Unspoken (Shadow Falls: After Dark #3)(63)

He put his arms around her. And she let him. But when she felt herself about to cry, she pulled away and shot out.

She ran. Once. Twice. All the way around the Shadow Falls property, hoping to work off some of her emotions. It didn’t help, but at least she wasn’t in danger of crying anymore.

She arrived at the cabin a few minutes early. Perry stood on the office porch.

Having not really spoken to him since he’d returned, she offered a quick “Welcome back.”

He shrugged. “What a welcome.” He frowned. She got the feeling he was talking about his cousin.

“Are you coming with us to talk to him?” Della asked.

He nodded. “Maybe I can talk some sense into him this time,” the shape-shifter said. Pausing, he glanced down, and then added, “I’m sorry. You know I haven’t seen him in over twelve years. I wasn’t aware of any of this.”

Della recognized the guilt in Perry’s eyes. “I know. Nobody blames you.”

He dropped his hands into this jean pockets. “I still feel bad. But…” he paused. “I don’t think Sam’s all bad. I think he’s afraid, and not just of Burnett, but of that Stone character.”

“Maybe he should have thought about that before he went to work for him.” She instantly regretted her gruffness and recalled how she’d felt about Chan, her cousin. He’d tiptoed close to the line of going rogue, but she’d still loved him. His death continued to haunt her.

“True,” Perry said, and got quiet.

“He’s still your cousin. This doesn’t change that.”

Perry exhaled. “I know. And it feels … weird. Seeing him. Crazy, how I recognized him right away. I never thought I’d see any of my family.”

Miranda had confided in Della about how Perry had been abandoned when he was young. No doubt that had to sting. The only thing worse was being abandoned by your family when you were seventeen. But this wasn’t about her.

“That has to suck,” Della said.

“Yeah.” Perry stared into the woods. “He knows where my mother and dad are.”

Della heard his emotions, but was unsure what to say. “Are you going to go see them?”

He shrugged again. “I don’t know. They sure as hell didn’t want me then. Why would they want me now?”

She sensed the emotion stirring inside him. She couldn’t say he had tears in his eyes, but his eyes looked brighter.

“Better yet,” he said, sounding angry, “why would I want to see them? I don’t care about them!”

She heard his heart jump the tune of his lie. She knew all about caring when it felt wrong. She gave him a nudge with her elbow. “You might want to see them because you’re curious. Or maybe because you want them to know they were wrong about you. That you grew up to be someone they would have been proud of.” She inhaled. “Or maybe you just want to call them mo fos, shoot them the finger, and then moon their asses as you walk out. Not that you’d have to do that. But you could.”

He grinned, but when his gaze met hers again she saw a sheen of tears in his eyes. “Thanks,” he said.

“For what?” Della asked.

“I don’t know. Listening, maybe. Saying the right thing.”

She frowned. “I pretty much suck at that.”

“Nah,” he said. “Actually, you’re not that bad at it.”

“You know who’s better at it?” she said.

“Who? Miranda?” he asked.

“Uh, well, I was gonna say Kylie. She’s like a little Holiday. She says all the crap you don’t want to hear, but she’s right, and while you don’t like it, you need to hear it. But I’ll bet Miranda is good too.”

He shook his head. “I wish I could talk to Miranda. She’s still playing hard to get.” Shuffling his feet, he looked out at the sky. At almost five, the sun was a big ball of yellow.

“Do you know if Miranda’s seeing that FRU agent?”

What could she say? Yeah, she saw him last weekend and wanted to kiss him.

Shit. Shit. Shit. Della so didn’t want to get in the middle of this. But in a way she was. Smack dab in the middle, too. Worse than being in the middle, she’s been the cause of it.

For the first time she felt guilty for encouraging the witch to give the warlock a chance. Perry would totally hate her if he knew that.

But at the time, the shape-shifter had practically dumped Miranda. And as good a friend as Perry was, Miranda trumped him.

“Is she?” Perry asked again.

“I…” As a shape-shifter, Perry couldn’t sense if she lied, but lying to someone she liked gave her stomach cramps. But damn, this was why she didn’t like listening and being someone’s commiserating buddy.

Right then, Burnett landed on the porch. Saved by the vampire. Relief spiraled through her. Temporary relief, but at this point she’d take it.

“Where’s Chase?” Burnett asked.

“Here,” Chase said, walking up.

“Then let’s go get some answers.”

*

They had all walked into the observation room with a two-way mirror. Through the mirror Della saw Sam sitting at the table, looking lost and scared. Before anyone spoke to Sam, they were waiting on another agent, who’d briefly interrogated Sam. She hadn’t arrived yet.