Something About Harry(93)
Mara nodded on a gulp. She’d never doubted Nina was a marshmallow on the inside. When her favor shone upon you, it was like Mother Teresa herself had taken your hand and told you everything was going to be just fine.
“I’m fine. Swear,” she assured like she’d spent the night glamping instead of lying on a hard cot, in a cold, sterile cell, beneath a woman whose snoring rivaled ten grown men with deviated septums. “Are the kids okay?”
Harry, big, handsome and, even in her predicament, still stealing her breath with his handsomeness, rose and stood up behind Nina. And then he tripped over something, probably his big feet, almost falling into the vampire and the others seated beside them.
Someone reached up to offer assistance, but Harry held up his hand. “I’ve got this!” he whisper-yelled, gripping the back of the wooden pews set up in the courtroom to steady himself. When he looked at Mara, his eyes were warm. “The kids are fine. They’re with Arch while we’re all here.”
Mara glanced over past Harry and Nina to find Wanda, Ying, Leah, and Astrid all in solidaric attendance. Astrid and Ying raised fists of support while Leah dug in her purse.
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.