Cursed (Howl, #6) (12 page)

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 that 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 go
ing 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 mak
ing 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. A
re you down for that?

H
ell, 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 name
s 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 a
n 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, be
ing 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. “T
hanks for agreeing to help us.”

Once they had gone off into the distance, Luke came to stand beside her. “Do you think they’ll r
eally 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 informat
ion. “Does it still say zero?”

“It did a second ago.” Kyle glanced down at the watch. “Actu
ally, it just changed to four.”

“Four? That gives us until Saturday to prepare for our next fight,” Samara said. “Tr
usted 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 roundi
ng 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 happe
n.”

“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 righ
t 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.

“Are you coming, Sam?” Luke asked, as the rest of the pack began to head back to their cars, which they had parked alongside the road.

“Actually,” Samara replied, “I don’t think I am. I have a weird feeling. Sort of like I need to be in the woods. It’s similar to the way I felt the night when I first met Penelope—and when I realized that the talisman was probably in the woods. I think I’m going to walk home, if that’s okay.”

“It’s fine with me,” Luke replied. Once their pack members were all out of earshot, he said quietly, “Try not to take too long though, okay? Your parents are gone on your dad’s business trip until Sunday.”

Samara’s heart began to beat a little more rapidly in her chest. She knew what Luke was trying to say, and truthfully, she was actually looking forward to being able to have some alone time with him, too. 

Moving towards him, she pressed her hands against his chest and met his lips. As his mouth came down on hers, she felt a tiny burst of energy dance throughout her body as she felt the fiery-ice feeling that she always got whenever their skin touched. “I’ll try not to take too long,” she whispered, running her mouth over his ear lobe.

“Good,” Luke murmured back, and Samara felt the arousal that he felt wash over from his emotions to hers, and she sudde
nly couldn’t wait to get home.

“Just call me if anything happens,” Luke told her. “If you
need me or anything.”

Samara nodded before turning off in the direction of the woods. She wasn’t sure what it was that was calling to he
r, but she did know one thing.

She had to find whatever it was.

Chapter 17

Samara was wandering in the middle of the woods when she heard a branch cracking not too far away from her. Her heart began to thump against her chest, as she began to panic. Was it Darren trying to sneak up on her? Or maybe
it was Declan . . . or Rocco.

She was about to call Luke and tell him that maybe she did need the pack to come back her up when the person stepped out from behind a tree. When he met Samara’s eyes with his own amber eyes, the breath cau
ght in the back of her throat.

“It is really
is
you,” Samara said, dumbfounded by the sight right before her eyes. Even though she really thought she had seen Grandpa Joe on the night of the wedding, everything that Eddie had told her really made her doubt what she’d seen. It was nice to know that she wasn’t just crazy or imagining the whole thing; her grandfather really was still alive.

“Of course it’s me,” her grandfather replied g
ruffly. “Who else would I be?”

Samara didn’t say anything in response. It had been a long time since she’d spoken to Grandpa Joe, but she couldn’t help but feel like here, standing across from him in the woods, he was meaner than the last time he had been when the
y’d spoken before he had died.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be so rude,” Grandpa Joe went on, as though he were reading her mind. “I’ve just been in a bit of a bad mood lately, with all of the things that have been going on. I can’t tell you about all of them just yet, but you
have to promise me something.”

“Okay, I promise,” Samara agreed, even though she had no idea why was she agreeing to something when she was unaware of what the terms were yet. Her grandfather could be making her promise to just about anything, and here she was, agreeing to it.

Her grandfather met her gaze, and she noted the serious look in his eyes. “This needs to be our little secret. You can’t tell anyone I’m here . . . or that I’m alive.”

“But I already told them I thought
I saw you,” Samara protested.

“I know,” her grandfather replied sadly. “I wish you hadn’t. At this point, though, it should be easy to make
them believe you were confused. Just let them keep on believing that you think you were mistaken—that Eddie’s right.”

“I don’t understand,” Samara replied, shaking her head.
“Why can’t I tell anyone?”

Grandpa Joe sighed. “It’s a lot for me to explain right now, but it would just be better if you and I are the only ones who know I’m here—at least for now. Eventually, we’ll be able to tell everyone that I’m here.”

“But my pack is like my family. How could I keep a secret like this from them?” Samara questioned, feeling like she was betraying her pack.

“It wouldn’t be the first time you kept somet
hing from them, now would it?”

Samara looked away from him and down at the ground. She wasn’t sure how he knew that she was keeping the secret about Declan from her pack members, but it was obvious that he did know . . . somehow. 

Her grandfather studied her face for a moment. Finally, his lips titled into a small smile. “You really don’t know the truth, do you?” 

“The truth about what?” Samara que
stioned with raised eyebrows.

Grandpa Joe turned away from her and stared up at the sky. “Not all of your pack members are that innocent, Samara. Some of them have been keeping secrets from you—some big, some little, but secrets, nonetheless.”

“I know about Emma and Colby being married, if that’s what you’re talking about,” Samara said.

“Oh, so you know about one of them at least,” Grandpa Joe said with a nod. “That was the small one—the one that wasn’t going to be a big deal, but that might have helped you feel less guilty about keeping the truth about me from them. There’s another secret I’m talking about, though. A
big
secret.”

“How do you know?” Samara asked, a bitter taste filling her mouth. Even though she wanted to object, to tell him there was no way her own pack members would keep important things from her, she also somehow knew that there was no way her grandfather would lie to her. Not about this, at least.

Grandpa Joe glanced over at her. “I just know things, Samara. I have visions. I can see the future.”

“So I’ve heard,” Samara replied. “That’s how you knew I was going to be the most powerful werewolf in history. Besides you, that is.” When her grandfather didn’t say anything in response, she asked, “Can you tell me what secrets my pack
members are keeping from me?”

Her grandfather shook his head. “No, I can’t do that. They’re not my secrets to tell and, more importantly, the truth will come out on its own. It’s inevitable. It always does. Telling you would only ruin the natural progression of things.” He paused for a moment before adding, “All I can say is that you can’t trust everyone.”

“Even Luke?” Samara asked quietly. She darted her eyes away from her grandfather and down into the lake’s water, staring into the reflection of the half moon. She felt guilty about asking, because she really did feel closer to Luke lately.

Grandpa Joe’s eyes filled with a look of surprise. “Is there a reason you think you shouldn’t trust Lucas Davenport?
”

Samara hesitated. She hated to admit it to her grandfather before anyone else. She hadn’t even been able to tell Emma, and Emma was her best friend. But Emma was also mentally connected to Colby, which meant that if Samara told Emma the truth, she would also be telling Colby the truth, too—and she didn’t want to do that because it would run the risk of Luke finding out. Knowing that she needed to tell someone, though, she turned to Grandpa Joe. “I think Luke might have kil
led someone—a friend of mine.”

Her grandfather glanced away from her and up at the sky. “Woul
d it change things if he did?”

“Wh
at do you mean?” Samara asked.

“I mean, if Lucas really did kill this friend you speak of, would it change the way you feel about him? Would you still want to be with him?”

“I don’t know,” Samara admitted. “I don’t think I would want to be with him anymore if he killed Brad. It’s not like he even had a good reason to kill him. He would have done it just because he was jealous, which is ridiculous because there was nothing going on between Brad and me.” She sighed. “I don’t know how to find out if Luke really did it or not, though.”

There was a long pause before Grandpa Joe said, “Have you asked Lucas if he killed this Brad guy?”

Samara shook her head. “No. I’ve been too afraid to ask him.”

“Perhaps you should overcome that fear. If you feel you’re ready to know the answer, that is,” Grandpa Joe turned to face her, and when she stared into his eyes, it felt like she was looking into her own amber eyes. “And Samara? While we’re being honest with one another, you should know that I lied to everyone.”

“I know. Everyone else thinks you’re dead—” Samara started to say and she was going to question him about why she lied, but her grandfather interrupted her before she had a chance.

“That’s not the only thing I’ve lied about. Of course I lied about that, which I’ll explain to you tomorrow night when we meet back her
e around the same time, okay?”

Samara nodded.

“What I lied about is you and how powerful you would be,” Grandpa Joe went on. “I
did
see that you would be Alpha one day, but I never saw that you would be more powerful than any other werewolf in the world. I lied about that.”

“Then why did you tell everyone I would be?” Samara didn’t ask the other question that circulated through her head:
why would her grandfather put her in danger like that, for no reason?
She also couldn’t ignore the change in mood she suddenly had. Even though being powerful hadn’t mattered that much to Samara before then, she couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of disappointment wash over her.

“I lied because I needed you to believe it. I needed you to have the type of confidence that you had to
night when you fought that pack. I needed you to believe in yourself, until I came back, at least, but always,” Grandpa Joe replied before transforming into his wolf form. A silvery cloud of smoke formed around him—a color that didn’t belong to the Vyka, but also a color that Samara had never seen before—before he disappeared into the woods and away from her.

*

Samara slid into bed next to Luke when she got back home. As she curled alongside of him, he turned around and looked at her. His emerald green eyes sparkled with what appeared to be a look of desperation, a hunger for her that he hadn’t shown in a long time.

Running a hand over his bare, muscular chest, Samara stared into his eyes before moving her face closer to his. His lips came down on hers, and he kissed her long and deeply. His tongue teased hers, making other areas of her body feel more excited than ever before.

Samara’s own breathing was labored as Luke kissed her; she could feel the desire that he felt for her wash over into her own body and felt it run through her own veins.

“I’ve missed this,” Luke whisper
ed as he pulled away from her.

“Me, too,” Samara whispered back, as she ran her hands over the bulge in his boxer shorts. She undid the draw string and ran her fingers beneath the silky fabric and over his warm skin, and he ground his hips against hers with excitement.

He slid her camisole over her head and unhooked her bra from behind her back. Pressing her body against his, she couldn’t help but feel more exposed than she ever had before. He’d seen her naked before, but there was something different this time; their emotions were so connected at that moment that Samara knew Luke could see into her soul, the same way she felt like she could see into his.

As she pulled his boxer shorts off and slid out of her own boy short underwear, Samara looked into his eyes and whispered, “I want you
. All of you.”

His lips came crashing down on hers again, this time with more hunger and desperation than
he had before. As they lost themselves in each other, Samara knew that she had made the right decision.

She felt more connected and in love with Luke, at that moment, than she ever had with anyone else.