Silence settled between them. Awkward and heated.
Nina cackled in Harry’s face, clapping her hand on Mara’s shoulder. “Nice, Short-Shot. Way to read your man.”
Mara pivoted on her heel, staring up at Nina. “He is not my man! I’d never have a man as whiny and angry as him!” she yelped before storming off to the kitchen where she had to bite her knuckles to keep from slugging a contrite Harry in the face.
He trudged in behind Nina, his large body slumped, his eyes full of apology when he stood beside the stool in front of his small breakfast bar. “I’m sorry, Mara. The kids are the most important thing in the world to me. I wanted to kill anything in my path to get to them. I reacted badly. In short, I was a jackass.”
Mara leaned over the counter, her expression full of outrage. “Like I don’t know that? Like any child involved in a kidnapping, especially children I’ve managed to somehow screw over without even trying, isn’t important to me, too, you jerk! You keep saying you’re sorry, and I’ll grant you some leeway because your hormones are on full tilt, but the hell I’ll let you keep throwing this in my face when we have a much bigger problem. Now, sit down and shut it!” She jabbed a finger at the polished wood stool.
Harry did as he was told, making Nina snicker while pointing to a chair indicating Carl, looking sharp, if not still a little green, in his new jeans and sweater, should sit as well.
Rolling her shoulders, she tied her hair up with the rubber band around her wrist, fanning the back of her neck to keep her anger in check. “Now let’s try and figure this out, rationally and logically.”
Harry drummed his fingers on the counter. “Because there’s so much of that involved in this.”
His flippant response was the last nail in his coffin. Her temper, usually almost nonexistent, didn’t just flare, it exploded. “Didn’t I say to lay off, Harry? If not, let me say it again. Lay the hell off!” she roared, unable to stop the forward thrust of her wildly shifting emotions.
Without warning—a rarity indeed—her mouth opened wide before she could stop it.
And then, it was all hair, limbs, and big, snarling teeth. Drool, too. She distinctly felt drool flying from her muzzle.
Right there in the middle of Harry’s black-and-white kitchen.
* * *
“WHERE the fuck is Carl, Harry?”
Harry had either learned his lesson or he was in a state of quiet terror. He shook his head to indicate he didn’t know.
“Damn it, Harry, didn’t I tell you to watch him while I cleaned this shit up? Jesus, dude. We can’t have a zombie running the hell around your nice suburban neighborhood, loose and shit with humans. Are you nuts?” She stomped out of his kitchen and headed to the door leading to Harry’s small backyard, where he’d installed a swing set for the kids.
“You have a zombie, and I’m the one who’s nuts?”
“Half zombie,” Mara reminded, cracking her knuckles and stretching her arms to readjust in her human form.
Harry nodded while Mara used his Dustbuster to clean up the remnants of her very angry, tumbleweed of hair shift. She dropped it back in its charger and brushed her hands together, before tying one of Harry’s shirts tighter around her thighs. “Ready to talk like adults now and figure this out? Or do you want to hold a grudge and sulk some more?” she asked, still angry.
Harry leaned forward on the counter, crossing his lean forearms. His eyes had lines around them from lack of sleep, and his skin was chalky white. “You were naked.”
Mara lifted her chin. She would not hide—even if he’d seen every last ounce of cellulite on the backs of her thighs and the dimples on her ass cheeks. She was a werewolf and damned proud of it. Sometimes, when stupidheads like him made her angry and frustrated, she shifted. Too bad. “I was. Bet you’ll shut up from now on, won’t you?”
“That was insane.”
“Me naked?”
“Yes. No. I don’t know. It was all just insane.”
Mara clucked her tongue at him, strangely empowered now that she’d cleared the air. Children were being snatched. Someone had to take control. “That was me really angry.”
“Wow.”
Her eyes fell to the floor with her next admission. “That’s only happened twice before in my life. I’m usually pretty easygoing. Which means you really irked me.”
“Third time’s a charm,” he quipped, only this time, he actually followed it up with a small smile to indicate he’d mildly amused himself.
She used that as her in to question him. “So let’s figure this out. How could the school allow Mimi and Fletcher to leave with someone unauthorized? Don’t they have to have permission slips or something?”