Page 57 of Incipient

He regarded me for a moment and then nodded. “Call me if you need anything.”

“I will,” I said and then reached up for a quick hug.

He closed his arms around me and then craned his head to my ear. “Be careful, okay?” His breath was warm against my skin and made my skin prickle.

“You’ve got to stop worrying about me. You’re going to give yourself gray hair,” I teased and then pulled back to meet his eyes.

“The fuck if I know how to do that,” he said and stole a quick kiss from my lips.

Flutters tickled my stomach as I licked his kiss from my lips and stepped back from him. “I’ll see you later,” I said and turned toward the iron gate.

Trace stayed behind, watching me for a moment before disappearing behind Ben’s house to port back to his own car.

As much as I liked having Trace around, there were conversations I needed to have that he could not be privy to. My first stop was going to be Gabriel’s since I had not spoken to him since last night after the bloodsharing fiasco. He was my Handler and one of my best-friends and I needed to make sure he was okay.

We also needed to figure out a plan to immobilize Dominic until things calmed down enough for me to work on breaking his emotions out. Between the Horsemen and the Spawn of Satan, I had enough on my plate without having to look over my shoulder at every turn. Dominic was becoming a liability and that was the last thing I needed right now.

Once that was handled, I planned on paying the Senior Magister a visit and finding out what he knew. If this meeting was anything more than a general announcement—a casual be-on-alert warning—then I needed to know that, though I had the nagging suspicion it was going to be easier said than done.

Whatever it was that was going on, I was certain it wasn’t going to be anything good.

24. DANCING WITH A STRANGER

I reached Gabriel’s apartment on the outskirts of town in record time, though the small accomplishment did nothing to ease the jitters that wracked my body as I traversed the seedy corridor to Gabriel’s unit. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting to find on the other side of the door, though judging from my mounting nerves, it wasn’t anything good.

A light flickered above head as I raised my fist and knocked on the door. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why Gabriel chose to stay in such a dingy apartment on the worst side of town when he had access to the same kind of money Dominic had. Sometimes I wondered if his living situation wasn’t just another way for Gabriel to punish himself.

I brought my fist to the door and knocked again, harder this time. “Gabriel, it’s Jemma. Open up.”

Glancing over my shoulder, I hugged my arms for warmth and waited impatiently for him to answer. I mean, I knew he was in there. It wasn’t as if he had gone out for a quaint morning stroll in the sunlight, so, what the heck was he doing?

“Gabriel!” My nerves kicked up another notch. Something didn’t feel right. “I’m busting down the door in 5, 4, 3—”

The door swung open to a very pissed off looking Gabriel. His eyebrows were puckered into a frown and his hair was disheveled as though he’d just had a vicious battle with a pigeon and lost the fight.

“This isn’t a good time, Jemma,” he said, holding the door open with one hand and hugging himself with the other arm. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think he was sick with the flu. But vampires didn’t get the flu.

“You look terrible.”

“I am aware,” he said without making eye contact.

“What’s going on? Are you sick or something?” I tried to pass through the threshold though his body remained like solid concrete, dutifully blocking my entrance.

With one foot inside the door, I looked up at him and grimaced. What the heck was his problem? Inspecting him further, I noticed his nostrils were flaring and he was looking down and away from my direction, like I was giving off some kind of foul smell. Which I totally wasn’t.

“Gabriel? What is it?” I tried to pick up his chin to make him look at me, but he shoved my hand away.

“Please. Go. Now,” he gritted out, still not looking at me. “Everything is fine. I will call you later.” He took a step back and tried to swing the door shut, though I swiftly kicked my foot out and stopped him.

“Either you let me in and tell me what’s going on or…” I shook my head. “There is noor. I’m coming inside,” I snapped, grunting loudly as I shoved and squeezed my way past his rude ass.

Once inside, I shot a quick gaze around the room to make sure it was all clear and then turned to face him. He was still standing by the open apartment door, facing the corridor with his back muscles rigid and his head dropped low.

“Gabriel, will you please shut the door and tell me what’s going on? You’re freaking me out,” I said, feeling the air thicken with unease as I continued to take in his odd behavior. “Is this about last night? Are you—”

He slammed the door shut and then moved his hand to the deadbolt. His fingers hovered over it as if debating whether to lock it or not. After a brief pause, he dropped his hand to his side. “This is not a good time, Jemma.”

“Yeah, you already said that,” I pointed out impatiently. “Will you please look at me?” I asked and then reached my hand out to touch his shoulder.

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