Linus made a fist, protecting his ring like he expected Neely to pry it off his finger. “I like this one.”
“Lawson,” Cruz repeated. “You’re Clarice Lawson’s son.”
“Yes,” he confirmed. “I am.”
“You’re telling me I’ve been working for a vampire the past four years?”
“We’re necromancers,” Linus said with infinite patience, “but yes. Mother required a human agent to manage—” he stopped short of dragging the Society into this “—her interests.”
“She chose you,” I told him, “because you’re a brilliant attorney but...”
“Nothing Mother does is without a reason,” Linus agreed. “Your connection to Grier is no doubt what brought you to her attention, but given Grier’s circumstances at the time, there’s no reason to believe she recruited you with ulterior motives.”
“I’m going to resign,” Cruz announced. “I want no part of this.”
“Resign from a sweet gig,” Marit chimed in, “and she’s going to wonder what soured you on the deal.”
“You don’t understand,” he snapped. “These people, their world, nearly cost my husband his life.”
“Babe,” Neely began.
“You could have been killed, and I never would have known the truth.” His scowl cut deeper. “Not that I’m convinced I believe their version of events as it is.”
Lethe growled to remind him she was still in the room, but she had made a tactical error. She let him adjust to her presence then allowed the topic of his husband’s wellbeing to heat his blood. Cruz might have been ready to faint when the paranormal steamrolled his practical side, but he would dig in his heels and stand firm for Neely.
“How can I protect him from this?” His gaze shot to me. “What do I do to keep him safe?”
“The less people who know you’re aware of our world,” Linus advised, “the better.”
Cruz snarled up his lip at me. “I will never forgive you for this.”
All I had to offer him were two words barely worth exhaling. “I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry?” Cruz chuckled, bitter and hard. “You should have let him go. If you loved him, if you cared about him at all, you would have cut ties after Atlanta.” He spread his hands. “But here we are, in your home, in your world, and he’s in more danger than ever. That’s not love, Grier. That’s not friendship, either. It’s selfishness, pure and simple.”
“That’s enough.” Neely stroked a hand down Cruz’s spine. “Grier is my friend. I might not have known what I was signing up for at the time, but I don’t regret having her in my life.”
Leaning into Neely’s touch, Cruz popped his mouth open on a blistering retort his husband cut short.
“I love you, but you don’t get to make this call for me.” Neely gazed down at him. “I hate that we’re in this situation, that I led them to you through my friendship with Grier, but we’re in this up to our necks. Our best chance at survival, at maintaining a normal life, might be embracing the paranormal.”
This was my opening, and I didn’t just walk through—I sprinted.
“You can walk away now, and I won’t reach out again.” Coward that I was, I addressed the offer to Cruz to avoid the moment when Neely chose his husband, his safety, over the dangerous friendship I offered. “Or you can all take positions within my household, so I can protect you.”
“You have that power?” Cruz sounded doubtful. “You can do that?”
“I do, and I can.”
“How?”
“Clarice Lawson is our elected leader,” I confessed after Linus gave an infinitesimal nod. “Her maiden name was Woolworth. She was my guardian’s younger sister. Our families are the most powerful within our society.”
Neely rolled in his lips before popping them out again. “But all the ramen—”
“I got cut off from my inheritance for a while, and things were tough.” The hows and whys of my sudden poverty got glossed over so as not to terrify them right out of the gate. “I had to earn my own way, and I ate more peanut butter and jelly than I want to admit.” Ending my highly edited backstory on a high note, I tried for a convincing, pro-Society smile. “My title has since been reinstated, and my inheritance returned to me.”
During my spiel, Cruz had shifted his focus onto Linus. “Grier’s fortune is on par with your mother’s?”
A smile played on his mouth. “Grier is the wealthiest woman I know.”
Neely gawked at that, but Cruz just nodded. “Can I have a moment to discuss this with my husband?”
“Of course.” I cut Hood a warning look, and he let them pass. “Marit?”
“I’m good.” She rolled a negligent shoulder. “This is the coolest thing. Ever. I want to pick your brain, but that can wait.” A laugh escaped her. “Except I have to know.” She drew in a sharp breath before exhaling her question in one go. “The ghost on the Cora Ann… Did you have anything to do with that?”
“The ghost was a boy. He was murdered on the boat back in the twenties, and his remains were walled up in the engine room. He was haunting the steamboat.” Again, I tiptoed around the absolute truth. “He was already showing violent tendencies. I can’t say for sure my presence helped, but I don’t think it hurt.”
Amelie and Ambrose had each played a part in how those events unfolded, and so did the Elite, but I had to ease the humans into this world if I wanted them to keep their heads above water.
“You saved my life.” Marit offered another shrug, this one less fluid. “That makes us even in my book.”
“I’m glad to hear it.” And I was. I wanted us to be okay. I wanted us to remain friends. I might have given up playing human, but I didn’t want to cut them out of my life. “Are you okay to stay here for a bit, or do you want to leave?”
“Are you kidding me?” She threw back her head and laughed. “I’m not missing a minute of this.”
Glad someone was having a good time, I lapsed into silence while Amelie and Marit chatted softly.
The kiss Linus pressed against my temple helped settle the jitters from waiting on the Torreses’ verdict.
An hour and change later, Cruz escorted Neely into the room, a grim line tipping his mouth into a frown.
“I remember the night Amelie dragged you into Cricket’s office to beg a job for her bestie,” Neely began. “I knew you and I would be friends after you watched me apply makeup with your jaw hanging open like I was the one working magic.” Neely steeled himself, and Cruz took his hand to offer support. “But the truth is…I don’t know who you are, really.”
The bottom dropped out of my stomach, and I nodded miserably, bracing for the letdown.
At least he hadn’t called me a what and not a who. He was letting me down gentler than I deserved.
“What I do know is you’re a kind, thoughtful, generous, and funny woman. You’re loyal, strong, caring, and have excellent taste in friends.” He shared one final glance with Cruz before telling me, “You’re worth the risk, Grier.”
“Thank you.” I shot to my feet and hugged him until he grunted. “I won’t let you down.”
“Talk to me about joining your household,” Cruz said after a period of time he tapped out with his foot.
“I can poach you from the Grande Dame.” Given I had just stolen her son, she was not going to be thrilled with me, but she admired ruthlessness. With the right spin, she might come to view my personnel growth as personal growth, evidence I was adapting to my new station as Dame Woolworth. “I don’t have a legal team. You would be it, unless you hired on more staff. I would match your salary and benefits.”
He inclined his head, considering the angles. Money never hurt, but the ability to build his own team, to run his own show, would appeal to a man like him.
Amused at Cruz’s distraction, Neely asked, “Does that mean I get to be your official bean counter?”
“Sure.” I grinned, an idea forming. “You might be able to fit in accounting as a part-time gig.”<
br />
“Oh?” His eyes glittered with interest. “What did you have in mind?”
“Linus owns a building on Abercorn he’s generously offered to lease me so that I can open my own ghost tour company. I’m going to need help deciding on a theme and designing a look to go with it.” I smiled at the possibilities sparking behind his eyes. “I suck at branding.”
The pity laugh he uttered confirmed he was raised too polite to point out the obvious.
“On the topic of branding, I need a consultant who can help me perfect my style. Now that I’m an heiress again, I have to look the part.”
“Oh, fun.” Neely clapped his hands. “I’m on extended leave from Haint Misbehavin’ during my convalescence. I can use the last two weeks as my notice to Cricket.”
“Cricket will hate to lose you.” Just thinking about the size of the hole his absence would punch in that company sparked fresh guilt.
“Cricket will manage. She always does.” He dusted imaginary lint off his shirt. “Besides, I set her up with my protégé. My second youngest sister is filling in for me. Erin doesn’t have my experience yet, but she’s a natural. Cricket will be trading in a Torres for a Sanderson, but it would still keep the job in the family.”
“I don’t have their credentials,” Marit said, glancing between the Torreses, “but I grew up helping Papa run River Street Steam. I can help in the office with scheduling and payroll.” She winked at me. “I run a tight ship.”
“I would like that.” Tears brimmed in my eyes. “Very much.”
“I’ll contact Mr. Hacohen,” Linus offered. “He can start drawing up the paperwork.”
The trio exchanged a nervous glance, but excitement thrummed in the air around them.
“Employment with me doesn’t mean severing ties with the human world.” On the contrary, our survival was dependent upon the mortal hunger for immortality. “Keep your friends, stay in touch with your family. All I ask is that you don’t share our secrets. Our existence depends on hiding ourselves from humans.”
“Humans,” Cruz echoed, eyes sliding toward Lethe.
“I’ll prep the NDAs,” Hood said, folding his arms over his chest.
A flash of blood leaking from the corner of Lethe’s mouth filled my head, and my gut roiled with guilt.
“I can’t do that to them.” I pushed the hair from my eyes. “I wish I hadn’t done it to you.”
Lethe bumped her head against the back of my hand, and I scratched behind her ears.
“Have it your way,” he told me before pegging the humans with his best feral glare. “Endanger my mate, or Grier, and I will let Lethe tear out your throats.”
Cruz tucked Neely behind him. “Don’t threaten my husband.”
“Where’s a fainting couch when you need one?” Neely leaned around his husband, defusing the tension in the room with a wave of his hand as he fanned his face. “All this testosterone is giving me the vapors.”
“Let’s pick this up at dusk,” Amelie offered. “You guys have all been through a lot tonight. Go rest, talk it over amongst yourselves. We’re all happy to answer any questions.” Slipping on her tour guide persona, she ushered them into the hall. Tone bright, she chattered all the way downstairs. “Who’s hungry? I make a mean cup of hot chocolate. It’s not Mallow, but…”
Her voice trailed to an indistinguishable murmur, the promise of a snack enough to tempt even Lethe.
After the hall emptied and the staircase cleared, I shut the door on the world.
We had a meeting with the Marchands to arrange, a trip to Raleigh to plan, a house full of humans to protect, a lawn full of gwyllgi to feed, a city to reclaim, and the Lyceum to defend, but I wanted to pretend, just for a little while, none of it existed.
Linus perched on my bed, his pressed slacks and neat shirt contrasting the crumpled sheets.
He caught me admiring him and smiled in a self-conscious way that told me he still had no clue what put the sparkle in my eyes when I looked at him, but he was a mirror, reflecting my own wonder back at me.
Reaching behind me, I twisted the lock with a satisfying click.
Strolling over to Linus, I planted both palms on his chest and shoved him on the bed.
Cheeks flush, he found my hips with his hands as I straddled him. “What are you doing?”
“I’m forgetting.” Leaning forward, I planted my palms to either side of his head then ducked until my warm exhale skated over the chilly skin of his throat. “How’s your memory, Professor Lawson?”
His fingers dug into my flesh. “Who?”
Laughing, delighted he was playing with me, I peeled my shirt over my head. “I like you.”
“You love me,” he said, and I heard him marvel at it.
“I do.” I unhooked my bra and tossed it on the floor. “What are you going to do about it?”
Eyes gone dark and hot, he flipped us, pinning me beneath him. “I’m going to love you back.”
And he did.
Over and over.
Until his sweat coated my skin, until my hair knotted around his fingers, until the jut of his engagement ring drew blood I licked off his fingers.
Until the world shrank to just the two of us.
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About the Author
USA Today best-selling author Hailey Edwards writes about questionable applications of otherwise perfectly good magic, the transformative power of love, the family you choose for yourself, and blowing stuff up. Not necessarily all at once. That could get messy.
www.HaileyEdwards.net
Also by Hailey Edwards
The Foundling
Bayou Born #1
Bone Driven #2
Death Knell #3
The Beginner’s Guide to Necromancy
How to Save an Undead Life #1
How to Claim an Undead Soul #2
How to Break an Undead Heart #3
How to Dance an Undead Waltz #4
How to Live an Undead Lie #5
Black Dog Series
Dog with a Bone #1
Dog Days of Summer #1.5
Heir of the Dog #2
Lie Down with Dogs #3
Old Dog, New Tricks #4
Black Dog Series Novellas
Stone-Cold Fox
Gemini Series
Dead in the Water #1
Head Above Water #2
Hell or High Water #3
Gemini Series Novellas
Fish Out of Water
Lorimar Pack Series
Promise the Moon #1
Wolf at the Door #2
Over the Moon #3
Araneae Nation
A Heart of Ice #.5
A Hint of Frost #1
A Feast of Souls #2
A Cast of Shadows #2.5
A Time of Dying #3
A Kiss of Venom #3.5
A Breath of Winter #4
A Veil of Secrets #5
Daughters of Askara
Everlong #1
Evermine #2
Eversworn #3
Wicked Kin
Soul Weaver #1
s book with friends
How to Live an Undead Lie (The Beginner's Guide to Necromancy Book 5) Page 29
