Mercy Thompson 01-05 - THE MERCY THOMPSON COLLECTION

something with finances. He would never—Hmm. “Never” was an awfully strong word.
    I wondered how Henry felt about Mary Jo’s crush on Adam.
    â€œHenry,” I said experimentally and watched her face whiten. Maybe she didn’t know how much she was telling me without opening her mouth at all. “Henry was out with you last night. Henry told you to leave the fae alone when they set my house on fire.”
    Jesse’s door opened, and Adam came in and shut it gently behind him. He was obviously stiff, and, from the set of his jaw and the tightness of the skin around his eyes, he was in pain as well. If I could see it, he was hurting a lot more than he showed. And the Alpha didn’t show weakness if he could help it.
    He was dressed only in a pair of gi bottoms that ended mid-calf, leaving the weepy wounds on his feet clearly visible. Oh, there were other bits in rough shape, but next to his feet, nothing looked all that bad.
    â€œI heard your voice,” he told me, pulling my eyes away from his feet and up to his face. “So I pressed my ear to the door, and even with the noise my daughter calls music blaring, I overheard what you said, Mercy.” He looked at Mary Jo, who had turned around to face him and lost her formal parade- rest stance. She just stood there, looking vulnerable.
    Had it been Samuel standing there, I’d have worried that he would be too soft on her. But Adam didn’t really see women as the weaker sex, and he knew how to organize and how to recognize organization when he saw it.
    His unreadable face was focused on Mary Jo. “So Henry was there when the fae set Mercy’s house on fire. And here I thought you were out there alone. Because I knew Henry was in the house when I had plainly told him to back you up last night. Doubtless if I asked him, he’d tell me that he thought I only meant for him to be there while the meeting was going on . . . or he’d come up with some other explanation.”
    â€œHenry was the one to tell you my house was on fire, wasn’t he?” I said. Like Adam, I was watching Mary Jo. I couldn’t see her face, but her shoulders tightened. A friend of mine from college, a drama major, told me that the shoulders are the most expressive part of the body. I had to agree with him. She was almost to the point of seeing the big picture, because she expected Adam to say yes.
    â€œI see you’ve followed this to its logical conclusion, Mercy,” he told me, but his eyes were on Mary Jo. “I wonder if she’s seen it yet—or if she’s part of it.”
    â€œHenry ran in and got you out to the trailer before anyone else came out of the house?” Mary Jo’s voice was stark, but she wasn’t arguing.
    â€œThat’s right,” Adam agreed. “More or less. He wandered into the kitchen. Before I could ask him why he wasn’t out watching Mercy, he looked out the window, and said, ‘What’s that? Is that a fire? My God, the house is on fire.’ ”
    â€œHe knew,” Mary Jo said uncertainly. “He saw them start it. He wouldn’t let me confront them because he was afraid I’d get hurt. He said Mercy and Sam were gone, what was the harm if the upstart coyote’s house went up in flames? She deserved a little hurt because of all the pain she’d caused.”
    Mary Jo looked at Adam. “He meant to me. He was really angry about how the vampires had attacked us . . . how I was hurt because they were trying to get to Mercy. He wanted to get back at Mercy.”
    â€œHe could care less about me,” I told her. “His girlfriend didn’t like me better than she liked him. Henry was interested in Adam. He saw an opportunity to get back at Adam, and he jumped at it.” I looked at Adam. “The next time you leap into a burning building after me, you’d better make damned sure I’m in there. And wear your shoes, damn it.” I looked at his feet again. “You’re leaking nasty burn ooze on the carpet.”
    He smiled. “I love you, too, sweetheart. And thanks to the time you bled all over it, I now know a place that can clean almost anything off the carpet.”
    â€œHe wanted Adam hurt,” I told Mary Jo. “Because if he’s hurt, then he’s vulnerable. An Alpha can be challenged at any time. Since Adam is hurt, usually he could put it off without anyone complaining, especially since