Lupi 09 - Mortal Ties

location, since the police seemed sadly incapable of finding
     him. Rule was to contact Ruben, who was to do whatever was necessary to expose the
     absence of some of the sidhe from Washington. Beth was to stay here, in this suite—it
     was unforgivably foolish for her to be anywhere else. Jasper was to get some sleep.
    Jasper had protested politely—people were polite to Grandmother; something about her
     forced it on you—that he could not possibly fall asleep yet. She’d looked at him sternly,
     though Rule had glimpsed the pity the sternness was intended to hide. “You are Rule’s
     human brother.”
    “Uh…yes.”
    “You are not lupi. You cannot be up all night and be anygood tomorrow. Sit,” she told him, pointing at the couch. He had, though it looked
     like he’d barely refrained from rolling his eyes like a resentful teenager. She’d
     sat beside him, nodded once, and touched his face.
    He’d dozed right off.
    Rule’s eyebrows had climbed. “I didn’t know you could do that.”
    “Shh. I put him to sleep. I do not keep him asleep.” She’d studied Rule a moment.
     “You, I think, will not sleep. Instead you will go run. As wolf.”
    He’d told her that was unforgivably foolish. He needed to be here, coordinating the
     search. Besides, he was a target, and perhaps she hadn’t noticed, but his shoulder
     had a hole in it. “Then run on three legs, and do not be seen,” she’d snapped. “You
     do not help Lily by staying on this edge. It is cutting you.
I
will coordinate. You go run.”
    He had. After he talked to Ruben one last time, he’d slipped out the secret exit with
     Scott and Mike. The three of them had run in a nearby park. When he got back, Madame
     Yu and Beth were asleep in his bed, Jasper was sleeping on the couch—someone had found
     a blanket to toss over him—and Rule’s head was clearer. His shoulder ached like crazy
     but his mind was working better.
    The wolf didn’t like waiting any more than the man did, but he was better at it.
    Rule abandoned the gray window and went to the tiny kitchenette—more of a closet with
     appliances, really. He’d Changed twice. With or without coffee, he needed to eat.
     There was little to choose from; those who stayed at this hotel expected others to
     cook for them. He grabbed three energy bars, downed one in three bites, and was contemplating
     the coffeepot when he heard footsteps.
    Beth stood in the doorway blinking sleepily and hugging herself. She wore a pair of
     flannel pj pants with a pink T-shirt that read H YPERBOLE IS THE BEST T HING E VER ! The sight of her clutched at his heart. She looked so like Lily, yet so different.
     Beth’s face was rounder. She had her mother’s mouth, while Lily’s was a feminine version
     of theirfather’s. But her nose was the same as Lily’s, and her ears, and her neck. She and
     Lily were exactly the same height.
    Her eyes were dark and shadowed and lost. “I guess there’s no word,” she said.
    “Nothing yet.” She had two missing—her sister and the man who, for better or worse,
     she was in love with. “We’ve got a lot of people working on getting them back, Beth.
     Both of them.”
    “I just wish there was something I could do!” She rubbed her arms as if they were
     cold. “I don’t have anything to contribute. We don’t need a kick-ass graphic about
     evil elves. We need to find the real evil elves and kick their ass, and I’m no good
     for that.”
    Rule was supposed to be good for that. So far he was batting zero. “You could have
     a cup of coffee with me.”
    “Yeah, that’s a big help.”
    “It won’t help Lily. It’s…she loves coffee, you know that. I couldn’t make any this
     morning because she isn’t here. I started to, but I…have a cup of coffee with me.”
    Beth’s eyes filled. She came to him and hugged him and put her head on his chest and
     sniffed. He hugged her back, and it helped.
    A MISTY shape materialized in the bathroom the moment Lily said his name, but it took several
     seconds to form into a man. Then Drummond was scowling his usual scowl at her. “I
     thought you were never going to call me.”
    “You—” She stopped and tried again, this time silently.
You couldn’t show up until I did?
    “Not all the way. There’s something weird about the walls. It’s like Clanhome in here.
     Not as bad, but a real pain.”
    Wards, probably. If they can make the walls act like a combination intercom and iPod,
     they can