Reborn (Shadow Falls: After Dark #1)(65)

“And we caught the bad guys.” Miranda’s smile came with a ton of pride. “And he’s really bad.”

“You shouldn’t have tried to do this alone,” Lucas snapped, his eyes still glowing orange, but he was looking at Kylie, not Della.

Kylie stepped closer to him. “We weren’t trying to do anything. We didn’t think it would be dangerous, but it doesn’t matter, because we handled it.”

“You could have been hurt,” Lucas said. “All of you could have been hurt. Why didn’t you tell us about this and we could have handled it?”

Della frowned at Steve. What all had he told them? Shit, he had to have told them almost everything for them to be here.

“This was stupid,” Lucas snapped.

For some reason, Lucas’s attitude reminded her of Burnett’s chauvinistic attitude, and the residual anger lingering in her chest swelled.

“Why was it stupid?” Della asked. “Why would we run to you instead of taking care of it ourselves? Is it because we’re girls? Do you think having a penis makes you superior?”

Perry laughed. “It’s not the penis, it’s the strength.”

“Strength?” Della asked, fuming. “You want me to show you who’s stronger?”

Perry laughed at her as if she wasn’t serious. And okay, maybe the twerp could transform into a giant dragon and do more pushups, or pick up an automobile easier than her, but she had speed.

“Strength isn’t everything,” Miranda said, pride in her voice, as she frowned at her beloved shape-shifter. “I’m not very strong, but I saved the day.”

“It could have gone badly.” Lucas glared at Della.

Della glared right back.

Lucas looked at Kylie as if expecting her to defend him. “You all could have been hurt.”

“We could have,” Kylie said, her words not angry, but confident and firm. “Just like you could have on any of your missions for the Were Council.”

“My missions are completely different.” Lucas gestured at the mass of duct tape inching across the floor. “We would have been more capable to handle this.”

Kylie’s chin came up a notch, telling Della that the chameleon wasn’t about to back down. “I hate to admit it, but I think Della’s right. You,” her gaze shifted to Steve and Perry, “all of you think because we’re girls, we’re weak. But we aren’t. And we weren’t doing anything that was dangerous. We came to ask an old vampire a few questions. An old vampire who we knew was into helping vampires. We didn’t know we were going to stumble across a vampire-trafficking organization.”

“Damn, is that what this is?” Perry asked.

Miranda nodded, again looking proud of herself. Not that Della begrudged her. She’d really saved their asses.

Kylie continued, “That said, we dealt with it. And with class, I might add.” She waved at the wrapped ball of kangaroos. “And if that isn’t being capable, I don’t know what is.”

“It’s not about who’s more capable, damn it!” Steve growled out. “It’s the fact that we care what happens to you. Of course, you,” he pointed at Della, “are more afraid of someone caring about you than any situation you could find yourself in.” He stormed out.

Della stood there, embarrassed that Steve had blurted out something so personal. The bad thing was that she couldn’t deny it. She’d take on bad guys any day of the week before putting her heart on the chopping block.

Kylie, looking a little miffed, spoke up. “Look, we’re about to call Burnett to resolve the rest of this. If he’s gets upset about this, you shouldn’t be a part of it.”

A deep frustrated sigh came from Lucas. But when Kylie motioned for the door, he didn’t argue. He left. Perry cut Miranda an almost apologetic look and followed Lucas.

“Male chauvinistic pigs!” Della fumed, her anger still boiling, her heart still aching.

“They can’t help it,” Kylie said. “Holiday says it’s in their DNA. They think they were put on earth to protect us. But that doesn’t mean we have to like it, or accept it.”

“I don’t like it either,” Miranda said, then smiled. “That’s a lie. I do like it a little. I love it when he worries about me. I guess that makes me weak, huh?”

“No, it doesn’t,” Kylie said. “I like that Lucas wants to take care of me, I just don’t like it when he acts like I can’t take care of myself.”

They both looked at Della as if to get her opinion, but all she offered was a nod. Of course, you are more afraid of someone caring about you than any situation you could find yourself in. Steve’s words rolled around her head, bumping against her heart. And God help her, all she could think was that if Steve was so worried about her, maybe it wasn’t really over. Then another unsettling thought hit. Like Miranda, she kind of liked Steve being protective. But contrary to what Kylie said, she did see that as a weakness. One she needed to work on.

Kylie glanced at the moving duct-tape ball of kangaroos. “You’d better call Burnett before they work their way out of there.”

“I’d love to see them try,” Della muttered. She started to dial Burnett and then stopped again. “Why don’t you two leave, too? I’ll tell Burnett I snuck off and did this alone.”