Free Phantom Embrace by Dianne Duvall

did,” Yuri protested, “that odd blast of power or whatever the hell it was that knocked us all on our asses . . .”
    Marcus frowned. “Roland told me about that. He said it felt like the blast wave of a bomb hitting him. What about it?”
    â€œI think it did something to her,” Yuri told him, finally voicing his fear.
    â€œLike what?”
    â€œI don’t know. But she disappeared when it hit her and I haven’t seen her since.”
    â€œMaybe she’s at the network.”
    Hope rose. “Did you see her there last night, when you took Ami to the network to keep her safe?”
    â€œNo,” Marcus replied with reluctance. “But I’ve seen her there other times. Maybe she went there after we left. Maybe she hasn’t been around because she’s afraid of Zach.”
    And the mysterious elder immortal Zach remained in David’s home, refusing to leave Lisette’s side until she awoke from what Melanie had begun to call a coma.
    â€œCat wouldn’t stay away without telling me,” Yuri said with certainty. “She’d know how much I would worry.”
    Marcus studied him. “The two of you are really that close?”
    â€œYes.” Yuri waited for Marcus to again question his sanity or to lambaste him for doing something so stupid as to fall in love with a ghost.
    He didn’t. “What exactly do you think has happened?” Marcus asked instead.
    Yuri shook his head, helplessness rising within him. “I don’t know. When that blast of power hit her, she seemed to . . . fragment . . . or shatter like the glass in a dropped picture frame, then vanished. I haven’t seen her since.”
    Marcus swore.
    â€œWhat? Do you know what it means?”
    â€œNo. I’ve never seen that happen before.”
    Yuri’s anxiety rose. He didn’t know what to do. “Would Seth and David know?”
    â€œPossibly. But both are busy pouring all of their energy into healing Lisette and trying to wake her from the damned coma or whatever the hell it is that drug has done to her.” He thought for a moment. “I tell you what. I’ll have Richart teleport me over to the network after I get a few hours’ sleep. I’ll tell him I think I left something behind when I was there last night with Ami. And I’ll have a quick look around to see if Cat’s there.”
    â€œThank you.” Yuri would go himself, but didn’t want to leave until he had to hunt in case Cat should return.
    â€œI can’t stay more than a few minutes,” Marcus added. “I don’t want to stray too far from Ami. But it shouldn’t take me long.”
    Yuri nodded and thanked him again.
    Marcus headed for the door and gripped the knob, but didn’t turn it. A minute passed, during which he seemed to debate over whether he wanted to say something more. “I understand, you know,” he murmured and looked at Yuri over his shoulder.
    Yuri frowned. “Understand what?” His concern for Cat?
    â€œThe position you’re in. I can empathize,” the elder immortal said. “I loved a woman I couldn’t have for eight hundred years before I met Ami.”
    Yuri had almost forgotten Marcus’s peculiar history.
    â€œAt least the woman you love can love you back.” Marcus turned the knob, then hesitated again and arched a brow. “She does love you back, right?”
    â€œI believe so,” Yuri said. “But ...”
    Marcus waited for him to finish.
    â€œWe can’t ...” Yuri wasn’t sure what drove him to continue. “I can’t touch her.”
    â€œWhen she leaned against you at the meeting, it looked as though you could feel her.”
    â€œI feel a tingling sensation,” Yuri told him. “But I can’t touch her skin. Can’t feel the weight of her against me.” And how he longed to.
    Marcus sighed. “I’m sorry. I was going to say