Reborn (Shadow Falls: After Dark #1)(118)

She blinked and was just about to turn around when an arrow was drawn in the steamed-up mirror. Pointing to her reflection. She followed the arrow. And she saw it.

“Shit!” She dropped the towel. All dread of ghosts, dread of being naked in front of ghosts, vanished. A different kind of fear built in her chest.

Her heart raced and simultaneously the pain in her head and shoulders pounded harder. Standing naked in the foggy bathroom, she heard Kevin’s words echo in her head. They said he got sicker and then he got a weird rash on his back and then he died. Just died.

Della stared at the splotchy red markings starting at the back of her neck and running down her spine. They kind of looked like feathers.

Reality set in. She had the same thing Chan had. She had the same thing that killed him.

The bathroom door opened. She expected Kylie or Miranda.

She reached to get her towel. Using all her energy, she stood, and her head swam, black dots appeared in her vision, but she focused on the door. Her breath caught when she realized she’d been wrong. It wasn’t Kylie or Miranda.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

Chapter Thirty-six

“You lied,” Della accused, eyeing Chase, shocked he was in her bathroom. “You were never looking for anyone.”

“I was,” he said. “I was looking for you.”

She had to work to focus around the pain. “You knew Chan, my cousin.”

“Yeah.” His gaze moved over her.

Realizing she was only wearing a towel, she said, “Leave.”

“I tried to. Couldn’t do it. A conscience is a terrible thing to acquire. Like it or not, you and I are going to be bonded.”

“Bonded?” She shook her head, only to realize that any kind of movement made the pain worse.

His gaze swept over her towel-covered body. “It could be worse. You could be ugly.”

“Get out of my bathroom!”

He walked out, but didn’t shut the door. She slumped against the counter, dizzy again. The fog in the bathroom seemed to seep into her mind. Had he really been here? Had she just imagined him? Had she imagined Chan and the rash, too?

“Here.” The panty perv, real, not imagined, walked back in as if he had every right to be in her bathroom. He had some of her clothes in one hand, her phone in the other.

He set the clothes on the counter. “Get dressed.”

“Get out!” A chill, this one coming from inside her, raced down her spine. Her insides trembled. Her head throbbed.

“Get dressed or your shape-shifter friend is going to be pissed when he sees us together and you’re naked. Not that he won’t be pissed anyhow.” He said the second part almost to himself. “But it’s too late to try and find someone else.”

“What?” she asked, not understanding.

“Get dressed.”

“With you standing there? Not likely!” Her voice trembled and she had to clench her jaw to stop it.

He gave her his back. “Get your clothes on. We don’t have a lot of time.”

“Time for what?” She spit the question out between gritted teeth. An odd kind of déjà vu hit. She remembered feeling this way once before. The chills. The pain.

Chan had been with her.

Staring at Chase’s back, she dropped her towel and reached for her clothes. In the mirror she saw him turn around.

His gaze swept up her naked body.

She growled. His focus went to the mirror, to her eyes.

“Sorry. I thought you were dressed.”

Sorry, his ass! Or hers, because it was her ass that was bare. She showed him her canines, then continued dressing.

He continued to watch.

“Why were you at Chan’s?” she asked, managing to slip on the sweats and pull the T-shirt over her head. But each move cost her. Her head pounded. Harder.

Chase looked at her phone. “Let’s get your shape-shifter here.” He pushed a button.

Pain shot from her neck down her spine. Unwilling to let him start more trouble between her and Steve, she grabbed for her phone. Chase caught her hand. Her pain intensified. She didn’t have the strength to pull away. Her knees gave, and she fell against him. He wrapped his arm around her and held her there. Why did he feel so warm, and her so cold?

“It’s okay,” he whispered in her ear. “We’re going to make it through this.” She felt his hand move gently against her back.

It was not okay!

She managed to push away, caught herself on the counter, but her whole body ached. Muscles she didn’t know she had clenched. Tears filled her eyes. Yup, this was how it had felt to be turned.

“Hey, Steve,” the panty perv said into the phone, while looking at her. “This is Chase.”

Della could swear she heard Steve’s voice angry.

She tried to get the phone again. Chase caught her with one hand, gently, nothing rough about his touch. He didn’t have to be rough. She didn’t have the strength to fight him. But she resented that his touched came so tender.

She fell back against the counter again. Breathing hurt.

“Shut up and listen,” Chase seethed into the phone and studied her with empathy. “Della’s running out of time. I’m taking her to Holiday’s cabin. Meet us there. I know what I’ve got to do to save her, but I’m going to need your help.” Chase hung up.