Mortal Ties

by Eileen Wilks

  She felt as if she’d been punched in the stomach. “I didn’t know. I should have.” Rule had mentioned Mick’s birthday last year—not the exact date, but that his father had gone off by himself for two days on the anniversary of his second son’s birth.

  “Isen didn’t want you thinking about it. You would have been careful with him. That would have annoyed him.”

  Was Rule talking about his father or himself? Didn’t matter, she decided, and set her glass down and stood.

  Rule had the sexiest eyebrows she’d ever seen on a man. Even when they drew down like they did now in a go-away frown, they were a total turn-on. “I’m okay, Lily.”

  “I know. But ‘okay’ is a pretty roomy place, isn’t it? Room for all sorts of stuff you do not want to talk about. I get that.”

  His fingers tapped on the table rather the way a cat’s tail twitches when it’s annoyed. “Think you know me pretty well, do you?”

  “Yeah, I do. Especially the parts that are a lot like me, like when you work really hard so you don’t have to think about something. The problem is, now that I’ve forced you to talk about the thing you weren’t thinking about, it’s going to be harder to cram yourself down into those reports.”

  “It will be easier once you stop talking about it.”

  She nodded as she reached him. “That’s one option, but it will be a bitch, won’t it? Pretending you give a damn about, uh…” She tilted her head to read the heading on one page. “EPS.”

  His mouth tightened—but maybe that was because he’d had to work to keep it from twitching. “Earnings per share is a vital part of analyzing a stock’s potential.”

  “I’m sure it is.” There was just enough room, she judged, and slid one leg over his lap, and sat. “Kind of crowded here.”

  His hands came automatically to her hips. Large, warm hands, their heat all on the surface at first.…“Lily—”

  “I was thinking you might have to up the ante, go for physical distraction since I’ve made the mental sort harder.” She threaded her hands together at his nape. “I was also thinking that this is the first time we’ve ever had the house completely to ourselves.”

  Oh, yeah, his mouth did twitch this time. “No Carl.”

  “No Isen.”

  “No Toby.” His hands shifted slightly, but the motion seemed more restless than caressing. “It seems more appropriate to distract myself with work than with pleasure.”

  Lily had never lost a sibling. Both her parents were alive. She didn’t really know what Rule was feeling, but…“My father’s mother is extremely alive, but his father died before I was born. Grandmother has observed his birthday every year.”

  “I didn’t know that.”

  “When I was a kid, it was a mandatory family thing. We’d go to Grandmother’s every April sixteenth and eat ourselves sick—Chinese food for dinner, followed by an array of American-style desserts starring an enormous birthday cake. She and my father would talk about Grandfather. She wanted us to know him, but she also wanted a party. Birthdays, she says, are for celebrating life, and neither grief nor death erases the life someone lived.” She smiled slightly. “Mother is more traditional, which is funny, since she’s third generation, while Grandmother is so very Chinese. Have I told you about Qingming?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Mother observes Qingming every year by taking flowers to the graves of her ancestors—first her grandparents’, then her parents’ graves. So that’s how I honor my grandparents on her side, because that’s how she does it. But every April sixteenth, I have a Grandfather cupcake.”

  “Did you do that this year?”

  “Yes. Should I have told you?”

  “Probably. As I should have told you that today was Mick’s birthday.” He was silent a moment, and still, his eyes losing focus as he looked inward. “Mick was an asshole sometimes. He wrapped up all his problems in me so he wouldn’t have to deal with them.”

  She said nothing, but she listened hard.

  “He wasn’t an asshole all the time.” Rule’s sudden grin delighted her. “He knew how to have fun. When I was twenty, he took me to Tijuana for my birthday.”

  “Maybe I shouldn’t hear the details of that celebration.”

  “Among other things, I learned that it is possible for a lupus to get drunk. It takes real dedication and the condition is extremely short-lived, but it is possible.”

  “Do I want to know how you achieved that?”

  “Five quarts of tequila downed as fast as I could swallow.”

  “Did they come back up as fast as you could vomit?”

  “I staggered and giggled for a few minutes, felt queasy a couple more, then both nausea and intoxication faded.”

  “That’s it? No hurling, no hangover?”

  “I did have to piss most urgently.”

  “Life is just not fair.”

  “Lily.”

  “Yeah?”

  “I love you.”

  She smiled and tipped her head and kissed him—softly at first, but as his breathing quickened she put more effort into it. When she straightened, one of his hands had shifted well north of her hip, while her hands were enjoying all that lovely bare skin along his shoulders and chest. Her smile this time was wicked. “I promise I won’t be careful with you.”

  Words could be overrated. He omitted them entirely in his reply.

  She was bare to the waist and extremely distracted a few moments later when her mate abruptly straightened, his head tipped ever so slightly. It was a posture she recognized.

  “What did you…oh, God. Isen.” Rule must have heard his father returning. She looked around frantically for her shirt—saw it on the floor, but not her bra—

  “Not my father.” He pushed his chair back, his face still distant. Listening.

  She clambered to her feet, bent, and snatched her shirt—and there was her bra, under the table. She snatched it up. “What, then?”

  “You didn’t hear it? No, obviously not.” Rule grabbed his phone from the table. “Something just blew up.”

  SIX

  “SHIT.” Lily hooked the bra around her waist, twisted it, slid her arms in, and yanked it up.

  Rule tapped the screen on his phone. “Isen didn’t take his phone with him. Or his guards.”

  “Double shit.” Bra in place, she reached for her shirt.

  The phone—the landline—rang. Rule had his phone to his ear. He gestured at her to take it. “If it’s Pete, put him on speaker.”

  She hurried to the old-fashioned stand the phone rested on and snatched up the receiver. “This is Lily.”

  “I need the Rho,” the second-in-command of clan security told her.

  “He’s on a run. Alone. Rule wants me to put you on speaker.” Lily did that, set the receiver down, and tugged her shirt over her head. “Rule is talking to someone on his mobile, but he—”

  “I called Hammond,” Rule said, sliding his phone in a pocket as he joined her. “He lives near the draw where Isen often runs. He’ll cast for Isen’s trail. Pete, what happened?”

  “Don’t know yet, but there’s a fire halfway up Big Sister.”

  “Halfway?” Rule asked sharply. “Which side?”

  “East. It’s not big yet, but I can see the glow from here. Hang on.” Lily heard a voice in the background, then: “You heard?”

  “Two patrols near Big Sister have reported an explosion,” Rule said, “and are on their way to investigate.”

  “Yes. Lily said Isen’s on a run alone.”

  “He’s alive.” Rule said that with calm authority. He would know, of course. If his father had been killed, the full mantle would have descended on him. “I don’t know where he is, but he’s alive. Call full alert. I’m switching to my earbud. Call me on my mobile.” He touched the disconnect button.

  An explosion and fire on Big Sister. Lily had stuffed her feet into her shoes while Pete reported. Now she raced for the bedroom she and Rule shared. Big Sister w
as the tallest peak in Clanhome. The view from the top was spectacular, but getting there was a bitch and a half. Halfway up, though, wasn’t a bad hike even for the two-legged.

  She grabbed her purse and shoulder harness. “Benedict’s cabin?” she called. Benedict had a propane tank up there. That would make a nice, big boom.

  “That’s on the west face, not the east.”

  She knew that. Or should have. Lily ran back to the great room. Rule stood just this side of the entrance hall. He’d opened a small door set into the wall, revealing what looked like the control board for a security system. He wore his earbud, and his face said “listening” again. “Good. I want Cynna here, fast. Triple the detail on Toby. Send Cullen to deal with the fire. He’s to take a squad with him to—yes, just one. Every other squad mobilized, but hold them at their meet-points until we know more. Pick someone with a good nose and set him on Isen’s trail.”

  The lights went out as Lily passed Rule, stepping into the entrance hall. Full alert meant the Rho’s house went dark. She paused, letting her eyes adjust, and used the moment to slip on her shoulder harness. “The fire’s a diversion.”

  Rule’s voice came from right behind her. “I think so, yes. Or possibly Isen took his run up on Big Sister and precipitated an incident.” He moved past her, a whisper of sound and warmth in the dark. A second later she heard a door open.

  It wasn’t completely black. The windows in the great room weren’t draped, so some light spilled in from that end of the hall. But the moon was only a couple of days past new, so that wisp of illumination was too thin for human eyes. Lily trailed her fingers along the wall to guide her.

  “Here,” Rule said, giving her a target.

  She brushed past him and entered Isen’s study—where it was truly, deeply dark, being a completely interior room. When the light was on, it was a cozy and inviting room with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, a desk in one corner, a small bassinet in another, and four cushy chairs grouped in the middle. The walls and ceiling were reinforced with steel. The trapdoor that opened on the emergency escape tunnel was hidden beneath a fine old Persian carpet.

  Lily stopped just inside and waited for Rule to shut the door and turn on the lights.

  “I’m leaving the door open until Cynna gets here with the baby,” he told her. “I’ll have to switch to the landline then, but until…yes.” The last was apparently addressed to Pete. “I see. Lily, call Benedict. His mobile number is star four. Brief him. Pete can’t raise the patrol that was on Big Sister at the time of the explosion.”

  Rule was in full Rho-mode, which meant tossing out orders, not requests, but Lily wasn’t going to quibble over phrasing. Benedict had to be told, and she wasn’t useful otherwise at the moment. She moved farther into the room, feeling for the desk. She’d need the landline; there was too much metal in the walls for her mobile phone.

  She found the desk and the phone, propped her rump on one and lifted the receiver of the other, causing the number pad to light up. She tapped the star key, then the four, and waited.

  Benedict was Rule’s oldest brother, the head of security for the clan, and absent. That was highly unusual, but so was being gifted with a second Chosen by the Lady, which was the reason he wasn’t at Clanhome. He’d traveled across the country to spend the holidays with Arjenie’s family. Then, right after the holiday, they’d had to go to D.C. Benedict’s Chosen was Arjenie Fox, a researcher for the Bureau with a secret heritage: she was part elf. She hadn’t seen her father in years, but he’d told her a lot about the sidhe, so when the trade delegation showed up in Washington, Ruben had summoned her.

  Benedict was also the only Nokolai other than Rule who could carry the mantle if Isen were killed, since Toby was too young. That made him a major potential target for their enemies. If Isen and Rule were killed, Benedict would be the clan’s only chance to survive.

  She could just barely make out Rule’s bulk against the rectangle of paler darkness that was the doorway. She couldn’t hear him much better than she could see him. He was talking to Pete, but keeping his voice so low she’d need lupi hearing to make out the words.

  “Yes,” a deep voice said in her ear.

  “This is Lily. We’ve got a situation. Between five and ten minutes ago there was an explosion halfway up Big Sister—the east face—resulting in a fire Pete described as not very large. We’re on full alert. The patrol nearest the incident can’t be raised by phone. Two other patrols are headed there to investigate, and Rule is sending a squad with Cullen to deal with the fire. Rule and I are in Isen’s study. Cynna and the baby will be here any minute. Toby’s at Danny’s—Eric Snowden’s son—with his guards tripled. Isen’s whereabouts are unknown, but he’s alive.”

  “His guards?”

  “He went for a run without them.”

  A moment’s silence. “Mick’s birthday.”

  “Yes.”

  “Hold a moment.” He didn’t wait for her to agree—typical Benedict—but he wasn’t gone long. She heard him telling someone about the explosion, then she heard Arjenie’s voice, though she couldn’t make out the words. Then he spoke to her again. “I’ve informed the guards. We’re vulnerable if we attempt to leave the hotel, so we’ll stay here for now. Arjenie’s going to increase the power to her ward, and I’ll attempt to contact Mika and see if he’s willing to stand watch.”

  “Okay. Rule, Benedict and Arjenie are staying put. He’s going to see if Mika will keep an eye on things. Anything else I should pass on?” He didn’t answer. Maybe he’d shaken his head, forgetting that she couldn’t see him. But if he’d had something to add, he would have, so she said, “I’ll call when I can and there’s more information.” She disconnected.

  Then there was nothing to do but wait in the darkness. And think.

  It wasn’t that hard to sneak onto Nokolai Clanhome. It was too big. Over six thousand acres meant miles of perimeter to patrol, and even with the recent influx there weren’t enough guards to survey the entire border at every moment. A single person could cross easily if he or she was fit enough for the terrain and savvy or lucky enough to miss the patrols. The trick was remaining unseen, unheard, and unsmelled once you got here. Lupi patrolled in pairs—one two-footed and armed, one four-footed, with onboard armament and a really good nose.

  If you wanted to penetrate very far into Clanhome—say, all the way to the small village at its heart—you’d want a diversion. Especially if you were leading a small group bent on mayhem. The problem was, the diversion their intruder had chosen didn’t make sense.

  Big Sister was a relatively easy target for an outsider. The peak itself was on Nokolai land, but part of its rumpled skirts lay in the state lands that abutted the clan’s acreage, and the terrain was rougher on the Nokolai side. Hard to patrol. A bomb set off there would certainly pull the nearest patrols that way, potentially opening a route…but to what? Lily pictured the area in her mind, but she couldn’t come up with a target that was both close enough to Big Sister for the absence of nearby patrols to matter, and far enough away that the intruders wouldn’t be spotted by the patrols converging on the fire.

  Fire. Maybe that was the key point. Maybe the intruder was counting on the fire to get big enough to require most or all of Nokolai’s fighters, leaving the village relatively undefended. If whoever it was didn’t know about Cullen’s knack with fire, that would make sense.…except that this was winter. An unusually wet winter. There was more to burn on the east face of Big Sister than the west—more trees, brush, and general growth—but none of it was dry enough to catch readily.

  Maybe Big Sister hadn’t been the first choice. What was it Rule had said? Isen might have “precipitated an incident.” Or someone else could have, like the missing patrol. Someone who spotted the intruders or was spotted, which somehow resulted in setting off the bomb in a less than ideal spot.

  And she was diving off into pure speculation now, when what she needed was facts.

  Faint but not distant, she heard
yipping. That meant someone had approached the house who was supposed to be here.

  “Cynna’s here,” Rule said abruptly—and in his normal voice, which meant he was talking to her, not Pete. “With Ryder. Toby’s team reports all quiet there. Still no word from the missing patrol, but the others should reach the area any minute now. If…yes?”

  Lily heard the front door open and a woman’s voice murmuring softly: “Shh, now, we’re going to see Uncle Rule and Aunt Lily, and yes, I know you want to finish eating and you will in just a minute, promise…”

  “Hell,” Rule said. “Warn Cullen. Cynna’s here, so I’m switching to the landline now.”

  Lily shoved to her feet. “What?”

  “Rick,” Rule said—apparently to the dark shape that suddenly bulked in the doorway, blocking what bit of light there was. “Any problems on the way here?”

  “Nothing,” said a young lupi Lily knew slightly.

  “Good. Take your post. Cynna, once you’re in here, we’ll turn on a light.”

  “Good, because while Ryder doesn’t mind the dark, I bump into things. Lily?”

  “Back here,” she answered as dim forms moved against the paler shape of the doorway. Cynna was a good friend and fellow FBI agent, currently on extended maternity leave. She was also the new Nokolai Rhej, as vital to the clan in her way as its Rho. “You’ve been told what happened?”

  “An explosion and a fire up on Big Sister.” Her voice moved as she came into the room. “Cullen’s off to—” She stopped, blinking as the overhead light came on. “Wow, that’s bright. Cullen’s going to go put the fire out.”

  Cynna looked a bit like a blond Xena who’d gotten carried away with body art. Lacy patterns decorated pretty much every exposed inch of her skin, and most of the unexposed regions, too. Anyone who knew much about tattooing would realize the designs hadn’t been applied with a needle, however. It took magic to imprint lines that spiderweb-fine.