Page 12 of Incipient

“You wanted to pick up some burgers before and I—”

“Stop. You didn’t do anything. I just forgot to eat, that’s all. It’s been a long day.” Something moved in my peripheral as though a shadow had just rushed past my bedroom door. My heart kicked into high gear as my head whipped toward the hallway, but by the time I looked, there was nothing there. “Did you see that?” I asked, my anxiety rising unnaturally.

He followed my gaze. “See what?”

“I don’t know. I thought I saw a shadow or something.”

“Ashadow?” Trace stalked to the door and then peered his head into the hallway, looking both ways. “I don’t see anything. Looks clear to me.”

My racing heart settled down as confirmation came that we were still alone and not being stalked by Evil-Dominic.

“We should probably go. I really should get some food in me.” Because apparently, I was seeing things now.

Trace nodded before marching back over to me and then picking up my duffle bag from the floor. I followed him downstairs, paying close attention to any other shadows or misplaced noises. Even though I was fairly certain my eyes were just throwing spots around from lack of food, it wouldn’t hurt to be extra cautious.

“Keys?” asked Trace as he opened the front door.

“I need to use the bathroom,” I said and then handed him the keys to the house and car.

“Alright. Just wait for me,” he instructed, his eyebrows still knitted with concern.

This time, I didn’t argue with him since I was a quite a bit more on edge than when we’d first arrived here.

Leaning against the front door, I watched as he opened the truck and tossed my duffle bag inside and then made his way back up the front steps. “After you,” he said and then followed me to the washroom down the hall.

“I’ll just be a minute,” I said and then closed the door behind myself before flicking on the bathroom light.

The minute the lights came on, a hand came down over my mouth as another hand gripped my waist and lifted me off the ground and away from the door. Panic fired through my body as my attacker set me down in front of the sink and allowed me a glimpse of his face through the mirror.

It was Dominic Huntington, and he was smiling like a madman.

6. POISON AND WINE

With his icy fingers still pressed firmly against my mouth, Dominic turned on the faucet and then brought his index finger up to his own mouth in a shushing gesture. My heart pounded wildly against my chest as I watched him through the mirror. I had only seen him once since that fateful night outside of All Saints when he shattered my entire world, and while I was terrified of what he was doing here, what he had planned for me tonight, a part of me—the sick, bonded part of me—was also contented to see him again. To feel his body close to mine, no matter how cruel and unforgiving his hold on me was.

I’ve missed you, angel, he said to my mind, his free hand back around the front of my stomach.Have you missed me?

Words could not describe how very much I had longed to hear those words from him again, but I knew they were not birthed from any real sentiment. I could see it in the callous way his mouth was hiked up at the corner and the way his vacant eyes mocked me through the mirror.

He was playing a game with me and I had no idea what the rules were.

My instincts were to tell him no. To tell him I hated him. Hated what he had become. To break out of his hold and turn the tables on him, something I knew I could easily do. But Gabriel’s words replayed in my head like a solemn whispered prayer, stopping me from doing anything brash.

I had to stay cool, calm and collected and play this thing smart if I had any hope of ever getting the real Dominic back. Even as he traced cold circles against my abdomen with his finger. Even as he pushed his palm against my mouth far harder than he needed to. Even as my grief enveloped me like a second skin.

Despite all of that and against every instinct in my aching body, I nodded my head.

Because I had missed him.

And because I was going to break the son of a bitch if it was the last thing I ever did.

Dominic stilled, his gaze fixed on me through the mirror, as though trying to decipher some riddle written in the hollows of my eyes. Neither one of us moved an inch as a whistling noise made its way into the room with us, the curtains from the open bathroom window whipping tirelessly against the wall.

The chilled air felt nice against my skin, sobering me as I stood there in the bathroom with the only man on earth I feared now. A dangerous truth I would never let him know.

As if sensing my game, he upped the stakes on me.What did you miss, angel? Hm? Was it this?he asked through my mind and then moved his hand from my stomach to the band of my pants, playing with the hem briefly before slipping his hand inside.

My eyes rolled back as he touched me the way only he knew how.

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