The inside light of the SUV caused Stefan’sdark eyes to shine like onyx; his black hair stood in disheveledspikes around his face. “Was it a hunter?” Stefan demanded.
“I don’t know,” Ian admitted. He went toclose the door when something poked him in the thigh. Reachingdown, he tugged a stake from a holster tied around her waist. Hehadn’t bothered to search her while he’d been trying to keep herhidden; she wasn’t exactly capable of trying to kill him right nowanyway. The stake was confirmation that whoever had left theoriginal scars on her neck hadn’t bothered to erase their existencefrom her mind, he realized as he lifted it before him and thenflung it out the door.
“Nice,” Stefan muttered and shook hishead.
Ian gave her a quick pat down search. Heuncovered two more stakes he threw out the door, before closing it.He glanced nervously back at the woods; he’d caught no hint ofanyone else amongst them in the hour he’d been out there, but hewasn’t about to take any chances with the safety of his family.
In the front passenger seat, Ethan’s wife,Emma turned to look at the woman. “Is she ok?”
“I gave her some of my blood to keep heralive, but I didn’t want to give her too much. She needs medicalattention. Unfortunately, she hasn’t woken up, so I can’t alter hermemories.”
“I called Mandy to help. David and Mike wentto pick her and Jill up. They’re going to meet us,” Emma told him.Her gaze fell on the girl again before she turned around in herseat.
He briefly met Ethan’s emerald eyes in therearview mirror before his brother shifted into drive and pulledout of the parking lot. “Where are we going?”
“A cabin Brian and I own in the Cascades. Ihaven’t been there in years, but Brian said he still uses it oncein a while,” Stefan answered.
Ian lifted an eyebrow at the mention ofStefan’s old, sort of friend, Brian. He knew his brother-in-law andEthan weren’t fans of Brian. Stefan must have been more troubledthan he was letting on, if he’d been willing to involve Brian. “IsBrian going to be there?”
“No. He knows we’ll be using it, but he’s onthe East coast right now.”
“What’s he doing there?”
“I didn’t ask and I don’t care.”
Ian may not mind Brian as much as theothers, but he also didn’t care to know what the vampire did in hisfree time. He glanced down at the woman in his arms. The creamycolor of her skin and the black lashes curled against her cheeksintrigued him. A primal urge he didn’t understand, caused him torun his finger over her silky cheek. Her lids fluttered but didn’topen.
“How did you get Isabelle to stay behind?”Ian asked Stefan as a way to distract himself from the warmth ofher body.
“I didn’t wake her before I left,” Stefanreplied.
Ian released a snort of laughter. “She’sgoing to bepissed.”
“Fortunately for me, she’s not as fast asshe used to be, now that she’s six months pregnant.”
“She’s still going to kick your ass.”
Stefan ran a hand through his hair. “Sheprobably will, but she has no business being here. Not if it was ahunter you encountered, and not while she’s carrying our child.”Ian agreed with him, but he would never admit that to his sister.Pregnant or not she could probably kick all their asses. “Is anyonefollowing us?”
At Stefan’s question, Ian realized Ethan’seyes kept darting to the rearview mirror and Emma was focused onthe side mirror. “Not that I can tell,” Emma answered. “There’s notmuch traffic at this time of night.”
Ian turned in the seat to look behind him.“I think if either of them had found me in the woods, they wouldhave attacked me before I made it to the car.”
“Or they could have been waiting to seewhere you would go,” Stefan murmured.
“Maybe we shouldn’t involve Mandy and Jill,”Emma worried.
Ethan took hold of her hand and squeezed it.“They’ll be fine. Ian lost whoever shot at him and the vampire thatattacked her.”
Stefan turned sideways in his seat to stareout the window. “You were lucky.”
“Luck had nothing to do with it,” Ianscoffed.
“It was onlyonehunter, if there hadbeen more it could have been a different outcome.”
“They hunt in packs?” Emma inquired.
Stefan rubbed at the stubble lining hischin. “Humans, who sometimes learn of our existence, usually huntin packs. So do the true hunters, but they’re braver and strongerand will come at you one-on-one. However, sometimes you will findhunters and humans working together to rid the world of what theyperceive as evil. I think they use the humans as bait, but that’smy own personal theory.”
