Hello All! This will eventually be a collection of one-shots featuring Mercy when she was in a teen living in Aspen Creek. Each chapter will feature Mercy interacting with a different Aspen Creek resident. The first is Samuel, and it is admittedly a lot of fluff but hopefully entertaining fluff. They were not meant to be in the end, but I will always have a soft spot for the guy. Some inspiration taken from Moon Called and Hunting Ground specifically. As always, anything you recognize belongs to the brilliant mind of Patricia Briggs.

Idle Paws are the Devil's Playthings

Mercy resisted the urge to scratch her ear with her back foot. She had been lying, literally in wait for over an hour, and knew it couldn't be much longer until he ended his nightly run past the house. She was almost completely hidden beneath a Rocky Mountain Juniper that was along the side property line of Bryan and Evelyn's yard.

Though they had both been gone for close to year, it was still hard to be alone in the house that continued to hold the weight of their presence. Nights tended to be the worst, as the silence just seemed more encompassing and oppressive. Normally it wasn't too bad as Bran tended to stop in at some point during the evening, but an undisclosed pack issue (not that any of them ever were disclosed to her) had kept him away for the last few days.

Mercy had finished her usual four to eight o'clock shift at the motel, and had literally cringed at the idea of another boring night flipping through the six available channels. She didn't even have any school work to distract her! Classes had been called off for the rest of the week due to the bout of strep throat and whooping cough that had been rapidly spreading through the small school community. It had seemed pointless to the school administrator and parents to try and teach classes with over half of the students missing.

This fact had also kept Samuel occupied for the past week. He came by late every night that he had gone for a run. Before heading home, he would run a loop past her house and gave a soft woof outside her window. Mercy always heard it, even if she was dozing when he came by, and it never failed to put a smile on her face. She may have lost a lot in her life lately, but it reminded her of who she still had.

Tonight instead of watching the minutes slowly tick by inside, she had shifted and prowled around the few acres behind her home. Mercy didn't dare stray too far away from her yard. It was only a couple of days before the full moon, and there were many wolves whose control she apparently tested on a good day. Just before she hid under the juniper, Mercy darted every-which-way across the back yard, rolled around in the new spring grass, and in general saturated the area with her scent. She also had darted into the house, turned on her bedside lamp, put the small stereo on low, and opened the window halfway. For all intents and purposes the house looked like it normally did late at night.

It appeared that her guess had been right, as a winter white wolf with ice blue eyes was making his way from the back of the yard towards her window. He had a bounce in his step which she imagined was from his amusement over her previous antics. The minor breeze was working in her favor, and Mercy was able to slink to the small opening between branches that would allow her to escape without rustling branches.

Mercy waited until Samuel had just passed her tree when she darted silently out, grabbed the end of his tail and gave it a quick tug before bounding a few yards away. She spun around and dropped her front legs down and had her tail up in the age old stance depicting "Let's Play". Samuel had spun around and now faced his new quarry crouched down in a stance reminiscent of a mountain lion stalking his prey. He may be growling lowly but his eyes twinkled in merriment.

Mercy gave a joyous yip and dashed off to the Douglas Firs along the back of the yard. She heard Samuel hot on her heels so she used her smaller size and maneuverability to dart in between and around the trunks of the trees. The white wolf, instead of following, tried unsuccessfully to intercept the coyote in the larger spaces between trees. Mercy, getting cocky by her ability to keep away, started prancing on the other side of the trees from Samuel while giving off happy yips.

Samuel gave a dangerous grin while feinting one way before charging through the trees right at her. Mercy tried to jump back, but in her surprise stumbled. Samuel bumped her enough to have her on her back before pushing his cold nose along the short hair of her stomach.

She whined at the tickling sensation before managing to turn over and squirm out from under him. They continued to race and jump back and forth across the yard with Samuel mostly successful in keeping Mercy away from the trees. Thinking she could surprise him again, Mercy jumped one way before trying to dive under Samuel's belly to the relative safety of the trees beyond.

Samuel anticipated the move at the last second and dropped down trapping Mercy halfway under his belly. Mercy was shocked to be suddenly pinned down with her front paws out in front of her by a 250 pound werewolf. She tried squirming but found herself almost completely immobile. Mercy could tell that he was holding the majority of his weight off of her, but in her current form and position she had no hope of dislodging him.

She turned her head around and looked at Samuel's face. His head was turned toward her with what could only be described as a cocky wolf grin on his face. Mercy gave a huge sigh, and leaned around to lick his cheek and put her nose underneath his chin to concede the win.

Samuel immediately jumped up, rubbed the side of her neck with his head and started herding her to the house.

Once inside, Mercy trotted to the bathroom while Samuel went to the spare room next to hers. Mercy's fast and effortless shift left her plenty of time for a quick shower to remove the grass stains and dirt while Samuel made his far slower and painful transformation. The week of long days and being continually called out must have been weighing on Samuel, as Mercy had showered, changed and was making cocoa when Samuel came out in one of the pairs of sweats and t-shirts he kept at her place. He gave her a hug and ruffled her hair from behind before taking his cocoa and steering them both to the living room couch.

Samuel sat down at one end, and Mercy flopped down with her back to his side and legs stretched out down the length of the couch. He wrapped his arm around her waist and they relaxed in the comfortable silence as they sipped their drinks. After a while Samuel gave her a slight squeeze and spoke "What have you been up to bychan ?"

Mercy muttered "Absolutely nothing of note".

Samuel frowned at the slight smell of despondency he caught from her as she spoke. He slouched down and put the side of his head on top of hers. He started telling her a story about a hunt that he, Charles and his Da had gone on years ago. They were trying to move a large herd of elk south towards Aspen Creek in time for a full moon hunt. For some reason Murphy's Law had been in full effect for the entire sordid adventure, and by the end he had Mercy laughing and making fun of them and their misadventures.

Mission now accomplished, he moved on to his new plan and asked "I'm headed into Missoula tomorrow to pick up supplies from the medical supply store that we have run low on. Want to come along for a change of scenery?" Samuel inquired trying to sound like it didn't matter to him at all.

Mercy turned to look at him directly with a haughty look on her face. "Samuel Llewellyn Cornick, are you seriously trying to con me into playing sherpa on this expedition under the guise of doing me a favor?"

Samuel grinned at her and replied "While I am certainly capable of such underhanded tactics, in this case I'm more interested in getting someone to go with me to try a new restaurant that just opened up. Mediterranean fusion I'm told; I give it a 50/50 that it's amazing or horrible."

Mercy turned back around and huffed in indignation. "Well I certainly deserve lunch for putting up with you."

Samuel later pulled the blanket off the back of the couch, and put it over Mercy once she had dozed off. His Da would be able to find him if need be, and the town's other doctor was on call for the morning shift. In any case, what he was doing now was as important as anything else he had done that day.

Before he too dozed off Samuel softly replied "I hope you always will f 'annwylyd".

bychan – little one

f 'ammwylyd – my loved one

Thanks for reading. Please review and if there is someone specific you want me to write one of these about let me know and I'll try my best!

Cheers,

Megz