Eileen Wilks: Mortal Danger

They had to land one at a time. The bluff wasn’t big enough for two dragons to land at once. The one bearing Cullen and Rule went first. As soon as he was down, Cullen passed Rule to one of the lupi—a brave soul, to come running up the way he had—calling out instructions as he jumped from his perch.

Lily couldn’t hear him, of course, from so high up, but Sam relayed the gist of it. Cullen’s first orders had most of the lupi holstering their weapons. The next brought Nettie running. The last one had someone fumbling for a cell phone so Cullen could call the Air Force and ask them not to fire on the nice dragons.

Sam seemed amused by that.

Cullen was talking on the phone when the second dragon landed, and Cynna and Max climbed down.

Apparently, Max had regained consciousness while several hundred feet in the air. It hadn’t exactly sweetened his temper.

Then it was her turn. And Gan’s.

What in the world was she going to do with a tame demon? She sure hoped Gan was tame…

Send her to the gnomes. They’ll understand her, since they are descended from demons themselves. When a demon catches a soul —

“What?” Gan cried. “What did you say about a soul?”

Lily could have sworn Sam laughed, quietly, in his mind.

They swooped down and down. She had to close her eyes as the ground rushed at them. It was too much like…

Lily Yu.

“What?” she shouted over the wind, as if that would make him hear her better.

Say hello to your grandmother for me.

Her grandmother? How did he… but they hit the ground then—not hard, but firmly. And all she could think about was getting to Rule. “We’ll talk later,” she said, swinging her leg over and sliding down. Gan plopped down beside her, and then stood there, scowling around at everyone. “I’ve got questions.”

Why does that not surprise me ? Duck.

With no more warning than that, Sam launched himself back into the sky.

Lily looked around quickly, spotted a Nokolai man she knew slightly, grabbed Gan, and thrust her toward him. “Keep an eye on her. She’s mostly a demon, but not entirely. Don’t shoot her unless you absolutely can’t avoid it.”

She took off running.

They’d loaded Rule on a stretcher and were carrying him toward Nettie’s SUV. She reached him just as they opened the back of the vehicle and stopped, staring.

He was a man again. He’d Changed and was a man again. He was also naked and bloody, with a blood-soaked length of fabric that had once been blue wadded up against the deepest wound.

Of course , she thought. He had to try. The moon is nearly full and he had to see if he would be able to Change at all — but what a risk, with him so weak from his wounds !

She missed his fur, the lovely fur she’s stroked so often… Lily blinked, disoriented, and the memory wisp fled.

He opened his eyes. “Lily?”

“Here,” she said, coming up to take his hand. “I’m right here. We’re back. We made it back.” All the way back. He’d Changed. He hadn’t lost himself to the wolf.

“I need to put him in sleep,” Nettie said firmly. “And this time, he’s going to the hospital. He’s lost a lot of blood, and I am not performing surgery in the back of this SUV.”

“No, he’ll go to the hospital.” That’s what she’d asked. Get Rule back, get him to the hospital…

“In a minute, Nettie,” Rule said. His voice sounded wonderful. Not like he was dying, not at all. He searched her eyes. “I had the strangest dream. A terrible dream. I thought it was real. There were two of you, and one… one died.”

He’d been unconscious. She’d been sure he was unconscious. “It wasn’t a dream, but it wasn’t entirely true, either.”

“You’re…”

“Both. I think.”

“Enough,” Nettie said, and laid her hand on his forehead.

Slowly his expression eased, his eyes drooping. “Yes,” he murmured. “That’s right. You’re Lily.”

His hand relaxed, releasing hers, as he slipped into the healing sleep that was Nettie’s Gift. Finally, the knots of tension in her shoulders began to relax.

Maybe it was just that simple. “Yeah,” she whispered. “I am, aren’t I?”

“At least think about it.” Rule’s throat was tight with frustration.

“No.” Isen was blunt, as usual. “Not unless you give me some powerful reason to reconsider. Which you haven’t.”

Oh, but he had. Isen just wouldn’t listen. Rule sat on the edge of his damned hospital bed and fought the urge to howl… though maybe he shouldn’t suppress that particular urge. Maybe his father would believe him then. “The Lu Nuncio must have control.” The words came out clipped. “I don’t.”

Isen waved that away. “It’s temporary.”

“I Changed!” The words burst out. “Here in the damned hospital, when the moon went full I Changed. I couldn’t stop it.”

“Hurt like hell, too, I imagine. Good thing you warned Glen ahead of time.”

Glen was one of the guards keeping reporters out of Rule’s room. Last night he’d had to keep the doctors and nurses out, too, until Rule mustered the will to Change back.

It had taken him a good half hour, and the ache to stay wolf, to feel and smell the world more fully, remained. “That makes it all right, I suppose,” Rule said bitterly. “I can’t control the Change anymore, but as long as I warn someone—”

“Son.”

It was a rare word to hear from his father. Rule stilled.

Isen put his hand on Rule’s shoulder. “This is pride speaking. Impatience. Your wolf is stronger than he used to be. So? You’ll learn a new balance. It will take time, but I’ve no doubt you’ll be able to do it. You’ve never disappointed me, not as a father or as a Rho.”

Rule had never understood why his father had named him Lu Nuncio instead of Benedict. He understood even less now. He didn’t know what to say.

Words didn’t come as easily as they used to.

Isen squeezed Rule’s shoulder once, then released it. “You’ll have help. I hear some of that help coming now.”

So did Rule. He turned his head, a smile starting.

The door opened. “How much of that welcome is for me, and how much for the fact that I’m busting you out of here?” Lily asked. But she was smiling, too, and she came to him without waiting for an answer.

As easily as breathing, his hand found hers.

Isen chuckled. “You two don’t need me cluttering up the place. I’ll see you at Clanhome,” he told Rule. “We’ve a lot to do to get ready for the All-Clan.”

“After Nettie releases him for light work, you mean,” Lily said.

Isen waved that away. “He’s one of the fastest healers in the clans. Nettie won’t keep him in bed long—if you don’t wear him out once you’ve got him home.” He chuckled at Lily’s expression and headed for the door.

But there he paused, looking back at her. “I don’t know if I said it, but I’m damned glad to have my heir returned to me. You and Cullen and that other woman did that. I won’t thank you. You didn’t do it for me, but you should know you have Nokolai’s gratitude. And mine. To have my son back…” His eyes sheened with sudden tears. He didn’t blink them away, and he looked straight at Rule. “There are no words for that. No words.”

Rule was too stunned to answer before the door closed behind his father. Slowly, the tightness in his throat eased.

It seemed he wasn’t the only one having trouble with words.

“You ready?” Lily asked. “We decided to sneak you out through the kitchen.”

“We?” He slid off the bed carefully. Various parts twinged, but those little hurts were drowned out by the protest put out by his side. He put a hand on the bandages there. The demon had ripped him up pretty thoroughly. Nettie had patched things while he was in sleep, but the patched bits hadn’t finished growing together yet.