“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.”
Kylie made a face. “Do you think he’ll believe you managed to do this all on your own?”
Della frowned. Kylie was right. She might have taken on two of the goons, but five would have been too much.
“Yeah, and how are you going to explain that they’re kangaroos?” Miranda asked.
Della grinned. “Well, I was thinking you could change them back before you left, but now that I think about it, when one of them says something about being hopping mad, Burnett will see your mark all over it.”
Della paused and looked back at the wiggling mass of slimeballs. “But you two know he’s going to be spitting mad. I hate that you two will get in trouble.”
“He can’t get any madder than he did when I turned him into a kangaroo,” Miranda said.
“He can’t be that mad,” Kylie said. “We got some bad guys. And we don’t have a scratch on us.”
Kylie was wrong. Burnett seemed mad from the moment he answered the phone. She’d given him the bit of truth that she’d decided to tell. She’d come here to see if she could find anything about her cousin Chan and accidentally stumbled across an organization that was forcing newly turned vampires into becoming indentured servants. Since the whole Chan bit wasn’t a lie, Burnett wouldn’t know she was withholding.
He calmed down a little when she assured him they were all fine, not a scratch on them. While still on the phone with her, he used his office phone and called some FRU authorities in Houston and had them coming there within five minutes. He would be there in about half an hour. The fact that Burnett could do that amazed her. Just how fast was he?