Mercy Thompson 01-05 - THE MERCY THOMPSON COLLECTION

dying. But…that trucker—you remember, the one who was set up as the murderer—he had kids. They’ll have to grow up with the idea that their father killed their mother.” I’d written down their names. Someday, when it was safe, I’d see they knew the truth.
    Their pain, the murders, and every time I woke up with the memory of the smell of the poor woman’s death, and the sound of Littleton’s taunting laugh, all of those things were on the sorcerer’s account. I wanted to be on the collection committee.
    â€œHe played with her.” I sent the bag swinging with a roundhouse, my best kick, hoping if I spoke the worst of that night, it would stay out of my dreams. “I bet she knew that he’d already killed those other people. I bet she knew he was going to kill her. He tortured her, cutting her a little at a time so that it would take her longer to die.”
    â€œMercy,” Adam’s voice was a purr, ready to offer comfort, but I wasn’t going to fall down that hole. Everything meant too much to werewolves, and too little. If I let Adam comfort me, he could, and probably would, take it as an admission that I acknowledged him as my leader—maybe as my mate. It wasn’t his fault, werewolf instincts are very strong. Samuel was safer, though he was a powerful dominant, because he wasn’t Alpha of a pack.
    Being Alpha was more than dominant. There is magic in the bindings of a pack that gives power to their leader, he can draw on their strength and give some of it back to them. I’d seen Adam’s pack heal him and give him the power to force his dominion on another group of werewolves.
    Being Alpha also gives a wolf the need to protect—and control—everyone they believe falls under their command. I didn’t. But Adam had declared me his mate so he disagreed with me. I couldn’t afford to soften my position at all.
    I backed up the length of the garage, then ran hard toward the bag. A jumping, spinning back-kick is one of those moves that my sensei said had one purpose—to intimidate. Sure, if it hit, the kick was devastating, but any martial artist who was any good wouldn’t allow one to hit because flashy kicks are too slow. Usually.
    I launched as hard as I could, spinning fast enough to leave me dizzy. The heel of my foot caught the bag just below the top edge, as it was supposed to. If the sandbag had been a person I’d have broken his neck. I might even have landed on my feet.
    The chain that suspended the bag kept it from falling back the way a person would have, and I hadn’t expected the force I generated: I landed bruisingly hard on my butt.
    I lay back quickly, flat on the floor, but Adam caught the bag before it could swing back and hit me. He whistled softly as sand started sifting down from a small tear in the seam of the bag. “Nice kick.”
    â€œAdam,” I said staring up at the ceiling, “he saved her for dessert.”
    â€œWhat? Saved whom?”
    â€œThe maid. Littleton saved her like a kid hoarding his chocolate Easter bunny. He put the maid in the bathroom, out of sight, because he didn’t want to kill her too soon. He was waiting for Stefan.” There were other reasons he could have stashed her in the bathroom—like he’d fed already on the other people he’d killed—but there had been something in his face when he’d brought her out that had said, “at last.”
    â€œWas he waiting for Stefan in particular? Or for whoever Marsilia sent?” asked Adam, seeing the important part of it before I did.
    I thought of how much Littleton seemed to know about Stefan, intimate things, though Stefan had never met him. But it was more than what he’d said that made me certain, it was the way he’d seemed so pleased—as if everything was happening as expected.
    â€œFor Stefan,” I said, then continued to the obvious question. “I wonder who told him Stefan was coming?”
    â€œI’ll call Warren and tell him you think someone told Littleton Stefan was coming for him,” Adam said. “Stefan will have a better idea how Littleton might have found out, and if it means he has a traitor in his camp.”
    I stayed where I was while Adam got the phone off the wall and began punching buttons.
    We’d spent years as adversaries, two predators sharing territory and a certain, unwelcome attraction. Somehow, during