Eternal (Shadow Falls: After Dark #2)(21)

But it didn’t feel like Chan. She recalled Holiday saying there was probably a connection between her and the ghost who wanted her to find Natasha.

“Who are you?” she whispered.

Then the realization hit. She was in a freaking graveyard. She looked out at the hundreds of tombstones. If she really could feel ghosts as Holiday suspected, this cold could be anybody, or a bunch of somebodies.

There could be hundreds of souls standing beside her. The thought made even her bones shiver. If she didn’t owe this to Chan, she’d be hightailing it out of here so fast, even the wind would be envious.

*   *   *

A few minutes later, Burnett came and sat beside her on the soft manicured grass. The cold had faded away. If he or she or the several someones had left, or just backed away, she didn’t know. But she appreciated it.

Burnett dropped his palm on her shoulder. It wasn’t warm, or tight, but the soft touch came with an emotional charge.

“You okay?” he asked.

Della had moved away from fear and back to grief. “I’m sure I will be sooner or later, but right now, I hurt like hell. He was … he was family.”

Burnett’s palm tightened, making the touch almost as emotionally stimulating as a hug, but not quite.

“I know you’re hurting. Family is…” He paused, and then started talking. “A little over a year ago, I would have shunned the idea of having a family. And look at me now.”

Della nodded, pushing her grief aside to think of little Hannah. “You three make a perfect family.”

“Three?” Burnett chuckled. “Hell, when I fell in love with Holiday, I fell in love with Shadow Falls and all of you. We’re not blood, Della, but you are part of our family, and don’t you ever forget that.”

Emotion tightened her lungs. And God help her, but she wanted to lean over and rest her head on his shoulder. Maybe even ask him to wrap his arms around her.

Perhaps she should have brought Miranda and Kylie with her after all. Hell, were hugs addicting? Was there a pill to help you get over needing them? An anti-hug pill?

Chapter Ten

“I’m going to go dismiss the other agents,” Burnett said.

Della nodded and blinked away the threatening tears.

When he walked away, she studied the picture again. The girl. Who was she? She turned the picture over and saw nothing on the back.

Footsteps moved her way; she looked up. It was the warlock FRU agent. He didn’t look much older than her. While he wore his hair short, he had a few unruly curls that probably made him look younger. He stopped a few feet away from her. Not liking having to look up, she stood and slipped the picture in her back pocket.

“Hey.” He nodded.

She responded with a similar head bob.

“Uh, I was wondering if you would mind if I fixed the lawn so it wouldn’t look … unearthed, just in case any other family comes, so there won’t be questions.”

“That’s fine,” she said.

He glanced back and waved a hand. Under the silver moonlight, and with the magic of one warlock, the uneven clumps of earth smoothed over. Perfect blades of grass grew to a manicured length, even a couple of yellow flowers popped up beside the tombstone. A breeze caught the flowers and they brushed against the marker with Chan’s name.

“Thank you,” Della managed to say, realizing she hadn’t thought about bringing flowers.

“You’re welcome.” He looked a little shy, as if he wanted to ask her something. “Are you the same Della that helped arrest Craig Anthony?”

She nodded and remembered there had been a warlock agent there, but this guy was younger.

“So you know Miranda?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Della said, surprised.

“I grew up in the same neighborhood with her. She was friends with my … little sister. Can you tell her Shawn Hanson said hello? And that … that I heard what she did that day, saving you guys with that amazing spell, and I just think … I think it’s cool that she’s finally coming into her own. I always suspected she was more talented than people gave her credit for.”

“I’ll tell her,” Della said, getting a whiff of his pheromones. So, Agent Hanson had a crush on Miranda, did he? Della could bet Miranda would like to hear this. Not that she’d be ditching Perry, but what girl didn’t want to know some guy had a thing for you? Especially an older guy.

He nodded and walked away. Right then, she heard Burnett’s unhappy voice ring out. She looked up and saw he’d been on the phone and was now shoving it in his pocket. She’d been so tuned in to the warlock she’d missed the conversation.

Burnett came over, his posture telling her he came with bad news.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

He motioned for her to follow him. They moved within the trees again. “Have you heard from Chase yet?” he asked, his voice still low.

“No, why?”

“I think he just broke into the FRU storage house.”

Della frowned. “Why would he do that?”

“To get into Craig Anthony’s files that we confiscated.”

“How do you know it was him?” Della asked.

“The trespasser was described as young with dark hair, and he outran the best agents. Who does that sound like to you?”