Interlude 1

Warren's PI licence came through the next week, and I tried to ignore the fact that the home address listed on it gave me a happy giddy feeling because it was the address of my house and not his apartment. I'd had to call in a couple of favours and even resort to something that could be called bribery or even out right blackmail but Warren was now a fully licenced PI and working security and surveillance for my firm, though so far he'd only done jobs for me. However this had led to a disagreement with Angelina about proper work attire. She was very conscious of the image we presented to the public, which probably made her a good receptionist. Unfortunately Warren didn't give a damn about appearances.

We'd managed to arrive at a compromise, after careful negotiation. Tailored slack and a button down shirt were acceptable so long as Warren could keep his cowboy boots. Angelina told him to polish them; I would have hated to be one of her children. Warren also agreed to a tie, during the working day, nine to five, and for meetings only. Outside of those times he refused to tie a noose around his neck, and the chances of the hat, unless it was his cowboy one, were about the same as cows in feather boas.

Angelina had shook her head in resignation but agreed to stop badgering him about it. "I just don't understand the two of you sometimes." She told me. "You couldn't be more different."

I laughed, if only she knew how true that was. "Some men are born to wear suits and some prefer jeans, I'll haul him shopping this weekend." I promised her with a wink.

Warren had evidently heard that one because he was pulling out his cell when I joined him in my office. It rang for quite a while before someone picked up. "Hey Mercy, I need you to save me." He listened to her reply. "Kyle is dragging me shopping this weekend; he seems to think I need some more work clothes." Pause. "You've never been shopping with him when he's on a mission, it's like he turns into a shopping demon." I tried to muffle my laughter. "Please?" He turned to me. "Mercy says can she come? I think she's planning to make fun of me."

"The more the merrier." I agreed. "We'll pick you up Mercy, how does three on Saturday sound?" I knew that she usually worked at least part of Saturday and I also knew that she could hear me perfectly fine.

Warren relayed her answer since I didn't have preternatural hearing. "She says fine and to pick her up at her place." They said good bye and hung up. "You know you owe me for this?" He grumbled. "I just agreed to wear a tie pretty much every damned day."

I sauntered over so I was standing right in front of him, almost touching. We would have been touching if it wasn't in my office in the middle of the working day. "So how should I pay you back?"

"Come camping with me." He said

Camping was not my idea of fun, I'd hated Summer Camp and even worse were the fishing/camping trips my father had dragged me on with his friends and their sons. It was supposed to be manly bonding time, I'd mostly found it mind-numbingly boring time and hadn't set foot in the woods since I turned eighteen.

"We're heading into winter Warren." I pointed out.

Warren knew why I hated camping, not only did I like my home comforts, and the room service at a nice hotel, but the bad memories that were associated with it. "A day trip then." Warren compromised. "We'll go home once it gets dark, but I want a day out in the wilds, just the two of us."

A day in the wilds didn't sound like my idea of fun but the last part was intriguing. "All right." I agreed with a sigh. "One day, with nice whether and we come home at night." The grin on his face would have been enough to make me agree all on its own. "Now get out of my office, I have work to do. Oh did you have a look at the Nyeland case?"

He nodded grimly. "We'll keep an eye on him." He agreed. "Now I have a bad doctor to go investigate."

*"*"*

We picked Mercy up on Saturday and headed to one of the strip malls, both had flat out refused to go near the Mall and I could see their point, on a Saturday afternoon the place would be absolutely packed. Warren actually looked like he was in pain as he followed me in to the first store. I don't know why, it wasn't as if I'd taken him to one of the stores where I typically shopped because I knew the chances of getting him into silk shirts were about the same as getting him in drag.

He followed me as I selected several shirts and pants for him to try on. "Did you used to like playing dress up with your sister's dolls?" Warren asked as he accepted the clothes.

"Well she tended to tie them up in pretend parachutes and throw them out of windows." I told him. "Someone needed to look after them, though by the time I was borrowing them they didn't always have all their limbs anymore." Warren shook his head and went towards the dressing rooms at the back of the store.

Mercy laughed. "Do you play doctor for them then?"

"I'm not that fond of blood and guts." I admitted. "Though in hindsight I could have played their lawyer and sued them for personal injury."

Mercy smiled. "You are terrible Kyle and anyway what compensation would your sister have been able to pay at that age?"

"Possession of the double choc chip ice cream." I grinned. "We always used to fight over who'd get the last of it regardless of whether or not there was more in the freezer."

"I never really had that." Mercy admitted. "I was the only child my foster parents had, that was why Bran gave me to them. Then when I went to my mother's family my sisters were so much younger than me, hell Ruthie still isn't twenty-one yet."

"Your other sister is married right?" I asked.

Mercy nodded. "Nan married earlier this year, she eloped which says something about wedding planning with my mom."

"So are you looking forward to it?"

"To what?"

I grinned. "Planning a wedding with her." I saw the look on her face. "Don't look at me like that Mercy, we both know you're going to marry Adam and knowing him it'll be sooner rather than later."

She groaned. "I know."

"Has he asked you officially yet?" Mercy shook her head. "Good because I'd be horribly hurt if I wasn't one of the first people you called."

She put her hand on my arm. "You will be, but I've pretty much already agreed to it, in both our sights, so asking is just a formality."

"And it's a formality that mere humans appreciate, so tell him to hurry up and get on with it." I then glanced towards the changing rooms but didn't raise my voice. "That means you as well Warren, I don't care how things work in the pack, Mercy's human and her family will expect certain things."

"I heard, I heard." Warren stepped out from behind the curtain to the dressing room. "They'll be a wedding, Adam just wants to wait a while first."

Of course I wasn't really listening to much of what he said because he looked so incredibly hot in the black slacks and dark blue button down shirt. "Warren if when they get married tell me you're going to be in the wedding party?"

"Why?" He looked confused.

"Because as hot as you look right now you'll just about kill me in a tux." Warren smirked as he ducked back behind the curtain.

"Damn he cleans up well." Mercy muttered. "You'd never have known it when we first met."

"Yep." I agreed. "Still he looks pretty hot in just about anything." I smirked. "Or out of it."

Mercy groaned as Warren joined us, dressed in his own clothes with the others over one arm. "These fit fine, lead on to the gallows."

"The gallows?" Mercy asked.

I took her by the arm. "Warren really seems to have something against ties." I told her.

"I object to starting the day by tying a noose around my neck." He groused but took the ties I handed to him. I had the sense to keep them as plain as possible, no need for anything fancy when it would be going in his pocket at the first possible opportunity.

I didn't give Warren a chance to object to my paying, I just had my card out before he could reach for his. He gave me a look but I pretended not to see it. "Now Mercy, how about an early dinner?" I offered as we walked out of the shop. "Unless you have a pressing date with Adam?"

Mercy smiled. "No I don't have anyone waiting for me, even Samuel is on nights this week."

"Well than ma'am." I said as I held out my arm to her. "Would you care to accompany me to dinner?"

"I'd be delighted sir." She said as she took my arm, I noticed Warren roll his eyes at us but he didn't say anything as we walked to a near by restaurant.

*"*"*

Dinner was great fun, it was the first time the three of us had been out to dinner since Mercy's attack and rape. Truthfully it was the first time we'd had the chance and it was good to have the change to hang out again, I made a mental note that we needed to restart Bad Movie Night which had once again been put on hold. "We'll have to invite Adam out next time." Mercy suggested. "Assuming that he can get any time free."

"Bran has been keeping him busy." Warren agreed. "It seems like he's hardly ever here."

"Tell me about it." Mercy griped.

"So when are you planning on moving in with him?" I asked and sensed I'd hit a sore subject. "Problems?"

Mercy sighed. "Just pack issues and I've been on my own for a long time."

"I'm having the same trouble with him." He said pointing my knife at Warren. "Lives with me but still insists on keeping his own place."

"Kyle." Warren protested.

Mercy interceded. "Give him time Kyle, Warren was alone even longer than me and he's never had anyone he could tell all his secrets to before." She looked over at him. "Which he had better be doing."

"I haven't lied to Kyle since we've been back together Mercy." Warren promised. "And I won't."

"Good." She said. "Though that might make Christmas presents tricky."

Warren laughed. "Alright, I won't lie about anything serious." He corrected himself and I leant over and kissed him.

That produced a few less than polite comments from some men at a nearby table. Mercy glared at them, I decided on a more verbal response. "Jealous?" I turned and asked them. "I'm sorry but you just aren't my type."

"Fuck you!" Was the highly intellectual reply of one of them.

"You wish." I told him at my bitchiest. "But the only way that will be happening is in your dreams."

The man stood up like he was planning on coming over but Warren had finally had enough and also stood. "I think it's time for you to leave." He told them firmly.

To the man's credit to did try to stare Warren down, and lasted about ten seconds. "Come on." He grunted to his companions, pulling out his wallet and tossing a few bills on the table. "There's something here putting me off my food."

"Yes." I called pleasantly after him. "Bigotry puts me off my dinner as well."

Warren stayed on his feet with his eyes on the departing group until they had left the restaurant, then he sat back down. "Kyle, you really need to learn to be careful."

"We're in a restaurant." I told him. "He wasn't actually going to do anything." I smiled at him.

Warren shook his head in resignation but didn't say anything. When we paid the bill I left a rather large tip to make up for the disruption we'd inadvertently caused.

As we were walking back to where we'd parked the car Mercy's attention was caught by a dress in a shop window. "Oh that is nice." I told her. "You should try it on."

She shook her head. "No, I don't need a dress and I don't have anywhere to wear it anyway."

"Dates with Adam?" Warren suggested.

"How many dresses do you own?"

"Er, three?"

I took her arm to steer her into the shop. "Then trust me my dear, you need it." We found the dress in the correct size and I pushed her towards the dressing rooms to try it on.

"I did warn her you turned into a shopping demon." Warren said conversationally while we waited. "But I don't think she believed me."

"Well she will do now." I replied contentedly.

"So what do you think?" Mercy asked as she stepped out of the dressing room, given the time of night and how close it was to closing time we were the only customers in the shop. She did a twirl for us in the light grey dress.

"Very pretty." Warren told her.

I frowned. "It needs something." I said thoughtfully and looked around the shop until I spotted the accessories section. I strode over and snagged a sparkly wrap. I draped it round her shoulders. "Perfect." I told her. "You shall go to the ball."

Mercy laughed. "You'll have to find a ball first." She told her.

"But when I do, you'll look perfect for it." I told her. "Or a date with Adam."

"He is the type to take you to fancy restaurants without warning." Warren reminded her.

"You're having it." I told her firmly. "Now go change back and we'll head home." She did as she was told, disappearing back into the dressing room.

Warren lent very close and whispered in my ear. "You're planning on buying it for her aren't you?"

Of course I was and Mercy tried to object to the idea but I told her very firmly that it was a thank you gift and she was accepting it. Even if I had to go as far as having Samuel sneak it into her closet when she was at work.

"A thank you for what?" She asked when we were back on the sidewalk and heading to my car.

"For everything Mercy." I told her as I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and hugged her to my side. "For telling me about Warren, for calling when he was hurt, for been a good friend. Heck if you want you can pretend it's a very late combined Christmas and birthday present for last year."

"If you insist." Mercy relented at last.

Warren, who was walking on her other side laughed. "Mercy when it comes to clothes, it's usually a good idea not to argue with Kyle."

"And you looked good enough in that dress that if I was so inclined, Adam might have some more competition." Mercy laughed and elbowed me in the stomach for that.

*"*"*

Warren followed through on this threat to drag me camping. And it wasn't as bad as I'd half expected. Maybe it was because, as promised, we didn't actually stop overnight. But I think it was more likely due to the company.

We didn't go to a proper campsite. Instead Warren drove us into the Washington wilderness. I had absolutely no idea where we were going and Warren just grinned every time I asked. So I stopped asking.

We finally parked, at what to me looked like a dead end road. "We're hiking from here." Warren told me as he got out. I sighed and got out as well. Warren hefted a hiking pack out of the back and then handed me a lighter one. I knew it was lighter because it was about half the size of his.

"Come on." He told me as he locked his truck and started towards an almost overgrown trail.

I swing my pack onto my back. "Just tell me we aren't hiking all day?"

He grinned at me over his shoulder. "Would I do that to you Kyle?" I didn't comment but followed him down the trail.

"How do you know about this place?" I asked, the trail was all but overgrown.

"I've been here before." Warren told me. "I found it not long after I moved here, not many people know about it which makes it perfect if you want a little privacy."

"I like the sound of that." I told him. "How much further?"

"About fifteen minutes." Warren told me.

And he was right, a short time later he pushed past a low hanging branch and we stepped into a clearing. "Okay." I admitted. "The view makes it worth it." I knew we'd driven up hill in the truck but I didn't realise just how far, the clearing was on the edge of a steep hillside, almost a cliff really, and looked out over a valley.

"Sit and catch your breath." Warren told me as he started pulling a tend from his backpack.

"You do remember we're not staying right?" I asked looking at the tent.

"Yes." Warren agreed. "But this tent is quick to put up and there's something cosy about having a tent when camping, just trust me and if you're hungry your pack has the food in it and then you can go get some firewood if you want."

"I'll go do that." I agreed, dropping my pack on the floor and stretching my bag. "I'll be back in a while."

"Don't get lost." Warren said absently as he pulled out tent poles.

I kissed him on the top of his head. "You'll find me if I get lost." I told him and then headed into the surrounding forest to find some wood.

Collecting wood had always been my favourite activity on all those horrid father-son bonding trips, probably because it involved not been around my father, his friends and their sons. It wouldn't have been as bad if my father had allowed Ally to come with us but he'd insisted it was manly bonding, which naturally meant my sister wasn't allowed. If he'd paid a little more attention then he might have realised that she preferred the great outdoors much more than I did.

For a guy who made millions he was bloody unobservant when it came to his children.

By the time I made it back with a good sized bundle of firewood Warren had the tent up and was sitting next to it admiring the view. I dropped the pile of wood never to the tent and sat down next to him. "So you got me out here, camping." I looked over at him. "What do we do now?"

"This." He said and pulled me into a passionate kiss, then he pushed me onto my back in the grass and worked at convincing me that camping was nowhere near as bad as I remembered.

*"*"*

Camping was much better with Warren but it still took him a while to convince me to get back out of the double sleeping bag once we were in it, and if he'd told me there was a double sleeping bag involved I might not have resisted quite as hard. Eventually he tempted me out with a campfire, hotdogs and the promise of s'mores.

"So what do you think of camping so far?" Warren asked.

I leant against his side. "Much better than I remember it." I said with a smile. "I think it's the company."

"Probably." Warren agreed.

"It wasn't always that bad." I admitted softly. "When I was younger I mean, then my father and his friends first started those camping trip it was kind of fun, even just getting away from my mother for a couple of days was nice. But when I got older they started to have these expectations of me, talk around the campfire would always turn to women, occasionally after us kids had gone to bed I'd overhear some of their fathers talking about their infidelity. They were so casual about it, like it didn't matter that they had a mistress as long as the wife never found out."

"Pathetic." Warren agreed.

"Their sons weren't any better." I told him. "Most of their conversations revolved around how many of the girls at school they'd had, and which girls were prepared to do what."

"Boring?"

"Mostly." I agreed. "Though I do remember one conversation, I was probably seventeen and this guy said his girlfriend was refusing to have sex with him because she wanted to stay a virgin until she was married, but she'd agreed that anal sex didn't count. So he wanted our opinion on what to do, whether to dump her or not."

"What did you say?" Warren asked as he pulled his hotdog out of the fire.

"I suggested plenty of lube." I told him and he nearly choked on the bite of hotdog he'd just taken. "They all looked shocked."

"They didn't know you were gay?"

"No one talked about." I reminded him. "Not in the circles my father moves in, his generation at least seems to be firmly stuck back in the fifties."

"That wasn't a fun time." Warren commented.

"I can imagine." I agreed. "It's better now though, at least somewhat." I took a bite of my own hotdog. "They might even get round to legalising gay marriage soon, after all they recognise Fae-human and werewolf-human marriages."

"Only because most of them were married before anyone knew what they were." Warren pointed out. "I don't know about you but I've always known I was a man."

"You have a point." I agreed as I put one arm around him. "It doesn't matter though, because legal marriage or not I'm going to stay with you for the rest of my life." After that my hands started wondering and Warren's next hotdog ended up forgotten and burning in the fire.

It was a good thing the fire was still burning later that afternoon because as the temperature started to drop in the evening Warren and I were both wearing less clothes than we had been earlier, due to been too lazy to put them back on. S'mores, which we fed to each other, led to another love making session in the forest before we finally packed up and headed back to the truck. By that point it was dark which just provided me with a good excuse to stay very close to Warren who obviously had much better night vision than me. Maybe in a few months, when the weather warmed up again, I would let Warren drag me camping overnight. That double sleeping bag did deserve a proper trial run after all.

AN: In honour of finally getting my dissertation submitted I thought I'd give you this little chapter, I wrote it (amongst other things) when I really should have been working on said dissertation. There are probably going to be more of these interludes in the future when there are more substantial gaps between the books. My next job (other than actually finding a job) is to get started on the chapters for Silver Borne, hoping to start getting them up around Christmas but no promises. Remember Reviews make me happy (and if I haven't updated in a while they also make a good reminder)