Read Online The Necromancer's Betrayal (The Final Formula Series, Book 2.5) by Becca Andre - Free Book Online Page B

called me up here.”
    “Yes.”
    “That’s not why I came.”
    “Doug.”
    “Come on, Ely. I’ve done everything you’ve asked. Are you ever going to give me an answer?”
    Elysia moved a few steps away from him. “You don’t love me, Doug. Not the way you love your family.”
    “You’ve been alone too long. We’re necromancers; family is everything. I want you to be part of mine.” The man actually sounded sincere.
    James shifted his weight from paw to paw. He knew he should go, but couldn’t seem to make himself.
    “What about the curse?” Elysia asked. “I’ve only got four years left.”
    “Ely.” Doug closed the distance between them. “You’ve got to let that go. There is no curse, only an ancestry of powerful necromancers who didn’t have your strength. Hell’s blood, my own aunt went stark raving mad. It happens.”
    “That’s not a helpful argument.”
    “Perhaps not. But she was nothing like you.” Doug sighed. “Come on, say yes.”
    Elysia took a breath and James braced himself.
    “Okay.”
    James closed his eyes.
    “You’ll marry me?” Doug sounded surprised.
    “On one condition,” she said. “I want James to go free. As free as I found him.”
    “I don’t think you fully comprehend what the grim represents.”
    “He’s a sentient being who deserves to live the life of his choosing.”
    “He’s dead.”
    “So? You’re just disappointed that you won’t be presenting him to your father.”
    “You need to think about this.”
    “I have. So what’s it to be? Him or me?”
    “You, clearly,” Doug answered without hesitation, “but I might not be able to accomplish this.”
    “I’ve stumped the Deacon’s heir?”
    He must have pulled her to him, because they stood very close. “I haven’t admitted defeat. Let me make a few calls.”
    “Very well.”
    He didn’t move away, and by the sound of things, James suspected Doug had kissed her.
    He turned and paced along the edge of the gazebo, waiting for the big necromancer to leave. It was several minutes before he did. James lifted his lips in silent disgust and glared at Doug’s back as he walked into the house.
    “I thought you were going for a run,” Elysia said into the silence.
    James turned to face her. Doug hadn’t sensed him. How had she?
    She walked through the gazebo to join him and stopped a few feet away. “I can’t see you, but I feel… the bond.”
    Of course, the bond. Interesting. Could he elude necromancers this way? Well, all necromancers except her. He dropped back into the mortal plane.
    Elysia gasped. To her, he probably appeared out of thin air. “Doug was right. You can leave this world.”
    James swished his tail a couple of times in agreement.
    “It’s hard to hold a conversation like this. Get dressed. I’ll meet you in your room.”
    James barely heard her last line as he was already traveling to his room. His paws no sooner hit the rug than he was human and pulling on his clothes. “Idiot,” he muttered, stepping into his jeans. He should have gone to Addie. There was no way he could trust his freedom to Doug. The guy would take him for himself, or give him to his father. James shuddered as he imagined being soul-bound to either of them. He had never met Xander, but he had heard enough about him from Addie to prefer to keep it that way.
    A knock sounded at his door. Elysia had wasted no time.
    He picked up his T-shirt. “Come in.”
    She let herself in the room, then leaned against the closed door. “Eavesdropping?”
    “I didn’t set out to, but once I found you, I couldn’t leave. I don’t trust him.” He pulled the shirt over his head.
    She lifted a brow, though her eyes followed his movements.
    He tugged the shirt into place. “I don’t want you to give up your freedom to secure mine.”
    “It’s not like that.” She pushed off the door and walked to the window, turning her back on him. “I think I’ve always known I’d end up marrying him.”
    “Is that