But he wasn't the only one drinking. Della could smell booze on the woman's breath.
"This wasn't your problem," a deep voice seethed from behind Della. If she hadn't been so intent on the woman, she'd have heard him coming.
Della glanced up. Looming over them stood the drunk husband, who she obviously hadn't thrown nearly hard enough. Of course, that could be fixed.
He reached for Della, fury in his eyes and alcohol on his breath. "But you made it your problem now, bitch!"
Before she could shoot up, Steve caught the man by the arm and swung him around.
Fists started flying. Della heard what sounded like a few punches hitting bone. She could swear the jerk got a punch in on Steve. Bolting to her feet with plans to end the fight, Steve ended it first. He threw a hard right. The woman's dear old husband took that right directly to the face and fell over cold.
It would have been nice to savor the moment of success, but a pair of flashing blue police lights appeared at the end of the alley. Steve turned to Della. "We need to get the hell out of here."
Della grabbed her bag and they took off at a sprint. In the distance she heard the cops yelling for everyone to stop. They didn't. They couldn't.
Burnett hadn't been specific about them not getting arrested, but she had a feeling he'd frown upon it.
"Police! I said stop," the policeman yelled again. Footsteps echoed behind them, making their way down the alley.
They cut the corner into a side alley, and Della didn't know if they had time to get the hell out without the officers seeing their escape.
* * *
The refrigerator at the cabin didn't have an ice machine. She supposed she should be glad it had one ice tray with five pieces of ice in it. She emptied the five tiny cubes into a new pillowcase and handed it to Steve. His eye was almost swollen shut. "Hold it against your eye," she said.
They'd gotten away from the police, but barely. She stared at Steve's injury.
"Why didn't you change into something and maul his ass?" she bit out.
"You don't transform in front of humans," Steve said. "That's the number one shape-shifting rule."
"I'd think the number one rule would be to protect yourself."
"You'd think wrong," Steve said.
She shook her head. "They were both drunk, who would've believed them?"
He cut his eyes up to her. "What about when the cops showed up?"
She frowned, seeing his point, but still not liking it. "Put the ice on your eye." After a second she said, "So you're supposed to let them use you as a punching bag?"
Steve dropped the ice from his face. "He got one punch in, and who was the one on the ground when we left?"
Della groaned. "You should have let me handle him."
Steve ignored her and reached up to touch his eye. "Hey ... this will look good for tomorrow. I'm a badass shape-shifter, not afraid to fight."
Della rolled her eyes at him the way Miranda rolled hers at everyone. "But you just broke one of Burnett's rules. You're gonna come back bruised."
Steve grinned. "I'll tell him you did it."
Della plopped down on the old pine chest that served as a coffee table. "He'd know that wasn't true, even if he couldn't hear your heart lie. If you pissed me off, I wouldn't have stopped at a black eye. You'd be black-and-blue all over."
"Now that's just an outright lie. I don't think you'd hurt me." His Southern accent came out again.
"And you'd be wrong." She paused. "Where are you from?"
"Where do you think I'm from?" He smiled as if her question pleased him.