Incipient A Dark Paranormal Romance - Bianca Scardoni Page 0,43
I really couldn’t explain it more than that.
He ducked down to catch my gaze again. “Do you, though? Trust me?”
“With my life,” I answered automatically, not even bothering to think about it.
He stared back at me, long enough for me to grow self-conscious under his thoughtful gaze, and then he nodded, satisfied with my answer. “How’s your head feeling?” he asked as he brought his hand back up to my face, stroking my cheek gently.
“It hurts, but it’s bearable now.” I smiled at him as the charge between us vibrated from under his palm.
There was no doubt it was better with Trace here. Without him, I was certain I wouldn’t have lasted another twenty minutes, let alone the rest of the night. As awesome as that was, we still weren’t any closer to getting me out of this compromising situation than when we’d started, and we couldn’t exactly stand here in Ben’s cellar for the rest of our lives.
Something needed to give.
“What if it doesn’t stop soon? What if there’s no way to stop it on its own?” I asked, fear gripping my insides and twisted them like a knife. “What if the only way to stop it is to…obey?”
His jaw clenched and unclenched as he thought about it. “Do you think you can handle it if I take my hand away?”
“Why?” I croaked out, not wanting to test it out.
“It’ll just be a minute, I promise,” he said as he slowly withdrew his hand from my face, watching for any signs of distress, before he lowered it into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone.
I watched nervously as he opened his contacts list and sifted through the names, wondering what he was up to.
“We’re going to need some reinforcements,” he said pointedly and then met my eyes. “I’m calling Gabriel.”
16. THE A TEAM
After a brief phone call with Gabriel and a slightly longer and more detailed conversation with Ben, Gabriel arrived at Ben’s house twenty minutes later, invitation and all, and then joined us downstairs in the cellar. Frankly, between all the eye-candy standing around me and the plethora of chains and cuffs, it was starting to look like a kinky scene from some BDSM book. Sadly, I was in no condition to appreciate the irony of it.
Gabriel came to a screeching halt as his heavy gaze landed on mine. “Dammit, Jemma.”
“This is not my fault. What else was I supposed to do?” I defended against his unspoken accusation. He of all people should’ve understood how impossible it was to withstand the power of compulsion.
“You do realize you can’t just wait this thing out, right? The compulsion will not just disappear because some time has gone by,” he lectured, clearly not impressed with my handling of the situation.
Also, that was exactly what I didn’t want to hear. Leave it to Gabriel, the bringer of all bad news, to hit me with the bad news right when I needed it the least.
“What the hell am I supposed to do then?” I cried out, trying hard to keep the anguish from my voice. “I can’t just walk into the lion’s pit and hand my throat over to him, if you get what I’m saying.”
“Clearly.” He crossed his arms over his chest and thought about it, the apprehension pinching his brows together. “We need to vanquish him.”
“Agreed,” said Trace, his shoulder pressed against the concrete walls and his arms still wrapped snugly around my waist, keeping the agony at bay.
“No!” I snapped, shaking my head as a rush of panic hit me. “That’s not an option, Gabriel, and you know it. Come up with something else,” I demanded through gritted teeth.
Pinching the bridge of his nose, he muttered something under his breath and then looked up to meet my eyes again. “There is something else that may work, but it’s unproven and I’m reluctant to even attempt it.”
“What is it?” asked Trace, his hold on me tenser since I screamed out my refusal to vanquish Dominic.
Gabriel ran a hand down his face, as though he were regretting even mentioning it. “It’s been said that you could theoretically weaken a bloodbond by…” He glanced at Trace nervously before continuing. “Establishing a new one.”
“You have to be shitting me,” snapped Trace.
My eyes bounced from him to Gabriel as I slowly caught up. “You’re not saying what I think you’re saying, are you?”
“I’m not recommending it,” defended Gabriel, looking wholly uncomfortable with the conversation. “I’m saying there’s a small possibility that doing so might