Disclaimer: Don't own Mercy Thompson Series

Daddy's Hands

Collin Phelps sighed jadedly as he looked over the tiny apartment he shared with his young daughter. It was all he could afford, and it wasn't in good shape, in fact it was a slum. He hated that he had to take his daughter away from her mother but it had become clear that as hard as it was for him, it was the right thing for her. He more recently got word that her mother had died from the addictions that caused him to take her and felt even worse with the knowledge that any hope of his daughter having a relationship with her mother was lost to her forever. He could only hope that one day he would find a new mate who would accept Nicole as a stepdaughter she was a good kid that needed a mom in her life.

Nicole sat in the middle of the living room floor playing with the few toys he had managed to take with them when they moved from Walla Walla to Pasco. He hadn't managed to take many but those toys she had seemed to be plenty for her. She had little memory of living anywhere else and he was relieved she would likely never remember what he had seen as her mother's addiction to OxyContin got out of control.

Collin was a werewolf and he was worried that the local pack alpha would take offence to him being in his territory. He had gone through the proper channels to let the alpha, Adam Hauptman know he was living in the territory as a lone wolf with a young child. He had yet to hear from Hauptman and he figured that perhaps he would never hear from him. He was taking his daughter to her preschool class when his old Volkswagen Golf sputtered and died. Collin did his best to hold in his swear words as he got out of the car and popped the hood only to be reminded of the fact that he had no idea how to service cars.

He swore quietly as he realized he was stuck, he couldn't afford a tow truck his job at the stop and rob didn't pay much and he had to make sure his daughter had food on the table.

He had vowed to her that he would do everything in his power to make sure she didn't go hungry. Even if that meant hiring a cheap babysitter so that he could 'go to the store, which actually meant him shifting to wolf while out of earshot and hunting for meat. Taking care of was always the most expensive part of their grocery bill. Here he didn't know anyone so he didn't have the luxury of hiring a babysitter to watch her while he hunted and his budget felt the strain.

He looked up as an old diesel rabbit pulled up behind his car and threw on its hazard lights. A woman got out and Collin mused that she smelled like coyote, but didn't say anything. He wasn't going to insult a potential helper.

"Is everything okay?" she asked.

"No… I don't know what's happening with this old thing." He replied.

"Do you mind if I take a look, German cars are something of a specialty of mine," She smiled then leaned under the hood to get a better look at the problem engine.

"Sure, go ahead…" he replied not sure this woman could do anything to help but not willing to play the sexist and say anything.

"I'm Collin by the way…" he said as the sound of a fussing child pulled both of them from the awkward moment.

"Excuse me, let me get her." Collin said and stepped around the vehicle.

Mercy watched as Collin walked around the vehicle, and pulled a four-year-old girl from the back seat and carried her around to the front on his hip.

"She's cute" Mercy commented with a smile then went back to looking at the Golf's engine, moving wires and hoses looking for anything obviously wrong.

"I can't say for certain I'd need to get it back to my garage to get a better look." She said. "The name is Mercy by the way." She added almost as an afterthought.

"I can't afford to pay you; we're barely scraping by as it is." He sighed

A sympathetic look crossed Mercy's face.

"I'll work out a deal with you so we can get this thing going." She offered, "Would it be too hard for you to pay small payments every time you get paid?"

"That depends on the payment." He replied the scent of his shame matched the scent of werewolf coming off him.

Mercy sighed he was a lone wolf, no pack she could think of would let a member struggle this way, especially a member with a very young 'pup' to take care of. Adam especially was sympathetic to the plight of, what she assumed to be, a single parent, given the fact that he had been a single parent himself. She didn't mention it aloud but once Collin was out of earshot she would call Adam and let him know that he might want to look into the new lone wolf in the area as he might be in need of assistance.

She called in a tow truck and the driver obliged in taking it back to the garage after Collin got Nicole's booster seat out. He and Nicole got in the rabbit with Mercy who kindly took them back home. He would have to call the school and tell them Nicole wouldn't be able to make it and arrange for the bus to pick her up until his car was fixed.

Mercy was on the highway after dropping the family off when she decided it was time to call Adam. He answered on the third ring.

"Mercy, what's going on?"

"Not much," she said not able to hide the worry in her tone. "I just met up with that new lone wolf Bran told us about… he's not doing too good."

"His control is waning?" Adam assumed.

Mercy gave a jaded sigh "If only his problems were that easily fixed," she let out a breath before continuing "He's a single father with a young daughter and they're barely scraping by…"

By the time Mercy was finished she could tell Adam had caught on to what she was trying to ask him to do.

"I'll go talk to him;" he replied "Sounds like he might not be such a hard sell if he thinks joining the pack will help him provide for his daughter."

Collin sighed as he looked at Nicole who he had just put down for a nap; it had been a couple of hours since Mercy had kindly dropped them off at his apartment. He hated this place, the smell of mold made him fear for his daughter's health, but he couldn't do anything about it. He had complained to management and the owners until he was blue in the face but it got him nowhere.

The sound of an expensive engine caught his attention and he moved to the living room of the one room apartment closing the door to the bedroom so talking to this person wouldn't wake Nicole. The scent of alpha wolf caught him off guard and he swore to himself, the local alpha couldn't have picked a worse time to show up. He was terrified that his application to live in the area had been rejected

To Be continued…