AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Della put her palm over her mouth. Tears, tears hotter than her skin, rolled over the back of her hand.
“She’s here because she loves you!” her mother said. “Can’t you see that?”
Footsteps sounded and the study door slammed in his wake.
Della slid down the hall wall, hugged her knees, and sat there, letting herself cry. She’d come home because Marla, her sister, had begged her to. Now Della had to wonder. Would it be in the best interest of everyone if she went back to Shadow Falls?
How many times would she have to be reminded? She didn’t belong here anymore.
She stood up, walked back into her bedroom, and found her phone. She hit the name of someone she knew she could count on—someone who was becoming more of a father to her than the man downstairs.
She called Burnett.
Chapter Three
Chase Tallman stood outside the entrance to Della’s house, his hands tightened in fists. Anger burned his eyes. Someone needed to teach that man a lesson, and damned if Chase wouldn’t like to volunteer for the job. Could he not see how much he was hurting his own daughter? The fact that he didn’t know his daughter was listening didn’t excuse shit.
He could feel Della’s pain. Feel the knot curling up inside his chest.
Parents were supposed to love you unconditionally. His had. He had never doubted it. Della deserved that too, damn it!
Chase had landed on the house’s eaves, beside Della’s window. She hadn’t been in her room, but then he saw her outside her bedroom door, her shoulders dropped in defeat. Della Tsang didn’t do defeat. Behind that tough exterior, there was a vulnerability to her, but she seldom caved in. What was wrong?
He jumped down beside the door, and overheard Chao Tsang’s hurtful words. Every single one of them.
Maybe Feng Tsang, or Eddie Falkner as Chase had known the man who took him in after his parents’ death, was wrong. Maybe Chao had killed his sister. For Della’s sake he hoped not, but right now Chase didn’t have a high opinion of her father.
He flew back up to the roof, wanting to comfort Della. Her taste, that quick kiss he’d stolen, still lingered on his tongue and he craved more. But all he wanted to do now was hold her. Console her.
She had her back to the window, her phone to her ear, and obviously her guard down or she’d have sensed him.
He tilted his head to see who she was talking to. With about ten feet and a glass pane separating them, all he could make out was that the voice was male.
His memory shot back to Lilly mistaking him for Steve. That had stung. Had Della called Steve for comfort?
“I need to come back to Shadow Falls. Can you call my father and tell him I’m falling behind on my grades?”
So it was Burnett on the phone.
She paused, then spoke again. “I don’t care. Make something up. He’ll agree to it.” Her shoulders tightened. “Yes, he will. He doesn’t want me here.” She held her breath. The pain sounded in her voice. “Tomorrow’s fine.”
Chase exhaled a pound of frustration and fury. Fury aimed at her father for being such a bastard, and frustration because … Chase didn’t want her back at Shadow Falls.
Considering Burnett’s distrust of Chase, if Della went back, it would be almost impossible for him to see her. These last three weeks away from her had been hell. Right then his need to be close to her pushed him to accept what he had to do.
It would change everything, but it was the right thing. He’d have already done it, if Burnett hadn’t screwed things up.
Chase considered opening her window and telling her his plans, but he recalled her anger at him. She’d try to stop him. He couldn’t let that happen.
Knowing that Della would either hear him or catch his scent any second, he drew a heart in the condensation on the window and left.
He’d gotten less than a mile when he picked up the scent of some weres … and blood. Diving low, the smell got stronger. Thankfully, it was animal blood. He pulled up higher and went to take care of business.
* * *
“What happened?” Burnett asked.
Della gripped her phone tighter. “Nothing.”
