Grudgingly, Lily said, “Sam knows you best as a wolf. He’d predict your actions based on the wolf, not the man.”
Yes. Yes, that made sense. He flashed her a smile, then fell silent, letting himself slip partway into wolf . . . and gradually, many of the difficulties dropped away. His choices were fewer and clearer.
He took the phone off mute and spoke crisply. “Ruben.”
“Still here.” There was an uncharacteristic edge to the man’s voice.
“Your hunch was correct. Do not call in the Army or the National Guard. We’re dealing with a being who can affect minds en masse—up to about five hundred at a time that we know of, based on the number of people who failed to see, smell, or hear this being’s agent last night. Lily was the only exception. Her Gift blocked the illusion.”
“Yet it allows her to be silenced by this geas.”
“As I said, the geas is inherent in her Gift, though it wasn’t triggered until now. But the geas doesn’t delude Lily’s senses, which this being can do to almost everyone else.”
“Including you?”
“Yes. It’s not mind control, but sensory control. People see and smell what she tells them to. We don’t know her range, either. She may be able to affect even more people than she did last night. Since she thrives on the fear of others, calling in the Guard could precipitate the very crisis we need to avert. The Guard might begin shooting at what they thought were monsters, and instead kill innocents.”
“You said ‘she.’ What being is this?”
“I won’t speak of that at this time.”
“Won’t or can’t?”
“Lily can’t. I won’t. Nor, I’m afraid, will I explain that decision.”
Ruben was silent for a long moment. “This has something to do with the treaty you spoke of before muting the phone. Treaties are the purview of the government, not your clan.”
“The treaty I spoke of predates the U.S. government.” He paused, considered options. “I believe that’s all I will say about it.”
“Does this have something to do with the one you lupi don’t name? The one who tried to open a hellgate last year, and whom Lily and you ran up against in Dis?”
Ruben was amazingly bright—and was reaching for precisely the conclusion Rule intended. A stupid man would not have arrived at the wrong answer so quickly. “I’m not going to answer that question.”
“That’s not satisfactory.”
“We aren’t in a satisfactory position at the moment. I have to gather more information before I know what’s safe to tell you—or anyone else.”
“You have to gather information. Not Lily?”
“We’ll both be doing so, of course. But since she’s involuntarily mute on the subject, it falls to me to decide what to tell, who to tell, and when. We’ll stop this enemy, Ruben,” he added quietly. “But I’m not sure how yet. The situation is extremely fragile.”
Ruben spoke very dryly. “That much I already knew. Let me speak to Lily.”
“Very well.” Though he wasn’t at all sure Lily would back him on this, he handed her phone to her.
“Lily,” Ruben said, “are you able to tell me anything at all?”
She scowled. “Not really.”
“Can you tell me if what Rule has said—what little he’s said—is accurate?”
“Yes.” Surprise wiped away the scowl. “Apparently I can. He hasn’t told you enough, but what he’s said is true.”
“You disagree with his decision to withhold information.”
“I do, but . . .” She glanced at Rule. “But I understand his reasons, and they’re valid. He’s doing this his way, which pisses me off, but he’s got the right goal in mind. I can see where the scenarios you dreamed about could happen. I can see that all too easily.”
“What do you need?”
Rule almost closed his eyes in relief. Ruben was keeping Lily in charge of the investigation.
“I don’t know yet. No, wait. A car. I need a car. Mine’s still being fixed.”
“With the fate of San Diego and possibly the world hanging in the balance,” Ruben said dryly, “I think that can be arranged. What will you be doing?”
“Looking for the perp. The, ah, one Rule mentioned, whom apparently I can’t mention—no, wait; I can say that he tried to kill Cullen. That perp. He’s . . . Shit, it’s closing me down again.”
“This is frustrating for both of us. Ida will arrange for your car. Where do you want it delivered?”
“The Medical Examiner’s office. That’s where I’m headed.”
“Very well. It may be there before you are. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“What? You’ll see me?”
“I’m flying out there,” he said serenely. “I’ve a strong feeling I’m needed. Goodbye for now.”
Lily took the phone away from her ear, staring at it blankly. “He’s coming out here.”
“Good.”
“You want him here? When you won’t trust him with the truth?”
“He’s a strong precog who interprets his Gift with rare accuracy. I can’t think of anyone better able to help us navigate this maze.”
“But you won’t tell him what maze we’re navigating!”
He glanced at her. She was still deeply angry. Some of that was directed at him, but he wasn’t the cause. “It’s difficult to put my reasoning in words, since it’s largely non-verbal. The wolf wanted . . . No, I wanted Ruben to have enough information so he wouldn’t act blindly, but there was a good chance he would tell others what I told him. That feels extremely dangerous. Those others might react in too many different ways, ways that Sam couldn’t have foreseen and accounted for.”
“But now Ruben just has guesses and speculation to pass on. How is that better?”
“That’s why I led him to believe we’re dealing with the one we don’t name.”
“You what?”
“I didn’t lie, but I encouraged that conclusion. You and I wondered the same thing last night, before we knew about the Chimei. It wasn’t hard to steer him in that direction.”
“You deliberately deceived him.”
“Ruben will be more likely to trust us to deal with this if he believes it has to do with her. Lupi are the world’s only experts on her.”
“That only makes sense if I accept your starting point—that it’s better not to tell him the truth.”
His decision was so obvious to him now it was hard to understand why she didn’t see the same thing he did. “Sam needs the number of decision points kept as low as possible. Otherwise he loses control of the possible ways the treaty could be broken.”
“You’re letting Sam call the shots? You pulled a Rho on Ruben, but you let—”
“I did what?”
“Pulled a Rho on Ruben. You weren’t making suggestions—you were telling him how things were and what he needed to do, then manipulating him like your father would. If he hadn’t been on the other side of the continent, he’d have felt your mantle pushing at him.”
“Humans don’t feel the mantles.”
She snorted. “Go right on believing that. I’ve seen you pull the mantle on a former Marine, and I saw him back down. Never mind—we can argue about that later. The point is, you’re dancing to Sam’s tune. We need to call Ruben back, fill him in.”
“Sam knows the tune. We don’t, not yet.”
“So you’ll just cede him the right to call the shots? That’s not like you.”
“I’ve ceded nothing,” he snapped. Clearly his nadia partook of dragon nature in more ways than one—which gave him new insight into how difficult it had been for her to accept the mate bond, but he’d consider that another day. When she wasn’t driving him crazy. “Sam and I are allies in this. You’re overreacting.”