I paused to pat the truck’s hood gently in apology when someone put his hand on my shoulder.
I grabbed the hand and rotated it into a nice wrist lock. Using that as a convenient handle, I spun him a few degrees to the outside, and locked his elbow with my other hand. A little more rotation, and his shoulder joint was also mine. He was ready to be pulverized.
“Damn it, Mercy, that is enough!”
Or apologized to.
I let Warren go and sucked in a deep breath. “Next time, say something.” I should have apologized, really. But I wouldn’t have meant it. It was his own darn fault he’d surprised me.
He rubbed his shoulder ruefully and said, “I will.” I gave him a dirty look. I hadn’t hurt him—even if he’d been human, I wouldn’t have done any real hurt.
He stopped faking and grinned. “Okay. Okay. I heard you drive up and wanted to make sure everything was all right.”
“And you couldn’t resist sneaking up on me.”
He shook his head. “I wasn’t sneaking. You need to be more alert.