Reborn (Shadow Falls: After Dark #1)(27)

She fell to her knees, black spots appeared in her vision, and the last thing she saw was a shadowy figure dancing behind the spray of water.

Chapter Eight

The smell was hideous. Her gag reflex started bouncing in her throat.

“Is she coming to?” a voice somewhere in the distance asked. She recognized the voice. Holiday.

Della felt a hand move under her nose, carrying the smell. Growling, she reached up and caught the hand and held it away from her nose. Only then did she open her eyes. Only then did she see the opened clove of garlic.

Only then did she find herself staring right at Steve.

“It’s me,” he said.

“That stinks!” she spouted out, shaking his hand until he dropped the clove.

He stared down at her with concern. “Garlic works as smelling salts on vampires.” His gaze shot to his hand. “Would you mind not breaking my wrist?”

She released her tight grip and tried to get a grip on the situation. Tried to wrap her head around what she was doing … here. Tried to figure out where “here” was and how in Hades she had gotten … here.

“What happened?” A deep voice tossed out the question. The inquiry bounced around her sore brain.

Sore brain or sore head?

Her gaze shifted and she saw Burnett standing several feet away from the table that she was resting on.

Freaking great! Here she wanted to look capable to him, and this happened. But exactly what had happened, she still didn’t know.

“Thank God you’re okay.” The very pregnant Holiday came rushing to the table.

“What happened?” Burnett asked again.

Della blinked and tried to find the answer to Burnett’s question, as well as about a dozen more questions that zinged back and forth in her head.

The words I don’t know formed on her tongue, but she knew how ill received they would be by Burnett, so she struggled to find a better answer.

Problem was, she didn’t have a better one.

“I … I…” Bits and pieces of memory started rolling around her head. She’d gone on a run and ended up at the … She went to sit up. Steve, standing close, tried to help her. She nudged him away. She didn’t need any help, thank you very much.

Sitting up, dangling her feet off the table, she glanced around the room. Between the garlic smell and Steve’s spicy scent, she caught the scent of … animals.

A poster of two kittens chasing a butterfly drew her attention, and then her gaze flipped back to Steve. A worried Steve.

She realized she was at the veterinarian’s office. Which doubled as a doctor’s office for supernaturals. At least one of her questions was answered. Now she just needed to figure out why.

Burnett cleared his throat, his gaze locked on her as if waiting for her to answer his question. And he didn’t look too patient.

“I went for a run.” She thought harder. “I ended up at the falls.” She recalled hearing the sound of water running, but for some reason it sounded too crazy to say. “I … I was leaving but I heard something, or someone, behind me.”

“That explains the lump on your head,” Steve said. “Someone hit you with something.”

Della’s gaze shot to Holiday. “Would the death angels do that?”

Holiday’s brows puckered. “Why would they hit you on the head?”

“Because they didn’t want me there, because they’re jerks, because their mamas dressed them funny. I don’t know.” Her gag reflex wiggled again when she got a whiff of the garlic still on the floor.

“I don’t think it was the death angels,” Burnett said. “The alarm went off about three minutes before Holiday found you.”

Holiday leaned a little against Burnett. “It could have just been someone curious about the falls and they got spooked when Della showed up.”

“Being spooked doesn’t give anyone the right to hit her,” Steve said, emotion tightening his voice.

Burnett scowled and looked at Steve. “Can you please get the garlic out of here?”

Steve nodded, then looked at Della. “Stay away from the falls from now on.”

She cut him a hard look. It was bad enough having to deal with Holiday and Burnett. Steve didn’t have a right to order her around. They weren’t going out. The shape-shifter snatched the garlic cloves and left the room.

Holiday waddled closer. “Luckily, I was going to the falls, or you could still be there unconscious.”

So Holiday had found her.

“Why would someone break in just to hit me on the head?” Just like that, Della’s fury rose. “What kind of coward hits someone over the head? Why couldn’t they face me and fight?”

“Maybe it has something to do with the person who killed the couple,” Burnett said. “If you got a trace of his scent when he flew over, maybe he got yours, too. Did you smell the intruder before he hit you?”

Della tried to remember. “No, I … didn’t.” She wondered if her sense of smell was coming and going like her hearing. Since she was at the doctor, maybe she should mention it, but recalling Burnett’s belief that she wasn’t strong enough to be an FRU agent, she held her tongue. “I … think I was too weirded out about the falls.” It wasn’t a lie, but …