“On hold? Are you sure?”
“Yes,” she replied. “As much fun as pretending not to be heartbroken sounds, I’d prefer to stick my hand in sunlight.”
“Melissa,” Abbey reproved.
“My point,” she stressed, “is that unless you are here to tell me Lucian has allowed Tarian to see me without endangering a whole society of people you need to leave.”
“I might be Lucian’s mate, but I’m your friend,” she protested.
“Exactly. If forced to choose, which way do you fall?” Abbey looked away, and Melissa smiled darkly. “I rest my case.”
“So that’s it? Lucian and I never hear from you again?”
She fell back against her chair. “I don’t know,” she answered truthfully. “But I’m done with being treated like a child, and he won’t see me any other way.”
“Maybe we can work on that.”
“He’s got three bodyguards shadowing my every move. Did he think I wouldn’t notice?”
Abbey sighed. “I told him not to do that.”
“Try harder next time.”
“He’s just worried.”
“Why?” Melissa demanded. “He chased off the only man I’ve been serious about in years. I’m well into cat-buying mode by now.”
“Be serious.”
“You think I’m not? Not only are they great companions, they’re fantastic substitutes for those late nights when you just don’t feel like hunting.”
“Seriously?” Abbey asked with a shudder.
“Look, my point is, both of you need to back off. While I have no issue with you per se, you come attached to a man I’d rather not see for a few decades, and if Lucian has an issue with that then he’ll just have to deal. It’s his actions that landed us here in the first place.”
“He did what he thought was best.”
“He failed. Now, I have a midnight appointment with the curator of the Met. I’m sure you can see yourself out.”
Abbey sighed as she rose. “We’re still family, Melissa.”
“For millennia to come,” she agreed. “This might make for great family reminiscences three hundred years from now, but not today. Tell Lucian to back off, or I will move to Europe and he won’t see me for a century.”
“I’ll pass it on,” she agreed, but not before she rounded the table and hugged Melissa with an awkward one armed embrace. “I’m here if you need me.”
Melissa watched her walk from the office and wished she could demand she make Lucian change his mind. Tarian would have to give two weeks notice at his work, but after that he’d be gone and beyond her reach. She might never be able to track him down again. After all, one thing necromancers were good at was disappearing.
…
He needed to vanish.
Tarian paced through the downstairs, checking in each room. “Eilin?” he called. Where was that girl?
His real estate agent had called today with an offer for the house. He only needed a few more days to tie up his position, and then he’d be free of the city. Eilin had been less than impressed with the news they had to move again, but he’d refrained from pointing out that it was, at least in part, her fault.
“I’ve got an offer on the house we should discuss,” he called up the stairs. His sister had been avoiding him for days, but he hadn’t begrudged her the solitude. Actually, it had made things simpler. Far easier to hide a broken heart when no one was watching.
Not a broken heart, he told himself once again. He’d have to love Melissa for that to be the case, and a few days in her presence weren’t enough to convince him she was the woman he’d waited lifetimes to find.
Of course, his previous lovers hadn’t haunted his dreams after the relationship ended. They hadn’t consumed his every waking thought. All he had to do was close his eyes, and he remembered the desolate look on Melissa’s face as he’d walked away.
She is not your concern, he thought. In order to protect his people, he could never see her again.
Even if he ached to.
“Eilin,” he called again, running up the stairs. The silent treatment was getting old. His sister was in her eighties, not her teens, and though moving was a hassle, she needed to help with this process.
“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.