Fredericka caught her by the arm. Her fingers dug into Kylie's elbow. Kylie almost attempted to pull away. Then she remembered that if everyone was right about her being a protector, she wouldn't have the power to take on the were.
The only way Kylie could take on Fredericka was if she tried to hurt someone Kylie cared about.
And considering that other person was Della, and there might be a death cloud hanging around her and every other vampire at Shadow Falls, Kylie wasn't about to let Della get involved.
Kylie would have to use her wits to get out of this. Did she have enough?
"Do you want to let go of my arm?" Kylie pretended like it didn't feel as if her bones were about to be crushed under the were's grasp.
"Not really," Fredericka growled.
"Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you. Because I've got this spirit hanging around and she's been in a piss-poor mood for about thirty years." It was a lie. Pure lie. But Kylie wasn't above using what she could. "Ever since she was killed by a rogue werewolf, she's been aching-"
Fredericka's hand dropped. "Go to hell."
Kylie smiled. "Thanks for the invite, but I almost went there yesterday and didn't like it all that much." Kylie then wrinkled her nose. "Is that skunk I smell?"
Fredericka's eyes turned burnt orange and Kylie knew she'd pushed too far. The were's hand clamped down on Kylie's elbow and tightened. Someone darted out of the woods. From the corner of Kylie's eyes, she saw it was Will, Lucas's friend.
He cleared his throat, and the she-wolf didn't even look at him. She just dropped her hold on Kylie and took off with a tail-tucked-between-her-legs kind of look.
Kylie didn't like realizing that Will had been hounding her footsteps, unseen. The fact that neither Kylie nor Della had sensed he'd been hounding them told her he was good at it, too.
Della glared at him, but Kylie did the right thing. "Thanks."
"No problem." He disappeared back into the woods.
"What the hell did you say 'thank you'? We didn't need him intervening. I could have opened a can of whoop ass on that she-wolf and she'd have been whimpering like a hungry pup."
And she might have killed you.
They had gotten only a few feet away when Kylie remembered what Fredericka said about Lucas calling her. Pausing, she pulled out her phone to see if she'd missed his call.
Nope.
The were could have been lying. How could Kylie ever know? Then ... duh, the obvious hit. Della, like the rest of her kind, was a walking, talking lie detector. She could hear heartbeats and pulse rates and knew when someone was telling a lie.
Kylie looked at Della. "Was Fredericka telling the truth about Lucas calling her?"
Della made a face. "Is lying wrong if you know it's what the person wants to hear?"
"Just tell me!"
Della mouthed the word sorry. "She was telling the truth."
* * *
After Kylie arrived back at the cabin, Holiday came over with Burnett's laptop and they sent an e-mail to Catherine O'Connell's family. They'd concocted a story about being an old friend of Catherine's and thought her family should know that she had wanted to tell them something right before she'd passed away. It sounded good. Convincing, even. And then they did a cut and paste of all the family tree information that came with photos.
Hopefully, it would do the trick. Not that Kylie suspected she'd ever know for sure. But she felt good about keeping her part of the bargain. Never mind that the information Kylie got from her about Berta Littlemon had yet to give her any answers. And Kylie hoped it didn't. The last thing she wanted to discover was that she was wrong about Jane Doe.
While Holiday and Della chatted at the table, Kylie sent her stepfather an e-mail and told him the shift schedule if he wanted to come on Sunday to Parents Day. She hoped he'd e-mail back and say he couldn't make it so she wouldn't have to deal with Sara and her stepdad on the same day. His e-mail came back superfast. He said he looked forward to seeing her on Sunday.
"Crap," Kylie muttered.
Holiday glanced over at her. "Bad news?"
"No, everything is just friggin' fabulous," Kylie said, and dropped her head on the desk. She didn't know if she would survive.
"Are you okay?" Holiday asked when Kylie walked her outside a few minutes later.
"As good as can be expected, I guess," Kylie lied. Holiday nodded and they said their good-nights.
When Kylie got back inside the cabin, Della was answering e-mails and Kylie sat at the kitchen table. She longed to call it a night, but she wanted to be here when Miranda got back from her date with Todd.
Kylie looked at the clock on the wall. That could be several more hours from now, though. Hours that Kylie had to fret over her own problems.
Della swung around. "That's not good. Or maybe it is."
"What?" Kylie asked.
Della pointed to the door and Miranda walked in. Her face was unreadable. She moved over to the table and dropped into a chair with as much drama as she could muster.
"And?" Kylie asked, and spotted hope in Della's eyes. Kylie knew that Della hoped the same thing Kylie did.
Hoped that the date was a complete bust and Perry still had a shot.
Miranda merely shrugged.
"Don't do this!" Della snapped. "Spill it or I'll reach down your throat for the answer myself."
Miranda spoke up. "He was ... nice. Dinner was nice. Holding his hand was nice."
"Did he kiss you?" Kylie asked, unsure how Miranda defined "nice." If Kylie worked hard enough, she could believe "nice" meant it wasn't anything special.
Miranda nodded. "The kiss was..."
"Let me guess," Della said. "It was nice."
"Right," Miranda said.
Della slapped her hand on the table. "'Nice' is just another way of saying 'friggin' boring'!"
Miranda frowned. "That's exactly what I thought."
Kylie and Della both squealed with excitement.
"What?" Miranda asked. "You're happy my date wasn't exciting?"
"No," Kylie said. "Let's just say we're more excited about tomorrow night's date."
A bright smile lit up Miranda's face. "Me too. Can you believe Perry did that? I mean, he was so..."