Frost Burned (Mercy Thompson #7)(42)

I stared at him in horror. "It won't go away," I told him. "I'm not a werewolf, my body won't reject silver the same way yours does." Gabriel's little sister, Rosa, had done a report in school about a girl whose skin had turned gray when she was a teenager back in the fifties and nothing anyone had tried had made any improvement. I'd proofread it for her.

I scrambled to my feet and went into the bathroom to look at the mirror again. I took a washcloth and scrubbed at my lips, but they stayed black.

Asil didn't follow me into the bathroom, but he stood at the door.

"You told Armstrong that you think this was aimed at the werewolves."

"Don't you?" I asked.

Asil shook his head. "It doesn't matter what I think. Let's look at the world through their eyes a moment. If Adam did exactly as they asked him to, what would be the result?"

"They kill the pack anyway - can't have witnesses. They'd kill Adam, so he doesn't kill them. The senator's dead or wounded by werewolves. The people who think the only good werewolf is a dead werewolf would have more power." I ticked them off on my fingers, then said, "Kyle and I, Adam and I, and just I have gone through this a hundred times."

"Okay," Asil said. "The rogue Cantrip agents like the last part, the one that lets them go hunting werewolves. Maybe they like the dead senator part, too. Campbell has been standing between them and their kill-'em-all hunting license for a long time. But who is after Adam or the pack? You think they are the ones this is aimed at - so who benefits?"

"Shouldn't we do this part downstairs?" I asked, my throat tight. I didn't want to go over and over how much danger Adam and the pack were in - I knew. "We were discussing this with Armstrong."

Asil shook his head. "What happens if Adam and the pack are gone?"

I bared my teeth at him. "I go out for revenge - I don't do peanut butter much anymore. But if they aren't afraid of the pack, they aren't going to be afraid of me. Bran is scarier - but they probably don't know about Bran."

"Maybe they do," said Asil. "Maybe they're after Bran."

"They knew about Gerry Wallace's silver/DMSO/ketamine cocktail," I conceded. "They knew every wolf in the pack. Maybe they do know about Bran."

"Mercy?" Kyle called up from the floor below. "Are you through telling the werewolf all the things we mere mortals shouldn't know, yet? I'm making breakfast, and the sun's coming up."

"What were you planning on doing next before Agent Armstrong and I arrived?" asked Asil.

"I was going to go to get Adam's people, the ones who work for his company, to see if they can figure out where the money is coming from. See if they can tell if it is government money or private. I was going to the vampires to see if they knew anything about where someone might be holding a pack of werewolves - they run this town's supernaturals like the mob ran Chicago back in the day." There was something else. Something I was supposed to be remembering. "Damn it," I said, diving for my dirty, bloody jeans. "Tad. Damn it."

I pulled out Gabriel's sister's phone and saw that I'd missed calls - and had twenty new text messages. There were fifteen calls exactly one half hour apart from a number I didn't know. I didn't bother to read the text messages, just dialed the strange number. Tad answered.

"So," he said grumpily without waiting for me to say anything. "I take it you're dead? Because, otherwise, there is no excuse for guilting me into sitting outside in winter watching the most boring family on earth for more than a whole day. They started sending out the kids with cocoa yesterday about two in the afternoon. Dinner was homemade burritos with Spanish rice and refried beans - and almost good enough to forgive you for making me think you might be dead."

"How did they know you were there?" I asked.

"I knocked on the door to use the bathroom. Figured it was safer than leaving them to be slaughtered by enemy government agents while I went out to find the nearest gas station." There was a pause. "You all right?"

"No," I told him honestly, closing my eyes. "Not at all. Adam's still gone. They had a few men here at Kyle's - "

"That's Warren's boyfriend, right?"

"Right. Anyway Ben, I, and Stefan - mostly Stefan - got Kyle out of their clutches but spent the day at the police department answering questions."

"Good for Stefan."

I rubbed my eyes and thought. "I think the best thing to do might be to grab Gabriel and Jesse and bring them back here. There are police keeping an eye out on Kyle's house, and Adam's team is running security." I looked at Asil, and asked - "Are you planning on staying here with us?"

He nodded. "Until Adam is found, yes."

"Okay, did you hear that, Tad? I have one of Bran's wolves here to help out, too."

"I don't have a car," Tad told me. "I hiked over. You'll have to come get them yourself."

"No worries. I'll be over in about fifteen minutes." I opened my mouth to ask if he would consider helping us further but closed it again because he'd been standing guard all day.

"If Kyle has an extra bed in his mansion," Tad said, "I'll catch a few winks of sleep there, and I'll help you until this is finished." He paused, too. "I'm sorry I've been a jerk. Life hasn't been a bed of roses lately, but I don't have to take it out on you."