Iron Kissed Read Free

easygoing exterior masked a patient and ruthless predator. And Adam…well, Adam just flat scared me. And I was very much afraid that I loved them both.
    â€œI know.”
    Warren dropped his eyes from mine, a sure sign he was uncomfortable. “I didn’t brush my teeth with gunpowder this morning so I could go shooting my mouth off, Mercy, but this is serious. I know it’s been difficult, but you can’t have two dominant werewolves after the same woman without bloodshed. I don’t know any other wolves who could have allowed you as much leeway as they have, but one of them is going to break soon.”
    My cell phone began playing “The Baby Elephant Walk.” I dug it out of my hip pocket and looked at the caller ID.
    â€œI believe you,” I told Warren. “I just don’t know what to do about any of it.” There was more wrong with Samuel than undying love of me, but that was between him and me and none of Warren’s business. And Adam…for the first time I wondered if it wouldn’t just be easier if I pulled up stakes and moved.
    The phone continued to sing.
    â€œIt’s Zee,” I said. “I have to take this.”
    Zee was my former boss and mentor. He’d taught me how to rebuild an engine from the ground up—and he’d given me the means to kill the vampires responsible for Warren’s limp and the nightmares that were leaving fine lines around his eyes. I figured that gave Zee the right to interrupt Friday Night at the Movies .
    â€œJust think about it.”
    I gave him a faint smile and flipped open my phone. “Hey, Zee.”
    There was a pause on the other end. “Mercedes,” he said, and not even his thick German accent could disguise the hesitant tone of his voice. Something was wrong.
    â€œWhat do you need?” I asked, sitting up straighter and putting my feet on the floor. “Warren’s here,” I added so Zee would know we had an audience. Werewolves make having a private conversation difficult.
    â€œWould you drive out to the reservation with me?”
    He could have been speaking of the Umatilla Reservation, which was a short drive from the Tri-Cities. But it was Zee, so he was talking about the Ronald Wilson Reagan Fae Reservation just this side of Walla Walla, better known around here as Fairyland.
    â€œNow?” I asked.
    Besides…I glanced at the vampire on the big-screen TV. They hadn’t gotten it quite right, hadn’t captured the real evil —but it was too close for comfort anyway. Somehow I couldn’t work up too much sorrow at missing the rest of the movie—or more conversation about my love life either.
    â€œNo,” Zee groused irritably. “Next week. Jetzt. Of course, now . Where are you? I will pick you up.”
    â€œDo you know where Kyle’s house is?” I asked.
    â€œKyle?”
    â€œWarren’s boyfriend.” Zee knew Warren; I hadn’t realized he hadn’t met Kyle. “We’re out in West Richland.”
    â€œGive me the address. I will find it.”
    Â 
    Zee’s truck purred down the highway even though it was older than I was. Too bad the upholstery wasn’t in as good a shape as the engine—I shifted my rump over a few inches to keep a wayward spring from digging in too deeply.
    The dash lights illuminated the craggy face that Zee presented to the world. His fine white hair was mussed a little, as if he’d been rubbing his hands over it.
    Warren hadn’t said more about Adam or Samuel after I’d hung up because Kyle, thank goodness, had arrived with brownies. It wasn’t that I was bothered by Warren’s interference—I’d done enough interfering in his love life that I figured he had a right. I just didn’t want to think about it anymore.
    Zee and I rode mostly in silence from West Richland, all the way past Richland and on through Pasco. I knew better than to try to get something