Page 60 of Incipient

When I made it to the front entrance, I peered at him standing directly across from me on the opposite wall. My heart sank for him—for the tortured expression I knew he would wear from this day forward, but I couldn’t do anything for him. Not now. Not until I got myself out of the lion’s den.

Just a few more steps until I was at his door, and then I would run like the wind.

“Jemma?”

I froze mid-step. With my back pressed firmly against the wall, I forced myself to meet his eyes.

“Will you ever be able to forgive me for this?” His voice was so small and broken, it made my throat thicken with sorrow.

“I already forgive you, Gabriel,” I said, and it was the truth. This whole thing was my fault. I knew that. I’d done this to him, and I brought myself here. The only thing that mattered to me now was making it out his front door with my head firmly attached. “I’m going to fix this, okay? I just need to go to school right now. Okay?”

“Okay,” he answered softly and then bowed his head.

The minute his eyes were off me, I took three giant steps and nearly ripped the front door off its hinges. With my heart in my throat, I ran down the corridor as fast as I could, never bothering once to look back until I was outside of his apartment complex and in the safety of my car.

And then I sobbed until my eyes burned from the tears.

I pulled into the parking lot of Weston Academy thirty minutes later, making it just in time for lunch break. While I’d only meant to pay Gabriel a quick visit, I’d wound up spending the better part of the morning unconscious at his place. As soon as I’d been able to stop crying and got myself together enough to drive, I headed straight for the Blackburn Estate to pick up another clean school uniform since the one I had been wearing was fit for nothing more than the trash.

While I’d meant to stop by Temple to speak with the Senior Magister after visiting Gabriel, I was in no condition to talk shop with the head of the Council. Normally, when I lost that amount of blood, Dominic was quick to replenish me with his own blood. And judging by how horrible I felt right then, Gabriel had regrettably missed that step.

It was just as well. The more bloodsharing we did, the more chances of developing a bloodbond and that was the absolute last thing I needed. One Huntington bloodbond was about all that I could handle at the moment.

My phone vibrated in my hand as I crossed the student parking lot. Turning the screen over, I quickly read Trace’s message and grimaced:

Alright, now I’m worried. Why aren’t you answering?

I’d meant to text him back after his fourth message, but I’d forgotten all about that as well. I pulled up the dialogue box and quickly typed:

About to walk into school. Meet you in the cafeteria.

I hit send and then slipped my phone into my jacket.

Once inside, I made a quick stop at my locker to drop off my schoolbag and then hurried down to the cafeteria. Trace was waiting by the entrance door for me, his eyebrows pulled together as he leaned his back against the wall. Relief relaxed his expression as soon as he spotted me—safe and in one piece.

“I’m so sorry,” I huffed out as I approached him. “I got a little tied up and lost track of time,” I added and then tried to continue forward toward the cafeteria entrance. I wanted to keep things fluid and moving and avoid having to lie straight to his face again.

He gripped my elbow and hauled me back to where he was still standing. “What is that?” he asked, his jaw muscle hardening as his eyes zeroed in on my bandaged neck.

I’d purposely left my hair down in the hopes that it would help cover the brand-new bandage on my neck, but apparently, I’d underestimated Trace’s ability to notice every goddamn thing about me.

“It’s nothing.” I waved it off as I searched my mind for a plausible excuse. “Myinjurywas acting up, so I put a new bandage on it,” I said, emphasizing the word injury since we both knew I was referring to the huge holes in my neck.

He stared at me for a moment, long enough that I started fidgeting. “You’re lying to me,” he said flatly.

“What?” I scoffed at his very accurate assertion. “And you’re basing this on what exactly?” I shot back, sounding and feeling pretty defensive considering Iwaslying to him.

He pushed off the wall and crowded my personal space, speaking directly by my ear so that no one but the two of us could hear. “I’m basing this on the fact that yourinjury,” he said, stressing the word in the same manner as I had done, “was on the other side of your neck.”

Well, shit.

Caught off guard by his perceptiveness, I did absolutely nothing but stand there like a total mute.

He pulled back just enough to see my face when he asked, “Did you go seehim?”

“Who?”

“You know who.” His jaw muscle ticked aggressively. “Dominic.”

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