Black Magic (Howl #4) (19 page)

Samara gulped. “Well, it’s not going to happen. Because here’s the thing . . . I know all about black magic.”

Jason snickered. “Trust me, baby. You don’t know the half of it. Do you want my advice?”

She shrugged. “I’m sure you’re going to give me your so-called advice whether I like it or not, so go ahead.” She knew that talking wasn’t going to get them anywhere, but she was buying time for herself. Except, she didn’t know why. Time probably wasn’t going to make a difference.

“Just give into the death that’s awaiting you tonight. There are many spirits out here, and they’re all just dying to get a taste of your blood.” His eyes seemed to light up when he talked about the spirits eating her blood, which made Samara feel sick to her stomach. Jason continued. “I’m not gonna lie. It’s gonna be really painful. So, the sooner it’s over, the better off you’ll be.”

“I’m not going to give into anything. I’m not going to let you win,” Samara replied. Turning to the candles, she yelled, “Trusted Ones, I summon you!”

Jason said something in a language that she recognized as the same language that he’d used during the
night of her fake initiation.

Samara felt a strong gust of wind, but she didn’t see anything—not that she thought she was going to. The dark spirits weren’t going to show themselves to her, just like the Trusted Ones weren’t going to let her see them, either. She just hoped, more than anything, that they were there . . . and that there was something they could do about the spirits who s
o desperately wanted her blood.

Samara thought about notifying her pack and letting them know that she might need their help, but she decided against it. If she was going to die, then fine . . . but she didn’t want to see them get hurt, too. Even if Jason did conquer her tonight, she wanted to believe there was something that they could do to make sure that Jason didn’t take over and force them into being Vyka pack members.

Turning back to Jason, Samara did the only thing she could think of; she phased into her wolf form. Once she was on the ground, she took a few steps closer to him and snarled. She had to at least try to stand her ground and act like she was confident.

Jason changed into his own wolf form; he was encircled by the red cloud of smoke that enveloped him as he made the change. Once he was at her level, he bounded towards her and sunk his teeth into her neck.

Samara yelped, surprised by his sudden attack. She bit him back, sinking her teeth on any area of skin they touched, clamping down as hard as she could. Jason didn’t make peep; he seemed completely unfazed by her assault on him, and she wondered if it had something to do with the drugs that Declan had mentioned he was using.

She recalled what Chris had taught her about how to kill a werewolf during an attack; she could either try to pierce his heart, or she could go for his throat to constrict his airways, which would make it more difficult for him to fight back since he wouldn’t be able to breathe. Deciding to go with the latter, Samara leapt up to sink her teeth around Jason’s neck, just as she felt something close around her own neck. But she knew, right away, that it wasn’t Jason . . .

The invisible force that clung to her neck, making it more difficult for her to breathe, was a dark spirit.

Chapter 23

Samara felt her throat closing in as the spirit constricted her own airway; she tried to kick the evil force with all four of her legs, hoping for just even a moment to retaliate. But the spirit held her body down, its strength too diffi
cult for her to fight against.

A lot of thoughts ran through her mind. She mostly wondered where the Trusted Ones were and why they weren’t doing anything to help. Didn’t they see that this dark spirit . . . this
demon
. . . was going to be the end of her if they didn’t try to
do something to save her soon?

Glancing up into Jason’s eyes, which were filled with amusement and laughter, Samara felt herself gasping for air.
Please, no,
she thought.
I’m not ready to die. I’m not ready to leave my family or Luke or my pack or Declan behind.

And just as she thought that she had taken her last breath, that there was no way she could continue to breathe if this evil force continued to cling to her, Samara felt it being pried off of her. Glancing around, she didn’t see anyone besides Jason standing in front of her, a look of shock written all over his face. The Trusted Ones
had done something to help her.

Thank you,
she thought, hoping that they woul
d be able to hear her thoughts.

Standing up, she tried to regain her balance, but that’s when she saw him, out of the corner of
her eye.

Seth was strolling towards her, his white fur coat as silky as ever, and his ears pointing upwards with alertness. He inched closer to her, h
is golden eyes meeting her own.

Samara gulped. Jason was no longer working alone, and it wasn’t just him working with the spirits anymore. It was with her brother now . . . the one werewolf who probably knew all of her weaknesses since
he’d known her his whole life.

The worst part was that the idea of killing Jason didn’t bother her. But she could never kill Seth. She would never be able to live with herself for causing her own brother’s death, or for being the reason behind the grief that her parents woul
d surely feel once he was gone.

I won’t fight you
, Samara told him, but Seth didn’t meet her eyes. He walked over to Jason, aligning himself with him; he was joining his team . . . They were goi
ng to be fighting her together.

Unexpectedly, Jason leapt forward into the air, his body pouncing on top of he
rs, pinning her to the ground.

Sam
a
ra struggled to fight against his weight, but she was able to hold her own. She forced him to the ground, holding his upper body down with her two front paws. She sunk her teeth into his flesh and bit down with all of her might and for the first time since they’d fought t
oday, she felt Jason flinch.

Just as she was about to pierce his heart with her teeth, he pushed her off of him, overtaking her and
pushing her body to the ground.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a gray wolf that she recognized all too well come towards her, the wolf baring her teeth and pushing her
shoulders back with confidence.

Rain?
Samara asked.
Are you here to help me?

Rain snorted at her.
Why would I help you? Jason’s my mate. Yeah, that’s right. I initiated into the Vyka pack last week, and you didn’t even know about it. Some Alpha you are. Get your paws off my mate, or you are going to be dealing with me.

Samara turned to Jason, who stared back at her with an amused look in his eyes. She bit down on his throat, her teeth clenching as hard
as they could over his airway.

Jason coughed, struggling to breathe, and Samara smiled. This was it. She was
within seconds of killing him.

And that’s when she felt Rain pounce on her from behind, her front paws scraping painfully against Samara’s ribs. Samara only flinched for half a second, but it was long enough for
Jason to get out of her reach.

She was about to lunge at him again, but before she could, her brother leapt on top of Jason, surprising him enough to get him on the ground. Seth made his attack quickly; he went for his throat and, within seconds, Samara wa
tched as Jason writhed in pain.

Rain leapt on top of Seth, but Samara sunk her teeth into Rain’s hind leg, dragging her away from them. At first Samara thought Rain was going to turn on her, but Rain seemed too interested to watch Seth’s attack on Jason
to pay any attention to Samara.

Seth held his ground, never once letting go of the grip that he had on Jason’s throat. Samara watched as Jason gasped for his final breath before his eyes
fluttered shut.

Once his body fell, lifeless, to the ground, Rain turned and glared at Samara.
This isn’t over, bitch.

Samara remained frozen in place and didn’t respond to her, too stunned by the fact that Jason was gone to even pay attention to what Rain had to say; she heard the words that came out of Rain’s mouth, but they didn’t register because of how shocked she was.

A pained expression on her face, Rain backed away from Samara and slunk off into the shadows of the woods behind them.

Samara was even more stunned that her brother had been the one to kill him than the fact that he was dead. She glanced over at Seth.
Thank you for doing that. For saving me.

Seth nodded.
I’ve been planning it for a long time now. He told me what was going to happen tonight, and I told him I would be by his side. What I didn’t tell him was that the reason was because I would be looking out for you.

Samara changed back into her human form, the blue smoke dancing around her even more strongly than it normally did. She watched as Seth changed back, too.

This time, when he looked at her, Seth grinned. “I’m sorry I had to make you think I hated you. It was all part of my act with Jason. I really had him really believing it, too. He thought I wanted you dead just as much a
s he did.”

Samara smiled. “It’s okay. I’m just glad you don’t hate me.” She walked over to the candles, which were still burning and blew them out. Picking them up, she said, “I should probably take these with me. I don’t want them getting into the wrong hands again.”

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea. Sam, look . . . I know that things have been awkward between the Vyka and the Ima for quite some time now, but I don’t want it to be that way anymore . . . now that I’m Alpha,” Seth explained.

“You’re Alpha?” Samara questioned, raising her eyebrows at him. She knew that every pack had a second Alpha in line, but she hadn’t realized that anyone actually knew who that was until the Alpha died.

“Well, I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but I did just kill the Vyka Alpha,” Seth explained. “By default, that is supposed to make me Alpha of the pack.”

“Oh, right. Wow, you’re Alpha! Congrats!” Samara smiled. “I wonder if Grandpa Joe ever imagined that we would both be Alphas one day.”

“Or that we would allow the Ima and the Vyka to live in harmony,” Seth replied. “If you’re okay with that, that is.”

“Of course I’m okay with that!” Samara beamed. “Nothing could make me happier.”

At that moment, Luke and the guys from her pack all bounded over to them. When they saw that she was talking to Seth, they wrinkled their noses, but they didn’t say anything.

“It’s okay, guys,” Samara told them.
“He saved me. He killed Jason!”

“We know. We witnessed the whole thing. Well, most of it, anyway,” Luke explained. “I didn’t want to leave you, but I had to go back to get the guys for reinforcement. I figured that you would be okay for a few minutes. Once we got here, you were already decking it out with Jason and Seth was here, too.”

Luke paused, glancing over at Seth with a smile. “We were going to get involved, but it seemed like you wanted to do this on your own, and we didn’t want to throw you off guard. Plus, I heard you think about the spirits. I thought you were right. There was a better chance of the Trusted Ones helping you out if we weren’t involved and there weren’t more spirits invoked.”

He turned to Samara and swooped her up into his arms. “I’m just so glad you’re okay. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t made it.” Kissing her on the forehead, he added, “That was a really brave thing you did out there.”

“Thanks,” Samara murmured, noticing the Vyka approach them. When she saw Declan, her face softened. “But I couldn’t have done it without Declan. He was the brave one. He told me that Jason was planning this whole thing. There’s a lot to explain, but if he hadn’t told me, Jason wouldn’t be dead right now.”

Luke seemed to shove whatever feelings he had for Declan aside. “Thanks for doing that, man. It really means a lot to me.”

Declan only nodded, shifting in his shoes awkwardly. “No problem.”

“Jason’s dead?” Mark Stevens, one of the Vyka pack members cried, running towards Jason’s limp body. “How could this happen?”

“It’s a long story,” Seth rep
lied. “And I’m your Alpha now.”

“You?” Mark laughed and shook his head. “Uh, no. I don’t want any part of this pack if you’re going to be the leader of it. I want a real Alpha, not a little twerp who thinks he can be a badass because his grandfather was Joe McKinley. Sorry, but no can do.”

Seth shrugged his shoulders. “You’re free to leave. Go to whatever pack you want.” He turned to his other pack members. “Anyone who wants to join Mark, feel free to do so.”

A few guys who Samara didn’t even recognize, but who must have joined the Vyka since the last time she’d seen them, followed after Mark. Once they were all gone, Samara realized that only Seth and Declan had been left behind.

“Wow, you have a really tiny pack now,” Colby commented, looking around and nodding.

Seth shrugged. “A lot has happened over the past few months. I’m just glad there’s still the two of us, honestly.”

“I don’t know if anyone’s thought about this yet, but . . . what if we combine packs?” Steve asked. “I mean, the two of you could join our pack. If Samara will have you, that is.”

Samara smiled. “Of course I will. Nothing would make me happier than to have my brother and my best friend on my pack.” Turning to both of them, she asked, “What do you say, guys? Do you want to be Ima?”

“But Grandpa Joe was a Vyka,” Seth said quietly. “Don’t you think he would have wanted to keep the Vyka alive? The pack’s going to die off this way.”

“After everything that’s gone on, I’m not so sure about that. Grandpa Joe fought against black magic. He wouldn’t have wanted us to keep the name of a pack that once used it,” Samara replied. “But maybe we could take a vote.”

Seth shook his head in disagreement. “That doesn’t seem fair. There’s more Ima than there are Vyka. Of course Ima will win.”

“I have a suggestion,” Colby spoke up. Everyone glanced over at him. Clearing his throat, he said, “This has actually happened a few times before with other packs who decided to combine forces. What they did was instead of going with either pack name, they chose a new name that they felt would be able to best represent them. A clean slate, I guess you can say.”

“I like that idea,” Samara murmured.

Seth nodded. “I like it, too. Okay, then, that’s what we’ll do.”

Samara glanced over at Declan and noticed that his face had blanched and his expression was stony.

“Is everything okay, Dec?” she asked.

Declan shrugged. “I . . . I just need some time to process all of this before I say yes. I need some time to think it over, if that’s okay.”

Samara nodded. “Yeah, take all the time you need. How about this? We’ll do initiation or whatever we have to do to form a new pack after New Year’s for whoever wants to go along with it.”

“Sounds good,” Declan agreed, darting his eyes away from her nervously.

Samara glanced over at Luke, who hadn’t said anything.
What do you think of all this? Seth and Declan becoming a part of our pack?

I think it’s cool
, Luke replied.
I know you’ve missed your brother, and it’s good that you and your family can really be a family again, you know? Seth can even move back into your house without breaking any rules or living under the same roof as the enemy.

And Declan?
Samara questioned. She knew that Luke’s opinion about it wasn’t going to change her mind, but she wanted to know what he was thinking about it.

Luke shrugged his shoulders and let out a sigh.
You already know how I feel about the guy, Sam. I’ll never get past those feelings, but . . . you’re my mate, not his. I have no reason to be jealous. And besides that, I do owe it to him. If it weren’t for his help, you might not be here right now. So, if he wants to be on our pack . . . then let him.

Samara smiled.
You’re the best mate ever.