Lupi 09 - Mortal Ties

The first time was right after
     she nearly died. The others had been more random, in perfectly ordinary situations,
     like when she’d been trying to reach a bowl he’d put on the top shelf in the kitchen
     and was annoyed because it was supposed to be on the second shelf, where she could
     get it. That time, she remembered, the communication had been along the lines of,
     “Why can’t you remember to put things where they belong?”
    It had never happened during sex, and she’d never “heard” Rule in return.
    Eavesdropping on him that way him was intrusive and freaky and just as he’d said.
     Quite lovely. “I forgot to tell you, but earlier this evening I thought I had a breakthrough.
     Drummond was talking at me during the briefing withBergman, and I told him to shut up. I mindspoke it,” she added, to be clear. “And
     he heard me, and I did it again later.”
    Rule’s brows pulled together. He didn’t speak.
    That made her frown, too. “What?”
    “It bothers me, that’s all. You and Drummond seem to be getting downright chummy.”
    Disconcerted, she swallowed her first retort. “You’re jealous. Of Al Drummond.”
    “Don’t be ridiculous.”
    Someone here was being ridiculous. She didn’t think it was her. “I don’t even like
     him, Rule.”
    “You never wear the necklace. You could keep him away, and you don’t. It’s not a matter
     of him being potentially useful. There’s something else going on. I don’t understand.”
    “I don’t know if I do, either, except that he has nothing. Literally nothing and no
     one, not even a body. It’s not just that he can’t move so much as a paper clip. He
     can’t
touch
the paper clip. When I make it so he can’t manifest, he can’t even see it.”
    “You feel sorry for him.”
    Yeah, she did, and that was kind of weird, considering what Drummond had done. But
     it wasn’t the whole story. “Maybe it’s some random roll of the dice that got him tied
     to me. Maybe there’s actually someone in charge who did this on purpose. I don’t know,
     but either way, it’s up to me to do the right thing. I’m not sure what that is, but
     making it so he can’t see the damn paper clip can’t be right.”
    Rule sifted a hand through her hair. “You’re trying to do the right thing. That I
     understand. But I can’t help thinking he’s using this tie. Using you. In life, Drummond
     was a betrayer. He betrayed you and the Bureau. Do you really think dying changed
     him that much?”
    “I don’t know, but—shit!” She rolled off him and grabbed for the sheet.
    White, misty, and right there at the foot of the bed, Al Drummond sang out, “Incoming!”

TWENTY-SEVEN

    A L Drummond really enjoyed the look on Yu’s face as she leaped out of bed. She probably
     figured he’d been hanging around while she made whoopee with her wolf man. He wasn’t
     that kind of creep, but that’s what she’d think. She’d probably come up with some
     way to make him pay for his grand entrance, but it would be worth it.
    “It’s Drummond,” Yu said as she grabbed a fistful of clothes off the floor. “Who or
     what is incoming?” she demanded, stepping into her pants.
    Al considered commenting on her lack of underwear. What could she do—hit him? Maybe
     later. He did have a warning to deliver. “I can’t tell,” he said. “It’s dark where
     the intruder is. He’s paying a visit via the ductwork.”
    “The ductwork?” she repeated. Her lover—who’d sprung from the bed in that fluid, too-fast
     way lupi moved sometimes, which Drummond didn’t like at all—looked up and around.
     They both spotted the vent. “It isn’t big enough,” Lily said.
    “The one in the other room is. That’s where he’s headed.”
    “He says the intruder’s heading for the one in the sitting room,” she told Turner
     as she pulled her shirt over her head.She tugged it down and glared at Al. “So why the hell did you pop up in here? You
     could have materialized on the other side of the damn door.”
    He smirked. “More fun this way.”
    A low growl rose in the chest of her wolf man. Turner must have figured out where
     Al was by watching where Lily looked, because he seemed to look right at him. “Been
     hanging around watching, have you?”
    He spoke to Al. Right to him. No one but Yu had done that since he died, and it shook
     him, how good that felt.
Keep talking to me. Please. Please keep talking to me.
“Maybe that’s how you get your