Lupi 09 - Mortal Ties
cupcake.”
“Did you do that this year?”
“Yes. Should I have told you?”
“Probably. As I should have told you that today was Mick’s birthday.” He was silent
a moment, and still, his eyes losing focus as he looked inward. “Mick was an asshole
sometimes. He wrapped up all his problems in me so he wouldn’t have to deal with them.”
She said nothing, but she listened hard.
“He wasn’t an asshole all the time.” Rule’s sudden grin delighted her. “He knew how
to have fun. When I was twenty, he took me to Tijuana for my birthday.”
“Maybe I shouldn’t hear the details of that celebration.”
“Among other things, I learned that it is possible for a lupus to get drunk. It takes
real dedication and the condition is extremely short-lived, but it is possible.”
“Do I want to know how you achieved that?”
“Five quarts of tequila downed as fast as I could swallow.”
“Did they come back up as fast as you could vomit?”
“I staggered and giggled for a few minutes, felt queasy a couple more, then both nausea
and intoxication faded.”
“That’s it? No hurling, no hangover?”
“I did have to piss most urgently.”
“Life is just not fair.”
“Lily.”
“Yeah?”
“I love you.”
She smiled and tipped her head and kissed him—softly at first, but as his breathing
quickened she put more effort into it. When she straightened, one of his hands had
shifted well north of her hip, while her hands were enjoying all that lovely bare
skin along his shoulders and chest. Her smile this time was wicked. “I promise I won’t
be careful with you.”
Words could be overrated. He omitted them entirely in his reply.
She was bare to the waist and extremely distracted a few moments later when her mate
abruptly straightened, his head tipped ever so slightly. It was a posture she recognized.
“What did you…oh, God. Isen.” Rule must have heard his father returning. She looked
around frantically for her shirt—saw it on the floor, but not her bra—
“Not my father.” He pushed his chair back, his face still distant. Listening.
She clambered to her feet, bent, and snatched her shirt—and there was her bra, under
the table. She snatched it up. “What, then?”
“You didn’t hear it? No, obviously not.” Rule grabbed his phone from the table. “Something
just blew up.”
SIX
“S HIT .” Lily hooked the bra around her waist, twisted it, slid her arms in, and yanked it
up.
Rule tapped the screen on his phone. “Isen didn’t take his phone with him. Or his
guards.”
“Double shit.” Bra in place, she reached for her shirt.
The phone—the landline—rang. Rule had his phone to his ear. He gestured at her to
take it. “If it’s Pete, put him on speaker.”
She hurried to the old-fashioned stand the phone rested on and snatched up the receiver.
“This is Lily.”
“I need the Rho,” the second-in-command of clan security told her.
“He’s on a run. Alone. Rule wants me to put you on speaker.” Lily did that, set the
receiver down, and tugged her shirt over her head. “Rule is talking to someone on
his mobile, but he—”
“I called Hammond,” Rule said, sliding his phone in a pocket as he joined her. “He
lives near the draw where Isen often runs. He’ll cast for Isen’s trail. Pete, what
happened?”
“Don’t know yet, but there’s a fire halfway up Big Sister.”
“Halfway?” Rule asked sharply. “Which side?”
“East. It’s not big yet, but I can see the glow from here. Hang on.” Lily heard a
voice in the background, then: “You heard?”
“Two patrols near Big Sister have reported an explosion,” Rule said, “and are on their
way to investigate.”
“Yes. Lily said Isen’s on a run alone.”
“He’s alive.” Rule said that with calm authority. He would know, of course. If his
father had been killed, the full mantle would have descended on him. “I don’t know
where he is, but he’s alive. Call full alert. I’m switching to my earbud. Call me
on my mobile.” He touched the disconnect button.
An explosion and fire on Big Sister. Lily had stuffed her feet into her shoes while
Pete reported. Now she raced for the bedroom she and Rule shared. Big Sister was the
tallest peak in Clanhome. The view from the top was spectacular, but getting there
was a bitch and a half. Halfway up, though, wasn’t a bad hike even for the two-legged.
She grabbed her purse
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