Mortal Sins Read Free Page A

a second to figure out why her bedside table wasn’t where it should be. No, why she wasn’t where she should be.
    Lily had slept in too many beds in too many places lately. Home was San Diego, but she’d recently spent several months in Washington, D.C., getting special training at Quantico . . . among other things. But she and Rule were back in San Diego now, staying at his place. Only this wasn’t Rule’s apartment.
    She was in Halo, North Carolina. This was Toby’s home, the house where Rule’s son lived with his grandmother, Louise Asteglio. It was 3:42 a.m., and Beethoven’s Fifth was Rule’s ring tone. She crawled across tumbled sheets to retrieve her phone from atop the chest of drawers. “What’s wrong?”
    Rule’s voice was steady, but grim. “I found bodies. Three of them. Humans. They’re in a shallow grave, stacked on top of each other. The adult is on top.”
    “Shit. Shit. The adult? Then . . . you’re sure? Stupid question,” she corrected herself, juggling the phone so she could yank off the oversize tee she’d slept in. “I hate it when it’s kids; that’s all.” She paused. Suitcase. Where was her . . . oh, yeah, in the closet. They’d arrived late enough that she hadn’t unpacked, but tucked it in the closet.
    Lily yanked the closet door open and dragged out her suitcase. “They’re in the woods?”
    “About half a mile east of Highway 159, north of town. I’ll wait for you at the highway.”
    “I’ll find you.” That part would be easy. Just as a compass needle knows north, Lily knew where Rule was. That aspect of the mate bond came in handy.
    Chosen, the lupi called her—and so did Rule, but not often. Mostly he called her nadia , which she’d learned came from a word meaning tie, girdle, or knot. But the lupi meant well when they called her Chosen, believing she’d been selected for Rule by their Lady—a being they insisted was neither mythical nor a goddess, though she seemed to play in that league.
    Nine months ago Lily had met Rule’s eyes, the two of them chosen for each other, knotted together by the mate bond. Nothing had been the same since.
    Good thing she’d fallen in love with him.
    Lily wedged the phone between her chin and her shoulder while Rule gave her more details as she dug out jeans, socks, a tee. Clothes to tramp the woods in. She’d want a jacket to hide the shoulder holster.
    When he finished, she said, “Sounds like you’ve found the vics of that murder Mrs. Asteglio told us about. The local cops ought to be grateful, but I wouldn’t count on it. Ah . . . it’s okay for them to know you found them, isn’t it?”
    “I didn’t call you instead of the local authorities to avoid involvement. I’d have kept you out of this if I could. No, don’t argue,” he said before she had a chance. “I know you’ve seen bodies. That’s not the point. These bodies . . . there’s a small pack of feral dogs in the area.”
    Oh, ugh. “The dogs dug them up.”
    “So it looks. Smells that way, too.”
    “You’re sure it was dogs? I’ll be asked,” she added hastily. He knew she wouldn’t accuse him of anything so vile, but others might. “And there are other carnivores around, aren’t there? Bears?”
    “Bears are unlikely at this elevation, and the scent is quite clear. Five distinct canine scents near the grave, though only three are actually on the uppermost body.”
    “Dogs, then.” Lily frowned. Why had Rule called her? He could have phoned in a tip anonymously. “What haven’t you told me? There’s something important you aren’t saying. What is it?”
    “A smell. In addition to dogs and decay, there’s a smell that . . . but I could be wrong. It’s faint, and so smothered by normal putrefaction I can’t be sure. You’ll be able to tell.”
    Tell what? Not the nature of the scent, because she’d never notice it. Compared to lupi, humans were all but scent-blind.
    All at once she keyed into the phrase he’d used: “normal