Mercy Thompson 01-05 - THE MERCY THOMPSON COLLECTION

Bran, his attention drawn to my chattering teeth.
    â€œI left it in the room,” I said. “It’s not mine.”
    â€œYou are welcome to it.”
    â€œI’m out here now,” I said.
    He shook his head. “You’d better get going then, before you freeze to death.” He looked at Samuel. “Keep me apprised.”
    â€œBran,” said Adam. “Thank you.”
    Bran smiled and brushed past me so he could reach in the van and take one of Adam’s battered hands in a gentle grip. “Anytime.”
    When he stepped back he shut the sliding door with just the right amount of push so it didn’t bounce back open. It had taken me three months to learn how to do it right.
    He reached into the pocket of his coat and gave me a card. It was plain white with his name and two phone numbers in simple black lettering. “So you can call me if you want to,” he said. “The top number is my cell phone—so you won’t have to risk talking to my wife.”
    â€œBran?” I asked him impulsively. “What is it that Gerry is doing that is so important he can’t come home to be with Dr. Wallace?”
    â€œFeeling sorry for himself,” snapped Samuel.
    Bran put a hand on Samuel’s arm, but spoke to me. “Carter’s case is tragic and unusual. Usually when a wolf lives through the Change but doesn’t survive his first year, it is because the human cannot control the instincts of the wolf.”
    â€œI thought it was always a matter of control,” I told Bran.
    He nodded his head, “It is. But in Carter’s case it is not a lack of self-control, it is too much.”
    â€œHe doesn’t want to be a werewolf,” said Samuel. “He doesn’t want to feel the fire of the killing instinct or the power of the chase.” For a moment the sun caught Samuel’s eyes, and they glittered. “He’s a healer, not a taker of life.”
    Ah, I thought, that rankled, didn’t it, Dr. Samuel Cornick? Samuel hadn’t been given to in-depth talks—although that might have been as much a function of my age as his inclination—but, I remembered that he had trouble, sometimes, because his instinct to heal was not as strong as his instinct to kill. He told me that he alwaysmade certain to eat well before performing any kind of surgery. Did he think that Dr. Wallace was the better man for choosing not to live with that conflict?
    â€œUnless Carter allows the wolf to become part of him, he can’t control it.” Bran’s mouth turned down. “He’s dangerous, and he gets more dangerous every moon, Mercy. But all it would take was for him to compromise his damn hardheaded morals just once, so he can accept what he is and he’d be fine. But if it doesn’t happen soon, it won’t happen at all. I can’t let him see another full moon.”
    â€œGerry’s the one who talked him into Changing,” said Samuel, sounding tired. “He knows that the time is coming when someone is going to have to deal with Carter. If he’s here, it will be his duty—and he can’t handle that.”
    â€œI’ll take care of it,” said Bran, taking a deep breath. “I’ve done it before.” He moved the hand on Samuel’s arm to his shoulder. “Not everyone is as strong as you, my son.” There was a world of shared sorrow in his words and in his posture—and I remembered the three of Samuel’s children who hadn’t survived the Change.
    â€œGet in the van, Mercy,” said Samuel. “You’re shivering.”
    Bran put his hands on my shoulders and kissed me on the forehead, then ruined it by saying, “Let the boys take care of this, eh, Mercedes?”
    â€œSure thing,” I said, stepping away from him. “Take care, Bran.”
    I stalked around the front of the bus. The only reason I wasn’t muttering under my breath was because the werewolves would all hear what I was saying.
    I started the van—it protested because of the cold, but not too much. I let it warm up while Bran said a few last words to Samuel.
    â€œHow well does Bran know you?” asked Adam quietly. The noise of the engine and the radio would most likely keep the others from hearing us.
    â€œNot very well if he thinks that I’ll leave things to you and Samuel,” I muttered.
    â€œThat’s what I was hoping,” he said, with