Lupi 06 - Blood Magic

stake.
    He checked his input figures one last time, then put in his buy order. Then he opened his browser and logged on to the site he used for background information on those he did business with. Google was handy, but this site, operated by a detective agency, offered a bit more. For his monthly fee he could obtain a records check on almost anyone. If that raised questions for him, he could contact the agency for a deeper look.
    Beck, Cody, he typed in the first field. In one of the other fields he entered San Diego County Sheriff's Department. Then he hit SEARCH.
    Short of death, it was impossible for him to lose Lily. She'd agreed to marry him, and would have been faithful even without the conventional human bond. She loved him. He knew that.
    But he wanted very much to learn what he could of the man she'd spoken of with such smothered regret.
    "You changed the alarm setting."
    Rule smiled. Lily looked so disgruntled and tidy standing there in her pressed dress slacks, sleeveless white shirt, and bare feet. Her hair was still damp from her shower. She held the bunched-up comforter under one arm. "Only by forty-five minutes," he said.
    "Which isn't enough to help. Just means I'll be running late all day." She came into the kitchen, where Rule was getting his second cup of coffee, took down a mug, and held it out. "Harry didn't wake me, either."
    "I bribed him with ham." Rule filled Lily's mug and took the comforter from her. "I'll wash it."
    She slid him a grin, took a sip, closed her eyes, and took another one.
    He loved to watch her enjoy coffee. His coffee. She drank the stuff regurgitated by cop shop coffeemakers, but she didn't enjoy it.
    He opened the sliders that concealed the washer and dryer in their nook off the kitchen. "Nettie's still asleep, as she should be. She expended a great deal on Cullen yesterday. Max won a hundred dollars from Jason at poker. Either he didn't cheat or Jason is smarter than I realized. Cynna and Cullen are asleep, or were an hour ago. Toby's with my father. When I spoke with him, he was worried about Cullen, but, ah, unaware of the spell. I decided to allow him that ignorance."
    "He's not too upset?"
    Rule shook his head. "He thinks Cullen is healing normally. He wanted to go see Cullen, but when told he couldn't, fell back on wheedling for permission to hike up into the mountains with some of the other children."
    "Hmm." Lily followed, coffee cup in hand. "You've been busy. Up awhile?" She glanced at the breakfast bar, where his laptop was up and humming, though with a screensaver at the moment. She didn't say a word, but she didn't have to.
    "I'm fine, Lily. You know I don't need much sleep."
    "You need some, though, and the way things have been going lately - "
    "Is temporary. I may have found someone to help with Leidolf's investments. Your father recommended him."
    Her eyebrows lifted. "A human?"
    "Unfortunately, Leidolf hasn't invested in its members' education sufficiently. I don't have anyone within the clan who can handle the sort of transactions I'm interested in." He wouldn't mention just whom Lily's father had recommended. More fun to surprise her, if things worked out. "Will you be going to the hospital right away?"
    She grimaced. "I need two of me. Maybe three. I'll get to the hospital, but not yet. I had an idea while I was showering. A way to guard Cullen pretty damned effectively that doesn't involve me or Cynna, and it just might help with something else, too. Uh... I wondered if you wanted to go along. If you drove, I could get some work done on the way."
    Amused, he tugged her hair. "You wouldn't be trying to guard me, would you?"
    "Maybe a little. I don't really think she's involved. According to what Cynna told us it's unlikely, and besides, she would have tried for you or your father. Or that's what I think, but maybe I don't know how an Old One with a really big grudge lays her plans, so... " She shrugged. "Either way, I can use the drive time to read some stuff I requested. Research is getting me a list of suspected professional hits that might match this perp's MO."
    "All right." Since he'd already planned to find a way to intrude himself into her day so he could guard her, that worked for him. "Where are we going?"
    "Well." She sipped, smiled... but it was a complex smile, woven of many strands of emotion. "I dreamed of dragons last night."

 
    SIXTEEN

    Had it been up to Washington, San Diego would not have received a dragon. True, it was home to a