Page 4 of Incipient

“Thanks for the ride.” I looked up at him and forced a smile.

His blue eyes glimmered with a mixture of apprehension and sadness and for the faintest of seconds, it pained my heart to look at them. “Call me as soon as you leave Temple. I’m serious, Jemma.”

It took every ounce of restraint I had to not reach up and touch his face. To kiss away all that hurt and worry he had running rampant through his eyes. “I will. Stop worrying about me, you’re going to give yourself gray hair.”

Trace cracked a smile as the humming in my body intensified, making me sway a little from the sudden rush. The vibration between us had always been palpable and ever present, but lately, it seemed to be getting stronger. Harder to ignore. It was very confusing to say the least.

He squeezed my hand once more and then let go of it before stepping away from me. With a quick wink, he silently dissipated back into nothingness and I instantly felt the loss.

I pulled in a deep breath as though needing to adjust to breathing again without him. Turning back to War, I remarked his bare chest and medieval looking armor and made a face. “Wait here while I get my car.”

“I already told you. I’m going wherever you’re going.”

“Not like that you aren’t,” I said, pointing my finger at his ridiculous outfit. “In case you haven’t already noticed, people don’t dress like that around here.” Or aroundanywherefor that matter.

He looked down at himself briefly and then before I could even squeeze out another blink, his skin rippled and shimmered as an entirely different outfit than the one he’d showed up in materialized on his body. One that looked remarkably similar to what Trace had been wearing: a pair of jeans and a fitted black T-shirt, though his looked as though it were about to rip wide open over his muscles if he so much as flexed the wrong way.

I crossed my arms and smirked at him. “Well, aren’t you just full of magic tricks.”

“That wasn’t a magic trick, it’s called a glamor—”

“I was kidding. You know, like a joke.”

“Ajoke.” He paused to think on it. “A display of humor. Something said or done to provoke laughter or amusement.”

I looked at him as though he had suddenly produced a third leg. “Right.”

Pleased with himself, he nodded curtly. “It has been noted.”

“O-kay then. Awesome.” Shaking my head, I turned toward Temple and started walking. “This way.”

Upon exiting the woods, I headed straight for my car, unlocking it and then gesturing for War to get in on the passenger side. He slowed his stride to a full stop.

“I thought we were going to speak with your Council?” he asked, confused since we were standing in the parking lot right next to the building, yet not going inside.

“We will. But I need to pay Nikki a visit first.”

“Thehost?”He looked disturbed by the thought of it. “What for?”

“I told you, I need to see this for myself. Or did you expect me to just take your word on the whole thing?” Been there, done that. Never worked out well for me in the past.

He appeared to be mulling it over as his eyes drifted from my car, to me, and then back again. “Well, yes, that is what I assumed,” he admitted earnestly.

“Bless your heart,” I said and then swung open the passenger’s side door for him. “You have a lot to learn about the human race. Get in.”

Less than fifteen minutes later, I pulled into Nikki’s gated community and made my way down her street before parking in front of her massive glass-endowed house. I remembered it well from the party I attended last Spring but hadn’t been back since then, because you know, we hated each other. War didn’t really seem to notice or care about the size of the houses in this area and seemed more preoccupied with trying to get his seatbelt off. And that was after I’d spent nearly half the drive explaining the mechanics of the “machine” we were moving in. AKA my car. Apparently, he’d never ridden in one before nor had he ever had to use something as complex and mind-bending as a seatbelt.

Deciding to take pity on the poor ancient thing, I bit back a smile and cut the sucker loose. Honestly, how the hell was he going to stop the world from ending if he couldn’t even figure out how to take a seatbelt off?

“I heard that,” he gritted out as he hurled his massive body out of the front seat of my machine—car. I had to roll the seat all the way back just to get his legs to fit inside the vehicle. “I may not know very much of your modern world, but that does not mean I am not able to carry out the very task I was created for.”

“So, are you going to be listening in on my thoughts the whole time we’re together?” I asked offhandedly as I strolled up Nikki’s walkway. “Because if so, I can make it really unpleasant for you.”

“I don’t doubt that.”

“Not to mention, it’s really rude to eavesdrop,” I added as I rang the doorbell and took a step back.

“I’m noteavesdropping. It’s how I am built,” he quickly retorted, the crossness prevalent in his voice now.

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