Mortal Sins (31 page)

AUTHOR’S NOTE

I hope you enjoyed
Mortal Sins
. If you’ve been following the series, you know that sometimes worlds collide literally in my books. In
Blood Lines
, the worlds involved were more personal. Every time two people fall in love, there’s a collision—the need to blend furniture, jobs, beliefs . . . and families. A permanent bond between a couple means their families are joined, too, for better or worse.

If you’re new to the series, you may have questions about the history of these people and their world. There’s a list of previous books in the front pages of this one, but I’ll add a few details here. In
Blood Lines
, worlds collided literally—the realms shifted, bumping together, and magic leaked back into our world. After a centuries long exile, dragons returned to Earth. This time, they were welcome. Magic and technology don’t play well together, and the increased level of magic since the Turning has played havoc with computers and other technology. Dragons are natural magic sponges—they soak it up like kitty litter absorbs liquid.

Lily Yu played a part in that. But before the Turning and the return of dragons, she’d encountered them in Dis, a realm also known as hell. That’s when her soul was ripped in two, leaving her vulnerable to the wraith in
Mortal Sins
. If you want to know more, I hope you’ll check out
Mortal Danger
.

Before
Mortal Danger
came
Tempting Danger
, where the orignal head-on collision—the mate bond—occurred.
Tempting Danger
also introduced Cullen, who suffered his own world-twisting bump when Cynna turned up in
Mortal Danger
. Cullen and Cynna fought and eventually fit; their story is told most fully in
Night Season
. There’s also a free short story about them on my website:
www.eileenwilks.com
. You’ll find a link to the story on the
Night Season
page.

Collisions continue in the next book in the series,
Blood Magic
. Lily is coming to terms with the consequences of saying “yes” to marriage when the past smashes into the present. An old enemy of the family will stop at nothing to achieve revenge, littering San Diego with nightmares and death.

Turn the page for a preview
of the next lupi novel

BLOOD MAGIC

Coming soon from Berkley Sensation!

THE
mountains east of San Diego were almost always hotter than the city. Their higher elevation didn’t make up for losing the cooling power of the ocean. But the sun was down now, and in the small valley that held the village at the heart of Nokolai Clanhome, the temperature had dropped to a balmy seventy-six.

The moon wasn’t yet up, but Lily kept track of that sort of thing these days. She knew it would rise half-full in about two hours. The clan’s meeting field was alive with song, laughter, and people—far more people than actually lived there—and Lily was relieved bordering on smug.

The baby shower had gone off without a hitch, and the meeting ground was so full she had to thread her way through the crowd. Many of them didn’t live at Clanhome, so she didn’t know them. They all knew who she was, though—a bit disconcerting, that, but she smiled and nodded when strangers greeted her.

There were a lot of kids. They raced through the crowd in shoals like minnows swimming a living current. Toby was one of them, but she hadn’t seen him since he finished bolting his food.

So far, becoming a parent to Rule’s son was almost too easy. The only hard part was prying the boy loose from the rest of the clan. Lupi adored babies and children of all ages, and they saw no reason Toby shouldn’t spend all his time at Clanhome.

Most of the adults were male, and most of them weren’t wearing much. Among adults, male clan outnumbered female about three to one, and lupi possessed no body modesty whatsoever. Every man in Lily’s sight was bare-chested, barefoot, and barely covered between the navel and the knees. Cut-offs were the most popular choice.

Lily enjoyed the view. What woman wouldn’t? Even the chests with grizzled gray hair were worth a second glance. There was no such thing as a fat, sloppy, out-of-shape lupi. Everyone knew that. Just like everyone knew that the lupus ability to turn furry was inherited, not contagious. And that they were always male. And that they didn’t marry. Ever.

Lily rubbed her thumb over the ring she’d slipped onto her finger for the party. Everyone could be wrong, it seemed. Including her.

Rule was beside her, talking investments with her brother-in-law, Paul—not a subject that held much interest for her. Lily let her attention drift away, looking for Benedict or Cullen. She wanted a word with the former, and she needed to give Cullen the . . . Wait. Was that who Beth had seen earlier?

But how could Beth have mistaken that man for their cousin? The man she’d glimpsed was certainly Asian, but he didn’t look like Freddie. About the same height, maybe, but his nose was different, and she thought he was older. Plus he’d been wearing a T-shirt and ball cap. Stuffy Freddie didn’t own a ball cap. She wasn’t sure he owned a T-shirt.

She touched Rule’s arm. “I need to find Cullen and give him his present.”

He gave her the kind of smile he ought to reserve for when they were alone, brought her hand to his lips, and kissed it. “You’ll save me a dance.”

“Maybe two.” One dance here. One when they were alone. Lily smiled at that thought and went looking—and not just for Cullen.

The fiddlers launched into a lively song and people were making room for dancing . . . square dancing, maybe, from the sound of the music. So far no one was calling, though, so maybe it would be Western swing this time.

That was another thing about lupus gatherings—there was always music and usually dancing, but you never knew what kind. It depended on who showed up and what they wanted to play.

Lily knew one of the men fiddling for them tonight. In his other life, he was first violinist at the San Diego Symphony—and no one he worked with knew he was lupus, which was reason enough to track down Benedict. Nokolai might have gone public, but some of its members hadn’t. With the Species Citizenship Bill still bogged down in committee, some couldn’t afford to. It was legal to fire a lupus for being a lupus, and plenty of places would do just that.

Ten minutes later she gave up on finding the Asian man. She couldn’t even find anyone who’d seen him. In this sea of Caucasian faces and bare chests, he ought to stand out, dammit. Any human male ought to stand out here, but the few who’d noticed an Asian man apparently meant Paul, based on what they remembered about height and clothing. No one remembered seeing anyone in a ball cap.

Of course, that proved nothing. Lily had interviewed too many witnesses to have much confidence in human memory and attention to detail, and she had no reason to think lupi did any better.

But some of them did. Some, she realized, would have been paying attention. She nodded to herself and started looking for a man no one would overlook.

Sure enough, Benedict was easy to find.

Benedict was at the north end of the field near the tubs of drinks, talking to a man she didn’t know. They spoke briefly, then Benedict moved on. Lily raised her voice slightly. “Benedict.”

He turned and waited, giving her a nod when she reached him. Benedict was in charge of Clanhome’s security. Now that the training dance was over, he’d added some of his usual accessories to his cut-offs—a large sword sheathed on his back, a holstered .357 at his hip, and an ear bud. His phone was fastened to his belt opposite the .357.

The combination of low-tech and high-tech weaponry, bare skin, and impressive musculature gave him the look of an animated gaming character, with a whiff of Secret Service from the ear bud. She had to smile. “No machine gun?”

“No. I’m not expecting trouble.”

He was serious. At least she thought he was—with Benedict it was hard to tell. “That dance was really something. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

He nodded, agreeing. Maybe pleased.

“Does it mean—”

“I won’t discuss my relationship with my brother with you.”

Her eyebrows climbed. Good guess, even if he was wrong about the outcome. Sooner or later, they would discuss that. “I’ll table that for now. I have a security concern.”

He didn’t move. His expression didn’t change. Yet everything about him sharpened. “Yes?”

“I’ve seen an Asian man here I can’t account for. Not Paul—you’ve seen Paul Liu, my brother-in-law? This man is shorter than Paul and possibly older. I only got one glimpse, so I can’t give much of a description, but he was wearing a dark ball cap and a pale shirt with short sleeves. Probably a T-shirt.”

“I haven’t seen him or received a report of him, and my people are tracking all the
ospi
currently at Clanhome.”

Lily blinked.
Ospi
meant out-clan guest. “My sisters? You’re tracking my sisters?”

His smiled slightly. “I keep track of any out-clan who enter Clanhome.”

Had she been mistaken? Lily drummed her fingers on her thigh. No, she decided. She hadn’t. “There aren’t any Asian Nokolai, are there?”

“Two,” Benedict said promptly. “Half-Asian, of course. One has a Korean mother and lives in Los Angeles. He’s ten years old. The other is an adult whose mother was Japaense. John Ino is fifty-seven and lives in Seattle, and I doubt he’s here today. But it’s possible.”

“Find out. I saw an Asian man in a ball cap. He’s not a guest, and it sounds like he isn’t Nokolai.” Maybe he’d only worn the cap for a short time. Maybe he’d seen her looking for him and faded away from the crowd. Maybe he’d left altogether, in which case they were too late, but it was worth finding out. “This party would be one hell of an opportunity for a paparazzi, and they make cameras really small these days.”

Benedict considered her for a moment, then nodded. “All right. Whoever he is, this man didn’t come in either of the gates. It’s possible to enter elsewhere, but only on foot. Which means he’s left a scent trail.” He pulled out his phone and hit a number. “Saul. I need you. I’m by the soft drinks.”

He put up the phone. “Saul’s got the best nose of any of my people. He’ll Change and you’ll show him where you saw the man. With so many trampling over the ground, he may not be able to pick up the scent there, but it’s a place to start.”

“Good. Why did you participate in the dance tonight?”

“To impress the youngsters so they’ll try harder.”

“That’s not the only reason. Rule danced, too, and neither of you usually does.”

His mouth curved up a fraction. “You’re perceptive. It’s annoying at times. Very well. I also sent a message. I’m not speaking to my brother, but I fully support my Lu Nuncio. It was best that everyone understand that.”

So his problem with Rule was personal, not a “good of the clan” thing. “You think they’ll get that message from the dance?”

His eyebrows lifted about a millimeter. “Of course.”

Hmm. “Well, it made for a fantastic show. But how in the world did you end it that way? Even if you’re strong enough to just stop him one-handed, it seems like you’d break a few bones—his, yours, both.”

“Seabourne’s good. Quick. When he—” His head whipped up. Without a gesture or word or a single damned clue what was wrong, he took off running.