have pleased me so much; I was no child. But Bran's opinion still meant a lot.
"And yes," he told me after a moment, "someone called me about Adam bringing you into the pack. Lots of someones. Let me tell you the answers to the questions I've been asked, and you can pass them on to
Adam. No. I had no idea it was possible to bring someone who was not a werewolf into the pack.
Especially you, upon whom magic can be unpredictable. No. Once done, only Adam or you can break those ties. If you want me to show you how, I will." He paused.
I shook my head... and then tempered it. "Not yet."
Bran gave me an amused look under his eyebrows. "Fine. Just ask. And no, I'm not mad. Adam is Alpha of his pack. I do not see how anyone has been harmed by this." Then he grinned, one of the rare smiles he had when he wasn't acting, just genuinely amused. "Except maybe Adam. At least he doesn't have a Porsche you can wrap around a tree."
"That was a long time ago," I said hotly. "I paid for that. And after you practically dared me to steal it, I don't see why you were so angry about it."
"Telling you not to take it out wasn't daring you, Mercy," Bran said patiently... but there was something in his voice.
Was he lying?
"Yes, it was," said Samuel. "And she's right - you knew it."
"So you didn't have any reason to be so mad I wrecked the car," I said, triumphantly.
Samuel laughed out loud. "You still haven't figured it out, have you, Mercy? He never was mad about the car. He was the first one at the scene of the accident. He thought you'd killed yourself. We all did. That was a pretty spectacular wreck."
I started to say something and found I couldn't. The first thing I'd seen after hitting the tree was the Marrok's snarling face. I'd never seen him that angry - and I'd done a lot, from time to time, to inspire his rage.
Samuel patted me on the back. "It's not often I see you absolutely speechless."
"So you had Charles teach me how to fix cars and how to drive them." Charles was Bran's oldest son.
He hated to drive, and until that summer I'd thought he couldn't drive. I should have known better - Charles can do anything. And everything he did, he did very well. That's only one of the reasons that Charles intimidates me and everyone else.
"Kept you busy and out of trouble for a whole summer," said Bran smugly.
He was teasing... but serious as well. One of the oddest things about being grown-up was looking back at something you thought you knew and finding out the truth of it was completely different from what you had always believed.
It gave me courage to do what I did next.
"I need some advice," I told him.
"Sure," he said easily.
I took a deep breath and started with my killing Marsilia's best hope of returning to Italy, jumped to Stefan's appearance in my living room and the unexpected visit from my old college nemesis, and ended it all with the nearly fatal adventure at Uncle Mike's and the little bag that smelled like vampires and magic. I told him about Mary Jo and my fear that if I told Adam about the bag, it would cause a war.
"I'll stop by and see if I can help Mary Jo," Bran said after I'd finished. "I know a few tricks."
Samuel looked relieved. "Good."
"So," I told Bran, "it is my fault. I chose to go after Andre. But Marsilia's not attacking me."
"You expected a vampire to be straightforward?" asked Bran.
I supposed I had. "Amber gives me a reason to get out of town for a little while. Without me around, Marsilia might leave everyone else alone." And it would give me a chance to think through my response.
A day or two to figure out something that wouldn't lead to more killing.
"And give Adam and me a chance to mount a proper response," Samuel growled.
I started to object... but they had the right to go on the offensive. The right to know that they were targets.
As long as Mary Jo survived, Adam wouldn't bring a war to Marsilia's doorstep. And if Mary Jo didn't survive... Perhaps Marsilia was crazy. I'd seen that kind of madness in the Marrok's pack, where the oldest wolves often came to die.
"If you leave, Marsilia might take that as a