Untamed (Vampire Awakenings, Book 3) (32 page)

"I don't think it's a good idea," Isabelle
said.

His arms dropped down to his side as he sat
up in his chair and focused on Emma. "If you agree to stay by my
side I'll take you wherever you want to go."

"I'm not sure about that Ethan," Stefan
cautioned.

Ethan rose to his feet and stepped closer to
Emma, the closer he got to her the less the bloodlust building
within him tore at his insides. Unable to stop himself, he rested
his hand against her elbow. A breath of relief escaped him as the
feel of her skin soothed him even more. It took all he had not to
crush her against him and ease the burning, but her words from last
night still echoed in his mind and he'd be damned if he was the one
that destroyed her.

Her head tipped back to look up at him.
Through the shaded lenses of her glasses, he could see the beauty
of her bloodshot and swollen eyes. The sound of her crying had
drifted to him last night and had torn at his soul. There was
nothing he could do to make it better for her though, not while she
was still trying to figure out what path she was going to take.

"You
have
to
stay by me though Emma," he reiterated.

His words probably should have reminded her
of Tristan's overbearing demeanor, maybe they should have even been
some kind of a warning, but she didn't take them as such. Tristan
would never walk away from her. No matter what this did to him
though, Ethan
would
let her go.

"I will," she promised.

He forced a smile as he bowed his head in
acknowledgement of her words. The last thing he wanted was to be
out around other humans, to have
her
out around other humans, but she'd already
been caged by someone else once, he wasn't about to do that to her
too. "Where do you want to go?"

She looked to Mandy and Jill who shrugged in
response. "The beach," Mandy suggested.

"Volleyball," Jill said with a grin.

"Is that ok?" Emma whispered to him.

He squeezed her elbow. "It's fine. We just
have to change."

"So do we." Emma turned and hurried away with
her friends.

Stefan waited until Isabelle and his brothers
had gone inside before stepping next to him. "Are you sure about
this?"

Ethan barely glanced at him before nodding.
"It's what she wants."

"And what about you? Are you going to be able
to control yourself?"

"I'm going to have to."

He said the words but he wasn't entirely sure
what he was going to be able to do when they got around all of
those people, and all of those blood pumping, painfully tempting
heartbeats.

Emma settled onto one of the lounge chairs
and dropped her feet down on either side of it. Ethan sat beside
her; he was holding himself as carefully as someone holding the
most priceless vase, on a ship, in the middle of the Bering Sea. It
was excruciating to watch his almost mechanical movements.

This had been an incredibly bad idea, she
realized as she studied his rigid profile. He'd barely said two
words since they'd left the house and now his nostrils were flaring
as if he'd just run a marathon. Unable to resist touching him, she
rested her hand on his arm. Emma marveled over the fact that he
relaxed visibly at her touch. He was the most powerful man she'd
ever met and yet she had this amazing effect upon him, she was weak
and small and he needed her. A lump formed in her throat, her hand
curled around his forearm as she tried to give him even more
comfort.

"We can leave," she offered.

He didn't even turn his head to look at her.
"No."

Emma frowned at him before turning to search
the crowd around them. Isabelle was sitting in the lounge chair
beside her, but strangely enough Stefan had settled beside Ethan.
It was the first time she'd ever seen the two of them sit
separately. Aiden and Ian had joined Jill over by the volleyball
game that was going on, and Mandy sat on the other side of
Isabelle. The dull thud of the volleyball bouncing back and forth
and the grunts of the people playing filled the air.

Ian looked up and frowned when he spotted
Stefan sitting beside Ethan. He elbowed his brother and said
something before breaking away from the game and coming over to
join them. Yes, this most definitely had been a mistake, if Ethan's
actions weren't a big indication of that, the reactions of his
family members definitely were.

"I'm fine." Emma stared at Ethan as his head
finally swiveled toward her. His eyes were still covered but she
knew they wouldn't be green even if she could see him. "Relax."

She couldn't relax though, not when he looked
as if he were going to fracture at any second. Emma squeezed his
arm again and released him. A shudder went through him but when she
went to touch him again he shook his head. "Don't Emma."

Her hand hovered in the space in between
them; frustration filled her before she dropped it back to her
side. She folded her hands before her as Aiden and Jill jumped into
the game and began to play. Though she enjoyed watching them, she
couldn't get herself to sit back in the chair, not when Ethan was
in such obvious discomfort. Ethan stiffened suddenly, his head
turned as he seemed to catch the sight or smell of something.

Emma almost jumped to her feet when she
spotted the three men in the bar walking toward them from across
the beach. Ethan was already up and moving though, his hand went in
front of her like her mother's used to when she was forced to hit
the brakes too hard in the car. A low growl escaped him as he
stepped in front of her.

"Grab him!" Isabelle hissed at her.

Emma glanced at Isabelle as Ethan's sister
rose to her feet. Her eyes were intense upon Emma as she gestured
toward Ethan's extended hand. His rigid posture made her realize
that he was about to launch himself at the men, something that
couldn't happen in public. She didn't understand what it was about
these men that set Ethan and Stefan off so bad, but even Ian had
risen to his feet as they continued to approach.

He'd just told her not to touch him but the
instinct to keep him safe caused her to grab hold of his hand. It
clenched around hers as he visibly relaxed a little again but she
could feel the hostility still running through his body. The men's
eyes were wary as they stopped before the group gathered around
her.

"Can we talk to you?" the shortest one asked
Stefan.

"You can say whatever it is that you have to
say here," Stefan told him.

Ethan stepped further in front of Emma as the
red head's eyes landed upon her. Ethan glanced at Emma and then
back at the men, they couldn't know that they could speak freely in
front of her. They couldn't have any idea that she knew about their
species while she was still human. "Stefan go and speak with them,"
he said gruffly.

"Ethan..."

"It's fine," Stefan interrupted Isabelle.
"I'll be right back."

"I'm coming with you," Isabelle said.

Stefan shook his head at her as he stepped
away from the crowd. "Nothing is going to happen," he assured
her.

Isabelle stood uneasily in front of the
chairs but when Emma went to rise, Ethan shook his head. "Stay
here," he said.

Ethan kept his eyes on Stefan as he made his
way across the sand and toward the ocean with the others. "Why
would you let him go alone?" Isabelle demanded.

"They're not killers Isabelle, but they can't
know that Emma has any knowledge of our existence," Ethan answered.
"Even if they're not killers, they will still do whatever is
necessary to protect themselves, and our kind, from being exposed.
Besides nothing is going to happen in broad daylight."

"They're vampires," Emma breathed.

"They are," Ethan confirmed.

How many of them were there? She wondered as
she finally understood why they had always acted so strange around
those men. Isabelle moved closer as Stefan turned away. The three
men watched as Stefan walked back toward them before they
disappeared into the crowd. "What did they want?" Isabelle asked
when Stefan was close to them.

"They're leaving the island," Stefan
answered. "They're catching their plane in a few hours."

Ian frowned as he folded his arms over his
chest. "And they had to tell us this why?"

"Because they saw us sitting here and thought
they should warn us that there is another group of vampires on the
island. Apparently, they had a run in with some of them last night
and it didn't go well. They're leaving before the heat of the local
authorities is felt, or hunters are alerted due to the increase in
murders and disappearances on the island."

"And you believe them?" Ethan asked.

"I do," Stefan confirmed. "They're frightened
and they plan to escape while they still can."

"That's wise of them," Isabelle muttered.
"Maybe we should consider it too."

"Where would we go?" Ethan inquired. "Tristan
will
follow Emma and I'm not luring
a group of volatile vampires near our family."

"He might not be able to find her if we take
her to our house and if he does find her I can guarantee he'll
rethink his actions when he encounters all of us," Ian said.

"Or he'll make even more vampires to come at
us with and we will be putting
every
one at risk," Ethan countered.

"What about my family?" Emma inquired. "He's
never been to my house, but he knows where I'm from and he knows my
parent's names. He'd be able to find them without a problem. I'm
not going anywhere without them, or my friends, if we leave this
island."

"No one is leaving the island," Stefan said.
"Not yet anyway. For now, we are all still safe here and it's only
a matter of time before they slip up and we're able to get them. If
it becomes too dangerous, we'll leave and figure out what we're
going to do after that. Brian is coming, we'll have a better chance
of taking them down then and we can think of a plan when he
arrives."

"Who's Brian?" Emma inquired.

"Someone we know," Ethan answered.

From the tone of his voice she didn't think
it was someone he liked, or was excited about seeing. "We should
stay until he arrives," Isabelle reluctantly agreed.

Emma had been so focused on the conversation
that she didn't notice the rain clouds rolling in until the sun was
completely blacked out. Her head tilted back just in time for a
raindrop to fall onto her nose. A small laugh escaped her but
judging by the look of the clouds, there would be many more to
follow.

"We should probably..." Isabelle's words were
drowned out by the deluge of rain that suddenly unleashed upon
them. The force of the rain stung her skin, Emma threw her arms
over her head but it did nothing to block the water pelting against
her. Ethan's arms encircled her and lifted her against him. "Go to
the mall!"

"Make sure Jill and Mandy are safe!" Ethan
yelled at her over the sound of the rain and the people squealing
around them as they scrambled for cover. "I have to get Emma out of
here!"

Terror trickled through her as she realized
that more than rain may have come in with the clouds. Ethan kept
one arm around her waist and one over her head in an attempt to
keep her sheltered as he ran with her toward the road and the group
of buildings across the way. She was soaked through by the time
they even made it to the street.

"The clouds," she panted as they raced across
the steaming asphalt. "It was cloudy when I saw Tristan the first
time."

"They'll part soon," he said but his head
moved constantly about as he searched the darkened day. They made
it to the overhang in the doorway of the mall and took shelter from
the rain with a group of at least ten other people. Ethan turned
her into a corner and pressed himself against her. Her body
instantly began to heat as she rested her hands against his
chest.

His head dropped down a little and she found
herself staring into the reflective black lenses of his glasses.
Her breath froze in her lungs as she stared up at him; her nipples
began to tingle as his chest brushed against hers. Her mouth went
dry as her fingers involuntarily curled into his shirt. It was
impossible to control her body, impossible not to react to him when
they were in such close proximity to each other. Her gaze drifted
to his full mouth and the rain drops lingering there like drops of
dew.

Laughter and excited chatter filled the
little alcove as more people crowded in around them, she didn't
notice any of them though as she remained riveted on him. She
longed so badly to taste his lips, to kiss the water from them. It
was taking everything she had to keep herself restrained. Death
Emma, he'd told her. That's what her life with him would entail,
her
death, but there would also be
so much love and joy for more years than she'd ever imagined
having. Her mind spun at that realization, her fingers pressed more
firmly against him as she savored in the heat coming off of his
body.

A muscle in his jaw began to twitch as a vein
in his forehead stood out and sweat beaded across his upper lip.
"Ethan..."

"Too much," he grated out as he moved closer
to her in an attempt to avoid the people pressing against them.
Even with her there he was having a difficult time of shutting them
out, not when all he could think of was placing his lips against
her throat, and tasting the blood that was flowing through her
veins. "It's all too much."

People jostled and pushed against them as
even more tried to take shelter under the overhang. Her back was
brought up firmly against the brick wall. She glanced rapidly
around as she sensed a pending meltdown within the man standing
against her. Grabbing hold of his hand, she began to edge along the
wall to the doorway of the mall. A growl escaped him as someone
bumped into his back and shoved him forward. Emma's eyes widened as
she glimpsed the tip of a lethal fang when his upper lip curled
into a sneer.