Unspoken: Shadow Falls: After Dark (8 page)

The were shrugged. “Probably just as well. Della’s pretty pissed at you.”

“She told you that?” What else had she mentioned?

“No. She told Kylie.” He frowned. “And Kylie made me promise not to say anything. Which means I need to learn to keep my mouth shut.”

“Don’t worry,” Chase said. “I don’t think Della’s dislike toward me is a big secret right now.”

*   *   *

Della headed back to her house. Thankfully, Burnett hadn’t insisted on escorting her. But he hadn’t been able to send her off without a warning. “Be careful.”

Like she would be anything but careful.

“Text me when you get there.”

She rolled her eyes, but didn’t waste her time giving him more hell.

As tempting as it was to defy Burnett and go find Chase, she knew Burnett would come unglued. And an unglued Burnett would not be easy to handle. Yet, still buzzing with unwanted emotions, she took the long route just to blow off some steam. And to check the area for any stray weres. Even with her heart overloaded with Chase, her uncle, and her dad’s murder case, she intended to find whoever had killed her neighbors. Find them and make them pay.

Following the line of trees, she dropped down low near the strip center, close enough to pick up any scents. Nothing. Even the earlier traces had faded. Dodging treetops, she headed back to her place, then spotted the thicket of trees at the park. Deciding to just give it a quick pass, she changed course.

The moon, almost full, cast sprays of light into the trees, causing shadows. At first she got nothing, then it hit. The musky scent of were, more than one. Knowing the dangers of confronting a were this close to a full moon, she decided to just fly by. If they looked suspicious she’d give Burnett a ring.

See, Burnett? I am careful!

Darting a little lower, the scents grew stronger, and familiar. But because she hadn’t fully paid attention to the scents at the jewelry store, she wasn’t sure if the trace came from the guys she’d seen earlier. She needed to see the guys to confirm.

Before she spotted the weres, she spotted someone else. A girl. A human girl, if Della’s nose was right. She was running, sweating, fear seeping out of her pores. Della lost the visual as another thick clump of pine trees rose from the ground. But what she didn’t lose was the sound of the girl’s scream. It rose up and the sheer terror in it sent a shiver down Della’s spine.

Well, crap. Careful had just gone out the window.

She started down.

When she got past one cluster of trees, she saw the blond girl, probably no more than fifteen, surrounded by weres. Oddly, their scents weren’t very strong, so maybe not full weres. Which would mean they may not have full strength, either.

“I called the cops, you idiots, and they’re coming,” the girl screamed, sounding brave, but the shakiness in her voice gave her away.

Della counted four of them. Confident, or almost confident, she could handle all four—depending on just how much lunar strength they had—she headed down. Feeling her eyes grow hot, and her front teeth lengthen, she landed to the right of their little circle.

They knew when she’d landed, or probably a second before, because they turned away from the girl to face her. No doubt their dislike of vampires made her the more attractive victim. These were not the boys she’d seen earlier. She couldn’t be positive if they were the ones she’d halfway smelled at the jewelry store. But they were still being bad boys.

In the corner of her eye, Della saw the girl running away and felt some relief that she wouldn’t have to worry about her.

“Sorry to intrude,” she smarted off while assessing her situation. She knew she’d be fine if she could just keep her distance, and their attention, without them getting their dirty paws on her. She tuned her ears to listen to the girl, judging her distance. When the girl got to freedom, or arrived in a public place where the weres wouldn’t attack, she could simply fly out of there and leave these rogue dogs grounded without even breaking a nail. Then she’d call Burnett.

Such a good plan. And one that would have worked if her ears hadn’t been so tuned in to the girl that she missed the two weres who’d come up behind her. Each grabbed an arm.

Definitely half weres, because their scents weren’t that strong either.

Oh, shit. She felt a fist slam into her ribs and she gasped for air. She had one moment of concern that it might not just be a nail that she broke. Not that she was going to make it easy on them … or let them win.

She was just going to have to open up another can of whoop ass.

“Oh, so ya’ll wanna fight, do ya? Why didn’t you tell me that?”

Yanking out of one of the dog’s clutches, she coldcocked the other who came up to confront her. He dropped to the ground.

Another rushed in front of her, his fist drawn. She kicked that bastard right in the gonads. He yelped like a young pup.

Then she used the creep still holding on to her as a bowling pin to down the two others coming at her.

She was preparing to fly when two others jumped her from behind.

Damn. She swung a fist.

Damn. She started kicking.

Damn. She took a hard punch to her stomach.

*   *   *

Chase landed to the side of the strip center, still decorated with yellow crime scene tape. He drew in a deep breath. The tiniest bit of were scent lingered but not nearly enough to be able to identify it as one he’d gotten earlier. Looking north toward Della’s house, the temptation bit. Bit hard.

Had Burnett told Della about him?

Was she thrilled, nonchalant, pissed?

Damn, he wanted to see her.

He almost took off toward her house, but heard Burnett’s warning.
You said you wanted to earn my respect. So start earning it by listening.

Pushing his desire aside, he took off, but once airborne he saw two police cars, lights flashing, driving down a street—a street that led to the park.

Thinking it might have something to do with the weres, and feeling a bit bad he hadn’t checked things out earlier that night, Chase shot forward, hoping to get a peek of what trouble transpired before the cops arrived.

From his not-so-good vantage point, he spotted and smelled the trouble. Weres. Definitely weres, or at least part weres. A group of them. He thought he counted six—no, eight—all going against one. He inhaled and instantly knew a couple of those guys were the same ones he’d come across earlier. Another deep breath and his nose picked up the scent of a vampire. The victim, maybe? Then the scent exploded in his brain, and went right to his heart. The air in his chest froze.

“Friggin’ hell!” he seethed, and prayed he wasn’t too late.

Chapter Nine

A few feet from the struggle, Chase saw Della was still standing. Bleeding, but standing. And the smell of his bondmate’s blood made him thirsty for more blood. With a growl that came from his soul, he tossed them away from Della two at a time. Their bodies landed among the trees, one even getting caught on the limbs of a pine.

Still caught up in the chaos of the fight, Della clipped him in the jaw. It hurt like hell, but he didn’t budge. “It’s me.” Chase tried to reach for her but she backed away, fist still swinging.

All of a sudden, recognition hit her expression. “I thought—” Her breath caught and she wiped a hand over her lip and smeared blood across her cheeks.

“Are you okay?” he asked, air still trapped in his chest, fury still making his blood burn and his eyes bright.

“I could have taken care of it myself,” she snapped.

The fact that she still had her pride intact told him she was okay. “Yeah, but I didn’t want you to have all the fun.” Sirens filled the night and blue lights flashed through the trees. The sounds of cars screeching to a halt at the park’s edge echoed.

“We gotta go!” he said and smiled. She didn’t take flight. He heard the footsteps fast approaching and rushed forward, caught her by the waist, pulled her against him—where she felt so damn right—and took off into the dark sky. They were barely above the trees when he heard cops yelling at the weres.

She fought him for a fraction of a second.

Looking down, she must have spotted the police. She remained silent, her body so close to his, and his heart thumping at the closeness as he flew them farther away. God help him, but he could swear her heart was racing faster than his.

Was it because of him, or was she still reacting to the threat of the fight?

“Land,” she finally seethed.

“Just a little farther.” He savored the closeness and he pressed his face into the curve of her neck. The sweet scent of her skin and her shampoo filled his nose.

Knowing she wouldn’t tolerate it much longer, he landed in an alley, a block from her house.

She ran from his arms as soon as their feet hit the ground. Swinging around, she stared at him with bright eyes. “Where’s Feng?”

He inhaled and tried to convince himself that some of her anger was residual, left over from the fight. “I don’t know.”

“Because you told him not to tell you?”

He almost denied it, but he was tired of lying to her. “Yes. Feng didn’t kill her, Della. I’m going to find the person who did. And I’m going to get your dad off.”

Della just stared, hurt reflecting in her eyes. “Why doesn’t my uncle come in and talk if he’s innocent?” Unable to stop himself, he reached up to push back a strand of her dark hair. She stopped him with a raised hand, but he noticed the bruises on both her knuckles and her face.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” The desire to race back and hurt the bastards who’d hurt her burned in his gut.

“I asked you a question!” She inched closer, her eyes a bright green.

He had to think a second to remember what she’d asked. “If Eddie came in, the FRU would just pin the murder on him. They wouldn’t even look for this other guy.”

“You don’t know that,” she accused. “And his name isn’t Eddie!”

“Yes, I do know that, and so do you. And since he pulled me out of that plane crash and saved my life I’ve known him as Eddie.” Right then, he felt it, that odd kind of cold he got when Della’s dead aunt had been hanging around. He tucked his fists into his jean pockets.

Della stared down the dark alley, her fist clutching and then releasing. Was that still the panic, or was her aunt back to cause trouble? Then she swung around to face him. “We need to go back.”

“Back…?” It was almost too cold to think.

“To the park. One or more of those weres might be a murderer.”

“Yeah, but the cops are there.”

“Doesn’t matter.” She started forward as if to take off in flight.

He caught her. “It matters. If we just show up they’ll suspect that we were part of it. I don’t think Burnett would appreciate having to bail us out of jail.”

“They could be the ones who killed some people I cared about.” Her voice shook and her breath caused a puff of steam to lift from her lips. She looked again down the alley.

“Is that who’s here?” he asked.

Della’s head snapped back. “Can you see her?”

“No.” At least he hoped not. He wasn’t going to chance it and look down that alley. “I feel the cold.”

“She was my neighbor.” Her voice was edged with pain and grief.

He realized Della hadn’t pulled away. He’d give his right arm if she would just lean on him a little. Della wasn’t the type to lean on people very often, but when she did need it, he wanted to be the person she’d turn to.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“You’re not the only one who’s sorry. Which is why I have to go back.”

He tightened his hold. “Going back there is a bad idea.” But she had a point. The FRU needed to interrogate the weres before the regular cops released them.

“I’ll call Burnett.” No doubt Burnett would be furious that Chase was with Della. Probably earn Chase a good chewing out, but it didn’t even matter.

Della’s phone dinged with a text. As if she suddenly realized he was touching her, she glared at his hand on her arm and pulled away, then snatched her phone from her pocket. After reading the message, she looked up, puzzled.

“What?” he asked.

“It’s Burnett. He wants to know if we’re okay.”

Chase frowned. “He knows?”

“It seems that way.” She started texting back.

Before she finished, Chase got the vamp’s scent. So did Della, because her fingers stopped moving. Chase’s gut knotted, preparing to get hell.

Burnett hadn’t gotten secure on his feet when Della said, “Don’t start giving me crap. All I did was take the long way home. And if I hadn’t, some poor girl would—”

“I’m not giving you crap,” Burnett said.

Is that because he’s saving it all to give to me?
Chase stood quiet, dreading what might be forthcoming.

“You okay?” Burnett asked Della.

“Fine.” She sounded offended by the inquiry.

“Did you get any traces off them?” Burnett asked. “Are they the same ones from earlier?”

“They aren’t the boys I saw walking. I didn’t get a good enough trace to know if they were the same scents from the jewelry store. I think they’re only half were.”

“But they are the ones I smelled earlier with animal blood on them,” Chase said.

Both Della and Burnett looked at him.

“You were here earlier?” Burnett asked.

Della didn’t appear surprised; she knew he’d been in the area. But she hadn’t told Burnett. Was she trying to protect him from the big bad Burnett? Chase liked that thought.

“Yes, before I came to Shadow Falls. Around seven.”

“So about the time of the murder,” Burnett said. “Did you get a visual?”

“No, just a trace.”

Burnett stood there as if trying to grasp it all. “The blood, was it—”

“I didn’t hang around to identify it as feline.” When Burnett looked surprised, Chase added, “I saw Lucas when he came back. He told me about the cat. That’s why I came here, to the murder scene … to see if I could still pick up the were scents.”
And to go check out some scumbags.
But he didn’t say that.

Burnett didn’t appear pissed. Was he just holding back until he had Chase alone? Burnett stared at the sky as if trying to come up with a plan. “Della,” he said. “Head back home. Straight home.”