Only Human

a problem. He's not pretty to look at right now, and he won't be wearing much in the way of clothing. Probably nothing."
    "Ah..." She gathered her scrambled wits enough to ask, "Is there any ceremony or greeting ritual I should know?"
    He smiled wryly. "If he were in better shape, he'd insist on kissing your hand. But no, there's no greeting ritual that applies." He opened the door.
    The bedroom was large, airy, and masculine, decorated in earth tones and forest green. The furniture looked as if it had been shifted; the king-size bed was empty and shoved against a bureau. The man she'd come to see was in a hospital bed with the head raised and an IV attached to his far arm. And yes, he was quite naked, except for the patch over one eye.
    He was a lot hairier than Rule. He was also a bloody mess.
    The wound running from his cheek up under the eyepatch was broad and bumpy with a heavy scab. New pink skin had formed at its edges, trailing into what was left of a grizzled, rust-colored beard. The gouges along his chest and belly had been stitched, but the abdomen dipped in oddly, as though not all of the usual pieces were under the skin. Lily thought of the missing duodenum and managed not to wince. His legs and genitals seemed undamaged, and she couldn't see his left arm. His right hand had only two fingers. The rest were marked by tiny, pinkish-white nubs, and part of the palm was gone.
    Rule moved into the room and bent to kiss his father's cheek. "Paul told me you were doing better. I'm glad to see he was right."
    Better? If this was what he looked like after four days of a lupus's rapid healing, what had he looked like right after the attack?
    "Apparently you considered me well enough for company." The Lupois's voice was ten fathoms deep, a rumble from the bottom of that barrel chest. He gave his son a searching look. "You were right, then?"
    "Yes." There was satisfaction in Rule's voice, and something Lily couldn't identify. He stood aside. "I've brought Lily to meet you. Lily, this is my father, Isen Turner."
    "Come closer, Lily." The uncovered eye studied her as she
    approached the bed, and the chuckle his grandson had mentioned rumbled up. "Rule. We have embarrassed your lady. She isn't accustomed to our ways." He reached out casually with the two-fingered hand and draped a corner of the sheet across his loins. "As you see, Lily, I have not postponed the pleasure of meeting you without reason."
    "Yes, sir." If there was a protocol for meeting naked semiroyalty, Lily didn't know what it might be. "I was sorry to learn you'd been injured. I have some questions."
    "It is a trifle awkward, Lily, your being with the police."
    An odd thing to say, since that was why she was here. "Rule said you recognized your attackers."
    "Did I? I have forgotten. The trauma, no doubt."
    "Were you attacked while in wolf form, sir?"
    "I find this difficult to express politely, but since the attack did not take place in your jurisdiction, the details are not your affair."
    "Three other people have been murdered who are most definitely my affair. Their killer is almost certainly connected to those who tried to kill you."
    "A like-minded soul, perhaps. I assure you that the ones who attacked me did not travel to the city the next day and kill someone else."
    Lily had the unpleasant suspicion he meant that his attackers had been killed. Probably by those defending him, judging by the extent of his wounds. He wasn't going to "remember" anything about the attack, no matter what angle she took. And he was in pain. Though he hid it well, it showed around his undamaged eye.
    Time to finish up. "I need to question your people, sir, about these murders. Will you ask them to cooperate with me?"
    He looked at her thoughtfully for a long moment. "I will call a meeting of my Council fornine o'clock," he said at last. "We will discuss it tonight."
    Anywhere else in the country, people didn't hold a meeting to discuss cooperating with the police. "I understood that you had complete authority."
    His mouth crooked up on the undamaged side. "We have a saying: The Lupois who rules alone soon runs out of sons. I will bring this to Council, Lily. You go with my son, let him show you around. I must require you to pretend, for now, you are not a police detective. Ask no questions related to your investigation until after I have spoken with the Council. And I..." He sighed. "I must rest, unfortunately, if I am to hold Council tonight."

    AS SHE AND Rule passed