h out of it. He didn' t raise his voice. He didn' t have to. The

Emily, for the first time since she' d arrived, was silent.

my ribs. The joke I' d made just seconds b

ng from him. He reached out and his hand closed around my upper arm.

hat was meant only for me, but the silence in t

stion, but as a fact he was processing. His eyes searched mine

was turning to ash. This was Ethan in his element-calm, collected, and utterly in c

ightly against my skin. The simple question was loaded with a confidence that bordered on

ed away, replaced by the primal fear of this man' s quiet anger. I could see the

ivated by his power, his focus, his absolute certainty. I had mistaken that

o words came out. My voic

mily, a flicker of d

am is on his way home. You should probably have y

e was taking over, managing

from Ethan silenced her. She gave me a helpless glance, a silent apology for starting

rebellion, had been shattered. His sudden appearance was a stark reminder that our

e, his grip on my arm tightening just

You were saying something about finding someone