“I’m coming in,” he said, knocking on her door. Opening it, he glanced into the empty room. Eilin was nowhere to be seen, and her queen bed was neatly made, as if no one had slept in it. With a frown he shut the door and searched the rest of the floor. Not only was she not in her room, she wasn’t anywhere.
The doorbell rang before real worry could set in. Eilin had given her word she wouldn’t leave the house, and he still had the basement to check.
“Coming,” he called as he jogged down the steps. Wherever his sister was hiding he’d find her and force her into a decent conversation with him. They needed to plan their next steps. His drive through Oklahoma had endeared him to the state, but he still needed her input before he uprooted their entire lives and picked a new spot.
Tarian yanked open the door and regretted it instantly.
“Hello, Tarian,” Dominic said.
“You are not welcome here.”
“I suspected as much.” He pushed past Tarian and into the hall. “Despite the fact it was my money that purchased this land for your mother.”
“She wanted nothing to do with you,” he said. “You know that.”
Dominic glanced back at him before prowling deeper into the house. “Yes. I know very well, Tarian.”
He shut the door as he debated his options. As much as he’d like to denounce the man, Dominic still shared his blood. He could call the vampires, but Lucian would just label him as guilty as his grandfather was.
“What do you want?” he asked, pacing after Dominic.
He found his grandfather standing in the family room, looking out at the sunny space with smiling pictures of Eilin and himself framing the walls.
“You tried to make a home here,” Dominic said, walking past the worn gray sofa and cluttered coffee table.
“It would have worked had you left well enough alone.”
“Ah yes. You’d have the house, the job…” He glanced back at Tarian. “The girl.”
“We’re moving,” Tarian said. “In a few days. You’re to thank for that.”
“Had you not ruined our plans, this could have been your permanent home.”
“Not even for this house was your plan reasonable.”
Dominic scoffed as he leaned forward to study the pictures. “You never let me know her,” he said, studying a smiling photo of Eilin.
“You had contact by phone.”
“But few visits. My own granddaughter.”
“It was all you needed to seduce her to your way of thinking. I shudder to think how brainwashed she’d be if I’d let you any closer.”
“Not brainwashed,” Dominic corrected. “She wanted to fight for our people. For our cause.”
Tarian shook his head in disgust “And that’s all you cared about. Creating another soldier for your war. There isn’t a paternal bone in your body.”
“It would have been nice to know I was leaving the community in good hands should anything happen to me.”
“I promise, should you disappear, it will be in far better hands.”
“Those of a pacifist?” Dominic asked, glancing at him. “You are my heir, Tarian, and you’ve never had the stomach for blood.”
“Not past the fifteenth century, no.”
“I tried to convince your mother not to coddle you. She was so distraught after her husband’s death.”
“Mate,” he hissed. “She lost her mate and still managed to survive him for centuries.”
“Makes you wonder how strong the bond was, doesn’t it?” Dominic asked, turning to face him. “She found a replacement for your father, something a truly mated woman should never have been capable of.”
His hands clenched into fists but he refused to get pulled into the argument. Whatever his parents’ relationship, it was all in the past.
“Whatever she was, she was clear about her desire to separate from you,” Tarian said.
For a second he could have sworn pain flashed across Dominic’s face. “Yes. She hid you for centuries. Always moving. Always avoiding the conflict. But then Eilin came into the picture.” Dominic clasped his hands behind his back. “Quite the little revolutionary you’ve raised, Tarian. Did you know she walked into my car without much prompting at all?”
Ice ran down his spine. “What?”
“I have Eilin,” Dominic said, moving away from the pictures. “And I can see so much of your mother in her. It would be a shame if anything were to happen.”
Tarian shook his head, resisting the urge to rend flesh before he fully understood the situation. “You took Eilin? Why?”
“Because you have direct access to the woman I really want.”
“Melissa.”
“Melissa,” Dominic agreed. “I’m quite happy to trade, of course. Once I have the vampire, you and Eilin can go wherever you wish. I promise not to contact you again. I can do that much in the memory of my poor daughter.”
“But protecting her children doesn’t count as honoring her memory?”
“Not if it conflicts with my plans,” Dominic said, his eyes hard. “We both have something the other wants. Honestly, Tarian, even with your peaceful views this should be an easy call. After all, it’s not like the vampire is your mate.” He laughed at the notion.
“You wouldn’t hurt your own flesh and blood,” Tarian said, ignoring the digs.
“Oh, I assure you, in order to help our people I would rip both you and Eilin to shreds, if I thought it was necessary.” He shrugged. “Luckily it is only a vampire I need.”
“I don’t have access to her anymore.”
“You’ll figure it out.” Dominic tossed him a burner phone. “You can contact me via that line. Call me as soon as you have the vampire to exchange, and I’ll meet you with Eilin. This doesn’t need to be any harder than you make it, Tarian.”
“Eilin trusted you,” he said. “She loved the idea of having a grandfather out there, even if he wasn’t with her.”
“She’s young,” Dominic said with no inflection. “She’ll learn not to be such a fool in the future.”
“I won’t ever forgive you for this. Neither will she.”
Dominic strode forward and clapped a hand on his shoulder. “I don’t need your forgiveness,” he said. “I need your lover.”
He walked past Tarian and down the hallway.
“Call me when you are ready to exchange,” he said. “And don’t keep me waiting. For Eilin’s sake.”
The door closed behind him on the way out.
Tarian stood in the empty family room and looked at the framed pictures of his sister. No matter what happened, he was not sacrificing her for family ambition.
Which meant he needed a vampire. One whom he’d walked away from.
He ran his fingers through his hair. Eilin had to come first. She was his sister. His family.
Melissa was just…
With a growl he slammed his fist into the wall. Plaster puffed into the air as larger chunks rained down on his shoes.
He’d done everything in his power to keep Melissa safe, but the game had changed now. The choices were different. He refused to leave Eilin in Dominic’s clutches.
Which left one option.
Cold resolve filled him as he straightened. No matter his feelings, Eilin had to come first. Melissa wasn’t his family. She wasn’t his mate.
Right now, she was simply a means to an end.
And he had no choice but to use her.
Chapter Fifteen
She flicked the lights on the moment she stepped through her apartment door and let out a long sigh. Her job seemed far more boring than she’d remembered it, tonight especially. Thankfully she’d managed to take a half-night and come home for some R and R.
Kicking off her Louboutins, she left them by the door without a second glance. The thought of a mug full of bagged blood didn’t put a skip in her step, but as least it would satisfy the rumbling in her stomach.
Heading down the hallway to her kitchen she passed by the living room
and froze.
Someone sat in the dark room, looking out her patio window at the city below.
Claws lengthened from her fingernails as she crept into the room. If this was a necromancer, she didn’t want to give them any warning of her attack.
“The thing about having vampire guards,” Tarian’s voice said, breaking through the darkness. “Is that they are very easy to manipulate, if you have the right touch.”
“Tarian,” she breathed.
He turned to face her.
“Hello, Melissa.”
Relief rushed through her. Her first instinct was to run across the room and throw herself into his arms. She made it halfway across the living room before the hard edge to his voice registered. Pausing, she raked her gaze over her lover. Gone were the casual jeans and plaid he’d had to wear during their road trip. In their place was an immaculate black suit. Power crackled in the air, twining around his rigid form. As much as she wanted to hold him, something wasn’t right.
“What’s happened?”
“Dominic’s in town.”
She stiffened. “Impossible.”
“Oh, I promise you, reason does not dissuade my grandfather.” He stepped around the armchair into the center of the room.
He looked wildly out of place in her staid, minimalist living room, standing between the glass coffee table and beige couch. As it was, she could barely believe she was seeing him again, even if the circumstances were less than ideal. If her heart could beat, it’d be racing out of her chest.
“What does he want?” she asked, trying to play this as cool as he was.
“You, of course. And this time he’s decided to up his game.”
“How?” Though her body burned for his touch, she still retreated a step when he prowled toward her. The look on his face reminded her of the night he’d walked into Dominic’s ranch house and interrupted their dinner. He’d been a stranger to her then. A man tied to a dangerous past.
“He’s recruited me.”
Melissa swallowed. “You would never help him.”
“Which he knows. So he took my sister.”
“Damned man only has one go-to move.”
He stopped in front of her, watching her with his icy gaze. “He’ll only exchange her for you. So tell me, Melissa, what would you do in my place?”
She hesitated, flexing her hands to shake out the tingle of her claws edging toward the surface. The man before her was a far sight from the lover she’d laughed with. Tarian was caught between a rock and a hard place and looking for an out. Turning her over would be the easy path.
But for all his bloodline, Tarian had an honorable streak a mile wide.
There were two choices. Option one was to react as she would if any other necromancer invaded her home. She was well within her rights to defend herself, as her instincts screamed at her to do.
Or she could choose a different path. See beyond his heritage to the man underneath and believe that the lover she’d pined for was still inside him.
She could choose to trust him, the way no vampire would ever trust one of his kind.
Swallowing hard, she took a step closer to him. “What would I do?” she asked, raising a hand to cradle his face. “I’d do exactly what you are doing.”
He stiffened at her touch but didn’t pull away. If anything, he seemed to lean into her hand. “Which is?”
“Turn to my lover for help.”
Silence stretched between them. Tarian was doing exactly as she had just done—weighing the options, factoring in his feelings. All that remained to be seen was whether he’d choose her the way she had him.
“Are you so sure I’m not going to hand you over to Dominic?” he asked.
A smile curved her lips. “Yes,” she replied. “I trust you.”
His hands shot out to grab her upper arms and he tugged her closer. “My life would be a hell of a lot simpler if I didn’t care about keeping you safe.”
“Preaching to the choir,” she replied.
A harsh curse left his lips before they crashed down on hers. Melissa didn’t mind the rough handling. She could feel the desperation in his touch, taste it on his tongue. Tarian’s back was up against the wall and this was the place he’d turned to. Even the direness of the situation couldn’t stop the joy spreading through her body.
Melissa twined her arms around him, marveling at how she’d missed him. Over and over she’d told herself they’d just been a fling, that he wasn’t her mate, but holding him now left little doubt about how important he was to her.
She couldn’t imagine ever being over this particular man.
His lips slanted over hers as his hands slipped under the edge of her blouse. She groaned when his hands flattened against her bare back. Skin to skin contact was exactly what she’d been craving.
Tarian’s mouth left hers to nuzzle the sensitive skin beneath her ear, and she tipped her head back to give him better access. Pleasure sizzled through every nerve ending, leaving her hot and aching. She wanted to jump into his arms and lock her legs around his waist. Wanted to fall into bed with him and block out the new disaster threatening to crash down on them.
But as much as her body cried out for fulfillment, she couldn’t forget the girl Tarian had come here to save.
“Tell me you have a plan,” she whispered, peppering his lips with kisses.
“A really bad one,” he replied. “Part of me was hoping I’d get here and feel nothing for you.”
“So much easier,” she agreed. “Damned hormones.”
He pulled back to look down into her face. “I think it’s more than that.”
Melissa bit back the smile threatening to curve her lips. “Yeah,” she replied simply. “Tell me about this bad plan.”
“I need your father’s help.”
She snorted. “You do remember when he banished you, right?”
“Maybe I’ll grow on him.”
“I think you might be his least favorite person, and he’s met most of the villains in the history books.”
“I don’t need him to like me,” Tarian replied. “But I need his help to trap Dominic.”
“And I’m assuming your assistance in this matter won’t come from the goodness of your heart.”
A cunning smile flashed across his face. “Ironically, Dominic may have just given me the leverage I need to get Lucian to see reason.”
“Where do I fit into this?” she asked.
“I need you to get him here so we can speak.”
She stepped out of his arms. “I’ll do my best, but keep in mind I’m a vampire, not a miracle worker.” Grabbing the phone from its cradle, she punched in her father’s cell number and waited for the call to connect.
On the fifth ring he picked up. “Melissa?” Lucian greeted.
“Are you in the city?” she asked, her eyes on Tarian.
There was a beat of silence before he replied, “There was a dispute I needed to mediate about an hour out. Why?”
“I need you to get back here as soon as possible. The situation with the necromancers has changed.”
“How?” His voice was icy enough to make her shiver.
“The man who kidnapped me is in the city.”
Tarian motioned for the phone and she handed it over. “Redgrave,” he said. “I’ve been offered the chance to trade your daughter for my newly missing sister. You’ll be happy to know it’s not a deal I entertained, but the man behind Melissa’s abduction doesn’t know that. It appears I now have something to bargain with.”
Melissa couldn’t make out the words, but her father’s tone was clear enough, and he was none too pleased with the turn of events.
“Just listen,” Tarian said, cutting him off. “I am willing to meet with you to discuss the expansion of necromancer rights. In return, I will help you trap the leader of the dissenters. Fair trade, I believe.”
He cocked his head, listening to something on the other end of the phone before nodding. “I’ll be waiting for yo
u at Melissa’s apartment. Hurry.”
He hung up before her father could reply.
“He is not going to be pleased with you,” she said, catching the phone as he tossed it to her.
“I can’t begin to tell you how much that bothers me.”
Melissa rolled her eyes and returned the phone to its cradle. “So we’ve got some time.”
“Yes.”
“And there’s nothing we can do right now to help Eilin?”
“No.”
“Well then.” She caught the hem of her blouse and tugged it over her head. “I believe you owe me some epic make up sex.”
Fire leapt into his sapphire gaze. “I always knew you were a brilliant woman.”
She sashayed backward toward the hall that led to her bedroom. “What do you think?” she mused. “Two orgasms to make up for your bad behavior?”
“Make it an even three,” he replied, stalking her down the darkened hallway.
“I might not be the financial genius in the room, but even I know that’s not an even number.”
“Four should suffice then.”
A grin curved her lips as her hand twisted behind her to catch the doorknob of her room.
“So many promises,” she purred, undoing the zipper on her skirt. “I’ve been teased before.”
His arm wrapped around her waist, hauling her against his chest. “Not this time,” he vowed.
Her lips traced along his in a mockery of a kiss. “You left me,” she whispered. “You walked away.”
“I regretted every step,” he replied.
“And when this is done and you’ve gotten what you wanted?” she asked, letting the skirt pool at her feet. “Will you walk away again?”
“No.”
He met her gaze, offering no more assurances than that one word. Melissa knew she should rail till she was given a more encompassing promise, but he was right. These days vows were easy to make and hard to keep.
But it didn’t matter. Being away from him had been hell. Pulling teeth was easier than trying to move on from the last man she should ever want. Being away from him simply hadn’t worked for her. Now that he was back, she’d take him for however long they had.
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