Page 14 of Midnight Enchantment

“Well, Granny seems to be.”

“Any point in my telling you not to see him again?”

Silence on her end.

“Lily?”

“He’s the first man I’ve ever really liked, Dom. I don’t care what he is.”

“He’s not a man, Liliana. Hang on a sec.”

Lily tapped one fingertip against the back of her cell phone. A minute passed. Two.

“You still there, Lily?”

“Yes.”

“I just texted Dad.”

“Why would you do that?”

“Is this guy’s name Raedan?”

She hesitated a moment. “Yes.”

“Dad said he’s ancient. Older than grandfather. Very few in the vampire community even believe he’s still alive, or have any idea of how dangerous he really is.”

“I know.”

“You know! How?”

“Ava told me.”

“Dad says … ”

“I can imagine what Dad says. I never should have called you!” she exclaimed. And ended the call. When her phone rang, she turned it off, summoned her power, and blocked her family from contacting her telepathically. Darn it! Why couldn’t Dom just keep his big mouth shut? Yet even as the thought crossed her mind, she knew it was partly her fault. She should have made him promise up front not to tell anyone.

But it was too late now, she thought, groaning. No doubt the whole family would descend on her and demand that she return to Savaria immediately. And Dominic would side with them. And so would Ava.

What to do? What to do? Arguing would get her nowhere. There was only one thing to do, she decided—use her power to shield her presence and leave town until things cooled down. And then she frowned. That wouldn’t solve anything. How would Raedan know where to find her? They hadn’t exchanged phone numbers. Or blood.

She’d worry about that later, she thought. Right now, she needed to get out of New Orleans as fast as she could before the Falconer family descended on her like a duck on a June bug.

Ava muttered an oath as she listened to Quill voice his concerns about Lily. She was back in New Orleans before the call ended. But she was too late. Lily had already gone. Oh, lord, had she run away with the vampire-demon?

She spent the next hour trying every location spell she knew, including a few she had never tried before, but to no avail. It was as if Lily had disappeared from the face of the earth.

Raedan stared up at the ceiling, troubled by what had happened earlier in the day. His little witch was far more powerful than he had first thought. All that supernatural power wrapped up in a beautiful, desirable package. An incredibly dangerous package, if she could locate his lair—thereby putting his safety at risk, something no one else, hunter, witch, demon, or vampire, had ever been able to do. If she turned on him, if she told those seeking his head where he took his rest … Damn! It didn’t bear thinking about.

But the question remained—what was he going to do about Liliana? Had it been anyone else, he would have destroyed them without a qualm. He had killed others to protect his existence. But he couldn’t snuff out her life. He told himself it was because doing so would bring the whole Falconer clan down on his head, but that had nothing to do with it. He liked her too much to take away her life, her future.

Raedan grunted softly, thinking his feelings for Liliana Falconer were far more dangerous to his continued survival than anything else.

Lily surveyed her new surroundings. After some consideration, she had gone to California, figuring it was as far away from New Orleans as she could get without leaving the country.

After conjuring a fake driver’s license, she paid cash for a suite in a five-star hotel across the street from the beach. The rooms were lovely and there was a view of the ocean from the bedroom window. Thanks to a generous allowance from her father, money was no object and she had withdrawn a healthy amount of cash from her account before leaving Ava’s.

In her hurry to leave New Orleans, she hadn’t packed much and the first order of business was shopping for a bathing suit.

---