“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.