Black Magic (Howl #4) (15 page)

As Samara hurried over to one of the closets to make sure no one was hiding in it, Colby announced, “The candles are gone.”

Colby turned to look at her, his face a shade of ghostly white. It was obvious that he’d had the same realization as Samara; Darren Jackson—and most likely someone from the Vyka—had been in the house. They’d come back to get the candles . . . probably so the Ima wouldn’t have them, but possibly because they were planning to use them in the near future, too.

“Well, I guess this proves one thing,” Luke said.

“What?” Samara, Colby, and Emma asked simultaneously, turning to look at him.

“Those candles are definitely crimson candles,” Luke replied with a shrug. “They’re the candles we need to find if we’re going to stop them.”

Chapter 18

Later that night, Samara waited for all of the wolves who were still members of her pack to arrive. Josh and Kyle had promised that they would be there, even though they’d
both been absent a lot lately.

As she waited, Samara glanced around the room. Chris and Steve both sat, surprisingly silent, on one of the couches in the living room; it was obvious that Chris was keeping his distance from Emma because he was still angry at her for
giving Kyana money for a cab.

Kyana had texted Chris to let him know that she’d made it to the airport safely, but he hadn’t responded to her message. He was still angry . . . and hurt . . . by her decision to leave. It sort of hurt Samara, too, but she understood that Kyana had been given a really hard decision to make—a decision she was going to need to live
with for the rest of her life.

Emma and Colby were sitting on another one of the couches. Emma was showing him something on her cell phone, and he was laughing at it. Samara smiled. Even though her best friend didn’t want to give Colby a chance yet, she could tell that Emma was going to give him a chance eventually. Samara wasn’t really sure what
was holding her back, though.

Luke came into the room and sat down next to Samara.
“They’re still not here yet?”

“No, and we’re waiting till they get here. Tonight is going to be really important,” she replied, resting her head on his lap. Luke ran his fingers through her hair, which made her feel a little bit calmer about what they were going to do as
soon as Josh and Kyle arrived.

About ten minutes later, Josh bounded through the door. Getting up from her spot on the floor, Nuka went over to Josh and jumped up on h
im, happily wagging her tail.

Once Josh was done petting her, he explained, “Sorry I’m late, guys. And I’m sorry I’m never here half the time anymore. I’ve just had a lot going on.”

“That’s okay,” Samara replied with a smile. “I understand. We just really needed you here tonight. Something big is happening, and we needed you there for it, so I’m glad you weren’t busy today.”

“What’s happening?” Josh asked, a look of curiosity crossing his face.

“I’ll tell you all about it once Kyle gets here,” Samara replied. “I’d rather explain it to you both at the same time so I don’t have to go over it twice.”

As if on cue, Samara heard the sound of footsteps climbing up the front porch steps. The door was swung open and Kyle, fol
lowed by Linda, stepped inside.

Linda gave everyone a small wave before heading off in the direction of her bedroom, not wanting to interrupt their pack meeting. She had kept to herself a lot lately, which Samara figured was probably her way of coping.

Kyle came into the living room and, without saying a word, started to sit down on the floor. The expression on his face told her that he didn’t actually want to be there; even though his body was present, his mind was elsewhere.

“Um, Kyle, can I talk to you in the other room?” Samara questioned.

“Okay,” he mumbled, stepping into the dining room. Rising to her feet, Samara followed him.

Turning to him, she lowered her voice. “Why have you been avoiding the pack?”

“I haven’t been avoiding you,” Kyle said, darting his eyes away from her. He plopped down in one of the chairs and cradled his head in his hands.

“Then, what’s been going on with you?” Samara questioned, sitting down beside him. “It feels like you’re not even a part of our pack lately. Everyone else makes the effort to be here for everything . . . Except for Josh, but he has a lot going on in his life right now, so it’s understandable. Why haven’t you been around lately? Every time I call a pack meeting, you never show . . . and you never give me a reason you can’t be here.”

Kyle looked up at her, a pained look in his turquoise blue eyes. “If I tell you the real reason, promise you won’t get upset? I know it’s gonna sound st
upid, but . . . it’s the truth.”

S
amara rolled her eyes. “I can’t promise I won’t get upset. I’m already upset. I’m not sure that anything you say could make it worse. I promise I’ll stay calm about whatever it is, though.”

Kyle hesitated. “I-I met someone . . . I think it’s my mate. That’s why I haven’t been around that much lately.”

“Well, that’s great. I’m happy for you. Why haven’t I met her yet?” Samara asked, realizing this was probably why, the past few times she actually had seen her cousin lately, he seemed much happier than usual. He wasn’t just glowing with happiness, like she’d thought; he was
glowing because he was in love.

“Well, that’s the thing. I haven’t brought this person around yet because it’s not a she . . . it’s a he,” Kyle said, quietly, glancing down at the table nervously.

“You’re gay?” Samara asked.

Glancing up at her, Kyle nodded. His eyes were filled with a look of worry, and she knew he was afraid that she was going to be upset over the news.

The truth was, Samara wasn’t even surprised that her cousin was gay. In fact, she wondered why she had never caught onto it earlier. Kyle always dressed nice—nicer than her, even—and she was pretty sure that she’d never heard him talk about dating or even being remotely interested in girls. He’d never mentioned finding a girl attractive before. Somehow, Samara had always chalked it up to Kyle being the type who didn’t kiss and tell, but . . . it made perfect sense now.

What did surprise her was that werewolves might be able to have mates of the same sex. She would have assumed that it wasn’t possible because it seemed like their lifestyles were meant to be old-fashioned, but apparently, they didn’t have to be straight. Samara sort of felt relieved about this; it made her happy to know that even in this world where everything was so different than what mortals went through, relationships were still sort of the same. Fate still allowed everyone to be different.

“So, that’s why I never anything about it before now,” Kyle explained when Samara didn’t respond to him right away. “I’ve still been coming to terms with it myself, and I didn’t want anyone to find out. The guys are going to make fun of me for it. You know, once they find out my mate’s a dude.”

“No, they won’t say anything like that. I promise.”

Her cousin didn’t look convinced
. “How do you know they won’t?”

“Because if anyone gives you crap over it, they’ll have to deal with me,” Samara replied. “Everyone in my pack treats everyone as an equal. And for whatever it’s worth, I’m happy for you. I’m glad you found your mate. It doesn’t matter to me that it’s a guy. If he makes you happy, that’s all that really matters. What’s his name?”

“Silas. Oh, my God, Sam. He’s so cute.” A smile spread across Kyle’s face, and he blushed. “I think you’re really going to like him, too. You have a lot in common.”

“Well, I can’t wait to meet him!” Samara replied, smiling because she could tell how happy Silas was already making her cousin. “Why don’t you bring him over one night this week?”

Kyle grinned. “Okay, cool.” He stood up to leave, but he hesitated. “Um, there’s also something I wanted to ask you.”

“Ask away.”

“Silas doesn’t have a pack,” Kyle told her. “The Shomecossee kicked him out of their pack early last year because he didn’t agree with something Rocco wanted to do. It’s a long story, and Rocco sounds like such an asshole. But, anyway, since he doesn’t have a pack, I was wondering . . .” He trailed off, glancing up at her with a pleading look in her eyes.

Kyle didn’t even have to finish his sentence for Samara to understand what he was asking. “I want to meet him first before I can officially say ‘yes’, but I don’t see what the problem would be. So, yeah, he can most likely join our pack, as long as everything goes well.”

“Sweet.” Kyle beamed at her before heading back into the living room to join the rest of the pack.

Samara breathed a sigh of relief. She felt much better now that she knew what was really going on with Kyle. Now, she was going to have to break the news to the pack members who didn’t know what they were doing tonight—that they were going to break into the Masterson’s house to look for two things: the
talisman and crimson candles.

She hoped they would find the candles, at the very least. Darren might not have given the candles from the Jackson’s old house to Jason, but there was a chance that Ja
son had his own candles anyway.

The only thing that worried her was how Josh was going to respond to all of this. Even though he was an Ima and leaving the Vyka pack had instantly made him Jason’s arch enemy, there was still a chance that he might not feel comfortable with the idea of breaking into his family’s house.

When she went back into the living room, Samara cleared her throat. “So, here’s the plan. We’re breaking into Jason’s house tonight. It’s time to give the Vyka a taste of their own medicine, but we’re also on a mission. We’re going to try to find the talisman and crimson candles.” She glanced over at Kyle and Josh. “It’s a long story that I’ll have to explain to you later, but if you see any red can
dles in the house, steal them.”

“What are we gonna do if the Masterson’s are home? Are we still breaking in?” Colby questioned, a nervous tone in his voice. “I mean, I don’t want to get in trouble for anything.”

Samara hesitated. She hadn’t even considered what they would do if the Masterson’s were actually home when they were there. “If we see any lights on, we’ll come back sometime tomorrow, I guess.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Josh interjected, running a hand over his brown hair. “My parents always go out on Saturday night. And Jason’s hardly ever home. At least, he wasn’t when I lived there. The coast should be clear.”

“Good. And you’re okay with us breaking into the house?” S
amara asked Josh.

Josh shrugged. “It doesn’t really matter to me. If you feel this is something we need to do, then we should do it. Don’t worry about how I feel.” He paused, glancing down at the floor. “The way I look at it, they’re no longer my family. We can do whatever you want, and it’s not gonna faze me.”

Samara was about to question him, to find out if he still cared about his parents at all, when Luke spoke up. “Is everyone ready to head over there, then?”

Everyone in the room nodded, but Colby turned to Emma. “I’m not sure if you should come with us.”

Emma scowled at him. “Why wouldn’t I come with you guys? I’m a part of this pack, too.”

“You’ve never fought anyone before. It could be really dangerous,” Colby said gently. Smirking, he added,
“Plus, you might get your clothes dirty or something. I know you wouldn’t be happy about that.”

Emma rolled her eyes and tossed her hair over her shoulder. “You might be my mate, but that doesn’t mean you can tell me that I have sit out when the rest of our pack is going to do something. Sorry, Colby Jack, but it doesn’t work that way.” Turning to Samara, Emma said, “I’m coming, whether Colby likes it or not.”

Samara glanced over at Colby, who looked genuinely concerned about what might happen to Emma tonight. “Don’t worry, Colbs. Emma will be fine.”

Colby shrugged. “Okay, whatever. Let’s do this thing.”

“Let’s phase so we can cut through the woods and hopefully go unnoticed. And so we can get there quicker,” Samara commanded.

Once they were all out the front door, they cut through the backyard and changed into their wolf forms. They ran past the pine trees that lined the edge of the property. Samara and Luke led them all to the Masterson’s house.

When they got there, they found that all of the lights in the house were turned off.

Told you guys no one would be home
, Josh commented, wagging his tail happily in the air.

Just because there’s none on in the house doesn’t mean no one’s home
, Steve replied.
They could be reading in the dark for all we know.

Reading in the dark?
Chris laughed inside his head.
Who reads in the dark?

I do!
Steve shot him a glare.
It brings me back to my childhood, reading my comic books in the dark with a flashlight while my parents were sleeping.

I didn’t know you could read
, Chris replied.

Steve let out a low growl.

Okay, guys,
Samara said.
We don’t have time to talk about reading in the dark right now. Our mission is to get in the house, find what we need, and leave. It shouldn’t be a problem since no one’s home, but we’re all going to need to phase back to human forms to do this. Should we break a window?

No, we can’t go breaking any windows. We have a home security system, so the alarm will go off if we do that
, Josh explained.
We keep a spare key under one of the flower pots in the backyard, come on.

Once they were in the backyard, Josh swiftly changed back into his human form and brushed off his knees. He lifted a flower pot, which was empty aside from the dry-looking dirt inside, and pulled out the gold key that was tucked underneath.

Samara willed herself to change back to her human form, and once the smoke disappeared, she watched as Josh swung the door to the house open. “Are you coming?” he asked, loudly.