Unspoken: Shadow Falls: After Dark (3 page)

“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.”

“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?

He had to be, didn’t he? Why else would he have disappeared out of the blue after she texted him the photo of him and her uncle?

She pressed her forehead to the cold glass pane, remembering their brief kiss, and fought the yin and yang emotions that came whenever she allowed herself to really think about Chase. Sentiments she spent a lot of energy denying, but that in brief moments, like right now, she couldn’t refute.

That damn bond had emotionally tied her to him. Not that it changed anything.

Was Chase smart enough to know that no matter what feelings she might harbor for him, given the choice between him and her father, her father would win? It would probably be like ripping her heart out. But who needed a heart? The dang organ just caused problems.

*   *   *

Chase walked into a house in one of Houston’s middle-class suburban neighborhoods. Eddie had recently rented it under the name Jacob Mackey. He’d taken a month off from his position as a research scientist—a job the Vampire Council provided him. The position had saved not only his own life, but Chase’s, and Della’s, and those of about twenty other vampires who had gone through the rebirth stage in the last five years. Eddie was the doctor and scientist who had discovered the transfusion treatment, along with numerous lifesaving procedures that had helped their kind and others.

Not only was Eddie dedicated to providing better health care for the vampire species, but he’d been Chase’s surrogate father since the plane crash. Then when Chase went through the rebirth, he’d willingly bonded with him. Chase owed him. And more importantly he loved him. Not that they expressed endearments, but actions spoke louder than words.

Which was why this was all going to be so difficult.

Chase moved into the living room, where Eddie sat in his old brown recliner—the only piece of furniture that he moved with him whenever he relocated. On the end table was the framed photo that also went with him. Kirsha. Eddie’s bond mate that had died only a year after they’d been together.

Baxter came running and nudged Chase’s leg with his nose.

Eddie held a newspaper in his hands, and only when Chase dropped down on the sofa did Eddie look up.

He studied Chase. Eddie could read him so well, it was pointless to try and hide anything. Not that Eddie hadn’t ever had secrets from him. Until Della had told him about Bao Yu, he hadn’t known about the murder.

“What’s got your eyes so bright, son?”

“Chao Tsang, your twin. Perhaps you have it wrong. Maybe he did kill your sister.”

Eddie sat up, lowering the recliner with a firm thump. His expression was serious. “That’s ridiculous. I told you what happened. We find Douglas Stone and we’ll have our proof.”

“You said you didn’t see the murder. And the more I get to know your twin, the more—”

“Stop,” Eddie said. “Why would my brother do this?”

“Why would he treat his daughter with such disrespect? Do you have any idea how much he’s hurting her?”

Eddie took a deep breath, and emotion filled his eyes. “You feel for her. She’s your bond mate, so that’s understandable, but don’t toss out harmful statements. Chao is already facing charges.”

“As are you,” Chase countered. “The FRU are looking at you for this! This whole thing is a mess. Leave. Don’t tell me where you’re going, don’t call. Let me do what I have to do. When Douglas Stone is found, and the FRU is no longer hunting you, I’ll let the Vampire Council know and they can contact you.”

He shook his head slowly. “No. You do what you have to do. Don’t worry about me.”

Chase ran a hand over his face. Damn, this was hard. “We need the FRU’s help.”

“The council is on this,” Eddie insisted.

“You, yourself, told me that you’ve had the council looking for Douglas Stone for over sixteen years. They haven’t found him. What makes you think they’ll find him now?”

“They realize the urgency now that this has escalated.”

Chase stared up at the ceiling trying to find an easy way to say this, but there wasn’t one. He looked at Eddie. “I’m resigning my position with the council.”

To his credit, Eddie didn’t look surprised. “To work for them? The FRU?”

Chase nodded.

“The bond you have for her is that strong?” Eddie asked, only the tiniest amount of hurt in his voice. What Eddie was really asking was if the bond he shared with Della was stronger than theirs. It wasn’t any stronger. He was indebted to Eddie, in so many ways, but what he felt for Della was different.

“Does she not feel it?” Eddie continued. “Why does she not join you at the council?”

“She’s stubborn. Like you.” Eddie looked at the picture of Kirsha. Chase knew Eddie couldn’t, wouldn’t argue. He knew how special a bond mate was. Hell, the man had never married again, and it had been over ten years. He might have entertained a few women, but Chase remembered him telling him that his heart would always belong to just one.

“Have you tried to convince her?” Eddie asked.

Chase realized he needed to be completely honest. “It’s not just the bond.” He swallowed. “I see the good the FRU is doing.”

“And you don’t see what good the council has done?”

“Of course I do, but the council has always run with the us-against-them policy. All supernaturals need to come together. The FRU is working toward that. It’s a good goal.”

“Because we think taking care of our own comes first, we are the enemy?”

“No. Not the enemy. The council needs to exist. But to govern, we need to unite—not only with the other supernaturals, but with the federal government and the human police.”

“If the FRU has their way, the council won’t exist.”

Chase got the feeling that Eddie’s complete distrust of the FRU was more than just a political stance. But it was something Eddie never spoke of.

“Then someone needs to show the FRU that’s wrong. I could be that someone.” He tightened his hands. “Look, I’m not saying their procedures are perfect, but I agree with a lot of their policies. United we can accomplish more. Have more resources. Sources that could help us find Stone.”

Eddie went back to the window, staring out into the night. Guilt washed over Chase. With Chase being raised like his son these past years, Eddie expected him to follow his advice.

“I know you don’t respect my decision,” Chase said.

“Do I agree with it? No.” Eddie turned around. “But I respect you enough that I will not try to stop you. You are your own person, Chase Tallman.” A sad smile appeared in his eyes. “You are so much like your father. He and I never agreed on politics either.”

“Then respect me enough to do one more thing for me,” Chase said. “Go somewhere else. Somewhere the FRU can’t find you. Somewhere I don’t know, so when they ask me where you are, I won’t have to lie. Because if they can’t find Stone, they’ll want you for this.”