Unspoken (Shadow Falls: After Dark #3)(68)

What was hurting him?

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“Yeah, but you know when you’re an ass to someone, it helps if you explain it.”

Inhaling, he looked ready to spill when the sound of a door swishing open echoed into the night. Footsteps rang out.

“You two ready?” Burnett asked.

“Yeah,” Della answered.

She got in the front and let Chase take the backseat.

“What all did you get?” Della asked, hoping to hide the awkward silence.

“Bite marks, a few hairs, and a confirmation that it was weres. Nothing that will hand the killers over on a silver platter, but it’s a start. I forgot to ask, did you two discover anything when you compared notes on the vision?”

She saw Burnett glance up at the rearview mirror, as if checking on Chase. Did Burnett understand this more than her?

“Nothing new,” Della said and resisted turning to check on Chase herself.

*

Burnett drove back to the FRU office. As they got out, Burnett said, “Be safe and don’t stay out late,” looking at Chase. “You are still recovering.”

Chase nodded. As they moved around back before going into flight, she thought he might explain what had gone down at the morgue. He didn’t.

She didn’t say anything, but his silence hurt.

Five minutes later, Chase dropped down about a block short of his cabin, in a thick patch of trees. She landed with him, unsure why he’d chosen to walk the rest of the way.

The moment he landed, he started moving.

She set her pace even with his.

Their footsteps filtered through the night, accompanied by the scratchy sound of an occasional critter scurrying away. The cold air surrounded them, and the moon spilled down from dark sky, whispering through the trees like liquid lace.

Chase stopped walking. He took in a deep breath.

She stopped beside him, silently waiting.

“I don’t like morgues,” he said.

She looked up at him. She could see his eyes, and the pain still lingered in his pools of green. “I don’t think anyone does.”

He exhaled again. “I couldn’t go to their funeral. I was supposed to have been dead too.” He started walking.

And that’s all it took for Della to understand. Hurt filled her chest. The image of young Chase saying goodbye to his family in a cold white room that smelled of astringent filled her mind and she had to swallow to keep the hurt from filling her eyes with tears.

“Eddie asked me if I wanted to see them for the last time. I said yes. The thought of never, ever seeing them again was … too much.”

Della didn’t even realize she was doing it, but she reached for his hand and took it in hers.

“Seeing their bodies was…” He inhaled again. “Mom was … missing an arm. Dad’s body wasn’t even all there. I couldn’t even look at my sister. I remember wishing that Eddie hadn’t saved me. That the fourth body that carried my name on his toe tag had really been me. I didn’t want to live without them.”

Della tightened her hold on his hand. “He should never have let you see that.” Fury at her uncle filled her heart. Just what she needed, another reason to dislike him.

“No, I had to. I had to say goodbye. It wasn’t Eddie’s fault. He tried to prepare me.”

“You can’t prepare for that,” Della said.

“I just … I haven’t been to another morgue since then.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, and after several silent seconds passed she sensed he wasn’t going to say anything else. But she didn’t let go of his hand until they got to the cabin, and even then she hadn’t stopped hurting for him.

*

Natasha met them outside on the porch. The porch light cast a halo around her. Dressed in a sleeveless yellow sundress, she looked clothed for the wrong season. She wore a smile, and her eyes, portraying her Chinese heritage much more than Della’s, sparkled with happiness. No doubt the thought of going back home filled her cousin with joy.

Della hoped her cousin’s adoptive mom would welcome her daughter home with open arms and not notice the changes that came with being a vampire. Had her cousin really given this thought?

“I’m so glad you came,” Natasha said. “Liam and I decided to do some taste tests. And you two are going to be part of the experiment.”

“Experiment?” Della asked.

“Yeah,” her cousin said. “Since we’ve been turned, we haven’t eaten real food. And for the next few weeks we’re going to be living with our parents, so we decided to see which foods are still palatable. We’ve been cooking all day.”

Della made a face. “I don’t know…”

“She’ll do it.” Chase gave her a nudge up the steps.

“It’ll be fun,” Natasha said. “And you don’t have to eat, just taste.” She led the way inside.

The cabin smelled like a hodgepodge of different foods. Liam, dressed in jeans and a polo shirt, stood in the kitchen stirring something on the stove.

“Hey,” Liam smiled. “My woman has me slaving away in the kitchen.”

“Not true.” Natasha moved in to kiss Liam. “I just took the first shift of cooking.”

Her cousin appeared to be running on happy batteries. “We even have some adult beverages.” She glanced at Chase. “I noticed that you had some beer in his fridge. So that tells me you still drink it, right?”