Tegan's Return (The Ultimate Power Series #2) by L.H. Cosway Read Free Book Online Page A

vampires. It's at this very moment that my eyes lock on something familiar. A head of golden blond hair. Then I see his face, handsome and beautiful as ever. Ethan.
     I stand glued to the spot, unable to tear my gaze away from him, my eyes drinking him in. Tonight he's wearing a crisp dark shirt, and he's standing beside another vampire who is clearly reciting some important information to him. Both of their heads are close as they speak, while others laugh and smile and get drunk around them.
     I take in every detail of Ethan's form. It seems like it's been decades since I last laid eyes on him. His tall, lean frame, and his olive toned skin. The music is loud in my ears, and there's the tiniest moment of silence as one song ends and leads into the next. It's within this moment that Ethan's gaze shifts away from the man he's speaking to. His eyes flit to the side and then down, as if he's sensing something. Or someone. I gulp.
     Then his eyes flash to mine, and the moment seems to last for an eternity. Confusion and disbelief colour his expression, then something else takes shape. Determination. He says something to the man he'd been speaking with and then he begins to descend the stairs, down and away from the VIP section and directly towards me. I stand utterly still in the centre of the crowded dance floor, not able to move an inch.
     The next song begins to play, People Are Strange by The Doors. Jim Morrison's deep voice fills my ears as Ethan gets closer and closer, closing the distance spread out between the two of us as if it were an endless ocean. I listen to the spooky melody of the song, and the lyrics float over my brain. Then the beat of the song picks up and Ethan is standing before me. The people around us don't move into our space, as though sensing that Ethan is not someone you would want to brush up against.
     His eyes lock on mine. He is less than a foot away from me, and I stand transfixed by him. He visibly takes in a long, deep breath and then lets it out. There is no expression on his face, and I don't know whether to stay or to run and hide. I can't tell if he's glad to see me or not, and it's agonising. He steps closer, and places his cool hand on my bare arm, his blue grey eyes study me closely, taking in every single detail, just like I had been with him. He bends down and leans into me, so that his lips are right above my ear. He reaches up and takes a lock of my short, black hair in his fingers.
     I can feel his soft breath drift over my skin when he speaks right into my ear, so that I can hear him over the music. Funnily enough, his proximity has caused me to forget everything else around me, the sounds, the people, right in this moment there is only him.
     “I remember the start of the First World War, when women began wearing their hair like this,” he says, still smoothing the strand between his fingers. “In the beginning it was for practicality, then it became a social statement. I always admired how it showcases the neck.” His fingers let go of my hair to softly stroke down my skin, from my ear to my shoulder blade, then around to cup the back of my neck.
     I swallow, and it takes me a minute to find my voice. “It m-must have made things less messy when it came to feeding time.”
     Well there I go, ruining the moment. Ethan doesn't seem bothered by what I've said. He looks at me and smiles deeply, and the expression makes him even more beautiful that it's almost hard to look directly at him.
     “I had hoped you would return someday, though I never imagined it would actually come to pass,” he says, speaking close to my ear again.
     The song ends and November Rain by Guns ‘n' Roses comes on. I almost grin, what an opportune moment for a slow set. Ethan's arms slip around my waist and pull me in close to him, our bodies flush against one another. I rest my head on his chest as we sway to the music. His fingers move back and forth over my lower back. I tremble. Ethan must