Page 78 of Illusory

Trace nodded back at him, but the feral look in his eyes and the way he was panting wildly still hadn’t let up.

“Good.” Dominic turned to look at me and paused thoughtfully. “And you, angel,” he said as he picked up my hand and gently drew me closer, “need tocalm down.”

“I am calm,” I lied through my clanking teeth.

“Your surging adrenaline and racing heart are triggering his predatory instincts.”

“His pre…” My eyes widened as my heart rate shot up even higher.Shit.Fucking shit.

“You need to relax, angel,” he said quietly, moving his body in front of mine and blocking out my view of Trace entirely. His hand came up against my cheek, grazing softly as he moved a lock of hair from my eyes and tucked it behind my ears, making me shiver again. “You know he won’t hurt you, don’t you? He’s your soulmate. And I’m right here with you. I would never let anything bad happen to you and I’m not going anywhere.”

The gentle timbre of his voice mixed with the way he was lovingly caressing me helped soothe my panicked heart. I was still nervous, obviously, but the pounding sound of my blood rushing through my ears had slowed enough for me to catchmy breath.

“Are you ready to try again?” he asked softly. I wasn’t sure if he was talking to me or Trace, but I nodded just the same.

Peering around his shoulder, I met Trace’s eyes. He was still seated in the chair but appeared to be calmer and far less distressed than he had been a couple of minutes ago.

Progress. Everything was progress.

“I’m ready if you are,” I told him, hoping he didn’t catch the way my voice cracked at the end.

Nodding, he stood up from the chair and straightened to his full height but didn’t come any closer after that. He was still working hard to leash his beast. I needed to take the reins here.

Squaring my shoulders, I pushed my chest out a little and then walked around Dominic, catching the knowing glint in his eye as I met Trace where he stood.

Gathering my hair with my hand, I swept it over to one side and cleared the path for him. Trace’s eyes immediately blackened to flint as he focused on my neck. Probably on the steady pulse banging against my throat. He looked positively mesmerized by it.

Dominic moved up behind me, one arm slinking around my waist as his hand came to rest on my bare abdomen. My stomach tightened as he pressed his body against my back and then gripped my chin with his other hand, tilting my face to the side.

Trace shuffled forward, his feet moving until the front of his boots came to rest just outside my own feet. I was perfectly sandwiched between two vampires—vampires that I also happened to be in love with—and despite the impossible situation I was in, I’d never felt more at home in all my life.

“Touch her,” instructed Dominic, his voice low and velvety.

Trace’s hand came up and cupped the side of my face, his thumb grazing against my cheek as a sigh escaped my lips, my eyes slipping shut from the first loving contact I’d had from him in weeks.

When my eyes reopened, Trace was still looking down at me, the full blue of his irises dazzling me as they had done so many times before and making my heart come alive in my chest again. His fangs descended and I shivered, immediately feeling that familiar trill of excitement.

The corner of his lip tilted up, as if he could feel the emotion, and then he lowered his mouth to my neck, grazing his lips against the delicate skin as Dominic traced soothing circles against my stomach.

“There you go. Nice and easy,” purred Dominic.

Goosebumps sprang up all over my body and he hadn’t even started yet. Suddenly, it all felt like too much. Like maybe my pattering heart wouldn’t be able to take being this close to both of them at the same time, and definitely not when they were doing…whatever the fuck they were doing to me.

My lips parted on a moan that softly rumbled in my throat as Trace kissed the skin below my ear. My legs were already shaking, feeling more and more unsolid beneath me.

“Wait,” I rasped, the word so weak and boneless that it was ignored by everyone, including myself.

“Shh,” whispered Dominic, his breath flitting into my hair as though he had buried his face there. But I knew that he was watching, his careful eyes calculating every possible move. Unlike me, Dominic was in perfect control of himself and the situation, just as he always was.

Trace’s teeth broke through my skin then, coaxing a surprised gasp out of me as my hands shot out against his chest. I’d meant to brace myself but instead found myselfcurling my fingers into the fabric of his shirt and then using my ironclad hold to pull him in closer—just in case he had any funny ideas of stopping. Within seconds, the tantalizing venom of his bite was rippling through my veins, brushing over every part of my body as it mended and filled in the broken parts with drops of rapture that I could practically taste on my tongue.

I hissed out a curse and Trace responded with a rumbly growl against my throat that made my thighs squeeze together and my head tip back onto Dominic’s shoulder.

This was…it wastoo much. Completely fucking perfect, but too much.

“That’s a good girl,” purred Dominic against my ear, causing my legs to go weak.

Had they not been holding me so tightly and perfectly, like their own survival depended on it, I would have already been tomato soup all over the goddamn floor.

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