Mercy Thompson 01-05 - THE MERCY THOMPSON COLLECTION

grabbed my big crowbar from the shelf directly behind us. I brought it down on Mac’s collarbone.
    It was an awkward hit because I didn’t have much leverage, but the collarbone, even on a werewolf, is not hard to damage. I heard the bone crack and wrenched myself out of Mac’s grip and across the garage before he recovered from the unexpected pain.
    I didn’t like hurting him, but he would heal in a few hours as long as I didn’t let him eat me. I didn’t think he was the kind of person who would recover from murder as easily as he would a broken bone.
    Adam had moved almost as quickly as I had. He grabbed Mac by the scruff of his neck and jerked him to his feet.
    â€œAdam,” I said, from the relative safety of the far end of the garage. “He’s new and untaught. A victim.” I kept my voice quiet so I didn’t add to the excitement.
    It helped that Mac wasn’t looking particularly dangerous at the moment. He hung limply in Adam’s grip. “Sorry,” he said almost inaudibly. “Sorry.”
    Adam let out an exasperated huff of air and lowered Mac to the ground—on his feet at first, but when Mac’s knees proved too limp to hold him up, Adam eased him all the way down.
    â€œHurts,” said Mac.
    â€œI know.” Adam didn’t sound angry anymore—of course, he was talking to Mac and not me. “If you change, it’ll heal faster.”
    Mac blinked up at him.
    â€œI don’t think he knows how to do it on purpose,” I offered.
    Adam slanted a thoughtful look at the body, then back at me. “You said something about a cage and experiments?”
    Mac didn’t say anything, so I nodded. “That’s what he told me. Apparently someone has a drug that they aretrying to get to work on werewolves.” I told him what Mac had told me, then gave him the details of my own encounter with the dead werewolf and his human comrade. I’d already told Adam most of the salient facts, but I wasn’t certain how much information made it through his anger, so I just told him all of it again.
    â€œDamn it,” said Adam succinctly when I’d finished. “Poor kid.” He turned back to Mac. “All right. You’re going to be fine. The first thing we’re going to do is call your wolf out so that you can heal.”
    â€œNo,” Mac said, looking wildly at me, then at the dead wolfman. “I can’t control myself when I’m like that. I’ll hurt someone.”
    â€œLook at me,” said Adam, and even though the dark, raspy voice hadn’t been directed at me, I found myself unable to pull my eyes off him. Mac was riveted.
    â€œIt’s all right, Alan. I won’t allow you to hurt Mercy—much as she deserves it. Nor,” Adam continued, proving that he was observant “will I allow you to eat the dead.”
    When Mac hesitated, I walked back over and knelt beside Adam so I could look Mac in the eye. “I told you, he can control your wolf until you can. That’s why he’s Alpha. You can trust him.”
    Mac stared at me, then closed his eyes and nodded. “All right. But I don’t know how.”
    â€œYou’ll get the hang of it,” Adam said. “But for right now I’ll help you.” His knee nudged me away, as he got out his pocket knife. “This will be easier without your clothing.”
    I got up as unobtrusively as I could and tried not to flinch when Mac cried out.
    The change is not easy or painless at the best of times, and it was worse without the aid of the moon’s call. I don’t know why they can’t change like I do, but I had to close my eyes against the pained sounds that came from the corner of my garage. Certainly the broken collarbone didn’t make the shift any easier for Mac. Some werewolves can changerelatively quickly with practice, but a new werewolf can take a lot of time.
    I slipped out of the garage through the office and walked out the door, both to give them some privacy and because I couldn’t bear Mac’s suffering anymore. I sat on the single cement step outside the office and waited.
    Elizaveta returned, leaning on her grandson’s arm about the same time that Mac’s scream turned into a wolf’s cry.
    â€œThere is another werewolf?” Elizaveta asked me.
    I nodded and got to my feet. “That boy I told you about,” I said. “Adam’s here, though,