Incipient A Dark Paranormal Romance - Bianca Scardoni Page 0,42
cuddling Ben instead,” he offered, having heard my thoughts.
I laughed at that, but the smile quickly faded away as I realized it was open season on everything going through my mind just then. “Can I ask you for a favor?” I said timidly, looking up at him under my lashes.
“Anything.”
“Could you try not to listen in…while I’m like this?”
It felt like an invasion of privacy because I didn’t have enough strength to put up my walls when I needed to. Plus, after what he said this morning, I obviously wasn’t doing a very good job of keeping my thoughts under wraps during even the best of circumstances.
He nodded regretfully as he tightened his hold on me. “I’ll try my best.”
I knew he would, and I knew he wasn’t doing it on purpose. I just needed to make sure he’d make the extra effort, especially when I was caught in this kind of pants-down position. It was hard enough to keep Dominic’s compulsion out of my head without trying to filter my thoughts for Trace’s benefit.
“As soon as I get you out of here, I’m going to figure out a way to break this fucking hold he has on you, and then I’m going to break him,” he said, and while his voice was soft and tempered, there was nothing gentle about the look in his eyes. He meant the threat right down to his soul.
“It doesn’t work that way, Trace,” I answered, trying not to sound so hopeless and dejected, but failing miserably at it. “We’re bloodbonded.”
“Yeah, well, nothing is unbreakable. Not even a bloodsucker,” he said firmly, his eyes filled with conviction. “You just have to find the right weapon.”
“It’s a lot more complicated than that,” I said, but failed to finish the thought.
My mind drifted back to the last time Trace had said something similar to me. All those months ago, after Taylor’s accident. When we were still together and happy. The way he’d spoken then, it was as though he’d figured out a way to break the bond. Unfortunately, whatever his plan had been, it had long-since disappeared by the wayside right along with all of his other memories.
But all of that was beside the point. Because Dominic didn’t matter to me back then the way he did now. “I don’t want to break him,” I admitted quietly, unable to meet his eyes. “Not the way you want to break him.”
His knowing gaze bore into me. “Because you still have feelings for him.”
A terse nod was all I could muster in response.
“We could always wait for you to fall out of love with him,” he suggested dryly, a sinister gleam in his otherwise magnificent blue eyes. “Then we could put the stake in his heart together.”
“Very funny,” I said, even though I knew he probably wasn’t kidding about that. “If it were that simple, I wouldn’t be in this position in the first place.”
“Yeah, I guess so,” he said, his gaze dropping away from mine briefly as he reexamined the chains. “It might have to come to that if we don’t figure out a way to get him out of your head tonight, though.”
I frowned at that, mostly because he was right. We couldn’t stay like this all night.
“Not that I mind this,” he went on, his eyes meeting mine again, a hint of flirtation in them now. “But one of us is going to need to use the bathroom sooner or later.”
I laughed again and then beamed up at him, feeling grateful that he was here to take my mind off the horrible predicament I was in. “Thank you for coming,” I said, my heart pattering in my chest as I met those soulful, ever-haunted eyes of his. “I don’t think I would’ve survived the hour if it wasn’t for you.”
“I’ll always come for you, Jemma,” he said, the admission a quiet whisper between the two of us. “Always.”
My heart reacted to his words, as though it wanted to reach out and trap the promise within its walls. He was saying that now, but would he always feel that way? Would he still mean it once he found out the truth about what happened?
“Maybe one day you’ll even trust me enough to call me first,” he mused.
My stomach sank at his words, at the hurt that was seeping into his expression. “I didn’t not call you because I don’t trust you, Trace. It was never about trust.” I pressed my lips together and looked away because