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.