Mercy Thompson 01-05 - THE MERCY THOMPSON COLLECTION

“You’d think. I will ask around. Jesse is a good girl; she should not be in these evil men’s hands longer than we can help.”
    â€œIf you go by the garage, would you mind putting a note in the window?” I asked. “There’s a ‘Closed for the Holidays’ sign under the counter in the office.”
    â€œYou think they might come after me if I opened it for you?” he asked. Zee often ran the garage if I had to be out of town. “You may be right. Ja, gut. I’ll open the garage today and tomorrow.”
    It had been a long time since Siebold Adelbertsmiter of the Black Forest had been sung about, so long that those songs had faded from memory, but there was something of the spirit of the Heldenlieder , the old German hero songs, about him still.
    â€œA werewolf doesn’t need a sword or gun to tear you to bits,” I said, unable to leave it alone, though I knew better than to argue with the old gremlin once he’d made up his mind. “Your metalworking magic won’t be much help against one.”
    He snorted. “Don’t you worry about me, Liebling . I was killing werewolves when this country was still a Viking colony.” Many of the lesser fae talked about how old theywere, but Zee had told me that most of them shared a life span similar to humankind. Zee was a lot older than that.
    I sighed and gave in. “All right. But be careful. If you’re going to be there, I have a parts order that should be in. Could you check it for me? I haven’t ordered from this place before, but my usual source was out.”
    â€œ Ja wohl . Leave it to me.”
    The next call I made was to Stefan’s answering machine.
    â€œHey, Stefan,” I told it. “This is Mercy. I’m headed to Montana today. I don’t know when I’ll be back. Probably late this week. I’ll give you a call.” I hesitated, but there really wasn’t a good way to say the next part. “I had to haul a dead body in your van. It’s fine; Elizeveta Arkadyevna cleaned it. I’ll explain when I get back.”
    Mentioning Elizaveta reminded me of something else I needed to do. Adam’s house was on the end of the road, but it was clearly visible from the river. Someone would notice that the couch was sitting in the flowerbeds and call the police if the mess wasn’t cleaned up soon.
    I had her number on my phone, though I’d never had occasion to use it before. I got her answering machine and left a message telling her there was a mess at Adam’s house, there had been a dead man on my porch, Jesse was missing, and I was taking Adam, who was wounded, somewhere he’d be safe. Then I closed the phone and put it away. I didn’t know what happened at Adam’s house, but that didn’t stop me from feeling guilty and responsible. If I hadn’t interfered last night when the two bullies came to find Mac, would everyone still be alive? If I’d sent Mac to Montana, to the Marrok, rather than letting Adam take him, what would that have changed?
    Taking Mac to the Marrok had never even occurred to me. I hadn’t contacted Bran since he’d sent me away from the pack, and he’d returned the favor. I took a quick glance behind my seat at the blue tarp concealing Mac’s body. Well, I was bringing Mac to him now.
    I found myself remembering the shy grin Mac had wornwhen I told him my name. I wiped my cheeks and fiercely blinked back further tears, but it was no use. I cried for him, for his parents and his brother who didn’t even know he was dead. Doubtless they were all sitting beside their phones, waiting for him to call again.
    I was coming down the grade into Spokane before more pressing worries distracted me from grief and guilt: Adam began stirring. My fear that Adam would die was instantly overwhelmed by the worry that he’d heal too fast.
    I still had well over two hundred miles to go, most of it two-lane mountain highway meandering through dozens of small towns at twenty-five miles an hour. The last sixty miles was on a road marked “other” on the state highway map—as opposed to highway or road. As I recalled, it was gravel most of the way. I figured it would take me at least four more hours.
    Dominant wolves heal faster than the submissive wolves. By my rough estimate, it would be no more than two days before Adam was recovered enough to control his wolf—which would be