Cursed (Howl, #6) (4 page)

“Well, that’s what happens sometimes when you share a room with someone. Sometimes you get sick of them. It’s just the way it goes. But that’s not any reason for you to turn your back on him. He’s a part of this pack, so he deserves the same treatment we’d give you if you ever got arrested,” Colby pointed out,
shaking his head in annoyance.

“But don’t you think it will look a little weird to the police station if Samara McKinley—who was originally a suspect in Lilly’s murder case—just walked in and handed over two million dollars to bail Josh out of jail? They might think it’s a little fishy. Just saying,” Steve said, throwing his h
ands up in the air innocently.

“Not if we post bail as an anonymous donor,” Samara said, coming up with the idea on the spot. “I have an idea. Why don’
t we all take a vote on this?”

“That sounds like a reasonable idea,” Colby agreed. He glanced over at Steve and added, “Since it’s obvious that we won’t be able to agree on this one.”

“All in favor of posting Josh’s bail?” Samara asked, glancing around at her pack members. Emma, Colby, Luke, and Seth raised their hands.

“All in favor of letting Josh stay in jail like he wants?” Steve asked, raising his hand high in the air. Chris, Kyana, Kyle, and Silas all followed suit. Penelope raised her hand, too, seeming hesitant to do so because she wasn’t taking Seth’s side on this. 

“Okay, so there’s four votes yes and five votes no,” Emma said, counting on her fingers. Her forehead wrinkled in confusion when she glanced over at Samara. “You didn’t raise your hand.”

“I thought I would let you guys make this decision so there would be an odd number,” Samara replied. “If I were to vote yes like I want
to, it would be an even split.”

“Actually, come to think of it, there is one pack member who’s missing,” Emma pointed out. “If you were to vote and Declan did, too, it could make a difference.”

Samara felt her heart thump against her chest, just at the mention of Declan’s name. She hadn’t expected for it to hurt so much just to hear the name of her old best friend and the guy she had almost been mated to spoken aloud, but she wasn’t sure why. She had loved him . . . and as much as she wanted to deny it and she knew that Luke could never find out, a part of her always would.

“Has anyone heard from Declan?” Luke asked from his spot next to her. He glanced over at Samara with an uncomfortable glance, and she couldn’t help but wonder if he had overheard her thoughts about loving Declan. When she met his emerald green eyes, though, she knew that he hadn’t. Even though he looked uncomfortab
le, his eyes revealed no pain.

“The last I heard from Declan was when he called me to say he couldn’t make it to the wedding,” Silas answered, as he stood next to Kyle, holding his hand. “I don’t think anyone else h
as heard from him since then.”

“We haven’t seen him since before the wedding,” Emma agreed. “I texted him to see if he wanted to go see a movie with me, so I could
get away from Colby for a bit—”

“Hey, I wasn’t being that annoy
ing that day!” Colby insisted.

“No, you were just following me around like a puppy dog,” Emma replied with an eye roll. She turned back to Samara. “Anyway, he never answered my text message, and I haven’t heard from him since. It’s kind of strange, because Declan’s always the type to get back to me right away.”

“You’re right,” Samara murmured. At least, when Declan had only been just a friend, he had been the type to get back to her right away. Things had changed when she’d first been bitten by Colby and then later when she found out she was mated to Luke. Even after that happened, though, when the Ima and Vyka packs had merged, Samara had been able to feel rest assured knowing that Declan would be there if she needed him to be.

Now, she knew that he wouldn’t be. At least, she assumed that he wouldn’t be, considering she hadn’t heard from him since the day before the wedding, and it was obvious that he was avoiding their entire pack just because he wanted to avoid her.

“Are we all sure he’s okay? Do you think Darren might have gotten to him?” Colby questioned. Even though Colby hadn’t called Darren Jackson his dad in quite some time now, it was still strange for Samara to hear Colby refer to his father by his first name.

“Anything could have happened,” Seth replied. “Except, don’t you think that Darren would have used Declan as some sort of ransom or something? He would have made sure that he let us know if he did anyth
ing to hurt him . . . I think.”

“Darren probably would have, but another pack might not have let us know,” Kyle said, ruffling his copper hair. “I don’t think it was the Shomecossee, now that we’re on good terms with them, but it might been another pack in the area. Or maybe even another p
ack that was passing through.”

“That’s so scary. Poor Declan,” Silas said, a look of fear in his eyes.

“Guys, we don’t even know that’s what happened,” Kyana said gently. “Let’s try not to get ahead of ourselves. There’s probably a perfectly logical explanation for why Declan hasn’t been around. If I had to guess, I would say it’s probably because he feels dumb because he didn’t show up for Samara and Luke’s wedding.”

“True, he probably knows what bad wedding etiquette it is to cancel on the day of the wedding,” Silas agreed, his brown eyes relaxing a little bit. “Especially when you’re supposed to be
in
the wedding,” he added with what sounded like disgust.

“Or something really bad did happen to him,” Chris said. “I know Declan’s a quiet guy who sticks to himself most of the time, but he’s not a wimp, either. I think somethin
g might have happened to him.”

Even though Samara knew that the theory her pack was mentioning about something happening to Declan was a possibility, she somehow knew, deep down, that nothing had happened to him. The reason he was avoiding the pack was because she had gone through with her marriage to Luke. If only Declan knew the reason Samara had gone through with
it was partly because of him.

She knew she couldn’t keep thinking that way. Samara couldn’t blame her decision on Declan forever. She had married Luke because she loved him. She’d said yes when Luke had asked her to marry him before she even knew that there was a possibility that she and Declan could have worked out. Even if she had never been re-mated to Declan, she would have married Luke. The only thing she could blame Declan for was second-guessing whether she was making the right decision or not.

“Maybe you should try talking to him, Sam,” Colby suggested. “We all need to know if he’s okay. Since he’s not answering Emma, you should use your Alpha abilities to find out what’s going on.”

“Okay,” Samara agreed, even though she felt sort of hesitant—and nervous—about it. She had wanted to reach out to Declan, to see if they were still able to mentally communicate with one another as though they were still mated or if marrying Luke had broken the bond between them. She’d been too afraid to find out the answer or to deal with what it would mean, though, so instead she’d avoided trying to communicate with him at all. But she had no other choice now, as her pack members stood ar
ound and stared at her, waiting to see what would happen.

Declan? Can you still hear me?
Samara thought, glancing over at Luke. His facial expression didn’t change, so Samara knew that he hadn’t heard what she’d said to Declan. If he had, he would have wondered why Declan wouldn’t be able to hear her.

Since she was Alpha, Declan technically should have been able to hear her, but she was trying to communicate with him the same way she did when they were mated to one another, rather than the way she mentally communicated with her other pack members. Not that it really mattered, though; Declan could have blocked her out as his pack Alpha, the same way Rain had blocked her out when she had disassociated herself from the pack.

Declan?
Samara asked again, just in case he hadn’t heard her the first time.

She waited for a long moment to see if Declan would answer her. Her heart thumped against her chest the whole time, so strongly that she was afraid it would thump itself out of her chest. After a few minutes, it became clear to Samara that Declan hadn’t heard her—that their bond really had been broken—or that he was choosing not to answer her. 

Either way, Samara knew that there was no way she was going to get a response from him. Not at that moment and probably never again.

Declan wasn’t her mate, and he was no longer her best friend anymore, either. Whatever had been—and whatever could have been—between the
m was lost, broken, destroyed.

Glancing back up at her pack members and trying to hold back the tears that threatened to fill her eyes, Samara shook her head. “Declan isn’t going to come down
here today, guys. He’s busy.”

Somehow, lying to her pack members was easier than telling them the truth. If she didn’t lie, she was going to have to find a way to explain the truth—which was that Declan was mad at her for getting married, for choosing Luke over him. Samara wanted to keep that just between the two of them. She didn’t want anyone in her pack—or their pack, if Declan ever came back—to find out the truth about what had gone on between them.

Emma’s forehead wrinkled in confusion. “What could he be so busy with that he doesn’t have time for his own pack?”

“For serious. Sounds fishy to me,” Ste
ve agreed. “I call tuna fish.”

“Tuna fish? Seriously? You’re lame, dude,” Chris said, shaking his head sadly.

“You ever taste tuna fish? It leaves a nasty ass taste in your mouth—just like this situation with Declan,” Steve explained.

Samara sighed. The last thing she had wanted was for her pack members to be angry with Declan by filling them in on the real truth. She made up the first excuse that came to her mind. “He’s just going through some family stuff, and his great-aunt”—she started to say that his great-aunt had died, but then she realized that her pack members might send him their condolences, so she quickly changed it to—“decided to move to Boston, so he’s helping her out with the move.” She hoped that no one in the pack would say anything about that. The truth was, she didn’t even know if Declan
had
a great-aunt.

“I hope everything’s okay otherwise,” Seth murmured, and Samara knew that what she had said worried her brother. Seth had gotten close to both Declan and his father while he had lived at their house when he was a part of the Vyka pack and Samara had chosen to be an Ima, which had forbade them fr
om living under the same roof.

“Everything’s going to be fine,” Samara replied. She was beginning to feel guilty about lying to her pack, so she quickly changed the subject. “So, the decision has been made. We’re going to let Josh stay in jail, at least for a little while longer. Not all of us agree with this decision, but it’s what he said he wants. Now, let’s move on to the next important matter of business. We’re going to the Catskills to find the coroner who did my grandfather’s autopsy, just like we talked about last night. We need answers,
and we’re going to get them.”

Kyana’s almond-shaped brown eyes widened with c
uriosity. “When are we going?”

“Right now,” Samara replied. “Let’s go.”

Chapter 5

The drive to the Catskills was long and boring. Samara spent most of the time listening to the Katy Perry CD that she had brought along for the ride—all the while trying not to remind herself that Declan was the one who had bought it for her birthday present. She also tried not to think about the fact that the diamond-encrusted star pendant, which she wore underneath her sweatshirt, had also been a gift from Declan—a private gift, which he hadn’t wanted Luke to see. Even though it felt wrong for her to wear it in a way—wrong because she knew that Luke wouldn’t be happy if he knew where it had come from—Samara recalled that Declan had wanted her to wear it, even after he was gone. He’d said that he wanted to give her something speci
al for her to remember him by.

She would wear it forever, but she would hope that Luke would never find out where it had come from. As horrible as she felt about keeping it a secret from him, she also knew that it was easier that way. Luke would be hurt if he knew the truth, an
d she didn’t want to hurt him.

“Twenty-two . . . twenty-three . . . twenty-four,” Emma counted aloud
from the backseat of the car.

“What are you counting? And aren’t you hot in that outfit?” Samara asked, glancing over her shoulder at Emma, who was donning a hot pink puff coat with a furry grey hood, cheetah print UGG boots, and a lime green scarf. Considering werewolves had elevated body temperatures, there was really no need f
or those clothing items at all.

“Pain is beauty, Sam,” Emma replied with an eye roll. “You should try it sometime. It might things a little less . . . boring,” she said, eyeing Samara’s ensemble, which was nothing more than a maroon sweatshirt, jeans, and sneakers. “And I’m counting the number of deer I’ve seen since we’ve been in the Catskills. There’s nothing else for me to do back here. Colby’s been snoring
most of the way.”

“I have not!” Colby insisted, as he sat up with awareness. Samara was pretty sure that she had, in fact, heard him snoring only moments before. Colby glanced out the window and said, “You know a lot of wolves I’ve talked to have claimed that they’ve seen m
ountain lions up here before.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard that about Pennsylvania before, too, but I’ve personally never seen one,” Luke chimed in from
the driver’s seat.

“Just because you haven’t seen them before doesn’t mean they’re not there,” Samara pointed out, probably a little bit more defensively than she probably should have. 

“I suppose that’s probably true,” Luke agreed, running a hand over his light brown hair. He glanced into the rearview mirror. “Are we getting any closer to Ed Rickard’s house, Colby?”

Colby glanced down at the GPS on his cell phone. “Yeah, it looks like his house is about two miles down this street.” He rubbed his palms together anxiously. “I have to admit, I was nervous about coming here at first, but . . . I do hope Ed is home. Do you know
what an honor this is for us?”

Samara raised an eyebrow at him. “Meeting a werewolf coroner? He probably does . . . what, one autopsy every decade or something? It’s not like most werewolves die, and when they do, they don’t normally die
of unknown causes that often.”

“More like werewolves
never
die of unknown causes,” Colby agreed. “In fact, I’m pretty sure Joe McKinley is the only known werewolf in history who is known to have ever needed to have an autopsy done. And that’s why it’s such an honor to meet this coroner. He’s like a legend. Not many people have gotten the opportunity to meet him.”

“I wonder why that is,” Samara
said.

“It’s simple, really. Why do you think he lives all the way out here in the mountains? After he did Joe McKinley’s autopsy, he became a bit of a recluse.” Colby’s brow furrowed, as he considered what this could mean for the very first time. “Now that I know that your grandfather might still be alive, it’s beginning to make even more sense. Maybe Ed didn’t want anyone to find him and figure out this whole thing was nothing more than a great big hoax.”

Samara nodded. “It
does
make sense, but . . . he must not have tried to stay that well hidden if we found him so easily. How were you able to find out where he lived, anyway?”

“Word of mouth,” Colby replied with a shrug. “You find out things like this when your father—err, in the biological sense, at least—was the Alpha of his pack for so many years. Even though it’s usually considered taboo to befriend your enemies, packs do talk to each other sometimes. It’s uncommon to build alliances with packs in the same area because you’re fighting over territory, but it’s not uncommon to make friends with packs from other states.” He paused for a few moments before adding, “Things are beginning to make a little more sense to me now, though. Jason had friends in the Catskills, and I know that Ed lives here because Darren always had open communication with packs up here, too. I didn’t think about it at the time, when Jason was still alive, but I guess it’s another one of the father-son bonds they shared with each other. Darren probably brought Jason up here and introduced him arou
nd . . . probably as his son.”

Samara didn’t say anything in response. She knew that there was nothing she could say to make Colby feel better over something like this. It was one of the things that would probably be hard to deal with until the end of time. Nothing anyone could
ever say would make it better.

“Well, I, for one, feel a lot like Nancy Drew right now,” Emma chimed in. “It’s like we’re playing detectives, hunting this guy down and
all. It’s really sort of fun.”

Colby rolled his eyes at her. “You’re the farthest thing from Nancy Drew, Emma.
She was really inconspicuous.”

“I’m inconspicuous, too!” Emma insisted. She glanced down at her brightly-colored outfit before adding, “Well, except for the fact that I wear pink a lot. Pink isn’t very inconspicuous. And neithe
r is lime green.” She shrugged.

“Actually, come to think of it, I think you are better at hiding things than you seem. We’re both pretty good
at it.” Colby winked at Emma. 

Samara gaped at them, wondering what they were acting so secretive over again. It made her feel out of the loop, even though she knew it was probably a good thing that her best friend and Colby had secrets with one another. Mates were supposed to have secrets with one another, weren’t they? Samara had almost been mated to Declan, and sh
e’d had secrets with him . . .

Glancing over at Luke, Samara realized that they didn’t have any secrets. Well, Samara had secrets, but they were secrets that she was keeping from Luke—not ones that she shared with him. He still didn’t know that she had been mated to Declan again, or that she had almost chosen him as her mate. He also didn’t know that Brad Kelly had been her tutor—or, at least, Samara hadn’t been the one to tell him. She didn’t think that Luke had known . . . not until she h
ad seen the picture, at least.

Maybe Samara shouldn’t feel so guilty about keeping secrets from Luke. It seemed that he might have been keeping a secret from Samara, too—a secret that she would never be able to forgive him for if
she ever found out the truth.

“You have arrived at your destination,” the woman’s robot-like voice on the GPS said, and Luke stopped the car in front of a brick ranch style house. The front yard looked slightly rundown, with the brushes and shrubs appearing wild and overgrown. It gave the eerie impression that no one lived there at all.

Samara glanced around and noticed that Chris had stopped his car behind theirs. Kyana, Steve, Silas, and Kyle all climbed out. Seth parked his car behind them, and he and Penelope got out of his car, too.

The only thing that made Samara feel relieved about being here was that she had definitely brought backup with her. It hadn’t been necessary for the whole pack to come along on this trip, but if Ed Rickards called his pack there because he didn’t want to speak to them, at least they would be pre
pared to fight if they had to.

“Are we ready to do this?” Samara asked, feeling sort of nervous now that this was really happening—now that they were about to knock on Ed’
s door.

“Yes, we are ready to do this,” Luke told her, his green eyes gleaming with a look of confidence. Samara wondered if that confidence was what had made him feel
like he could kill Brad . . .

She tried to shake the thought away, once again. The last thing she needed to do right now was worry about whether or not Luke had killed Brad, even though it had been the only thing on her mind during their entire honeymoon. It was why she had felt too weird to e
ven be in the same room with him, and it was also why their honeymoon hadn’t been as romantic as they both had originally expected it to be. They hadn’t even consummated their marriage because, the whole time, Samara had used the excuse that she was too tired or that she wasn’t feeling well, especially after the shark attack. Luke had seemed like he was okay with it, but she wasn’t sure if he really was.

She couldn’t keep worrying about the Brad thing right now, though. It would only make things more confusing for her and right now, she didn’t need confusing. She needed to figure out what was
going on with her grandfather.

Pulling herself from the car, Samara walked down the driveway. Before she had the chance to even think twice about it, she was knocking loudly on the front door. Her heart froze in the back of her chest, as she waite
d for someone to open the door.

When she didn’t hear anything—no footsteps or even a dog barking—she turned away from the house and back to her pack members, who were all huddled around in a circle, waiting just as anxiously as she was for someone to come to the door. 

“May I help you?” a voice said from behind her, and Samara whirled around to find a man staring back at her. A lump formed in the back of her throat when she realized that she recognized the guy who stood in front of her, and judging from the look in his eyes, he somehow recognized her, too. She couldn’t even call him a man because he still looked like a teenager, just like he had the last time she had seen him. Even though she had only been a small child—maybe five or six—when she’d met him at a Fourth of July BBQ before he ran away from home, Samara still remembered what he looked like—and he hadn’t changed one bit.

The guy’s real name wasn’t Ed Rickards. It was actually Williams. He was Edda Williams’ son, Eddie.