The Accidental Werewolf 2: Something About Harry (Accidentally Paranormal Novel) (27 page)

“What did she say, Guido!” Samuel demanded.

He looked to Darnell, his eyes round with fear spawned from terror.

“S’okay. I got yer back. Ain’t nobody gonna hurt you.”

Guido looked up at the council, his face ashen. “She said she’d kill them all: the kids, her friend, and this guy who didn’t love her . . .”

More chaos ensued as everyone processed Guido’s words. Pack members jumped from their seats—words of outrage flew in jumbled clusters of voices.

To threaten someone’s life without fear for your own was a serious werewolf offense; to threaten the lives of innocent children—heinous and forbidden under any circumstance. That she’d done this over a lover was just like Guido had said, quacky flakes. The shock and astonishment rippling through the crowd mirrored Mara’s scattered thoughts. Her blood raced through her veins, ice cold with fear.

He’d said she’d kill the children? Mimi and Fletcher . . .

Her heart began a whole new kind of crashing, almost fighting its way out of her chest. But then she remembered they were safe with Arch. It was then Mara thanked whoever was in charge that Harry’s children were with Archibald.

“Silence!” Samuel roared to the out-of-control crowd as guards raced up and down the aisle, warning everyone to be seated.

When silence once again prevailed, Davis looked to Guido, flattened to Darnell’s large frame. “Who is this woman you accuse of such a heinous crime, Guido?” Davis asked, his face tight with anticipation, his eyes icy ships of ire in his head.

Guido gulped. “Look, it’s not like she came in and said, ‘Hey, I’m so-and-so, and I’m a bag full o’ nuts who wants a guy who doesn’t even know I like him, let alone want to have his kids, and I’ll kill anyone that gets in my way to do it.’ Be real here. People don’t leave their names with me. Scratch that. I didn’t want to know her name. I can only tell you what she looked like. I mean, aside from crazy. Because I just wanna remind you again, she’s nuts.”

“You can identify this woman?” Griffin asked, his eyes piercing Guido’s.

“Yep. I dunno who she thought she was foolin’ with that weird disguise she had on. Her wig was crooked the whole time she was wearing a hole in my floor.” He held his hand up. “Now let’s be clear. I’m not sayin’ I want to identify her, see? Not without the cover of some protective glass and maybe a Glock, her bein’ fifty shades of lunatic, but I will because if I don’t, and someone gets hurt, I won’t be able to live with myself.”

“We’ll see to your protection. I promise you,” council member Samuel assured. “Can you describe her for the council, please?”

Mara held her breath, gripping the chains dangling from her hands until they cut into her fingers. Oh, God. She knew. She didn’t want to know, but she knew. It was why the women of OOPS had lined the exit to the courtroom.

Guido looked to Darnell, his face once more riddled with fear.

Darnell just nodded his assurance while Nina yelped from behind them, “Do it, dude!”

“I . . .” He cleared his throat. “I don’t have to describe her. I can point her out. She’s here.”

“In this courtroom?” Griffin asked in outrage, rising from his seat, his gnarled hands planted on the surface of the high desk.

Guido nodded with a wince. “Yep. She’s right over there.”

As Mara’s gaze swung to follow Guido’s finger, her stomach screaming out in protest, the blood in her veins rushing in her ears, her heart stopped.

And she had one brief thought when it did.

As smart as she was, how was it she was always wrong when it came to a good whodunit?

* * *

L
EAH
jumped up from the row she sat in with Astrid and Ying, moving to the side of the courthouse where the room was lined with windows. Her eyes were wide, just like Guido had described them, wild and glazed.

In her hand there was a shiny gun, rock steady and aimed directly at Mara. “Nobody move or I’ll kill her—hear me?” she screamed. “I’ve got silver bullets in this, and I’ll shoot anyone who breathes the wrong way!”

Everyone ducked for cover, falling to the ground and scrambling under the wooden pews, crawling across the floor to make themselves as small as possible.

Everyone but Mara and Harry. As the room filled with panic-laden heavy breathing and the scent of sweat, Mara refused to back down. She sat straight and tall, glaring at Leah. God, how could she have kept something like this hidden for so long?

But Harry stepped in front of her, shielding her from the barrel of the gun. With a hard shove, he knocked her to the floor before she had the chance to brace herself. “Leah,” he used his rational tone, stepping over people, looking her directly in the eye. “Don’t do this. Just give me the gun, and we’ll talk.”

Leah screamed her rage, and Mara caught Guido cringing from the corner of her eye, probably in the same way he had when she’d come to his shack. Her howls pierced Mara’s soul. Her mouth was wide open, strings of saliva stretching from the corners, her usually pale face red with fury, and her body tight and tense—ready to react.

Tears streamed down her cheeks in fat droplets, streaking her pretty features. “You were supposed to fall in love with meeee, you dirty man! Me! I loved you, Harry. I loved you so much, but instead you fell for a weak, sniveling entitled brat who has everything she’s ever wanted but a baby! Poor Mara. Boo-hoo-hoo!”

Harry was moving forward now, pacing himself, his arms spread wide in helplessness. “But I didn’t know, Leah,” he said, impassioned and pleading. “You never told me. How could I know if you didn’t tell me?
Why
didn’t you tell me? Maybe I feel the same way, Leah. Let’s talk about it, okay? Just you and me. No one else.”

As Harry moved closer to her, Leah began to back away, her arms trembling. She waved the gun wildly, circling the air with it in frantic gestures. “No, Harry! No, no, no!” she moaned with an agonizing screech. “You’ve soiled yourself with her, you pig! All men are dirty, filthy pigs! Oink, oink, oink!” she squealed, her eyes huge orbs in her head, her face changing from rage-filled to childlike and innocent in a matter of words.

She backed up some more toward the windows, her shoulders sagging. “But I thought you were different,” she sobbed. “You’re smart and goofy, and you weren’t like all the other men. Until
her
! Then you became just like them, always thinking with your dirty impulses.” Her voice became a harsh whisper, her face one moment ago stricken with anger, now full of sorrow. “We could have been together, Harry. You and me and Mimi and Fletcher. I sent you a message. I told the children. But you’ve ruined everything! You should have known, Harry. You should have been able to tell!”

The kids. Mara froze on the hard floor, her hands stopping the task of trying to unlock the handcuffs with the key from the guard who lay beside her, trembling.

Leah had been the one who’d snatched the children from school. Taken Carl.

The world had gone mad.

Harry froze now, too, but he didn’t stop talking. “Sometimes I just don’t see the signs, Leah. I’m a dolt when it comes to women. Ask anyone. But we’ll get the kids and we’ll all go somewhere together, somewhere far away from Mara and everyone. Okay? Just give me the gun, and we’ll go. Don’t hurt anyone, please. Just come with me.” Harry’s voice was husky as he tried to sound convincing, husky and stilted as he searched for the words to convince Leah to let him help.

“You’re never going anywhere with your children, Harry—never, ever again! I’ve hidden them far, far away where you’ll never find them!” Leah roared, shooting the gun into the air to the screams of the crowd, backing up, kicking at the people on the floor before launching her body into the row of high windows and smashing through them.

Glass soared through the air, pelting everyone in its path just as Mara freed herself from the cuffs. Screams echoed in the drafty room, bouncing off the high ceilings, vibrating in her ears.

She didn’t stop to see anything other than her family members and friends all racing toward the windows right behind Harry.

But she was faster, and even in her panic—in her utter surprise Leah was involved—she knew somehow, some way, Leah had gotten past Arch and to the children. This was no bluff.

Liken it to whatever one did in times like these—the adrenaline a mother experiences when her child’s trapped under a car, and she somehow manages to lift tons of weight to save her baby. Or maybe it was sheer panic that set her feet into motion.

Whatever it was, Mara passed Nina, Marty, Wanda, and Harry like they were all moving in slow motion.

And when she got her hands on the bitch—she was going to kill her.

CHAPTER

19

Mara flew into the thick of the trees behind the courthouse, ignoring the sharp sting of pine needles raking her skin, scratching her bloody, her eyes on Leah’s retreating back.

Leah has the kids.

She didn’t think about the fact that she had a gun. She didn’t think about the fact that she’d die if Leah let loose with that gun.

She didn’t think.

She ran with only one thing on her mind.

Leah has the kids.

She didn’t think about anything but killing Leah. Making her suffer for creating a situation that was no mere accident, but done purposely in some mad bid to win a love that didn’t even know she’d existed until just a few days ago.

She wanted to rip Leah’s limbs from her body and beat her bloody for giving Harry no choice when it came to Mimi and Fletcher and the fact that someday, they would leave this earth before him.

And when she was done tearing her limb from limb, she was going to choke her with her entrails.

Mara cleared a cluster of rocks, jumping over them and landing with a hard grunt. She knew these woods like she knew the back of her hand. She’d hidden here as a child. Come here to study and read endless books. Dreamt up foolish scenarios about Harry, with her back leaning against a big oak tree. Taken long walks as she pondered motherhood and what she was about to do.

Ignoring the screams of Harry and the rest of the gang, her focus on nothing else but wrapping her fingers around Leah’s neck and squeezing the very life out of her, she moved in closer to Leah, pushing her way past a thick pine into a clearing where there was nowhere to hide.

Sharp rocks lined the far side of the clearing—rocks she’d hidden behind when she and the other children of the pack played hide-and-seek.

There was nowhere for Leah to go, though surely she smelled Mara. There was no way to sneak attack her. No way to fool her into dropping her only defense.

Mara approached her, her chest heaving from the run. She didn’t put her hands up in defeat. Instead she stalked toward her prey. “You have Mimi and Fletcher, don’t you, Leah?”

Leah’s hair was drenched in sweat, her upper lip dotted with perspiration. She swung around, aiming the gun at Mara and laughed—girlish, almost giddy. “I do! I have them somewhere you’ll never, ever find them, pretty, precious Mara!”

Mara pushed her hair from her mouth, clearing her eyes of the heavy strands, sniffing the air. It would do no one any good if she attacked. As much as she didn’t want to play Leah’s game, whatever it was, she didn’t want to provoke her into doing something foolish. She had the kids.

She sniffed again. But if Leah had them, why couldn’t she pick up their scent on her? “Why—why didn’t you just tell me, Leah? Why didn’t you tell me you loved Harry, too?”

Now her laughter turned maniacal, scraping from her throat in a harsh wheeze, as she, too, tried to catch her breath. “You knew, Mara. You knew!”

Mara shook her head, her heart racing. Guido hadn’t been far off the mark when he’d said she was fifty shades of lunatic. Speaking of Guido, where was everyone? It was damn quiet behind her. “No, Leah! You never said a word!”

“I told you the night of the Christmas party, Mara—I told youuu,” she wailed, heartsick and long. “I told you when I drove you home because you were too drunk to do it yourself. I told you, and you ignored me!”

Mara’s head swirled. There wasn’t a lot she could remember after she’d made a fool of herself in front of Harry and her coworkers. She’d chosen to forget by drowning her rejection in spiked punch. Yet, she didn’t recall a single word about Leah’s love for Harry. In fact, in all the time she’d gushed, fantasized, spoken her daydreams aloud, Leah hadn’t even twitched, making her the consummate nut. Clever, and totally insane.

Leah used the heel of her hand to press her temple, banging it hard. “I told you, and you said it was okay because you said Harry didn’t want you anyway. I asked before I took, Mara.” Her features changed with her words, becoming wide-eyed and passive. “Just like I was always taught. Always ask before you take something, Leah. Always ask!” It was almost as if Leah was confessing to a parent rather than her longtime friend.

Mara shook her head, her cold lips forcing the words out. “I don’t remember, Leah. I was drunk. It’s my fault. I’m sorry. But we’re good friends, Leah. Let’s start over, okay? You can have Harry. All yours. No backsies.”

“No!” she roared as though being given what she finally wanted was pure agony. Her hand clenched around the gun, her free fingers tightening into a fist she pressed to her chest. “I don’t want your sloppy seconds, you dirty girl! You know that can’t happen anyway. The council knows it was me who turned Harry now. They’ll punish me just the way they were going to punish you.”

There was madness here. So much madness, Mara almost couldn’t breathe from it. Her chest tightened with each word she attempted to speak. Her feet froze in place, her heart crashed so hard, she wondered if it would push its way out of her chest.

She was staring into the face of insanity. Leah, easygoing, sweet, never a cross word, was standing before her, gun loaded, threatening to kill a pack mate over a relationship she’d created in her head. And Mara had never once suspected. During Guido’s confession, she’d all but tried and convicted Astrid in her head.

So Mara shook her head again, desperately trying to sniff the air around Leah without getting caught while she did it. She was still unable to smell the children on her. There was nothing but Leah. “I won’t let them, Leah. I’ll protect you.”

Leah fell back against the face of the rocks, her face contorting, her shoulders slumped in defeat. “No one can protect me now. Not even pretty, precious Mara with all the nice toys and her cute cottage and her new boyfriend, Harry.”

Mara inched forward. If she could get the gun, she could take Leah. Then a thought occurred to her. “Harry’s not really my boyfriend, Leah,” she offered with as much calm as she could muster. “We made it up. All of it.”

Leah’s head shot upward on her neck, her glazed eyes flying over Mara’s face. “What?”

“It’s true! We didn’t want anyone to know Harry was a werewolf. We were trying to keep me out of trouble with the council. So we made him smell like me so no one would pick up his true scent, and then we told everyone we were dating. Crazy idea, right? Nowhere near as smart as yours. But it’s not true, I swear. We’re still just Harry and Mara—separate.” The word hurt, rolling off her tongue, but she said it anyway.

Leah shook her head while she processed Mara’s words. She began to sink against the rocks, sliding down toward the ground, giving Mara hope she’d get lost in her confusion. “No . . . I saw you together. I’ve watched your every move since that night.”

“So you called Harry to the lab with Jeff’s phone? You saw him drink the water?”

Leah smiled, smugly satisfied. “I knew he’d come. It was the perfect plan until Jeff came along and caught me with his phone. Stupid, stupid Jeff,” she murmured, appearing as though she were back in the moment. “He kept me from getting to Harry before he turned. I had to do something with him, right? And then you and your dirty sister-in-law showed up and ruined it all. You took the credit for what I’d done!”

Mara swallowed hard. “But I didn’t do it, Leah. You did. Because you’re smart.
So smart.
” God forgive her, but she’d do whatever it took to get to that gun.

Leah’s voice began to rise again. “You’re lying. Liar, liar, liiiar! You don’t think I’m smart. You think I’m sick, just like that disgusting witch doctor!”

Mara shook her head hard again. “No! For example, the ax you put over Carl’s head—it was genius, Leah. How did you do such intricate work with that chain? For that matter, how did you get past Darnell?”

The gun shook in her grip, but she smiled like a Cheshire cat. “I watched and waited. I’m good at that. I saw Darnell drink tea. So when he took Carl out for a walk, I swapped out his tea bag for one made especially with him in mind, and voila.”

Good, this was good if she could just keep her talking. “And the kids?”

“No!” she screamed, waving the gun in the air. “I don’t want to talk about the kids with you. You’re dirty, dirty, filthy! You slept with Harry!”

If she went too deep, tried to lie her way out of sleeping with Harry, it would only make Leah angrier. So she changed tactics. “Why did you do it, Leah? Why would you turn a human?”

Of the many sides of her personality, indignant was the one Leah projected best. Her spine stiffened, her chest rose from her core. She shot Mara a look that said she should know why she’d turned a human. “Because my mate needs to be pure, of course. Pack law says so, no matter what that half-human slut Marty and her mate Keegan do. Your mate should be a
werewolf
. But you wouldn’t understand that, would you, Mara? Because you’re a whore—a disgusting slutty-slut whore!”

It was all Mara could do not to tear Leah’s throat out. Her comment about Marty and Keegan made her see red. But she had to find the children.
Stay calm. She’s cracking
. If she could just get a fingertip in that crack, she could break it wide open. “Why did you hurt Jeff, Leah? The police said he called them. How did you get him to do that?”

Leah’s eyes shone, her gaze sly with her brilliance. “I made him call the police after I saw you go to his house. It was easy.”

This had all been some bizarre game of cat and mouse? “He’s alive?” Oh, thank God Jeff was alive.

Her chin lifted, the silhouette of it against the coming night sharp and sure. “For now . . .”

Panic began to rise in Mara’s chest, so tight she was afraid it would explode. “Why did you send Harry to the lab that night, Leah? You could have chosen any other venue. Why at Pack?”

She rolled her eyes as if it were obvious. “Because, you dimwit, I couldn’t let him go home to Mimi and Fletcher when he was going to turn. What kind of mother would I be if I let them see that? It would frighten them, and I wanted to be there with him when it happened. And Pack was the perfect place. It was where we met—where we would have fallen in love if not for you!”

Mara heard nothing else but one word. Mother? Leah thought she was Mimi and Fletcher’s mother? If she was granted more time, she was going to kick herself for never picking up on a single clue about just how disturbed Leah really was. She kept her next question as casual as possible. “So are the kids with Jeff?”

“They’re hiding,” she taunted, grinning wide, her eyes flashing like they were playing out some game.

Hiding. Okay. Mara fought to stay sharp—aware, flexing her fingers to keep the ache of the cold away. “You did such a good job of hiding them. You’re so smart.” Praise—validation—recognition. Wasn’t that what every mad genius secretly wanted?

Leah was back at attention again, standing erect, waving the gun at Mara under the setting sun. “You don’t mean that, liar! You want the children. You want to be their mother. I saw you tubing with them. I know! But I won’t let you, Mara! You’re dirty, so dirty! If I can’t have them, you can’t have them either!”

Mara held up her hands. “No! You don’t have to give them to me, but don’t you want to tell Harry where they are, Leah? You can’t be a whole family without him, right? He completes the picture.” Just saying those words made her want to gag, retch until her stomach was empty—she fought the bile rising in her throat.

“He’s so handsome, isn’t he? We’d make a perfect couple,” Leah cooed, her eyes far off and glazed now, a teenager this time. One with a crush no one had ever suspected.

Darkness was coming, and the temperatures would drop to the teens. If the kids were somewhere around here, they’d freeze to death.

Praying for patience, Mara continued to play the game. “You would. So let’s go get the kids and you can bring them to Harry yourself. He loves them so much, just as much as you do.” Mara moved even closer, pressing her knuckles against the rocks inches from where Leah stood. She held out her hand, forcing it to still. “Why don’t you give me the gun, and you can go find Harry, okay?”

Leah stiffened, visibly tensing. In a flash, the gun was pointed at Mara’s chest. “You lie, Mara! You’re never going to let me go. I could’ve made Harry love me, but you ruined everything. You took him from me. You used your slutty charms and stole him away. You’re unclean, dirty, dirty Mara. I hate you!” she screamed, her finger reaching for the trigger.

“Nooo!” a familiar voice bellowed. Just before Leah screamed her rage, a body fell from high atop the crag of rocks onto her.

Leah was knocked to the ground, the gun dropping from her fingers, her head crashing against a sharp edge on the face of the rock.

Mara went for the gun just as Guido rolled to his side and grabbed it, but Leah was stronger—so much stronger than him.

She rose and pounced on him, fighting him for it, clawing at his fingers until she had it aimed at his chest. Her screams angry, her howl frenzied—she pulled the trigger before Mara could blink—the blast of the gun earsplitting, cracking and echoing in the open space.

Guido’s anguished cry rang in Mara’s ears as a pool of blood began to form at his shoulder.