And she loved him, she realized. She hadn’t felt this way toward anyone before. Almost as if he sensed her thoughts, he leaned down and kissed her brow again. “Oh, and if you get some scholarship to some school, I’m coming with you. I’m not losing you. Okay?”

“You won’t,” she said. And while she wanted to believe him, that they would get out of this alive, that they would actually get a chance to make a life together, she didn’t. She didn’t believe.

But at least they had now. She lifted her face and kissed him. Kissed him with desire and passion. “Wanna make that four times?”

“I asked you a question!” the voice came from somewhere else. And now it wasn’t Liam’s voice, or Chase’s.

Della snapped open her eyes and the sun nearly blinded her.

“I’m sorry,” Chase said.

Della turned and looked at Chase, he wore the same stunned expression on his face that she must have. Then she saw the officer standing outside the driver’s door, and she met his brown-eyed gaze. Unhappy gaze. Unhappy man. He looked like a bulldog—one that needed a little less time at his food bowl. He even had flabby cheeks like a bulldog, one of those kinds that drooled.

“We’re nervous,” she spit out. “I mean, I’m nervous. I’ve never been pulled over before.”

“That’s probably because you haven’t been hanging out with Speedy Gonzales here for that long.”

Chase lost his usual look of superiority and his expression was one of apology. “I was trying to show off for my new girlfriend,” Chase said to the officer. “I know I was wrong. Ticket me if you have to. But at least I brought her out here so I wouldn’t risk an accident.”

“You mean so you wouldn’t risk getting caught.” The cop frowned, his jowls jiggled. “Let me see your license, son,” he barked.

Chase handed it to him.

He walked off, or rather wobbled off. He even walked like a bulldog. He got into his car again, where his blue lights still flashed.

Chase looked at her. She didn’t say anything, but he must have read the pain in her eyes.

“We’ll find them.”

“We have to,” Della said.

Her phone chimed. She yanked it out of her pocket and looked at it. Probably her mom. She still hadn’t returned Della’s call.

She glanced at the number. “It’s Burnett. You don’t think he already knows we’ve been—?”

“If he does, then he has an informant in every cop shop in Texas.”

Della prepared herself for an ass chewing. “I wouldn’t find that too hard to believe.”

Chapter Thirty-two

Burnett didn’t know they were being pulled over and ticketed. He’d called to inform them that Shawn wouldn’t be meeting them at Uck’s Burgers. The agent supposedly was working on another case. The fact that Burnett was vague about the details almost made Della suspicious.

Burnett’s voice came across the line. “I was thinking you should probably just go back to Shadow Falls.”

“No, we’re going to Buck’s.”

“Why? Our main suspect isn’t going to be in town until Friday. You’ll be wasting your time.”

“No, remember, I got a familiar trace of a were at the restaurant that night. I think it means something.”

“I know but … Shawn can’t make it and—”

“And we’ll be fine,” she said in a determined tone. “Trust me.”

Burnett got quiet. “Fine, but remember the rules. Don’t initiate any trouble. If you get a lead, call me ASAP. And…” He went on for another two minutes and ended with, “But I really think you are wasting your time.”

Thankfully, he hung up before the officer came back to give Chase her ticket.

Unfortunately, thirty minutes after sitting in Uck’s Burgers, Della was afraid Burnett was right. Neither she nor Chase had gotten any scent of a were. There had been a few vamps, and they certainly had checked Della and Chase out, but obviously decided not to cause waves.

Chase ordered them two sodas. He remembered she drank diet, and for some reason, the thought made her feel good. They chatted about mundane things, knowing others were listening.

But when the vamps left, the conversation got a little less mundane.

“Did you get anything from the vision that might help us?” Chase asked.

Della let herself be pulled back into the memory that could easily break her heart. “They said something about someone wanting to make them murderers.”

“I know.”

“Do you think someone’s making assassins out of fresh turns?”

Chase shook his head. “They could, but you’d need to trust anyone you sent out to do something like that.”

“The noise?” Della said. “It was like some construction equipment above them.”

He nodded. “But it could have been anything.”

She trailed her finger down her cup. “We need to tell Burnett about it. We never even told him about the other one.”

“If you think it will help, go for it. I just don’t see what good it’ll do.” He grabbed a napkin and wadded it up in frustration. “What I don’t understand is why the ghost is doing this. Putting us there for no reason. We’re not getting anything that will help us find them.”

Della felt the same way, but then suddenly, she knew the answer. “But we care.”

“What?”

“We care. She wants us to care about them.”

Chase exhaled and looked down at his drink. “Then she’s succeeding.” He stabbed his straw into his cup.

They both grew quiet, as if trying to come to terms with caring. Then Chase looked up at her and she could tell he’d moved his thoughts away from the vision. “Why didn’t you fake your death like most everyone else?” he asked.

She shrugged. “I had Chan, and when my parents took me to the hospital because I was sick, I ran into some other supernaturals and they gave me the number for Shadow Falls. Holiday’s not big on vamps faking their death.”

He nodded and stared at his soda for a while. “But it obviously hasn’t been all that easy for you. I’ve heard you complain about your dad … and your aunt. And the one parents’ day I was there, you … looked pretty miserable sitting with them.”

She exhaled. “There were times I thought it might be easier the other way, but after hearing Natasha, I don’t know. Holiday may be on to something.”




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