Mercy Thompson 01-05 - THE MERCY THOMPSON COLLECTION

to be awaiting for them to come callin’. Why don’t you put it outside? Just lean it against your house. It’ll come to no harm if no one collects it. And if they do, well, then they’ll not be disturbing you or the wolf, eh?”
    â€œYou’re sure?”
    â€œAye, lass. Now I’ve got a troll to deal with. Put it outside.” He hung up.
    I put my clothes back on and took the stick outside. Samuel wasn’t back yet, and the lights were still on at Adam’s house. I stared at the walking stick for a few minutes, wondering who had put it on my bed and what they wanted. Finally I leaned it against the mobile home’s new siding and went back to bed.
    Â 
    The stick was gone and Samuel was asleep when I got up the next morning. I almost woke him up to see what he’d told Adam, or if he’d noticed who’d gotten the stick, but as an emergency room doctor, his hours could be pretty brutal. If my staring at him hadn’t woken him up, then he needed his sleep. I’d find out what had happened soon enough.
    Adam’s SUV was waiting next to the front door of my office when I drove up. I parked as far from it as I could, on the far side of the parking lot—which was where I usually parked.
    He got out when I drove up, and was leaning against his door when I came up to him.
    I’ve never seen a werewolf that was out of shape or fat; the wolf is too restless for that. Even so, Adam was a step harder, though not bulky. His coloring was a bit lighter than mine—which still left him with a deep tan and dark brown hair that he kept trimmed just a little longer than military standards. His wide cheekbones made his mouth look a little narrow, but that didn’t detract from his beauty. He didn’t look like a Greek god…but if there were Slavic gods, he’d be in strong contention. Right now that narrow mouth was flattened into a grim line.
    I approached a little warily, and wished I knew what Samuel had told him. I started to say something when I noticed that there was something different about the door. My deadbolt was still there, but next to it was a new black keypad. He waited in silence as I checked out the shiny silver buttons.
    I crossed my arms and turned back to him.
    After a few minutes Adam gave me a half smile of appreciation though his eyes were too intent to carry off real amusement. “You complained about the guards,” he explained.
    â€œSo why did you set up an alarm without asking me?” I asked stiffly.
    â€œIt’s not just an alarm,” he told me, the smile gone as if it had never been there. “Security is my bread and butter. There are cameras in the lot and inside your garage, too.”
    I didn’t ask him how he’d gotten in. As he said, security was his business. “Don’t you usually work on government contracts and things a little more important than a VW shop? I suppose someone might break in and steal all the money in the safe. Maybe five hundred bucks if they’re lucky. Or maybe they’ll steal a transmission for their ’72 Beetle? What do you think?”
    He didn’t bother to answer my sarcastic question.
    â€œIf you open the door without using the key code, a physical alarm will sound and one of my people will be tagged that the alarm has gone off.” He spoke in a rapid, no-nonsense voice as if I hadn’t said anything. “You have two minutes to reset it. If you do, my people will call your shop number to confirm it was you or Gabriel who reset it. If you don’t reset it, they’ll notify both the police and me.”
    He paused as if waiting for a response. So I raised an eyebrow. Werewolves are pushy. I’ve had a long time to get used to it, but I didn’t have to like it.
    â€œThe key code is four numbers,” he said. “If you punch in Jesse’s birthday, month-month-day-day, it deactivates the alarm.” He didn’t ask if I knew her birthday, which I did. “If you punch in your birthday, it will alert my people and they’ll call me—and I’ll assume you’re in the kind of trouble you don’t want the police to attend.”
    I gritted my teeth. “I don’t need a security system.”
    â€œThere are cameras,” he said, ignoring my words. “Five in the lot, four in your shop, and two in the office. From six at night until six in the morning, the cameras are on motion sensors and