Wolfsbane (Howl #3) (4 page)

“Well, here we are,” Emma said, as she pulled into a narrow driveway.

“This is Troy’s h
ouse?” Samara asked, glancing at the two-story house that stood in front of them. The porch light shone brightly through the dark night, casting a glow over the house.

Emma swung her car door open and climbed out. “Yeah, it’s his house. He said his parents aren’t
home, so we can just go inside. Come on.”

Samara gulped before reluctantly getting out of the car. She wasn’t sure why, but for some reason, she was beginning to feel nervous about this.

We’re at Troy’s house
, Samara told Luke,
allowing him into her thoughts again,
as she followed Emma up to the front door.
We’re going inside now.

Okay, we’re about a block away from you
, Luke replied.
Be careful. As soon as I sense that something is wrong, we’ll be there. And don’t be too nervous.

One of the cool (but sometimes annoying) things about having a mate was that they were always in tune with your emotions. So, if something did happen with Troy tonight
, Luke would know right away because he’d be able to sense her fear, just l
ike he was obviously aware
of the fact
that she was nervous right now.

Knowing that Luke and the
rest of her pack were nearby
made Samara
feel slightly reassured, though; if she and Emma needed t
heir help, they would be there in minutes.

When Emma opened the front
door
and led the way inside, Samara glanced around.
There were no lights turned on inside the house.
They were walking int
o complete and total blackness.

Had Troy lured them here on purpose? Was he planning some sort of attack? Maybe turning Emma had been part of his plan to lure Samara here so that Rocco, his cousin and the Alpha of the Shomecossee, could force her to be on their pack. Rocco
had
threatened to kill her when she was least expecting it if she didn’t agree to be a Shomecossee.
Maybe this was the opportunity he’d been waiting for.

“Emm
a, are you sure he’s really home
?” Samara whispered, grabbing her best friend’s elbow so that they wouldn’t lose each other in the darkness, but also becaus
e she was afraid . . . really afraid.

“I’m sure he is,” Emma hissed back at her. “Troy?”
she called, her voice echoing up the stairs.

There wasn’t a response right away. Convinced that this was all some sort of set-up, Samara was about ready to back out of the house and leave,
but then she looked upstairs.

A dark figure loomed above them, his white teeth glowing, even through the darkness. “There you are.”

Chapter 5

“I wasn’t expecting you to grace
me with your presence so early.
I would have gotten a little more dressed up
if I had known
,” Troy said bitter
ly, as he descended the stairs.

Samara took a step backwards as he stood
with crossed arms
on the hardwood floor
,
a foot away from her and Emma. “Why did you do this to Emma?” She could feel the anger build up inside of her, as she stared into the eyes of the guy who had just destroyed her best friend’s life. It had been one thing for Colby to bite
Samara—she
was going to become a werewolf
when she turned sixteen anyway—but
Emma hadn’t asked for this
; it wasn’t in her destiny
.

“It was an accident,” Troy replied unconvincingly. “She got in my way.
But now that I think back on it, maybe it was more intentional than I realized. She has something I need
.”

“What are you talking about?” Emma asked. Samara turned to look at her; even through the darkness, she could see the confu
sion on her best friend’s face.

“The ring,” Troy spat angrily. “I want the ring.”

Samara realized that he was talking about the blue sapphire ring that Jason had given Emma. Samara had suggested that Emma give it back to him, but her best friend had been stubborn and
insisted on keeping
it. It figured that her stubbornness
over a gift that her now ex-boyfriend had given her would get them into this mess.

Emma protectively gripped the finger that she wore her ring on. “It’s not yours to have. Jason gave it to me.”

“Ah, yes, Jason.” Troy laughed bitterly. “What you don’t know is that Jason stole that ring from me, so to speak.”

“I thought you didn’t even kno
w Jason,” Emma shot back at him, defensively.
“At least, that’s what you told me.”

“Would you have gone out with me if I told you I knew him very well?” Troy shook his head, his hazel eyes glaring at her. “This ring belongs to me. It has a very important value to me. And he took it from me . . . to give to you!” His voice roared, echoing through the quiet house.

Samara could hear Emma beginning to sniffle when a thought occurred to her. “We’ll make you a deal. You can have the ring—”

“No, he can’t, Sam!” Emma yelled at her. “It’s
my
ring, not yours. You can’t just give it away like that!”

“Emma, just listen to the offer I’m going to make him and then decide, okay?” Samara said softly. She turned back to Troy. “If you let Emma become an I
ma, she’ll give you the ring.”

Troy glanced from Samara to Emma and back at Samara again.
He nodded.
“Consider it done.”

Emma began to protest, but Samara turned to her and said, in the calmest voice she could muster, “Don’t worry about the stupid ring. Just let him have it. If you become an Ima, we don’t have to stop talking. We can still be best friends!”

“But . . .” Emma trailed off,
as she considered the offer carefully
. Samara felt her cheeks reddening in annoyance. Could her best friend seriously be thinking about giving up on their friendship for a dumb ring that her
ex
-boyfriend had given her?

Troy inched a little closer to them. “Well? Are you going to be an Ima or a Shomecossee?”

“I . . .
I, um,” Emma hesitated.

Samara rolled her eyes and sighed. “Think about the decision you’re making Emma. It’s going to affect the rest of your life
. . .
which could be forever, since we’re immortal
s now
.”

“But what if Jason finds out I gave it to Troy? He’ll never forgive me,” Emma whined, and the realization that her best friend must sti
ll have feelings for the guy she
was planning to ki
ll made her stomach sink.

“Emma, just give me the ring,” Troy pleaded. “I don’t want you on my pack. You’re not valuable to us. You’re just a dumb blonde. The ring’s more important than you.”

Even through the darkness, Samara could see the tears that streamed down Emma’s cheeks. She knew that Emma hated being called a dumb blonde
, and being told that she wasn’t valuable to the guy who she had been crushing on so hard over the past few weeks had to hurt.

“Take the damn ring!
” Emma yelled. Samara heard the sound of metal clinkin
g to the hard
wood
floor, and she realized that Emma had thrown the ring at Troy. Then, she felt her ar
m being tugged. “Come on, Sam, let’s go.
We have better things to do than stand around here talking to
him.
”

“We’ll be doing Emma’s initiation tonight,” Samara told Troy over her shoulder. “So, don’t think we’re going to let you off the hook with this. She’s going to become an Im
a, whether you like it or not.”

Troy shrugged his shoulders. “
That’s fine with me.
She’s just a pain in my ass. I’m glad you want her on your pack.”

Emma scoffed as she slammed the door shut. Once they were outside, she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. “Damnit, my mom just called. I must not have had reception in Troy’s house.”

As they climbed
into the car, Emma called
her mom
back
. Once they were
buckled in
, she said, “Mom? What’s wrong? Why are you crying?”

There was a long pause before Emma began sn
iffling. “I . . .
I’ll be right there. I just have to drop Samara off first,” she managed to say through her tears before hanging up the phone.

“Is everything okay?” Samara asked.

Emma shook her head and pushed a piece of blonde hair out of her eye. “No. My stepdad was in a car accident. He’s in ICU right now.”

“I’m so sorry,” Samara whispered.

“It’s whatever,” Emma replied with a shrug, wiping away her tears, as she backed out of the driveway. Samara knew that she was trying to act strong, but she could see right through her.

They rode in silence the rest of the way to Samara’s house. The only thing that could be heard over the sound of the radio was Emma’s sniffling. When Emma came to a halt in the driveway, Samara leaned over and gave her best friend a small hug. “Call me later, okay?”

“I’ll try. If I don’t, I’ll see you in school tomorrow morning,” Emma replied.

“Um, about that,” Samara began, knowing that it was an awkward time to bring it up. “Me and the guys are going to Massachusetts. It’s a long story, but we have to find Jason, and that’s where he went apparently. I was going to ask if you could come with us.”

“I can’t,” Emma rep
lied, shaking her head. “My mom . . .
I can’t just leave her. She’ll
be so lost without me right now, especially now with the accident and all.
I’ll see you as soon as you get back. When will that be?”

Samara had half-expected her best friend to protest or admit to her feelings for Jason after what had happened at Troy’s, but she didn’t. It was probably because of the car accident; Emma’s mind was in more important places than an old flame, so Samara decided not to bring it up right now, either. “I hope soon. I don’t want to miss too much school, but this has to be done.”

“I’ll offer to bring home your homework,” Emma suggested. “Just to make it look like you’re really sick.”

“Good idea! Thanks. And thanks for being my best friend,” Samara said. “I’m so glad that you’re okay with giving up the ring.”

“It’s just jewelry,” Emma replied, waving her hand in the air. “Once I find my mate, I’ll make him buy me something just as nice.” She winked.

“Oh, boy,” Samara replied with a giggle as she climbed out of the car. She watched as Emma’s car backed out of the driveway before telling Luke,
I’m home and we’re safe. I’m going to bed. See you early in the morning after my parents leave?

Sounds good. Sweet dreams
, Luke told her.

As she lay in bed that night, Samara couldn’t help but smile.
It seemed like Seth didn’t hate her anymore
, her parents finally knew what was going on, and sh
e wouldn’t be forced into being enemies with
Emma. Everything was falling into place.

*

The next morning, Samara was woken up by
the sound of her parents talking downstairs, as they were getting ready to leave for their cruise. When she went downstairs, they went over the things she was supposed to do while they were gone.
Luckily, she would probably have time to finis
h most of her chores before her parents
retu
rned—as long as she and her pack
got home at least a day before her parents were supposed to come home, which was Saturday. That gave her and her pack five days to find
and kill Jason.

“Be sure to thank Aunt Rae for everything that she does for you while we’re gone,”
her mom
reminded her. “It’s so nice of her to do this for us.”

“Yeah, it is,” Samara replied. If only her parents
knew the truth
—that
Rae would be lying to them when they called to check in with her
.

“Oh, and one more thing,”
her dad
said, walking over to the counter. “This is that book I was
telling you about. The one
Grandpa Joe left for you. I found it last night.”

Samara reluctantly took the book from him and smiled. “Thanks, I’ll look over it while you’re gone.”

“That’s probably a good idea. I don’t know what his motives were, but there must have been some reason he left this behind for you.” Her dad shrugged. “Maybe it’s meant to help you figure out all the changes you’ll be going through right now, like your guide to werewolf puberty
or something
.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Samara muttered. Having the book in her hands and just knowing that it once belonged to one of the world’s most powerful werewolves somehow made her feel more powerful, too.
Knowing that her grandfather had left this book to her for a reason
almost made her feel
like she had some sort of a
dvantage over other werewolves.

“Well, we should really get going or we’re going to miss our flight,”
her mom
said, rising to her feet to kiss Samara on the cheek. “Promise us that you’ll call if anything goes wrong
while we’re gone
.”

“I promise,” Samara said, but she knew that it probably wasn’t true. If
something went wrong while she and her pack
were in Massachusetts. . . . She didn’t even want to think about it. Real
izing that this could
be the last time she might ever see her mother again if Jason had any say in it, she threw her arms around her
mom
in a tight embrace.

When
her mom pulled away, shocked Samara’s
sudden affection, Samara said, “Have fun and just relax, okay? Try not to worry too much about me or Seth.” She knew that her mom thought that she was talking about during her vacation, but Samara was actually referring to the rest of her life . . . in case something did go wrong.

“We will,”
her mom
replied with a smile.

Samara hugged her father goodbye, and deciding to offer him one last piece of advice in case something went
terribly wrong tonight, she told him
, “I hope that once you’re home, you can start to forgive Aunt Rae a little.”

Her father grunted and
lowered his eyes to the ground
. He shrugged. “We’ll see.”

“Dad!” she scolded him. “She was just trying to protect you from getting hurt
and
honoring your father’s wishes. You have to give her credit for that. Imagine if you had been the one in her shoes. What would you have done?”

“I suppose you’re right,” Mr. McKinley replied, looking up at her. “I’ll talk to her once we get back home.”

“Good. It’s
really
important to me,” Samara told him. She knew that she couldn’t tell him that this would be her last wish for him if something bad happened, but she hoped that she was putting enough emphasis on it that he would be able to figure it out on his own.

“Bye,” both of her parents called as they stepped outside, c
losing the door behind them.

Glancing out the window, Samara
watched as they pulled out of the driveway before telling Luke,
I’m ready for you to come pick me up now.

I’ll be there in about ten minutes. By the way, stop thinking you’re going to die this week. Everyone’s going to
be fine. Jason’s going to die . . .
not you. I’ll keep you safe.