Eternal (Shadow Falls: After Dark #2)(63)

“That idiot left a bruise.” He looked back at the unconscious culprit.

“It’s nothing.” Della stepped away from his touch.

“It’s over.” Shawn’s voice echoed behind them. “Yeah, she’s fine.”

Della rolled her eyes knowing Burnett asked about her first as if she couldn’t handle herself. How embarrassing!

“Told you he’s overprotective,” Chase whispered as he lifted her chin again.

“And what are you?” She slapped his hand.

“We’re all fine,” Shawn said, a little louder as if to caution them that Burnett could hear.

She and Chase faced him and Della tilted her head to the side to hear the voice on the line.

“Is everyone else okay?” Burnett’s voice came from the phone.

“Yeah.” Shawn looked down at his bleeding shoulder.

“What’s wrong?” Burnett asked, hearing his lie.

“I got cut, but it’s not bad.”

Burnett moaned. “Did we get anything?”

“Well, it didn’t go down like we wanted. We’re going to need a paddy wagon.”

Burnett moaned again. “How many?”

“Eight.” Shawn walked off and Della couldn’t hear Burnett anymore.

“You really okay?” Chase asked her and reached for her hand that she’d used to knock out the rogue.

“Stop,” Della snapped.

“Hey?” Shawn looked back over his shoulder. “They are all alive, right?”

Chase glanced at the eight vamps lined up like downed dominos. “Yeah, but I could fix that.” He glared daggers at the vamp who’d hit her.

*   *   *

Della and Chase followed the car with the rogues to the FRU offices. Burnett met them in the entrance. He walked right up to her and lifted her chin.

“It’s just a bruise!” she fumed.

“Which one did it?” he asked in quiet fury.

“What does it matter?”

“The one in the brown T-shirt,” Chase volunteered.

Della scowled at Chase and then back to Burnett. “Why is it that Shawn, who took a knife to his shoulder, just walked past and you never went mother hen on his ass?”

Burnett frowned. “Because my daughter isn’t named after him. Besides, I have a doctor meeting him right now. Now, were you hurt anywhere else?”

“No, I’m fine.”

“The fist,” Chase answered. “She knocked one out. Did a good job of it.”

“I am fine!” Della growled.

Only then did Burnett glance toward Chase. “You okay?”

“Not a bruise.”

“Bragger!” Della mouthed off.

Burnett looked at the door. “Can you see that Della gets back to Shadow Falls? We’ll take over from here.”

“No!” Della and Chase said at the same time.

Della tilted her bruised chin back. “I … we want to know if they have anything on Liam.”

Burnett’s expression hardened, but the look in his eyes said he wasn’t going to give them a fight. He turned and looked at another agent standing by a front desk. “Take them into room six to watch the interviews.”

Chase moved beside Burnett. Della noticed that Burnett only had about an inch of height on Chase.

“I should do the interviews,” Chase said.

“Sorry.” Determination tightened Burnett’s expression. “Hire on with us, and you’ll get full privileges. Until then, you do only what I say you do.”

Chase’s eyes grew a bit brighter, but he didn’t respond. Remembering his negative response to Shawn earlier about signing on with the FRU, her curiosity about his employment with the Vampire Council piqued again. Why was he working for them? How had he come to work for them? Was there a reason for his loyalty to his employer?

The other agent, a were, walked up and motioned for her and Chase to follow. While Della did as requested, she recalled smelling the were at the restaurant.

The agent pushed open a door at the end of a drab, gray hallway. “They’ll bring them in one at a time … in about three minutes. You can see and hear them, but they can’t hear you.” The were motioned to the glass wall. Not that he needed to explain. Both Chase and she had been here once before. “Burnett will be doing the interviews.”

Once alone in the room, Della looked at Chase and her curiosity bit. “Why the loyalty to the Vampire Council?”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“You seem really loyal to them.”

His shoulders tightened. “They aren’t the rogue group as you’ve been led to believe. We might not agree with all the FRU politics but—”

“I didn’t say that. I’m simply asking why you’re so loyal to them?”

He looked cornered by her inquiry.

“That’s a strange question coming from you, who defends Burnett even when you hate it that he’s coddling you.”

His counterattack, rather than giving her a straight answer, made her even more curious. Was he hiding something?

“Not so strange,” Della answered. “That’s exactly why I’m curious. I’m loyal to Burnett because…” She paused, finding it just a bit hard to admit out loud. “He’s more than just a route into my career, he’s family. What’s your excuse?”