Sera poked her head aroundLiam, her eyes widenedin surprise beforeshe began to laugh. “Liam, move,”she said, shoving at his back.
“No!” he snapped.
Sera laughed harder, drawing glaring looks from both Stefan andLiam. Suddenly, Doug began to chuckle softly, and from behind him, he could hear more muffled laughter. “I think that we should all go into the dining room,” Sera managed to say. “Stefan will take care of Isabelle.”
“I am not leaving my daughter alone with him,”Liamgrated.
“Yes, you are,” Sera said firmly.Liam’s eyes slowly changed back to green as he turned to look down at her, aneyebrow raised questioningly as they silently communicated with each other. She nodded briskly as she took hold of his arm, skirting wide of Stefan as she led him away.
“What about Isabelle?” Ethan demanded.
“She’ll be fine,” Doug said.
“But...”
“Ethan trust me, she’ll be fine,” Sera said softly. “Come on.”
Stefan found himself alone with only the dark mass of his twisting emotions for company. For a moment, he had been willing to kill Isabelle’s father simply because he had wanted to touch his daughter. He had almost killed her bother for the same reason. He knew now that there was something seriously wrong with him, that she was causing him to lose all of his control. Hell, he felt like he was going insane.
She moaned softly, burying her head deeper into his lap as his hands tightened convulsively on her. A fierce surge of guardianship seared through him again, but he quickly shoved it aside. He needed to stay cool, and calm. He needed to think. He knew that he had to get away from her before he truly hurt someone, before he caused her even more pain. Before he brought the monster that he had once been down on all of them.
He could easily destroy everyone in this house, and for some reason,Isabelle made the demon in him even fiercer, and wilder, than it had ever been before. If he didn’t get away from her, he would become the one thing that he had truly hated over the years, the one thing that he had fought so savagely against becoming. She deserved much better than anything he could ever give her, much better than the dark world of pain and torment that he lived in, and he meant to see that she was never again touched by it. Never again touched byhim. He had been selfish in his lust for her, but he knew now that he had been wrong, and he was going to right it.
***
“I cannot believe that you’re leaving her alone with him!” Ethan exploded. “He’s obviously unstable! He was going to kill me! He could killher!”
“No,he couldn’t,” Sera said softly.
“How do you know that?” Ian yelled.
“Calm down,”Liamsaid. “He won’t hurt her, he loves her.”
“What!?” Ethan and Ian demanded.
Liamand Sera exchanged an amused look as they turned back to them. “They’re meant to be together,” she said softly. “They’re soulmates.”
Mike, David, Doug, and Jack grinned with amusement as Ethan and Ian started to sputter. “Trust me, we know the signs,” Doug saidwith a small chuckle.
“What? Total insanity?” Ethan bellowed.
“Yep,” they all said.
They exchanged confused glances. “I don’t understand,” Ethan said wearily.
“You wouldn’t,you didn’t see your father when he first met your mother. When soul mates meet each other they are totally unstable, especially the male, until they have completely branded their mate. Your mother was still human, a vampire cannot have that. They sense the mortality in their mate, and they need to change it, they need to make them a vampire. Your father was so volatile that if we even touched her, he wanted to rip our throats out. If your mother hadn’t changed willingly, he would have forced it on her, no matter what,” David explained.
“Until their relationship is solidified, thanStefanis going to be very unstable,” Mike stated.
Ethan and Ian turned toLiamand Sera, theireyesquestioning. “My guess is that neither one of them knows what’s going on yet,” Sera said softly. “And they’re both fighting their feelings.”
“Stefan is the one that told me about you two, he should know.” David’s brow was furrowed in confusion as he studied them.
“Sometimes it’s easier to see something when it isn’t right in front of you. Plus, I know Isabelle, if this isn’t something that she wants, than she is going to fight it every step of the way. For now, just stay away from Isabelle, and don’t touch her when he’s around,”Sera said softly.
“But...”
“I know you don’t like it Ethan,”Liamsaid. “But you have too. Until they figure out what is going on, and everything stabilizes, you need to stay away from her. He willbe volatile, and he won’t mean to be. I know I would snap for no reason. I thought I was going insane. I had no idea what was wrong with me, what was going on, and I would have killed anyone.”
