by Morse, Jody
“I can’t believe you’ve been keeping it from us for that long!” Silas said with wide eyes. A sad look crossed his face and he added, “I thought we were besties, Em.”
Emma glanced up at him apologetically. “You and Sam are both my besties, but Colby and I wanted to have a secret together. We knew that the longer we waited, the more disappointed you all would be with us for not telling you, but . . . it was kind of fun being the only ones who knew the truth,” she admitted.
“I’m surprised, too. I am happy for you, though. Congratulations,” Samara said with a warm smile.
“Thanks,” Emma and Colby said at the same exact time.
“I didn’t know you were speaking to your mother again, Em,” Samara went on.”
“I’m not,” Emma replied, as she ate another French fry. “We haven’t spoken since New Year’s Eve when she called me to find out if I knew where my stepfather was. Why do you ask?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Samara replied sarcastically. “Maybe because you needed her signature in order to get married before you turned eighteen.”
Emma shook her head. “No, we didn’t. That’s why we got married at this place in Miranda Heights—it was called Cupid’s Lair. It said on the web site that they don’t ask to see proof of parental signatures for minors.”
Silas pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and tapped on the keys for a few moments before pulling up a Web site. He laughed aloud, as he read from the screen. “All of these reviews say Cupid’s Lair isn’t even a legit place to get married. They don’t have the proper licenses or whatever. You guys got scammed.”
“Let me see that!” Emma said, grabbing his phone out of his hands from across the table. She read the reviews and then turned to Colby. “It’s true . . . We really aren’t married.”
“Well, there goes three hundred bucks,” Colby said, shaking his head frustratedly. “But it doesn’t matter, Emma. All that matters is that we said our vows. We got our marks, anyway.”
Samara glanced from her best friend to Colby. “I want to see your marks!”
Emma glanced over at Colby. “On the count of three?” she asked, and he nodded. “One—two—three,” she said aloud, and they both raised their shirts, revealing the sapphire blue tattoos on their ribs. Emma’s was of a heart, and Colby’s was of a key.
“I have his heart,” Emma said, pointing to her tattoo, and Colby added, “Whereas I have the key to her heart.”
“Aww, that’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard of!” Silas squealed. As he took a bite of his pizza, he said, “I really hope that when Kyle and I mark eventually, we get marks that are just as cute as yours.”
“You will, don’t worry,” Emma replied. “Even if we don’t think they’re as cute, they’ll be special to you and Kyle.” She glanced over at Samara. “What do you think of your mark?”
Samara shrugged. “Luke and I both know what it represents. I guess I was hoping for something a little cuter, like yours,” she admitted, “But it’s something that really fits the two of us, so I guess that’s all that matters.”
Emma stared at Samara for a moment before nodding. “I get what you mean. Hey, have you heard from Declan in the past few days? I tried texting him, but it says it never sent, so that either means that he has his phone turned off or he switched phone numbers.”
“I don’t know, but I haven’t heard from him,” Samara replied quietly. Knowing that she couldn’t keep pretending that Declan was still a part of her pack, she started to say, “Guys, there’s something I have to tell you—”
“Sam, I need to talk to you,” Luke said from behind at the moment, which made her jump in her seat.
As he slid into the seat next to her, she raised her eyebrows at him. “Aren’t you supposed to be in class, Luke?”
“I am supposed to be, but I acted like I was going to use the bathroom so I could come here to show you this,” he replied, handing her his cell phone, which displayed an open text message.
Samara noticed that it was from an UNKNOWN CALLER, and the text message read: Meet us at Old Mill Road tonight at 8 o’clock. Better bring all your pack members—and don’t be late.
“What the hell,” she said aloud, as she re-read the text message again. “It’s obviously Rocco, since he wants to meet on Old Mill Road. What I don’t understand is why he texted you instead of me, considering he has my phone number and everything.”
“Maybe he meant to send it to you, but it got sent to me, instead,” Luke suggested with a shrug. “All I know is that Rocco is obviously angry at us. He must have figured out the truth.” Taking a deep breath, he said, “What if he plans to tell Darren where we’re hiding out?”
“Or what if Darren is going to be there with them tonight when we meet them?” Colby asked. “It might not matter if Rocco tells him. He might already be there waiting for us.”
“We’re going to need to make sure the Trusted Ones can be there for us,” Samara said, remembering that it was harder for the good spirits to fight off the bad spirits when there were more than a few pack members there at a time. It’s not like they had much of an option, though; Samara knew that the next time they tried to fight off another pack, they were going to need to make sure that as many members of their pack could be there as possible.
“Well, you should tell Declan that he needs to get his ass back here in case we need to fight, Sam,” Emma said, meeting her gaze. “We need to make sure we have as many people as we can if we’re going to be able to fight Darren and the Vyka and the Shomecossee.”
Samara hesitated. She thought about telling her pack members, right then and there, that Declan was one of the Vyka, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She still felt an overwhelming need to protect Declan, even if he didn’t want to protect her anymore. So, instead of telling them the whole truth, she said, “Listen, guys. Declan told me he doesn’t want to be a part of our pack anymore. I don’t know what pack he wants to be a part of, but I gave him my permission to leave.”
“What?” Emma asked with raised eyebrows. “How could he screw us over like that? He’s one of our best friends.”
“Not anymore, I guess,” Samara mumbled, trying to act like it didn’t bother her and hoping that it wasn’t obvious from the tone of her voice that it did.
Luke glanced over at her, perceptively. “Is the reason Declan doesn’t want to be a Tala anymore because we got married?”
“I . . . I don’t know,” Samara said, and even though she had thought that was a lie originally, she wasn’t sure if it was anymore or not. Technically, she didn’t know at this point if her marriage to Luke was the real reason why her best friend had chosen to leave the pack. She had thought it was because he was hurt by her decision, but what if everything he had said was nothing more than lies so that he could figure out how she was most vulnerable, just to help Darren?
“As sad as I am to see Declan go, I have to say that he’s only hurt himself by making this decision,” Colby said. “He had the opportunity to be a part of what will become one of the world’s strongest packs, eventually. He’s the one who’s going to be losing out on us, not the other way around.”
Samara sighed. “I know, guys. But let’s try not to hold too many grudges against Declan, okay? He had to do what was best for him.”
And, obviously, Declan hadn’t worried about what was right for Samara—or for the rest of the Tala pack, for that matter. It wasn’t just a matter of whether or not Samara would live or die; if she died, her pack would belong to Darren Jackson.
She couldn’t let that happen. She wouldn’t let that happen.
Chapter 16
When they arrived at Old Mill Road at eight o’clock that night, Kyle said, “Hey, guys? This is really weird. The watch just went from one to zero.”
“That means that whatever is going to happen is going to happen now,” Emma said knowingly. She sat the white candle, which she had lit, on the ground. Nadia, Bennett, Dante, Elizabeth, and all of the spirits t
hat they had brought with them were hiding in the woods, out of sight of any of the wolves who may be able to see them.
Before Samara got the chance to try to think about what it could mean, she noticed a few wolves walking towards them in the distance. “There they are, guys. Let’s change into our wolf forms.”
They all willed themselves to change into wolves, and purple clouds of smoke surrounded them. As the wolves approached them, Samara quickly realized that the wolf in the center of the pack, the wolf that seemed to be coming straight at her, wasn’t Rocco. Although she wasn’t sure if she would have been able to pick Rocco out of a crowd, one thing was for certain: this wolf was a girl.
Why, hello there, Samara, the wolf said, and Samara instantly recognized the girl’s Brooklyn accent. It was Rain.
Rain? What are you doing here? Samara questioned, feeling genuinely surprised to see her. And how did you get Luke’s phone number?
Rain laughed, and her wolf nose made snorting sounds. It doesn’t really matter. All you should know is that I have my ways. I told you this wasn’t over yet, but I don’t think you took me seriously. It’s a shame because I really thought you were smarter than that.
Samara breathed a sigh of relief, realizing that they probably weren’t going to need the Trusted Ones that night. As far as she knew, Rain had no idea how to use black magic—not unless Jason had taught her how to use it before he had died. What is it you want, Rain?
To kill you, obviously, Rain said, stepping forward and letting out a low, chesty growl. You killed my mate, Samara, so now I’m going to kill you. But first, I’m going to kill your mate. I want you to feel the same type of suffering I had to go through.
Samara laughed aloud. You really think you’re strong enough to conquer me and my pack? I think you have unrealistic expectations of your own abilities.
I’m pretty sure I don’t, Rain replied, glaring at her. Power comes in numbers, and it looks like we outnumber you.
Samara counted the members of Rain’s pack; there were thirteen of them, and eleven members of the Tala. She doubted that those two extra members were going to make a huge difference.
It’s that one next to her, guys, Rain said, glancing over at two werewolves who stood on either side of her. Their shoulders were broad, but not nearly as broad as the members of Samara’s pack. Go get him.
The two werewolves stepped forward, throwing themselves on top of Luke before he even had a chance to react. Shaking them off, he got back on his feet. Samara heard one of the wolves’ yip in pain as Luke tore through his neck with his teeth.
The other wolf flung himself onto Luke. Samara leapt on top of his back, tearing him away from Luke and pinning him to the ground. Just as she suspected, this wolf wasn’t that strong. She barely had to struggle to block his airway with her jaw before she heard him struggling to breathe. As his eyes fluttered shut, she glanced over at the fight that was still going on between Luke and the other wolf.
This wolf was slightly stronger than the one that Samara had killed, but not by much. She bit into his hind leg, catching him off-guard. At the same time, Chris wrapped his mouth around his neck and held him in a tight bite until the wolf stopped breathing.
Feeling pleased with the good job her pack was doing at fighting off these wolves so far, she turned to Rain. Who’s next?
Rain glared at Samara before leaping forward, hurling herself onto Samara’s back. Rain’s sharp teeth pulled at her fur and tore through her skin, but it wasn’t enough to make Samara cry out in pain. Rain was stronger than the two other male wolves, but she still wasn’t as strong as Samara.
As Samara reared on Rain, biting down hard on her ear, Rain snapped back, biting her cheek. Samara had a feeling that Rain had been going for her eye, but she had missed.
At that moment, another werewolf came from behind her and hit against her shoulders, sending Samara to the ground. Rain took the chance to jump on top of her, pinning her shoulders to the ground, and Samara found herself unable to move beneath the werewolf’s grip.
She heard Rain groan out in pain and then she was knocked away from her, and Samara knew that one of her pack members had hurt her. She took the opportunity to get up quickly, leaping onto Rain’s back and pushing her to the ground this time.
Rain bared her teeth at her, snapping at anything that got in the way of her mouth. She caught Samara’s ear, just as Kyana stepped forward and bit into Rain’s neck. Tentative at first, Kyana clamped her teeth down around Rain’s throat, leaving her gasping for air.
You bitch! Rain managed to whisper, breathlessly.
Be sure to say hi to Jason for us, Samara said, just as Rain’s eyes fell shut and she stopped breathing.
Samara stared into the face of her dead enemy, and then glanced over her shoulder to make sure that no other werewolves were making their way over to attack them. None of them were. Well, why aren’t you trying to attack us? Are you afraid that your fate will be the same as Rain’s?
One of the werewolves shook his head. We can’t attack you. You’re our new Alpha. We’re now a part of the Tala pack.
Samara laughed nervously, realizing that she had just killed Rain, their Alpha. We don’t want any new members at this time.
One of the werewolves eyed her with confusion. Are you sure about that? Because I think, according to werewolf law, we have to obey you.
Guys, seriously, that’s a stupid law. I’m not even kidding. We don’t want any new pack members, so you’re more than welcome to do your own thing, Samara started to say, but Luke interrupted her.
Actually, guys, we could use you. We need more pack members to fight the Vyka when the time comes. Are you down for that?
Hell, yeah, one of the werewolves replied. Just let us know when and where.
Samara willed herself to change back into her human form, and the rest of her pack members did the same. The wolves from the other pack—whose names she didn’t even know—did the same. “I need a way to contact you when the time comes,” she said, handing her cell phone over to one of them. “Give me one of your numbers so we can call you.”
“Sure, no problem,” the guy, who she had definitely never seen before, replied. “To tell you the truth, I’m sort of glad Rain is gone. She was an annoying Alpha to deal with.”
“Annoying how?” Samara questioned. She hadn’t known Rain that well, but all she’d ever known of her was a girl who was broken by not being mated to the guy she loved and then shattered when Jason had died.
“She was just a bossy bitch,” the guy replied. “She found us all in other states. You see, none of us had a pack, and we wanted an Alpha. Rain made all of these promises to us. She was going to help us get rich and famous, but it never happened, obviously. We never should have believed her, but I guess we’re just dumb.”
Samara laughed at his honesty. “Well, I’ll make you a deal. I’m sort of famous myself, being a former McKinley and all—”
“Shit, you’re Samara McKinley?” a guy who was standing towards the back of their half-circle asked. “Rain said your name was Samara, but she never mentioned that you were the Samara. If we had known that, we never would have agreed to help her kill you.”
Samara smiled. “It’s Samara Davenport now, but yup. That’s me. Anyway, I’ll be sure to put in a good word with you with other packs if you help us out with the Vyka.” Realizing that she didn’t even know how to address these guys, she asked, “What are your names?”
“I’m Pete,” the guy who had entered his number in her cell phone said, handing it back to her. “And they are Jeremy, Mo, Ben, and Ricky.” Glancing at the time on his watch, he said, “We better get going, though. It’s getting late. It was nice to meet you, Samara.”
“It was nice to meet you, too,” Samara replied. “Thanks for agreeing to help us.”
Once they had gone off into the distance, Luke came to stand beside her. “Do you think they’ll really come through when we need them?”
“We can only hope they will
,” Samara replied. “They’d be pretty dumb to come, though. Would you come to fight the Vyka?”
“Probably not,” Luke replied with a shrug.
“I think I figured out what the watch means,” Kyle said. “It counts down the number of days until our next fight—or attack, whatever. It changed to zero right before we started fighting with Rain and her pack.”
“Huh, that could be it!” Samara said, feeling excited by this information. “Does it still say zero?”
“It did a second ago.” Kyle glanced down at the watch. “Actually, it just changed to four.”
“Four? That gives us until Saturday to prepare for our next fight,” Samara said. “Trusted Ones, do you hear that?”
Bennett floated over to them, nodding. “We will be prepared to fight on Saturday, Samara. We will also do our best to try to continue rounding up more spirits if we can.”
“Perfect,” Samara replied. “Thank you.” Turning to the rest of her pack, she said, “I guess we should get out of here. Tomorrow’s a school day.”
“Yeah, I’m a little shaken up by this,” Chris said, his eyes focused on Rain’s body, which lay limp on the ground.
“Why are you shaken up?” Kyana asked, glancing over at him from behind her almond-shaped eyes. “I thought you didn’t have feelings for Rain anymore.” Samara was positive that she picked up on a note of jealousy in Kyana’s voice.
“I don’t, Kyana. It’s not that at all. I was just really close to Rain at one point,” Chris explained. “We were friends our whole lives—ever since we were in diapers, pretty much. She lived in Brooklyn as a kid, but she spent most of her summers with her grandmother here. We were the best of friends, and I know that all changed ever since the night of your initiation, but . . . it’s still sad to see what had to happen.”
“I understand,” Kyana replied. She wrapped her arms around Chris’ waist, hugging him to her to try to soothe him, but Samara knew that nothing she could say right now would make a difference.
Chris felt the same way that Samara had felt when she’d lost Declan for good. The world had changed, and there was nothing she could do about it except to let go of what once had been.
