KDBookOnline
Share Us
“Della?”
Fine, it had been a lie. But not really. Sometimes “nothing” just meant it hurt too much to say it aloud. A creak sounded outside and she swung around. “Hold on a minute!” She shot to the window, lifted her nose. His scent held there. Then she saw the heart.
“Damn,” she muttered.
“What?” Burnett asked.
She didn’t know why, but she wasn’t ready to tell Burnett about Chase. Embarrassment, probably, that she’d let him get away. Not because she wanted to protect Chase.
She owed him nothing.
Later, she’d tell Burnett. Hopefully after she’d gotten the information from Chase and knew her uncle’s whereabouts.
“I thought I heard someone.” She leaned into the window and searched the sky.
“And?” Burnett asked.
“No one is here.”
“When is the last time you fed?” he asked, probably thinking she wasn’t on top of her game. And he might even be right. She’d let Chase get away. Not once, but twice.
“When?” he repeated.
She knew he wouldn’t count the two bites of hamburger and three fries she’d had at the restaurant. No, he meant blood.
“Tuesday.” She’d gone to the blood bar.
“Can you get out of the house tonight? I’ll meet you with some blood at the park beside your house.”
She hated that he felt as if he had to take care of her. “I can wait until I get back.”
“No, it’s not healthy!”
“Maybe I’ll go to the bar.” She wouldn’t, but he didn’t need to know that.
“No, don’t go to the bar tonight. It’s almost a full moon. Weres will be out and the supernatural bar is the first place they’ll go. I’ll meet you at the park beside your house.”
Her stomach grumbled at the thought of blood, proving Burnett right. She needed to feed. But something about living back at home had her ignoring that hunger—as if doing without blood would somehow help her fit in with her family. Make her more human. Damn, she was pathetic.
Her gaze fell on the fading heart, and she recalled another reason she couldn’t leave. What if Chase showed up again? “Really, I think I can wait. Why don’t—”
“Della.” His tone was dead serious. One that said any argument would be futile.
“Fine. But it will have to be later, when my parents go to bed.” Maybe by then Chase would have come back, or she would have found him.
“I’ll text you with the details around midnight.” He hung up.
Della slipped her phone into her back pocket and stared out at the night—feeling alone.
The moon, almost full, hung in the dark sky. Her instinct nudged her a warning—giving more credence to Burnett’s caution. Weres were gathering strength from the lunar glow right now.
While she no longer hated the species as a whole, her vampire predisposition would never let her trust a stray she might stumble upon. They could be rogue.
But it wasn’t a were that worried her now, or what caused the empty spot in her chest. Nope, that would be her father and a conniving, lying vamp.
Where are you, Chase? What kind of game are you playing this time?
Why had he come and then disappeared? Why had he seemed so dad-blasted elated to see her? Did he know her uncle had killed her aunt? Did he know that she, Burnett, and the FRU were searching for the man? The same man who’d helped Chase survive being Reborn. Was Chase protecting him?