Page 124 of Magic of the Damned

“I have dinner with my family at seven tomorrow,” I reminded him.

“You’ll need to cancel.”

“No. I can’t cancel or not show up.”

“If your family were sources of magic, Peter would have used them.”

“You’re probably right, but I’d like confirmation and I need to see them.” My voice broke. There was still a chance I might not make it out of this situation alive and the dinner could be my last time seeing them. It was a morose thought but a very real possibility. I wanted to see my family. I needed to see my family. Blinking caused the tears to spill.

In a heartbeat, Dominic was inches from me, his thumb sweeping gently across my cheek, wiping the tears away. His expression softened to concern. “Of course. I’ll be back in time and provide you with a way to determine whether they have magic. But you must come back here. Back to me. Okay?”

I nodded in agreement, squashing the plan I had to talk to Cameron. It would be best to talk to her once things were resolved, anyway.

If things were ever resolved.

CHAPTER 18

Iwas awakened by Dominic knocking at the door. After letting him in, I attempted to drift back to sleep while he stripped off his clothes and headed to the bathroom to shower, but couldn’t. When he crawled into the bed, I asked if everyone had returned. He confirmed that they had, but from his smirk, I gathered he knew I was mostly inquiring about Anand—it was hard to be Team Areleus and Helena when they wanted me dead. Enough of the Awakeners had been imprisoned to satisfy both Conventicles and significantly disrupt whatever strategy Peter had in mind.

“Nailah?” I wanted to see her again to make sure she was completely healed, and I was also curious to know if my fate had changed.

I placed my hand over his roaming fingers that were becoming increasingly distracting. Dominic found wicked entertainment in how my body responded to his slightest touch. Light brushes of his finger over the curves of my body caused heat to thrum through me, bringing a devilish smirk to Dominic’s lips and his eyes dropping to my nipples as they hardened to peaks.

“Nailah?” I probed.

“I’ve not seen her since my father took her to the guest house earlier. He assures me that she’s well.” A worried expression vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

“You don’t believe him?”

“I believe she is well. But I know there’s a reason he’s putting so much effort in keeping me from her,” he admitted.

There was definitely something Lord Areleus didn’t want revealed.

Despite the marked successes of the previous day, Dominic was uneasy as he watched me dress for dinner with my family. His stoic mask kept falling away to reveal his concern. He didn’t want me to go, and the effort not to express it or further debate it was apparent.

Once I was ready, he moved behind me, his arms circling me. He leaned down and whispered in my ear, “Are you ready?” The real question lingered over those words: “Are you sure?”

There were so many uncertainties, but seeing my family and making sure they weren’t vessels wasn’t any of them.

I nodded. Moments later he’d transported me to the apartment in the city that he shared with his sister. Releasing me, I turned to face him. He handed me a small ragged-shape pearl-color object.

“An Affinity,” he informed me as I examined it. After he invoked a spell and blood linked it to me, it hummed with a small vibration. “Similar magic will be pulled to it. Just place it on your parents and brother, and there will be a tug. Like magic drawn to like magic. It will feel like a magnet. Effort will be needed to pull away.”

Although I was impressed by it, Dominic wasn’t. For him, it was one of the things in their world that was obsolete.

“It must come in direct contact with them,” he reminded me as I got into the Range Rover he’d loaned me. Zareb, Dominic’s favorite hellhound, jumped into the back seat, and once I drove away, he shimmered and disappeared, the warmth of his body making his continuing presence known.

“It’s probably better if you stay outside, because there’s no way for me to let you in without it looking suspicious,” I told the hellhound as I turned onto my parents’ street.

He allowed himself to be visible, intelligent eyes looking at me. Drawing back his teeth was a reminder I was traveling with a hound of the underworld. He snorted, a chastisement for changing Dominic’s instructions.

“He said for you to stay with me. If you’re outside the door, you’re still with me. I can’t leave without you and it’s not like you can’t track me down if I do.”

Head tilted to the side, the dog gave me a considering look and another snort before cloaking himself again. I assumed it was his concession.

Seeing me pull into the driveway, my mom rushed out of the house and stood on the porch waving at me. Her presence was going to make it difficult to let Zareb out without it looking weird. Parking the SUV next to my brother’s, I hopped out in an overenthusiastic show of wanting to get to her for a hug, leaving the driver’s side door open. The display of emotion didn’t require a great deal of acting. I was happy to see her. I sank deeper into the hug. Slowly pulling away, I kept enough contact to rub the Affinity over the only place she had bare skin—her hand. My mother was rarely seen without a sweater.

“This is pretty,” she said, picking it up from the ground. Swiping the object over her skin hadn’t been done as gracefully and covertly as intended.

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