Hey, I told him. I love you.
He didnt answer, but I didnt need oneI knew how he felt. Only after I rolled painfully off the edge of the bed did it occur to me that Ben was missing. A glance out the window told me it was still morning, not early, but not late enough to make me feel like a slugabed either.
I limped stiffly to the bathroom. One hot shower later I could move again. And even if my clothes were on their second dayand smelled of blood and smoke and allI felt ready to face the morning. After a little dithering, I put my shoulder holster back on.
I didnt feel any urgent need to go armedbut I didnt have anywhere to put the SIG out of harms way either. Adam probably had a gun safe around somewhere, but I didnt know where it was. So I wore the shoulder harness under my T-shirt, which was loose enough to conceal it. Id have a hard time drawing the gun, but that shouldnt matter: it was loaded with lead bullets, and the house was full of werewolves. If I had to draw the gun, I was probably dead anyway.
On that cheery thought, I left the bedroom and shut the door quietly behind me. The lovely smell of sausage and butter pulled me into the kitchen.
Darryl was cooking.
Auriele grinned at my expression. Sundays, she said with satisfaction, he cooks, and I wash dishes. Mostly we end up here at Pack Central, and when Darryl cooks, everyone stops by. Its a pretty big job.
The way werewolves eat, it certainly was. A big job that was one of those little things that pulled a pack together: Sunday breakfasts at Adams house.
If youre doing dishes while he cooks, does he do the dishes when you cook? I asked.
Nope, Darryl said, serving each of us a plate of sausage, eggs, hash browns, and French toast with a snap that looked awfully professional, and returned to the stove. Not that enlightened.
She smiled at his back. He vacuums, though. And Darryl made an irritated noise.
Have you seen Ben? I asked, then said, involuntarily, This is really good. The French toast was spiked with real vanilla, cinnamon, and a host of other things, including authentic bitter-sweet maple syrup.
Mmmm. Auriele nodded, taking a bite of her hash browns. He cooked his way through grad school.
Made good money at it, too, Darryl agreed. Bens been down, eaten breakfast, and gone. Hell be back soon. I called Zee last night.
I set down my fork. What did he say?
Nothing, if you are going to let my good food go cold.
I took a hasty bite, and he went back to cookingand talking. I played last nights ransom call back to him, and he picked me clean of everything you told us. Then he said hed see what he could do. He called an hour or so ago and told me to tell you hed be over here as soon as he could. It might be a couple of hours, though, so stall the villainess if she wants you to move before he gets here.
How did he sound?
Grumpy. Coffee or orange juice?
Water is fine.
His eyebrows went up.
Uh-oh, Auriele said, but she was smiling.
Darryl was not. Are you implying that my coffee is not the best in four counties? Or my fresh-squeezed orange juice is less than perfect?
Jesse breezed in and squealed. Oh my goodness, Darryl is cooking. Id almost forgotten it was Sunday. Orange juice, please. She glanced at me and laughed. Mercy doesnt do orange juice or coffee, she said, grabbing a glass out of the cupboard and filling it out of the pitcher Darryl had set out. So sad. More orange juice for me.
She was being cute and upbeat, but there were dark circles under her eyes. She took the plate Darryl handed her and sat down next to Auriele.
So, she said. Her pink hair helped her cheerful acthard to look sad with pink haireven if her eyes were a little pink, too.
How are we going to save Gabriel?
Have you ever noticed that everyone who knows Mercy eventually needs saving? asked Mary Jo as she walked into the kitchen.
I was going to have to do something about Mary Jo. I took another bite of French toast and put the fork down on the plate. Sooner was probably better than later.
I stood up. Excuse me, I said to Darryl. To Jesse I said, Im borrowing your bedroomany complaints?
She stared at me a moment. No? she said, her voice rising as if her answer were a question. Which maybe it was.
Your stereo is pretty effective at keeping voices from being overheard by all the werewolves in this house. And from the noise coming from downstairs, there are a lot of werewolves here.
Its Darryls cooking, said Auriele, sounding a little apologetic.
I can see why, I said. Id appreciate it if you would guard my plate until I come back. I looked at Mary Jo. You. Come with me.
And without looking behind me, I led the way up the stairs to Jesses room. I walked into Jesses room and turned on her stereo until it was almost painfully loud. The CD wasnt something Id have chosen to listen to, but it was loud, and that was all I was interested in.
Shut the door, I told Mary Jo. I was almost surprised shed just followed me up as Id asked.
Face blank, she did as Id requested.
Okay. Now, if you come over here by the window, its almost impossible for anyone to overhear us.
All the precautions werent really necessary. With this many people in Adams house, no one, no matter how good their hearing was, could really listen from one room to the nextthere were simply too many conversations going on. But the stereo made our privacy virtually certain.
What do you want? she asked, not moving from the center of the room.
I leaned against the wall next to the window and crossed my arms over my stomach. It felt wrong to be in this position. Ive been a solitary person my whole life. Even when I lived in Aspen Creek with the Marroks pack, even then Id really been alone, a coyote among wolves. But Adam needed his pack behind himand because of me, they werent. If I was going to be the problem, I owed it to him to be part of the solution. So I was going to see if all those times I watched the Marrok twist people in little knots would allow me to use his techniques to achieve the same results.
I smiled at her. I want you to tell me what your problem with me is. Right here, right now, where there is no one else to interfere.
You are the problem, Mercedes, she snapped. A scavenger coyote among wolves. You dont belong here.
Oh, come on. You can do better than that, I goaded her. You sound like youre Jesses ageand Jesse doesnt sound like that.
Her eyes veiled as she considered what I said.
All right, she said after a minute. Point to you. First problemyou let Adam rot for two years after he claimed you as his mate. And during that two years our pack fell apart because Adam could barely keep himself calmand was nearly useless at helping anyone else keep their wolf in check.
Agreed, I said. But I have to point out in my defense that Adam never asked me if I wanted to be his mate during that timeor before he declared it in front of the pack. He never asked me either before or after. I wasnt a pack memberand his declaration was to keep the rest of the wolves awayso I didnt even find out about this until well after it happened. Even then, no one told me the consequences until just a few months ago, and as soon as I figured out what was happening to the pack and to Adam because of that claim, I made a decision.
How kind of you, she snapped, her eyes brightening with temper. To become Adams mate for the packs sake.
Point to me, I told her calmly. The choice I made had nothing to do with the problems in the packall Adam needed was an answer, and no would have worked just as well to set the pack back in order. I agreed because . . . because hes Adam. Mine, whispered a voice in my head, but I was pretty sure that it was my own voice.
Second problem, she said between gritted teeth. It was your invitation to the stray that led to Adam being almost killed and Jesse kidnapped.
Nope. I shook my head. You cant lay that one on me. That was werewolf business from beginning to end. I got involved because I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. No more, no less. Point to me.
I disagree, she said. She was standing in the classic at ease position, I noticed, like a soldier. I wondered if it was something Adam taught them while he had them in training because, to my knowledge, Mary Jo had never been in the military.
Fine, I said, shrugging. Its a free country. You can feel as you wish.
You cant deny who nearly got our third killed when the demon came to town, you and your connection to the vampires, she said.
Her voice was cool, her heartbeat steady. Warren wasnt important to her; Ben had been right. She hadnt even called him by name because she felt the rank was more valuable than the man.
Once it was known that there was a demon in town, it was inevitable that the wolves would have to go after it, I told her. And you could care less about Warren, so dont pretend you were concerned about him.
That had her head up and her eyes on me. She actually looked a little worried. She had been trying to pretend that she wasnt one of the wolves that Warren bothered.
Warren is worth ten of you, I told her. Hes here when hes needed, and he doesnt do his best to undermine Adam whenever his orders are inconvenient. I waved off her impending argument because I was saving the discussions of her more recent activities until later, when Id broken her down enough to answer my questions. Back to business. What else?
Its your fault I died, she said. Poor Alecwhen he tore my jugular he didnt know what hit him. None of us did. The vampires targeted us because of you.
The vampires had set a trap at Uncle Mikes, the local tavern where the fae and assorted other supernatural people went to relax. Theyd laid a spell that drove anything with ties to wolves to bloodshed. Mary Jos bad luck that she and two other werewolvesPaul and Alechad gone there on the wrong night. By the time Adam and I got there, Mary Jo was dead. But apparently if you die when there is a Gray Lord present, at least when one particular Gray Lord is present, dead isnt as permanent as it might otherwise have been.
Point to you, I said, deliberately relaxing against the wall so she could see it didnt bother me in the slightest. I cant lie with my mouth, but sometimes body language does it for me. Id tell you that accepting the blame for the bad guys is a stupid thing to dothe proper people to blame for your almost death are the vampires. But if I hadnt been dating Adam, they wouldnt have targeted the wolves, so I suppose you could be justified in blaming me.
I waited for her to look up again, so I could read her face. When she looked at me, her control was back in full. There were two things that could explain her sudden dislike of me. The first one was the incident at Uncle Mikes, but she wasnt angry enough about it. Which left me with the secondId hit her with that when it would do me more good.
But, I told her, if I accept the blame, Id like to point out that Im also the reason you are still standing here. The Gray Lord healed you because she thought she owed me a favor.
She sneered. I hope to God that someone does you that kind of favor someday. It hurt . . . It still hurts. Some days I cant feel different body parts.
Id known about that, and it worried me though the fae had given her word that Mary Jo would be back to normal. I expect that shed left out the word eventually because Mary Jos suffering didnt really matter to the fae.
Next time, Ill tell her not to bother bringing you back, I promised. I tapped my foot and wondered how far I really wanted to push this. Some of it depended upon what role I wanted to take in the pack. Just then I was channeling my inner Bran, using the techniques Id grown up watching the Marrok use, techniques that came so easily to me it made me a little uncomfortableI dont see myself as a manipulative person. For the moment, though, I set that aside and considered the case at hand.
Figure out the results you want and do what you can to get them was one of Brans favorite sayings. Well, then, exactly what results did I want?
Part of that really depended upon how much of her recent activities were directed at me and how much at Adam. I found that I could excuse her actions against me, but I was less inclined to be forgiving about Adam.
I remembered that look shed given me when I was sitting on the floor of the hospital with Adam changing in my lapAdam, whod damn near burned to death trying to rescue me because she hadnt told him I was safe. The look that said shed have been happier with him dead than with him on my lap.
Had that been a momentary thing, or had her anger that Adam was mine become a force driving her past the point of no return?
Mary Jo, I said pleasantly, you and I know all of that is garbage. It is all true, or mostly, but it isnt why you are so angry with me.
Her chin jerked up.
Adam is mine, I told her. And you cant handle it. Does it bother you that Im a coyote? That we have sort of an extreme case of an interracialin our case maybe even cross-speciesmating? Darryl is African and Chinese, and Auriele is Hispanic, and they dont seem to bother you. It wasnt that I was a coyote shifter that bothered her. I knew it. I just wondered if she knew it. It did bother some of the pack; maybe Auriele and Darryl bothered some of them, too. If so, those pack members were smart enough to keep it to themselves.
Mary Jo tightened her lips but didnt say anything.
How long have you wanted him? I asked her. You had all these years since Jesses mother left.
Brans methods sucked. I watched her eyes darken with pain and wanted to kick myself. But shed been at least partially responsible for Adams wounds. And I agreed with Warren about fire after watching Samuel scrub dead flesh from live. Mary Jo had been stupid. I was betting she hadnt hurt Adam on purpose, but I had to know.
I observed the anger that followed pain rise in her face and just watched her.
You are nothing, she spit. Im nothing, too. Thats how I know. Adam deserves the best. A wolf strong and beautiful, a woman who is