Page 16 of Winter Lost

“Mercy doesn’t want me to worry when there is nothing I can do. We’re tracing the calls when we can. Knowledge is power and all that. But we’re in a waiting game.”

“Sucks,” Darryl said, agreeing with the sourness of Adam’s tone. And with those words Adam felt the bond between him and his second settle back into place. And for the first time since the moon hunt, it felt right. Darryl had been correct; Adam should have called him sooner.

“Yep,” Adam said. “Defense always does.”

Darryl made a sympathetic noise. Then, gravely, he said, “We’ll take care of her while you’re gone.”

He wasn’t talking about Bonarata. Neither of them thought Bonarata was done playing with them yet. He was talking about the way Mercy wasn’t recovering from the Soul Taker.

“I know,” Adam told him.

Darryl let him leave it at that, knowing that there wasn’t anything either of them could really do for Mercy except hope she’d get better.

They were deep in a discussion about a planned pack activity that was now going to have to go forward without Adam when a small red light flashed on his desk. The front door had been opened. It was too soon for Mercy to be coming home. Jesse was out there alone.

“Done,” Adam said, and cut the call.

His office was soundproofed so that even a werewolf could not overhear what went on inside it. That meant he couldn’t hear what was going on in the house, either. He’d taken some pains to make sure that didn’t become a liability. He stood up to go see why the door had been opened.

A soft buzz filled the room.

Jesse was the only one home, and she’d just hit the silent alarm.

The wolf roared so loud he had to fight to breathe—but it didn’t slow him down. At all.

He jerked open the door—registering the crack of wood as unimportant—and had to check himself so he didn’t bowl right over the top of Jesse, who was standing in front of his door with her finger on the button.

The analytic part of his mind—which was just watching the action—noted that she didn’t smell afraid. Not very afraid, anyway. And that might just be of him. He was aware that he could be alarming.

He picked her up and set her in the office. The only reason he didn’t close the door was because she’d gotten her foot in the way. Which she’d managed because there was something wrong with the hinges. Only then did he figure out she was speaking.

“—safe,” she said. “I’m safe. It’s not an emergency. I’m safe.” Mercy had taught her that—that Adam sometimes needed reassurances repeated when the wolf was in ascendance.

He took a deep breath and shoved the wolf down. Only when he was sure it was subdued did he step back and let her wiggle past him out of the office. It was probably too soon for relief, but he felt it anyway.

“Sorry, Dad,” she said. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

She was very nearly an adult, his Jesse. He could see her mother’s features and his eyes in her face. But when she started college, she’d let her hair go back to its natural dark blond. And every time he looked at her after that, he’d also seen his own mother. But sometime between when he’d shut himself in the room and now, she’d dyed it again.

She looked more herself with bright purple hair.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, fighting the adrenaline still pumping through him.

She pursed her lips. “I’m not sure, exactly. There’s a guy on our front porch. He knocked on the door, stared at me when I opened it, muttered something”—she looked uneasy—“something really weird, and sat down.”

Adam frowned and took a deep breath, but she must not have left the door open long, because he couldn’t pick out any strange scents.

“He looks pretty harmless,” she said. “Not a threat. I interrupted you because it’s cold outside and I am a little worried about him dying on our doorstep.” She paused. “I probably should have just knocked, right?”

“You can interrupt me any way you want,” he told her. “You come first.”

She rolled her eyes. “I know. But I don’t have to be stupid about it.”

The exasperation in her voice made him grin—which she returned. Jesse wasn’t stupid, though. If she had hit the alarm, it was because something had struck her as an emergency.

“He’s in bad condition,” Adam said, not making it a question. “Or do you think he’s dangerous?”

She had said he looked harmless.