He slept on the foot of my bed. When I suggested he might be more comfortable in his room, he regarded me steadily with ice-colored eyes.
Where does a werewolf sleep? Anywhere he wants to.
I thought it would bother me, thought it would scare me. It ought to have bothered me. But somehow I couldnt work up the energy to be too worried about the big wolf curled up on my feet. It was Sam, after all.
* * *
MY DAY STARTED OUT EARLY DESPITE MY LATE NIGHT.
I woke up to the sound of Sams stomach growling. Keeping him fed had attained a new priority level, so I bounced up and cooked him breakfast.
And then, because cooking is something I do when Im upset or nervousand because it sometimes helps me think, especially if the cooking involves sugarI indulged myself with a spate of cookie baking. I made a double batch of peanut butter cookies, and while they were in the oven, I made chocolate chip, for good measure.
Sam sat under the table, where he was out of my way, and watched me. I fed him a couple of spoonfuls of dough even though hed eaten several pounds of bacon and a dozen eggs. He had shared the eggs with my cat, Medea. Maybe that was why he was still hungry. I fed him some of the baked cookies.
I was in the middle of putting cookies into baggies when Adam called.
Mercy, he said. His voice was fuzzy with fatigue, his tone flat. I saw the light was on. Ben told me what you said. I can help you with that.
Usually, I follow Adams conversations just fine, but Id had less than three hours of sleep. And I was preoccupied with Samuel, which he could not know anything about. I rubbed my nose. Ben. Oh. Adam was talking about how the pack had screwed up our date. Right.
I had to keep Adam away. Just until I figured out some brilliant plan to keep Samuel alive . . . And here before me was the perfect excuse.
Thank you, I said. But I think I need a break for a few daysno pack, no . . . I let my voice drift off. I couldnt tell him I needed space from him when it wasnt true. Even over the phone he might pick up the lie. I wished he was here. He had a way of making things black-and-white. Of course, that meant that Samuel should be killed for the good of the wolves. Sometimes gray is the color Im stuck with.
You need some distance from the packand me, Adam said. I can understand that. There was a small pause. I wont leave you without protection.
I looked down. Samuels off for a couple of days. I needed to call before heading to work and get him time off, but that didnt change the fact that he wasnt going to be at work for the next couple of days. The wreck made a convenient excuse. Ill keep him with me.
All right. There was an awkward pause, and Adam said, Im sorry, Mercy. I should have noticed there was something wrong. He swallowed. When my ex-wife decided Id done something she didnt like, shed give me the silent treatment. When you did it . . . it threw me.
I think that was the point someone was aiming for, I said dryly, and he laughed.
Yeah. I didnt stop and consider how unlikely a tactic that was from you, he agreed. Sneak attacks, guerilla warfare, but not silence.
Not your fault, I told him, before I bit my lip. If I didnt need to keep him away from Sam, Id have said more. A lot more, but I needed time for Samuel to fix himself. I didnt figure it out until we were almost home.
If Id realized something was up while it was still happening, I could have found out who it was, said Adam, a growl in his voice. He took a deep breath and let it out. When he spoke again, his voice was calmer. Samuel will know how to stop them, too. While hes escorting you around, why dont you ask him to teach you how to protect yourself? Even when its not deliberate He had to stop again. The needs and desires of the pack can influence you quite a bit. Its not too hard to block if you know how. Samuel can show you.
I looked at the white wolf sprawled out on the kitchen floor with Medea cleaning his face. Sam looked back at me with pale eyes ringed in black.
Ill ask him, I promised.
See you, he said, but continued in a rush. Is Tuesday too soon?
It was Saturday. If Samuel wasnt better by Tuesday, I could cancel. Tuesday would be really good.
He hung up, and I asked Sam, Can you teach me how to keep the pack out of my head?
He made a sad noise.
Not without being able to talk, I agreed. But I promised Adam Id ask. So I had three days to fix Samuel. And I felt like a traitor for . . . I hadnt really lied to Adam, had I? Raised among werewolves, who are living lie detectors, Id long ago learned to lie with the truth nearly as well as a fae.
Maybe I had time to make brownies, too.
My cell phone rang, and I almost just answered it, assuming it was Adam. Some instinct of self-preservation had me hesitate and glance at the number: Brans.
The Marrok is calling, I told Samuel. Think hell wait three days? Me either. But I could delay him a little by not answering the phone. Lets go work on some cars.
* * *
SAM SAT IN THE PASSENGER SEAT AND GAVE ME A sour look. Hed been mad at me since I put his collar onbut the collar was camouflage. It made him look more like a dog. Something domesticated enough for a collar, not a wild animal. Fear brings violence out in the wolves, so the fewer people who are scared of them, the better.
Im not going to roll the window down, I told him. This car doesnt have automatic windows. Id have to pull over and go around and lower it manually. Besides, its cold outside, and unlike you, I dont have a fur coat.
He lifted his lip in a mock snarl and put his nose down on the dashboard with a thump.
Youre smearing the windshield, I told him.
He looked at me and deliberately ran his nose across his side of the glass.
I rolled my eyes. Oh, that was mature. The last time I saw someone do something that grown-up was when my little sister was twelve.
* * *
AT THE GARAGE, I PARKED NEXT TO ZEES TRUCK, AND as soon as I got out of the car, I could hear the distinctive beat of salsa music. I have sensitive ears, so it was probably not loud enough to bother anyone in the little houses scattered among the warehouses and storage units that surrounded the garage. A little figure at the window waved at me.
Id forgotten.
How could I have forgotten that Sylvia and her kids were going to be cleaning the office? Under normal circumstances, it wouldnt have been a problemSamuel would never hurt a child, but we werent dealing with Samuel anymore.
I realized that Id gotten used to him, that I was still thinking of him as though he was only Samuel with a problem. Id let myself forget how dangerous he was. Then again, he hadnt killedme yet.
Maybe if he stayed with me in the garage . . .
I couldnt risk it.
Sam, I told the wolf, whod followed me out of the car, there are too many people here. Lets
Im not sure what I was going to suggest, maybe a run out somewhere no one would see us. But it was too late.
Mercy, said a high-pitched voice as the office door popped open with a roar of bongos and guitars, and Gabriels littlest sister, Maia, bounced down the short run of steps and sprinted toward us. Mercy, Mercy, guess what? Guess what? I am all grown-up. I am going to pretty school, and I
And that was when she caught a glimpse of Sam.
Ooo, she said, still running.
Samuel is not bad-looking in his human formbut his wolf is pure white and fluffy. All he needed was a unicorns horn to be the perfect pet for a little girl.
Pretty school? I asked, stepping forward and to the side, so I was between the werewolf and Maia. Maia stopped instead of bumping into me, but her eyes were on the wolf.
The next-oldest girl, Sissy, who was six, had emerged from the office a few seconds after her sister. Mamá says you cant run out of the office, Maia. There might be cars who wouldnt see you. Hi, Mercy. She means preschool. Im in first grade this yearand she is still just a baby. Is that a dog? When did you get a dog?
Pretty school, repeated Maia. And Im not a baby. She gave me a hug and launched herself at Sam.
I would have caught her if Sam hadnt bounded forward, too.
Pony, she said, attacking him as if he werent a scarily huge wolf. She grabbed a handful of fur and climbed on top of him. Pony, pony.
I reached for her, but froze when Sam gave me a look.
My pony, Maia said happily, oblivious to my terror. She thumped her heels into his ribs hard enough I could hear the noise. Go, pony.
Maias sister seemed to understand the danger as well as I did. Mamá, she shrieked. Mamá, Maias being stupid again.
Well, maybe not as well.
She frowned at her sister andwhile I stood frozen, afraid that whatever action I took would be the one that sent Sam over the edgetold me, We took her to the fair and she saw the horsesnow she climbs on every dog she sees. She almost got bitten by the last one.
Sam, for his part, grunted the fourth or fifth time Maias heels hit his side, gave me another lookone that might have been exasperationand started toward the office, for all the world as if he were a pony instead of a werewolf.
Mercy? Sissy said.
I suppose shed expected me to say somethingor at least move. Panic left me with cold fingers and a pounding heartbut as it faded, something else took its place.
Ive seen any number of werewolves whose wolf had superseded the man. Usually, it happens in the middle of a fightand the only thing to do is to lie low until the man takes back control. The other time it often occurs is with the newly Changed wolves. They are vicious, unpredictable, and dangerous even to the people they love. But Sam hadnt been vicious or even unpredictableexcept in the best sense of the wordwhen Maia had hopped up to play Wild Horse Annie.
For the first time since Id walked into that damned hospital storeroom last night, I felt real hope. If Sam the wolf could keep to civilized manners for a few days, maybe I would have a chance to persuade Bran to give us a little more time.
Sam had reached the office door and stood patiently waiting for me to let him in while Maia patted him on the top of his head and told him he was a good pony.
Mercy? Are you okay? Sissy looked in my carI often brought cookies. Id brought the ones I made this morning out of habit. I usually make a lot more cookies than any one person can eat, so when I have a baking fest, I bring the cookies for customers. She didnt say anything when she spotted the bags sitting on top of the book I still needed to deliver to Phin, but she got a big smile on her face.
Im fine, Sissy. Want a cookie?
* * *
WHEN I OPENED THE OFFICE DOOR, WHICH WAS A FADING orangish pink and needed to be repainted, the blaring music was overwhelmed by Mercy and Look, dog! And what seemed like a hundred small bodies piled on us.
Sissy put her small fists on her hips, and said in a picture-perfect imitation of her brother, Barbarians. And then she took a bite of the cookie Id given her.
Cookie! shrieked someone. Sissy has a cookie!
Silence fell, and they all looked at me like a lion might look at a gazelle in the savanna.
You see what happens? asked Gabriels mother, not even glancing up from scrubbing the counter. Sylvia was about ten years older than I, and she wore those years well. She was a small woman, delicate and beautiful. They say Napoleon was small, too.
You spoil them, she told me in a dismissive tone. So it is your problem to deal with. You must pay the price.
I pulled the two bags of cookies from where Id hidden them in my jacket. Here, I gasped, holding them out over the hordes reaching hands toward their mother. Take them quick before the monsters get them. Protect them with your life.
Sylvia took the bags and tried to hide her smile as I wrestled with little pink-clad bodies that squealed and squeaked. Okay, there werent a hundred of them; Gabriel had five little sisters. But they made enough noise for ten times that many.
Tia, whose name was short for Martina, the oldest girl, frowned at us all. Sam, sitting beside her, had been abandoned for the possibility of a cookie. He seemed amused, more amused when he caught my wary glance.
Hey, were doing all the work, Rosalinda, the second-oldest said. You chicas start scrubbing right this moment. You know you wont get cookies until Mamá says.
Sissy got one, Maia said.
And that is all anyone will get until it is clean, proclaimed Tia piously.
Youre no fun, Sofia, the middle girl, told her.
No fun, agreed Maia with her bottom lip sticking out. But she couldnt have been too upset because she bounced away from me to crawl back onto Sam, her fingers clutching his collar. My puppy needs a cookie.
Sylvia frowned at Sam, then at me. You have a dog?
Not exactly, I told her. Im watching him for a friend. For Samuel.
The wolf looked at Sylvia and wagged his tail deliberately. He kept his mouth closed, which was smart of him. She wouldnt be happy if she got a good look at his teethwhich were bigger than any dogs Ive ever seen.
What breed is it? Ive never seen such a monster.
Sams ears flattened a bit.
But then Maia kissed him on the top of his head. Hes cute, Mamá. I bet I could ride him in the fair, and we would win a ribbon. We should get a dog. Or a pony. We could keep it in the parking lot.
Uhm, maybe hes a Great Pyrenees mix? I offered. Something big.
Abominable Snow Dog, suggested Tia dryly. She rubbed Sam briskly under one ear.
Sylvia sighed. I suppose if he hasnt eaten them yet, he wont.
I dont think so, I agreed cautiously. I looked at Sam, who seemed perfectly fine, more relaxed than Id seen him since I walked into the storeroom at the hospital.
Sylvia sighed again, theatrically, her dramatically large eyes glittering with fun. Too bad. It would be much less trouble if I had a few less children, dont you think?
Mamá! came the indignant chorus.