Mercy Thompson 01-05 - THE MERCY THOMPSON COLLECTION

trying, with my casual pose, to defuse the situation. “Adam, I don’t have the sense to be afraid of Sam in the state he’s in now. I don’t know why you think I’d be smart enough to be afraid of you.” It would be smarter to be more afraid of a werewolf so upset that he took out a counter Zee had built than of a little paperwork and the IRS.
    â€œAsk Samuel to leave us.”
    â€œSam?” I asked. He’d heard Adam.
    He growled, and Adam returned the favor. With interest.
    â€œSam,” I said, exasperated. “He’s my mate. He’s not going to hurt me. Go away.”
    Sam looked at me, then returned his attention to Adam’s back. I could see that back tighten up as if Adam could feel Sam’s gaze. Maybe he could.
    â€œWhy don’t you go see what Zee is up to?” I asked. “You’re not helping here.”
    Sam whined. Took a half step toward Adam.
    â€œSam, please.” I couldn’t stand it if they ended up fighting. Someone would die.
    The big white werewolf turned reluctantly and walked stiffly, with frequent pauses to see if Adam had moved at all. Finally, he hopped over the wreckage of the door and was gone.
    â€œAdam?” I asked.
    But he didn’t answer. If he’d been human, I’d have bugged him—just to get it over with. I’d hurt him, and I waited to take my punishment. I’d been taught you make your choices and live with the consequences long before I’d first read Immanuel Kant in college.
    But he wasn’t human. And just then, if I was any judge, he was fighting his wolf. Being Alpha, being dominant, didn’t make that fight any easier, maybe the opposite. Being stubborn helped—and Adam was well qualified on that front.
    Getting Sam to leave helped more. The only other thing I could do to help was to sit quietly and wait while Adam stared at the wreckage he’d made of my office.
    For Adam, screwed-up bonding thing or not, I’d wait forever.
    â€œReally?” he asked in a tone I’d never heard from him before. Softer. Vulnerable. Adam didn’t do vulnerable.
    â€œReally what?” I asked.
    â€œDespite the way our bond scares you, despite the way someone in the pack played you, you’d still have me?”
    He’d been listening to my thoughts. This time it didn’t bother me.
    â€œAdam,” I told him, “I’d walk barefoot over hot coals for you.”
    â€œYou didn’t take advantage of this thing with Samuel as a way of putting distance between us,” he said.
    I sucked in a breath. I could see how he might have interpreted it that way. “You know that section of the Bible, where Jesus tells Peter he’ll deny him three times before morning? Peter says, ‘Heck no.’ But sure enough when he’s asked by some people if he’s one of Jesus’ followers, he says he’s not. And after the third time, he hears the cock crow and realizes what he’s done. I feel like Peter right now.”
    Adam started laughing. He turned around, and I saw bright gold eyes looking through me the way wolves’ eyes always seem to do. More than that, he’d actually begun to change a little—his jaw was longer, the angle of his cheekbones slightly different. “You’re comparing me to Jesus? Like this?” He used his fingers to motion toward his face. “Don’t you think you’re being a little sacrilegious?”
    His voice was bitter.
    â€œNo more than I’m Saint Peter,” I told him. “But I had Peter’s ‘what have I done’ moment—only his was instantaneous, and mine took a lot longer. It started when I heard Maia scream while I was working in the garage and continued pretty much up until you talked to Bran and bought Samuel a little more time. Funny how making decisions that seem right at the time . . .”
    I shook my head. “Peter probably thought that telling the guy he wasn’t one of Jesus’ followers was the smartest thing to do. Kept him alive, for one. I thought keeping Samuel alive—as he wasn’t raving or killing anyone . . . yet—was a good idea. I thought that telling you I needed a little space was good. Give me some time to wrap my head around having other people rattling around in my mind without hurting you because it scared me silly.”
    â€œWhat?” asked Adam incredulously.
    I bowed my head, and said,