"But—"
"Go on," he told them, the grim set of his mouth left no room for arguments. "He probably won't be up for a while."
The younger kids exchanged quick glances, but obviously decided arguing wasn't going to work. "Good night," they mumbled as they left.
Liam's gaze came back to them. "You guys should head home too; you look like crap."
"You don't look much better," Mike retorted.
"Yeah, but I'll look good after some sleep, you look like crap all the time."
"You wish," Mike muttered.
Liam smiled wanly. "Go on, get out of here. You've all done enough, get some rest."
"You sure, dad?" Isabelle asked.
"Yes."
They exchanged quick looks before climbing to their feet. Isabelle went to get out of Stefan's lap, but he kept his arms firmly around her as he rose to follow everyone outside. She smiled as she wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head on his chest. She was immediately comforted by the reassuring beat of his heart and the warmth of his body. Her eyes drifted closed as he carried her down the stairs and out to the field.
"You think he'll be all right?" Ethan asked anxiously.
"Yes," Stefan answered.
He glanced down at Isabelle and was astounded to realize she was sound asleep. "Thank you," Ethan told him.
Stefan glanced sharply up at him. "I didn't do anything.”
"You got there a lot faster than any of us would, and you knew they were in trouble."
"I knew Isabelle was in trouble," he corrected.
"Just like in the club."
Stefan shrugged but was careful not to jar Isabelle out of her sleep. "Yeah."
Ethan's smile faded as he glanced at Isabelle. Stefan pulled her against him, tensing at the thought Ethan might touch her, but he made no move to do so.
"You were the last thing she ever wanted, you know," Ethan informed him.
"Why is that?" he grated.
Ethan flashed a grin as he met Stefan's furious gaze. "We weren't the anti-social ones for no reason."
"What are you talking about?" he demanded.
"Calm down," Ethan said. "I'm just saying she stayed hidden up here, never fed from humans, and avoided them at all costs because this was the last thing she ever wanted to have happen to her."
It took everything Stefan had not to grab him and shake some words out of him that made sense. "What do you mean?" he nearly bellowed.
Isabelle shifted slightly; one arm fell limply into her lap. Stefan forced himself to take a deep breath and calm down before he woke her. "You still haven't figured it out?" David asked incredulously.
Stefan shot him a glowering look. "Figured what out?"
"I thought when you came back here it was because you knew." David shook his head as he closed his eyes and chuckled. "Man, you are dense."
"Look..." Stefan hissed. Isabelle whimpered as she buried her head against his chest, instinctively trying to calm him in her sleep.
"Isabelle never wanted to find her soul mate," Ethan explained quickly.
The full knowledge of what Ethan said slammed into him, knocking the breath from his lungs as he froze instantly. They turned to stare at him, various expressions of amusement on their faces. He didn't find anything at all amusing in the situation.
He shook his head as he glanced at the woman curled so trustingly in his arms. Even though there were shadows under her eyes, and a pinched look around her mouth, she was still the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. It wasn't her beauty that lured him back here, and it wasn't just his need to possess her body. It was something else, something more; something he didn’t understand until that instant. Now, everything was beginning to make sense.
How did he not know sooner?
He suddenly understood his desperate need for her, her ability to reach him in the club, his inability to be apart from her, and why he still felt the beast clawing at his insides. He hadn't fully claimed her. He wanted to feed from her, to taste her, and have her do the same, but he held back because of what happened to her at the club.
He had also never allowed anyone to feed on him until Kyle. With Kyle it was a necessity, with Isabelle it would be another way of marking her as his. That was part of what held him back; it would mean there would be no letting go of her, ever. The idea frightened him then, but now...
His brow furrowed as he looked at her in his shirt. It was ridiculously big on her, the sleeves hung over her elbows, and the edge of it ended at mid-thigh. A wave of possession swept through him as he realized how delicately fragile she was, how much weaker she was than him. How much she needed his strength, and protection, especially from her recklessness.
If she had slipped today, if she had stumbled, then she wouldn't be here with him right now. The demon in him boiled instantly to the front; it raged against the possibility of losing her. If she died, it would destroy him. He would never survive without her.
That knowledge frightened the hell out of him.
"Why not?" The emotions racing through him strained his voice as he lifted his head to look at Ethan.
Ethan's eyes were sad and distant as he stared at his sister. "She never wanted her existence to hinge on someone else's.”
Stefan knew how she felt. No wonder she’d gone out of her way to avoid him. She had recognized the signs from the beginning. She wasn’t fighting against him, but herself, and the implications of what his arrival signaled. He understood now why she fled into the house the first night he saw her. Understood why he was unable to tear his gaze away from her. He understood why he felt her panic and pain that night in the club, why he couldn’t leave her.
He was such an idiot. He should have known what was going on, should have recognized the signs. He was the one who told David about Liam and
