Lupi 09 - Mortal Ties

drool, stinky diapers,
     and adorable little gurgles, and he’d rearrange his whole week if that’s what it took.
    Baby-craving was so universal that custom forbade anyone actually offering to babysit.
     This was to keep new parents from being pestered to death. Cynna said that every new
     mother ought to get to spend the first few months at a clanhome. The only tricky part
     was making sure she didn’t leave anyone out. She kept a list.
    Rule and Lily were exempt from the counting and listing. Everyone assumed that close
     friends got extra baby time, so they didn’t take offense. Isen was exempt, too. Who
     could be upset when the Rho spent time with his newest clan member? So Lily had seen
     a fair amount of little Ryder lately. She’d gotten pretty good at diapers. Burping
     was still not her strong point, but she could clean a teeny tiny baby butt with the
     best of them.
    Ryder did have some adorable little gurgles.
    This morning, though, she was alone as she neared the path that led to Cynna and Cullen’s
     place. The lights were off in the stucco cottage, which could mean everyone wasasleep, but she doubted it. Probably Cullen was awake, even if Ryder wasn’t. Possibly
     he hadn’t gone to bed at all. Rule hadn’t.
    Cynna was up. Lily hadn’t been sure she would be, not with everything that had happened
     last night, but she was waiting where she usually did at the edge of the road, her
     pale blond hair almost glowing in the dim light. Lily was surprised by the lift of
     relief she felt.
    “Hey,” Cynna said as she fell into step alongside Lily.
    “Hey, yourself. I wasn’t sure you’d be here this morning.”
    “Of course I’m here. Who knows when I’ll get another chance to pump you?”
    “Um.” Good Lord. Was that why she was relieved—because she knew Cynna would pump her?
     Did she actually
want
to talk about stuff? She never talked about stuff. Well, sometimes with Rule, who
     was a sneaky bastard and could wriggle her around into saying things.
    “I guess you’re going to San Fran, huh?”
    “Rule’s going, so I am.” The mate bond limited how far apart they could be. It was
     not consistent about this, but San Francisco was five hundred miles away, well beyond
     what they could expect to be okay. “Ruben thinks I should go.”
    “Yeah?”
    “He’s got a hunch.” Lily had called her boss last night. Ruben Brooks had a precognitive
     Gift that was off-the-charts accurate. When he had a hunch, everyone—up to and including
     the president—paid attention.
    “That’s handy, since you have to go anyway. How’s Rule dealing with his surprise sibling?”
    And that answered her question. Her stuff this morning was all about Rule, and Rule
     wasn’t talking. “He’s not. At least that’s what it looks like. You know how I don’t
     talk about stuff? He’s doing that times ten. Times ten on the logarithmic scale.”
    “Is that a math word? Don’t talk math. He’s all shut down?”
    “Not exactly.” Rule closed down when he didn’t want to talk about something. Usually
     Lily understood and respected that…well, she tried, anyway. But this was different.
     “He didn’t ask any questions. Did Cullen tell you that? This Jasper Machek calls and
     says he wants us to come to San Francisco and help him out, and Rule didn’t ask one
     question.”
    “Not everyone deals with a shock by asking questions.”
    “I know, but he still isn’t asking questions. He’s avoiding them. Did you know that
     Isen knew about this Jasper guy? Not a lot, maybe.” Lily had run a check on Machek.
     It turned up plenty that Isen hadn’t mentioned. “But he knew Rule’s mother had had
     another child a few years after she handed Rule over. He knew Rule had a brother,
     and he never told him. And Rule’s cool with that. So cool he left the room when I
     started asking Isen questions about Jasper.”
    “Just walked out?”
    “Not in a rude way. Suddenly he had things to do.”
    “Huh.” Cynna fell silent.
    Rule had said he needed to arrange their trip, including the security. A nice, valid
     activity, only there was no reason for him to go outside to do it. Lily had just started
     on her questions when Isen’s phone rang again.
    That time it was the Laban Rho. Isen had told Leo that he was busy at the moment.
     No, he didn’t want Leo to call back. He was to wait on hold until Isen was ready to
     speak with him.
    “I can leave,” Lily had said.
    “No, I want him to wait.