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

an Asian fast food stall and orders two boxes of noodles. We wait for the food in silence, all the while he just keeps watching me with his intense dark eyes. I'd give anything to know what he's thinking about. What he's planning. Ethan pays for our food, pops the brown paper bag over his forearm, and we continue our walk.
     “Where are we going?” I ask, and he glances at me in amusement. We're almost at the end of the board walk when Ethan stops walking. I look out to the river and find a small white motor boat floating idly in the water. Ethan takes my arm and helps me up onto its flat surface. Then he sits down and begins opening the noodles, handing me a box and some chop sticks.
     “Isn't it a little cold to be dining outdoors?” I say, hesitant to begin eating.
     “I enjoy the chill,” says Ethan. “Especially at this time of year, it's invigorating.”
     “If you say so,” I reply, before swallowing down a mouthful of warm, spicy noodles.
     I try to wait a while before asking Ethan if he's found anything out about my dad, but I can't seem to help myself. I scoot over to sit a little closer to him, and it seems to please him. I can see the corner of his mouth turn up in a half smile.
     “Did you ask around about my dad yet?” I say, past another mouthful of noodles.
     Ethan eats silently for a moment before answering, “I did.” But then he doesn't say anything more.
     “And…” I prompt him to continue.
     He frowns and faces me. “It seems you are quite eager to get to the point.”
     “What do you mean?”
     “I had thought you would at least allow me the illusion that you are here to spend time with me.”
     “I am here to spend time with you Ethan, but my purpose in coming back to Tribane was to visit my father, and he's missing so excuse me if finding him is high on my list of priorities.” If only he knew my other reason for being here. I think a frown from Ethan would be the least of my worries if he ever discovered that.
     “Things are a lot different in this city now,” he says suddenly, his voice low and hard. “There has been a shift in power and I am in a far better position than I had been the last time you knew me.”
     Finn told me about Ethan being Whitfield's second in command, does that mean he's now the second most powerful vampire in Tribane? My temperature drops just thinking about it.
     “Well isn't that marvellous, congratulations are surely in order,” I reply sarcastically, putting down my half-finished box of noodles, not so hungry anymore.
     “Perhaps they are Tegan,” Ethan says cuttingly, and I immediately regret having given him cheek, “but it also means that I am not a man to be trifled with. And I do not keep company with women who have no interest in me. So I will give you the information you came for and you can be on your way.”
     I try to speak, but he silences me with a dark look, then continues, “I have looked into your father's disappearance, and there is no connection between it and the activity of my people. All who know of your unique genetics are under my authority; Lucas, Delilah and Drusilla. They could not tell a soul about you even if they wanted to. Antonia is dead, as are all of her other bodyguards. So if something bad has happened to your father, then I can tell you with absolute certainty that it has nothing to do with vampires.”
     Right. If Ethan is to be believed, my dad didn't leave town because of vampires. I stow that information away for later. Then I think about what he's just said. “What do you mean by 'they couldn't tell a soul even if they wanted to'?”
     Ethan places his food neatly down onto the floor of the boat. Our legs dangle over the edge, and in this moment I imagine how easy it would be for him to drain my blood and simply toss me into the water. He leans over me. “I am their superior. That means I have powers of compulsion over them, and I have compelled them not to speak of your