For some odd reason, she recalled that someone had told her that Steve was already eighteen. He looked eighteen, probably a year older than Della. Muscles rippled over his chest and arms. She knew he worked out, but most of what he had appeared natural.
Her breath caught in her throat for a second. She'd seen him swimming and without a shirt, but something about seeing all that bare skin and him being freshly showered brought back the flutters. Brought back the memory of his kiss and of how his warm hands had felt in the curve of her waist.
He met her gaze and smiled as if somehow reading her mind. Moving to the chair, he slipped on a dark green T-shirt. Thank goodness.
"You ready to go over everything?" he asked.
"Need to brush my teeth." Need to find my self-control and I'm pretty sure it's in the toilet. She popped up and ran to the bathroom. When she came back three minutes later, she'd taken her frustration out on her teeth. There wasn't a speck of plaque on her pearly whites. And while she didn't find her self-control in the potty, she'd given herself a good talking-to about not acting like some hormone-crazed teen.
Sure she was a teen, and probably hormone crazed, but she didn't need to act like it.
Steve had the open file in his lap when she moved to the living room. She sat down on the opposite side of the sofa and he started going over the info.
She didn't tell him she already knew it because he might need to hear it. Five minutes later, he closed the file. "Okay, the thing to remember is if they insist I leave, I'll shift and hang around. I won't leave you."
Della cut her eyes to him. "Heartwarming, but if they insist you leave, I'll be fine. I can take care of myself. Besides, they know you're a shifter, Steve. Don't do anything that will ruin this."
"I won't do anything to ruin it. But I'm not leaving you." His tone came out determined, protective. "I'll be careful. They won't realize it's me."
"Yes they will. What about them knowing you're a shifter don't you get?"
He stared at her a long second before speaking. "So they're smarter than you, huh?"
She tightened her eyes at him. "What's that mean?"
"You didn't know I was there last night. You saw me twice."
She studied him, feeling puzzled. "I don't..."
"I was your neighbor's dog and then I was the kitten. If a shifter is careful what they become, we blend into the environment and are never suspected. Why do you think we're one of the most powerful of the supernaturals?"
First, they really weren't one of the most powerful supernaturals, vampires were, not that this was a competition. Then all of a sudden her chest tightened and her face heated remembering her short interaction with the neighbor's dog. Hadn't she said something about him not smelling her crotch?
"Don't do that to me anymore." She stood up, went to the door, and glanced back over her shoulder. "It's time to go."
* * *
Della and Steve landed in the designated spot of the state park five minutes later. A clearing, secluded from any road or human life, and surrounded by trees. A place where anything could happen and there'd be no witnesses. Della scanned the area, seeing only tall pines mixed with a few oaks and tons of thorny underbrush.
She didn't like it.
From just looking, one would think the area was abandoned. Only a few stars lit up the night sky. But one good nose of air told her the truth. They were here.
Hidden.
Waiting.
But for what?
To attack?
And while her nose couldn't count, she sensed there were more than three of them.
Did the gang somehow know Della and Steve were assisting the FRU? Or was this just the way the gang welcomed all potential new members?
A sense of danger brushed over her skin. As exciting as it was, fear crowded her chest. She remembered the pictures of those who had died at the hands of suspected vampire gangs. A mother and a child. An elderly woman. If this was the gang advocating murder for initiation, who had taken innocent lives, they needed to be stopped and the risk was worth it. Sure, Burnett didn't believe this was the gang, but he had to have doubts or he wouldn't have sent them on this mission.
"They're here," Steve whispered.
"I know," Della said.
A stirring of underbrush sounded to their right and then one to the left. And then behind them. Della spotted another vamp coming out from the trees right at them.
Friggin' great.
They were surrounded.
Chapter Four
"What a warm welcome," Della said, refusing to acknowledge her fear.
"She's sassy," said someone behind her.
"We can beat that out of her," said the vamp walking toward her as he eyed her up and down.
"I wouldn't try," Della said.
"I second that," Steve added, his voice deep and filled with warning.
The rogue tightened his gaze to check their patterns. "So you brought your pet with you, huh?"
Della heard Steve inhale and she reached over and touched his arm. Surely, he knew to let her deal with this.
"He's not my pet," she growled, offended for him more than she realized.
"Ah, I see," the lead rogue said, a filthy twinkle in his eyes. "So you're giving it up to this joker?"
"We've swapped bodily fluids if that's what you're asking," she countered, confident, and suddenly grateful they'd exchanged spit last night during that hot kiss.
The vamp grinned. "I like your spunk. Maybe you and I can swap some bodily fluid sometime."
Steve tensed beside her. "I wouldn't count on it," he said.
"And I'll second that," Della said.
The vamp frowned as if disappointed he couldn't intimidate them. "You do realize first you will have to prove yourself worthy. If you are accepted, then your shifter here will have to prove himself, and even then he will only be considered an extra. Extras ... don't last very long."
The rogue's insinuation struck a punch to Della's nerves, but she focused on what was important. The whole "prove yourself worthy" comment.
Was it going to be this easy? Was he just going to tell her right now what she had to do and they could leave? A tiny part of her hoped it wouldn't be so simple. She already disliked this guy and wouldn't mind teaching him a lesson.
"Exactly how do we prove ourselves?"
"Do you know how to fight?"
Hell, yes. "I can hold my own," Della said.
His gaze shifted to Steve. "Looks like shifter-boy likes to fight," he said, obviously referring to Steve's black eye.
"I can hold my own, too," Steve said.