Marked (Howl #5)

by Jody Morse

  “If I give you my grandfather’s secret, you must promise me that, under no circumstances, will you let Darren Jackson find out about it. I know you don’t want to help out other packs, but you can’t leave behind any details that might help him figure out the truth,” Samara said, putting her hands on her hips, trying to seem confident and authoritative.

  Rocco laughed. “That’s it? That’s your only ‘rule’ about this?”

  Samara nodded. “Well, yeah, it’s just really important for to me to make sure Darren doesn’t find out about this. I don’t want to do anything that could eventually help him out. So, if the two of you are working together, I’d rather just cut to the chase.”

  “Don’t worry, McKinley. I can assure you that Darren Jackson won’t find out about this thing you’re going to tell us,” Rocco said, seemingly honest. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. “Now, tell me what it is. If you back out now, he’s just a phone call away.”

  “Personally, I’d like to see them back out,” Paige, Rocco’s mate, mumbled to one of the other girls from their pack.

  Samara gave her a dirty look. She knew that packs didn’t usually try to make peace with one another, but what was Paige’s problem with her? It was getting on her nerves. Turning back to Rocco, Samara said, “I’m not going to back out of this. Here’s the secret.” She paused for a moment before taking a deep breath. “Violet.”

  “Violet?” Rocco asked with raised eyebrows. “What are you talking about?”

  “My grandfather left me a note behind telling me that I needed to eat violet soup once a month—during the full moon. Over time, one of the compounds that are found in violets is supposed to make werewolves powerful after drinking it for many years.”

  Once the lie was out of her mouth, Samara gauged Rocco’s face for a reaction. She hoped their story was convincing enough; Kyana had come up with the idea of telling Rocco a lie—a lie that he couldn’t necessarily prove—just to keep him from going to Darren. Even if he did find out the truth, Samara hoped that it wouldn’t be for a long time. The Tala just needed to keep him satisfied until they could figure out what to do about Darren.

  “That’s it?” Rocco asked with raised eyebrows. “That’s all your grandfather did to get so powerful?”

  “That’s all I know of so far,” Samara replied. “Everything else has to do with the talisman, as far as I can tell.”

  Rocco studied her face for a moment, as though he were trying to decide if she was deceiving him. After staring at her for a few moments, he seemed to accept what she was saying as the truth. “Okay. You’re in the clear. For now, at least.”

  “What do you mean for now?” Seth spoke up, letting out a low growl. “We gave you the information you wanted, but . . . you’re going to tell Darren where we are anyway, aren’t you?”

  Rocco shook his head. “No, dude. Chill out. I didn’t say I was gonna blow up your spot. It’s just that I have a feeling that the last time I heard from Darren Jackson wasn’t gonna be the last time. He might come back to me and demand to know where you’re all hanging out. He might try to use me—force me, even—to help him find out where you are.”

  “Why do you think my dad—err, why do you think Darren—wants your help so much?” Colby questioned, narrowing his eyes at Rocco accusingly. “Does he have something on you?”

  “No, he doesn’t have shit on me,” Rocco replied defensively. “Can’t you see what he’s doing? He’s bullying me. He needs someone to do his dirty work for him. Someone from another pack—from a weaker pack—is the most obvious choice because it forces me into doing what he wants. If I don’t, I need to worry about him trying to take my pack down somehow . . . which I do worry about.”

  Samara considered everything Rocco was saying. It made perfect sense. “So, if that’s what you’re afraid of, what are you thinking about doing next time? Giving us away?”

  Rocco shrugged. “I don’t know, honestly. From what I understand, Darren Jackson is in the process of becoming a Vyka. You see, he doesn’t need permission from the Ima pack he belongs to because he’s Alpha. If he becomes a Vyka, they all become Vyka, too. And I know how strong the Vyka are. There’s no way I can defeat black magic, so if it comes down to it, I guess I’m gonna have to give your pack up.”

  “What would you say if I told you that we know a way to defeat them?” Samara asked.

  Rocco’s eyes widened with wonder. “You figured it out?”

  Samara nodded. “Yes. My grandfather knew how to defeat black magic, too.” She hesitated, knowing that she should probably talk to her pack before saying what she was about to say next, but she was Alpha. That gave her the authority to make these types of decisions, and she didn’t think any of her pack members would disagree with her on this. “If you decide to help us if Darren approaches you again, we’d be on your side. We’re willing to work with you.”

  “Work with us? You mean, combine packs?”

  “Well, no, not necessarily. We don’t have to combine packs if you don’t want to. In fact, I’d rather keep us separated. We’re pretty happy with our current pack,” Samara replied, glancing at her pack members. They had only just formed the Tala. Adding more pack members, or combining packs again, would only make things more complicated—which was something she definitely didn’t need at the moment. “But we can still be on each other’s side, even if we stay two separate packs. We could call a truce.”

  Rocco nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah, that sounds . . . good. I’ll consider it. If Darren Jackson comes looking for you again, you can trust that I’ll talk to you first to see if we can come up with some sort of plan. I guess we’re good for now, though. I’ll just tell him I don’t know where you’ve been hiding when I hear from him next. Hopefully, it will hold him over, at least for a little while.”

  “Thank you,” Samara replied.

  “See ya. We’re outta here,” Rocco said, turning away from them.

  Samara watched as he and his pack members left the clearing, exiting through the woods behind them and swiftly changing to their wolf forms before disappearing into the distance.

  She felt genuinely surprised that Rocco was being so cooperative about everything. When he’d threatened to kill her, she’d expected him to become one of her biggest enemies, just like Jason. It was obvious, though, that Rocco was satisfied to call a truce. It sort of made her excited to get to know the Shomecossee better. Well, except for Paige. Samara wasn’t sure why Paige didn’t like her, but it was obvious she didn’t.

  Turning to her pack members, Samara said, “That seemed to go really well.”

  “It did go well,” Colby agreed. “I couldn’t have pulled the whole thing off any better myself. Congrats.”

  “Yeah, I gotta agree,” Seth said, turning to her. “You did a good job. You’re pretty convincing.”

  Kyle grinned. “It was clever, Sam.”

  Samara smiled. It was nice to have Seth and Kyle’s approval. After all, she might have been the only one who got credited as being related to Grandpa Joe, but he had been her brother and her cousin’s grandfather, too. “Thanks, guys, but this is mostly Kyana’s doing. We would be screwed if she didn’t come up with the violet idea.”

  Kyana beamed. “I’m glad I could help.”

  “I don’t want to be a Debbie Downer, but . . . I wish you would have asked our advice before you offered the Shomecossee to join forces with us, even if it is as separate packs,” Josh said. His voice was even, but it seemed like he was reluctant to say anything—probably because he didn’t want to be the one to rain on everyone’s parade.

  “Why, Josh? What’s wrong?” Kyana asked, turning to him with a look of concern. It was the first time Samara had noticed her speak to him since they’d found out that she was Chris’s mate instead of his.

  Josh rolled his eyes at her. “Isn’t it obvious? Once we trust them—once we let them in on this—they’re going to want to be a part of everything we do. They’re going to use all of our knowledge to
build a stronger pack so they can eventually take us down.” He shook his head in disgust. “I can’t help it. I’ve never liked Rocco, and I’m never going to trust him.”

  “I didn’t trust him at first, either,” Samara admitted, “but I think he’s proving that he’s not as bad of a guy as we thought. If he really wanted to get rid of us—and take us down—he would have done it already. He would have told Darren where we were, and we would have been destroyed by now unless the Trusted Ones had been able to find a way to help us out.”

  Josh shrugged his shoulders, but his face remained unchanged. “I don’t know. You can say what you want and this is your pack to do whatever the hell you want with, but if we have to join up with Rocco . . .” He trailed off.

  “If we have join up with Rocco, what?” Samara questioned, pressing him. “You’ll leave?”

  Josh glanced over at her, an angry look flashing through his eyes. “Let’s just say it will be the first thing I’ve ever disagreed with you on.”

  “Well, thank you for your input, Josh. It’s really good to know how you feel,” Samara replied, honestly. It made her feel good to know that Josh was speaking his mind; even if she chose to follow her gut, which told her right now that it was okay to trust Rocco, it was still good to hear a second opinion. “With any luck, Darren will leave Rocco alone, so none of this needs to happen.”

  “Why don’t we get out of here?” Luke suggested. “I want to go home and grab something to eat. I’m starving.”

  Samara nodded. “Yeah, I want to get out of here, too.” Actually, she wasn’t sure why, but for some reason, she felt like she was needed closer to home. It was difficult to describe, but it was almost as though there was something there, pulling her to it.

  She glanced over at Luke, who stood next to her, and Declan, who was a few feet away from them. Even though Samara felt drawn to both of them, she just knew, somehow, that whatever was drawing her to it was something . . . different. It had nothing to do with being mated to either of them, but she wasn’t sure what it did have to do with, either.

  “Are you guys gonna come back to the house? I’m sure we can dig up something to eat. I, too, am starving,” Colby said.

  “Sure,” Luke said, just as Samara shook her head.

  “No, that’s okay, Colby,” she said. “I’m actually going to head home.”

  Luke glanced over at her, and his voice filled her mind: Is everything okay?

  Yeah, everything’s fine, Samara replied. Don’t worry about me, okay?

  That’s not possible. All I do is worry about you lately.

  Samara narrowed her eyes at him. Why? Jason’s not even alive anymore. There’s Darren, but it’s pretty obvious that he’s not going to figure out where we’ve been hiding.

  Actually, I want you to be careful on your way home, Sam. I’m pretty sure Darren knows where you live . . . or at least where our pack’s hangout spot is. Luke hesitated before adding: The reason I’ve been so worried about you lately is because I can never hear what you’re thinking anymore. It’s like you’ve blocked me out, except when you used to do that, something usually got through to me on accident. Now, I hear nothing.

  Samara darted her eyes away from him and stared at her beige Ugg boots, which crunched over the snow on the ground as they walked. If she was going to tell him the truth—that Declan was her mate and that was why Luke couldn’t hear her thoughts anymore—now would be the time.

  She couldn’t bring herself to tell him the truth, though, and she wasn’t sure why. Part of it was because she knew how much the truth would hurt him, but another part—the bigger part—was because it made her feel relieved to know that she and Declan shared a secret. She hoped they would be able to keep the secret between the two of them for the long-term.

  Glancing into Luke’s eyes, Samara told him through mind-speak: I don’t know what happened when we initiated into the Tala, but I can hear your thoughts more often than I did before. And I can feel your emotions now, almost as though they are my own. I don’t know why you can’t hear me anymore, but it must have something to do with our new pack.

  There. Even though it still felt like she was lying, she had sort of told Luke the truth. She really didn’t know why he couldn’t hear her thoughts anymore. She was mated with Declan now, but it shouldn’t have affected Luke’s ability to hear—or not hear—her thoughts.

  It was almost as though fate wanted her two mates to not be able to know about one another, but why?

  “I have to go now,” Samara said aloud to the rest of her pack, who all nodded and said their goodbyes. Standing on her tiptoes, she wrapped her arms around Luke’s neck and gave him a tiny kiss on the lips.

  As she did it, she could feel Declan’s eyes burning into the back of her head. She wanted to tell him that the only reason she was doing it was so no one would start to question why she wasn’t being as affectionate towards her fiancé as she normally was. And she wished she could say that she wanted to do the same to him; she wanted to give him a kiss before she left him, too.

  But saying that would give her away. Even if it was what she felt, she couldn’t admit to it out loud, not in front of their entire pack. And maybe it was a bad idea to admit it to Declan, too; saying it would make their secret relationship, if that was what she could even call it, more real.

  So, instead, Samara did what she felt herself being drawn to do. She swiftly changed into her wolf form and darted into the woods, off in the direction of her house.

  Chapter 13

  As Samara ran along the bank of Starlight Lake, staring at the reflection of her own white fur in the water, she thought about what Luke had said. There was a risk that Darren could be out here, in these very woods, waiting for the right moment to attack.

  Was that what she was being drawn to?

  Samara didn’t think that was it. There was no logical reason she could think of that would explain why she would want to be near Darren. Sure, it would be nice to kill him once and for all, but it’s not like she would be able to do that without the help of the Trusted Ones and she didn’t even think they were anywhere close at the moment.

  The talisman. The thought crossed her mind, and Samara realized that was what she was being drawn to. She couldn’t explain how she knew, but she could feel it; the talisman was somewhere in the woods right now. But where could it be?

  She glanced into the brush that lined the edge of the sandy bank that she walked upon. She didn’t see the talisman there, but it was a big forest. The talisman could literally be anywhere.

  As Samara climbed up the trail that would lead her deeper in the woods, a foreign scent wafted into her nostrils. It wasn’t a scent that she’d ever picked up on anywhere before. It didn’t belong to her own pack, the adult Ima pack, or the adult Vyka pack. This scent was new . . . unfamiliar.

  Samaras debated on letting the rest of her pack—or Luke, at the very least—know that there was someone else here, in their territory, but before she had the chance to say anything, she spotted a wolf with silky light brown fur approaching her.

  As the other wolf strolled over to her, Samara could tell right away that it was a girl. Her shoulders were less broad than a male werewolf’s shoulders. The other wolf looked out of place, as though she wasn’t familiar with the woods, but it was obvious from the way she carried herself that she had an undeniable confidence.

  The wolf eyed her curiously. Do you know if these woods belong to a certain pack?

  Yes, this is my pack’s territory, Samara replied. She was about to add that the Vyka sometimes hung out on the other, farther, side of the woods, but then she remembered that she didn’t have to now that they had formed the Tala. Samara didn’t know where the adult Ima and Vyka packs hung out, but she hadn’t ever seen any of them in these woods before, so she had always assumed that they had their own meeting spots.

  The wolf sat down on the ground, staring at her contently. How big is your pack?

  Samara did a headcount of all the memb
ers of her pack in her head because she had actually lost track of how many members of the Tala there were. There are twelve of us.

  And what’s your pack name?

  We’re the Tala, Samara replied, realizing how strange it was for this wolf to ask her all these questions. Which pack do you belong to?

  Oh, I don’t have a pack, the wolf explained. I was never given one. Or my Alpha never found me if I did.

  That must be hard, Samara said, not knowing what else to say.

  It was hard for a long time. But it’s okay now. The wolf met Samara’s gaze with her honey brown eyes. Because I’ve found my pack. I’m going to be a Tala.

  What? Samara asked, making sure she understood this other wolf properly.

  Yes, I’m going to be a part of your pack. Once I talk to the Alpha, that is. Do you know where I can find him?

  Samara laughed, but only because she wasn’t sure what else to say. She wasn’t sure if she should feel proud that this werewolf girl wanted to be a part of her pack, or if she should be annoyed at the girl for thinking that just anyone could be a part of her pack. Finally, she said: I don’t think we’re looking for any new members right now.

  Sure you are, the werewolf girl replied. Packs are always looking for new members. It’s the only way to become more powerful . . . which I’m guessing you probably need. I heard the Ima pack is around here somewhere. Now, where do I find your Alpha?

  Samara met the girl’s eyes. The Ima pack is around here, but we don’t need to become more powerful. Sorry, but we really aren’t looking for new members.

  After she’d said the words, Samara felt pleased with herself for telling the truth. She really didn’t want to take on any new members, unless it was necessary. The only way she could imagine adding new members at the moment would be if any of the guys from the pack found someone they thought could be their mate. She couldn’t deny them the chance to be on the same pack as their potential mate.

  I don’t believe you, the girl said, shaking her head. What’s your name?