That’s my first real warning.
Because Ethan always answers.
“Ethan.”
His head lifts slowly, gaze scanning the tree line, sharp and calculating, and when he finally looks at me?—
There’s nothing soft left in his expression.
Nothing controlled in the way I’ve seen it before.
This is something else.
Something colder.
“Close enough to follow you,” he says.
My stomach drops.
“He tracked me out here?”
“Yeah.”
I swallow hard, my throat tight. “Then we need to?—”
“We’re done reacting.”
The words cut me off.
Clean.
Final.
I blink at him. “What?”
“We’re done letting him set the pace.”
There’s something in his voice now I haven’t heard before.
Not just control.
Not just confidence.
Something darker.
Something that makes my pulse spike for an entirely different reason.
“You’re scaring me,” I say before I can stop myself.
“Good.”
That shouldn’t make my breath hitch.
It does.
“Why is that good?” I ask, quieter now.
“Because it means you’ll listen.”
