Lupi 09 - Mortal Ties

feel
     it when we touch.” Her mother was null, with not a whisper of a Gift. Any trace of
     magic Lily found would have been put there by someone else.
    Julia cast a worried glance at Rule. He nodded reassuringly. “I guess that’s okay,”
     she said, and held out her hand. It was shaking.
    Lily took it in both of hers.
    Julia Yu used to play the piano. She had the hands for it, long-fingered and graceful.
     Her manicure was immaculate, the polish a pale pink. The hand Lily held was covered
     in well-tended skin and a hint of…something.
    The sensation was so faint Lily wasn’t sure she really felt it. She closed her eyes
     and tried to shut out every other sense, concentrating on her hands…yes. It was like
     the difference between air that’s completely still air and the merest puff of a breath,
     but it was there.
    “You found magic.” Julia’s voice was high and quick. “You did. I can see it on your
     face.”
    “I found something,” Lily agreed, opening her eyes. Something that bothered her, but
     she didn’t know why, when she’d barely been able to discern that anything was present
     at all. Maybe her unease had nothing to do with her Gift and everything to do with
     whose hand she held. “I don’t know what. It’s very faint. Would you mind if I touched
     your face?”
    “My face? I—I guess not.”
    Julia Yu was five inches taller than her second daughter. Lily reached up and laid
     her palm flat on her mother’s cheek.
    The skin was soft there, too. Pampered. Had she touched her mother’s face at all since
     she was little? She couldn’t remember. Julia was staring at her with such hope, as
     if she could fix things with her touch. Lily’s eyes stung, so she closed them. Her
     hand. She had to focus on her hand.
    Not quite as faint here. Still a barely there sensation, but a bit more present, just
     as she’d hoped. A spell that tampered with identity or memory should be more concentrated
     on the head. Only she still didn’t know what she was touching. Magic always had a
     feel to it—slick or rough, intricate or smooth, oily or dry or whatever. This wasn’t
     tactile. More like being in a dark room where you couldn’t see a thing, but you knew
     someone was there. You didn’t hear anyone or smell anything. Maybe you sensed the
     air move or the heat of their body, but you weren’t aware of that. You just knew someone
     was there.
    Lily opened her eyes and drew her hand back. Her right hand. Not the one with Rule’s
     diamond. The one with the
toltoi
charm. “I think…” God, she could not cry. Not now. She had to be a cop, not a daughter,
     right now. She made her voice firm. That’s what people needed from a cop—firmness,
     authority, even when said cop was clueless and wanted badly to curl up in a ball.
     “I did find something.”
    “Can you take the spell off? Make it go away?”
    “No, I’m not a practitioner. We’ll get someone who is, though. Someone who knows a
     lot more than me.” Lily tried to smile reassuringly. She was pretty sure it was a
     sad and sick failure. “Rule—
    “I’ll call Cullen.” He tried easing one arm away from Julia. She clutched at him.
     “I’m right here,” he said soothingly. “I’ve got you. I need to call a friend of mine,
     though. He’s very good with magic.”
    Cullen Seabourne was one of a kind, the only Gifted lupus in the world. His Gift was
     one of the rarest, too. He was a sorcerer, able to see magic much as Lily was able
     to touch it. He was also a complete geek about magic. He’d have some idea what to
     do.
    Lily sure didn’t. She drew a shaky breath. What now? If this had been anyone else,
     a stranger, what would she be doing right now?
    “Lily,” Grandmother said. “You will now tell me what you found.”
    All right. Yes, that was one thing she could do. But first…“In just a moment. Rule,
     I need to give your people some orders.”
    He had his phone to her ear. He nodded.
    “Scott, I need the restaurant exits shut down. No one is to leave. Julia, you’d probably
     like to sit down. You’ve had quite a shock. Grandmother, maybe you could take her
     to—”
    “What did you find? What’s wrong with Julia?” That was her father, who had waited
     all he could. Scott had moved away as soon as Lily gave him his orders, leaving defense
     of the hall to Mark, who also didn’t budge whenEdward Yu shoved him. Her father’s hands clenched into fists. “Move.”
    “Father, I don’t know