Lupi 08 - Death Magic

here.” She nodded at Isen’s broad back, bent now to remove the pans of corn bread from the oven. “To find out if that was true. It is.” She rested her folded hands on the table. “ Am I okay with Ruben becoming lupus? There’s a lot about it that scares me, a lot I don’t like or don’t understand or both. But none of it matters as much as this: Ruben was dying. Now he isn’t.”
     
     
    LILY was served homemade chili and corn bread by a barefoot multimillionaire with a dishtowel stuck in the waist of his jeans. Then Isen called all of the guards who were present but not on duty to join them. The kitchen got crowded. Some of them had to eat standing up, but that didn’t seem to bother them.
    It was early for supper, but the food was ready, and lupi were almost always ready for food. Especially when it was steaming hot corn bread and crazy-good chili made with chunks of meaty chuck instead of ground beef.
    Deborah seemed to have forgotten she was shy. Probably being immersed in an ongoing crisis helped, but mostly it was Isen. Lily was willing to bet Deborah had relaxed beneath the weight of that gentle, implacable charm within the first five minutes. He kept her talking throughout dinner.
    Yesterday had been a rough day for Deborah. After watching her husband turn into a wolf and try to eat her, Drummond had taken her to Headquarters for questioning. When Deborah was finally allowed to return home, her parents had been lying in wait. They thought she should move in with them, and offered to help find a good divorce lawyer. There’d been a fight. No one was speaking to anyone else.
    Lily made another mental note: call parents as soon as finished eating. “I hope you’re able to patch things up.”
    “My family fights very politely,” Deborah said. “They didn’t actually say terrible things about Ruben, but everything they didn’t put into words shaped what they did say. I, on the other hand, wasn’t feeling polite. I’ll be expected to apologize. I don’t believe I will.”
    Lily believed her. Could it be that Deborah’s parents had never noticed that beneath their daughter’s soft exterior lay solid, stubborn granite? If so, they were in for a rude awakening. “Where do you want to be?” she asked suddenly. “Is your home comforting right now, or too empty, or ... it may not be safe to stay there.”
    “I have mentioned that possibility,” Isen said blandly. “She didn’t care for any of the alternatives I could suggest.”
    “It’s my home,” Deborah said. “And yes, it feels empty without Ruben, but I’m not going to stay with my parents.”
    “Understandable,” Lily said, “and not what I had in mind. You might consider that your decision affects the lupi who are guarding you.”
    “But they were there for Ruben, not . . . oh.” Deborah was stubborn, not stupid. Lily watched her chew it over and realize that Ruben’s absence didn’t mean his enemies would give her a free pass. She was still a tool they could use against him. “I don’t see where I can go that would be better.”
    “I was thinking of Fagin’s place.”
    “I . . . that . . .” Deborah closed her mouth, thought it over. “If the elemental lets me in, you mean?”
    “I’m playing a hunch here, but you can communicate with elementals pretty well, from what you said.”
    “Oh, yes, that part’s easy enough. It’s worth trying. I wouldn’t need guards there, would I? I’d have to ask Fagin first, of course.”
    Lily had a few things to ask him, too. “I’ll go with you, if that’s okay.”
    “Tomorrow,” the Rhej said calmly as she pushed back her plate. “You need another eight, ten hours sleep. My, that was good, Isen, José. Thank you.”
    Lily looked at her, surprised. “I’m healed now, remember? And I just got up from a four-hour nap.”
    “And I’m guessin’ you didn’t sleep much last night.”
    “No, but—”
    “You’ll see.” The Rhej smiled in an annoyingly knowing way. “All that healing took a lot out of you. Stress kept you awake, I guess, at that jail, but your body wants more than the bit of sleep you gave it. You’ll crash again soon.”
    She would not. There was too much to do.
    “There’s something I’m wondering,” Deborah said in her soft voice. “Isen says Ruben won’t be trying to fight the Wythe wolves the way he did Scott. They’ll smell right to him, like friends.”
    “They’ll smell like they’re his,” Isen corrected gently. “A wolf