Page 32 of Winter Lost

He wasn’t stupid; he’d heard what Honey had said. Zee had ruffled his fur, though. The fight hadn’t been playacting, exactly. But it hadn’t been serious, either.

Zee scowled at me and then at Adam. “You,” he said in an aggrieved tone, “have as much sense as earwax.”

“Thank you,” Adam said serenely. “Okay, Honey, we need to head to Tad’s.”

Zee looked at his son. “It would be helpful if you go with the wolves. It would give them some protection if they do encounter Ymir. And I would prefer that he does not notice you unless he makes it necessary.”

Father and son stared at each other for a moment. I couldn’t read either of their faces.

“Come on, Jesse,” Tad said, turning away from Zee. “We’ll take the werewolves to my house and have cookies.”

“You made cookies?” Jesse asked him.

“Nope,” he said. “Izzy’s mother did.”

“Yum.”

—

Adam took his ducklings—and Honey—off to Tad’s house to eat cookies.

It had taken some finesse to pry my brother off Honey. He was more on edge without her, his grip on my wrist near bruising. Zee had dragged the kitchen table away again so Gary and I weren’t trapped behind it.

My timing had been a little too close for comfort. Adam and the others barely had time to get beyond the fence in the backyard when I heard a car coming down our road about a quarter of a mile out.

There was something weird about it.

I frowned as it purred to a halt in the driveway, and Zee looked at me expectantly.

“That’s a rotary engine,” I said. “Renesis. I haven’t heard one of those in years.”

“He drives a 2004 Mazda RX-8,” said Zee in satisfied tones. “I keep it running for him myself.” He looked at me. “I don’t want him going to the garage. Too many werewolves hang out there. And although he hasn’t eaten a person in years, I don’t want him to start with you.”

The first time I’d met Ymir, he’d struck me as hesitant and polite, once he’d quit trying to kill everyone.

“I appreciate that,” I said.

A car door shut quietly and then nothing. As minutes passed, Zee turned to give the wall between him and the front door a frowning look.

“Wait while I check this out,” he said to me.

But then we both heard the sound of booted feet on the wooden steps and the doorbell rang.

“Come as guest and as guest depart,” said Zee, staying where he was.

Ymir opened the front door. “Accepted,” he said before the sound of his feet told me he was inside. I heard the door close gently. “Threshold to threshold.”

In the house, he was soft-footed—if I hadn’t been listening for him, I wouldn’t have heard him walk from the doorway to the kitchen. That meant he had intended for us to hear him on the porch. He stopped as soon as he could see us, a slight man a few inches shorter than me—and I’m average height for a woman. He was wearing glasses, and he blinked at us as if they weren’t quite strong enough.

Then he ruined the whole look by exposing his white, slightly crooked teeth at Zee. The expression muted itself into a smile when he turned it to me.

“I am pleased to see you once more, Mercy Coyotesdaughter. Zee has explained to me that your brother is suffering from a spell cast by one of my kind.”

I nodded. “Yes.”

“I will examine him and remove it if I can. If I cannot, I will tell you what I know about it. Is this acceptable?”

“Payment?” Zee asked before I could say anything.