Mercy Thompson 01-05 - THE MERCY THOMPSON COLLECTION

anyone else.
    I sat up and came face-to-face with Adam. His face was still, but I could see the wolf in his eyes and smell the wild on his skin.
    â€œPanic attack,” I said needlessly. “I haven’t been having them as often.” I lied and saw from the expression on his face that he knew it. This one made four today. Yesterday, I’d done better.
    â€œTalking to your mother counts,” he said. “We’ll take things slowly ... see how it goes. You talk to your mother or anyone else you’d like. But it’ll all keep until kissing me doesn’t cause a panic attack, all right?”
    He didn’t wait for an answer, just strode out of the house followed by his entourage. Darryl waited until both Ben and Peter were out the door before closing it gently behind them all.
    â€œMercy,” said my mother thoughtfully, “you never told me your werewolf neighbor was quite that hot.”
    â€œMmm,” I said. I appreciated her effort, but now that the time was at hand, I just wanted to get it over with. “And you didn’t get to see him rip Tim’s corpse to pieces.”
    I heard Mom suck in a hard breath. “I wish I had. Tell me about Tim.”
    So I did. And she didn’t say a word until I was finished. I hadn’t meant to tell her everything. But she didn’t say anything, didn’t move, didn’t look at me. So I talked. Just barely, I managed to keep Ben’s name out of it—his secrets were his to reveal—but everything else roared in jagged bits or choked roughly out of someplace dark and vile. It took a while to get it all out.
    â€œTim reminded you of Samuel,” she said when I was through.
    I jerked my head off her lap.
    â€œNo, I’m not crazy.” She handed me a wad of tissues from the box that sat on an arm of the couch. “That’s why you didn’t see it coming. That’s why you didn’t see what he was. Samuel was always a bit of an outcast, and it left you with a soft spot for outcasts.”
    Samuel? Cheery, sweet-tempered (for a werewolf) Samuel an outcast?
    â€œHe was not.” I grabbed a handful of tissues and wiped snot and salt water from my face. My nose runs when I cry.
    She nodded. “Sure he was. He likes humans, Mercy—and most werewolves don’t.” She shivered at some memory or other. “He listened to heavy metal and watched Star Trek reruns.”
    â€œHe was the Marrok’s second before he came here to lone wolf it for a while. He wasn’t an outcast.”
    She just looked at me.
    â€œLone wolf doesn’t mean outcast.” I set my jaw.
    The door popped open, and Samuel, who’d been sitting out on the porch for a while, came in. “Yes, it does. Hey, Margi—why’d you bring that dog with you? He’s creepy-looking.”
    Hotep was black with reddish brown eyes. He looked like Anubis. Samuel was right, he was creepy-looking.
    â€œI couldn’t find a sitter for him,” she said, standing up to get hugged. “How have you been?”
    He started to say fine ... then looked at me. “We’ve been taking our knocks, Mercy and I. But, so far, we’ve gotten back into the ring.”
    â€œThat’s all you can do,” said Mom. “I need to go. Hotep will be fit to burst by now, and I need to get some sleep.” She looked at me. “I can stay for a few days—and Curt wanted me to tell you that you’re welcome to come home for a while.” Curt was my stepfather, the dentist.
    â€œThank you, Mom,” I told her, and meant it. Horrible as it had been, I thought spilling it all might have helped. But I had to get her out of town before Marsilia made her next move. “That was exactly what I needed.” I took a deep breath. “Mom, I need you to go back to Portland. I worked today. It was better, doing what I always do. I think if I just stick to my normal routine, I’ll put it behind me.”
    My mother narrowed her eyes at me and started to say something, but Samuel had reached into his pocket and handed her a card.
    â€œHere,” he said. “Call me. I’ll tell you how she’s doing.”
    Mom raised her chin. “How is she doing?”
    â€œFair to middling,” he told her. “Some of it’s an act, but not all of it. She’s tough—good genes. She’ll make it fine, but I think she’s right. She’ll make it better after