The Accidental Werewolf 2: Something About Harry (Accidentally Paranormal Novel) (26 page)

Darnell stood at the back of the courtroom, his face somber even as he nodded his head in her direction. Her brother Sloan and his new wife Jeannie, a pretty petite blonde who adored her husband, sat in the middle of everything, holding hands, worried expressions on their faces.

The cold glare of sunlight filtered in through the high row of windows to their left, lining the interior of the courtroom, highlighting their faces, so pale and full of fear. Mara’s heart warmed with undying gratitude for the people who loved her and supported her, even in an act of stupidity.

Jeannie wiggled her nose a la
I Dream of Jeannie
, using the joke they all teased her with as a signal to Mara she could make this all go away by using her magic if necessary. Genie magic trumped everything, but that would only bring huge disorder to Jeannie’s reign as head djinn. Never would Mara risk her sister-in-law’s position for her own benefit.

Mara gave her a subtle shake of her head, shooting her a glance filled with gratitude.

Harry reached over Nina’s shoulder and ran a tender finger along her cheek.

“Has anyone heard from Jeff?” she asked him, still sick with worry he was hurt somewhere.

He passed Nina and shook his head. “No. Not yet. And for now, the police seem satisfied he’s in Vegas. We spent all night trying to find clues to his whereabouts, but nothing turned up. Not even in Vegas—which will never be the same after Nina. But right now, I need you to just listen, say absolutely nothing, and keep your expression unreadable. Second, if all hell breaks loose, just go with the chaos, okay? Oh, and go team werewolf,” he said on a smile—one that was steady and sure.

Her face curled into his touch without a moment’s hesitation. She stared right at him, trying to read what his cryptic message meant. “Thank you,” was all she could manage before the guard pulled her away toward the high back chair she was to sit in for judgment.

Settling herself as comfortably as she could with handcuffs on, Mara waited for the council to begin the proceedings. Oddly, while the elders of the pack assembled and situated, she wasn’t at all fearful for her future or their scowling frowns. Not the way she’d once been as a child anyway.

When she was little, the council was a group of people who watched over you from on high, larger than life, and scarier, too. You never saw them. They were, for all intents and purposes, invisible; chosen for their superior observation skills and wise handling of pack issues. You never knew how they were always watching. You just knew they were.

Sort of like Santa Claus, minus the cute, fun-loving elves and flying reindeer.

And she’d always behaved accordingly—with the idea that at any moment, one of them would pop up and catch her doing something wrong, like writing on the bathroom walls or smoking weed. Her fear, the fear they’d instilled, had always been with her, albeit subconsciously. It was the silent force that drove the good girl in her without ever having to say a word in reprimand.

Today, as she focused on the faces deciding her future, aged by centuries of life, gray and allegedly wise, as she watched the group of her werewolf peers file in and take their places in the jury box, she saw them for what they were.

Really old guys with dusty robes and a bunch of people she used to see in the halls of her high school who knew nothing about her. Not a single thing. They didn’t know how deep her desire to have a family of her own ran.

They didn’t know a single personal detail about her because she’d spent most of her time studying, learning, dreaming of going places and discovering something besides keg parties and bongs.

Sure, she could go to the slammer for life because of these people—in her case, that was a long, long time—whether they knew those things about her or not.

But she’d damn well go with the knowledge she’d finally gone after something she really wanted, and she’d go with no regrets.

She was taking one for the single girl werewolf team.

She hadn’t done anything horrible, per se. She’d found a way to take control of her life, of her deepest desire, without the aid of anything other than her brain. She’d followed her heart. For the first time in forever, she’d done something on impulse.

Sure, her impulse was a whole lot bigger than most whims. It wasn’t like buying an expensive sports car or even having a one-night stand on impulse. Yet what she’d lacked in her impulsivity, the forethought to consider the far-reaching consequences of making the serum, she more than made up for in sheer determination to have a family of her own—on her own terms.

No matter what happened to her during this proceeding, she’d never regret pursuing her dreams.

Just before the eldest council member, somber, stoic, ancient by human terms, dropped the gavel, Mara heard a rustling of paper, making her turn around.

Marty, Nina, and Wanda whipped up signs made of poster board with big, bold red letters that read
MY UTERUS, MY CHOICE!

The crowd, along with the council and members of the jury, let out sharp gasps.

Mara closed her eyes, shrinking in her chair. Marty absolutely had to stop watching televised court cases on her lunch break, but their support meant the world.

As the gavel swung hard, cracking in her ears, she readied herself.

Let the games begin.

* * *

“
I
object!” Marty yelped from the crowd.

All eyes swung to Marty, beautiful and sunshiny-blond, dressed all in her “protest pack authority” black, the clang of her bracelets reverberating through the cathedral ceilings of the courtroom.

She climbed out of Keegan’s grasp like she was made of melting butter and hopped over people in the crowd as though she’d been possessed by a high school hurdle jumper.

She flew down the long aisle toward the council bench, evading three guards and the pack’s version of a bailiff. “I said I object!”

“Marty . . .” Griffin Atkin, second elder of the council used his warning tone when speaking into the mic. “We have yet to speak a solitary word. There’s nothing to object to.”

Marty ignored the loud protests of Keegan. She narrowed her eyes, gazing up at the row of eight council members, hands on her hips. “The hell there’s not something to object to! I object to you telling my sister-in-law, or any female pack member, what she can do with her uterus! When—and only when—you have a vagina, and not some dried-up, old—”

Keegan was right behind her, scooping her up and placing his hand over her mouth to quiet her. Marty flailed in his grip, but Keegan was stronger, wrestling her back to their places in the crowd with an apologetic look to the council members.

Charles Knotts, council member number four, glared down at Keegan, disapproval all over his stately, intricately lined face. “I trust you’ll control your mate from here on out, Keegan?”

From the corner of her eyes, Mara saw Wanda pop up from her seat, waving her poster board with a flutter. “Control?” she yelled in outrage. “Did you just use the word
control
regarding a woman from
this
century, sir? I’m offended. I demand that,” she paused a moment, frowning as though she wasn’t sure what to demand. Stomping her foot, her tastefully made-up eyes shot them all condescending glares. “How dare you order a man to control his mate in the presence of so many of the female persuasion? I demand that statement be stricken from the record!”

Charles Knotts pursed his lips, giving his fellow council members a roll of his eyes. “There is no record as yet, Ms. Jefferson. We can’t have a record if no one has said anything to be recorded,” he offered dryly, followed by a grating sigh.

Wanda shook her finger at the council members, using her stern mommy face. “Then let it be recorded that no one’s said anything worthy of recording!”

Yeah. You go, halfsie
. Mara silently cheered Wanda, now really unsure where this was going. They were clearly trying to distract and delay, but for what? Yet she did as Harry asked and remained expressionless.

Council member number seven, Thomas Carson, leaned forward and spoke into his mic. “Silence!” he thundered. Thomas, one of the more easily agitated, stuck in his eighteenth-century ways, sent Wanda the imposing glare of death before waving a finger at the guards to escort Wanda out.

Nina leapt over the pew and was at Wanda’s side before anyone could say differently. “Hey, old dude! Tell your goon to back the mutha—”

“Your mouth, Nina—mind it!” Wanda reminded with a shout, even as they attempted to drag her out of the courtroom, the heels of her midsized pumps digging into the floor. “Remember, you’re in a court of foolish law!”

Harry was there suddenly, shoving his way past the onlookers to shield her from the quickly growing chaos of the crowd. She tugged at his shirt. “What’s going on?” she yelled up, panic rising in her chest as people began to react.

But Harry didn’t answer. He just looked over his shoulder and smiled at her, then pointed to the courtroom doors.

Mara’s eyes flew to the opening where Darnell stood, holding on to the arm of none other than . . .

Uh . . .

Wait. Who the hell was that?

CHAPTER

18

The courtroom erupted in loud bursts of outrage and overall chaos as Darnell tugged the man toward the council.

One of the council members grabbed the gavel and pounded it hard, holding the microphone to it in order to amplify the sound. The screeching echo of gavel against wood had everyone scrambling to see what was going on. The crowd settled, leaving only a distant hum of curious whispers.

“Identify yourself!” Griffin demanded with a harsh order, pointing his knobby finger at the stranger.

Darnell patted the man on the back, and gave him a toothy smile. “You up, brotha. Time to sell it.”

“
Who are you?”
Charles Knotts roared, making the man’s spine almost crumble. But Darnell stood behind him, giving him an anchor to hold on to. His big hand clamped on to the gentleman’s shoulder, resting there to keep him upright.

The man with the raven hair looked down at his feet, his hands trembling, making his overly large gray suit ripple. “Guido. Um . . . Guido the Witch Doctor.”

Mara’s eyes flew open, then upward at Harry. “
That’s Guido?”
she mouthed, shocked.

Harry nodded with a wide grin. But his smile held a secret she didn’t understand.

She’d have never recognized Guido without his witch doctor getup. He looked so vulnerable, afraid—entirely different without his head full of feathers and garish makeup.

“Just wait and trust me, okay?” Harry murmured, running a hand over her head.

“What brings you to disrupt this proceeding?” Griffin demanded with another crash of the gavel. “This is official pack business. Not witch doctor business.”

As Guido shuffled his feet, searching for his words, Nina, Marty, and Wanda lined the back of the courtroom by the entrance. How strange . . .

Mara shot a question with her eyes up at Harry, but he simply smiled and squeezed her shoulder.

“I’ll ask you again. What brings your disruption to this proceeding?”

Guido’s Adam’s apple bobbed along his reed-thin neck when Darnell nudged him again. “I have information about what happened the night Harry Emmerson was allegedly turned by Mara Flaherty.”

More gasps erupted from the courtroom, forcing Mara to gasp with them, until Charles smacked the gavel against the wood surface again. “There will be silence in this courtroom, or I’ll have you all removed at once!”

Guido sucked in a gulp of air, fidgeting with the buttons on a suit that hung off him like it belonged to his father.

“Explain,” Charles prompted, raising his bushy eyebrows in question.

“So it went like this. I was all doin’ my witch doctor thing a few weeks ago when I got a call from this lady who wanted a love potion. You know, I love him, he doesn’t notice me, make me irresistible to him, right?”

Each council member leaned forward in their seats high above Guido, anticipating his next words.

Griffin gave him a sharp nod. “You have our attention.”

“Anyway, she sounded pretty desperate, and even though I suck royally at witch doctoring, it’s like I told your wingnut friends back there.” He hitched his thin jaw over his shoulder in the direction of Nina. “I gotta eat. So I told her to c’mon over. And she did.” He paused, shuffling his feet until Darnell patted his shoulder to reassure him. “Wow. All I gotta say is holy nutballs. You people sure make ’em crazy.”

“Meaning?” as yet unheard from council member number six, Davis Eaton asked.

Guido held up a thin, pale hand. “No disrespect to your kind, but man, this lady was certifiable. She kept going on and on about how she was sick of hearing her friend talk about this guy all day long. How she was tired of pretending her friend was right for this guy when she was the one who was right for him. She said she was sick of keeping her love for him a secret while her friend blathered on about this guy. All this while she was sweating and pacing, her eyes all round and wide.”

Davis frowned, tugging his gray beard. “And then?”

Guido’s eyes expressed guilt. “Look, I just wanted her to get the heck outta my shack. One minute she was smiling all nice and polite, and the next she was ranting like she was possessed, knocking things over, hissing like a wild animal. All
Carrie
-like. See where I’m going?”

Mara couldn’t pull her gaze away from Guido. Yet deep down inside, she knew it was because she didn’t want to address what he would say next. Hear what she was almost certain he’d say. Her breathing had almost completely stopped even as Harry kept his hand firmly on her shoulder, holding her in her seat.

“I think we see where you’re going. Please continue.”

Guido scrunched his nose up as if something distasteful had passed under it. “Like I said, she wanted a love potion. Something that would make this guy fall over the moon in love with her. She had this big plan. She kept calling it her life plan. I called it a batshit plan—in my head, of course. I’d never say it out loud. You couldn’t even say boo to her without setting her crazy off. But she said she was going to turn this guy into a werewolf, slip him the love potion, and then they were gonna ride off into the sunset in his Volkswagen. She said it wouldn’t work if he wasn’t a werewolf like her because only the purest of pure could be her mate.”

Mara’s stomach dove to the floor as she began to gag, clamping her hand over her mouth to muffle it. No. No. Please, God, no.

“So what did you do next, Guido?”

“Are you kidding me?” he squealed as though everyone should know the answer to that. “What would you do? I gave the nutball a grape soda with a bunch of herbs and dead seeds from my garden out back mixed into it, told her it was my strongest love potion ever, took her money so I could grab a burger, and got her the heck outta my shack! I don’t have a lot, but the way she was carrying on, knocking things over, I wouldn’t have had anything left if she kept it up. So yeah, I lied.”

Davis lifted his chin from high atop his council perch. “And what does this have to do with the pack’s case against Mara Flaherty?”

His next breath shuddered, wracking his slight body. “Well, like all nutballs do, she came back, and holy man alive, was she on fire! She woulda spit flames if she could’ve. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody as hot as she was.”

“Because I’m assuming this love potion of yours didn’t work?” Griffin asked, his eyes sharp and assessing Guido.

Guido scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Of course it didn’t work. I’m a hack. Total hack. So she comes back, right? Madder than ever, if that’s possible with lunatics like her. She was screaming and throwing things, said that she’d done exactly what I told her to do
after
she turned him into a werewolf. Got up the next day to the tune of rainbows and mystical sunsets, totally expecting the love of her life to come to her house with candy and flowers and fall down on one knee or some kookiness, but that didn’t happen. Instead, he fell in love with her friend, the one who liked this guy, too. The friend nutso was sick of hearing talk about the man she knew was really meant for her.”

No one moved in the courtroom, the air thick and stifling. Mara’s pulse raced, she sat frozen in place, hearing Guido’s story. Her icy fingers, clamped together, wouldn’t move.

“So this woman claimed she’d turned someone into a werewolf. Did she reveal how she’d gone about doing that?” Davis asked.

Guido’s head bobbed up and down with a furious nod. “Oh, you bet, she did. Don’t all nuts like to brag about how smart they are?”

Griffin pursed his lips, tapping his mic. “If we could refrain from coloring the description of aforementioned with the word
nut
, and stick to facts, this council would be most pleased.”

Guido’d gained some steam now, his confidence still tentative, but certainly not as fragile as it had been when Darnell had all but dragged him into the courtroom. He rolled his neck. “You can color her anything you want, my friend. Nuts is nuts, and that’s how I’m callin’ it.” He gave the council members a no-apology look before continuing. “So, yes. She definitely bragged about how she’d scratched this poor dude in the cafeteria where she worked with her fingernail. Said she’d created a distraction by tripping someone so they’d fall into this poor sucker, then, in the chaos of scattered lunch trays and spilled hot coffee, she said she reached right down and nicked him with her fingernail. According to her, that’s all it takes.”

Mara’s mouth fell open—it was all she could do not to gasp out loud. She hadn’t turned Harry into anything. By the time he’d gotten to the vitaminwater, he was already a werewolf. She was almost too afraid to believe it was true.

“And then, sir?”

“And theeennn, she says she knocked out her supposed soul mate’s friend, used his phone to send this guy a text, asking him to meet in some lab. I don’t know what lab or where that lab is. She said she did that so when lover boy turned into a werewolf, she could be there to douse him with the love potion.”

If not for Harry, Mara would have slipped right out of her chair. Jeff. This friend’s phone was Jeff’s phone. Her head swirled with questions. How had Jeff called into the police just yesterday? Oh, sweet Jesus. She had Jeff.

“And where is this
friend
of this nut’s, er . . . the accused’s alleged soul mate?”

Guido looked at Davis like he was insane. “Man, you think I was askin’ questions? I dunno what she did with the guy’s friend. She said she knocked him out in order to get his phone. I figure he’s doin’ what he does, never the wiser. Least, I hope he is. All I know is, she was PO’d. Like crazier mad than the last time I saw her. She was hatin’ on me. She was hatin’ on this chick she called her friend. She was hatin’ on her soul mate, too—because he liked her friend better. She said when she was angry she did bad, bad things. That
they
made her do bad things. I don’t know about you personally. Me, on the other hand? I know me. I’m not into bad, bad things. But I knew she’d come back because the love potion didn’t work. The crazies always want revenge on me. So, I was ready for her. I got a gun—one with some silver-tipped bullets. Told her I’d blow her crazy out of her crazypants if she ever came back again. Not a fan of violence, but no way was I waitin’ around to see if she was gonna chew a hole in my intestines.”

Davis cocked his head in question. “And how does this all lead to Mr. Emmerson and Mara Flaherty?”

Guido’s eyes bulged. “Hello. Harry showed up at my place two nights after wingnut came callin’ for the love potion, right? I thought Mara was the one who’d turned him into a werewolf with her baby juice. He said she did.”

Mara winced, scrunching her eyes shut, her hands trembling until Harry placed his over them, warm and supportive, stilling her shaking.

“And why did Mr. Emmerson come to see you, Guido?” Griffin asked.

Guido flapped his hands. “Oh, you know, the usual. Because he thought I could turn him back into a full human. Like reverse the werewolf thing. Of course, I couldn’t. Like I told you, I can’t do anything but screw up.”

The crowd rumbled their disapproval, glaring at Harry.

“Continue,” Griffin encouraged into the mic.

“I didn’t make the connection between the nut and Harry until quacky flakes came back a few days after Harry and Mara and that seething, fanged lady on legs left. Like I said, she was screaming at me and calling me all kinds of names, then I threatened her with the gun—so she hightailed it outta there. I was still shaken up, you see. I didn’t make the connection between Harry being turned in an accident and the flippy broad turning some unknown guy on purpose. I did think it was weirder than weird that two people had recently been turned into werewolves so close together, but what do I know about werewolves and what they do? Maybe you people do this stuff all the time . . .”

Council member Samuel Cross spoke up for the first time, clearly offended. “We most certainly do not. We absolutely do not advocate turning anyone into a werewolf! I suggest you finish, sir. My patience has grown thin.”

Guido shook his head, his sleek hair, shiny under the glare of the overhead harsh lights, combed neatly. “I don’t mean to offend. I’m just sayin’ I didn’t wanna know what you all do after crazy lady left. I just wanted her to leave. But she said something before she ran screeching outta my place that freaked me out. I couldn’t sleep all night last night because of it, and that’s when I called the spittin’ mad vampire back there.” He thumbed in the direction of Nina, who stood, imposing and tall, at the exit to the courtroom. “She’s the only person I know who knows other werewolves, and after my experience with loony-loon, I didn’t want to talk to any more werewolves. So I called a vampire. She was friends with Mara and Harry, and I figured if I gave her the heads-up, she could get the word to someone for help if mush-for-brains really meant what she said.” As he finished, Guido began to shake, making Mara begin to shake all over again right along with him.

You could’ve heard a pin drop as everyone waited to hear what this woman had threatened that left Guido shaking so visibly.

Darnell gave Guido a nudge with his sneaker. “Go on now, little man.”

Guido’s breath shuddered in and out. He hunkered closer to Darnell. “I don’t know who these people she was talking about are, but I don’t want anyone to get hurt. Especially . . .”