“You had better stay away from my daughter. You are nothing but a filthy animal who has no business breathing the same air as regular humans.”

“Elliot, you had better take a step back and get out of my face.” Sean’s voice was low and calm, but Elliot heard the threat underlying his words.

He clenched his hands so tightly that Sean’s knuckles were white. Sean concentrated on keeping them next to his legs.

The older man took three steps back.

“Xyla is an adult and quite capable of making her own decisions, including who she wants to spend time with. If you have a problem with Xyla hanging out with me, then you had better take that up with her.”

Elliot put his finger in Sean’s chest. “I will kill you if you take advantage of my daughter.”

Sean gritted his teeth and glared into Elliot’s eyes. Anger flared up and coursed through Sean’s body and it was all he could do to control his temper. “Unless you want to lose that finger, I strongly suggest that you back off.”

Elliot put his hand down but didn’t move.

“Anytime you’re feeling froggy old man, let me know. We can take this outside and you can take the first swing.”

Everyone in the room was silent, watching the scene unfold in front of them.

William walked up to them. “Elliot, this is your last warning. If I have to speak to you again about your mouth or intolerablebehavior, you will not be welcome here. I strongly suggest that you walk away or I’ll end up kicking your butt.”

A couple people snickered and Elliot looked around, realizing that he was the subject of everyone’s amusement.

He stormed off into the room he shared with Edward, slamming the door behind him.

“I ought to make him open and close that door the right way a hundred times,” William muttered.

Everyone laughed. Sean saw Edward cringe when a loud roar of anger came from the room.

Sean walked over to him and put his hand on Edward’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, kid. I know this sucks for you.”

Edward nodded. “I guess I’ll sleep on the couch out here tonight. It’s more comfortable than in there, anyway.”

“Do you want me to hang out here with you?”

“That would be cool, but I don’t want Dad yelling at you again.”

“I’m not afraid of your father. We don’t want your dad yelling at you, though.”

Edward shrugged. “I’ll just ignore him like I normally do. No big deal.”

Sean shook his head and walked away.

“You held your temper very well. If it had been me in your shoes, I’m not so sure Elliot would have lived through the experience.”

“I thought that the doctor’s creed was first, do no harm. Killing the man is doing him harm.”

“Ah, but I would be acting as a man, not a doctor. I couldn’t take him into surgery and accidentally remove both of his kidneys for fun. However, a couple pokes in the nose and a dotted eye are not permanent damage.”

Sean laughed. “I won’t lay a hand on the old geezer, unless I’m forced to. Living with that much hate is punishment enough. It has to be eating him up inside.”

“Maybe it already has and he has nothing left.”

“That’s very possible.”

After dinner, everyone, except Elliot, broke into teams to play charades. Edward insisted on being on Sean and Sawyer’s team. They didn’t win but did have a lot of fun. Throughout the night, he caught Xyla looking at him. Each time he looked her way, she smiled and his heart beat a little faster.

It was just a moment, nothing more.Sean was annoyed that he had to keep reminding himself of that.