Elise stayed on Ian's embrace as long as he needed her presence, letting him feel her warmth and she also felt his living warmth. Ian couldn't express more of how relieved he was to see that she was fine, that no deadly wound was inflicted to her. When he thought of how late he was and how he could be late, anger raise in him, partly to the people who tried to harm her and mostly to himself.
There was a desperation for being useless in his heart that reminded him of what he felt when he lost his mother— the time when he was pushed on the ground, held by many people to watch his mother's last moment with his own two eyes.
