AllFreeNovel
Share Us
* * *
“Della,” Steve said again, as if he weren’t sure she’d heard him.
She pushed back the notion of just ignoring him, and turned to face him again. “Yeah?”
“You sure you’re okay?” he asked.
This time she decided to go for the truth. “No. But ‘okay’ is overrated.”
It was supposed to be funny, but he didn’t smile. He just continued to study her with those dark, caring eyes. Eyes that seemed to see through her charade.
“It’s just that you look…”
“Like shit? I know. Burnett just told me.”
He smiled this time. “I wasn’t going to say … that. You look beaten.”
“Beaten? Me?” she asked, offended. “I prefer shit.”
His smile widened. “Okay, not beaten, maybe just tired.”
As good as it was to see him smile, she didn’t have it in her to return the gesture. “Yeah, I need to hit the sheets for a while.” Right then she recalled how many times she and Steve had hit the sheets together. They would hold on to each other, take things to a certain point—almost to the breaking point—but they’d never crossed the line.
She’d been scared. Scared it wouldn’t last. She’d been right.
He claimed he couldn’t handle her working with Chase, but the truth was he’d planned all along to go to Paris to a school for shape-shifters.
He glanced away for a second, and she could swear he’d read her thoughts. “Well, I gotta…” She waved. “Later.”
He nodded, and his eyes met hers again. While she couldn’t read his expression, something told her he wasn’t any more comfortable with this conversation than she was. She turned and walked away. Walked. Not ran.
With every step, she felt him watch her go. It hit her that the last time he’d been at Shadow Falls, she’d watched him leave. She didn’t know if it meant anything, but for some freaky reason it felt as if it did.
* * *
Instead of taking the path to cabin fourteen, Della cut through a patch of woods. The day was gloomy. And secluded in the alcove of the woods, it appeared almost dark. The damp earth scented the air. Some of the rain from earlier fell from the trees above and splattered on her forearms. A drop spattered onto her face and rolled down her cheek like a tear. She ignored it and kept walking.
Soon she realized something else she was trying to ignore. The feeling as if she weren’t alone. Stopping, she turned a full circle, listening, looking, and inviting trouble to come on out if it lurked in the shadows.
Nothing.
Probably her lack of sleep.
Or the dead.
She evaluated the temperature. It was cold, but was that Mother Nature or a ghost?
“Mrs. Chi? Is that you?”
She got nothing again.
“Bao Yu?” she whispered her name.
Only a light breeze and a distant bird answered back. A few more drops of leftover rain hit her face.
Feeling silly, she took off again. The closer she got to cabin fourteen, the quieter she walked—watching her every step, being extra careful her black boots didn’t snap a twig.
Oh, he would hear her and smell her before she arrived, but the thought of giving him less time to try to come up with a story seemed like a good idea.
She spotted his cabin, and took a deep breath to catch his scent. It lingered in the air, but weak. Stronger were spots where Baxter had lifted his leg and left the world a message that he was there.
She was glad she didn’t have to squat and pee to be noticed.
She took a few more steps toward the wooden structure. Was Chase here? The closer she got, the more certain she was that he wasn’t in. As she stepped up onto the porch, she inhaled again, checking to see if her canine friend Baxter waited inside.
When she’d been in the office, she’d heard Chase call the dog as if he’d wanted to see her. And the truth was, she’d like to see Baxter, too. She got a few feet closer.
No Baxter, either.
She almost left, then stopped.
