Almost Midnight (Shadow Falls: After Dark #3.5)(72)

“Actually … it does matter. You see, we have a little problem.” Della frowned. “And it’s not exactly little. It’s about six feet tall and weighs in at—”

“What?” Miranda asked. “I’m too tired to handle riddles. Just tell me.”

“All righty … it’s Perry … he kind of followed me here.”

“Kind of?” Miranda asked.

“Okay, he followed me.”

“He’s here?” Miranda jumped up and stood on the bed. “Here? Now?”

“Yup.” Della glanced up at Miranda, who was bouncing up and down on the mattress in excitement. “In the living room. He wants to see you. He’s been away a few days and didn’t know you were here. Do you want me to chase him off? I’ll probably have to hurt him because he was pretty adamant about seeing you. But for you, I’ll do it.”

“No.” Her mind spun. “I need clothes.” She jumped off the bed and yanked open her suitcase, which was on top of the dresser. She tossed clothes over her shoulder, looking for her perfect blouse and jeans. The ones she knew Perry liked. The ones she packed especially to wear when she saw him.

Her heart thumped with excitement. Her skin felt supersensitive.

After almost four weeks, she was finally going to see him.

As crazy as it seemed, she recalled the game of killing the blue-eyed shape-shifter. Then she remembered that in the end, that shape-shifter lived but had killed her. Stabbed her, right in the heart.

Like it or not, she knew Perry still had that power to hurt her.





Chapter Twelve


As Miranda stepped out of the bedroom, she heard voices. Even with her heart on the chopping block, her palms itched and the air tasted sweeter as she took the last steps to the doorway.

Perry was here. He wanted to see her.

The sweetness faded when the first thing she saw was Shawn, still half naked, his arms crossed and a frown dominating his expression. His gaze shot to her. “You don’t have to see him if you don’t want to,” he said, his tone deep. Was that a touch of hurt she heard in his tone?

She looked across the room and her heart leapt at the sight of the shape-shifter. He wore jeans—they appeared a little tighter than he normally wore—and a green long-sleeved polo shirt. His hair, blond with a few loose locks, looked a little mussed the way it did after he’d flown or maybe after one of their make-out sessions. His eyes were their normal bright azure, and those baby blues were on her. Staring, drawing her closer. Emotion flashed in those liquid pools of color and she felt as if that emotion echoed inside of her.

“Do you want him to leave?” Shawn asked again, and he uncrossed his arms, showcasing his bare chest, but damn if she already hadn’t forgotten the half-naked warlock was even in the room.

Miranda glanced back at him, and she hated knowing this might hurt him, but she couldn’t, wouldn’t send Perry away.

“No. It’s fine. I want to see him.”

She saw the way Shawn’s eyes reflected disappointment.

When she looked back at Perry, his eyes were brighter.

“Now that we’ve got that settled,” he said. His deep, familiar voice sounded like music to her ears and his tight focus stayed on Shawn. Inhaling deeply, as if fighting some other impulse, he glanced back to her. “Would you like to take a walk with me, so we might have some privacy?”

The emphasis he put on the word “privacy” seemed to mean something. Had he already picked up on Shawn’s interest in her? If so, was Perry about to morph into some superbeast and try to teach the warlock a lesson?

Standing frozen, feeling a bit overwhelmed, she just stared.

Perry repeated, “A walk? It’s a nice night.”

The word “yes” danced on her lips, when Shawn spoke up again. “Sorry. She can’t leave the apartment. I’m in charge of her care.”

She turned to Shawn, slightly annoyed. “A quick walk. We won’t be long.”

“No.” His frown deepened. “Sorry, Burnett’s orders were clear. No one leaves.”

“Burnett trusts me,” Perry said, his tone deepening with anger as his eyes grew brighter with the same emotion. For a second she feared he would shift and start trouble. He didn’t.

“Perhaps,” Shawn said. “Even as misguided as that may be, it’s not you he’s worried about. She might be in danger and I’m the agent hired to make sure nothing happens to her.”

“As if I would let anything happen to her?” Perry countered.

Shawn’s gaze flipped back to Miranda. She shook her head slightly, pleading for him not to do this. He seemed to understand, because she saw his wide chest expand as if taking in a pound of oxygen.

“You can have the privacy of the living room.” He turned and walked back into the hall leading to the third bedroom.

She watched Shawn go—feeling his unhappiness—before turning back to Perry. The shape-shifter’s gaze was on her, but brighter—anger always did that to him.

They stared at each other for several minutes. Emotions ran though her chest like wild horses. She’d missed him so damn much. She loved him. She was so angry at him. How could he put her through all this?

As that hurt swelled up in her heart, it bumped into the other recent painful realization about her dad.