Kylie tossed Della two rolls of tape. They stuck the end pieces of the tape to the pile of marsupials, and then they both zipped around, circling the animals and taping all five of them in one big, eight-by-eight-foot duct-tape ball. When those four rolls ended, Miranda handed them four more she’d found in the corner of the room.

“It was nice of them to leave us the tape, wasn’t it?” Miranda grinned.

Della glanced back at the chair with duct tape still hanging from one arm. She couldn’t help but wonder about the fate of the fresh turn who’d last sat there.

“Yeah, very nice.”

They finished all eight rolls. As a matter of fact, other than one twitching snout sticking out, you could barely see any kangaroo fur through the crisscrossed tape.

When the huge ball started jiggling, Miranda grinned. “They’re probably trying to scratch their balls. I gave them jock itch, too.”

Della cracked up laughing. When the moment of humor ended, she pulled out her phone. “I have to call Burnett.”

Kylie nodded. “I was just about to say that. But what are you going to tell him? Are you going to tell him about your uncle and aunt?”

Della hesitated. Would she have to tell Burnett everything? “You’re right. First, I should check the files.” As fast as she could, she started thumbing through files. She found Chan’s file first. The duct-tape ball jiggled even more, and she hurried to the T file for Tsang.

Her finger stopped on the file with the name Feng Tsang. “Found my uncle’s,” Della said, and continued thumbing through folders. “But not my aunt.” She picked up her uncle’s file and read just enough to know it was true. Her uncle hadn’t died. He’d been turned and faked his own death.

Unexpected emotion filled her chest. Tears filled her eyes. She had a vampire uncle. Well, she did if he wasn’t the ghost.

“This ball is moving quite a bit,” Kylie said. “I think—”

“I know,” Della said. “Here’s my plan. I’m going to tell Burnett part of the truth. I came here to see if I could find Chan. He won’t know I’m lying if I tell that truth.” She grabbed the phone to call him.

But before she punched in the first number, she heard a loud crash from the front, and then came footsteps, as if someone, or more than someone, was heading right toward them.

“Shit.” Della dropped the files on the desk, her skin prickling with a sense of danger. She took a flying leap forward to the door. Kylie beat her there.

Della inhaled, prepared to fight as the sound of footfalls moved closer. Then three figures came hauling ass down the hallway. She met the lead guy’s gaze and her fear subsided. The stubborn shape-shifter with beautiful brown eyes stopped running. Relief flashed across Steve’s face. Then the relief turned to anger.

Behind Steve, Perry and Lucas came to a sudden stop. Then all of them moved into the room, looking angry.

“What are y’all doing here?” Della demanded.

“What the hell is that?” Perry asked, motioning to the large duct-tape ball moving on the floor.

“Just a few marsupials,” Miranda said, and ran up to Perry and put her hands on his chest. “I saved Della and Kylie by turning those creeps into kangaroos.”

“I told you this could be dangerous,” Steve growled.

Della frowned at him. “And I told you I’d be fine. And I am, we all are.”

“And we caught the bad guys.” Miranda’s smile came with a ton of pride. “And he’s really bad.”

“You shouldn’t have tried to do this alone,” Lucas snapped, his eyes still glowing orange, but he was looking at Kylie, not Della.

Kylie stepped closer to him. “We weren’t trying to do anything. We didn’t think it would be dangerous, but it doesn’t matter, because we handled it.”

“You could have been hurt,” Lucas said. “All of you could have been hurt. Why didn’t you tell us about this and we could have handled it?”

Della frowned at Steve. What all had he told them? Shit, he had to have told them almost everything for them to be here.

“This was stupid,” Lucas snapped.

For some reason, Lucas’s attitude reminded her of Burnett’s chauvinistic attitude, and the residual anger lingering in her chest swelled.

“Why was it stupid?” Della asked. “Why would we run to you instead of taking care of it ourselves? Is it because we’re girls? Do you think having a penis makes you superior?”

Perry laughed. “It’s not the penis, it’s the strength.”

“Strength?” Della asked, fuming. “You want me to show you who’s stronger?”

Perry laughed at her as if she wasn’t serious. And okay, maybe the twerp could transform into a giant dragon and do more pushups, or pick up an automobile easier than her, but she had speed.

“Strength isn’t everything,” Miranda said, pride in her voice, as she frowned at her beloved shape-shifter. “I’m not very strong, but I saved the day.”

“It could have gone badly.” Lucas glared at Della.

Della glared right back.

Lucas looked at Kylie as if expecting her to defend him. “You all could have been hurt.”

“We could have,” Kylie said, her words not angry, but confident and firm. “Just like you could have on any of your missions for the Were Council.”

“My missions are completely different.” Lucas gestured at the mass of duct tape inching across the floor. “We would have been more capable to handle this.”

Kylie’s chin came up a notch, telling Della that the chameleon wasn’t about to back down. “I hate to admit it, but I think Della’s right. You,” her gaze shifted to Steve and Perry, “all of you think because we’re girls, we’re weak. But we aren’t. And we weren’t doing anything that was dangerous. We came to ask an old vampire a few questions. An old vampire who we knew was into helping vampires. We didn’t know we were going to stumble across a vampire-trafficking organization.”

“Damn, is that what this is?” Perry asked.

Miranda nodded, again looking proud of herself. Not that Della begrudged her. She’d really saved their asses.

Kylie continued, “That said, we dealt with it. And with class, I might add.” She waved at the wrapped ball of kangaroos. “And if that isn’t being capable, I don’t know what is.”

“It’s not about who’s more capable, damn it!” Steve growled out. “It’s the fact that we care what happens to you. Of course, you,” he pointed at Della, “are more afraid of someone caring about you than any situation you could find yourself in.” He stormed out.

Della stood there, embarrassed that Steve had blurted out something so personal. The bad thing was that she couldn’t deny it. She’d take on bad guys any day of the week before putting her heart on the chopping block.

Kylie, looking a little miffed, spoke up. “Look, we’re about to call Burnett to resolve the rest of this. If he’s gets upset about this, you shouldn’t be a part of it.”

A deep frustrated sigh came from Lucas. But when Kylie motioned for the door, he didn’t argue. He left. Perry cut Miranda an almost apologetic look and followed Lucas.

“Male chauvinistic pigs!” Della fumed, her anger still boiling, her heart still aching.

“They can’t help it,” Kylie said. “Holiday says it’s in their DNA. They think they were put on earth to protect us. But that doesn’t mean we have to like it, or accept it.”

“I don’t like it either,” Miranda said, then smiled. “That’s a lie. I do like it a little. I love it when he worries about me. I guess that makes me weak, huh?”

“No, it doesn’t,” Kylie said. “I like that Lucas wants to take care of me, I just don’t like it when he acts like I can’t take care of myself.”

They both looked at Della as if to get her opinion, but all she offered was a nod. Of course, you are more afraid of someone caring about you than any situation you could find yourself in. Steve’s words rolled around her head, bumping against her heart. And God help her, all she could think was that if Steve was so worried about her, maybe it wasn’t really over. Then another unsettling thought hit. Like Miranda, she kind of liked Steve being protective. But contrary to what Kylie said, she did see that as a weakness. One she needed to work on.

Kylie glanced at the moving duct-tape ball of kangaroos. “You’d better call Burnett before they work their way out of there.”

“I’d love to see them try,” Della muttered. She started to dial Burnett and then stopped again. “Why don’t you two leave, too? I’ll tell Burnett I snuck off and did this alone.”

Kylie made a face. “Do you think he’ll believe you managed to do this all on your own?”

Della frowned. Kylie was right. She might have taken on two of the goons, but five would have been too much.

“Yeah, and how are you going to explain that they’re kangaroos?” Miranda asked.

Della grinned. “Well, I was thinking you could change them back before you left, but now that I think about it, when one of them says something about being hopping mad, Burnett will see your mark all over it.”

Della paused and looked back at the wiggling mass of slimeballs. “But you two know he’s going to be spitting mad. I hate that you two will get in trouble.”

“He can’t get any madder than he did when I turned him into a kangaroo,” Miranda said.

“He can’t be that mad,” Kylie said. “We got some bad guys. And we don’t have a scratch on us.”

Kylie was wrong. Burnett seemed mad from the moment he answered the phone. She’d given him the bit of truth that she’d decided to tell. She’d come here to see if she could find anything about her cousin Chan and accidentally stumbled across an organization that was forcing newly turned vampires into becoming indentured servants. Since the whole Chan bit wasn’t a lie, Burnett wouldn’t know she was withholding.

He calmed down a little when she assured him they were all fine, not a scratch on them. While still on the phone with her, he used his office phone and called some FRU authorities in Houston and had them coming there within five minutes. He would be there in about half an hour. The fact that Burnett could do that amazed her. Just how fast was he?

When she hung up, she went outside quickly to hide her uncle’s file in Kylie’s car. She’d just hidden the file in the trunk and slammed it shut when a peregrine falcon landed on it.

Della stared at the bird. “The FRU are due here any minute. You should leave or you might get your ass in a sling.”

She saw the bird turn its little head first left, and then right, as if checking whether anyone was watching. Then magical electrocharged bubbles started popping off. “I don’t care if I get in trouble,” Steve said, and hopped down to the ground, landing only a few feet in front of her.

Della shook her head. “Well, I don’t want you to get in trouble, so leave.”

He closed his eyes a second, then opened them. “I just wanted … I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry I overreacted yesterday, and then just now in there. I just … worry about you.” Honesty and emotion sounded in his deep voice.

Her chest gripped. “I’m fine. Look, I’m not hurt.”

“Then why are you bleeding?” he asked.

“I’m not bleeding,” she said.

“Your nose.” He grabbed the hem of his shirttail and brought it up to her nose.

When he pulled back, she saw the red stain. She touched her nose. “I don’t even remember being hit.”

“You wouldn’t remember,” he said. “I’m sure you were more worried about your friends than yourself.” He dropped the hem of his shirt and glided his finger across her cheek. “Am I forgiven?”

The soft touch sent currents of breath-catching emotion right to her heart. “I wasn’t the one who was angry,” she said.

“I know, but you weren’t the one who lost their cool, either. And the only reason I came here today was because … I just freaked out about you being hurt and all I could think was I’d been ugly to you.”

She swallowed the lump of emotion down her throat. “I can’t make you any promises, Steve.”

“We’ll see about that,” he said, and smiled.

That was his way of saying he’d prove her wrong. And part of her almost wished he would.

“Did you find anything out about your cousin and uncle?”

She nodded. “It’s true, my uncle was turned into a vampire.”

“Do you know where to look for him?”

“No, but at least I know for sure now.” It was a start, Della told herself, and she knew she wouldn’t stop without finding all the answers. But now she needed to find out about her aunt.

“I’ll help any way I can.” He leaned in and kissed her cheek. A soft, sweet kiss. Her eyelids fluttered closed and she longed to lean closer. She ached to be held, to feel his strength around her.

When he pulled back, he had a frown on his face. “You’re still warm.” He reached up to touch her brow.

She caught his arm. “I might have a little cold or something. Now go before you get caught here.”

“A cold?”

“Go,” she insisted.

“Fine. But call me as soon as you can.”

She nodded, and the bubbles appeared around him as he returned to bird form. Then, not wanting to leave Kylie and Miranda with the ball of kangaroos too long, she took off toward the door.