Mortal Ties

ELEVEN

“LILY.” Her name was a low rumble, like thunder in the distance. Isen’s voice was pure, deep bass. Most of the time it seemed to rumble up from the depths of his barrel chest, as if his lungs were located so deep in his body the sound had the time and space to echo around in there. It was a voice well suited to menace when he wanted it to be.

Lily wished she knew for sure he was aiming for menace instead of hitting it naturally at the moment. She straightened, keeping one hand resting on Rule’s back. “I would very much like to handle the questioning. Thank you.” Not that he was doing it to please her. No, he had something else in mind, and maybe she’d guessed what that was. One of his goals, anyway. Isen wasn’t a two birds with one stone kind of guy. More like one stone, two birds, a rabbit, a fox, and maybe that deer will trip over the fox and we can get him, too.

Which Rule knew very well. And he was still scared. Scared his Rho would ask something of him he couldn’t do.

Something was going on Lily didn’t understand, but she knew what questions to ask. She spoke to Isen. “I’d like to give the witnesses some directions first.”

His bushy eyebrows lifted a millimeter. “Very well.” He raised his voice, addressing the tense group who’d come forward. “You will do as the Chosen bids.”

The Chosen. Lily ran her thumb over the other ring she wore. Not Rule’s ring, but the one that held the charm the clan had entrusted to her when she accepted her place in the clan. The lupi had considered her Nokolai from the moment the mate bond hit, but the charm marked her acceptance of that joining.

The toltoi, they called the little charm. The toltoi wasn’t magic. Not exactly. Lily felt something when she touched it, something so faint it almost wasn’t there, and that faint trace didn’t quite feel like magic. She didn’t know what it was, and that was annoying, but she’d gotten used to not knowing. Mostly.

Lily turned to look at her witnesses.

Maybe forty people waited to do as she bid. Six of them were male. All of them were anxious. “First,” she said loudly, “does anyone have information that’s urgent? Not just important, but urgent?” Some shook their heads. None spoke. “Okay, then. I want everyone who spoke with or was questioned by someone from Laban to move to your right. Everyone who spoke with or was questioned by someone from Vochi, go to your left. If you’ve been questioned by people from more than one clan, get in the middle and sit down. If you’ve been questioned by someone not from Vochi, Laban, or Nokolai, get in the middle but don’t sit down.”

You sure couldn’t do this with witnesses anywhere else. They all did just what she’d told them to do. There were a few murmurs as they determined where the perimeters of each group lay, but otherwise they were quiet.

It was spooky as hell. “Thank you,” she said, taking a quick count. Only six on the Laban side. Thirteen—no, fifteen on the Vochi side. Nine sat in the middle and eleven stood. “I’m talking to the ones standing in the middle now,” Lily said. “If any of you are up here because you talked to or were questioned by someone from Leidolf and only Leidolf, go sit…” She looked around. “Got sit on the west side, near Cynna.”

Everyone who’d been standing in the middle began moving. They were careful not to encroach on the open area where Isen, Lily, Rule, and the others stood. Once they’d gotten themselves over by Cynna she asked, “Is there anyone who was questioned by someone who is not clan? Not from any of the clans?” She waited. No one spoke or moved. “Okay. I’ll probably want to talk with each of you one-on-one, but not quite yet. You can sit down while you wait, if you like, but stay in your groups and don’t talk to each other.”

So much for the willing witnesses. The two reluctant ones had arrived, escorted by two very large wolves, who prodded them to stand directly in front of their Rho. One was thirty-ish, blond and blue, five-three, about one-twenty-five. That one-twenty-five was arranged in a traditional hourglass shape. She looked miserable. The other was younger—maybe twenty—with a narrow face, long dark hair, very straight, and olive skin. Five-nine, but about the same weight as the other woman. Long and lean. Lily couldn’t see her expression clearly. She kept her head lowered, letting that long hair curtain her face.

“Isen,” the miserable one said, “I didn’t do anything wrong!”

“No?” he said. “You won’t mind answering Lily’s questions, then.” He made a small gesture with one hand. Rule moved to stand between the two women.

“Cullen, would you bring the mage lights lower?” The lupi might go by scent, but Lily needed to see faces. “Thanks,” she said as the lights bobbed down to hover at head height. “We haven’t met,” Lily said to the two women, “but I guess you know who I am. What are your names?”

“Sherrianne,” the blond said. “Sherrianne Jacobson. I’m Sam’s daughter.”

Lily blinked. Sam was a dragon…but obviously there was another Sam.

“Sam Posey,” Isen said. “He’s running the vineyard now, but he lived here for many years. Sherrianne grew up at Clanhome, but moved away as an adult. At her father’s urging she returned soon after the hostilities began—she and her son, Will. He’s ospi, not lupus, and she and her ex share custody. I believe Will is with his father for the holiday?”

Sherrianne nodded unhappily. “Can we talk privately?”

“You will talk to Lily now.”

Lily said, “In a moment.” Sherrianne might have started out reluctant, but she was longing to confess now. Whether her confession would be helpful remained to be seen, but Lily wanted to let her build up more steam. She looked at the dark-haired young woman. “And you?”

She didn’t look up. Her voice was low. “Brenda Hyatt.”

“I’ve seen you around Clanhome.”

Brenda didn’t answer—but for the first time she glanced up at Lily. Her eyes were dark and brimming with emotion. Anger, certainly. Defiance, too. She looked down again quickly.

Defiance came with the territory at a certain age, but Brenda was beginning to interest Lily. “How old are you, Brenda?”

“I don’t see why I have to answer your questions.”

Lily smiled. Oh, yes, Brenda interested her greatly. “If you aren’t impressed by Isen’s order, maybe my badge will mean something to you. Special Agent Lily Yu, Unit Twelve, FBI. You can think about your rights and responsibilities as a citizen while I talk to Sherrianne.” She gave a little jerk of her head, indicating that the other woman should follow her.

There was no way to talk privately, of course. Not with so many lupi ears nearby. But she’d give the woman some semblance of it. Lily stopped a few feet away.

Sherrianne followed. Rule kept pace with her. He would act as a lie detector. Human experts dithered over how to detect lies, or if it was even possible. Lupi were quite sure it was—for them. The blend of stress, fear, and guilt from a lie had a subtle chemical signature they could detect when in wolf form. It was easiest if the liar was a lupus confronted by his Rho or Lu Nuncio; supposedly lupi never lied successfully then. Humans were harder to read, but high-stakes lies were easier to detect even for a mere human. They produced more emotion.

Sherrianne must have known some of this. She kept glancing down at Rule—not very far down, since he made a really large wolf—but she didn’t look scared. Not happy, but not scared.

Lily stopped and faced her witness. “You want to tell me why you feel guilty?”

Sherrianne leaned closer and started to whisper something.

“I’m not lupi. You’ll have to be louder.”

Sherrianne sighed heavily. “I guess they’re going to hear me anyway.”

“Some of them will, I imagine.”

Another sigh. “This is so embarrassing. I was saying that it’s not about the workshop. Not really. It’s about him.” Her gaze slid to the left, where Cullen stood. “Cullen. He’s married, you know.”

“Yes, I do.” The only married lupus on the face of the planet. That would change in March, but right now Cullen was it.

“And I—well—people told me he meant it. That he’s being monogamous. I didn’t believe them, and I wanted…I mean, look at him. Who wouldn’t? But at first I couldn’t even meet him. He’s always either at his workshop or he’s with Cynna and Ryder, so I asked people about his workshop, what he does there, and when he’s likely to be there and all. I thought I could, you know, pull off a meeting that way. That’s why I felt guilty, because I’d been talking to people about his workshop. But I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I don’t think you’re telling me everything.”

Sherrianne’s blue eyes opened wider. “I am!”

Rule shook his head.

“You aren’t.”

She gave Rule a dirty look, as if he’d tattled. “I guess some of it was because of Cynna. It’s not very reasonable for her to expect him to be faithful, is it? But I like her, and I…I wasn’t able to meet him on the way to his workshop—”

Rule was shaking his head.

“Oh, all right! I did run into him, and he told me to go away, but everyone says he’s really rude about being interrupted, so it wasn’t like he’d really turned me down. So I…I sort of made friends with Cynna, because that’s where he spends a lot of time. With her and Ryder.”

Rule nodded. She was being truthful now.

“You feel guilty because you used Cynna in order to get access to her husband, who you want to seduce.”

“That’s such a judgmental way of looking at it.”

“Seems pretty accurate to me. Have you talked to anyone outside Nokolai about Cullen’s workshop or what he does there?”

“No! Not even once.”

Rule nodded again.

“Just for the record…how did your use-Cynna-to-seduce-her-husband plan work out?” Lily knew the answer. She wanted Cynna—and the clan as a whole—to know, too.

“It didn’t. He said…it didn’t work at all.” Sherrianne smiled at Lily and shrugged. If a whiff of embarrassment clung to that smile, the main flavor was relief that her confessing was over. She’d been raised clan, after all. Wanting to have sex with someone wasn’t bad. The embarrassment was probably because she’d pushed so hard, and maybe because she’d used Cynna. But in the end she’d taken no for an answer, hadn’t she? She hadn’t crossed the line.

Rule nodded again.

“Okay. Thank you for your cooperation. You can go now.”

Instead she turned toward Cynna. “Cynna—”

Cynna’s face was stony. “Not now.”

“But I want you to know that I—”

“Sherrianne,” Isen rumbled. “Go. Now.”

She sighed and obeyed.

Lily turned to look at the other woman. The young, angry, defiant one, who’d been watching everything Lily and Sherrianne said and did closely. “Brenda. Come here, please.” She wouldn’t like that, being told to come here like a child.

Her lips tightened before she remembered to duck her head and hide again. She walked slowly over to Lily.

“Were you raised here at Clanhome, too?”

“No.”

Lily waited, but Brenda was smart or stubborn enough to stay silent. “Isen?”

“When Brenda was five or six,” Isen said, “her mother experienced a religious conversion. She was born again, and her views on sexuality changed accordingly. From that point on she wanted to limit Brenda’s time with us. She’s a fair-minded woman. She allowed Brenda’s father to see her, but only away from Clanhome. After Brenda turned eighteen, she decided to get to know him—and us—better. She visited her father here several times, then last May asked to move in with him for the summer. We were delighted.”

Lily had an urge to ask Isen what Brenda’s favorite color was, what she’d gotten for Christmas last week, how old she’d been when she lost her first tooth. He might know. He seemed to know everything about every member of his clan. “So she’s been here since May?”

“No, she went off to college in September, but then the events at the Humans First rallies made her unsafe there, so she returned here. At first she seemed to resent that, but I don’t believe she does now.”

Being spoken about instead of to had the expected effect. Brenda went from a simmer to a boil. “I don’t see what any of that has to do with anything! What do you care where I lived when I was little?”

“That’s how investigations are,” Lily said blandly. “I ask all sorts of nosy questions that, in the end, turn out not to lead anywhere. But every now and then one ends up mattering a lot. Who’s your boyfriend here?”

Brenda blinked. “What—I don’t know what you mean.”

“Would you rather I said lover? I suppose it does sound more adult. You have a lover here, don’t you?”

That didn’t make her hide behind her hair. Instead she gave her head a proud little toss, shaking her hair back. “None of your business.”

“It is, you know. Especially if he isn’t Nokolai. And he isn’t, is he, Brenda?”

She didn’t answer, but she didn’t hide, either. Her head stayed up. Her eyes defied Lily to pry anything out of her.

She was so very young. Lily didn’t make it a question this time, but a statement of fact. “Your lover asked you about Cullen Seabourne’s workshop.”

Brenda didn’t answer, but Rule did. Briefly his ears and tail drooped. He nodded.

She shook her head. “Sorry. I don’t get it.”

“He means,” Isen said, “that she felt guilt over your question.”

A nod plus drooping tail…“ ‘Bad dog’ equals guilt, huh?”

Rule snorted. That could mean anything from laughter to disgust, but this time probably meant something along the lines of “Don’t be ridiculous.” Lupi did not like to be compared to dogs.

And she was sidetracking, big-time. The next part would be…tricky. She thought she knew what Isen was doing, but if she was wrong, things were apt to skip the handbasket and go straight to hell. She looked steadily at Brenda, letting the silence drag out. Finally she spoke quietly. “Brenda. Look to your left.”

More out of surprise than any desire to obey, she did, then frowned at Lily. “What?’

“See all those people sitting over there? Over forty people came forward when Isen asked. Forty people who aren’t worried about talking about who asked them questions about Cullen’s workshop. You’re worried about it, though, aren’t you? So worried you won’t admit you discussed it with your lover. You’re protecting him. You think you won’t be hurt, but he might be.”

“He didn’t talk to me about it,” she said quickly. “It was someone else. I didn’t want to get h-her in trouble, that’s all.”

She was such a bad liar. Lily didn’t need Rule’s slow headshake, not with the way the girl stumbled over the pronoun. “You think he needs protection. You’re afraid he asked too many questions. That his interest wasn’t simple curiosity.”

Silence.

“Do you think I can’t find out who he is?”

“It wasn’t him. I told you that. It was a woman. She’s not connected to the clans at all. I sold her the information. I was angry, like Isen said. I didn’t like being here instead of at university, so I-I sold the information.”

Rule was shaking his head.

“Stop,” Isen growled. He walked up to them—no, it was more like a slow stalk, ending three feet from Brenda. He didn’t say a word, but slowly she turned to face him. Slowly her expression changed as defiance faded into fear.

Isen continued to stare at her as he boomed out, “She has confessed! She admits she sold the information about the workshop to a human. She has betrayed Nokolai willfully, knowingly—”

“No!”

The slim young man whose shout answered Isen stood among the Laban contingent.

The young man started toward them. The man to his left grabbed his arm. “Hank—”

He shook his clanmate off and kept coming. “She’s innocent,” he said loudly. “The Chosen is right. She hopes to protect me. I was the one who sold the information, not Brenda. She had no idea I would do that.”

Lily released the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. She’d been right. This is what Isen had been going for—not poor Brenda’s bungled confession, but the one they were about to hear.

Of course, things were still going to be tricky. He was lying, too.