Lupi 06 - Blood Magic

closed his eyes in relief. Ruben was keeping Lily in charge of the investigation.
    "I don't know yet. No, wait. A car. I need a car. Mine's still being fixed."
    "With the fate of San Diego and possibly the world hanging in the balance," Ruben said dryly, "I think that can be arranged. What will you be doing?"
    "Looking for the perp. The, ah, one Rule mentioned, whom apparently I can't mention - no, wait; I can say that he tried to kill Cullen. That perp. He's... Shit, it's closing me down again."
    "This is frustrating for both of us. Ida will arrange for your car. Where do you want it delivered?"
    "The Medical Examiner's office. That's where I'm headed."
    "Very well. It may be there before you are. I'll see you tomorrow."
    "What? You'll see me?"
    "I'm flying out there," he said serenely. "I've a strong feeling I'm needed. Goodbye for now."
    Lily took the phone away from her ear, staring at it blankly. "He's coming out here."
    "Good."
    "You want him here? When you won't trust him with the truth?"
    "He's a strong precog who interprets his Gift with rare accuracy. I can't think of anyone better able to help us navigate this maze."
    "But you won't tell him what maze we're navigating!"
    He glanced at her. She was still deeply angry. Some of that was directed at him, but he wasn't the cause. "It's difficult to put my reasoning in words, since it's largely non-verbal. The wolf wanted... No, I wanted Ruben to have enough information so he wouldn't act blindly, but there was a good chance he would tell others what I told him. That feels extremely dangerous. Those others might react in too many different ways, ways that Sam couldn't have foreseen and accounted for."
    "But now Ruben just has guesses and speculation to pass on. How is that better?"
    "That's why I led him to believe we're dealing with the one we don't name."
    "You what?"
    "I didn't lie, but I encouraged that conclusion. You and I wondered the same thing last night, before we knew about the Chimei. It wasn't hard to steer him in that direction."
    "You deliberately deceived him."
    "Ruben will be more likely to trust us to deal with this if he believes it has to do with her. Lupi are the world's only experts on her."
    "That only makes sense if I accept your starting point - that it's better not to tell him the truth."
    His decision was so obvious to him now it was hard to understand why she didn't see the same thing he did. "Sam needs the number of decision points kept as low as possible. Otherwise he loses control of the possible ways the treaty could be broken."
    "You're letting Sam call the shots? You pulled a Rho on Ruben, but you let - "
    "I did what?"
    "Pulled a Rho on Ruben. You weren't making suggestions - you were telling him how things were and what he needed to do, then manipulating him like your father would. If he hadn't been on the other side of the continent, he'd have felt your mantle pushing at him."
    "Humans don't feel the mantles."
    She snorted. "Go right on believing that. I've seen you pull the mantle on a former Marine, and I saw him back down. Never mind - we can argue about that later. The point is, you're dancing to Sam's tune. We need to call Ruben back, fill him in."
    "Sam knows the tune. We don't, not yet."
    "So you'll just cede him the right to call the shots? That's not like you."
    "I've ceded nothing," he snapped. Clearly his nadia partook of dragon nature in more ways than one - which gave him new insight into how difficult it had been for her to accept the mate bond, but he'd consider that another day. When she wasn't driving him crazy. "Sam and I are allies in this. You're overreacting."
    "I'm damned well not! I'm not going to be shut out, shut down, by this - this - "
    "At the moment, the treaty is controlling more of you than your speech. You're like an animal trying to chew off its leg to escape a trap. You're reacting, not thinking."
    "I'm thinking just fine. I think I hate misleading Ruben."
    "Ruben is a good man, but he acts for the government. If Sam's actions indirectly cause a separate power - a governing body - to move against the Chimei, that's likely to break the treaty. "
    "I act for the damned government, too."
    "And you weren't allowed to speak to Ruben. To bring that government in on this." He let that sink in a moment. "You can't tolerate having something imposed on you. I understand that. Sam understands even better, I'm sure, but he's had time to adjust. He doesn't allow his rage to dominate his thinking."
    "His