Inked

it.
    He stopped growling.
    She showed him the necklace she wore, the toltoi charm she’d been given to mark her status as Chosen.
    He dropped to the floor, whining submissively.
    “You’re getting out,” she assured him. “Rule’s here. Your lawyer’s here, and bail’s been posted. But we need you two-legged. Can you Change back?”
    Ten minutes later, Lily left the cell block with a young man who looked like every cliché of a California surfer dude—sun-streaked blond hair, athletic body, and a quick, white grin. He wore ragged jeans and a blue T-shirt with a stylized wave.
    The clothes had been on the floor of his cell. And he probably wasn’t as young as he looked.

6
    BOBBIE’S Grill was Rule’s suggestion. The food, he said, was nothing special, but it arrived quickly and the portions were generous. Speed and portion size mattered for the same reason they were eating supper so early: the Change burns calories, and a hungry wolf is an edgy wolf.
    Besides, his stomach was on the same clock as hers, and hers said it was after eight. On the way there, Lily checked her official email and found that the request for the police reports on Hilliard’s death was still pending. Big surprise.
    She also saw that the photos she’d sent of the tattoo had been passed to Arjenie Fox, a young witch who worked in research. Arjenie was good. Lily sent her a quick note asking to be contacted as soon as she knew anything.
    Once they arrived, Lily saw one more reason Rule had chosen Bobbie’s. It had outdoor seating. At this hour, the majority of customers were rushing home from work and opting for take-out, so they had the patio to themselves. The low wall around the patch of cement didn’t do much to reduce traffic noise or provide privacy, but the openness would be soothing to a claustrophobic lupus newly released from a cell.
    Another plus: fish tacos. “Did you know they don’t have fish tacos in D.C.?” she asked Jason as Rule put down the plastic trays with their order.
    “You’re kidding.” He shook his head and reached for the salsa. “How could they not, a cosmopolitan place like that?”
    “They’ve never even heard of fish tacos.” Lily grabbed her tacos and began doctoring them with extra shredded cabbage, a generous dollop of salsa, and pickles. Rule had had to ask for the pickles; for some reason they weren’t a universally approved accompaniment for fish tacos.
    “Go figure.” Jason said that around a healthy mouthful of tortilla and batter-fried fish. He swallowed. “That was so cool, what you did with the phone. I didn’t know you could do that—make it work like a web cam.”
    “I don’t think you can.” Lily decided the tacos needed more salsa and spooned it on. “At least, I know I can’t.”
    “It was a bluff?” Jason hooted and slapped his thigh. “Man, I’d like to be a fly on the wall when Daly realizes you bluffed him.”
    Rule frowned. “What are you talking about?”
    “Daly had a pair of officers training rifles on Jason,” she explained. “With orders to shoot if he moved. I had to persuade him he couldn’t get away with it, and I was short on options.”
    Jason turned to Rule. “I wish you’d seen it. She’s got guts. They were aimed for me, so she stepped up between me and their guns. Told ’em their chief was a bloody idiot.” Jason grinned. “And when they didn’t—”
    Rule broke in, his voice flat. “You stepped in front of their rifles.”
    Uh-oh. Rule hadn’t been thrilled about her going in there alone in the first place. “I needed to interfere with their line of fire.”
    “Dammit, Lily, Jason can heal most wounds! You promised me—”
    “I promised I wouldn’t get in the cell with Jason until he Changed back. I didn’t.” But Jason had never been the main threat. Lily’s pleasure in the fish taco faded. She put it down and said quietly, “He’s a bad cop, Rule. Daly’s not just a bully with a badge. If he hasn’t yet killed, using the badge to protect himself, he will.”
    He met her eyes. She saw the turbulence in him, the desire to go back and tear Daly apart. Maybe rip down the jail, too. After a moment he grimaced. “I suppose now you’ll tell me it must have been a good decision, since you’re still alive.”
    “He intended to kill Jason. I wasn’t sure about that until I saw how he’d set the stage. I interfered with his plans, but he was damn near mad enough to go ahead anyway. So I bluffed.”
    Jason