"Ethan—"
"Come meet my brothers."
He tugged lightly on her hand, drawing her forward when all she wanted was to talk with him and make sure something wasn't wrong. Her eyes were drawn to the two large men sitting in the chairs near Isabelle and Stefan. Jill would be tripping over herself when she saw these two, Emma decided as they rose to their impressive heights.
"This is Aiden and Ian," Ethan introduced.
"Nice to meet you," Emma said.
They were both sporting crooked grins as they stared at her before exchanging a glance with each other. "Nice to meet you too," Aiden said and extended his hand to her.
Emma hesitated before taking it. Beside her, Ethan stiffened, his body pressed closer against hers, and Aiden hastily released her hand. Ian nodded toward her, but he didn't offer his hand, and his eyes never left Ethan. Emma frowned as she glanced at the group of large, imposing men gathered around her. Men who could tear her head off and use it as a volleyball if they so chose.
Trepidation trickled down her spine, and though she knew he was no different than them, she instinctively moved closer to Ethan. He rested his hand on the small of her back.
"We were just talking about Tristan," Ethan informed her.
"I'm sorry. I know this wasn't the vacation you were planning," Emma apologized to Aiden and Ian.
Aiden laughed and ran a hand through his black hair. It was impossible not to know the three of them were brothers, she realized as she looked at them. They were similar in appearance and possessed the same almost carefree air, or at least they all had before things with Tristan started. Her gaze slid up to Ethan standing rigidly by her side. There was nothing carefree about him anymore, not like there was when she first met him. Stress radiated from him, even when he looked down at her and smiled.
"We've experienced worse, and we're more than willing to help. Our siblings are always trying to get us into trouble," Ian said. "But we usually end up saving their asses."
"Like hell," Isabelle muttered as Ethan frowned at him. Ian grinned at them in return.
"I don't want to see anyone get hurt," Emma said as she glanced at everyone gathered around her.
"No one is going to get hurt," Ethan promised. "And believe me, these two can handle themselves."
"As I said, we'll be pulling their asses out of the fire," Ian insisted.
"I'm going to kick your ass if you keep it up," Isabelle told him.
Aiden and Ian laughed, but Emma remained uneasy as her gaze traveled over them. How could she possibly ask them to risk their lives, for her?
"I uh...I have to take a shower," she said.
Ethan almost grabbed her when she stepped away from him. The change in her demeanor made her seem more distant than she'd been since discovering what he was. He forced himself to let her go. Being overbearing wasn't the way to get her to come back to him, if she ever came back to him.
He fisted his hands at his sides; he could feel the hunger within him blazing back to life as his attention returned to his siblings. Ian tilted his head to the side to study him; Aiden shook his head and turned away.
"You know what really sucks," Aiden said as he twisted the top off another beer.
"What?" Isabelle asked.
Aiden flipped the cap away as he turned to face them. "When the two of you finally do get laid, you turn into raving lunatics."
Isabelle stuck her tongue out at him while Ethan glowered. He stormed around the table, slid back into the chair, and poured himself another whiskey.
Emma turned away from the window when she heard the door open. The sun had begun to set, its rays spread across the sky in a colorful array which had held her captive for the past five minutes. Ethan stood in the doorway; his eyes still had a strange red hue to them.
"Is there anything you need?" he inquired.
You, the thought blazed through her mind, but she clamped her mouth shut before she could blurt it out.
"I'm good," she said instead. "Jill and Mandy?"
"They're playing cards with everyone else."
"Oh."
"Would you like to join them?"
There were a thousand things she would like to do right now, but joining the others for a game of cards wasn't one of them. She couldn't tear her eyes away from him as he remained standing in her doorway. He looked torn between walking away and coming to her. "Not right now."
He bowed his head and stepped away. The broken air surrounding him was more than she could stand. "Ethan." He stopped and turned back to face her. The hope in his eyes caused tears to burn in hers. "Are you okay?"
He forced a smile to his face. "I'm fine."
She couldn't shake the feeling he was lying to her. "Would you tell me if something was wrong, something more than the obvious? You've already kept something from me, and I can understand why, but please don't do it again, and don't lie to me. I don't know if I could take it."
His eyes searched her face as he stared at her; finally, he stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. "I won't keep anything from you anymore, Emma, but there are some things I would prefer not to burden you with."
A small snort of laughter escaped her. "Look at everything I've burdened you with. Your life is in jeopardy because of me. Please tell me what is going on with you."
"You could never be a burden, not to me, and I will kill Tristan."
She flinched at the straightforward way he said he would kill Tristan. The idea of it seemed not to affect him in any way. What had she gotten herself into with all of this? Walking over to the bed, she slumped onto it. She lifted her head to look at him as he leaned against
