"If she didn't?"
"If the Rhej wasn't present, he'd summon her." And that, he realized, was why instinct had led him to begin the ritual of contrition without explanation. Like the Rhej, Cynna was Lady-touched. For the first time he felt that in her, an indefinable stir of recognition.
Lily still had questions. "What would the Rhej do?"
"Assign penance."
Cynna snorted. "Oh, that's helpful, seeing that the Rhej is in California. I know—let's put off the penance bit until she can handle it."
Good try, but not an option. Once the ritual of contrition began, it had to be followed to completion.
"He's not moving," Lily observed. "I think we're going to have to wing it. Do you want me to ask him anything else?"
"I don't know. I can't think of anything." Cynna sighed. "This is like being called on in class when I didn't do the assignment."
For several moments no one spoke. Cynna broke the silence, her voice closer by a breath. She'd bent her head toward him. "It seems like you want forgiveness, but from yourself, not from me. So it isn't me you need to hear from." Her voice changed subtly. "Very well."
Her hand came to rest on the back of his neck, warm and dry. "For ten minutes a day, every day for a month, you will be wolf. While you are wolf, you will lie quietly, not moving, and consider the man who is also you. At the end of ten minutes, you will Change back."
Rule swallowed. He'd expected… he wasn't sure what he'd expected. Some version of a hair shirt, he supposed. But this reached deep inside, rasping against fears already raw. Changing every day would bring the wolf closer. If he couldn't relearn control…
He'd asked for this, though, hadn't he? Insisted on it. "I accept the penance."
Her hand left his neck. "Are we done?" Cynna's voice was back to normal. "I really need to hit the road."
"We're done." He flowed to his feet. "What made you choose ten minutes?"
She shrugged. "It just sounded right."
"That's the shortest time possible between Changes."
"Shit, did I do it wrong? I can make it—"
"No," he said. "No. I can accomplish the Change twice in that time." But most couldn't, and it would be painful. He supposed he'd gotten his hair shirt, after all. "You touched my neck."
Cynna grinned. "If I'd touched anything else, Lily would've swatted me. And she wouldn't have apologized afterward, either."
"That's part of the ritual."
Her eyes widened, then narrowed in a frown. "Don't go reading anything into that. The way your head was bent, it was the natural thing to do."
He smiled. Cynna did not want to believe she was Lady-touched.
Lily tapped him on the shoulder. "Here." She handed him his slacks. "I realize I'm the only one bothered by you running around naked. Humor me."
"Spoilsport." Cynna tucked her writing pad back in her oversize purse, which she slung on her shoulder. "I'll call and let you know where I end up staying. You suppose Nutley, Virginia, is big enough for a Holiday Inn?"
"It isn't," Rule said. "But Harrisonburg is close. Who's going with you? Abel?"
"No one you know. No one I know, for that matter. He's one of MCD's God-I-hate-magic types. He won't like me," she added, "but I probably won't like him, either, so that's fair. He's supposed to be a good shooter."
Rule shot a hard, questioning look at Lily.
"The Unit's stretched thin," she said. Her scent shifted—not to the pungency of fear, but to a more subtle mingling that signaled distress. "There's a lot I need to tell you, but it can wait until Cynna leaves. Is there anything she should know about Leidolf or its Rho?"
"Leidolf is… difficult," he said, stepping into his slacks. The movement pulled on his wound, but the scab held. "They're the largest clan, and the most feudal. Their Rho is Victor Frey— tall, fair, looks about sixty. Smart. Mean. Unpredictable. If you speak to him, be very polite. Victor isn't the sort of tyrant who respects those who stand up to him."
Lily shook her head. "Somehow polite isn't the first word that springs to mind when I think of Cynna."
"Hey, I can be respectful," Cynna said. "Especially if it was this guy's son who was killed last night."
"It was." Rule zipped carefully, since he hadn't bothered with underwear. "I didn't like Randall, but I wouldn't have wished such a death on him. And it creates problems. Cynna." He held her gaze with his. "I'd feel better if you'd wait to speak with Victor until Lily and I can join you. He can be unpredictable. I don't know how grief will take him."
"Unless he's crazy along with smart and mean, he won't mess with a federal agent. He may not cooperate, but a warrant will take care of that."
"We hope. Here." Lily tossed a key ring at Cynna. "Be careful."
Cynna caught the keys one-handed, included them both in a cheeky salute, and left.
Rule watched her go, then turned to Lily. He saw shadows beneath her eyes, but the shadows trapped inside them worried him more. Her face was calm, but she smelled of distress.
What was wrong? He helped the one way he could think of. "You have questions."
ELEVEN
"THEY can wait. I need to tell you about the meeting." Lily's chest felt full, as if inside the cage of ribs a storm was brewing, a cloudburst of words that might break any second. Yet she didn't know what she needed to say. To ask.
Something about the wolf…
Rule's eyes were dark and grave. And though he remained human, though his face and form and voice were calm, wildness seemed to shimmer inside him. She could almost glimpse the wolf hiding behind bone and sinew the way a wolf in the wild might peer out from the trees.
Was she seeing him differently because he'd admitted his wolf was close? Or had something changed inside her?
His words were prosaic enough. "Cynna is taking your car?"
"Hers broke down, and she needs to get to Nutley as quickly as possible." Though right this moment that seemed less urgent than the imminence in her chest, she didn't know what else to say. Help me? I've swallowed my words and they're swelling up inside me.
"Tell me." He was unaccountably gentle, as if he knew about the cloudburst and was asking for it rather than facts.
But facts were all she had. "Last night's power surge wasn't a local phenomenon. It happened all over the world, causing all sorts of problems and oddities. As I said earlier, the Unit's stretched to capacity and beyond. Goblins showed up in Missouri, brownies in Tennessee, and there may be a golem in Vermont. A school bus is missing in Texas. And, of course, we have demons to chase."
"That's why Cynna's going to Nutley with someone she doesn't know. There's no one from the Unit to send with her."
"Yes. Ruben has put together a task force to come up with an explanation and make guesses about the implications. He believes last night's power wind will happen again. That something fundamental has changed."
For a long moment he looked at her, the dark slashes of his brows drawn down in thought. Finally he spoke. "Have you eaten?"
She was telling him about the disasters stalking their world, and he wanted to know if she'd had lunch? "I'm not hungry."
"Healing burns a lot of calories. I need to eat whether you do or not. You talk. I'll put together sandwiches." He moved to the refrigerator and began pulling out the fixings. "Extra, extra, extra pickles, right?"
"You're going to make me a sandwich whether I want one or not, aren't you?"
He smiled at her over his shoulder. "Of course."
For no reason at all, that smile popped a bubble in her throat and words spilled out. "I missed pickles."
Rule, of course, looked puzzled.
"Not… me. The other me, the one who was with you while you were a wolf. I—I think she's trying to tell me something. Or maybe…" Something about the wolf. "She needs to tell you something."