Page 141 of Incoronate
Dominic appeared in front of me, holding out a glass of something dark and expensive looking. His eyes moved over my features as I sat up to take the glass from him.
“Thank you,” I said as he moved to take the chair across from me.
Trace peeled himself away from the window and came to sit next to me on the couch, close enough that his thigh pressed flush against mine.
He never left a gap between us if he could help it. Always just folding himself into whatever space I occupied as though it were the most natural thing in the world. As though he needed the contact the same way he needed air. It made my heart trip all over itself.
I watched him for a moment, taking in the set of his jaw, the way his eyes had gone somewhere distant and private. I thought about what Anita had said. About the Temporal Binding being permanent. About what it would cost himspecifically. A Reaper for whom moving through time wasn’t just a skill but something threaded into the very fabric of what he was.
“Are you having second thoughts?” I asked, my voice low. “About doing this?” He turned to look at me and I held his gaze. “I wouldn’t blame you if you were. I’d never ask you to give up anything, let alone that.”
A storm of emotion swirled through his eyes, making my chest go tight. Because it wasn’t doubt that I found in them. It wasn’t even sadness or grief. It was something clearer and more certain than either of those things could ever hope to be.
“There isn’t anything in this world I wouldn’t give up for you,” he said, and I knew he meant every word of it.
“I hate that you have to give up anything at all.” I shook my head, struggling to hold his gaze. “I would never ask you to—”
“You’re not asking me,” he said, cutting me off with a calm that told me there was no changing his mind on this. “This is my choice.” He paused, something deeper moving through his face. “I don’t need to change the past or chase the future. Everything I have is right here.” His eyes held mine just long enough for me to understand exactly what he meant, and then he leaned in and pressed his lips to my forehead in a kiss that made my eyes slip shut.
I wasn’t sure what I had done to deserve that kind of love and devotion, but I prayed I’d never have to know what it felt like to live without it. In that moment, I made myself a promise. That whatever it took, whatever it cost me, I would match it. That if we made it through to the other side of this, I was going to spend the rest of my life making sure his sacrifices were worth it. His and Dominic’s both. Every single one of them.
Bringing my glass to my lips, I tipped my head back and downed the shot as Trace reached over to the end table and picked up the room service menu.
I glanced over at it and then up at him, my eyebrows raised.
“Are you craving a burger or something? Because I don’t think you’re going to find any O-negative in there,” I pointed out, fighting back a smile as though I were the funniest person in the room.
“There’s only one thing I still like eating, and it’s not on this menu,” he said, his gaze flicking over me once before he turned the menu toward me. “What do you want?”
Heat rushed straight to my face before I could stop it. I cleared my throat, forcing my expression back under control and reaching for the menu just to have something to do with my hands.
I pretended to scan it for a few seconds and then said, “I’m not hungry.” I tried to push the menu back toward him, but he kept it exactly where it was.
“Jemma.”
“What?” I asked innocently.
“Pick something.”
“I literally can’t. My stomach’s still in knots,” I said.
“Those aren’t knots you’re feeling, angel. It’s called starvation,” said Dominic from across the room, swirling his glass in hand. “You haven’t eaten a real meal in at least two days. You need to put something in your stomach.”
“Why? I’ve been running on fumes just fine,” I said and leaned back into the cushions again. “No different than you two.”
Dominic’s gaze slid back up to mine, unhurried.
“Except I have every intention of changing that tonight,” he said, something low threading through his voice. “Once you’re properly replenished.”
It was perfectly clear what he meant. What they both meant.
And apparently my brain had no interest in letting that go quietly this time, because the images arrived before I could do a single thing to stop them. Both of them feeding on me. Every version of feasting, in every sense of the word, moving through my mind in vivid, unhelpful detail that had absolutely no business existing while I was sitting here trying to have a civilized conversation.
Trace’s head snapped toward me.
Not toward Dominic. Toward me. Like I’d made a sound, except I hadn’t made a sound.
I looked away, noticing his leg was still pressed against mine on the couch. Shit.
