Staring at his sister's bruised face, he whispered, "You're gonna be all right, honey."
She blinked sleepily, her head lolling against the pillow. "Dante?"
"I'm right here." He gently squeezed her fingers. "Right here." He wouldn't tell her about his own attack. She needed to focus on getting better, not expend energy worrying about him.
She licked her lips. "Not … Tori's fault."
"Shh." He stroked his thumb over her fragile wrist. "Don't try to talk."
"This … " She swallowed. "Important."
He knew how stubborn she was. It was one of the things that had gotten her through the last several months. "Okay. What is it?"
"Don't blame Tori." Her eyes pleaded with him. "She was protecting … her brother."
"At your expense." Dante couldn't-wouldn't-forgive that.
Lily shook her head. "No. She didn't know … he would … come after me."
"Still-"
"Dante, no." She struggled to sit upright.
He put his hands on her shoulders and pushed her gently back down. "Lily, don't."
She collapsed onto the bed with a sigh. "You love her. She loves you." She took a deep breath. "If you suspected me of a crime, would you tell someone as soon as you suspected?" Her voice was stronger now, steady. "Or would you wait until you knew for sure?"
"I wouldn't wait if I thought people's lives would be in danger." He stared at his hand holding hers. "She should have told me."
"And that's the problem, isn't it?" His sister sent him an arch look.
"What is?"
"That she didn't tell you."
"We're partners," Dante said in defense. "Colleagues." That was a more accurate term than "partner."
"You're more than that and you know it." Lily closed her eyes. "Don't let this come between you, Dante. I'm all right."
He studied her, his heart finally beginning to relax from the galloping pace it had been keeping since kecome bet he'd found her lying on the floor of her bedroom. "I can see that."
Her eyes opened. "I feel a little strange."
He frowned. "Is something wrong? Should I call a nurse?"
"N-no," Lily said slowly. "But I feel different." Wonder filled her voice. "I feel strong. Really strong. For the first time in a long time."
Dante tightened his hand around hers. He knew what this meant. His sister was now a werewolf.
His jaw tightened. Damn Tori and damn her brother. It was a good thing she didn't have any other family members here. Who knew what kind of havoc they'd wreak?
And what did this mean for him and her? Was there even a him and her? He knew he loved her, but he wasn't sure what kind of future they could have together after this.
Two hours later the doctor who'd patched him up came into Lily's room. In deference to the sleeping woman, he whispered, "We have the results of your test. All negative." He gave an encouraging smile. "You won't turn into a werewolf."
Dante murmured his thanks and stared with unseeing eyes at the hospital bed. This was what he'd wanted, wasn't it? To remain human? But now, hearing it stated in definitive terms, his heart sank.
His only family in this world-his sister and his lover-would live forever. All too soon he'd be just a blip on their memories.
Chapter Nineteen
Tori paced the hallway outside the main council chamber. When she'd called Tobias and told him about her brother, he'd ordered her to report in immediately. To say he hadn't been pleased would have been a massive understatement. She'd arrived at the council building almost three hours ago and had been kept waiting. That was never a good sign.
She figured they were trying to determine what to do with her. She heaved a sigh. She'd be silvered for sure, she knew it. And it was no less than she deserved. She'd really mucked this one up.
Finally, the door swung open and one of the guards, a werecat named Jeff, came out. "They'll see you now," he said. He was blond haired and had a husky build, not at all like most other cat shifters, who were lithe and sinewy.
As she walked forward she asked softly, "Who's in there?"
"Caladh, Tobias, and Vida." His voice sounded almost apologetic.
She blew out a breath. Caladh and Tobias she was fine with, but Vida Undset … Oh, boy. The werewolf member of the council had come through the last rift in 1939, so she wasn't that old, but boy was she formidable.
Tori walked into the chamber, forcing herself to keep a confident stride even though she was quaking on the inside. She came to a halt a few feet from the large mahogany table behind which sat the three council members. She bowed her head and waited.
"This is most distressing, Victoria." Caladh's voice was low and rough with disappointment. "We had higher expectations of you."
She looked up. "I know, my lord."
"If you suspected your brother, you should have come forward immediately, not waited until people died. Until a police officer and his sister were attacked." Caladh shook his head. "Most distressing."
She looked at Tobias and then Vida. Both wore the same censure on their faces. "Do we know for certain if either of them have been turned?" she asked. It was killing Tori, that she could have prevented it by simply doing her job.
The three councilors looked at her in silence for several long moments, then Caladh said, "The young lady has bet. I plyen turned. Detective MacMillan has not."
Tori pressed her lips together to keep them from trembling. Two lives forever changed. Dante would never forgive her.
"When did you first suspect your brother of these crimes?" Vida asked. Her posture erect, the woman clasped her hands and rested them on top of the table.
Tori drew a bracing breath. "Not until Ash told me about items being arranged in rows of six. I couldn't believe that my brother would do something so … so heinous, and I talked myself out of it." She wet her dry lips. "I can only say that my love for my family clouded my judgment, and beg for the council's understanding."
"So this is why you did not tell Tobias about his nemesis being in town?" Vida's eyes fixed on Tori.
Tori glanced at Tobias, whose gaze remained steady on her. So Tobias had told them about her relationship to Stefan. She'd expected it, really, but somehow it was still a surprise to get it thrown back in her face.
"Even knowing that Tobias has a formal writ," Vida went on, "you delayed in telling him that Natchook is here."
"Yes." Tori clenched her fists to hide the trembling of her fingers. "Until Rand showed up two weeks ago, I had been alone in this world for almost a hundred and fifty years."
"We have all been alone here, Victoria." Caladh leaned back in his chair. "Tobias and I have both been here since 1793. We have no family here. In the last two hundred years we have made friends who became our family. Why could you not have done the same?"
"I did, but I also knew my brother was here. How could I not long to have him with me?" They had to understand. They had to.
Tobias folded his arms over his chest. His gaze held sympathy warring with chastisement. "And Stefan?"
This one she knew she was going to lose. "Many … most of the prets who come through the rift were criminals in the other dimension. It's just a few, relatively speaking, who were considered to be political dissidents or religious heretics. Everyone who comes through the rift is given a second chance. Crimes they committed prior to their Influx are forgiven." She spread her hands. "Why not Stefan's?"
Tobias stood and slapped one hand flat on the table. "Your cousin used the rift to escape justice. Had he not, he would have stood trial and been found guilty. And while other murders would have resulted in a rift sentence, the penalty for assassinating a political figure-especially the leader of an entire planet-was death." His nostrils flared. "Natchook … Stefan has been on borrowed time the moment he came through the rift. And it's up." He sat back down, no less intimidating. "Where. Is. He?"
"I don't know. I swear." When they all wore identical expressions of skepticism, she repeated, "I don't know."
"Phone number, then." This from Caladh.
She shook her head. "I didn't get it from him."
"Oh, come on." Vida's eyes narrowed. "You honestly expect us to believe that you saw a cousin you haven't seen since before your Influx and you didn't even get his phone number?"
Tori took a breath and held it for a few moments, trying to hold onto her cool. She knew how this looked. And she didn't like looking like an idiot, especially in front of her bosses. She exhaled through pursed lips and then said, "I saw him by accident for all of sixty seconds at the Devil's Domain. I barely had the chance to say hello before he ducked into the back rooms where I'm not allowed to go," she added as if they didn't know.
"Got hungry, did he?" Tobias asked.
Tori pressed her lips together. "I think, looking back on it, he saw Dante and diw Dwiddn't want to be recognized." She shot Tobias a look. There wasn't much else she could say without opening things up for questions that might lead to the rift device. And at this point, neither of them knew if Caladh or Vida were aware of it. She could only acknowledge that she was aware Stefan was the one who had attacked and turned Nix into a vampire, nothing more.