Mercy Thompson 01-05 - THE MERCY THOMPSON COLLECTION

one of his dining-room chairs and broke it over Darryl’s face. The sound of the blow was absorbed by the pack’s spell casting, so I could only judge the force by the size of the pieces the chair broke into and by the spraying blood.
    In a move so quick my eyes couldn’t quite catch it, Darryl had Warren on the ground with a lock on his throat.
    Samuel darted in and closed his mouth over Darryl’s wrist—then danced back out of reach. The unexpectednessof it—Darryl hadn’t heard us come in—loosened Darryl’s hold, and Warren broke out of it, scrambling away to get some room.
    That meant Samuel could take up a position between both of them. Warren, breathing hard, sagged against a wall and wiped blood out of his eyes. Darryl had taken two swift steps forward before he recognized Samuel and almost fell over backward to keep from touching him, an expression of absolute astonishment on his face.
    As soon as I was certain neither Darryl nor Warren was going to continue the fight, I tapped Samuel on the shoulder to get his attention. When he looked at me, I pointed to my mouth and ears. There wasn’t a chance in hell that the werewolves outside would listen to me and stop their chanting—and we all needed to talk.
    I expected Samuel to go outside, but he did something else. His power rushed through the house with the force of a firestorm after some idiot opens a door to let oxygen into a room that has been smoldering for hours. The air filled with him, with his scent and power; it popped and crackled until I felt as though I was breathing the sparklers that children play with on the Fourth of July. Discharges of power sparked on my skin until it felt raw, loosening my control of my extremities. I fell helplessly to my knees. My vision began to sparkle, too. Black swirls and bright snapping lights made me drop my head on my knees as I fought to keep conscious.
    â€œEnough, Samuel,” said a voice I dimly recognized as Adam’s. “I think you made your point, whatever it was.”
    I left my head on my knees. If Adam was here, everything else could wait until I caught my breath.
    Footsteps came down the stairs with the light, quick movements I associated with Adam—he had been doing some rapid healing. I raised my head too soon and had to put it back down. Adam rested his hand on the top of my head, then moved away.
    â€œWhat was this about?” he asked.
    â€œWe’ve been looking for you for two days, Adam.”Darryl’s voice sounded a little distorted. “All we had was a message on Elizaveta Arkadyevna’s answering machine that she told us was from Mercy—and your wrecked house with three dead werewolves that no one could put names to. You, Jesse, and Mercy were all missing. We’ve been watching your house, but it was sheer dumb luck that one of the pack saw Mercy riding around with Kyle earlier. When I called Warren, he wouldn’t admit you were here, but he didn’t say you weren’t either, so I called the pack and came over.”
    I looked up again, and this time the world didn’t spin. Darryl and Warren were both kneeling on the floor, near where they’d been fighting when I’d last seen them. I saw the reason for the odd enunciation problem Darryl was having—a nasty cut on his lip was visibly healing.
    â€œI couldn’t lie to Darryl,” explained Warren. “You were in a healing sleep, and I couldn’t wake you up. I couldn’t let any of the pack up there while you were vulnerable.”
    Samuel sat beside me and licked my face, whining softly.
    â€œIsh,” I said, thrusting him away. “That’s just gross. Stop it, Samuel. Didn’t Bran teach you any manners at all?”
    It was a deliberate distraction, designed to give us all a chance to decide how to handle the situation without more bloodshed.
    â€œWarren was acting under my orders,” said Adam slowly.
    â€œI see,” said Darryl, his face becoming carefully expressionless.
    â€œNot against you.” Adam waved his hand at chest height— don’t feel hurt , the gesture said, it wasn’t personal .
    â€œThen who?”
    â€œWe don’t know,” I told him. “There was just something that bothered me.”
    â€œTell them what happened that night,” Adam said.
    So I did.
    To my surprise, when I told them that I’d had a badfeeling about calling in the pack, Darryl