Iniquitous (The Marked #3)(54)

“But you said the bond is permanent…that I sealed it.”

“Yeah, but so is Lucifer’s tomb,” he reminded, his eyes flaring with nefarious ideas. “If that can be busted open than so can this. We just gotta find something or someone powerful enough to break it.”

“Like the Sisters of Roderick.”

“Exactly.”

“And what if that doesn’t work?”

“Then I dust him and the bond dies with him.” He already had this all worked out in his mind from the moment I told him about the bond.

Panic shot up through my body. “You can’t do that!”

“Why not?”

“Because, Trace! You can’t kill Dominic. I can’t…let you do that,” I warned him, but he didn’t falter.

“It’s just the bloodbond messing with you head. You’ll get over it,” he said, stroking my cheek again.

“No I won’t!” I knocked his hand away as anger trilled through my veins. “It’s not just the bloodbond. It’s not! Stop saying that! He’s…he’s my friend, Trace. He saved my life. I won’t let you kill him.”

“Jemma—”

“No!” I quickly cut him off not wanting to hear any more of his reasoning. “Besides, how do you know that killing him won’t kill me? We’re bonded, remember? What if the link goes both ways? What if it goes beyond death?”

“You have the Amulet, Jemma. You can’t die.”

“And what if I do? What if the bond’s magic outweighs the Amulet’s magic? Are you’re willing to risk that? Are you willing to risk me?” I shot back, furious at him.

He flexed his jaw muscles. His eyes hardened as though he hadn’t thought about it that way. After a short pause, he said, “Look, I’m not saying I’m going to do anything tonight. We’ll look for the sisters and we’ll try to find another way to do this.”

“And then? What if we don’t find another way?”

“I’m getting you back one way or another, Jemma. You do the math.”



The urge to go to Dominic—to run to him—had become overbearing by morning. My palms were sweaty and my breath was short. It was as though I were losing my ability to function properly without him, and Trace was right there to witness the whole thing, further cementing his need for a backup plan.

While I could see the worry on his face, he didn’t say anything about it, and I was grateful for it. I already felt bad enough without him vocalizing how bad I was knifing his insides, or worse, reminding me how much he wanted to kill Dominic for this. While that helped, it wasn’t nearly enough because by the time we finished breakfast (most of which I didn’t touch), things had taken a complete nose-dive. I was starting to get uncontrollably anxious, and twitchy, until it became clear to both of us that I was going to have to return to Dominic’s if I had any hope of keeping myself together long enough for us to find the sisters, and an antidote.

Frankly, I wasn’t interested in going full Fatal Attraction so I planned on staying as close to Dominic as he would allow me to get. And knowing Dominic, I’d get free reign.

Thick plumes of fog wafted over Huntington Manor as Trace and I pulled into the driveway. We hadn’t said much to each other on the way over here, and while I couldn’t even begin to imagine what was running through his head, I also didn’t spare it much of my attention. By that point, I was too busy counting down the minutes until I could see Dominic again and finally get some relief for this bloodbond from hell.

“Good morning, angel,” smiled Dominic as he swung open the front door.

My desperate need to be in his presence quickly eased, leaving way for logic and reason. And rage.

I openly glared at him. “You are so dead.”

“Is that any way to greet the man that saved your life? Multiple times.”

I pushed passed him and walked inside the house, Trace was right behind me. “How could you not tell me? I trusted you, Dominic!” I said, whipping around to face him.

Trace scoffed. He was standing just a few inches away and I could tell he was working hard to restrain himself. He’d promised me that he wasn’t going to make this any more difficult on me than it already was, and while he was keeping his hands to himself, I could tell they were itching to disfigure Dominic’s face.

“What choice did we have, angel?” Dominic crossed his arms and stared down at me. He knew exactly what I was fuming over. “You needed strength and you needed to heal quickly so I did what I had to do. It’s as simple as that.”

“You bonded me to you for life!” I spat, jabbing my finger into the center of his chest. “That wasn’t part of the deal.”

He stared down at my little finger pushing into his chest and fought back a smile. “I had to improvise.”

“Well, improvise this, pal. Not only are you going to help me track down those sisters to undo that damn spell they did, but when they’re done with that, you’re going to make them find a spell to break the bond.”

“There is no such spell.”

“You better hope there is, dead boy,” answered Trace as he took a menacing step towards Dominic. “Because if there isn’t, I’m doing this my way and my way ends with you in a pile of dust.”