Mercy Thompson 01-05 - THE MERCY THOMPSON COLLECTION

feet and took two long strides to the door. “She’s afraid of me. I’ll send someone else up.”
    He shut the door very quietly behind him.
    Ben stood in the middle of the room and used all the words he’d left out when he’d been speaking to me earlier. With a jerky motion, he pulled his cell phone out of the front pocket of his jeans and hit a button.
    â€œWarren,” he said, his voice tight, “would you tell our lord and master to get his arse back up here? I have a few things to tell him.”
    He closed his phone without waiting for an answer and began to pace restlessly back and forth muttering swearwords to himself. He’d begun to sweat and it smelled of anxiety and anger.
    The door swung open and Adam loomed in the open doorway. He was so angry I came to my feet.
    â€œCome in and shut the door,” Ben said harshly, in a voice he really shouldn’t have used to his Alpha.
    Without glancing in my direction, Adam came in and shut the door with awful precision that was a strong indication of how close he was to losing control—if the way the brass doorknob deformed in his hand hadn’t already been a clue.
    As Adam walked to the middle of the room, I sank on the bed, not so much lying down as gathering my feet underneath me in preparation for running.
    Ben didn’t seem to notice how much trouble he was in. Or maybe he didn’t care. “How much do you want her?” Unable to meet Adam’s hot glare, he turned and stared out the window. “Do you want her enough to put aside your worries and hurt?”
    There was something in Ben’s voice…Adam heard it, too. He didn’t exactly cool down, but he was paying attention. A different Alpha, one less sure of himself, would have already put Ben in his place.
    Ben hadn’t paused as he continued to talk in a quick, nervous voice. “If you handle this right, tomorrow, next week…she’s probably going to be all pissy by then about how you forced her to drink that fairy shit. She’ll take off a door from that old car out there—that old car that makes sure you always think about her even when you’re cursing at her for spoiling your view.” He looked at me and I dropped my ears. Adam’s eyes weren’t the only ones that had gone wolf. Before I could back away from him, Ben turned his attention to Adam.
    As if they were equals, Ben took two steps forward and I saw that he was actually taller than Adam. “An hour and a half ago she was still puking that fairy shit that you and Mr. Wonderful poured down her throat. You heard Nemane. She said it would be a while before the effects wore off completely. And you are still holding her responsible for what she does.”
    Adam growled, but I could tell he was trying to hold on to his control and listen. After a moment he asked, “What do you mean?” in a fairly civilized voice.
    â€œYou’re treating her like a rational being and she’s still off in Fairyland.” Ben was breathing hard and that stink of fear was growing—making it more difficult for Adam to control himself. But that didn’t slow Ben down. “Do you love her?”
    â€œYes.” There was no hesitation in his voice. None at all. And yet he’d seen…he must not have seen, must not have realized…
    â€œThen put aside your goddamned self-loathing and look at her.”
    Golden eyes settled on me, and unable to meet Adam’s gaze, I turned my own eyes to the wall as my stomach twisted uneasily.
    â€œShe’s afraid of me.”
    â€œThat stupid bitch has never had the brains to be afraid of you, me, or anyone else,” Ben snapped with more force than truth. “Forget yourself and take another fucking look. You’re supposed to be able to read body posture.”
    I didn’t see it, but I heard Adam quit breathing for a moment.
    â€œDamn,” he said in an arrested voice.
    â€œShe crawled,” Ben said. There were tears in his voice. That was wrong. Ben barely even tolerated me on the best of days. “She crawled to the bathroom to clean herself again. If it weren’t for the two subs in the pack, I’d be on the bottom. And she wouldn’t stand up in my presence for guilt.”
    Unable to take the scrutiny anymore, I slunk off the bed entirely and hid between the wall and the mattress.
    â€œNo, wait. Leave her alone for a minute and listen to me.