Page 37 of Unspoken (Shadow Falls: After Dark #3)

Chapter Thirty-seven

“Why can’t Stone be handed over to the FRU?” Chase asked, his patience waning, and waning fast. “Someone better start explaining.”

“Eddie had been with us for almost a month,” Powell started talking. “We were helping him look for a man named Douglas Stone. It wasn’t until I saw the sketch that I became worried, but it wasn’t a perfect match for my son’s likeness. I confronted him. He swore it wasn’t him. I believed him. His mother lives in France. He went to live with her. But four years later, he came back to the States. Some old friends of his showed up. One of them mentioned a gang that they had belonged to. It was the gang Eddie had joined. That’s when I knew for sure.”

The old man had to stop to catch his breath. If Chase hadn’t personally seen what a monster his son was, he might have felt sorry for him.

“I told him that he needed to turn himself in. That I would go to Eddie and maybe he would find it in his heart to ask the rest of the council to go easy on him.”

The old man closed his eyes. “He called me a fool. Told me that I would never turn him in. He said to go check the files and see what had been taken.”

“What files?” Chase asked.

Kirk stepped forward. “All of them, Chase. Every job the council had done for over fifty years had been cataloged in those files. Powell’s son swore that if anything ever happened to him he would leak the information to the FRU.”

“But you never told Eddie?” Chase asked.

“No. Stone left the country. We actually thought he’d been killed. But a few months ago, he came back. We got the files, but Powell’s son got away.”

“But he knows things, Chase,” Powell said. “If the FRU got him, he could bring us all down.”

“If you’re guilty of things like he did, then maybe you need to go down,” Chase snapped.

Kirk shook his head. “It’s not like that, Chase. The things we did wrong were justified. It was war. We were protecting what we believed in.”

“Then why are you so worried?” he asked.

“Because it wouldn’t look like that to the FRU or the government,” Kirk insisted.

“Tell him everything,” the elderly Powell said.

“What?” Chase insisted, staring at the oldest of the councilmen.

Powell looked at Kirk, who nodded, then the old man started talking. “It wasn’t just us. It was Eddie, too.”

Chase curled his hand into a fist. “He wasn’t an agent, why would he be in there?”

“Kirsha,” Kirk said. “Eddie’s wife. She was killed by an FRU agent.”

Chase recalled the stories Eddie had told him. “No, she died in an explosion at the medical lab. Eddie told me.”

“Yes,” Kirk said. “But it was intentionally set by the FRU. Eddie had just discovered the treatment for AIDS. He was about to release it. They didn’t want the council getting credit, so they stole his work, and then, afraid we would claim rights to the work, they put the bomb in the lab.”

“Eddie and Kirsha weren’t supposed to be there, but Kirsha had left her purse. When they entered the building they heard someone run out. Eddie made Kirsha wait inside while he ran after the intruder. He had just caught the man when… the building exploded. Eddie lost it. He killed the FRU agent.”

Chase could barely breathe. He didn’t want to believe it, but with Eddie’s dislike of the FRU it made sense.

Chase turned and stared out the window at the water, his heart on Eddie. On how crazy it was that he hated the FRU because they’d taken his bondmate from him, and Chase had joined them to win his bondmate?

Was there justice anywhere in this world?

“But you see,” Kirk said, “all of this will go away if you can make sure Stone is dead before the FRU get him.”

Chase turned and faced Kirk. “You’re not asking me to get justice. You’re asking me to kill.”

“He deserves to die,” Kirk said. “You’d just be saving the FRU the money it would cost them to incarcerate him and hold a trial.”

***

“Wow,” Miranda said. “You love Steve. I’ve been thinking it was going to be Chase. I’d practically written Steve off.”

“I didn’t mean it,” Della said. “I mean, I love him, but I don’t… love him? You understand?”

If the expressions of her two best friends were any indication, they didn’t. And maybe she shouldn’t be surprised. She sure as hell didn’t have a friggin’ clue what she meant.

Or did she? She heard Chase’s words.

You need time to trust this, to trust love and to trust me, and I get that.

“Of course you don’t understand.” Della dropped her head on the table with a loud thump.

“Wait,” Kylie said. “Don’t panic, I’m trying to understand. You love Steve, but you don’t love him, like… true love, right?”

Della raised her head. “Yeah, kind of.”

Kylie spoke up again. “Earlier you said that Steve made you feel safe. Does he still make you feel safe?”

Della considered the question and remembered sitting with him on the porch. “Yeah, still safe.” She recalled when she hugged him. It had been awkward, but not unsafe.

Miranda piped up. “And safe’s good, right?”

“Yeah,” Della said. “But love’s not safe. Not for me. You get it?”

“No.” Miranda looked at Kylie. “Do you understand any of this?”

Kylie looked back at Della and made her “sorry” kind of face. “Not a bit.”

“Okay,” Della said, trying to think of how to explain. “Steve used to be scary. I mean, I was always scared because I had feelings for him. It was like a shadow following me around and it made me want to run and keep running.”

“And now Steve doesn’t scare you,” Kylie said, but still looked unsure.

“Right.” Della inhaled.

“I’m still lost,” Miranda said.

Kylie held a hand out to Miranda. “I think I’m figuring it out.”

***

Chase walked out. He saw two vampire guards standing on the side of the porch, and he walked past them. Part of him wished they’d try something; a good fight would suit him right now.

A fight. But he wouldn’t kill them. He wasn’t a killer. He went down the stairs.

“Chase?” Kirk shot in front of him. “I know this is hard.”

Chase stared at him. “Hard is knowing you’ve deceived Eddie all these years. Which means you deceived me.”

“I was protecting Eddie, Chase,” Kirk’s eyes grew bright with anger at the accusation. “What do you think would happen to him if the FRU found out he killed one of their own? You’ve preached your justice talk for years, Chase. But where is the justice in Eddie being put to death? And that’s what they will do. You know that.” Kirk shook his head. “Eddie killed the man who murdered the woman he loved. Can you fault him for that?”

Chase stared out at the water. His chest hurt. “Maybe there is no justice in this world.”

“Don’t do it for the council. Do it for Eddie. Word is that the FRU are after Stone. We can’t get any of our guys to go after him for fear they’ll get tangled up in this. You could do it.”

He handed Chase a piece of paper. “Here’s all of Powell’s son’s hangouts. A list of all his friends. Take care of this.”

Chase curled his fist around the paper and stared at the man he no longer respected. “If I kill Stone without handing him over to the FRU Della’s father will get tried for murder. And—”

“And you would choose him over Eddie?” Kirk spouted out.

The love and devotion Chase carried for Eddie rose in his chest until the point of pain.

Chase scowled at Kirk. “Don’t you get it? Eddie told me his plans. If it appears his twin brother will go down for this murder, he’s going to come forward and confess to a killing he didn’t do. Either way, I lose Eddie!”

“No, you won’t,” Kirk said. “I’ll talk to Eddie. I can talk him out of it. Besides, you don’t even know they will convict her father. The lawyers can get him off. We know the FRU are on it. You take care of Stone. I’ll take care of Eddie.”

Chase stood there and wondered how the man he had once respected so much could ask him to do this.

“Promise me, Chase,” Kirk said. “Promise you’ll take care of this.”

Without saying a word, Chase got in his car and drove off.

***

Why had Della tried to explain this? She couldn’t.

“Yup, I think I got it,” Kylie said and looked back at Della. “Steve doesn’t scare you, but Chase does, right?”

Della took a deep breath. She didn’t want to admit that, not because it wasn’t true, but because admitting it seemed awful close to admitting something else. But she couldn’t lie to her friends.

“Right.” Della dropped her head back down.

“I thought so,” Kylie said.

“Thought what?” Miranda asked.

“Della’s afraid of falling in love. And Steve doesn’t scare her because she’s not falling. She’s falling—or has fallen—for Chase. So she’s in love with—”

“Don’t say it,” Della said. “Please. Just don’t say it.”

Right then Della’s phone rang. She nearly jumped out of her skin. She snatched it up.

“Is it Chase?” Miranda asked. “Just tell him you love him.”

Della looked at the number. “No.” Della stood up. She wouldn’t. Couldn’t tell Chase she loved him. Because she still didn’t trust love. “It’s not Chase. It’s Steve. I need to talk to him… in private.” She started to her bedroom, but remembering her door wouldn’t close all the way, she took off outside.

“I don’t get it,” Della heard Miranda say. “She thinks she’s in love with Chase, but Steve calls, and she bolts out because she needs privacy. That girl is missing a few of her marbles, if you ask me.”

***

Worried Miranda might eavesdrop, Della took off for a long stroll in the woods. She’d just hung up with Steve. He had spoken with his mom. She was going to be at the office in St. Mary’s tomorrow. Steve was going to skip his morning class and was going to visit his mom. Before he left, he planned on transforming himself into something small so he could sneak around and find where the old files were kept. If he found them, he’d leave a window open so Della could get in and read the files for herself.

At first Della considered going to Burnett, but what if Burnett refused to let her do it? She couldn’t let him stop her.

But she trusted Chase to understand. The realization hit, and hit hard. She trusted him. He would help her.

He would if he were still alive. Why the hell hadn’t he texted her or called her?

She texted him again. Where are you?

Then she tucked her phone into her pocket and started walking back to her cabin. She cleared the woods, and had just gotten on the trail when she heard someone walking down the path. She turned. Listened to the footfalls. Raised her nose in the air. And then took off.

“Where have you been?” she asked him.

“I was just texting you,” Chase said.

“But I texted you like five times.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, but he didn’t sound all that apologetic. “Crazy day.”

She looked at him, noting something different. “What happened?”

“What do you mean?” Chase asked.

“I mean what happened? Burnett said you were going to confront Kirk. Did you?”

“Yeah,” he said.

“And?” she asked impatiently.

He ran a hand through his hair. “And Douglas Stone is Powell’s son.”

“Shit,” Della said. “Did my uncle know this? Was he protecting—”

“No!” Chase snapped. “He doesn’t know. The council deceived him.”

“So they’ve been protecting Stone all these years?”

“He left the country. They couldn’t find him.”

“But he’s here now. Are they’re hiding him?”

“No. Even his father knows he’s bad. He wants him stopped too.”

Della tried to understand. “But then why did Powell not look into the lead about Stone at the prison? Are you sure his father doesn’t know where he is?”

“I don’t think he’s lying,” he said. “They’ve agreed to help us find him. They want him stopped too.”

“Did you tell Burnett?”

“Yes. I just left his office and if you don’t believe me you go ask him.”

“I didn’t mean…” Della kept looking at him. Something wasn’t right. Then it hit her. He wasn’t smiling. He almost always smiled.

“Did something else happen?” she asked.

“No,” he said.

She moved in and got right in his face. “Don’t lie to me.”

He frowned. Then suddenly, he lifted his face and his eyes went from green to a bright neon green.

“How about you don’t lie to me?” he growled.

“I haven’t,” she said, unsure what the hell was happening.

“Okay, tell me, Della. Why is it that I smell a certain shape-shifter all over you?” He leaned in. “Your hair.” He leaned lower. “Your chest?” He turned around and ran his nose over her shoulders. “Your back. You were in his arms, weren’t you?”

She swung around and stood there, not sure what she could or should tell him. But not appreciating him sniffing her like she was some dirty slut.

“You know what?” he seethed. “I’ve had a pretty miserable day and I’m done. Screw it.” He took off.

Della started to fly after him, but then stopped. She hadn’t done anything wrong. Yeah, she’d hugged Steve, but not like a hug-hug. Oh, and she’d told him she loved him, but as she’d finally admitted to Miranda and Kylie, she didn’t really love Steve. She was… this close to admitting she loved Chase.

And if Chase had asked her in a reasonable way about Steve’s scent, she would have told him. Hell, she’d been planning on telling Chase about Steve’s plan, and getting him to go with her.

But if he was going get all pissy about Steve, he’d probably find a reason she shouldn’t go get her father’s files.

She turned and stormed back into her cabin.

Miranda and Della were still at the kitchen table. “Forget what I said,” she snapped. “Chase doesn’t scare me anymore. He just downright pisses me off!”

She took off for her bedroom and slammed the door, forgetting it didn’t shut. The last sound she heard before she landed facefirst on the bed was the door falling and hitting the floor.