Something in Cyrus’s tone worried me. “Why?”
“Because they’re currently in town for theUlfhring,” he informed me quietly.“I thought you knew.It begins tomorrow.
“They’re holding ithere?”The clan leaders usually assembled in upstate New York for their yearly meeting, in Arnou’s home territory.“Why the change?”
“The new alliance.They want to show solidarity with the mages, and they’re based here.Every senior clan leader is either already in Vegas or will be soon, along with his or her entourage.You need to lay low until they leave, not go prying into their business.”
“It’s not prying if we were invited,” I pointed out absently.No wonder Gil was nervous.All the clans with missing daughters were in town and were planning to chew his ass out.Possibly literally, if he didn’t turn up something soon.
“You can try that argument on the families of the Weres you killed,” Cyrus said.“But I wouldn’t give good odds on your success.”
“You can’t expect me to just sit around.TheUlfhringcan drag on for days!”
“Then let your partner check things out for you.”
“I don’t have a partner.”
Cyrus placed his cigar in an ashtray, then, before I could blink, he crossed the room and invaded my personal space.“What happened, Lia?Did no one want to work with someone who smelled a little too much like clan?”
“I just transferred here.”
“You’ve been here six months.”It looked as if I wasn’t the only one keeping tabs.
“I told you, we’re short-handed—
Cyrus interrupted me by taking a deep breath right beside my ear.“I’ve met half-Weres before, and they smell human.Just human.They don’t smell familiar, like family, likehome.Why do you?”
Before I could answer, his mouth came down on mine, warm with brandy and rich, sweet smoke, his hands sliding down to my hips, and for a moment, it was as perfect as if we’d never been apart.As if he’d spent the last six months mapping out my body every night.I’d never wanted anyone else like this, not even close.
It had been the original Bad Idea.I’d known it when I met him, known it when I kept going back, again and again, for glimpses into the Were world, for help with cases I couldn’t crack, for that intoxicating sense of belonging I got every time we were together.Known it when I seduced him for the first time.
I’d agonized over it for weeks, never having been with a Were, knowing damn well I shouldn’t be with this one, not even sure how to go about it as Were seduction techniques weren’t something I wanted to ask Mom about.In the end, the answer was simple: just kiss him and strip him and let him take me to bed.Sleep beside him afterward, my face tight against his neck, the wild, unmistakable scent of clan engulfing me.Kiss his temple in the morning before getting up and steal his last doughnut on the way out the door.
It would have been a great recipe, except that I was a war mage and he was someone who took the law as a not-very-serious suggestion.Eventually, after my life imploded, I’d done the right thing and walked away.Because Cyrus on the side of law and order wasn’t happening, and I didn’t want to have to put my boyfriend away someday.Because it was already so hard to leave that it scared me.Because Cyrus had taught me that it was possible to never stop being friends and yet end up enemies.And that walking away is sometimes the only way to stay sane.
“Anyone else would have been paired up almost immediately,” he murmured.“Why risk your life for the Corps?They don’t care if you live or die.”
“And you do?”
“Strangely enough, yes.Which is why you’re staying here.”
“I’m awar mage, Cyrus.I don’t need protection!”
“You do from Lobizón.If they kill you in some back alley, with no witnesses, they can deny it to the Corps.In the current situation, they’d probably get away with it.Not to mention that you’re a young woman who smells like clan: exactly the type going missing lately.”
“And you’re a Were.Just like those bodyguards that were killed!”
“Yes, except the only person I’m going to have to look out for is me.”
“You need me.If Were resources were enough to deal with this, they never would have called us in!”
“I’ll manage.”
“I’m not staying here,” I said flatly.And, fortunately, there was no way he could make me.
“You are if you want my help.”Except that one.
I’d seen his mouth set in that hard, tight line before, and decided not to waste more time arguing.“When will you be back?”
