Her father returned his attention to her.
“Please, Dad. This is a straight-up win-or-lose situation. Help them out and keep their secret, and they’ll find this vampire army, destroy it, and prevent it from killing again. Refuse to help them or betray them and they’ll erase your memory, likely causing brain damage.”
He swore, as did several of his men.
“Without your help, they’ll have a harder time finding these vampires and taking them out, so—for all we know—the vampires could attack another military base. Or even a well-populated civilian target.” She took a step forward, eyes pleading. “I saw the base, Dad. I saw the bloodstains. I saw the marks left behind by the soldiers who tried to claw their way out of the vampires’ grasps. The vampires who attacked that base enjoyed what they did. They aren’t going to just sit back and call it a day. They’re going to do it again. And again. And again.”
A long moment passed.
General Lane looked to Seth. “What do you want me to do?”
The relief that rushed through her was so great it brought tears to Heather’s eyes. Racing forward, she threw her arms around her father’s neck.
He clamped his arms around her and hugged her back, squeezing the stuffing out of her. “Are you really okay, baby?” he asked in a broken whisper.
She nodded, unable to speak.
“Your eyes are red. You’ve been crying.”
She swallowed past the lump in her throat. “Mom always said you were stubborn as a mule. I was afraid you wouldn’t cooperate, that you wouldn’t join them.”
“Us”, Ethan corrected. “You were afraid he wouldn’t join us. You’re one of us, too, now, Heather.”
Her father jerked back. His eyes lowered and squinted as he looked at her teeth.
Heather laughed. “I’m not a vampire, Dad. A lot of humans work with the immortals and know about them. The immortals consider them family.”
He nodded, but seemed unwilling to release her. So Heather stayed by his side, his arm around her shoulders.
“I will need your men’s vow of silence as well,” Seth said. “Should they have no wish to help us, we can simply erase their memories of this. Because they lack your stronger mental barriers and have known about it for a shorter amount of time, the damage would be minimal and would not adversely affect their lives as it would yours.”
The soldiers exchanged looks that seemed to carry as much meaning as words. These men knew each other well. Had served together for a long time.
“We’re with you,” Burke said.
The rest nodded.
Thank goodness.
Her father seemed as relieved and pleased as Heather was. “How can we help?”
Seth considered the question. “We need a country of origin for the vampires. Anything that may tell us where we should begin our search. We don’t believe they are amassing on U.S. soil. Recent events have led us to keep a closer eye on things here. So the army must be forming elsewhere. Unfortunately, our network of contacts has found nothing so far, and the base yielded no clues.”
“What should we look for?” her father asked.
“Teleporting that many vampires would’ve required the use of enough power for me to sense it,” Seth said. “So the vampires had to have reached the island through other means.”
Heather nodded. “You’re probably combing through every bit of intel and chatter and every satellite feed you can get your hands on. We just need you to tell us what you come up with.”
Ethan crossed to stand in front of them. “As well as what conclusions the military is drawing. We can’t rule out that, as Seth suggested, this was meant to spark an international incident. Seth didn’t find any evidence that would implicate another country, but you hit the scene before he did, so you might have.”
The arm around Heather’s shoulders tightened at Ethan’s nearness.
It might take a while, she thought, for her father to adjust to her budding relationship with the immortal. Her father clearly wanted nothing more than to shove her into the Humvee and get her as far away from Ethan and the others as he could.
Oddly, she didn’t think it would take her time to adjust to it. She didn’t think she had ever felt so comfortable around a man before. So in tune with him.
She smiled up at Ethan as Seth continued to speak with her father.
Ethan caught her look and smiled back, his expression full of affection. He winked.
She grinned.
How the hell had he remained single for so long? He was such an easy man to love.
“Heather will be going home with me.”
Her father’s words jerked Heather out of her mushy thoughts. “Dad . . . what?”
Ethan shook his head. “She wouldn’t be safe.”
Ooh. Wrong thing to say.
Her father stiffened. “You think I don’t know how to protect my own daughter?”
“I have no doubt, sir,” Ethan said, “that you know very well how to protect Heather from any and every threat posed by humans. But with all due respect, I don’t think you know how to protect her from vampires. She’s been tossed into vampire battles twice so far by the one leading this army. A vampire can move faster than your eyes can follow, making it difficult to aim your weapon in time to stop him. A vampire is strong enough to pick up that Humvee behind you and throw it fifty yards with little effort. Walls, windows, even roofs cannot keep vampires at bay. You would be no match for them if they were to come for her, even if these soldiers were to remain with you and help you guard her. I and the other immortals, however, would.”
Heather could almost feel the irritation that pummeled her father.
Ethan took a step closer, his eyes fixed on her father’s. “Make no mistake, General, I will guard her with my life. Should I fall while doing so, Seth and the others will take up my sword. There is no place on Earth your daughter will be safer than she will be with us.”
Heather stared up at him, knowing he meant every word. He really would give his life to protect her. What woman wouldn’t melt at such a declaration?
Or fear for him?
She patted her father’s chest and stepped away. “It’s okay, Dad. I want to go with him. Ethan and I are . . .” She bit her lip and caught Ethan’s gaze. “I don’t know. What are we, Ethan?” She was going to say dating, but they hadn’t actually been on a real date yet.
He seemed to understand what she was asking and pursed his lips thoughtfully. “Seeing each other?” he suggested.
At the same time, Zach said, “Lovers?”
General Lane sucked in a breath.
Heather’s eyes widened. She gaped past Ethan at Zach. “You did not just say that!”
His brows drew down in a perplexed frown. “Why? I thought you were looking for a nice way of telling him that you’re sleeping together.”
David clapped a hand to his forehead.
“Smooth,” Seth murmured.
“Zach!” Heather protested. “He’s my dad ! He does not want to hear about me . . . about us . . . I was going to say dating, that we’re dating, but we haven’t actually had a chance to . . . I mean, the whole vampire thing hasn’t . . .” Growling, she spun back to her father, but avoided meeting his gaze. “We’re seeing each other, Dad. Okay? Ethan and I are seeing each other and I really like him.”
Utter silence.
Miserable and embarrassed, she looked up at Ethan. “How red is my face?”
“About as red as Burke’s blood.”
Some of the soldiers laughed.
Seth cleared his throat. “I realize this is all a lot to take in, General,” he told her father, his voice kind, “but I do assure you that we will—as Ethan vowed—do everything in our power to keep your daughter safe. She is not our prisoner. Nor is she suffering from Stockholm syndrome. She is with us by choice and, though this could have been broken to you a little more delicately,” he added with a cutting glare at Zach, “she and Ethan do have feelings for each other.”
Her father touched a finger to her chin and nudged it up so she’d look at him. “This is what you want? You want to go with him? With them?”
She nodded. “Yes. It’s what I want.”
“I’ll be able to contact you whenever I want to?”
She looked to Ethan and Seth.
Seth nodded. “I’m afraid we destroyed her cell phone after the last time you spoke with her so you wouldn’t be able to locate her. I’ll have another phone delivered to her within the hour and she will call you herself with the new number.”
“I assume it will be untraceable?” her father said.
“Yes. We must earn one another’s trust, General. Until then, I must take measures to protect all of those around her who would be at risk should you unwisely choose to betray us.”
Heather would not remember later what words were spoken next. She didn’t hear them, too busy thinking how hard it must be for her father to let her go. To stand there, once they wrapped up the conversation, and watch Ethan rest a hand on her lower back and guide her away. How much it must be killing her dad to climb into the Humvee with the other soldiers and watch her walk away with the immortals, fading into the darkness beyond the headlights.
Her father had always been her protector. Long after she had grown up and begun to protect herself, she had remained—in his mind—the little girl he wished to safeguard.