. And that’s without siphoning the baby’s magic or the hordes of demons protecting her. You won’t be able to get within a mile of her. It’s suicide.”

  “Better me than you,” she answered, unfazed, as though her mind had already been made up. “I have more experience than you. Besides, I’m your big sister. I’m not just going to let them throw you to the stake.”

  “So, I should let you throw yourself on it instead?” I shot her a pointed look. “That’s not going to happen.”

  “Were you always this stubborn?”

  “Mostly.”

  She smiled, though it didn’t quite make it up to her ash colored eyes. “There’s something else I’ve been meaning to talk to you about,” she said, her tone turning serious.

  My brow raised in a questioning look.

  “I’m not sure if I mentioned that I had been trying to track down mom for the last few weeks,” she started, eyeing me nervously. “Well, anyway. I found her.”

  I blinked at her. Just hearing her mention our mother made my heart spur icicles. “And?”

  “And we spent some time together.”

  “Why are you telling me this?”

  “She wants to see you again, Jem,” she said, finally getting
to the point. “And I think you should meet with her.”

  “For what?” I asked frostily. It had been months since the Council cut her loose from her forever resting place and she had not made the slightest effort to reach out to me or Tessa once since then. “Why now?”

  “I know you think she just up and disappeared on us after the Council pardoned her, but she didn’t. She’s been looking for a way to help you—to understand our bloodline better. She’s learned a lot, Jemma, and I think she can really help you.”

  I crinkled my nose at her. “Help me do what exactly?”

  “Help you reach your full potential,” she answered wistfully. “Who you are…what you can do…it’s so much more than any of us ever imagined. I think if you just hear her out, you’ll see—” Tessa’s words cut at the sound of the front door opening and shutting, followed by the sound of heavy footfalls making their way toward us.

  My jaw was still partially unhinged when Trace appeared at the threshold, his blue eyes lighting up at the sight of Tessa. Lucky for her, she wasn’t one of the people he’d forgotten. And I totally wasn’t jealous.

  “Jesus, Trace,” she said as she jumped up from the sofa and rushed over to him. “When the hell did you get so hot and grown up?” she asked as she pulled him into a hug.

  His gaze cut to me from over her shoulder. “Probably around the same time you did,” he said as he flashed me that million-dollar smile of his.

  She took a full step back and catalogued him. “I swear you get better looking every time I see you. There’s got to be something in the water.”

  “You should know, you grew up here,” he answered and then gave her a flirtatious wink.

  “Okay, enough. You’re both older and hotter. We get it,” I said, rolling my eyes at them.

  “Aw, I think she’s jealous. How cute,” teased Tessa, which prompted another eye roll from me.

  “So, what are you doing back in Hollow Hills anyway?” he asked as they ventured back into the living room together.

  “What else? I’m here to—”

  “To catch up,” I quickly jumped in, afraid she was going to inadvertently let something slip. “Tessa was just telling me about her last hunt. Super crazy. Right, Tess?”

  Tessa stared at me, her mouth opening and then closing as she nodded. “That’s right. Super crazy.”

  “Really?” asked Trace as he took a seat beside me and then dropped a kiss on the top of my head. “I haven’t heard one of these in a while,” he said, sounding both nostalgic and genuinely interested as he waited for the ‘super crazy’ story to emerge.

  “Oh, well, you know how it is,” she said, dismissing it with a wave of her hand. “Once you heard one, you’ve pretty much heard them all, am I right?” Tessa widened her eyes at me, looking for a save.

  “Exactly,” I said and then forced a laugh. “So, who’s hungry? Should we order some food?”

  Tessa nodded spiritedly. “I could definitely eat.”

  “Me too.”

  Trace bounced a glance between the two of us and chuckled. If he thought we were nuts, he at least had the decency not to say it aloud. “I brought some wings and pizza from the bar,” he offered, eyebrows raised. “Or I can order something else?”

  “Wings and pizza sounds perfect,” I said as I leaned over and stole a kiss from his lips.

  As soon as Trace left the room to get the food, Tessa turned back to me and scowled. “Thanks for putting me on the spot like that. At least give me a heads-up next time.”

  “Sorry,” I muttered, forgetting that she wasn’t familiar with my way of life, where lying to everyone about everything was pretty much my default setting. “He came home early,” I said, though I already knew that Tessa was going to need to stay sharp and on her toes if we had any hopes of surviving the next couple of hours with him.

  36. SEX ON FIRE

  After ingesting a disgusting amount of chicken wings and slices of pizza and then convincing Tessa to spend the night since the Blackburn Estate was out of commission, the three of us said our goodnights and then headed upstairs to bed. It had been one of the best nights I’d had in a really long time, which was strange considering we had done nothing but stuff our faces and catch up with each other.

  Smiling contently to myself, I quickly changed into one of Trace’s oversized t-shirts and then sat on his bed and waited for him to come back from the bathroom.

  He appeared at the door a few moments later and then faltered as he took me in. I wasn’t sure if it was the fact that I was wearing one of his t-shirts again or if it was my bare legs that was doing something for him, but he seemed to enjoy whatever it was he was seeing.

  “I borrowed your shirt again,” I said, trying to ignore the blush on my cheeks.

  He locked the door behind himself and licked his lips. “It looks better on you.”

  “Debatable,” I said as I watched him walk over to his iPod deck and turn on the power. “In case I forgot to say it, thank you for inviting my sister to stay here. It’s nice to have her close again.”

  “You don’t have to thank me for being nice to your sister,” he said as he shuffled through his playlist. “She’s like a sister to me anyway.”

  “Right. Well, you know what I mean,” I said, staring at his back as I picked at my cuticles. “I missed you at school today.”

  He didn’t answer as he continued to shuffle through the songs looking for who knows what.

  “It feels kind of empty when you’re not there,” I went on, though I had no idea why the hell I was talking about school in the first place. Mostly, I was just worried about him—about whether what Nikki had said last night was starting to wig him out or if I’d managed to calm him down, though I was too nervous to just come out and ask him.

  If he wasn’t bringing it up, I didn’t want to either.

  He hit the play button and then walked over to his desk and sat down on the chair, his eyes fully hooded and smoldering when he swiveled the chair around and faced me.

  My body flushed with heat as I remembered the last time he’d been in that chair and the desire he’d elicited from me. “You can borrow my notes if you need them.” Oh, for the love of all that is holy, please shut my dang mouth.

  He cracked a smile, setting off his right dimple. “I don’t want to talk about school.”

  “Right. Good. Me neither.” I nodded nervously, still fidgeting with my fingernails. “So…what do you want to talk about?”

  “I don’t want to talk about anything,” he said, spreading his thighs as he watched me.

  “Yeah. Good idea. Talking is so overrated.” And yet I still wasn’t shutting the hell up.

  Why was I so nervous anyway? I only ever babbled when I was nervous. Maybe it was because I hadn’t seen him all day and had no idea what was going on in his head. Was he freaking out? Were his memories still safe and sound? Had he gotten in touch with that mysterious Caster friend of his again?

  Or maybe it was because of what Tessa had started to tell me tonight. About our mother looking for answers about my bloodline. About me being able to do so much more than what any of us had imagined, whatever that meant.

  Or maybe I was just nervous because of the way he was looking at me…all predatory and starving, like he wanted to melt me down into a puddle of sex and then drink me up until the last drop.

  “Come over here,” he said suddenly, his voice low and gruff and filled with need.

  A need I wanted desperately to fulfill for him.

  Familiar warmth flitted low in my belly as I pushed off the bed and walked over to him. Without saying anything, I flattened my hands atop his shoulder and then sat down on his lap, straddling him as I had done the other night. There was no point in holding back anymore—in running from what we both wanted. The line had already been spectacularly crossed and it was so much better on this side.

  “You looking for a do over?” I whispered as he clutched my hips and then dragged me against his hardness, slow and deliberat
e, with only the thin fabric of my underwear safeguarding me.

  “Something like that,” he said and then slid me back the opposite way, grinding my body against his.

  Leaning forward, I pressed my lips against his and ripped a kiss from his lips as he continued to rock me back and forth, making me writhe with nothing more than the feel of him between my legs.

  “Take this off,” I said, tugging against his shirt.

  Reaching back for the collar of his shirt, he tugged it up and then off his head before throwing the shirt on the floor behind me. My hands splayed against his chest, reveling in the heat of his body under my fingertips, in the solidity of his chest as I racked my fingernails against his skin.

  Kneading my hips, he pushed me down harder as he continued to grin my body against his, letting me feel every single generous inch of him beneath me. “Do you see what you do to me?”

  My thighs clenched as warmth pooled low in my belly.

  “You drive me crazy, Jemma,” he murmured huskily, his eyes glazed with desire as he watched me roll my hips against him. “I don’t know what to do with you.”

  Smiling down at him, I said, “You’re doing good so far.”

  “I’m serious,” he said as he reached down and grabbed my shirt before carefully peeling it off my body, drawing back only enough to allow the fabric to pass between us. “I want to protect you, and fuck you, and devour you all at once.”

  My stomach rippled as I looked down at him and then paused for dramatic effect. “So, do it.”

  Primal need flickered across his eyes as he grabbed the back of my neck and pulled my mouth to his like he was going to make good on his promise. And I so hoped he did. With fiery electricity racing over my skin, I weaved my fingers into his hair and tugged. It wasn’t enough. I needed to feel him against me, around me, and inside me.

  As if hearing my needs, his hands dropped to my hips, clutching as he pushed me back enough to unzip himself. My heart skipped with anticipation as he reached between my legs and pulled my underwear to the side, lifting me up until I could comfortably sink down against him.