Lupi 06 - Blood Magic

Rule slipping through the crowd. She followed. He stopped and held out his arm. She stepped into that welcoming circle. He was warm and sweaty from the dance.
    Another circle had formed, she realized - a circle of men around a panting, excited wolf with a brindle coat. One man was laughing. Another grinned and shook his head. Another sighed.
    Lily was the only female in the circle. The only human. There were no children nearby, either. The wolf was surrounded only by other lupi... and her.
    Piers must have gotten so excited that he lost control and Changed. For an adolescent, that was a huge no-no - because he might lose control in other ways, too. Lily was contemplating the wisdom of stepping back when Isen strode up to the wolf. He stopped, hands on hips, and shook his head. "Piers," he said. Just that, but with such disappointment.
    The wolf's ears went flat. His tail drooped. His head sagged in sudden dejection.
    "You know what you must do now."
    The wolf cocked his head, gave a hopeful wag of his tail.
    Isen said nothing.
    The wolf sighed and nodded.
    "Straight back," Isen said. "No interesting detours. You'll Change as soon as you're able and explain to Mason what happened."
    Mason was the lupus in charge of the terra tradis. Lily hadn't met him, but she'd heard stories. He sounded like a combination drill instructor and headmaster with a sprinkling of priest.
    "Isen?" one of the older men said. "Do you want me to... ?" He made a little circular gesture.
    "Thank you for the offer. However... " Isen gave the abject wolf another look. "I trust Piers to take himself back."
    That perked the wolf up. He gave another, firmer nod.
    "What just happened?" someone behind Lily asked.
    She turned to see Susan's husband frowning at the wolf trotting out of the circle. Paul was a tall, gangly man with rimless glasses and shiny black hair that he had cut every week so there was no chance of a single hair falling out of place. He was as serious as a rain cloud and rather shy.
    "Hi, Paul. Uh - Piers was sent back to the terra tradis."
    "The what?" He shook his head. "Never mind. Is he dangerous?"
    They all are, Lily wanted to say. But that was both too much information and too little. She kept her mouth closed.
    Rule answered in the same relaxed way he fielded questions from reporters. "Simply overexcited, but he wasn't supposed to Change, so he had to be disciplined. We're firm with our youngsters about the circumstances in which they're allowed to Change."
    "I wondered because Susan and I were moved away when he... when he did that. Changed. We were moved away physically."
    "I apologize for any rudeness."
    "No, no, I wasn't offended. I simply... " Paul was still watching the place in the crowd where the wolf had vanished, an odd expression on his face. "I've never seen anything like that."
    "Not many have, outside the clans." Rule's tone was perfectly matter-of-fact, yet somehow suggested that Paul was both privileged and too wise to make a fuss about that privilege. "Paul, I was hoping for a chance to chat with you tonight. I won't keep you from Susan long - I think the regular dancing will start soon - but I'd like your opinion of a stock I'm considering, a medical technology company. You'll have an insider's knowledge of their products."
    Paul perked up much as the wolf had, if not quite so obviously. He had an important position in hospital administration - Lily could never remember the exact title, but he made a lot of purchasing decisions and loved to talk about the technology of medicine.
    She hid a smile and let Rule do his thing. His flattery worked because it was sincere. He probably was considering that stock - he maintained a diverse portfolio for Nokolai - and he did appreciate hearing Paul's opinion of the company. And before Paul left Clanhome tonight, he would be convinced Rule Turner was an unusually astute and sensible man. One with an odd ability, maybe, but his occasional furriness would no longer seem important.
    The drumming had started up again. After a moment the fiddles joined in. The regular dancing would begin soon. Lily let her attention drift away, looking for Benedict or Cullen. She wanted a word with the former, and she needed to give Cullen the... Wait. Was that who Beth had seen earlier?
    The man she'd seen moving through the crowd was certainly Asian, but he didn't look like Freddie. He was shorter, for one thing, and his face was rounder than Freddie's. She thought he was older, too. She'd