“Which could be considered damaging,” Burnett snapped.

“I don’t like it,” Steve added, looking at her, concern still pulling at his lips.

The doctor scratched his jaw. “It almost feels too coincidental.”

“What’s coincidental?” Della asked.

“That I read about it one day and see it the next. It’s almost as if…”

“Are you suggesting someone read that article and did this on purpose?” Burnett asked, sounding annoyed at the man’s unfinished dialogue with Della. “Why the hell would anyone publish it? Why tell the world of our weak

spot?”

“The article was about a medical study,” the doctor answered as if it made it okay. “And I’m not saying it was intentional, I … I’m just saying it feels coincidental.”

“I don’t believe in coincidences,” Burnett said.

Neither did Della. But the kind of people reading medical journals weren’t the type running around hitting people in the head. Were they? This didn’t make a lick of sense.

Then again, not much in her life made sense, not since she’d caught the dang V1 virus. She should be used to craziness. What she wasn’t used to was someone getting the upper hand on her. Someone making her look bad in front of Burnett. She’d never prove herself FRU-worthy like this.

But as soon as she figured out who that someone was, he’d have hell to pay. And she’d personally make sure he paid it, too. That might win her a few brownie points with Burnett. She even hoped he was the killer of the couple, because that would make her justice even sweeter.

A few minutes later, the doctor had just finished checking her blood pressure and instructing Della to take it easy for a while when a knock sounded at the door.

A girl, around seventeen, popped her head in the door. Her short blond hair bounced around her neck. Her big blue eyes shifted from the doctor to Steve, and just like that, her smile widened.

“There’s some people here. Friends of the patient.” She glanced at Della. Her smile faded. “Oh, and Dad, Mrs. Ledbetter is here with her cat. I put her in room two.”

“Fine,” the doctor said. “I’ll be right out.”

The girl took a small step back, and Della spotted Miranda and Kylie behind her. Miranda, always the more impatient of the two, wiggled between the girl and the door and ran to Della.

“Are you okay?” Miranda asked, her green eyes teary.

“I’m fine,” Della said, hating that she appeared like a sick little girl sitting on a doctor’s table. A doctor’s table that smelled like dog.

Miranda let go of a deep breath. “Lucas said he saw Burnett carrying you to the car and they were taking you to the doctor. Kylie and I both were panicking.”

“She’s going to be okay.” Holiday moved in.

“We were worried.” Kylie focused on Holiday as she moved inside. “Why didn’t you call us?”

“Because I didn’t want to worry you. I was just about to contact you guys.”

“You should have gotten me. I could have … helped.”

By “helped,” Della got that Kylie meant to heal her. Among all of Kylie’s talents, she was also a healer. The only problem was that every time Kylie healed someone she started glowing.

“I didn’t need healing. I’m fine.”

“Anytime there’s a brain injury, it can be difficult,” Holiday said. “My gut said I needed to get her to a doctor.”

“Well, your gut was wrong. I’m fine,” Della insisted again. She looked up and saw the blond chick, obviously the doctor’s daughter, still poised in the door. The girl’s gaze had slipped back to Steve. Della checked her pattern and saw she was part fae and part shape-shifter. An ugly feeling stirred in Della’s gut when she caught a scent of the girl’s pheromones polluting the air. So the girl had a thing for Steve.

Not that Della had any hold on him. They weren’t an item. And yet …

“What matters is you’re okay,” Steve said, sounding like someone who cared too much. Della also noted that he wasn’t paying the blond girl any attention. However, the chick was paying him enough attention for the both of them.

Kylie moved to the table and squeezed Della’s hand. “Don’t scare me like this. What happened?”

“How about let’s get out of this crowded room that still stinks and we can explain later.” Burnett waved toward the door.

Following Burnett’s orders, everyone started walking out like good little soldiers. Della slid her butt off the table.

Her feet hadn’t hit the ground when Steve moved next to her and caught her arm as if he was afraid she might fall. “Stop it,” she seethed in a low voice.

“Stop what?” he asked.

“Treating me like a weakling.”

“I’m just treating you like someone who cares.” His whisper came right at her ear. “Call me when you get home.” He ran a hand down her forearm. His touch sent a sharp twinge of emotion right to her chest.

She managed to nod and then frowned when she realized Steve would be staying here. Here with the pheromone-polluting blonde.

They all stood in the Shadow Falls parking lot. After being force-fed a few more hugs from Miranda, Della watched her two friends head off. She stood between Burnett and Holiday, waiting to see if she was going to be read the riot act for going to the falls in the first place—waiting to get a chance to ask Burnett if any reports had come in on the murder case.

“You need to go to the cabin and rest,” Holiday said.

“No, I’m fine,” Della insisted.

“No, you are not fine,” Holiday countered. “Go rest and I’m going to come by in a couple of hours and we’re going to talk.”

Oh, so the riot act is going to come later, huh? “But—”

Burnett growled. “Do not argue with her.”

Della let out a deep frustrated breath. “Have you gotten anything back on the autopsy yet?”

“Not yet,” he said.

“When you do, please call me.”

“Don’t worry about that right now,” Burnett said. “You go do as Holiday said and rest.”

“You are going to let me work the case, right?”

He growled again.

Knowing when to shut her trap, she swung around and started walking back to her cabin. She got past the first bend and then looked at the woods. Would her attacker’s scent still be lingering at the falls? It was probably too late.

Or was it?

The memory of the terror she’d felt for those few seconds before she’d been hit had her gut knotting. Not fear of the intruder, she hadn’t sensed them at all, but fear of the falls, the death angels, and what they stood for: judgment. Having your life picked apart and all your sins thrown at you like rocks.

Fear curled up in her gut, and vowing never to let fear stop her, she took off into the woods, right back to where trouble started this morning.

The ugly sensation of being unwelcome swelled in her chest as she drew closer, but she’d be damned if she let that stop her.

The death angels were going to have to deal with her visit.

Or they’d deal with her. Again. Could they have done this?

What confused her was why the hell she hadn’t felt the cumbersome feeling coming here this morning. And why, for a little while, the falls looked like some kind of paradise instead of a creepy hangout for dead people.

Stopping a few feet from the edge, she inhaled deeply. The cascading sound of the falls echoed too loudly, as if to chase her away. Dampness seemed to make the trees heavy. Dark shadows swayed on the ground, adding to the haunted feel.

She pushed back the terror crawling up her spine like prickly-legged spiders, raised her face, and breathed in, hoping to find a scent.

Only the smell of wet dirt lingered in the air. But if someone touched something, the scent would hang around longer. She walked closer to a couple of trees, thinking someone might have touched the branches. Nothing. Her gaze shifted and fell to a rock on the ground. Wasn’t that right where she’d been hit? Was that what had bashed her in the head? She picked it up. Bringing the stone to her face, she took a deep sniff.

When the scent filled her nose, her breath caught. Fury, raw and pure, started building, bubbling inside her chest. She dropped the rock, growled, and went to collect her pound of justice.

Chapter Nine

Della hid behind a shed outside the school building, checking her phone for the time every few minutes. Holiday hadn’t said what time she planned on stopping by, but if she came and Della wasn’t “resting,” there’d be hell to pay.

Della didn’t plan on paying hell, she planned on collecting it.

And from one person in particular.

Staring back at one of the three cabin classrooms, she couldn’t get close enough to smell if he was there … well, not without being seen. But classes would end in a few minutes, and if he wasn’t here, she’d have to … The classroom door opened, the new vamp was the first one out, and she felt her fury inch up a degree or two.

He started strolling straight toward the woods.

Great. She preferred to do it without an audience.

Waiting a few minutes for the crowd to scatter, she followed.

Did he know she was here? Probably. Since she’d already picked up on his scent, he’d probably done the same.

But she didn’t care what he knew. It was time for their powwow. And it wasn’t going to be pretty. Hell seldom was.

She spotted his green T-shirt and faded jeans moving between the trees. She’d barely passed the first line of small trees when she realized he’d disappeared. She growled, felt her eyes brighten with anger, and lifted her face to the wind to catch his scent.

“You looking for me?” a voice came from above.

She looked up. He sat perched on a limb about fifty feet off the ground, casually shifting his legs back and forth as if he’d been hanging out there all day. Or as if he was showing off.

But for what? So he could climb trees. Climb trees fast. Did he think that made him special?

The sun peeked behind a cloud and caused her to blink. When she opened her eyes, he’d disappeared again.

What kind of game was he playing? “I’ll find you,” she growled. “And when I do—”

“You won’t have to work hard. I’m right here.” His voice came from behind a tree.

She shot over, ready to ring his neck, but found the space empty.

“Behind you,” he said, so close she could feel his words on the back of her neck.

She swerved around, caught him by his shirt, and yanked him to her. “Stop it,” she seethed, and tightened her fist with wads of green cotton between her fingers.

“Stop what?” he asked, his pale jade eyes so close she saw his pupils change size.

She twisted her hold on his shirt, almost to the point of ripping it, just to let him know she meant business. “You hit me and you’re going to be sorry.”

“Hit you? Where did you get that idea?” he asked.

“Your scent was all over the rock by the falls.”

“Yeah, Mr. James, I mean Burnett, asked me to go there and see if there was any scent left behind when he took you to the doctor.”

She listened as his heart thumped against his chest bone at a normal pace. Of course, he could still be lying, but … why would he when all she’d have to do is ask Burnett?

A slight smile appeared on his lips as if he knew just what conclusion she’d come to. He leaned in a bit. His breath stirred in her hair. “You’re cute when you get mad.”

She shoved him back.

He barely shifted, giving her only an inch, not enough. She could still feel his presence. Smell his skin. See humor dance in his eyes.

“That falls place was creepy, by the way,” he said.

She almost asked if he’d gotten any scent, but didn’t want to be beholden to him for anything.

Yeah, I’ll bet the death angels were eager to put some fire to his egotistical ass. She recalled her other reason for needing a powwow with him. “Last night, were you following me?”

“Following you?”

Her canines came out a bit. “I saw you when I went to meet Burnett at the gate to go to…”

“The FRU case?” he finished.

She clenched her hands. “You were there.”

“Yeah, but I wasn’t following you. I couldn’t sleep and was taking a run. Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt your little rendezvous.”

So he’d seen her and Steve together. Had she even tried to detect anyone? She growled at the vamp.

His smile widened as if he enjoyed knowing he got to her. Which meant from this moment on, she couldn’t let him get to her. She had to ignore him. Pay him about as much attention as a bug stealthily sneaking across a piece of dead grass.

“Fine.” She pivoted around to leave—to show disinterest—the heels of her black ankle-high boots leaving grooves in the dirt. Adios, asswipe!

“Hey, not so quick,” he spouted out, and flashed in front of her, blocking her path.

Damn, he was fast. Almost as fast as Burnett. No wonder he’d been able to hide from her in the trees.

She crossed her arms over her chest and shot him her best go-to-hell look. He didn’t go anywhere, he just stood there studying her as if she’d given him permission. But to call him on it would mean he was getting to her, so she lingered there as if his presence or his observation of her didn’t affect her at all.

The fact that it did bother her annoyed the hell out of her.

“Can’t you give a guy a break?” he finally asked.