Cursed (Howl, #6) (15 page)

“Yes,” Samara replied.

“Don’t take a single breath for granted,” her grandfather replied. “You never know when it might be someone’s last day to live.” He rose to his feet and brushed off his dark wash Levi jeans, as though he were about to leave before saying, “Samara? There is one thing I need for you to do.”

“Anything,” Samara replied, knowing that whatever her grandfather
wanted from her, she would do.

“I need you to get me my talisman,” Grandpa Joe replied. “I can wait here
for it right now if you want.”

Samara felt her eyes widen. In the midst of everything else that had been going on, she had completely forgotten that the talisman was missing
. “You don’t already have it?”

Her grandfather shook his head. “No, is there a reason I should?”

Chapter 21

The worst part of keeping her grandfather’s secret until Saturday was that she couldn’t tell any of her pack members that they absolutely needed to find his talisman before Saturday. It also sucked
that she couldn’t tell Kyana that her father was going to be arriving on Saturday and that he wasn’t a good man. Not that Kyana would have believed her anyway, but it still sucked that she couldn’t say anything.

As Samara walked through the hallway at school on Thursday morning, she tried to ignore the rumors about the fact that she and Luke had broken up. Even though she was still wearing her wearing bands, and as far as she knew, he was wearing his, too, people had noticed that they’d been acting
different towards each other.

It
bothered her. More than anything, Samara wanted to wrap her arms around him and tell him that, no matter what had happened in the past, she was still in love with him—that she’d always been in love with him. But Luke wouldn’t even look at her.

Sighing, as she sat down at the cafeteria table that she shared with Emma, Colby, and Silas, she noticed right away that something was going on. Emma was in tears, and Colby was crad
ling her against his shoulder.

“Guys? What’s
going on?” Samara questioned.

“Emma’s mom called her this morning, Sam,” Colby explained, running his hand over Emma’s hair in an attempt to calm her. “She’s pissed off because she found out the truth about Emma’s stepdad and, what’s worse, is that she’s a wolf now, too,” he said in a lowered voice so that none of their classmates
would hear what he was saying.

“How did that happen?” Samara asked.
“Did your stepdad do it, Em?”

Emma nodded, as the tears continued to stream down her face. “Yes, it’s his fault. Of course, he told my mom it was your fault, which ended with my mom blaming it on me.” She sighed.
“She was being a huge bee-otch, but the good news is she doesn’t hate me anymore. I mean, she’s not happy with me over what happened to her, but she’s going to talk to me again. We’re actually going to get together with her and my stepdad for lunch really soon so they can meet Colby.”

“Em, that’s all great! So, why are you crying?” Samara ask
ed.

“I don’t know, I guess I just have
PMS,” Emma replied, wiping away the tears and smiling. “I’m over it already. It was so five minutes ago. I’m just happy we can all be a family again.”

“It all works out in the end, and if it doesn’t work out, it’s not the end,” Samara said, remembering what her grandfather had told her.

“That couldn’t be more true,” Colby agreed.

Silas grinned. “There’s always a silver lining. See, Emma? I told you it would work out, eventually. I only hope that one day my parents will be accept
ing of the fact that I’m gay.”

Emma shook her head frustratedly. “That drives me nuts, you know? They can accept the fact that you’re a werewolf, but not the fact that you’r
e gay. It just blows my mind.”

“I know,” Silas said sadly. “And they actually like Kyle. They say he’s really smart and he would be a really sweet guy—
if only
he were straight.” He sighed. “Whatever. They’ll get over it one day, I hope.”

“Well, if my mom can get over
our problems, I believe your parents will get over it, too,” Emma said with a nod.

“I hope so,” Silas said, biting into one of his nachos which were smeared with cheese. “I swear I could
live off of cheese sometimes.”

“Dogs are supposed to love it. And I do, but have you ever tried peanut butter since you changed?” Samara wrinkled her nose. “It’s so gross now, and I used to practically live off of peanut
butter and jelly sandwiches.”

“That’s so weird,” Silas was saying, just as Samara felt a finger poke her in the ribs. She turned around to find that Luke was standing next to her, a stern look on his face.

“Do you think we can talk?” Luke asked. “There are some things I need to say.”

Samara shot an apologetic gaze at her pack members before abandoni
ng her cafeteria tray and heading out into the courtyard with Luke. As he sat down on a bench next to her, she noticed that her heart was thumping loudly against her chest. The only thing that could cross her mind was that maybe the rumors were true, but she just didn’t know it yet; maybe Luke was here to end their relationship.

“
I have to admit I was hurt by what you asked me,” Luke said, glancing over at her. “The fact that you think I could kill someone is just unreal to me.” He reached over and grabbed one of her hands, taking it in both of his. “Samara, I love you, and even though there are times when I get jealous, I would never do anything to hurt you. I wouldn’t kill someone, not unless they gave me a real reason to—and I doubt I’d ever kill a human for you. I know that our connection is much stronger than that. You would never leave me for a human.”

He took a deep breath before shielding his face from the sun
and looking into her eyes. “What I
am
worried about is this whole issue with you and Declan. You said you cheated on me. What exactly happened?”

“Well,” Samara said hesitantly, “He kissed me, and I didn’t stop him. Not right away, at least. I told him it couldn’t go any further, though, because I was engaged to you and it wasn’t fair. That was it
, Luke. Just one simple kiss.”

“Samara, I need to know that it was nothing more than a simple kiss,” Luke said. “I’m willing to work things out with you, and I want to work things out with you. But I need to know that whatever happened between you and Declan is done, that it’s over, and that y
ou only have eyes for me now.”

Samara didn’t even have to think twice before agreeing. “
Remember our vows? As long as we’re both alive, I only have eyes for you.” She reached over and grabbed his hand. “You’re my mate. My husband. I’m sorry for what happened in the past, but I’m ready to finally move on with my life. I only want to be with you now.”

Luke kept his eyes locked on hers for a moment, gauging her reaction to see if she was telling the truth, before a wide grin spread across his face. “Okay. I trust you. But promise me something, okay? No more secrets. I want us to be honest with
each other from here on out.”

Samara nodded understandingly. “I won’t keep any secrets from you. In fact, I think there’
s something you need to know.”

“What is it?” Luke questioned, his eyes darting over at her nervously, as though he were expecting her to give him more bad news—news that wo
uld affect their relationship.

Turning around and lifting up her hair, she showed him the tattoo of the swan on her neck. “Do you see how it’s
resting on a black heart now?”

“Yeah, it wasn’t like that before,” Luke said, running his finger over the tattoo, his touch sending an icy feeling to the warmth of her skin.

“Good observation,” Samara murmured. Turning around to face him and letting her hair fall down her back again, she explained, “Colby and I figured out that it means someone I love is going to die. See, the swan symbolizes death, and the heart symbolizes love. I think it’s black because of the whole death aspect.” She met his eyes. “I also know that the Vyka are planning their attack on Saturday.”

“How do you know this?” Luke
questioned, meeting her eyes.

“Kyle’s watch,” Samara replied. She couldn’t tell him the other way she knew without telling him the truth about Grandpa Joe and, even though she was going to be as honest with him as she could be, that was one secret that she couldn’t tell him. “It tells us when the next fight with another pack is going to happen, and it’s Saturday.” She shrugged. “I just have a gut feeli
ng it’s going to be the Vyka.”

Luke nodded. “Yeah, I’ve been thinking the attack will be them, too.” He paused before asking, “Are you trying to tell me that you think someone might die du
ring the fight with the Vyka?”

Samara shrugged. “It seems like it could be a good possibility. Significance tattoos are supposed to tell you something, so . . . someone I care about is going to die. I just don’t know who it is or when it will happen, but I have a feeling it’s n
ot going to be that far away.”

Luke locked eyes with her. “You know what this means, right?”
Samara shook her head. “No, what does it mean?”

“We need to treat every moment like it’s the last, just in case,” Luke said, inching closer to her. As his lips came down on hers, she felt relieved that, for once, they were on the same page.

Chapter 22

Samara’s cell phone rang as she was closing her locker for the day. She glanced down at the caller ID and was relieved to see that it was her mom. “Hey,
Mom,” she said into her phone.

“Samara? What’s been so urgent that you’ve had to call us eleven times?” Her mom sounded worried, and why wouldn’t she be? Samara hardly ever called her lately, and she’d called her—and lef
t messages—all of those times.

Samara ducked into one of the bathrooms so that no one would hear her phone call. “Detective Scotts might be calling you soon. There’s something he’s going to question you about that I haven’t exactly told you about,” she said into the phone. When her mom didn’t respond, she continued. “Grandpa Joe left me a lot of money. I found out about it when I visited Alaska whil
e you were on your cruise—”

Her mom interrupted her. “Alaska? You went to Alaska while we were on our cruise? You were supposed to
be staying with your Aunt Rae.”

“I know,” Samara admitted. “And I’m sorry we weren’t honest with you. Even Aunt Rae wasn’t honest with you, but please don’t be mad at her for this. It’s really my fault. Anyway, the point is . . . I found out that Grandpa Joe left me a lot of money—mill
ions of dollars, to be exact.”

“
Millions
of dollars?” Her mom didn’t just sound shocked now, she sounded in awe. “Sweetie, why haven’t you told us about this until now?”

“I was afraid Dad would be upset,” Samara explained. “I know that Grandpa Joe didn’t leave him very much when he died, and I just didn’t want him to feel left out.” It felt weird referring to her grandfather as being dead, now tha
t she knew he was still alive.

“Oh, honey,” her mother laughed into the phone. “I’m sure your father will be accepting of this news. In fact, are you kidding me? He’ll be more than accepting of it! It means we don’t have to worry about paying for your college tuition, now tha
t it’s already taken care of.”

“Pretty much.” Samara smiled. That was the one good thing about the money her grandfather had left her; her parents wouldn’t have to worry so much
.

“Is that the o
nly thing you had to tell me?”

“It is,” Samara replied. “Well, you should know that the reason Detective Scotts was going to call you
is because I wanted to post bail for Josh. It was set at two million dollars, but then he escaped from prison, anyway, so I don’t need to worry about it now.”

“Samara, that doesn’t sound so good,” her mom replied, taking on the motherly tone that Samara hadn’t heard in quite some time. “I don’t think I like the idea of you hanging out with people who are suspected of murde
r—and who escape from prison.”

“I will admit that it was really dumb for him to escape from prison, but he definitely didn’t kill Lilly o
r Jason,” Samara told her mom.

Her mom didn’t say anything for a few moments, and there was a muffled sound on the other end of the line, as though she were opening a bag of potato chips. “How do you know Jos
h wasn’t the one who did it?” 

“Because Jason is the one who killed Lilly and Seth is the one who killed Jason,” Samara explained in a mere whisper. No one was in the bathroom with her, but she didn’t want to risk anyone hearing her. She had been keeping her mom in the dark about both of those things until now; even though her mom knew that it was good that Jason was dead because he wasn’t a good person, she hadn’t known that her own son w
as the one who had killed him.

“Seth did it?” Her mom sounded disappointed, hurt, a
nd angry—all at the same time.

“Yes, but you can never tell anyone that,” Samara told him. “We have this rule that we don’t tell humans—and especially not authorities—what goes on
with the deaths in our world.”

“I understand,” her mom replied. “Of course I won’t say anything, Samara. I don’t want Seth to go to prison. I’m j
ust a little shocked, is all.”

“If it makes you feel any better, the reason Seth did it was to protect me,” Samara told her mom.
“Jason was trying to kill me.”

“Well, I gu
ess that makes it a little better. I’m glad I raised you kids to always look after each other,” her mom said. The tone of her voice did sound genuinely relieved by this new information.

“You did. I have to get going now, though, Mom,” Samara told her. “Luke is probably waiting for me. I’ll see
you when you get home, okay?”

“Okay, sweetie. Have a fun weekend,” her mom replied. “I love you
.”

“I love you, too, Mom,” Samara said into the phone. She stared at her own reflection in the mirror, wondering what she w
ould look like after Saturday.

She had a feeling that, after Saturday, everything was going to change. She just wasn’t sure how.

*

Saturday night, Samara and he
r pack spent Thursday night having a movie and pizza night. Even though she had finally been open with Luke about her tattoo, she didn’t want to tell the other members of her pack. It made her sad to worry them. What if Kyana or Silas was the one who was going to die? Would Chris or Kyle be able to handle it?

The idea left her fighting back her own tears; she didn’t want to take away any of the happiness that her pack members should be feeling at the moment—especially considering she wasn’t one hundred percent certain that someone would die Saturday. Even as she tried to think positively, though, she couldn’t help but get a re
ally bad feeling about things.

When she and Luke got back home and were getting ready for bed, sh
e turned to him. “I’m scared.”

“I know you are,” Luke said, pulling her close to him. He kissed the top of her head, trying to reassure her. “The thing that you have to remember is that everything happens for a reason, right? Even if it we don’t understand why it happens at the time,
there’s a reason for it all.”

“I know that’s true, but it doesn’t mean I have to like it
,” Samara replied with a sigh.

Luke pulled her down onto the bed with him, so that she was straddling him. “I know you don’t like it. I don’t like it. But you should try not to wor
ry about it until it happens.”

“You always know the right things to say,” Samara said, inching closer to him. She pressed her lips against his and slid off his shirt. “I wish we could just stay in bed until Sa
turday,” she whispered to him.

“That’s fine with me,” Luke replied, kissing her neck and running his hands down her sides, which scent a shivery feeling down her spine and made
goose bumps rise on her arms.

As Samara slid out of her shirt and brought her mouth down on his again, the only thing that she could think about was how she wished that moment could last forever.