.
." I let my voice drift off.
I couldn't tell him I needed space from him when it wasn't true.
Even over the phone he might pick up the lie.
I wished he was here.
He had a way of making things black-and-white.
Of course, that meant that Samuel should be killed for the good of the wolves.
Sometimes gray is the color I'm stuck with.
"You need some distance from the pack--and me," Adam said.
"I can understand that." There was a small pause.
"I won't leave you without protection." I looked down.
"Samuel's off for a couple of days." I needed to call before heading to work and get him time off, but that didn't change the fact that he wasn't going to be at work for the next couple of days.
The wreck made a convenient excuse.
"I'll keep him with me." "All right." There was an awkward pause, and Adam said, "I'm sorry, Mercy.
I should have noticed there was something wrong." He swallowed.
"When my ex-wife decided I'd done something she didn't like, she'd give me the silent treatment.
When you did it .
.
.
it threw me." "I think that was the point someone was aiming for," I said dryly, and he laughed.
"Yeah.
I didn't stop and consider how unlikely a tactic that was from you," he agreed.
"Sneak attacks, guerilla warfare, but not silence." "Not your fault," I told him, before I bit my lip.
If I didn't need to keep him away from Sam, I'd have said more.
A lot more, but I needed time for Samuel to fix himself.
"I didn't figure it out until we were almost home." "If I'd realized something was up while it was still happening, I could have found out who it was," said Adam, a growl in his voice.
He took a deep breath and let it out.
When he spoke again, his voice was calmer.
"Samuel will know how to stop them, too.
While he's escorting you around, why don't you ask him to teach you how to protect yourself? Even when it's not deliberate--" He had to stop again.