Mercy Thompson 01-05 - THE MERCY THOMPSON COLLECTION

Samuel.
    The first time I’d seen the place, there had been a coyote hiding under the porch, and I’d taken it as an omen. When I’d finally bought it, I’d felt like I had a home for the first time in my life. A home no one could take away from me.
    â€œSaying good-bye?”
    I hadn’t heard the Marrok, but Bran was like that.
    â€œYeah.” I smiled at him so he’d know I didn’t mind his presence.
    â€œI meant to thank you for Samuel,” Bran said.
    I shook my head. “It wasn’t me. It was Ariana—have you seen them together? Aren’t they cute?” Ariana wasn’t at Adam’s house, though Samuel was. She wasn’t quite up to bearing a pack of werewolves celebrating madly. Samuel had talked about her for twenty minutes, though.
    Ariana hadn’t managed to touch Samuel when he was a wolf—yet, Samuel had told me. But she didn’t have any trouble with Samuel the man, and she didn’t have panic attacks around any of the werewolves—as long as they were calm and approached her one at a time in human form. She’d just needed a reason to work on her phobias, he’d explained with great pride. Bran had smiled when Samuel said that, the smile that said the Marrok had been up to something. So he might have had something to do with her finding her way among the wolves. Or maybe he just wanted me to think that. I’ve found that I do better when I don’t worry too hard about what Bran can and can’t do.
    â€œAriana is a gift,” said Bran. “But if it hadn’t been for what you did, Samuel wouldn’t have been around to receive it.”
    â€œThat’s what friends are for,” I told him. “Lift you when you’re down—and kick you in the rump when you need it. Adam helped. Speaking of friends, thank you for the Pack Magic 101 that kept me from being Zombie Mercy.”
    He smiled, an expression that made him look about sixteen. If you didn’t know him, it would be hard to believe that this young man with the diffident expression was the Marrok.
    â€œDid you get all of that?” he asked. “I wasn’t sure how much made it through.”
    I looked at his innocent expression. “How much did you get back?”
    He gave me wide eyes, then grinned. “I think that we both were getting a bit of a boost from an interested party.”
    â€œWho?”
    â€œZee had no trouble freeing the forest lord from his chains. He’s a charming fellow, by the way, very gracious as well as powerful. She kidnapped him from his own place in northern California about a year, year and a half ago. His wife and family were very glad to hear that he’ll be coming home soon. Daphne, the fairy queen, apparently visited the reservation and decided this would be a good place to roost. She enthralled a nasty witch and used her to grab the forest lord—because she didn’t have enough power to enthrall him .”
    â€œYou think he helped us?”
    â€œSomeone did. I’d just about given up.” He looked around at the remnants of my home. “I have a more probable answer, but I’m having a little trouble wrapping my head around it. Have you decided what you are going to do with this yet?”
    â€œIt was insured,” I told him. “I might as well replace it.” Gabriel might need to live somewhere.
    He and Zee had kept the shop going for the month I’d been missing. His mother wasn’t happy with his doing that, so he was living at Adam’s house. In the basement—as far from Jesse’s bedroom as Adam could manage.
    â€œLook,” said Bran. “Your oak tree didn’t burn down.”
    â€œYeah,” I said, pleased. “Scorched a bit, but I think it’ll be okay.” I took a step toward it, and my foot caught something and moved it. I thought at first it was a broom handle, but when I bent down to retrieve it, it turned out to be my old friend the walking stick.
    â€œAh,” said Bran. “I wondered where that had gotten off to.”
    I gave it a thoughtful look. “You’ve seen it?”
    â€œIt was sitting on the couch in Adam’s basement,” he said. “When I picked it up—suddenly all my efforts bore fruit at last, and I found you among the pack bonds as if you had never been missing.”
    I gave him a wry smile. “It does seem to show up at interesting