Read Mimics of Rune 02- Surrender for Free Online Page A

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    Cael clicked on the keyboard, bringing the monitor to life. “Charley can’t do everything she did before. You of all people know that.”
    Wyatt grabbed the back of a chair and slammed it into the desk.
    “What do you want me to say? You want me to agree that Lily’s just fine because she says so?” He spit the words toward Wyatt.
    “Yes.” Wyatt’s tone reflected Cael’s.
    “Why?” Rage exploded with the short word. “When Chase was gone …” Lily was the basket case. Charley was the rock.
    “You, of all people, know that answer.”
    Touché. Cael had been an ass to say what he did to Charley. Of anyone to pick on, it should have been himself. She’d been nothing but a gracious host, sister, friend and teammate for almost fifty years. Charley’s reaction hadn’t been wrong—it just hadn’t been Lily’s.
    “She trusts way too easily, Wyatt.” Which is why I take care of her.
    His dramatic eye roll disagreed. “She doesn’t trust easily. But when she does, she trusts implicitly. Again, you should know that.”
    Dammit. Cael did know. He knew when Lily’s smile came out fake and when she meant it. He could read her emotions as if they’d taken steps to blend—to mix their genetic code—decades before. “She could be lying.”
    Wyatt’s laugh came out full. “Then why make the comment about food? That’s completely Lily. You want her to be freaking out, don’t you? And you want Charley to be, too.”
    A tap on a few keys brought up the account the FBI used to trace and track cell phones. Cael stared at it as he thought through the truth of Wyatt’s claim—the same idea Charley had tried to say in different words. His jaw clenched and released.
    “Do you think she left, Cael?”
    “Of course not.” He typed in the number that had come through with the text.
    “You think this is related to whatever you think she was keeping from you?”
    He shrugged but continued his search until he found the name Tony Jenkins in, of all places, San Diego, California. Shit.
    “You’re looking up the number, aren’t you?”
    Another few taps and he’d find the cell’s location. Unless Tony moved, Cael would have an address or GPS coordinates, and a few more clicks would give him turn by turn directions.
    He stopped and stared at Wyatt. “Wouldn’t you do the same thing?”
    Wyatt’s lids closed. “Absolutely. What’re you going to do once you find it?” Wyatt’s matter-of-fact tone had Cael turning back to the screen.
    One final press on the ‘enter’ key put the search in motion. It would only take a second, maybe two.
    “I’m going to find Lily.”
    Wyatt drifted backward toward the door. “I’ll tell Charley.”
    “No.”
    The slow swivel of his head suggested Wyatt either misunderstood or disagreed. “No?”
    “Yes, no. She thinks Lily is fine. Let her think it. Inside, she’s probably freaking out but doing the whole song and dance because that’s how she is.” Cael remembered well the last time a family member disappeared. “Chase comes back in two days with Maggie. If Lily’s not back, he’s going to be a handful.” As will I. “Just let me deal with this for right now.”
    Wyatt hung his head. “What do we tell him, then? If—”
    The screen blinked at Cael; an address, still in California, appeared. “Just get tucked in tight and take care of Charley. I’m going to bring Lily back if it’s the last thing I do.”
    Wyatt sniggered. “Very cliché.”
    “But it’s true.”
    • • •
    Lily curled into herself as Tony took his side of the bed. For a moment, she wanted to tuck herself up against him, to promise that everything would be all right. To tell him she didn’t know Angela, but she could be her—permanently, even in another few days if she’d interpreted the tremors inside her body the right way.
    Where are these feelings coming from?
    The thought of replacing Angela and giving Max a mom again warmed her.
    Which is so very, very wrong until I