by Jody Morse
“I understand,” Samara said gently. “Maybe, eventually, your father will change his mind and allow it. Have you given Josh your phone number so that the two of you can keep in touch?”
Kyana nodded, pushing a strand of her silky, black hair behind her ear, which a turquoise feather earring dangled from. “Yes, we will keep in touch.”
“I hate to cut this short, but we really should get going. We don’t want the Vyka to find us here,” Luke said.
“The Vyka are in Alaska?” Kyana asked, surprised to hear the pack that Joe McKinley had belonged to being mentioned.
Colby nodded. “Yes, they’re here to try to kill us . . . unless we can get to them first. We should be going. I wouldn’t want you to get caught up in the middle of this. As it is right now, they might track our scents back to your den.”
“You need to go to someone else’s den—or house, or whatever, Kyana,” Josh urged her. “I don’t want the Vyka to find you here. It would just kill me to know that they hurt you. I want you to stay safe.”
Kyana nodded. “I will go to my brother’s den. They won’t find me there.” She paused before adding, “You stay safe, Josh.” She took a step closer to him.
Josh wrapped his arms around her, pulling her fragile body into a close embrace. Kyana touched his cheek with one of her hands before giving him a soft, gentle kiss on the lips. “Goodbye, Josh.”
“Bye, Kyana,” Josh said breathlessly.
“I can smell them. Their scent’s starting to get stronger, so they must be getting closer. We need to get out of here,” Chris said, heading for the opening of the den.
Everyone said goodbye to Kyana and followed him.
“Where are we going to go?” Colby wondered out loud. “We need to get out of here, but we’re probably going to run into them. Do we have a plan?”
Samara thought to herself. She’d never considered what they were going to do once they faced Jason again. She knew that they needed to kill him before he could kill her, but how would they stand a chance if he was so heavily involved in black fighting? The last time they’d even came close to hurting him, he had disappeared into thin air right in front of their eyes, and there was nothing that they could have done to stop him. “I guess our plan is to wing it.”
“That sounds like a well-crafted plan,” Kyle commented sarcastically. “No offense, Sam, but I think we need to come up with something better than that.”
She thought for a moment before coming up with a new plan. It wasn’t much for them to work with, but it would have to do. “Okay, here’s our plan. We all stick together . . . and we stay hidden for as long as we can. Once one of them does spot one of us, let the others know. And then we attack, quickly so that they won’t even know what hit them.”
“Sounds like a plan to me,” Colby said.
Luke agreed. “Yeah, I think it could maybe work.”
“It’s better than any other plan we’ve got.” Kyle sighed.
“Considering we don’t have any other plan, at all,” Josh pointed out to Kyle, “I suppose it will have to do.”
Samara glanced at Steve and Chris for approval, and they both simply nodded. “Okay, then, I guess that’s what we’re working with,” she said. “Now, take cover.”
They all darted across an open field to the heavily wooded forest next to them.
Samara’s shoes crunched over the snow-covered ground, and she glanced through the shadows that were casted from the trees that loomed above them. She walked ahead of Luke, holding his hand, mostly to comfort herself.
We’re going to get through this, you know, Luke told her.
She glanced over her shoulder and shot him a small smile. I’m glad that one of us is confident about it, at least.
I am confident. You’re a good Alpha. You just need to believe in yourself more, Luke told her.
I’ll keep that in mind. Samara was about to tell him how much she really appreciated his encouragement when she heard a twig snap on the other side of the forest. The musky Vyka scent wafted into her nose, and she knew that Jason or one of his pack members was nearby.
We all need to change to our wolf forms, Samara said through mind-speak, allowing all of her pack members to hear what she was saying.
No, that’s a really bad idea, Samara, Colby said. If we change right now, there’s going to be blue smoke everywhere. It will tip them off to where we are. We’re better off just staying in human form.
Samara hadn’t considered this idea, but she knew that Colby was right. At least right now, without the blue smoke drifting through the sky as they all changed, they had a chance of remaining hidden in the woods. Plus, the wolfsbane was keeping their scents hidden right now; if they changed, they wouldn’t have their necklaces to keep them protected when they were in wolf form.
Okay, guys, Colby’s just made a point to me privately, Samara told her pack. We shouldn’t change if we want to stay hidden. They’ll see our smoke. So, don’t change to your wolf unless you absolutely have to. In other words, not unless you find yourself face-to-face with a Vyka.
I hear someone walking behind me, Chris said, his voice full of panic.
Samara felt herself panicking, too, her grip on Luke’s hands tightening. Remembering that only she had heard what Chris had said since she was his Alpha, she told her pack members, Hide! They’re coming!
She crouched down on the ground, hiding beneath a tall tree, and Luke crept down beside her. She hoped that it would provide enough cover for them; if Jason came anywhere near the tree, she wasn’t sure what they were going to do.
It didn’t take long for her to hear the footsteps that got closer and closer to her. The sound of feet crunching into snow was soon followed by voices, which she couldn’t hear clearly at first. As they got closer, she could make them out better.
“I know they’re here somewhere,” someone said, and their voice sent shivers down her spine. The voice belonged to Jason.
“I don’t know. I don’t smell them anywhere,” another familiar voice said, and Samara cringed. It was Seth. Her brother was talking to Jason and really helping him look for them. Was it because he wanted to find them . . . or because he had to find them unless he wanted to cause issues with his Alpha? Either way, the thought made her feel uneasy, and Luke squeezed her hand a little tighter, which calmed her nerves some . . . but the fact that her brother might be on Jason’s side now, instead of her own, still remained clear in her mind.
“They have to be here somewhere,” Jason continued, crunching on the snow and breaking the twigs beneath his feet. “We’ve scanned the whole area. I know for certain that they haven’t left yet. How could they if they think there’s no plane to take them back home?” There was a mocking tone to his voice, and it made Samara grit her teeth.
“Well, maybe one of the guys will find them if we don’t,” Seth replied. “We do have twenty pack members now. If one of us doesn’t find them, you would think that one of the others will.”
Twenty pack members? Holy shit, Samara thought. The last time she’d seen the Vyka, the only pack members they’d had besides Jason and Seth were Declan, Mark Stevens, and Ethan Miller (until she’d killed him, that was). How had they gone from four members to twenty pack members in such a short period of time?
The realization that there was no way the Ima would be able to fight and be able to win a battle with the Vyka now that they were so outnumbered hit her, and she began to feel sick to her stomach.
Jason laughed a sinister laugh. “It doesn’t matter that we have twenty members, Seth. Most of them are useless. You and Declan are my strongest boys. The other guys, well”---he lowered his voice, not wanting the rest of his pack members to hear him—“they’re just basic werewolves. Sure, they can fight and all, but they can’t fight the way we do. ”
Samara had a feeling the type of fighting that he was referring to was black fighting. She’d known that Jason used it, but was he trying to say that Declan and her brother used it now, too? The idea th
at two people who she used to care about had gone over to the dark side made her feel even more nauseated.
“I understand what you mean,” Seth replied. “I do think a lot of our new members are stronger than the Ima, though . . . Scotty and Donovan, in particular.”
“Of course they are, kiddo,” Jason laughed, and Samara found it odd that he was referring to her brother as ‘kiddo’, when the fact was, Seth was older than him. It was probably just his way of talking down to him to remind her brother that he was the one in charge here. “The Ima are weak. Not just one of them . . . all of them. I mean, how strong could they be with a girl as their Alpha?”
Samara felt the heat rising to her cheeks, annoyed by Jason’s statement. Next to her, she could feel Luke’s whole body stiffen; it had obviously made him mad, too.
“I suppose,” Seth grunted. “Girls are weaker than guys.” Who was this stranger who she was listening to speak? It was so unlike her brother to be so sexist, and there was also a monotone and almost robotic quality to his voice. It made Samara wonder if Jason might have been brainwashing him.
“Damn right girls are weaker than guys,” Jason replied. “Not to mention stupider than guys. That poor Ima pack doesn’t know how bad they have it. They’ll see soon enough, though, how much better things will be when I’m their rightful Alpha.”
Samara’s breath caught in the back of her throat. It was obvious that Jason meant that he wanted to kill her and conquer her pack, so that he could become Alpha. She had known all along that this was his intention, but witnessing him say it out loud and knowing that he was only feet away from being able to kill her made her feel nervous inside.
She heard footsteps coming closer to her, and her heart froze inside her chest. Leaning back against the tree that she was rested against, she tried to breathe as quietly as she could so that whoever it was wouldn’t hear her.
Footsteps sounded alongside them and Samara’s breath caught in the back of her throat as she watched Jason slither in front of them. Her heart pounded against her chest, and she was afraid for a second, that Jason would be able to hear her nervous breathing.
Once he was farther away from them, he yelled into the night at his pack members. “Hey, guys! Has anyone found them?”
Samara felt a wave of relief wash over her body that Jason hadn’t even glanced in their direction, but she knew this wasn’t over yet. There were still nineteen more guys who might find her or one of her pack members.
A flurry of voices echoed throughout the woods in response to Jason’s question. “No!” several of the guys yelled, all of their voices all filled with anger and frustration. Even though Samara was positive that she didn’t know at least half of the guys, one thing was obvious; all of them wanted her dead and, if given the opportunity, they wouldn’t hesitate to kill her.
Samara delicately touched the wolfsbane that she wore around her neck. For the first time since she had put it on, she understood how much she really needed it right now.
When she looked up, she found herself staring into a pair of dark brown eyes that she knew all too well. Her heart skipped several beats.
Declan.
Chapter 18
As she stared back into the cold eyes of her former best friend and mate, Samara wanted to scream. She knew what this meant; the Vyka, who now drastically outnumbered them, would know where they were. If this wasn’t going to be what ended her life, she didn’t know what would.
Moments passed, and Declan only stood there, staring at her. He didn’t even seem to notice Luke, who was sitting on the ground next to her. His eyes remained locked on Samara’s.
Samara wanted to say something, but she couldn’t manage to speak. The words formed a nervous lump at the back of her throat.
Continuing to stare at her, Declan called, “I don’t see them anywhere, Jason. I think we need to move along to another area or maybe check back at the cabin again.”
When Declan pulled his eyes away from her and walked away from her, she allowed herself to breathe again.
She couldn’t believe that Declan had helped her. Why would he pretend that he hadn’t seen her, when it was so obvious that he had? Samara thought he was loyal to Jason, but he had just betrayed him . . . for her.
Knowing this made her feel happy inside. She thought Declan hated her after the decision she’d made to be an Ima instead of a Vyka. He must not have hated her all that much, though, or he would have ratted her out just now. It probably would have made him some sort of hero in Jason’s eyes. But instead, he’d chosen to keep her whereabouts a secret.
Somewhere, deep down inside, Declan Kingsbury was still her best friend.
Samara heard Jason agree with Declan, telling the rest of his pack that it was time for them to move along because the Ima weren’t here. Once their footsteps disappeared into the distance, she stepped out of her spot behind the tree.
No wonder Declan had found her; the hiding spot that she and Luke shared wasn’t very good. It almost surprised her that none of the other Vyka members had spotted them.
She watched as the guys in her pack all came out from their hiding places; Steve had hidden at the bottom of a large pine tree next to a shadow-concealed ditch that Chris had been hiding in. Kyle and Josh had both been hiding in the bushes.
“Colby?” Samara called quietly. “Where are you?”
She heard the sound of something rustling, and she watched as Colby fell out of the sky and onto the ground. It took her a moment to realize that he had leaped out of a tree, cannonball style.
“Boo, yeah! That was awesome!” Colby yelled.
“Keep your voice down!” Samara hissed at him. “They’re not that far away. They might still be able to hear you.”
“Colby Jack, I must say, you really impressed me just now,” Steve said. “How did you climb up that tree without anyone noticing you?”
Standing up, Colby wiped off his pants. Even through the darkness of the night, it was easy to see that he was really proud of himself. “What can I say? I’ve always been a talented tree climber, ever since I was a kid. I guess I was just preparing for this day my whole life.”
“Do you think they’ll be back?” Josh asked, his voice merely a whisper. Samara had a feeling that it had probably freaked him out to know that his brother—twin brother, no less—had been feet away from him, within reaching distance, with the intentions of killing at least Samara and possibly more of them, if given the opportunity.
“It doesn’t seem likely,” Luke replied, shaking his head. “At least not for a while . . . They’ll want to check everywhere else to make sure we’re not there first—and probably follow our scent.”
“I really hope Kyana went to her brother’s house,” Josh commented nervously. “It makes me worried to think that they could stumble across her and Orkos’ den. I wish I could be there to keep her safe.”
“I’m sure she’ll be fine,” Samara told him. “She said she was going to Akar’s.” She wasn’t about to tell Josh that it made her a little nervous to think that Kyana might still be there, too. She just hoped that Kyana had enough sense to escape in time . . . or that the Vyka wouldn’t pay her and her father a visit at all.
“So, what do we do now?” Luke asked.
“We’re going to stay put until we can get out of here,” Samara replied. “Did you hear how many new members they have? We definitely don’t need a run-in with them.”
“So, we’re just going to hide from them, like chickens?” Steve asked, raising his dark eyebrows.
“We don’t have much of a choice right now,” Samara replied. “There are seven of us. There are twenty of them. They more than outnumber us. Unless you feel like you’re ready to take on more than one of them at once, I think we need to avoid them right now.”
Steve scoffed. “I feel like we’re always avoiding them. We keep saying we’re going to beat Jason, but when it comes down to it . . . it seems like we’re scared of him.”
Colby shook his head. “No,
we’re not scared. Samara is right, though. We’re not ready yet. We need to build up a stronger pack before we’ll ever be ready—really ready—to fight them. Right now it’s a losing battle and we need an army.”
“It’s losing because we’re not even trying to win in the first place!” Steve insisted.
“Steve, stop. We’re not doing this right now,” Samara told him. “Just listen to me, okay? I know you want to fight them . . . and believe me, I do, too. But I don’t want us to lose because we weren’t prepared to fight. I think we need to go through more intensive training first. Maybe we’ll be able to uncover some of Joe McKinley’s secrets first. It could help us win when it does come time to fight.”
Steve shook his head and glanced away from her. Samara could tell that he was angry, but she didn’t really care. They were going to do things her way from now on.
As she stewed over the argument that she was having with Steve, Samara didn’t even hear the sound of the twigs snapping behind her.
Chapter 19
“Well, if it isn’t the Ima,” Jason said.
Samara whirled around to find him standing behind them. He flashed them a smile, his teeth glowing in the moonlight.
“My pack didn’t think you guys were in these woods, but I should have known by now not to listen to them. Alpha always knows best.” Jason took a step forward, and Luke stood in front of Samara protectively.
“What do you want from us, Jason?” Luke asked. Even though his voice sounded brave and strong, Samara could feel his emotions running through her veins; he was just as nervous about this as she was.
“You know what I want,” Jason replied, eyeing Samara up. “And I’m not going to stop until I get it.”
“What if we bargain with you?” Samara asked.
Jason hesitated, tapping his fingers on his chin thoughtfully. “What type of bargain did you have in mind?”
“How about, we agree to a certain place and time, and we’ll fight you then? No black fighting,” she added.
