A Girl and Her Wolf (Howl, #7) (15 page)

Chapter 22: Emma

“There’s got to be something we can do,” Emma insisted after their search of the backyard and barn didn’t uncover Davenport. She felt so stressed out about their Godson being missing that her palms had begun to shake.

Every few minutes, she reached for her cell phone in her pocket, tempted to call Sam and Declan, even though she knew Colby was right; they needed to wait, at least long enough to see if they could find Daven on their own. But what if they couldn’t?

“Perhaps it would be in all of our best interest to contact the authorities,” Bennett suggested. “If we file a missing person report, they could have the whole town look for him.”

Emma tried not to scoff at how ironic it was that they might file a missing
person
report for someone who, technically, wasn’t a person. The last thing they needed was to draw
more
attention to their werewolf Godson.

“But then Sam and Declan might get wind of the fact that he’s missing,” Colby pointed out. At that moment, a light bulb seemed to go off in his head. “However, I do have an idea about how we might be able to find him sooner.”

“How?” Emma and Bennett asked in unison.

“We need to call together all of the other local wolves,” he explained. “If we’re
all
looking for Daven, the odds of us finding him are better than if we try to do this alone.”

“I don’t know, Colby,” Emma replied hesitantly. “The more people there are involved, the more likely it is that Sam and Declan will find out that we kept this from them one day.”

“And the greater the chances of us finding Davenport are, too,” he insisted. “Just trust me on this, Em, okay? I have a really good feeling about it.”

She sighed, relenting. “Okay, fine. But let’s hurry. Time is running out.” Even though she couldn’t hear his thoughts, one look in Colby’s eyes told her that he was thinking the same thing as her: time might have
already
run out.

*

When they approached the woods on Old Mill Road, which was where the Shomecossee always hung out, goose bumps rose on Emma’s arms, legs, and neck. Something about being in those woods—the very same woods that both Luke and Orkos had died in—gave her an eerie, déjà vu-like feeling. It was the first time they’d been back since that fateful night, but it still gave her a bad feeling.

“How do we even know this is still their territory?” she whispered to Colby. “Maybe they’ve moved somewhere else . . . somewhere less creepy.”

Colby shook his head. “No, this is definitely still their territory. Trust me. They might have changed their name to the Ariel, for whatever reason, but they wouldn’t give up on their territory.”

“If you say so,” Emma replied, glancing around. Every step deeper into the woods she took, she felt like Troy, Rocco, and the rest of the Ariel pack were just going to pop out at any moment.

They were about halfway up the grassy hill that would lead them to the parking lot when she heard footsteps from somewhere behind her. Whirling around, she scanned the woods for a bunch of angry, pissed off-looking werewolves when she saw it. A lone deer wandering its way across the forest, shooting frightened looks in their direction every so often.

“Em, you just need to calm down,” Colby told her.

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Our Godson is missing
and
we’re on enemy territory. I don’t know how you can be so calm.”

He shrugged. When he met her gaze, though, Emma knew that he really
wasn’t
calm. He was only trying to act calm so that she wouldn’t be so afraid. In a way, it was really sweet and admirable of him. She might have been able to appreciate it more if it didn’t feel like she was going to vomit out of sheer worry.

Colby cleared his throat. “Anyway, it doesn’t look like they’re here right now. Maybe they’re at home. Why don’t we go visit Troy at his house?”

Emma hesitated. The idea of going to Troy’s house made her stomach churn.

Before she got the chance to answer Colby, though, she heard Troy’s familiar voice from behind them. “Actually, that won’t be necessary. I’m right here. And I’m all ears.”

“We need your help,” Colby told him. “We’re missing baby Davenport. We were thinking that maybe you could help us get an area-wide search going for him. The only thing is that we can’t let word of this get back to Samara and Declan.”

Troy laughed and took a few steps forward. “Why would make you think that
I
would help you find Davenport? Unless we were going to agree to finders’ keepers, of course.”

“Gee, I don’t know. Maybe out of the goodness of your heart? Oh, wait, that’s right. You don’t
have
any goodness in your heart,” Emma snapped at him. “I don’t know why we thought you might be able to help us. This was probably a stupid idea. Come on, Colby. Let’s get out of here.”

“Actually, I might have some information you would be interested in knowing,” Troy said, his eyes blazing in the moonlight.

Colby stared at him evenly. “Oh, yeah? Like what?”

Troy shrugged. “Like where t
he baby you’re looking for is.”

Chapter 2
3: Colby

“Where is he?” Colby asked, letting out a low, defensive growl and taking a step forward. No one messed with Luke’s son without getting past him first.

“Calm down, Colby Jack. Davenport is being cared for very well, I assure you. Growling at me isn’t going to change the fact that Davenport is rightfully a part of the Ariel pack,” Troy replied, shaking his head. “I’m just surprised that the two of you didn’t catch onto it any sooner.”

“What do you mean Daven is a part of your pack?” Emma asked quietly. She didn’t say it aloud, but Colby could hear her thoughts in his mind clearly:
I
knew
that Davenport had the virus. It wasn’t just a cold like we thought.

Colby swallowed hard.
This is all my fault, Em. I should have listened to you. I should have believed you when you said you thought there was something really wrong with him.

She met his eyes.
Don’t blame yourself, Colby. It’s not your fault. Like the doctor said, this virus is really rare.

“It’s simple,” Troy said, interrupting their mental exchange of thoughts. “What I mean is that Davenport belongs to us.”

“How do you even know that?” Emma questioned, eyeing him curiously.
How did he know if
we
didn’t even know that Daven was meant to be an Ariel, even though we’ve been watching him
all
week? Are we really that oblivious to everything?

“It’s hard to explain, and you wouldn’t even believe me if I tried,” Troy said, circling Emma and Colby. “I had this feeling that there was another member of our pack. I knew they were in town, somewhere, but I didn’t know where exactly. Of course, I thought that this new member was someone who’d just made the change or who was recently bit by someone else in our pack. It didn’t even cross my mind that
Davenport Kingsbury
, the most legendary werewolf pup in the world, could be the pack member that I felt the magnetic pull to. I didn’t realize it until I saw the three of you in the park.”

Colby blinked, thinking back to when they’d seen Troy. “What does seeing us in the park have to do with anything?”

“It was the strangest thing, especially since this doesn’t normally happen with werewolf babies. When I saw little Davenport, I could hear his thoughts loud and clear. He was thinking about how much he missed his parents.” Troy shook his head and then laughed. “Can you imagine my surprise, hearing this baby’s thoughts? At first, I thought I was going out of my mind. So, I contacted Keith Romero.”

“Who the hell is Keith Romero?” Emma asked exasperatedly.

“He’s the smartest werewolf historian,” Colby explained. “The guy’s a genius.”

“Indeed, he is,” Troy agreed. “He told me about the rare virus that causes werewolf pups to be a part of another nearby pack. No one knows what causes it, but it’s real and pups with the virus do exist. Davenport happens to be one of them.”

“Yeah, we know all about that virus,” Emma replied with a sigh.
How can I even be mad about this all when he’s right? Daven clearly
is
meant to be an Ariel.

It doesn’t matter what he’s meant to be. We’ll get him back
, Colby said, shooting a glance in her direction and reaching for her hand.

“If you know about the virus, then didn’t you think it was strange when you saw that Davenport sneezes in
our
pack color?” Troy questioned. With a smirk, he added, “Or are the two of you such bad babysitters that you were completely oblivious to what was going on with him?”

“We noticed, but we didn’t know what it meant,” Emma admitted. “Look, Troy. I understand that this virus means that Davenport is a part of the Ariel, but can you just give him back to us? This wasn’t supposed to happen, and you know it. It’s not fair. It’s just like when you changed me into a werewolf. You didn’t even give me a choice about whether or not I wanted this life. You just bit me. It wasn’t fair. You’re just not fair.”

I hope I don’t sound too whiney. I want him to feel guilty
, Emma said, shooting an apologetic glance in Colby’s direction. He shook his head.

“You know what I think isn’t fair?” Troy asked, moving closer so that he was only an inch away from her face. “I think it isn’t fair that the Tala pack seems to get away with everything and, even though you’re all very weak, everyone thinks you’re the strongest pack in the whole country all because of the McKinley link. How is
that
fair?”

This time, it was Emma’s turn to snarl at him.

Troy laughed. “No, as far as I’m concerned, Davenport is
rightfully
our pup. He will be raised by Mickey, one of the young moms from our pack. She has two pups of her own already, so she knows all there is to know about werewolf babies.” With a smile, he added, “And, in case you’re wondering, Davenport’s sneezing and coughing seems to be getting better now that he’s with the pack he belongs to.”

Colby could feel himself growing desperate. It sucked more than anything that Davenport had this virus, but now that he did, Colby needed to find a way to get him back. He couldn’t just give up and let Davenport be a part of the Tala—and he wanted to do it all before Samara and Declan got back from their honeymoon, without them ever knowing.

“There has to be something we can trade you in exchange for Davenport.” An idea came to Colby’s mind. They were supposed to keep wolfsbane a secret, but he knew that Joe McKinley wouldn’t mind him sharing in this one instance. “Do you want to know which plant Joe McKinley
really
used to make himself stronger and to disguise his scent? We lied to your pack about it years ago.”

Troy rolled his eyes. “We know all about your lie. And we know all about wolfsbane, too. Let’s just say that things aren’t kept secret in this area for very long.”

“Who told you about it?” Emma asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

“Josh Masterson told us about it before he died,” Troy replied. “It hardly matters now, though. Wolfsbane isn’t going to help you get that baby back.”

Colby sighed. “Come on, Troy. Stop being such a dick. Just tell us what we need to do for you to let Davenport go and for him to be a part of our pack again? It doesn’t have to be messy or complicated.”

“Well, to be honest with you, I rather like messy and complicated.” Troy tapped his chin, as though he was deep in contemplation. “Okay, I think I thought of something.”

“What is it? We’ll do
any
thing,” Emma told him, relieved that he was willing to let them do something so that Daven could be a Tala again.

Colby thought about adding that they would do anything
within reason
, but he knew that wasn’t even true. Whatever Troy was about to require of them—whatever he was about to tell them to do—they would do. They
had
to do everything they could to protect the baby, to make sure that he was able to stay one of them.

“The rest of your pack isn’t around, are they?” Troy questioned. “I normally see Chris, Steve, Kyle, Silas, and Seth in the woods just about every day. Samara and Declan are gone. It’s just the two of you, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, you’re right. It’s just the two of us. What does that matter?” Emma asked, her eyebrows lifting in question.

“That makes it
perfect
.” Troy’s face brightened a little. “To win Davenport back for the Tala, you’re going to need to complete a very simple task. One that I hardly believe you’re capable of, considering I’ve always viewed the two of you as the Tala pack’s weakest links.”

Colby swallowed hard, nervous to hear what he had to say next. “What do we need to do, Troy?”

“You need to prove to me that the two of you are capable of beating the rest of us in a pack fight,” Troy replied. “If you can kill at least four members of my pack, I’ll let you have the baby back.”

Emma’s face twisted in horror. “Is that really how you value your pack members? Four of them are the equivalent of one baby, just because he’s part McKinley?”

“Pretty much,” Troy agreed with a nod. “None of them mean anything to me. Heck, Davenport is probably going to grow up to be far more valuable than even Rocco.”

Colby took a deep breath. Troy was willing to sacrifice his own cousin if it meant that he got to keep Davenport on his pack.

Glancing over at Emma, he wondered:
How are we going to beat them?

I don’t know, but we
will
. We have to
, she told him.

Turning to Troy, Colby said, “Challenge accepted.”

Even as he said the words, though, he wasn’t so confident that they were going to win.

“Do you want to do this right now?” Troy questioned. “Or do you need some time to strategize?”

“We need time,” Emma replied quietly. “Can we take Davenport with us, though? We’ll bring him with us when we fight your pack tomorrow. If we lose, then he’s all yours. But if we win, then you have to say, out loud, that he’s free to be a Tala, and we get to take him home.”

“I don’t know if I can trust you,” Troy said, scrutinizing her. “How do I know that you’ll bring him back with you?”

“Easy,” Colby replied. “If he’s really meant to be an Ariel, you’ll be able to find him even if we
don’t
bring him back.”

“That’s true. That’s how I found him in his crib in the first place,” Troy murmured. “Fine. You may go to 132 Cosgrave Street. That’s where Davenport is. Bring him back with you when we meet here tomorrow night around ten o’clock.”

“Okay,” Emma agreed as she turned away from him. Colby followed after her.

“Oh, and Tala?” Troy called after them. “You should know that we now have twenty-seven pack members.”

Colby gulped. How were they going to do this? That was all he could wonder as they left the woods and began to make their way to the address Troy had given them.

Maybe Emma was right. Maybe they should have called Samara and Declan earlier, but now it was too late. Things had gotten way too out of hand.

No, they couldn’t call their friends. They needed to do this on their own.