Page 38 of Winter Lost

“Test, even,” agreed Tad, and he gave a nod to Adam. Then he went out the door and Jesse went up the stairs, leaving Adam to deal with the werewolves.

“I’m going home,” Mary Jo said. She started to get up but wobbled back to the floor, snarling at Warren when he reached over to help steady her. Adam judged the wobbles to be as much from her still-finishing shift from wolf to human as from what Ymir had done. She wasn’t usually disabled by the shift, but Ymir had ripped her from her human shape to the wolf in the space of seconds. It would be a few days before her shifts felt normal again.

But she would recover—Adam could tell by the way her attitude resembled the bonhomie of a shedding rattlesnake.

Gary, Adam’s other problem, remained silent—much better than the strange noises he made when he tried to talk. Adam’s wolf winced from those sounds the same way he did when exposed to something too loud or sharp. Gary’s body language was alert but not combat ready. Adam didn’t think that he’d break for it and try to run again.

Gary had put his body between Mary Jo and the frost giant to protect her. As far as Adam knew, Gary had met Mary Jo briefly, but hadn’t spent any time with her that would make him treat her any different from any person on the street. And Gary didn’t seem to be able to recognize anyone. But Mary Jo had been in distress, she’d smelled like pack—and Gary had thrown himself into danger without hesitation.

Before he’d seen it himself, Adam wouldn’t have put money on Gary being protective of anyone. Mercy said that her half brother was a better person than he pretended to be, but Mercy always thought the best of people. It wasn’t really that she was a good judge of character, but mostly that people tried to live up to her view of them. Adam had taken her opinion of Gary with a grain of salt.

Now Adam could see who Gary was when all of his defenses were removed.

Seated beside Gary, Honey had her calm face on, telling Adam that she was really disturbed. Gary was leaning against her lightly, like a blind man keeping his sense of place rather than for reassurance.

The other bookend of the four, Warren, looked both relaxed and awkward with his too-long legs taking up a lot of room on the tile. Like Honey, his face was calm despite the rage that Adam felt through the bonds. Warren was keeping it buried deep enough that Adam didn’t think anyone else would find it. Adam hoped he was doing as well with his own fury.

Ymir had taken one of theirs.

“I’m going home,” Mary Jo said again, as if someone was arguing with her.

You aren’t wrong about that fight you’re about to get into, Adam thought with amusement. No one here is going to let you go off by yourself. We’re all just hoping someone else will stick their neck out first.

He wasn’t surprised when Warren took the lead.

“How about you give a call to Renny, darlin’. Or I could. If we knew you weren’t alone, we wouldn’t fuss at you.”

“I broke up with him,” Mary Jo snapped, answering the mystery of why she’d felt off to Adam for the last few days. “The whole point of that was to get Renny free of my life.”

Raw hurt rolled out with her voice, and hearing it, she flushed, closing her eyes. When she spoke again, her tone was filled with calm dignity. “That was the point. I’m going home.”

Honey tried next. “You need to be with people.”

Mary Jo gave the room a cool look. “I am a grown woman. A werewolf. A monster. If I’m not safe, no one is.”

She stood up—this time with a lot more success—and brushed her arms off, as if that meant she could brush off the rest of the conversation with it.

“Mary Jo.”

Three of them jumped when Adam spoke, and Gary stiffened a moment later, tilting his head in Adam’s direction. Adam hadn’t intended to put so much power in those words, but the moon was still strong and Mary Jo wasn’t the only one who was going through some things tonight.

“Yes, Adam?” Mary Jo said, with an edge in her voice.

He could give her orders. But living with Mercy had taught him that sometimes going around things was so much easier than bulling through them.

“I am sending Gary home with Honey tonight,” Adam said.

Honey raised her head to look at him, but she didn’t seem displeased.

“We don’t know what’s wrong with him. I need you to go with Honey,” he said. He held up a hand when Mary Jo looked at Warren and started to say something. “I can’t spare Warren tonight. I know you are hurting, but I can’t leave Honey alone with Gary when he’s damaged and I have no real idea what he can do.”

Mary Jo was a fireman. Fireperson? He sometimes lost track of what terms were polite this decade. She fought fires and saved people, anyway. She was fierce. As driven to duty as he himself was. They would never have gotten her to go with Honey for Mary Jo’s own good. But to keep Honey safe?

And it had the benefit of being true. He would feel better—with the memories of how easily Gary had moved Honey and of the speed and strength with which he’d fought Adam fresh in his mind—if he didn’t send Honey home alone with Gary.

“Okay,” she said grudgingly.

Warren helped Honey escort Gary out to her car while Mary Jo ran downstairs to get clothes to wear from the pack stores. Adam went out to the garage and found the plywood they’d used the last time the big window in the living room had been broken. When he got back into the house, only Warren remained. The two of them secured the plywood, sealing the winter outside once more.

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