Not a big deal at all. Stopping at the grocery store before I came home wasnt a problem. Having Christy ask me to do it was a different matter.
Pack is all about hierarchy. I understood how it works even if, before marrying Adam, I had been on the outside looking in. Humans have hierarchy, too. What Christy had done was the equivalent of the newhire office girl calling the CEO and asking him to bring coffee for the break roomand shed done it in front of Adam and the four attending wolves. If they hadnt known about it before, they would have known about it afterward. Pack hierarchy was one of those things Id agreed to deal with when I married Adam, so I paid attention to make his life easier.
I couldnt do much about Christys faux pas without looking like a jealous, arrogant bitch while Christy graciously apologized because she hadnt realized what it was she had donethough shed lived with the pack for years. So Id filled her order, then brought two dozen Spudnut donuts for the pack.
Spudnuts is a TriCities tradition; they make their donuts with potato flour instead of wheat. I might have lost hierarchy points, but Spudnut donuts bought me credit with the wolves who were at home. The wolves doubtless knew Id done it to buy their favorthat didnt mean it didnt work. Even Christy couldnt help but eat one.
Maybe I should bring them home every day, and that nicely rounded figure would just be rounded
Dreams of petty revenge aside, shed succeeded in making me paranoid to the point that Adams cell number on my phones display made me wary instead of happy. Four rings sounded before I gave in and answered. If it was Christy, Id just say no to whatever she asked because I had to work late.
This is Mercy, I said neutrally, bracing myself.
Arent you supposed to be getting home sometime soon? It was Adam. I relaxed and felt my expression soften. Youve had the security system on for an hour, so I expected you home by now. But I see you are working still.
I waved at the corner where the tiny camera was watching my every move. The cameras downloaded themselves onto Adams laptop as well as a backup at his office. The interior cameras ran all day long, the exterior cameras in the parking lot and around the outside of the building only turned on when I switched on the nighttime security.
Hey, handsome. Just finishing up a brake job. Dont wait dinner. Ill grab something on the way home.
Tads with you? he said smoothly. If he was watching his feeds, then he knew the answer, and that Id broken my promise not to work alone and make myself a target to anyone looking to hurt Adam or the pack.
I cleared my throat.
Sorry, I got distracted. Ill clean up and head home.
I expected him to be unhappy with me againas hed been when Christy had tried to get me in trouble for going off alone. I should have thought about safety when Id made my sudden decision to stay and work. I knew it wasnt just me at risk, but the whole pack through me because I could be used as a hostage.
If you need a night off, he said, sounding sympathetic instead of angry, you could go keep Kyle company. Warren is on guard duty over here tonight. Zack does fine as long as Warren is there because Warren isnt exactly flaming. But he says he can tell from what Zack doesnt say that when its only Kyle and Zack there, its pretty awkward.
I read between the lines that Kyle was giving Zack a hard time without Warren there to make sure he behaved. Like a kid in a candy shop, Kyle really enjoyed making people squirm. It was part of what made him such a good lawyer.
I have no intention of deserting you for the night, I told him firmly. Kyle and Zack will just have to manageKyle is good at that sort of social stuff when he wants to be. Ill be home in a half hour.
Get food first, he said. You need to eat, and I can see why you might have trouble eating here. Ill see you home in an hour or an hour and a half.
I love you, I said with feeling.
Of course you do, he agreed with a nonchalance that made me grin as he disconnected.
I let the car down and put jack stands under the rear axle. The hoist had a very slow leak that didnt matter when someone was there to raise it periodically, but overnight it would lower itself until the car was on the ground. I probably ought to get it fixed, but the garage was barely eking along in the black for once, and I was reluctant to dump it back in the red.
A blip on the monitor on the wall between the garage and the office attracted my attention as the outside security cameras switched from daylightcolored to nighttime blackandwhite. The monitor sat on a shelf on top of a rectangular computer box big enough to look seriousthough it and the monitor were mostly there so that anyone breaking in would think that was the whole of the security system and, after trashing the system, would quit worrying about the cameras.
No, I didnt need a system that sophisticated to watch over my garage where I repaired cars with sticker prices usually a lot less than the security Adam had installed. But Adam worried, and it cost me less than nothing to let him update the system every few months.