Free Mimics of Rune 02- Surrender by Aimee Laine Page A

stood.
    “Mommy?”
    At the second call out, heavier feet started from downstairs, too, stampeding up as the tiny ones raced back across above.
    “Angela!”
    Cael nodded to Lily. If ever she needed to play a role, he understood it to be then. She’d never live with herself if she couldn’t give the little boy something back. Her own history, her own sorrows told Cael that—despite the pain it inflicted on his heart. He could imagine her as a mother, but he never pictured her as the wife of another man.
    “In here!” She shuffled to the door and out into the hall. “Sorry! I was just—still tending to business stuff.”
    Max wrapped his arms around Lily’s thighs. Tony stood at her side, running a hand through his hair. He jerked up as he and Cael made eye contact. “What the hell … are you still—”
    Cael held up both hands as his heart beat hard in his chest. You better appreciate this someday, Lil. “No harm, there, Tony. Name’s Cael Aldridge.” He stepped forward, one hand outstretched. “Just a simple misunderstanding on my part.”
    Tony’s brows furrowed as his eyes darted from Lily and back to Cael, to Max and back to Cael, before landing on Lily again. “If you’re helping my wife find her sister, where is my daughter?”
    Cael reached for his phone. “I don’t know anything about a daughter. My job was only to search for … someone else.” He pushed through the door, past Tony and started toward the stairs.
    At the hand on his bicep, Cael spun around. He had Tony by a good three inches, twenty pounds and the ability to knock him flat with one push. He withheld.
    “I want some answers, and I want them now.”
    The sneer held tight to Cael’s lips, but he banked it as desperation emanated from Tony. “If you’ll give me a few minutes, I’ll make a couple calls. I work this side of the country, not the other.”
    “Then why the hell did you break in my door if you’re not supposed to be following my wife?”
    Cael forced himself not to clench his fists or to knock Tony to his ass. “Because I had a tip that Ms. Jenkins here arrived against her will, and since she’s my client, I have a duty to her.”
    “Who tipped you?” An I-don’t-believe-a-word-you’re-saying expression claimed Tony’s face.
    “No one you’d know.” With that, Cael yanked himself free and descended.
    At the car, he leaned against the side, the ringing tune humming from his phone.
    “Well, well, well … if it isn’t the prodigal son.” Charley laughed as she answered.
    “Wyatt told you, huh?”
    “Did you find her?”
    “Yes.” Cael breathed in, salt water lending the air a freshness they didn’t get in Rune. “I need to tell you something …” He went into the story he’d told Lily and what Lily recounted to him. Charley’s responsive gasps grew louder and more forceful with each comment. “And this girl is missing. And there’s another kid involved here, and—”
    “And you’re sure they really share the same mom? “Wyatt interrupted. “Maybe the one woman you found and Angela’s mother aren’t the same person?”
    “Mimics pass the gene on only through the mother. If Leigh’s a shifter, she had to get it from her mom, who would have gotten it from her mom, et cetera,” Charley said.
    “It gets worse,” Cael said. “Lily’s mimicking her sister so her husband can have his wife, and the kid can have his mom back.”
    “Oh, god.” Another intake of breath. “Have you checked his birthday to make sure it doesn’t match? Because if it does, you know she’s going—”
    “I know. And I’ll get to it. She’s got the pull , so someone’s a match for her—or it could just be the familiarity. A simpler sense of connection, perhaps. We’ll deal with that separately. Right now, we need to find the woman and the girl and return ‘em … if they’re still alive.”
    “So you want to find Lily’s Mom, then?” Wyatt asked. “Is that so bad? I mean, Lily doesn’t have to