Lupi 06 - Blood Magic

better now."
    "Good." He squeezed her shoulder and dropped his hand. "I want you to quit worrying about the political aspects. Those are for me to deal with."
    "Yeah, that's going to happen." She contemplated her list. According to it, everything was done except the setting up, and she had a list for that. She flipped to it. "You know, I worry about forgetting the cake server or leaving the guest book someplace, but I gather information on the political shit and status and all that. I don't understand it, and I need to." She looked at him. "You don't get to shut me out here."
    He reached for her hand. She gave it to him. He continued silent a moment, then said, "I don't mean to shut you out. It's reflex."
    "I know. You're working to get over that, right?"
    He smiled. "Right."
    His touch, the contact, soothed her. It always did. That was a matter of magic, the mate bond, which enhanced both the need for physical connection and the benefit of it. His people believed the bond was a gift from their Lady, a belief reflected in their title for Lily: Chosen. Chosen by the Lady, they meant, for neither she nor Rule had done the choosing. Not at the start, anyway.
    But the comfort of his touch also rose from an older, more universal magic. Most people, Lily thought, feel better when they hold hands with someone they love.
    Some of her worries, she admitted, were her own fault. Cynna was a good friend, and she was pregnant, so naturally Lily had offered to give her a baby shower. No one had forced her to combine the shower with the baby party Rule and the Nokolai Rhej were giving the baby's father - Cullen Seabourne, sorcerer, former lone wolf, and the first married lupus on the planet. But it had seemed like a good idea. There were still gaps in Lily's knowledge of Nokolai and lupus ways in general, but she'd been to a couple of baby parties in the nine months since she met Rule. They hadn't seemed like a big deal.
    Turned out this one was different. Way different.
    Most of the people Cynna knew who could be hit up for a baby gift were part of the FBI unit she and Lily worked for. They didn't live nearby, so the number of shower guests had been small and easy to plan for.
    Not so with the baby party. Take the ribs she'd asked Rule about. Getting the amount of food right wasn't just a matter of feeding whoever showed up. It had implications. You were supposed to have leftovers, Rule said, so your guests wouldn't feel they were straining your resources. But not too much. If too much food went uneaten, it looked bad, as if you might take offense because not enough people showed up. Or as if you thought you were more important than you really were - and that would be taken as weakness. The clan's Lu Nuncio could not appear weak.
    The ribs were the big test. They were the most popular, so they'd go fast. The goal, Rule said, was to run out of ribs and maybe brisket, but have some chicken and sausage and sides left by the time everyone had filled their plates.
    The problem was, lupi didn't believe in RSVPs. They didn't believe in invitations, either, at least not for baby parties. No, the entire clan just assumed they were welcome, and the only way to get an approximate head count was to subtract those who sent a gift ahead of time and take a wild guess about the rest.
    That guessing had been pretty wild - and highly political, dammit. Lily hated politics. Grandmother said that was naive, that hating politics was like hating the weather. Pointless, since both were inevitable.
    But lupi politics were so damned... lupi.
    The baby party gave Rule a chance to gauge the degree of opposition to his recent controversial actions - assuming another clan's mantle and getting engaged. At the same time he meant to use it to reduce opposition by creating the appearance of reduced opposition.
    It was enough to make her head ache.
    Attendance at a baby party was a matter of status and friendship. Cullen was new to Nokolai, having been adopted into the clan less than a year ago, so he wouldn't normally have had a big turn-out. Not many close friends, and his status was uncertain. But Rule was Lu Nuncio and Lily was his Chosen, so they were both high status. High-status hosts ought to mean lots of guests.
    But Cullen had violated a huge taboo by marrying the woman who was having his child, and Rule was planning to marry. A lot of clan might stay away to express disapproval.
    Only that wouldn't happen, according to Rule, because the baby party's