He remembered that. “Silk didn’t work.”
“Right. Turned out the icky shit crawls all over anything organic. We think that’s what happened to Officer Crown. He’d been left to guard the body and the contagion followed organics in the soil to get to him. Some disagreement on that,” she added. “We agree that it probably traveled through the soil. I think it went to him on purpose. Miriam thinks I’m nuts. Magic isn’t sentient, doesn’t have plans and intention.”
“Well, no,” Arjenie said mildly. “It isn’t and it doesn’t.”
“This stuff is different.” Lily spread her hands. “I don’t know how else to put this, but it feels malignant. Like it
Arjenie looked unhappy. “That’s a property of spirit. It can adhere to inorganics, but only when the object involved is spiritually significant, like a cross.” Her hand went to the small silver star she wore around her throat. “Or a Wiccan star. So it pretty much confirms that the contagion is some unholy mix of magic and spirit.”
Lily frowned and tapped her fingers on her thigh. “Miriam didn’t tell me that. She’s being prickly. Or maybe it’s me. We’ve worked together fine in the past, but something about this case . . .” She huffed out another breath. “Maybe it’s me. Anyway, the EMTs were able to prep Crown for transport using caution and latex gloves, and they didn’t pick up any trace of the nasty stuff. I confirmed that. The doctor who dug the bullet out after he arrived . . .” She paused. “I haven’t checked him myself. One of Miriam’s people rode in with Crown, and he checked everyone involved, using a spell to detect magic. He’s sure they’re clean, but I wasn’t here to check.”
“Who did the detection spell?” Arjenie asked.
“Jack. Jack Weysmith.”
“Oh, Jack’s very good. He’s Water-Gifted. It’s hard to hide magic from a Water witch.”
“I’d prefer impossible.” Her frown deepened. “Maybe I should check out the ER doctor and nurses, whoever came in contact with Crown. Just to be sure.”
Rule didn’t want her to. He wanted her with him for both his comfort and hers. He rested a hand on her shoulder, prepared to argue—and changed his mind. Her muscles were so tight. “Will you come with me a moment?”
She slanted him a look half-puzzled, half-annoyed. “Why?”
“I would speak with you privately.”
“There’s no such thing as privacy around here. Unless you plan to take over the ladies’ room or something —”
“We won’t go quite that far.” He used the hand on her shoulder to urge her toward the door. She allowed that, annoyance blending into concern.
Their guards were in the hall. He signaled that he wanted privacy. They split up and spread out down the hall in both directions. They couldn’t go far, but they stopped with their backs to Rule and Lily.
Humans were so visual. Lily wouldn’t even think about what the guards smelled. She’d know the guards could hear them, but it probably wouldn’t occur to her that Benedict could, too. He thought that, as long as they weren’t being watched, she’d feel a measure of privacy.
Sure enough, when he gathered her into his arms, she didn’t resist. She circled his waist with her arms and hugged him.
Ah. He understood now. She thought they were out here for his sake. He explained her mistake by using one hand to knead the nape of her neck while he anchored her with his other arm.
Abruptly she leaned back and frowned up at him. “Rule—”
“Shh.” He continued rubbing her neck. So far it wasn’t having much effect.
“I don’t need a damn massage. I need to finish telling you about the case. Both cases.”
“You need to let go of the cop for a few minutes.”
“I don’t. You think you’re helping, but you’re wrong. I thought you needed a minute, but if you’re just going to—”
“Well, that’s the thing. I’ve been trying to understand where your needs end and my need for you to be okay begins. I couldn’t figure it out, so I’m asking you to let me help you. For my sake, Lily. This is what you can do to help me.”
She quivered. “I can’t. I’ll come apart, and I can’t do that right now. Not now. Not here.”
“You won’t. I’ve got you, and I won’t let you come apart. All you have to do is be in your body.” His other hand joined the first one at her shoulders. “You aren’t letting go or letting down your guard. You aren’t letting in all those thoughts you don’t want to think. You’re just going to be in your body for a few minutes, and I’m going to help you do that.” He smiled down at the objections he saw gathering in her eyes. “Sex would be better, but I felt sure you’d consider that inappropriate.”
“Oh, just ever so slightly, yeah. Rule, I don’t . . .” She made a small sound of surprise.
His thumbs had finally found the right spot. He dug in with his thumbs, then stroked up and out with both thumbs. Her head fell back involuntarily as at last, at last, she began to relax.
He might not be sure where the line lay between helping and interfering, but he had figured out a few things. First, he wasn’t his father, so no trickery. He had to be honest with her. Second, Lily wasn’t one of his men. He’d known that, but hadn’t followed that knowledge deep enough to reach real understanding.
It was all about control. With one of his men, he had both the right and the duty to assume control if theirs was endangered—and the ability to do so, through the mantle. This freedom to surrender control was a deep comfort for a lupus . . . unless that lupus was a Rho. A Rho was responsible, always, for his own control. Lily was neither lupus nor Rho, but she was responsible for her own control. No one could or should attempt to usurp that, no matter how much he loved her and how certain he was that she needed to
Lily could not be touched by any mantle. She also couldn’t Change. The Change was one reason it was safe for him to shove one of his men over the edge. It was a release all by itself, but part of that release was shifting into a thoroughly physical self.
The body exists in the here and now. It’s the mind that spins anxiety from thoughts of otherwhere and otherwhen. Rule couldn’t give Lily the ease of the mantle or a wolf’s perspective, but he could make her body more compelling than her mind. He could offer her respite.
Wonder of wonders, she accepted it.
He rubbed and kneaded and she leaned into him, even making little sounds now and then—a low groan, a wordless
He knew the moment her body responded with something more than ease. He knew it a second or two before she noticed—and stiffened. Not pushing him away, but not willing to feel what she did, either.
Still, she didn’t move away, didn’t so much as lift her head, leaving it tucked down. She muttered into his shirt, “I trust you’re feeling better now.”
That made him smile. “I am.” He felt much better now, with her limp and relaxed against him. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Thank you.”
She sighed and straightened. “You are so strange sometimes. Why did we come out in the hall for this? You could rub my neck in front of Benedict and Arjenie.”
“I could, but if we’d stayed in there, you wouldn’t have stopped thinking.” She would have been too aware of Benedict and his fear, which would have made her think about Nettie, which would set her to thinking furiously about her investigation . . . where she had some control. Or thought she did.
Lily’s mouth twitched in a grimace that might have been agreement. “Well, my little hedonistic interlude is over. But, Rule . . .”
“Yes?”
She smiled faintly and stretched up and kissed him lightly on the mouth. “You’re welcome.”
SEVENTEEN
