A Girl and Her Wolf (Howl, #7) (17 page)

Chapter 27
: Colby

The next day, Colby tried to carry on like everything was normal. He made him and Emma a big meal of sausage and eggs for breakfast and then hot dogs and hamburgers for lunch. If these could possibly be his last meals, he wanted to enjoy them, at least.

Afterwards, when he and Emma took Davenport the park, he tried to pretend to enjoy himself. He tried to pretend that he was having fun, that things were normal, and that he wasn’t afraid, but . . . he was. He was
really
afraid.

How was he going t
o take on a whole pack of werewolves by himself? The idea was terrifying.

When nighttime fell, he went into the bedroom to get ready by himself. He knew that he needed to get ready alone; having Emma there would only make things so much harder.

The first thing he did was pull a piece of paper and a pen out of the drawer. He began to write.

Dear Mom,

I just want to thank you for everything that you’ve done for me. It often feels like I never had a father since Darren was never present. You played the role of both Mom and Dad, and for that, I will always be grateful.

I just want you to know that if something happens to me tonight, I will die with courage. I am going to fight the Ariel pack because it’s what I need to do to save my best friend’s son, and if I lose, it will be with the knowledge that I tried.

If I lose, please tell Samara and Declan how sorry I am that their son is destined to be on another pack. Let them know that I am going to try my hardest.

I love you, Mom.

-Colby
 

Once he was finished writing the letter, he wiped away the single tear that trickled down his cheek and then sprayed on some of his lucky cologne. It was the cologne that Emma had bought him two Valentine’s Days ago. He’d noticed that every time he wore it, good things always seemed to happen. He’d worn it on the day that Davenport was born, for example. Seeing him run around in the forest, happily wagging his fluffy white tail, was something Colby was grateful for being able to experience.

There was a part of him that sometimes wondered what would have happened if he’d been wearing the cologne the day Luke had died. Would he have lived, instead?

He tried to shake the idea away, knowing that it didn’t really matter that much anyway. Colby couldn’t go back and change the past. Luke was dead, and he wasn’t ever coming back, except possibly in spirit form one day.

Colby could change the future, though. He could make sure that Davenport stayed a member of the Tala pack and, more importantly, that nothing happened to him, too.

Once he was finished getting ready, he took a deep breath and opened the bedroom door. Emma was standing on the other side, clutching Davenport to her chest. “Are you sure I can’t fight with you tonight?”

Colby shook his head. “I’m sure. I want you to stay about five hundred feet away from us at all times, okay?”

Emma nodded and then turned to Bennett. “Are you coming with us, or should we meet you there?”

“You should go there and light the white candle,” Bennett instructed. “All of the spirits that I’m bringing along will be invoked that way.” He hesitated for a few moments. “In case I don’t get the chance to say anything later, I just want to wish you good luck tonight.”

“Thanks,” Colby replied. He didn’t say it aloud, but he couldn’t help but think that he was going to need all the luck he could get if he was going to make it out of this alive.

Once Bennett was gone, he turned to Emma. “I just want you to know how much I love you,” he told her, gazing into her sea-blue eyes.

“I love you, too,” she replied, pressing her lips against his. “Let’s try not to think that way, though, okay? Everything is going to turn out okay tonight.”

At least, I hope it is
, he heard her think to herself.

“I hope so, but if it doesn’t . . .” He met her gaze. “You need to do a favor for me, okay?”

“Anything,” Emma breathed.

“I need you to give my mom this letter I wrote to her,” Colby replied, pulling it out of his pocket. He hated to think that he could die without ever speaking to his mom again, but he knew that he couldn’t call her, either. If he did, she would
probably tip everyone off about what was going on. He needed to deal with it on his own, which meant that the letter was the only way he would be able to communicate with her.  

A look of sadness filled Emma’s eyes, which let him know that she’d overheard what he’d written in the letter. She took it from him, though, and laid it on the table in the hallway. “I’ll give it to her. I promise.”

“Thank you.” Colby shoved his hands in his pocket and glanced down at the floor. “Well, I guess I’m ready. Let’s get this show on the road, huh?”

Emma gave him a small and obviously forced smile, but she didn’t say anything. She just followed him out of the house and out into the dark
night, carrying Daven with her.

*

When they arrived at the place where they were supposed to meet on Old Mill Road, Colby swiftly made the change into his wolf form. He needed to be prepared to do this, to kill Troy. The last thing he wanted was to get shot with a silver bullet before he even had the chance to fight.

Once he was on all fours, he glanced to Emma, who hadn’t changed into her wolf form.

“I would join you, but I can’t,” she told him, motioning to Davenport.

Colby nodded.
I understand. You need to do everything you can to protect him tonight, Em. I don’t think they’ll try to hurt you if they know you’re not going to fight them with me, but we can’t be too careful.

“Well, that
is
why we brought these,” Emma replied, pulling white candles from her pouch. Holding Daven against one hip, she knelt down and lit the four candles they had brought with them. “Trusted Ones, we summon thee,” she said aloud.

At first, no one appeared.

Colby met Emma’s gaze, feeling sort of nervous. What if even
Bennett
somehow wasn’t able to show up? He didn’t want to think about the possibility of having to fight the Ariel completely on his own. It was bad enough that he was the only wolf fighting but if there were no spirits to protect him, it would make things even worse.

After a few moments, though, a few transparent-appearing figures appeared in his line of view: Bennett, along with three men and a woman who he’d never seen before.

Then, just as quickly as they showed themselves to him, they became invisible again, disguising themselves from Colby and Emma so that the Ariel pack wouldn’t see them when they arrived.

Emma’s cell phone rang loudly from her pocket. She pulled it out. Her eyes widened when she saw the number that was on the caller ID. She glanced over at Colby. “It’s Dr. Mink.”

Take it, Em
, he told her.

“But what if the Ariel show up?” she asked, shaking her head firmly. “It seems too risky.”

Please answer it. Whether something happens tonight or not . . . I need to know whatever he has to say
, Colby told her.

Emma sighed. “
Okay.” She put her cell phone to her ear and walked away from him.

At the same exact moment, Colby saw them coming towards him, all twenty-seven of them standing in a long line. The Ariel pack, all in their wolf forms and prepared to fight.

Troy stepped forward, his shoulders pushed back confidently.
Where’s your mate?

She’s here, but I request that you leave her alone
, Colby told them.

Troy’s lips twisted into a canine-like smile.
Oh? And why would we do a silly thing like that?

Because I’m going to fight you all by myself
, Colby explained.
And what that means is that there’s a greater chance you all could kill me before I kill four members of your pack. And that means your chances of getting to keep Davenport on your pack will be much greater.

Hmm, intriguing,
Troy murmured.
Okay, we agree to your terms. We’ll leave your mate alone if it means that you’ll be fighting us alone.

Perfect
, Colby agreed, suddenly feeling nervous. He wished that he could see the Trusted Ones again, just to make sure they were still there. And he wished that he could focus on Emma’s thoughts, but his mind was too occupied by his own as his heart pounded against his chest.

Unsure of how to begin his attack, he stepped forward and pushed his chest out, trying to exude confidence—even though he felt anything
but
confident.

Chapter 28
: Emma

“Hello?” Emma asked into the phone.

“Emma? This is Dr. Mink calling.”

“Hi,” she replied as her stomach did cartwheels. So much was happening at this very moment. She was worried about what was going on with Colby and if the Ariel pack members had arrived yet, and this was
it
. She was probably about to receive news on whether or not she was really pregnant, even though she wasn’t supposed to find out for a week still.

“I just wanted to call to let you know that we got you test results back. I put in a rush order,” the doctor explained. “Do you want to hear the good news or the bad news first?”

“Um . . . I’ll take the bad news first,” Emma replied, her stomach tightening with knots. What if they were able to see from just that small sample of blood that was something was wrong with the baby she was carrying?

“The bad news is that you, unfortunately, are
not
pregnant,” Dr. Mink said into the phone.

“What?” Emma blinked.

“I hate to be the one who had to inform you. I know that the Alpha of your pack might be disappointed if you’re trying to expand your membership, especially if you already announced that you were probably pregnancy, but the unfortunate truth is that your blood didn’t show any signs of werewolf pregnancy hormones.”

“I see,” Emma replied, breathing a slight sigh of relief. She touched her belly and smiled. Somehow, she’d had herself completely convinced that she was, indeed, pregnant.

Even though the news was mildly disappointing, she knew that now really wasn’t the right time anyway. She still wanted to travel with Colby, and there were so many items on her bucket list that she wanted to do before she had kids. For all she knew, it might take years and years before she accomplished all she wanted to do before she became a mom, but that was the great thing about being a werewolf; she had an eternity to decide when the right time was since she didn’t have a biological clock or limited time on Earth like humans did.

As long as they were able to survive the fight with the Ariel, she realized. Suddenly feeling an urgent need to finish the phone call, she asked, “So, what’s the good news you have for me?”

“Well, the cause of your excessive hair growth isn’t a serious one, surprisingly,” Dr. Mink went on. “Now, please keep in mind that the problem you have isn’t common by any means, which was why I didn’t even consider that it could have been what was affecting you. It’s a hormonal imbalance that only occurs in about one out of one million humans who have been turned into werewolves. It causes more hair to grow during the summer months for up to three years after you’ve marked as your body adjusts to new and enhanced levels of fertility. It’s surprising that you’re only experiencing it for the first time this summer, but that means that you only have one more year to go through it. The problem isn’t treatable or curable, however. The only thing we can do is wait for your body to adjust to these changes.”

“So, that’s it?” Emma asked into the phone, surprised that something so simple was the reason behind all of the anxiety she’d felt over the past two weeks. 

“Well,
almost
. It’s important to keep in mind that in werewolves who have this hormonal imbalance, there are much higher fertility rates—which is great once you make the decision to conceive, but if you wish to prevent pregnancy, then it’s ideal to be very careful about your birth control methods. That’s all, though.”

From somewhere behind her, she heard the sounds of snarling and barking. “Okay, great. I’m sorry to cut this short, but I need to go right now. Bye,” she said into the phone. Without even giving the doctor a chance to say anything else, she ended the call and flung her phone, not even bothering to notice where it fell. She had something much more important to worry about than cell phones right now: Colby.

Now that she knew she wasn’t actually pregnant, she could join in on this fight. She didn’t have to worry about harming their baby, and if Colby was going to die, she wanted to die, too. They were going to go down in this together.

She ran over to where Colby was and watched as three wolves circled them, all snarling and revealing their fangs.

Emma glanced down at the baby in her arms. Crap. How was she going to fight when she had to worry about Daven? She couldn’t just put him on the ground. He might end up hurting himself, which was a risk that she didn’t want to take, even if he
was
immortal.

“Emma, I’m right behind you,” a familiar voice hissed from behind her.

She whirled around, but there wasn’t anyone standing there. “Who is it?” she questioned.

“It’s me, Bennett,” the spirit replied. “My friend Nina’s is standing here next to me, and she’s willing to watch Davenport while you fight to make sure he doesn’t get hurt.”

“Hello,” a female voice said from somewhere next to him.

Without even thinking twice about what she was doing, Emma set the baby down on the ground next to where she thought they were judging by how far away their voices had sounded. She watched as Daven was lifted into the air; even though she couldn’t see who was holding him, Emma knew that it was Nina and that he was in good hands.

Turning away from them, she morphed into her wolf form, the purple smoke swirling around her. She darted forward, just as Colby was pushed to the ground by two large-looking wolves.

She scanned the area to find Troy, but she didn’t see him anywhere. He was probably hiding like the coward she knew him to be. Sure, he had no problem sending four of his pack mates to their deaths, but he has to hide to make sure
he
stays safe?

She knew that she had to do something about the wolves that were on Colby’s back, though, so she leapt onto one of
them, biting into his shoulder and pulling him off of Colby.

Emma? What are you doing?!
Colby screamed at her through mind-speak.
You’re not supposed to fight, remember? We don’t want anything to happen to the baby.

Except there
isn’t
a baby,
Emma told him.
That was why Dr. Mink called—to tell me that I’m not pregnant. So that means I can fight.

She locked eyes with her mate long enough to know that he still didn’t like the idea before turning back to one of the wolves and going straight for his throat, constricting his airway—the easiest way to kill another wolf during an attack.

The gray wolf’s breathing became labored. He struggled against her, trying to loosen her grip. That only encouraged her to clamp her teeth down harder. He fought even more for air. He kicked his paw into her side, trying to roll her off of him. After a moment, he stopped struggling completely.

Emma darted her eyes away from him, not wanting to see what he would look like when he cha
nged back into his human form. It was going to be hard to live knowing that she’d killed him, but she knew that she would do whatever it took to make sure her mate made it out of there alive and ensure that Davenport stayed with his family.

If that meant that they needed to kill four wolves who were, to the best of their knowledge, innocent, then so be it. But Emma’s ultimate goal was still to kill Troy.

Even though her life hadn’t turned out bad, she still hated him with a passion. She would get revenge for what he’d done to her and, more importantly, she would make sure that he didn’t use his power to hurt anyone she knew and loved again. Even if they killed four members of the Ariel tonight, she knew that the issue of which pack Davenport really belonged to would arise again unless Troy was dead.

When she looked up, it seemed like completed chaos. Wolves were pinned to the ground, seemingly by nothing, while the wolves who weren’t being attacked by the Trusted Ones tried to help.

There was also a human body a few feet away from her on the ground.
So much for not wanting to see.
At least it isn’t Colby,
she reminded herself. She was glad that her mate had managed to get rid of the other wolf that attacked him.

On the edge, near the trees, a wolf
with dark brown fur sat, watching the whole thing and not bothering to help his pack. He seemed on the smaller side. She knew it was wrong to go after the weak, but she also knew he’d be an easy kill.

Before she did anything else, she made sure that Colby didn’t need her help. She scanned the field for him, finding him just as he leapt onto a wolf’s back.

She focused her attention back on the weak wolf. It looked like he was shaking as he watched everything that was going on in front of him.

Her original plan
was to go through the woods and sneak up on him from behind. But she owed him a fair fight.

S
he had taken a few step toward him when he snarled, striding towards her.

He broke out into a run, leaping on top of her and
pinning her down to the ground. He sunk his teeth into her back, which made a sharp pain shoot down her leg. She yelped.

That would be the last time she underestimated anyone.

Colby pulled the wolf off of her, but he still clung to her back. Colby let go of him for a moment before biting into his neck, roughly shaking it back and forth. Finally, that made him let go.

She pulled herself back onto all fours, limping a bit. It hurt, but she knew that she would heal.
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the other wolves as they began to surround them.

O
ne of the wolves near the end yelped loudly, even though there weren’t any other wolves near them. Then, more yelps came from the other wolves in line.

Ha. The Trusted Ones were in action.

Emma
, she heard Colby call to her through mind-speak.

She focused her attention back on her mate and the brown wolf.
Oh no.
Somehow he had managed to get out of Colby’s grasp. He was now the one digging his teeth into her mate’s neck as he put all his weight on his body.

Without even thinking twice,
she moved forward and jumped straight into his side, making sure to leave a nasty scratch on his ribs. The force of her body sent his tumbling off of Colby. He whirled around, a look of fury in his silvery eyes.
Good.

I’m sorry,
the brown wolf told her as he lunged at her.
I don’t want to do this, but I don’t have a choice.

W-what?
She asked. The confusion she felt had stopped her in her tracks. As she hit the ground hard, she cursed at herself.
An apology? That’s your tactic?!
She shouted at him. She was angry with herself for falling for it. She pulled herself back up, as they paced around each other in a circle.

It’s not a tactic. The kid belongs with his family.

Colby, what do I do?
She asked him. When he didn’t answer her, she shouted at him in her mind.
What do I do?
She could feel the tears coming to her eyes, because the brown wolf’s voice in her mind hadn’t been in that annoying, nasally, high-pitched tone that she heard when someone was lying. He was telling her the truth, and she didn’t know what to do.

He didn’t give her an option, though.

He jumped at her, snapping his teeth near her neck tauntingly.
You just don’t have it in you, do you?

She snarled back, diving
straight for his neck, biting down with all of the strength she had. He struggled against her, but she wouldn’t let go.

Once he
took his last breath, she pushed her shoulders back, proud of herself.
That’s three kills in what? Like, five minutes? I think that’s record-breaking,
she announced to Colby through mind-speak.

When he didn’t say anything back, she scanned the area for him.

She spotted his brown, heart-shaped patch of fur as he lay beneath the strongest-looking wolf in the area.

Troy.