The Humvee’s engine rumbled to life as she and the others strode into the night.
“Sir?” a voice called after them. “Excuse me, sir?”
Heather glanced back and saw one of the soldiers jogging toward them.
Tim.
Stopping, they waited for him to reach them.
He halted a few feet away, his eyes glued to Seth’s face. Tim held a black cap in his hands and began to twist it again and again. He looked as if he had enough to say to fill the pages of a novel, but couldn’t find the first sentence that would allow the rest to flow freely.
The quiet stretched, filled only with the sounds of crickets and other nocturnal creatures.
Seth offered Tim a gentle smile and patted his shoulder. “I’ll do it tonight.”
The man sagged, his face lighting with a smile as tears filled his eyes and spilled down his blackened cheeks. “Thank you,” he said hoarsely. “Thank you so much. Thank you. If there is ever anything, anything I can do for you . . .”
Seth motioned to the Humvee with a lift of his chin. “They’re waiting for you.”
“Yes, sir.” Nodding, Tim swung around and jogged back to the vehicle.
“What did he want?” Ethan asked.
“His little girl has cancer. She has already undergone two rounds of chemotherapy, and her prognosis is not good. After witnessing my abilities, he hoped I might heal her.”
David clapped him on the back. “Chris and the network will have to alter her medical records so her miraculous recovery won’t make the news.”
Seth nodded. “And I’ll have to bury a lot of memories.”
“Bury?” Heather asked. “Not erase?”
He nodded. “Burying them should suffice for something like this.”
The Humvee pulled a U-turn, its headlights illuminating the hills to the west, and carried General Lane and his men away.
“You’re a good man, Seth,” Ethan said softly.
Heather thought it sad that Seth looked as though he disagreed.
Chapter Fifteen
Ethan and Heather only stayed at David’s place long enough for Darnell to give them the new phone Seth had promised. Then Zach teleported them—and Lisette—to the couple’s home.
Ethan wasn’t sure whether he should consider the meeting with Heather’s father a win or a loss. General Lane had agreed to work with them, but it sure as hell could’ve gone better.
Anger rose as he catalogued the night’s events.
As Zach and Lisette headed into the kitchen to get something to eat, Ethan remained with Heather in the living room and felt his fury burn brighter with every second that passed.
Heather watched the couple go, then swiveled to face him. “So, what did you think of . . . ?” The half smile on her lips vanished as she looked up at him. “Wow. You look pissed.”
“Pick me up?” he growled, taking a menacing step toward her.
Eyes widening, she took a step backward.
“Use me as a shield?”
She raised her hands, palms out. “Okay. You need to calm down. Your eyes are really bright.”
“Heather! What the hell were you thinking?” he demanded.
“I wasn’t thinking. Or I was. I just—I was thinking that my dad’s men wouldn’t risk shooting you if I was in the way.”
“Clearly, you were wrong! Burke shot me anyway and damned near shot you in the process!” Recalling it only made him want to shoot the man again.
“I know. I totally didn’t expect that.” She continued to ease backward as he advanced toward her, matching him step for step. “Look. You’re upset. I understand that. You didn’t want me to get hurt. But I didn’t want you to get hurt either.”
Her continued disregard for her own safety floored him. “I’m immortal!” he roared. “How many times do I have to tell you that to get you to stop trying to put yourself between me and danger? I’m immortal, Heather! A bullet won’t kill me! Am I going to have to shoot myself in the head right in front of you to prove it?”
Her face paled. “Please don’t do that.”
“Yes,” Lisette said in the kitchen. “Please, don’t. If you do, Tracy will bitch and moan for weeks over having to scrub the bloodstains out of the furniture.”
Heather’s mouth fell open at the bland pronouncement.
“It’s true,” Tracy confirmed, entering from the hallway. “Bloodstains are hell to get out of fabrics.”
Ethan shot her a glare.
Tracy stopped short. Swallowing hard, she said, “Yeah, I’m just going to . . . join them in the kitchen. Sorry I interrupted.” She hurried into the kitchen.
Heather turned back to face Ethan, who continued to crowd her, too angry to stand still. “Okay. I get it. You’re angry and . . .” She scowled. “Stop stalking me, damn it! I can’t think straight while you’re looking at me as if you want to strangle me.”
He halted. “Now you think I want to hurt you?” he asked incredulously.
Rolling her eyes, she emitted a growl of her own. “No! Oh my gosh, you have a bug up your butt tonight!”
Lisette, Zach, and Tracy all burst into laughter in the kitchen.
Against his will, Ethan felt his own lips twitch as some of the fury drained from him.
“No,” Heather said in more even tones, “I do not think you want to hurt me. You would never do anything to hurt me. I know that.” She sighed. “You’re angry. And I understand why. I just . . . I like you. Okay? I mean I really, really like you, Ethan. I wasn’t lying when I told you I’ve never in my life felt this strong a connection to someone. I’ve never felt this comfortable with someone, even family, as if I could say or do anything . . . like complain about you having a bug up your butt when you look positively murderous.”
He did smile then.
“You make me laugh,” she said. “You’re smart. You’re fun to talk to. You make my heart race and are the best lover I’ve ever had.” Her voice softened. “It would be so easy to fall in love with you.”
His heart began to pound in his chest.
“So I panic inside whenever I think someone is going to hurt you. And I do crazy things, like try to put myself between you and the threat. I don’t think, Eh, he’s immortal. He can take it. I think, I can’t lose him. I just found him. And”—she shrugged—“then I stop thinking altogether and . . . act.”
Now he couldn’t think. He had assumed, on some level, that most of her attraction to him stemmed from her inability to read his mind. But she hadn’t even mentioned that. “You care about me,” he murmured with some amazement.
“Yes. Very much.” A spark of vulnerability entered her soft brown eyes.
“I feel the same for you,” he told her. Resting his hands on her hips, he drew her toward him until their bodies touched. “Which is why it terrifies me and infuriates me whenever you try to sacrifice yourself for me. You can’t do that, Heather.”
“I told you—”
“If something happens to me,” he interrupted, “you won’t lose me. I can recover from anything short of having my head removed. Even excessive blood loss won’t kill me, not the way it will a vampire. But you are mortal. If something happens to you, and Seth or Zach or one of the other healers isn’t around or can’t get to you fast enough, I’ll lose you. And for the rest of eternity, I will have to live with the knowledge that you died needlessly, thinking you were protecting me, and will wonder what could have been.”
Biting her lip, she leaned into him. “I’m sorry. This whole immortality thing is still new to me. It hasn’t made it to my subconscious yet. Once it does, I’ll react better in a crisis.”
How he wished he could promise her there would be no more crises.
Ethan sighed. “I just want us to have a chance to see where this can lead, to see what we can have together.”
She offered him a tentative smile. “So do I.” Then she winked. “You’re irresistible. I want to see if that’s going to wear off in time.”
“It will,” Zach promised from the kitchen.
Heather laughed.
Ethan felt the tension drain from him. “How I wish I could court you properly.”
Richart had managed to carry on a normal courtship with a mortal woman. For a time. How lucky he had been. None of the rest of them could seem to manage it.
He groaned. “And how I wish I could’ve made a better impression on your father. If he believes I would use you as a shield to protect myself . . .”
She laughed. “I don’t think you have to worry about that. You bitched at me for trying to shield you, then nearly strangled Burke to death for endangering me, then when Seth wouldn’t let you do that, you shot Burke in the chest to teach him a lesson and warned him not to endanger my life again. Once my dad gets over the shock of the whole vampire and immortal thing, he’s going to love you.”
Ethan hoped she was right. He had been raised in a different time. Her father’s approval was important to him. Family was important to him. He didn’t want Heather to lose hers if she pursued a relationship with him.
“Stop worrying,” she admonished and gave him a little shake.
The movement rubbed the front of her body against his, stirring an instant response.