Chapter 49
Don’t Fuck With Me
Ifelt the energy of the vampire before I saw it.
“Trust me.” My voice came out like a growl as I crossed the yard toward the house, my hand falling to the invisible blade on my side. “You don’t want to fuck with me tonight.”
“Harsh words for a girl who can barely walk.” Ethan stepped into the light.
My heart clutched at the sight of him. I didn’t want him to see me like this, my face swollen and red from crying. I didn’t want him to hear my sobs. I didn’t want him to be appalled by my weakness.
I wrapped my arms around my body and rasped, “What are you doing here?”
He hesitated, suddenly looking unsure. “I needed to make sure you were alright,” he said gently.
I sucked in a deep breath, gathering my strength and weaving it all around my heart. Maybe not like the iron-clad plate of armor that I’d hoped for, more like a sheet of ice. “I’m fine. Stay back, I’m bleeding.”
His eyes drank in my face. “You don’t look fine.”
I gave him a wide berth as I moved past him. He followed me up the stairs and paused outside the door.
“Um. Can I come in?” His voice feathered over the stiff muscles of my shoulders as I crossed the living area.
I didn’t look back. I could say no and he’d spend the night outside or go home, and I’d be alone to deal with my grief. That was what I wanted, wasn’t it?
He was here. He came to make sure I was alright. I had cried; there were no more tears left.
I nodded. “Come in.” I heard him let out a breath.
I went to the kitchen, turned on the cold tap, poured a glass of water, and gulped it down. Then put my palms under, turning the water pale red. I rubbed at my skin, removing the blood and dirt.
He hovered by the end of the bench, watching my every move like he thought I was about to fall apart in front of him. “I smelled your blood a mile away. It doesn’t bother me anymore,” he said quietly.
“How did you find me?”
“Monique uses the same realtor as Karson—it wasn’t that hard.” He paused as he studied my face, looking unsure again. “But I can leave if you want to me to?”
My muscles flagged and began to shake as an ache took root in my bones.
Every part of me hurt. The bottom of my feet stung and ached.
My leg muscles were so heavy and weak I wanted to drop.
My lungs felt like I was trying to breathe through a hot pipe, coated in soot.
My head throbbed with every beat of my cracked heart.
I thought I wanted to be alone, but the truth was, I was glad my friend came.
I was so glad, tears blurred my vision. My fingers shook as I tried to pick at tiny pebbles stuck in cuts on my palms.
“Let me,” he said, his tone gentle, almost as if he read my mind. He could read the minds of humans easily, and sometimes he read mine, but it was when I wore the ring or when I was feeling vulnerable, like now …
He took my hand gently in his. I didn’t look at him. I couldn’t look him in the eye, afraid if I did, I’d burst into tears. Instead, I watched as his fingernail sharpened into a claw. With the steadiness of a surgeon, he picked out a tiny pebble.
“You should breathe or you’re going to pass out,” he said.
“I’m breathing.” I drew in a breath.
He finished with that hand and swapped to the other.
“Thank you,” I said when he was done and turned off the tap.
“Do you want me to run you a bath and warm you up?”
I shook my head and stared at the floor.
“Amy, do you want me to go?”
There was something so unsteady in his tone that I raised my head and met his blue eyes, which were brimming with worry. That was the problem when strength was a plate of ice—I could feel it cracking, one precarious place at a time. I couldn’t speak over the lump jamming my neck. I shook my head.
Ethan made a sound of anguish in the back of his throat and then pulled me into his arms and held me against his chest. His hands cradled my back, my head.
And I melted, melted like ice in the sun into his embrace.
His sweet scent of cotton candy, with a tinge of wood and crisp mountain air sank into my nostrils, soothing my heart, soothing my soul.
He held me without words, like he knew there was nothing he could say. Like he knew I didn’t need words. Like he knew I just needed him.
After a long moment, I murmured into his chest, “You’re not reading my mind, are you?”
“Yes,” he said, feathering his fingers over the side of my hair. “You’re thinking about how huge my muscles are and how divinely gorgeous I am.”
I smiled. “I wouldn’t recommend you take up a career as a psychic anytime soon.” I pulled back a little, angling my head up. “I don’t want you to look,” I whispered.
He dropped his hand from my hair and rested it on my back. “I wouldn’t do that to you,” he murmured. “I won’t do anything to you that you don’t want me to, ever.”
“You have peeked before,” I reminded him, but there was no malice in my tone.
“Hardly my fault when your emotions and thoughts get scrawled like a neon sign in front of me.”
Outside, a crow cawed. I tucked my head back to his chest and closed my eyes. “I need to work on that.”
“Mmm.” There was something behind the mmm, an annoyance, but I was too tired to ask. I could fall asleep against his warm, hard chest.
“I was worried about you,” he croaked. “I know you wanted to be alone, but I was going out of my mind.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you.”
He pulled back and cradled my cheeks in his hands, forcing me to look at him. “Don’t be sorry,” he growled softly. “You’ve done nothing wrong. Don’t ever apologize for being upset.”
“Does Karson know where I am too?”
Ethan stepped back, his hands dropping to his sides, and my body felt empty without his warmth. “He has vampires set up all around the perimeter, keeping guard, so I’d say so.”
I blinked. “Did Monique tell him?”
He ran a hand through his thick hair. “I don’t know. He may have convinced her, or he might have worked it out like I did. I didn’t have the pleasure to speak to him after our little disagreement. He was too busy tearing the town apart, I would not want to work in child protection right now.”
I grimaced. He’d be searching for the man that hurt me, looking through years of files, trying to find out which family abused me. He’d do anything to find him, to make him suffer.
Ethan’s expression softened as he took my ragged, worried appearance in. “Let’s get you into a bath and get some sleep. You look dead on your feet.”
I tilted my head. “How do you know there’s a bath here?”
“Wild guess. Monique might be tough, but she’s a romantic at heart.” He spoke over his shoulder as he walked up the stairs. “If you go into her study, I can guarantee you will find romance novels. Check the fridge, there will be champagne.”
The news surprised me. Though it shouldn’t.
Vampires were human, after all, and they carried all the same emotions.
Except they were heightened. They could be fierce, deadly.
But they loved equally as hard too. Unbreakable, Karson had once told me.
Once a vampire fell in love, they never let it go. He loved me—he would always love me.
I checked the fridge. There was champagne.
After my bath, I found Ethan downstairs seated on the couch, staring at the fire, a faraway look on his face. I sat down beside him and curled my feet up. Exhaustion tugged at my body as my eyes fell to the flickering flames.
“Do you know who?” His jaw was tense, his normally blue eyes dark.
“I don’t want to know, not right now,” I murmured. “We have more important issues.”
The muscle of Ethan’s jaw twitched. “There is a man walking around who hurt you in ways no man should hurt anyone.” His tone lowered to something vicious, lethal. “He is breathing air he does not deserve, and I will make sure his last breaths are filled with agony.”
“No. I will find him,” I said, a bitter taste in my mouth. “When all this settles, if he’s still alive.” If Karson hasn’t found him first.
Ocean-night eyes drilled into mine. “And then what?”
“And then …”
His blood on my hands.
“I don’t know.”
Ethan stared at me for a beat. “Alright, if Karson hasn’t found him and strung his body parts around wherever the hell he lives like Christmas decorations already, I will help you find him and you can decide what his fate is.”
Blinking behind tired eyes, I nodded.
His body relaxed as he slipped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me close. I rested my head against his chest, listening to the impossibly slow beat of his heart. I felt sheltered in his arms. I felt … cherished.
My eyes fluttered closed. “Monique wants to find him too.”
“The guy is as good as dead,” he murmured, kissing the top of my head. “Anyone who dares to hurt you is dead.”
Somewhere in the distance, a wolf howled.