A frustrated sound escaped Ethan as he spun back around. Jill rose to her feet as he wrapped his arm around Emma's waist, and before she could protest or respond in any way, he lifted her firmly against his side. Pushing through Mandy and Jill, he raised his free hand and smashed it against the door handle. Wood splintered as the handle gave way and he banged his hand on the door. It flew open and crashed against the wall with enough force to crack the plaster.
Jill had been leaning against the doorframe; she fell ungracefully through the open door and sprawled in a heap upon the tile in the entranceway. Ethan grabbed Mandy's arm, pushed her through, and followed swiftly behind with her still pressed against his side.
"The door!" Jill gasped as she tried to scramble back to her feet.
Ethan remained unmoving in the living room with Emma in his arms. He could feel the tension in her body, the way she held herself away from him, and smell the sour scent of her fear. Her hands didn't curl into him but remained flat against his chest. The brisk beat of her heart could be felt against his arm as she tried to catch her breath.
"They can't come in here," he said.
Even as he spoke, Tristan appeared in the doorway with the woman at his side. They were both leering at them as they rested their hands against the frame. Though blood still trickled from the wound Emma inflicted on the woman, she could no longer see the bone. She thought she should be surprised or horrified by that, but after the events of this night, she didn't think anything would surprise her again.
Ethan saw four of Tristan's cohorts, but he sensed at least two more hidden somewhere in the night. A growl escaped Ethan; he stepped forward and slammed the broken door closed just as Tristan blew a kiss at Emma. The only sound in the dark house was the rapid breaths of the women surrounding him.
Emma was uncertain how to react now that they were safe from Tristan. A part of her wanted to cling to Ethan, to curl up against him and cry. The other part wanted to shove off him, grab her friends and flee from here as fast as they could. He may have saved them, but he was one of those things.
What was he going to do with them now?
Chapter Seventeen
"What was that? No, never mind, don't answer that," Jill muttered.
Emma couldn't see anything in the shadows enshrouding the house. Her heart raced faster than the winning horse of the Kentucky Derby, and there was no way she was ever going to breathe normally again.
The shuffling of feet and a curse from Jill accompanied a thud. As light burst into the room, Emma realized she couldn't live in denial.
Ethan turned toward her; those eyes, which had just been the color of rubies, were back to the emerald she knew so well.
She saw the hesitation in his eyes, the wariness and sadness in the face staring back at her. She'd come to love that face, but how could she love him when she realized now she didn't even know who, or what, he was? There was no way to love someone when there was no trust. Her trust in him was stomped beneath the events that just transpired. She didn't know if he would kill her now that she knew there wasn't something entirely human about him.
"Please..." she had to swallow to continue. "Please, put me down."
He winced a little and bowed his head toward her. She refused to flinch away, but even so, he must have sensed something as he lowered her to the ground. Emma remained unyielding against him until he slipped his arm from her waist. She inhaled a shaky breath of relief as she took a hasty step away from him. The anguished look in his eyes pulled at her heart. There was nothing she could do about that; she wasn't the one with the secrets, she wasn't the one who wasn't human.
He'd also just let her go, and he wasn't making any attempt to come after her, or her friends. Her mind was spinning, her legs felt weak, but she refused to sit down. She didn't want him to think she was intimidated by him, or afraid of Tristan, she wouldn't give either of them the satisfaction. Though she was more than a little intimidated and frightened of them both, their eyes were freaking red! Or at least they had been.
Emma's gaze drifted over to Jill and Mandy. Jill remained standing by the door, her hand on the light switch, her face pale beneath her tan. Mandy managed to get back to her feet, but she looked as if she were debating sitting on the floor again. Mandy's eyes met and held hers, Emma didn't know what to do or say. It didn't matter if she intended to remain standing; her legs weren't going to hold her anymore. She walked over and sat on one of the stools at the breakfast bar.
Ethan turned to watch her, his hair was disheveled, and blood dried in the corner of his eye. Even as she spotted the blood, she realized the cut it came from had healed.
"What are you?" she choked out.
His eyes were unwavering on hers. "I didn't plan on you finding out like this."
"Finding out what?" she demanded.
"Emma—"
"What are you?" She hated the nearly hysterical tone of her voice, but she couldn't control it.
Ethan glanced at her friends before focusing on her again. "Now isn't the time."
"Now is the only time." He ran a hand through his disheveled hair before walking toward her. She tried to jerk her hands away when he took them, but he refused to release her. "Ethan, tell me."
"Vampire. I am a vampire. They were vampires."
The words should have
