Free The Accidental Werewolf 2: Something About Harry (Accidentally Paranormal Novel) by dakota cassidy

help ease the load?”
    “It was just Donna and me. My dad died when we were younger. Mom was a single mother until she died. We lost her eight years ago, just before Fletcher was born.”
    Mara’s throat tightened. “Did you spend a lot of time with them before . . . before your sister died?”
    Harry picked up a wet rag and halfheartedly wiped the speckled granite countertop. “I did. I was the cool, if unexciting, Uncle Harry. We used to be friends. We did all sorts of science projects together. Sort of like a
Mythbusters
for elementary-aged kids. Now I’m their authority figure and what they call a total jerk when they think I can’t hear. I know nothing about giving them rules and structure. But I’ve been up until my eyes want to fall out of my head, reading books and researching online to help them—me—adjust to this.”
    Harry’s war with not just the children, but himself, and his inadequacies hurt him. It was one thing to be their doting uncle, dropping in from time to time to share a meal and hang out, quite another to be thrust into the role of rule maker. Yet, he loved them enough to try and find a way, leaving Mara sick with guilt that she’d unloaded an even bigger burden on him—parenting as a werewolf who had human children.
    Mara placed her hand on his, stopping the swirling motion he made with the wet rag, trying hard not to revel in his hot skin beneath her cool flesh. “I’m sorry, Harry. Please believe that. I’ll help in any way I can. I know you don’t totally buy that right now, but because of what I’ve done to you, you’re part of our pack now. No one goes without whatever’s needed, and if you need help with the kids while you adjust, we’re here to do that.”
    Harry’s dark, luscious head popped up. “What if I told you I didn’t want to adjust? I don’t believe I have to adjust. If it can be done, it can be undone.”
    Nina was right. Harry wasn’t looking at this from the fantastical. He was looking at it from a scientific point of view. “I’d tell you you’re crazy, but you’ll find that out sooner rather than later. For now, how about we focus on getting the children into bed—”
    A soft moan somewhere from the floor halted more discussion.
    Harry poked his head over the top of the sticky butcher block island in the center of the room and looked toward the floor. He sighed, his chin falling to his chest, his eyes scrunching shut. When he opened them, he asked, “Mimi? I already put you to bed. Why did you get out? And more importantly, why are you sleeping on the floor, sugarsnap?”
    Hearing him speak to the moan on the floor twisted her heart into an unforgiving knot. Mara looked over the top of the island to find a cherubic face, creamy and rosy-cheeked, her kinky-curly hair sticking up at odd angles. Her tiny body curled around a cat wearing a purple blanket over his solid black body.
    “Mimi?” Harry pressed.
    Mimi shook her head. “Coconut didn’t want to sleep in the bed, Uncle Harry. She told me she wanted to sleep out here, near the cans of tuna.”
    Harry dropped to his haunches, brushing a tendril of her wild hair from her bleary eyes. “Mimi? Coconut can’t talk, honey.”
    Sleepy and as defiant as her brother, Mimi sat up, cuddling Coconut to her chest. “She can so talk to me, and when she talked to me, she said she wanted to sleep by the tuna.”
    His eyes found Mara’s as she leaned forward over the counter. “She hates her bedroom, but I think the real problem is she hates being in it alone,” he muttered.
    Ah. Here was a little girl who’d had her small world ripped to shreds, and she was acting out in her fear of her new surroundings. “Did she have Coconut . . . before . . . ?”
    Harry’s nod was firm, but his lips were grim.
    Mimi was afraid Coconut would leave her alone in her bedroom. More simply, Mimi was afraid of being left alone period. She was clinging to the remaining constants in her life for all they were