Harry was beside her again, standing just on the fringes of her and Keegan. “I won’t let you do that, Keegan. I know I’m crossing a line here, but it was an accident. Period,” he said with clenched teeth.
Keegan’s gaze, usually so serious and fierce, was torn. “I can’t do it, Mara. I won’t do it.”
She gave him a shove, regretting the instant she left the security of his arms, but determined to keep his good name and reputation as alpha intact. “Oh, no, brother. You will do it. You will, or I’ll give myself up to the council and pretend like you never got this anonymous tip. I’m not jeopardizing the faith these people have in you. So either you hand down the edict and turn me in, or I go myself.”
“Goddamn it, Mara!” he thundered, his face a tight mask of myriad emotions. “Why didn’t you just come to me? Tell me what was going through your mind before you made a baby potion?”
Marty was all flapping hands and accusatory tones as she hopped off the edge of Keegan’s desk, her kelly green pumps clacking on the hardwood of Keegan’s office floor. “Because sometimes, darling husband, you’re a total Neanderthal. How uncomfortable would it have been for her to come and tell you she wanted to become a mother, but without the aid of a penis? Wouldn’t you have spouted these ridiculous, Victorian era rules you’ve all set forth within the pack? What would you have said, Keegan? ‘Oh, sure, kiddo. Go on and make some baby juice’? Hah! And I’m here to tell you right now, if you don’t, at the very least, attempt to convince those council members your sister has every right to do as she pleases with her body, I will leave you, Keegan Flaherty. I’ll take Hollis and go to Nina’s dark, dreary castle, and I won’t come back!”
“Fuuuck, Marty,” Nina complained, clucking her tongue. “Why didn’t you pick Wanda? She has Arch, ya know. He likes you a shitload more than I do.”
Marty’s eyes blazed, her ringed fingers flying upward in Nina’s face. “Shut it, vampire. I’m making a point!”
“Couldn’t you make it the fuck at Wanda’s?”
“Nina! Shut up!” Wanda yelled, slapping Nina’s arm with her gloves. “Don’t make things worse.”
But Nina slapped Keegan on the back with a roll of her eyes at Marty and Wanda. “For what it’s worth, dude, I’d let her bring the kid and all her girlie guru crap, and her chest full of hair dye, because a personal choice like that shouldn’t be up to a bunch of dicks who have no idea what it’s like to have a vagina. This rule you ass sniffers have about keeping the bloodlines pure is one thing. Yeah, it makes sense to avoid hooking up with a human if you can to keep everyone safe. The rest is just goddamn ridiculous. Short-Shot found a way to make little werewolves. She wants a little werewolf. She can take care of the little werewolf. I don’t see the fucking problem. So I hate to be a bitch, ’cus mostly I like you, pal, but I gotta pick Marty over you, or Wanda will never let me hear the end of it.”
Keegan’s lips thinned when he planted his hands on his hips, staring them all down. “You women and your conclusions. Did it occur to any of you that, Neanderthal that I am, I might actually agree with your stance on Mara’s wish to have children without the benefit of a mate?”
Oh. Mara’d never given that even a little thought. Her brother enlightened? God, Marty really was the Caveman Whisperer.
Guilty looks passed amongst the women.
Marty gave him a sheepish glance. “Hadn’t gotten that far, Neanderthal.”
He held out his hand to Marty, which she immediately took without a single word spoken, meaning all was well with Team Flaherty. “That’s not my dilemma here, honey. I don’t even know if that’s going to be the issue with the council. Insemination is one thing—a separate issue all unto itself. The issue is Mara was careless, and someone was unwillingly turned as a result. Yes, it was an accident, but it was much different from ours. It’s a dangerous thing to create babies in a lab. What if someone got hold of her serum—or her and that genius brain of hers? Some shithead who wanted to make a buck—or a hundred million bucks? We’d be exposed, Marty—exposed and used. Potentially harmed.”
Mara let her chin drop to her chest. Damn all that big picture, long-term-effect thinking. Harry tapped her wrist, pulling her hand into his and squeezing it.
“But the worst of this?” Keegan said. “My dilemma in having to turn in my own sister for something I think is just as ridiculous as all of you just because I’m in charge. It’s not like I can hide the fact that Harry was a human and now he’s suddenly a werewolf. You knew damn well it wouldn’t be long before rubbing your scent all over him, or whatever crazy plan you hatched to keep him hidden, wouldn’t work anymore. You were just buying time. If I don’t do something about this, they’ll launch an investigation and corner Harry to find out how this happened, if they don’t already know.”