Frost Burned (Mercy Thompson #7)(19)

"Always am," I said, and she laughed. But she didn't look at us, just kept climbing.

When I heard the door close upstairs, I led the way out the door, with Ben taking rear guard. I eased the door open slowly, but there were no suspicious cars awaiting us.

Even so, I didn't breathe easily again until we were on the highway headed back toward Kennewick.

"Where are we going?" asked Gabriel.

"I need to stow you and Jesse somewhere safe," I told him. "There are too many big bad things out there that would love to get their hands on the two of you."

He shrugged. "Not me, Mercy. I'm just your hired hand. It's Jesse they want."

I glanced at him. "You planning on going back to the trailer and waiting to see what happens to her?"

He growled. Pretty good growl for a human.

"That's what I thought," I said. "So I need somewhere safe for you both."

"You have someplace in mind?" asked Jesse tightly. I heard the rebellion in her voice and didn't blame her - how often had I been told to take the sidelines because a coyote wasn't in the same weight class as a werewolf? It sucked. But if they took her, too - I think that Adam would sacrifice the world for his daughter.

"I have a place in mind," I said.

"Where?" asked Jesse, but Gabriel guessed.

"Oh hell, no," he said.

Chapter Three

Gabriel was still arguing when we drove into the apartment complex in east Kennewick where his mother and sisters lived.

"Look," I said, not for the first time, "if they know all of the pack, then they know about you and Jesse, and they can guess I've stashed you with her. They'll also know that you and your mother haven't spoken a word since before last Christmas. They will know her feelings on the werewolves."

Sylvia Sandoval had been interviewed by the local paper when Adam and I had gotten married a few months ago because her son worked for me, and Adam was a local celebrity. She had been quite clear on how she felt about the werewolves.

"They'd never believe that she'd give the Alpha's daughter shelter," I told him.

"She won't," he said.

I smiled at him. "If I'm right, you get to clean the bathroom at the shop next. If you are, I'll do it."

He closed his eyes, shook his head.

"She loves you," I told him, getting out of the car. "Or she wouldn't be so stubborn about being mad."

I didn't need to tell him about the conversation Sylvia and I had had right before he finished high school. This was different - this time it wasn't Sylvia versus the werewolves. This time I would be more diplomatic and wouldn't leave yelling, "Fine. If you're too proud to say you're sorry - I'll keep him!" at the top of my lungs.

I had sent her graduation announcements. She'd been there, in the back. She'd waited until she was sure he'd seen her - then she left. She hadn't, her eldest daughter told me, wanted Gabriel to graduate without his mother in the audience. That was why I knew she'd take the kids in now.

"I don't want to cause trouble," Jesse said. "Why don't you leave me with Kyle or ... I could stay with Carla."

Jesse didn't have a lot of close friends once the werewolves came out, and everyone learned whose daughter she was. There were rumors that some kids' parents had pulled them out of the local high school and were trucking them all the way to Richland because of Jesse. There were other teens who followed her around just to talk about the werewolves. Carla belonged to that group, and Jesse generally tried to avoid her even though they'd known each other since grade school.

"Kyle's house is the first place they'd look," I told her. And I was going to have to make sure Kyle was okay, too. "We don't have anyone strong enough to protect you from the government here - the best thing is to stay somewhere no one will look for you." I didn't even mention Carla.

"Let's get this over with," Gabriel said. He got out of the car and started for his mother's apartment with all the enthusiasm of a sailor walking a plank. Jesse forgot all about herself and the discomfort of staying where she wasn't wanted. She scrambled out of the car and hurried over to Gabriel and caught his hand.

I glanced at Ben. He lay down on the back seat with a sigh. He was right. Having a werewolf in her apartment wouldn't make Sylvia more cooperative. I shut him in before following the kids.

Gabriel stood at the door for a moment before knocking quietly. Nothing happened - it was still dark out, so presumably everyone was asleep. He knocked again, a little louder.

A light turned on, the door cracked open, and a teenage girl's head peeked out. It had been a year since I'd seen any of the girls except for Tia, the oldest, who snuck out once in a while to visit. Tia looked like her mother, but this one was a female version of Gabriel, which told me that it was Rosalinda, even if she'd gotten taller and sharper featured since I'd last seen her. She froze a moment, then the door was thrown open, and she launched herself at him. He hugged her, hard, until she squeaked.

Sylvia's apartment was clean and well cared for beneath the clutter that accumulates in a household that has children living in it. The furniture was mismatched and worn - Sylvia was supporting her family by herself as a police dispatcher. Her salary didn't leave a lot of room for luxuries, but her children grew up rich in love. They'd been a happy family until she and Gabriel had come to a place where neither could compromise.