Almost Midnight (Shadow Falls: After Dark #3.5)(58)

Miranda just sat there. “Then who would have done it?”

“Your mom, maybe?” Kylie offered. “We know how much she wanted you to win.”

“No.” Miranda shook her head. “She’s a rule follower. Hates cheaters.”

All of a sudden, Miranda felt Shawn’s gaze on her. She looked at him. His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. Guilt was hard to swallow. She stood up. “You?”

When he didn’t immediately deny it, she knew she was right. “Why would you do that?”

“I … I didn’t…” He paused, then ran a hand through his thick, blond curls.

Miranda looked at Della. “Is he lying?”

Della tilted her head to the side to listen to Shawn’s heartbeat with her ultrasensitive vampire hearing. “Do bears shit in the woods?”

Miranda gazed back at Shawn. “Yes. They do!”

He held up his hands. “No, I didn’t send you power.”

“Now, he’s telling the truth,” Della said, looking puzzled.

“I offered you some calm. That’s all.” He raked a hand over his face. “You looked panicked and I just … I didn’t even mean to do it. I saw you and it just happened. And it was just a breath of calm.” He inhaled and his oh-so-blue gaze seemed to ask for forgiveness, even when he didn’t say the words. “You pulled off the spell … you did that all on your own.”

“Yeah, but…” Miranda stood there befuddled. Shawn knew if he got caught the council would have come down on his ass. Why would his instincts push him to … why did he care if she botched it and made an idiot out of herself? And why did … why did knowing he cared make her lungs accept air a little better? Finally, she spoke. “It’s against the rules.”

“So is putting horseshit in front of another contestant’s door,” Shawn said, his tone firm and wide shoulders widening. “You took a ten-point deduction to protect someone who didn’t deserve protecting. And guess what the deduction is for someone offering calm? Ten. So you’re even.”

“I like how this guy thinks,” Della said.

So did Miranda. She liked a lot more than just how he thought, too. As in the tall firm body, blond curls, and blue eyes. He looked like a swimsuit model, who should be photographed on a beach, holding a surfboard at his side.

She could still remember how it felt to be in his arms. Safe. His scent had been … yummy—fresh and kind of like the seashore. But she didn’t want to go there. There was another scent she craved. One of a certain shape-shifter. A certain shape-shifter who’d turned his back on her.

“Oh, hell,” Shawn muttered. “Do you know what this means?”

“What?” Miranda asked and Della and Kylie stared at him, too.

“As Burnett said, winning puts your life in more danger. And if what I did really helped you, then … it’s partly my fault.” He placed his hands behind his neck and squeezed. “You’re right. You need to recuse yourself. I’ll tell the council what I did.” He started to walk out.

The idea of him getting into trouble for helping her didn’t sit well.

“No.” She caught him. The touch sent another jolt of attraction through her and she pulled her hand away. “I can just say someone did it.”

The look in his eyes brought home the fact that the reason he was doing this was to protect her. And that little insight led her to another one. “If I recuse myself from the contest, someone else will win.”

“Yes,” Shawn said as if confused.

“So by me walking out, it would likely save me, but put someone else’s life in danger.”

Shawn frowned. “And if you don’t, it’s your life that could be in danger. And it would be my fault. If someone else wins, it’s not my fault.”

“No, then it would be mine. Because if something happened to someone else, then … I would know it would have been me if I hadn’t pulled out.” She shook her head. “I can’t do that. I can’t just say I don’t want to be killed and let it be someone else.”

“Better than you being dead,” Della said and Kylie seemed to agree.

Shawn’s frown came on strong. “Exactly—”

“No!” Miranda set a hand on her hip and glared at her best friends. “I know you two. Neither one of you would step aside to save yourself. You’re too brave.”

Neither of them could deny it.

“The hell with being brave,” Shawn snapped. “Two girls have already died.”

“Then you three just have to make sure that doesn’t happen to me,” Miranda snapped back. “Face it, whoever would take my place wouldn’t have you guys to protect her.”

*

Burnett texted Della and Kylie and asked them to help take the names of everyone in the crowd since some of them were dead set on leaving. That left Miranda and Shawn alone. She didn’t know what to say, so she said nothing. She dropped into a chair. Shawn pulled another one over.

She considered grabbing her phone and going back to killing shape-shifters, but the desire to do that had waned. Still, she pulled her phone out of her pocket and feigned interest in the screen. Tension filled the small space and made even breathing uncomfortable. And loud. She could hear him take in air and tried not to make any sound herself when she drew in oxygen.