Free Mimics of Rune 02- Surrender by Aimee Laine

Lily’s heart like a knife slicing through. “My mother.”
    Cael’s lips touched Lily’s brow. “I’ll deal with that part. You just take care … of the kid.”
    “If she told Angela about Romania, do you think Angela took Leigh there and left her? Why would she do that again? It’s not—” Her breath caught as tears slipped over the rim of her eyes.
    Cael pulled Lily in tight. “We don’t know anything, yet. Lily, I’m really, really sorry. This isn’t how I wanted you to find out about any of this.”
    Air gushed from her. He understood. He always did. “I know.” She relaxed, breathing in the scent of Cael, thankful she had him. As a friend. “Will you help me find Leigh?”
    His fingertip ran down her spine. “Of course.”
    “I can’t leave Tony and Max.”
    Cael held Lily at arm’s length. “You want to keep mimicking Angela until we can return her? But … Lil … next week is your birthday, and you can’t—”
    She tugged herself back into his fold. “If we can figure out where Leigh and Angela are before next week, all will be okay. I know I’m not very good …”
    “I didn’t mean it like that.” His arms squeezed around her. “You can definitely do it, but … what if we don’t find her? Are you going to hide for a day when your hair pales and thins, when your eyes turn that little bit of yellowy-green, and when the freckle you hate so much on your cheek comes back?” His finger slid down the side of her face, right over the spot she removed after every forced birthday change back to her true self.
    “You found me in a few hours. Won’t you be able to find her in, maybe, a day?”
    He brought her hands up to his lips and kissed her knuckles. “Princess, you gave me the easiest tracking mechanism of all. You texted me from a phone that is probably still sitting inside this house. If she’s been avoiding Tony, there’s a reason. If she loves him the way you say, she’s probably protecting someone … maybe even Tony himself … or Max. If she’s not dead, she wants to be hidden for a reason. Charley—”
    Lily gave a quick head shake. “She’s focused on the wedding.” And so should I be.
    “Charley can do some searching with Wyatt and James back home. We’ll ask Maggie to mimic Angela, and you and I—”
    “But there’s a kid involved and Maggie’s … Maggie .” Panic flowed through Lily. She bounced to let it out.
    “She’s been with Chase for three weeks. I think she’ll have learned a thing or two about being a mom. And from the best kid on earth. You say so yourself, you know.”
    “But she’s not … nice.”
    Cael smirked. “This’ll be a good gig—a good test of her patience.”
    “I’m not leaving Tony. Get Maggie here, Cael, but I’m not putting him through more. Or Max. They need … some normalcy.”
    He lowered to her eye level again. “You have to prepare yourself for the other possibility. The what if something has happened to her answer. You either put them through hell now or in a little while.”
    Tears threatened as Lily considered Cael’s logic. What if something did happen to my sister, and I’ve just given her husband more hope than I should have. She gasped. “What if I stay?”
    Cael cocked his head. “You’d … you’d stay? Is he a match for you?” His tone vibrated with deadly seriousness.
    A screech had Lily spinning as Tony’s Mercedes bumped its way up the drive.
    “You have to go. I’ll tell him you were just giving me an update.”
    “I’m not letting you out of my sight again.”
    “He’s not going to be happy about housing a guy who pointed a gun at him.”
    The muscles in Cael’s jaw bunched. “I’m not leaving.”

7
    “Angela?” Tony’s voice carried from downstairs.
    “Mommy?” Tiny footsteps raced up the first floor stairs and down the hall to the second stairs. On the second floor, they scrambled across the room above, echoing from the area to the upper right of where Cael