Mercy Thompson 01-05 - THE MERCY THOMPSON COLLECTION

vampire I’d killed—with the full knowledge and permission of the local vampire mistress. That she hadn’t actually intended me to kill him didn’t negate that I’d done it with her blessing. She couldn’t do anything to me for his death—and she didn’t know I was responsible for the other.
    â€œAs long as he’s not dressed in drag,” drawled Warren.
    Kyle snorted agreement. “Wesley Snipes may be a beautiful man, but he makes a butt-ugly woman.”
    â€œHey,” I objected, pulling my mind back to the conversation. “ To Wong Foo was a good movie.” We’d watched it last week at my house.
    A faint buzzing noise drifted up the stairs and Kyle rolled off the couch and onto his feet in a graceful, dancelike move that was wasted on Warren. He was still focused on the movie, though his grin probably wasn’t the reaction the moviemakers had intended for their bloodfest scene. My feelings were much more in line with the desired result. It was all too easy to imagine myself as the victim.
    â€œBrownies are done, my sweets,” said Kyle. “Anyone want something more to drink?”
    â€œNo, thank you.” It was just make-believe, I thought, watching the vampire feed.
    â€œWarren?”
    His name finally drew Warren’s gaze off the TV screen. “Water would be nice.”
    Warren wasn’t as pretty as Kyle, but he had the rugged-man look down pat. He watched Kyle walk down the stairs with hungry eyes.
    I smiled to myself. It was good to see Warren happy at last. But the eyes he turned to me as soon as Kyle was out of sight were serious. He used the remote to raise the volume, then sat up and faced me, knowing Kyle wouldn’t hear us over the movie.
    â€œYou need to choose,” he told me intently. “Adam or Samuel or neither. But you can’t keep them dangling.”
    Adam was the Alpha of the local werewolf pack, my neighbor, and sometimes my date. Samuel was my first love, my first heartbreak, and currently my roommate. Just my roommate—though he’d like to be more.
    I didn’t trust either of them. Samuel’s easygoing exterior masked a patient and ruthless predator. And Adam…well, Adam just flat scared me. And I was very much afraid that I loved them both.
    â€œI know.”
    Warren dropped his eyes from mine, a sure sign he was uncomfortable. “I didn’t brush my teeth with gunpowder this morning so I could go shooting my mouth off, Mercy, but this is serious. I know it’s been difficult, but you can’t have two dominant werewolves after the same woman without bloodshed. I don’t know any other wolves who could have allowed you as much leeway as they have, but one of them is going to break soon.”
    My cell phone began playing “The Baby Elephant Walk.” I dug it out of my hip pocket and looked at the caller ID.
    â€œI believe you,” I told Warren. “I just don’t know what to do about any of it.” There was more wrong with Samuel than undying love of me, but that was between him and me and none of Warren’s business. And Adam…for the first time I wondered if it wouldn’t just be easier if I pulled up stakes and moved.
    The phone continued to sing.
    â€œIt’s Zee,” I said. “I have to take this.”
    Zee was my former boss and mentor. He’d taught me how to rebuild an engine from the ground up—and he’d given me the means to kill the vampires responsible for Warren’s limp and the nightmares that were leaving fine lines around his eyes. I figured that gave Zee the right to interrupt Friday Night at the Movies .
    â€œJust think about it.”
    I gave him a faint smile and flipped open my phone. “Hey, Zee.”
    There was a pause on the other end. “Mercedes,” he said, and not even his thick German accent could disguise the hesitant tone of his voice. Something was wrong.
    â€œWhat do you need?” I asked, sitting up straighter and putting my feet on the floor. “Warren’s here,” I added so Zee would know we had an audience. Werewolves make having a private conversation difficult.
    â€œWould you drive out to the reservation with me?”
    He could have been speaking of the Umatilla Reservation, which was a short drive from the Tri-Cities. But it was Zee, so he was talking about the Ronald Wilson Reagan Fae Reservation just this side of Walla Walla, better known