Wolfsbane (Howl #3) (23 page)

Chapter
27

Shortly after breakfast, Samara and the guys all headed over to Troy’s house. Kyana stayed at the Jackson’s house, mostly because Chris didn’t feel comfortabl
e about her going to the house
in case a fight ensued, but also so that someone could stick
around and keep an eye on Emma, in case she woke up,
and watch out for Linda, in case Darren came home from Alaska.

If anything bad were
to happen while they were gone, Kyana was to alert Chris of it.

No one had heard from Rain since the initiation ceremonies, even though Steve had called her a few times to make sure that she was okay. Samara decided that if she didn’t call him back within the next few days, she was going to have to make sure Rain really wanted to be an Ima.

Samara led her pack to the house that Emma had taken her to the night they’d gone to see Troy.
It made her so angry knowing that this whole situation might have been avoidable in the first place; i
f she could go back to that night and find a way to keep both Emma
and
the talisman, she would have.

When they rang the doorbell, no one answered.

“Well, it looks like no one’s home,” Chris said after a few moments of waiting.

The house was dark inside, and everything was quiet—but it had been the same way the night she and Emma had gone there by themselves.
Would Troy open the door knowing that most of the Ima pack was standing on his doorstep?

“I have a feeling,” Samara began, before reaching out her hand and turning the doorknob. The door opened. She turned to her pack. “Come on.”

“How did you know it was going to be open?” Luke whispered to her.

Samara shrugged. “It was open the
last time I was here, too.”

They all stared back at her questioningly, and she knew they were probably wondering the same thing as she was: what had happened to the girl who had been too afraid to open the door to Joe McKinley’s cabin even though she’d had a key? Here she was now, breaking a
nd entering for real this time.

Samara was no longer afraid. She couldn’t
be—not if she was going to be the Alpha her pack deserved.

The afternoon sunlight streamed in through the windows, making it easy to see everything in the house this time, unlike the last time she had been inside, when everything had been dark and a little bit scary. She hadn’t been able to see the first time that Troy’s family had a really modern, spacey home. It almost seemed like the type of house that she didn’t expect a werewolf fami
ly to live in for some reason.

Luckily, Troy’s parents didn’t seem to be home, so Samara did the first thing she could think of; she climbed the staircase. Her
pack members hesitantly followed her
, and she was positive that the only reason they were
letting her lead them
was because they wanted to make sure that she stayed safe if something did go wrong.

When she reached the top of the staircase, Samara found that one of the doors was closed
. She pressed her ear against the wood
and noticed the
sound of faint snoring behind it.
Glancing over her shoulder
to make sure her pack was still close behind
, she flung open the bedroom door.

Sure enough, Troy was sprawled out across his bed, his legs entwined with the blue comforter.

Deciding that she wanted to just get this over with, she tapped Troy on the shoulder. When his eyes popped open, he let out a low, distinctive growling sound.

“What do you want?” Troy
snapped at her.

“We need to talk to you,” Samara told him, sitting down at his computer desk and crossing her legs. She stared at him intently, as if to prove to him
that she wasn’t going anywhere until he spoke to them.

“What is it?” Troy asked groggily, sitting up in bed. He had an unhappy look on his face.

“Well, we need that ring back,” Samara began, and Troy shook his head immediately.

“No. I refuse to discuss this with you,” Troy replied, glancing down at his hands. “If that’s all you came here for, then we’re done.”

Samara glanced over at Luke, who nodded encouragingly. “Here’s the thing, Troy. It’s not just one-sided. We’re willing to make a bargain with you. If you can give us the ring back, we can let you in on a valuable piece of information.”

Troy perked up. “What is it?”

“Well, I’m not going to tell you unless you give the ring to me,” Samara replied. “But let’s just say, it’s something that you would be interested in knowing about. Your whole pack would be interested in knowing about it, really, since it would benefit all of you. It has to do with my grandfather, Joe McKinley. It’s a family secret, so to speak.” She winked at him, trying to make her offer seem enticing.

Troy sat up. “If you can tell me what it is, I might be able to get you the talisman.”

Ah, so he
did
know that the blue sapphire ring was her grandfather’s legendary talisman. It made her wonder how he knew when Colby, the werewolf history buff, hadn’t even known until he’d seen the McKinley family photo album.

Luke shook his head. “No, we want to see the talisman in your hands ready to hand to us before we give you this piece of information. All we can say is that it will make you
and your pack
stronger.”

“Damnit, I thought I could trick you into just telling me without the talisman,” Troy muttered.

Samara gritted her teeth. “Look, Troy. We’re playing nice right now. We need the talisman. If you hand it over to us, we’ll give you something in exchange for it. But if you don’t, we will
do whatever it takes to get it . . .
even if that means killing you or any of the other members from your pack.” Wow, she had never threatened to kill anyone before, and
even after the words came out of her mouth,
she wasn’t sure how she felt about it. She
just hoped that it would be nothing more than a threat.

Troy met her gaze with his h
azel eyes. “I would consider your offer if I had the talisman
. The problem is, I don’t.”

“Are you lying to me?” Samara asked. “Pretending that you don’t have it is all fine and dandy, but I will go through your whole entire house if I have to in order to find it.”

Troy shook his head. “No, I’m telling
you
the truth. I-I don’t have it.
I gotta be honest, I sort of wish I did because I’m curious about what info you can give me.
” He
paused. “Someone—a man—c
ame
here, in the middle of the night, threatening to kill my parents if I didn’t hand over the talisman. So, I did what anyone who loves their parents would do. I gave it to him.”

Colby’s opened his mouth, and Samara was pretty sure he was going to defend his dad at first. But then his face paled, as he remembered last night’s even
ts, and he didn’t say anything.

“I believe you,” Samara said quietly, convinced by his story.
She wasn’t sure why
, but she really believed Troy about this.

At that moment, something dawned on her.

“Troy?” she asked. “You told me that Jason stole the talisman from you at one point. Did you have it first, or did he?”

“I did,” Troy replied. “It was given to me by someone—someone who asked me to keep it safe. Then one day, Jason came here in the middle of the night and stole it out of my bedroom.” He shrugged. “I never knew how Jason found out
that I was the one who had it.”

“
Who asked you to keep it safe?” Samara questioned, mostly out of curiosity than the need to know.

Troy ran a hand over his hair, which was disheveled from having just slept on it. “That’s really none of your concern. Someone who wants it, that’s all.”

Samara sighed. She wanted to question him further, but from the tone in his voice, she could tell that he was going to start getting irritated with her soon. “Okay, I guess we’ll let you be right now. I’m sorry we just barged in here like that. It was rude, and I hope it doesn’t cause any issues between us.” The last thing she needed was Rocco threatening to kill her—even though she wasn’t afraid of him, she had enough on her plate to deal with right now.
She didn’t want to have to worry about Rocco, too.

“It’s okay.
” Troy shrugged. As her pack members backed out of the room and she was
about to follow them, he added,
“Samara? If I ever get the talisman back, I might think about taking you up on that offer. I’ll just need to talk to the person I’m supposed to be keeping it safe for first. I guess I’m not s
uch a good jewelry baby-sitter, though, anyway.”

Samara laughed. “Thanks, Troy, that means a lot to me.”

Once they were back outside
and most of the pack was walking in front of her , Luke turned to her.
“So, you really believe him.”

“I must admit that I do,” she agreed. As they turned a corner, they found Emma and Kyana strolling towards them. Samara wondered what was going on. The attitude was written all over Emma’s face and within her body language; her arms were crossed, and she looked like she was ready to roll her eyes as she approached them.

Kyana, on th
e other hand, appeared nervous and remained a few steps behind Emma.

“I’m so sorry! Please don’t be mad at me. I know I was supposed to keep her at the house, and I told Emma that she couldn’t come because she wouldn’t be ready if there was a fight, bu
t she insisted on us coming anyway
.
The most I could do was come along with her, so she didn’t get lost or something,” Kyana said befo
re running over to Chris, who sc
ooped her up into his arms, planting a kiss on her forehead and smoothing back her silky black hair.

For once, Josh didn’t even give him an angry look for their public display of affection. Samara wondered if he was beginning to accept the way things turned out.

“I’m angry with all of you right now. I hate being left out of things like this, Samara,” Emma complained. “If you don’t think I’m ready to fight or something, then just tell me. But don’t leave me in the dark, or else I’ll worry about you. All of you guys,” she said, turning to them. “You’re my new family now. And I’m going to be a part of your pack, so you need to make me feel like it, okay?”

Samara nodded. “I will from now on, I promise.
I’m sorry if I made you feel left out.” She
didn’t even have to tell her pack to apologize; the apologies started flowing
all
on their own.

“I’m sorry, too,” Chris said, hugging Kyana close to him. “You’re cool, Emma.”

“Yeah, I don’t mind having you as a new little sis,” Steve said with a grin.

“I’ll always tell you the truth, Emma,” Luke said. “Scout’s honor.”

“Sorry, Emma,” Josh said sheepishly. “I’ll make it up to you. The next time you ask me to cheat on a test, I’ll say yes instead of no.”

Emma grinned. “Sweet!”

Kyle t
ook a step forward and told her.
“I’ll give you some real dati
ng tips if you forgive me—g
uaranteed to help you land a guy in a week.”

“Puh-lease,” Emma replied with an eye roll. “I so don’t need your dating tips. I’ll be fine on my own.” She giggled. “I d
o accept your apology, though.”

Everyone turned to Colby, expecting him to
apologize
next since he was the only one who hadn’t said anything yet.

“Holy shit!” Colby grumbled. The expression on his face was unreadable, though his face had turned a vibrant shade of tomato red. “You have
got
to be kidding me.”

Everyone just gaped at him, surprised by his random outburst. Steve was the first to speak up. “Colby Jack? Did you just swear? He’s
such a potty mouth!” he joked.

“
The kid
never curses,” Chris
muttered. “This has to be big.”

Colby, I know you don’t like Emma, but you can at least apologize to her
, Samara told him through mind-speak, as she glared at him.
Just be mature about this for once. Be the bigger person.

No, it’s not what it looks like Sam
, Colb
y replied. He turned to Emma. “I’m sorry, but y
ou’re going to have to forgive me, whether you like it or not.”

“Oh, and why is that?” Emma asked, standing taller and toss
ing her hair over her shoulder.
She placed her hands on her hips, waiting to see what his answer would be.

“Because you’re my mate,” Colby whispered. Then, louder, to the rest of the pack, he said, “Emma’s my mate.”

“What?
Ew
! No way!” Emma gaped at him. “There is no way in hell you could be my . . . I got paired with . .
.”
She trailed off, glancing at him. Her face softened a little
.