Iron Kissed (Mercy Thompson #3)(36)

Someone listening in might have thought my last comment was off topic, but Adam knew better. I'd been punishing him with my Rabbit parts car for several years. Clearly visible from his bedroom window, it now sat on three tires and had various pieces missing. The graffiti was Jesse's suggestion.

If Adam hadn't been as uptight, it wouldn't have worked - but he was one of those "everything in its place and a place for everything" kind of people. It bothered him - a lot.

Adam grinned briefly in appreciation, then his face sobered. "Tell me you, at least, had the brains to catch their scent."

I raised an eyebrow. "Why would I do that? Then instead of harassing Jesse, you'd be tormenting me."

One of them had been a stranger to me, but the other...there was something about his scent that was ringing a bell, but I'd wait until I was out of here before I tried to work it out.

He gave a bark of fierce laughter.

"Liar," he said.

He took two quick steps forward, wrapped a hand around the back of my neck, and held me for his kiss. I hadn't expected it - not while he was still so close to changing. I'm sure that's why I didn't pull out of his hold.

The first touch of his lips was soft, tentative, asking where his hands had demanded. The man was diabolical. I could have resisted force, but the question of his kiss was an entirely different matter.

I leaned into him because he asked with the light touch and the gentle withdrawal of his lips that begged me to follow where he led. The heat of his body, welcome in the overcooled house, rewarded me as I leaned closer to him, as did the hard planes of his body, so I was drawn to press even tighter against him.

He danced like that, too. Leading instead of pulling. It had to have been deliberate, something he worked at, because he was as dominant as they came - Alphas are. But Adam was more than just dominant: he was smart, too. And he didn't play fair.

Which is how he ended up against the wall with me plastered all over him when someone...Darryl, quietly cleared his throat.

I jerked free and hopped back to the middle of the hallway. "I'll just get Jesse's clothes now," I told the carpet on the floor and then took my red face into Jesse's room and shut the door. I didn't mind getting caught kissing, but that had been a lot more carnal than a kiss.

Sometimes good hearing isn't a blessing.

"Sorry," Darryl said, though his voice carried more amusement than apology.

"I bet," growled Adam. "Damn it. This has got to stop."

Darryl gave a full-throated laugh that lasted quite a while. I'd never heard him laugh like that. Darryl was pretty uptight usually.

"Sorry," he said again, sounding more apologetic this time. "Looked to me like you'd rather it not stop."

"Yeah." Adam sounded suddenly tired. "I should have gone after her a long time ago. But after Christy got through with me, I wasn't sure I wanted another woman ever. And Mercy is more gun-shy than I ever was." Christy was his ex-wife.

"Then Samuel came to compete for the prize," Darryl said.

"I am not a prize," I muttered.

I knew they both heard me, but all he said was, "Samuel has always been the competition. I prefer him here, so at least I'm competing with a flesh-and-blood man, and not a memory."

"If you're going to talk about me behind my back," I told Adam, "at least do it where I can't hear you."

They must have followed my request because I didn't hear any more of their conversation. The shower was still going, so I sat down in the middle of Jesse's room - pulled a bottle of nail polish out from under one hip - and then took the opportunity to pull myself together. Adam was right; this had gone on too long.

Samuel had been behaving himself like an angel, for the most part - and Adam had been likewise. But it seemed to me that Adam had been more restless than usual and his temper more uncertain.

That was troubling news because Adam had a hot temper, worse even than most werewolves. Otherwise, Samuel had told me, the Marrok would have used Adam more heavily as one of the spokesmen for the werewolves. He had the looks and the speaking abilities for it. Adam had attracted some attention from the press anyway because he was doing some consulting and negotiating in Washington, D.C. His control was very, very good, but when he lost it, he went berserk and the Marrok wouldn't risk it.

I was pretty sure that Adam would have exploded over Jesse's bruises anyway - but maybe he'd have regained his control better if he hadn't already been on edge.

Jesse's door opened and Honey came in, shutting the door behind her. Honey was one of those people who can make me feel grubby, even when I'm wearing a perfectly presentable T-shirt. She could have been a recruitment poster model for the trophy wife. She intimidated me in an entirely different way than the werewolves usually did, and it had taken me a long time to get over it.

She stepped gingerly over the usual teenager mess that Jesse had scattered on her floor - Jesse's room looked even worse than mine usually did, which made it pretty bad.

"You've got to do something, Mercedes," she told me softly. As long as the rest of the pack was downstairs, they wouldn't hear us. "The whole pack is restless and short-tempered - and Adam almost lost it today. Pick someone, Adam or Samuel, it doesn't matter. But you have to do it soon." She hesitated. "When Adam declared you his mate - "