Mercy Thompson 01-05 - THE MERCY THOMPSON COLLECTION

own damn feet,” I snarled. “Sit here, stay here.”
    I was sitting between the sinks so there was room on the far side of the one nearest the door for Jesse to hitch a hip on it and half sit. “So why did you listen to his orders?”
    â€œBecause he just saved my bacon and I don’t need to rile him more than he already is.” There were only three cuts that needed bandages, all of them on my left foot.
    â€œCome on,” she said. “Admit it, you enjoyed him fussing over you just a little bit.”
    I gave her a look. When she didn’t back down, I turned my attention to peeling the paper off a bandage so I could stick it on my foot. I wasn’t going to admit to anything. Not with Adam just downstairs where he might overhear something I didn’t want him to hear.
    â€œHow come you’re wearing a towel?” she asked.
    I showed her and she giggled. “Whoops. I forgot you wouldn’t have a bra. I’ll get a sweatshirt for you to wear over that.”
    When she was safely gone, I smiled to myself. She was right. There is something about having someone take care of you, even when you don’t need it—maybe especially when you don’t need it.
    Something else made me happier, though. Even though Adam was on edge, even though he’d been issuing orders left and right, I hadn’t felt that desire to do whatever he asked me that was part of his magic as the Alpha. If he could manage that under these circumstances…Perhaps I could be his mate and keep myself at the same time.
    Jesse’s shoes, which Adam had brought in for me, were too small, but in addition to the sweatshirt, she managed to scrounge up a pair of flip-flops that worked.
    Honey’s husband walked in the door as I came down the stairs, Honey, as gorgeous in wolf form as she was in human, at his side. He gave me a friendly smile when he saw me.
    â€œI didn’t find the Porsche, but your Rabbit was off the side of the road with the keys in the ignition. I couldn’t start it, so I locked it up.” He handed me the keys.
    â€œThanks, Peter. Fideal must have gone back for his car. That means he wasn’t badly hurt.” I’d been going to head over to my house, but with Fideal running around, it didn’t sound like such a good idea.
    Peter obviously shared my displeasure at the fae’s state of health. “I’m sorry,” he said. “The steel would have done it, I think, but I couldn’t find his body under all the fronds.”
    â€œHow is it that you’re so comfortable with the sword?” I asked. “And why did Adam have a sword here anyway?”
    â€œIt’s my sword,” Jesse said. “I got it at the Renaissance Faire last year and Peter’s been teaching me how to use it.”
    He smiled. “I was a calvary officer before I Changed,” he explained. “We used guns, of course, but they weren’t accurate. The sword was still our first weapon.” He sounded as he always had, his Midwest accent firmly back in place.
    He’d been Changed during the Revolutionary War era or a little before, I thought, to use guns but rely on swords. That would make him, other than maybe Samuel and the Marrok himself, the oldest werewolf I’d ever met. Werewolves might not die of old age, but violence was part and parcel of their way of life.
    He saw my surprise. “I’m not a dominant, Mercy. We tend to last a little longer.” Honey pushed her face under his hand and he rubbed her gently behind her ears.
    â€œCool,” I said.
    â€œFideal is in safe hands,” said Adam from behind me.
    I turned to see him replacing the phone in its base on the kitchen counter.
    â€œUncle Mike assures me that it was a mistake—an overeagerness on the part of Fideal to carry out the Gray Lords’ orders.”
    I raised my eyebrows. “He told me he was hungry for human flesh. I guess that could be overeagerness.”
    He looked at me and I couldn’t read his face or his scent. “I talked to Samuel earlier. He’s sorry to have missed the excitement, but he’s at home now. If Fideal follows you home, he’ll have Samuel to contend with.” He waved his hand around. “And there are plenty of us here to come to your aid.”
    â€œAre you sending me home?” Was I flirting? Damn it, I was.
    He smiled, first with his eyes and then his lips, just a little, just