Ethan nestles against me. “You smell like him and me.”
I pull away from him and study him. “You’re okay? You’re not hurt?”
He shakes his head.
I wrap my arms around him. He’s pressed so hard against my collarbone that the new mark on my neck protests, but I don’t care.
There are heavy footsteps on the stairs. The bedroom door slams open, and Grayson fills the frame, wearing the look of a man who has just been given a verdict. He sees me, and for one second, he doesn’t move. Then he is across the room and on his knees beside the bed, both hands on my face, his palms shaking. His eyes are wet.
“You’re finally awake. I was getting worried.”
He buries his face against my neck and stays there, his shoulders shaking once. I feel his mouth move against my skin in words I can’t quite make out.
Ethan pats his father’s hair with great seriousness.
“Daddy, I told you she would wake up. I told you. Can she eat breakfast now?”
A wet laugh shakes out of Grayson against my neck. He pulls back enough to look at his son, his hand still cupping my jaw, then kisses Ethan on the top of the head. “Go ask Linda to bring up some toast. And juice. You can eat with her up here.”
“Okay.”
“And ask her to give us five minutes first.”
Ethan slides off the bed and is gone in a flash of small bare feet on the floorboards. The door bangs shut behind him.
“Why is everything so loud?” I whimper.
Grayson doesn’t let go of my face. “It’ll take time to get used to the volume. You’ll learn to tune it down.”
“How long was I out?” My voice is rough.
“A full week. The change took the first day. You were unconscious for the rest of it.”
His thumb moves against my cheekbone like he can’t stop it, his eyes moving over my face piece by piece, as if he still doesn’t quite believe I’m here to look at.
“What about Ethan?”
“He’s fine. He has bruises from being thrown into the wall. He had to be helped through the partial shift because he couldn’t get back into his human body properly for almost six hours, but he’s fine. He’s been guarding your room ever since you came home.”
I smile and then ask the question I don’t want to ask. “And Derek?”
Grayson takes a moment to answer. When he does, there is grief in his eyes. “Dead. I killed him.”
I let out a long, slow breath I didn’t know I was holding. “I’m sorry, Grayson.”
“Yeah.” He doesn’t meet my gaze. “I buried him beside his mate. We put Elisabeth back in the ground where Coach found her. I’ve sealed off the site so that no one disturbs them anymore.”
The gesture is sweet and far too forgiving for someone who destroyed Grayson’s family. He must have seen the question in my eyes. He says quietly, “He was my family as well in a way, Miranda. I hate him for what he did to my brother and Annie, but my brother loved him. He would have forgiven him despite how terrible the crime was. So I gave him a burial and put him to rest beside the woman he loved.”
I hug him, and Grayson’s body trembles for a moment before he whispers, “It wasn’t easy.”
“I know. But you’re not alone. You’ve got me and Ethan now.”
His hold on me tightens.
“What about Vanessa?” I ask after a while.
Grayson pulls away. “The Council has removed the alpha of Crimson Rock. Brent was surprisingly in love with Vanessa, but it turns out she was the one who refused his mark. She wanted to get back with me. He took her body, but he was broken about it.”
