"Thank you, Finley," Ethan said. "We appreciate your family's thoughtfulness."
"It was Nick's idea."
"In that case," Ethan tightly said, "we appreciate his thoughtfulness. And with all due respect, as we have amply demonstrated, your family has no reason to be hostile toward us."
Finn's eyes narrowed. "I'm not hostile toward Merit. I'm hostile toward you. I don't know you, except that you've embroiled her in a world that's worrying her father and put her grandfather in the hospital."
The attitude was irritating, as the facts were wrong. My grandfather had been Ombudsman before I'd become a vampire, and I wouldn't have become a vampire without my father's meddling. Not that Finley needed the details.
"We all make our own choices," Ethan said, his smile thin and dangerous.
"So we do. A suggestion?"
Ethan lifted his brows, as Finley slid his glance to the sheathed katanas in our hands.
"You might want to leave the weapons here. They don't exactly scream ‘friendship.'"
He walked back to me, concern in his eyes. He held out the set of keys, which I took, our fingers brushing. He might have played polite, but he was as angry as Michael. He spilled magic into the air, sending an electric thrill across my fingers.
"Be careful," he said.
I nodded, not sure what to say.
With that, he opened the door and disappeared into the night.
"Well, they are just delightful," Ethan said.
I snorted, then walked over and locked the front door. I was responsible for Ethan's safety, after all. Not that a dead bolt would do much good against a sustained attack. I didn't think SWAT teams, paranormal or otherwise, would drop down on us during the daylight, but I suppose that was a risk we'd have to take.