Chapter 16 #2
He’d known it from the moment that she walked into the room. Probably known it from the moment he heard Bel and Rafe speak. Known it since Marcus had told him about their dedication to Julianna. She would never have had the chance to escape her sons and go on a blood-soaked rampage.
And he put Marcus and his entire family in danger because he’d been so damn desperate to find his family’s killer.
It wasn’t fair. Not to him. Not to Marcus.
He should never have fallen in with Carl and the stupid League.
He was never going to find the vampire that destroyed his life.
And if it meant that he didn’t potentially destroy another innocent family in his search, he’d just learn to accept it.
“Ethan?” Julianna said.
Ethan’s head popped up and he was surprised to find her standing only a couple of feet away.
She slowly reached out and placed her small hand on his arm, her touch so gentle and cautious.
For a moment, his brain rejected all the things that Marcus had told him about her.
This couldn’t be the same woman who hurt Bel.
She was warm and loving. She’d never hurt one of her sons.
It would kill her to harm her boys. Ethan could see that.
But then maybe Marcus was right. It wasn’t her attacking her sons. The illness twisted and warped her mind, stealing her consciousness away and replacing it with that of a monster.
“Are you okay?” she asked, pulling him from his swirling thoughts.
“Yes. Sorry. You have an amazing voice,” he murmured.
“Like your mother’s?”
Ethan barked out a harsh laugh. He pressed the heel of his palms to his eyes, wiping away unshed tears.
“Oh God, no! I loved my mother, but she had a horrible singing voice. She loved to sing along to the radio while she cleaned. Dogs would howl, but she didn’t care. She just loved music and singing.”
Julianna laughed again, and for a moment, Ethan felt lighter.
Maybe he didn’t have his mother or the rest of his family, but it felt so good to just talk about them, to remember the good parts of his childhood.
It had all been overshadowed by the dark, bloody memories for so long, but there had been good parts. Fun parts.
“Ethan!” Marcus’s loud voice was like a thunderclap breaking over his head.
He winced and even Julianna gave a little jump.
They both looked over at the open doorway to find Marcus standing there, flanked on either side by Bel and Rafe.
“What are you still doing here? You should have been gone hours ago!”
“I’m sorry—” he started to say but Julianna interrupted him.
“Marcus! I raised you better than that. Ethan has been working very hard for you. We were just talking. It’s my fault that he’s stayed so late. Now apologize to this lovely young man.”
“I’m sorry, Ethan, but you need to leave now,” Marcus said firmly, his eyes narrowed in nearly a glare.
“Really, Marcus. You can do better than that. Ethan is such a nice young man.”
Behind Marcus, Rafe was laughing like a hyena, while Bel’s expression had turned more speculative and curious, as if Ethan had suddenly become a very interesting specimen that needed studying.
Ethan did not want to find himself under Bel’s microscope.
Marcus still didn’t look pleased, but the glare had been replaced with more of a look of resignation.
“Ethan is well aware that I appreciate his hard work,” Marcus grumbled.
Ethan opened his mouth to make a playful, snarky comment, but a single, sharp shake of Marcus’s head had him biting his tongue.
The comment would have given away that there was more going on between them than a little packing, and Ethan didn’t need to force Marcus to admit anything to his family that he wasn’t ready to.
Marcus deserved the right to figure things out at his own pace.
“Thank you, Mr. Varik. But you’re right. I need to leave. It’s past my dinnertime.”
“Oh! Then you must join us!” Julianna cried, clapping her hands together.
A fresh peal of laughter from Rafe echoed through the hall, and even Bel snickered.
Marcus only groaned. His every attempt to bring things under control had them slipping further from his grasp.
Ethan decided to have pity on him. It was smarter.
It also increased his chances of getting another kiss from the man sometime soon.
“Thank you, but I can’t tonight. Can I have a rain check?” Ethan asked, placing his hand over Julianna’s.
“Of course. I understand. We would love—”
Whatever Julianna was going to say was stopped by a loud explosion in the front foyer that seemed to rock the entire house.
Ethan stumbled to the side, trying to keep his balance.
Julianna was thrown into him and he instinctively caught her, cradling her against his slightly larger frame, protecting her as best he could.
There was a loud ringing in his ears, and he blinked several times.
The world didn’t make sense for a moment.
He looked at the doorway and the cloud of smoke that was rolling through the hall.
Marcus and his brothers had been thrown forward and were in the process of picking themselves up off the floor.
The front door had exploded.
But…that would mean someone was attacking Marcus’s town house.
Marcus met Ethan’s eyes, fear twisting up his features. “Run!”