Lupi 06 - Blood Magic

or two, just to be sure, then go home and go to sleep herself. For a day or two, she said. The damage is pretty small, really, not like when he had to regrow a whole foot and ankle. Regrowing parts takes a lot longer than closing up a cut."
    It wasn't just a cut. It was a cut to the heart, so some of his healing magic would be spent keeping him alive while he healed it, which meant it would heal more slowly than a cut to the leg or arm. But Lily knew what Cynna meant. "It won't be long before he's driving you crazy, trying to do stuff he shouldn't."
    "Ha! I've got a dragon keeping an eye on him. Let him argue with Sam."
    He probably would. Lily's grin spread even wider. "Yeah, but Li Qin is there, too. Even Cullen won't argue with her. You just can't, somehow. Have you called Rule yet?"
    "I don't - yeah, wait. Nettie's signaling me that she's got him on the phone now. She called Isen already. It's a clan thing," Cynna said apologetically, as if she were responsible. "The Rho had to hear first."
    "I guess." Isen had declared clan-offense, after all. Lily wasn't sure that made up for not telling Rule first, but Rule probably wouldn't agree.
    She paused to look around. She'd reached the street where her car was supposed to be, according to the patrol officer T.J. had coerced into bringing it to her. Where... Oh, there it was.
    Things were looking up. She updated Cynna briefly on the investigation while she climbed into the oven that was her front seat, wincing when she touched the steering wheel. She got the engine started - and with it, the a/c. "Um... could I ask you a personal question?"
    "Sure." Cynna was still riding the cheerful wave.
    "Why did you decide to marry Cullen? I mean, as opposed to living with him. Was it for the baby?"
    "Yes and no, and I'll give you more if you tell me why you're asking."
    No mistaking the curiosity in Cynna's voice. "I'm not having doubts," she said firmly. "I know that marrying Rule is right. I just don't know why."
    "Uh... because you love him?"
    "That's true whether I marry him or not." Lily grabbed her headset, touched the RECEIVE button, and slid it on so she could drive. The car wasn't anything like cool yet, but the steering wheel wouldn't burn her fingers now. Probably. She slipped the phone into its dashboard holder and said, "With the mate bond, we've already got the forever thing. So why marriage, when it's going to cause who knows how much trouble with the clans?"
    "But you're not having doubts."
    "It's more like I need to get everything lined up."
    "Like in your closet." Cynna chuckled. "Okay. I don't know if it will help, but I married Cullen... well, two reasons, really. He needed the forever promise, so I wanted to give that to him. And I wanted us to be a family. An official family. We'd be the baby's family without that piece of paper, but we wouldn't be each other's family, if you see what I mean."
    Lily had more family than she wanted sometimes. Cynna had no one. No family at all, save for a father she'd never known until a few months ago - a father who lived in another realm. "That makes good sense. Excellent sense."
    "So did I help?"
    "Yes." Not that everything had clicked into place. Lily didn't have Cynna's craving for family. She wasn't convinced families were made only with official sanction, anyway. So Cynna's reason wasn't her reason, not exactly. But it gave her a line to tug on - just like with an investigation, really. She felt that little stirring that said she was headed in the right direction. "It did. I... " Her phone beeped. She glanced at the display. "Ida's calling. I'd better take it."
    "Okay. If you need me to Find something, though - " Cynna interrupted herself with a yawn.
    Lily chuckled. "Maybe later." She accepted the call. "Lily Yu here."
    Ruben's secretary was one of those people with a voice that didn't match anything else about her. She spoke crisply, which fit, but the voice itself should have belonged to a torch singer or a longtime smoker. "Interpol is sending you information on a Chinese man who is suspected of performing multiple hits over at least a decade," she said briskly. "There is no photo, but there is a composite sketch which is included as a JPEG file. Would you like me to send that to the state and local law enforcement agencies with a description, noting that he is a person of interest in this investigation?"
    "Yes. Hot damn. Yes."
    "Very well. He is thought to have used various names, which will be listed in the file