Wolfsbane (Howl #3)

by Jody Morse

  I guess you’re right, she agreed. I just hate breaking the law.

  She shoved the key inside the lock. As she suspected, it fit. She turned the doorknob.

  As soon as she swung the front door knob open, she heard a low growl. Samara braced herself for the attack that was sure to follow.

  Chapter 10

  A Siberian Husky bounded to the front door, wagging its tail happily.

  Samara felt the sick feeling that had formed in the pit of her stomach disappear. “It’s just a dog,” she whispered, relieved. She had been expecting the growl to belong to another werewolf

  “Hi, Puppy,” Colby said, as he walked into the house, patting the dog’s matted fur cautiously. “I wonder who lives here.”

  “Me, too,” Samara agreed. She had been thinking that the house was abandoned, but since there was a dog, it must not have been. Reaching along the wall, she found a light and turned it on, revealing the furniture inside the house. There was what looked like an authentic polar bear skin rug on the floor, along with various heads of once-living animals that ranged from bison to turkeys on the walls.

  The sight of it made Samara cringe; even though she had no choice but to eat meat now that she was a werewolf, she was still a vegetarian at heart. It made her sick to think whoever lived in this house had hunted these animals and saved their heads and furs as trophies.

  Trying to look past the animal trophies, Samara glanced around the house. The living room seemed mostly empty with the exception of a single sofa. She was tempted to go into the other rooms, but it felt like she would be invading the privacy of whoever lived in the house. “What do you think we’re supposed to be doing here?” she asked, turning to the rest of her pack.

  “I think we’re supposed to be looking,” Steve said with a shrug. “What else would we be here for?”

  “You’re probably right,” Samara muttered, even though it wasn’t the answer she wanted to hear. She’d been hoping that someone would have an idea other than the obvious. With a sigh, she said, “I don’t want whoever lives here to find out what we’re doing, so let’s get this done quick. Everyone take a room, and make sure you put everything back the way you found it so nothing’s out of place. We don’t want to get in trouble for this.”

  Everyone agreed and scampered off in separate directions. Samara tiptoed into the bedroom, which was mostly empty except for a large dresser and a filing cabinet. She went over to the filing cabinet first and was surprised to find a key had been left inside the lock.

  Kneeling down beside it, she turned the key and braced herself. She wasn’t sure what she expected to find—another address, maybe, or another storage unit facility address. What she found instead shocked her.

  The cabinet was empty, barren of even a single sheet of paper.

  Sighing, she stood up, brushing off her jeans as she went over to the dresser. She pulled the top drawer open and found that it was filled with men’s clothing. She dug through the flannel shirts, white undershirts, and white Hanes socks, trying to ignore the fact that they belonged to someone.

  She moved onto the next drawer and searched through the clothes inside. There was nothing in that one, either.

  “Have you found anything yet?” Luke asked from the doorway as Samara was digging through the last drawer.

  She shook her head. “No, have you?”

  “Nope, the bathroom medicine cabinet was pretty boring. Only a few bottles of Advil and some Tums,” Luke replied.

  Samara’s hand brushed against something loose at the bottom of the drawer. “Wait a minute. I think I found something.” She pulled out the box.

  The box was navy blue, and it was about the size of an earring box from a jewelry store. She glanced up at Luke, whose eyes were fixated on the box, too.

  “Open it,” he whispered.

  She pulled off the lid and looked inside. There was a tiny packet with a picture of a purple flower on it. It took Samara a moment to realize that it was seeds.

  “Aconitum,” Samara read aloud, glancing up at Luke. “What is that?”

  Luke pulled out his cell phone. “How do you spell that?”

  Samara handed him the pack of seeds so that he could read from it, and after typing the information into his iPhone, he looked back up at her. “It’s better known as wolfsbane. It’s a member of the buttercup family . . . and it’s highly toxic. It’s sometimes used as poison on hunting arrows.”

  Samara felt her face fall. She’d been hoping that they’d found something, but whoever lived in this house must just be an avid hunter. Those seeds were probably hidden in the bottom of the dresser drawer because they were illegal to use in the United States or something, she figured. Sighing loudly, she went to put the seeds back where she’d found them.

  “Keep those,” Luke instructed. “They could be useful.”

  She raised her eyebrows at him. “You think it could kill Jason?”

  Luke shook his head. “I—I don’t know. I don’t think so, actually. But . . . I just have a feeling about this. Keep them.”

  Samara slid the box into her purse and glanced around the room. “Now, what?”

  “I guess we should go see if anyone else found anything,” Luke shrugged, running a hand through his short brown hair.

  Samara stood up and led Luke out of the room. She found the rest of the pack crowded around the back door, looking outside into the backyard, which was lit from the porch light.

  “What’s going on, guys? Anyone find anything?” Samara asked.

  Chris glanced over his shoulder at her. “There’s a greenhouse outside.”

  “It’s so interesting,” Colby added. “Who would think that someone in Alaska would have a greenhouse? But I suppose that’s the only way you could grow your own crops up here.”

  “You make it sound like the person who lives here is a farmer,” Josh snorted.

  Colby shrugged. “He could be. He could also just be really economically.”

  “You’re also assuming it’s a he,” Josh pointed out. “We don’t know that for sure.”

  “I think it’s safe to assume that a guy lives here,” Samara told him. “I found men’s clothes in the bedroom, but nothing that a woman would wear.”

  “Let’s go look inside the greenhouse,” Luke suggested. “Maybe there’s something out there.”

  “Maybe,” Samara said, trying to hide the doubtfulness in her own voice. In a way, she almost wished that whoever lived here had been home. Maybe they would have at least known what she was supposed to be looking for because, as of right now, it seemed completely pointless.

  As Kyle opened the back door and went outside, the Siberian Husky followed him.

  “Come on, Puppy. Come to the greenhouse with us,” Colby said cheerfully, and the dog wagged its tail.

  “It really likes you,” Samara noted.

  “It’s a girl,” Colby told her. “And she does like me. Dogs just seem to love me.”

  Chris snorted. “At least someone does, since werewolf and human girls don’t.”

  Samara shot him a dirty look. “I just figured that dogs would be afraid of us or something . . . assuming that we didn’t want to eat them first.”

  Colby’s face twisted in bewilderment. “How could you want to eat a dog?”

  “I don’t know. I almost ate a rabbit once,” Samara admitted.

  “Eating a dog would be like . . . like cannibalism!” Colby exclaimed. “We don’t eat each other!”

  “But, I thought you said it was possible before? You said it was normal for us to crave live game because it happened in ancient werewolf history or something,” Samara said, thinking back.

  “It’s normal to crave live animals, but it’s not normal to crave dogs. I talked to my dad about it, and he said it’s just not in our nature to want to eat other dogs or wolves or canines in general. He explained it was because of the whole cannibalism thing.”

  Samara felt a sense of relief wash over her. She had been worrying that she wo
uld want to eat the puppy that her mother was adopting. At least she didn’t have to worry about that anymore.

  “Besides, dogs don’t hate us. I think they can sense that we’re part dog, too,” Colby added, just as they entered the greenhouse.

  “I think there’s a light in here,” Josh muttered, and Samara heard a clicking sound, which was followed by a line of lights being lit up.

  The greenhouse was filled with rows and rows of drooping purple flowers. Samara recognized what they were right away.

  It was wolfsbane.

  Chapter 11

  Samara stared at the wolfsbane with wide eyes. She couldn’t believe how much of it was growing in the greenhouse; it crowded the room.

  “What the hell,” Kyle said. “Whoever lives here must like flowers a lot.” He walked over to one and stuck his finger out to feel its flower petals.

  “No! Don’t touch it!” Samara screamed at him. “It’s wolfsbane. It’s poisonous.”

  Kyle raised a coppery eyebrow at her. “How do you know that’s what it is?”

  “We found seeds in the house,” Samara explained. “I figured they had the seeds because they hunt and wolfsbane can be used on the tips of hunting arrows, but . . . it looks like they might be growing it for more than just that.” She wondered if whoever lived here sold wolfsbane, maybe on the internet or something.

  “Well, guys, I hate to break it to you, but we need to leave if we’re going to get to the club and meet Kyana on time,” Josh spoke up, glancing at his watch. “It’s going to be a long walk in the dark.”

  “Okay,” Samara agreed. She was still hoping that Orkos had found the name of the Finnegan guy who’d become Alpha after Grandpa Joe, which made going to the club worth it. At least they might be finding out something productive while they were there.

  “So, do we get to leave after this?” Steve asked. “You promised if this turned out to be nothing, we could leave.”

  Luke shook his head. “No, I don’t think we’re done here. We have to come back later, after we go to the club.”

  “Why?” Steve asked with a confused expression on his face. “We’ve seen all there is to see, haven’t we? Just some girly, but poisonous flowers . . . and a mostly empty house.”

  “I don’t believe we have seen all there is to see,” Luke replied, shaking his head. “I think we’re missing something.”

  “I concur,” Colby chimed in. “I have a feeling there’s something somewhere in this house. We just haven’t found it yet.”

  “And maybe later, whoever lives here will be home to answer our questions,” Samara added, hopeful.

  “The house looks pretty abandoned to me,” Kyle said, shaking his head. “Do we know for sure that someone even lives here?”

  “Someone must,” Chris said, as they walked back into the house to lock the doors behind them. “There’s a dog.”

  “Oh, yeah . . . Good point,” Kyle agreed.

  As Samara closed the front door behind her and slid the key back in her pocket, she turned around and looked at the house. And that’s when she got the feeling that whatever they were looking for wasn’t in the house; it was outside.

  *

  The nightclub was lit up with blue and purple flashing lights when they arrived. Even as Samara inched closer to the brick building it was housed in, she could hear the loud music thumping from inside. It made her realize how much she hated dancing. Actually, she didn’t just hate it, she despised it. With the exception of slow dancing, Samara always felt like she was out of place when she was on a dance floor. She just felt completely awkward, no matter what she did.

  As they walked up to the entrance, they didn’t even have to show any ID. The bouncers—who had a very distinct, piney werewolf scent—just nodded their heads as they walked by.

  Luke wrapped his arm around Samara’s waist as she followed the other guys onto the well-lit dance floor. She scanned the area for Kyana and her friends. At first, she didn’t see Kyana’s silky, black hair or tan skin, but then she spotted her—and quickly realized that she didn’t look like the same person Samara had met earlier that day.

  Kyana was in the middle of a circle of both girls and guys. She was wearing a pair of tight jeans, stilettos, and a lacy, somewhat see through, camisole—an outfit that Samara would never have been brave enough to wear herself. Her long silky black hair fell over her shoulders and swayed around her as she moved to the beat of the Rihanna song that filled the room.

  She didn’t even have to say anything to Chris and Josh to let them know that she had spotted Kyana because the looks on her faces told her that they’d seen her, too; they both looked awestruck as they watched the girl swaying to the music on the dance floor.

  Josh was the first one to say anything. “So, um, I’m gonna go tell Kyana we’re here.”

  As he walked away from them, Samara watched Chris’s face harden. His features grew even tenser as Josh approached Kyana and she looked up at him with a flirtatious smile.

  “Chris, can I talk to you for a sec?” Samara asked.

  He didn’t even glance in her direction as he muttered, “Yeah, sure.”

  Samara gave the rest of her pack a ‘look’, and they all scampered off in the opposite direction, leaving her and Chris alone. Samara turned to him. “What’s going on, Chris? I thought you were in love with Rain.”

  “I am,” Chris replied, glancing over his shoulder at Samara. “Rain’s not here right now, though, is she?”

  “Well, no, but if you love someone, you don’t just flirt with someone else,” Samara scolded. “That’s called cheating.”

  Chris turned around and focused all of his attention on Samara. “Look, I know how this looks, and I get why it makes you feel weird, especially because you’re going to let Rain join our pack—but even if I did explain it to you, you would never understand.”

  “Try me!” Samara shouted over the sound of the booming music, which sounded like it had just been turned up a notch.

  “My parents hate Rain!” Chris shouted back. “They hate her for what her grandfather did to your grandmother! They’ll never accept her.”

  “So, screw your parents!” Samara shouted back at him. “Don’t let them ruin your life. If Rain is who makes you happy, then be with her! She might be your mate.”

  “But that’s the thing,” Chris said, shaking his head. “What if she’s not my mate?”

  “Well, I guess you’ll find out soon . . . once we make her an Ima,” Samara replied. “But until then, don’t do anything to hurt her because if she is your mate, you’re going to regret it.”

  “I know. Kyana was mostly just a way to keep my mind off Rain,” Chris admitted quietly.

  Samara nodded. “You should let Josh have Kyana. To be honest, I can tell she likes him more than you, anyway . . . it’s good for him to meet someone. It probably helps keep his mind off Lilly. Deal?”

  “Deal,” Chris agreed. He wasn’t reluctant or hesitant about it, so Samara knew he was telling her the truth.

  She caught Luke’s gaze and motioned for him to come back over to them. As he and the rest of the guys resumed their places next to them, Kyana scurried over, too. “Hey, Ima! Thanks so much for coming tonight!”

  Samara beamed at her. “Thanks for inviting us!”

  “Do you guys want something to drink?” Josh asked, pointing his chin at the bar behind them. “I’m going to get something for me and Kyana.”

  “Sure, I’ll have a Cherry Coke,” Samara replied.

  Kyana raised her brows at her and, for the first time, Samara noticed that, even though Kyana had really thick, un-plucked eyebrows, she had an eyebrow piercing. Had she been wearing it earlier that day? “Do you want rum or some other type of liquor in that?”

  “They serve alcohol here? We’re minors,” Colby said, dumbfounded.

  Kyana laughed at him. “That’s cute. We’re not minors. We’re werewolves! Of course they’ll serve us alcohol.”

  “I think I’ll stick to a Che
rry Coke. No alcohol for me,” Samara told Josh.

  “Are you sure?” Kyana raised her eyebrows again.

  Samara nodded firmly.

  “She doesn’t drink,” Luke informed Kyana.

  “Oh, that explains it,” Kyana nodded. Eyeing Samara, she asked, “Are you guys expecting a pup already?”

  “No, I just don’t drink.” Samara shot Luke a glare. Thanks for telling her I don’t drink. Like it’s really any of her business.

  I’m sorry, Luke replied, meeting her eyes. I didn’t know it was some big secret or something.

  It’s not a secret, but you don’t always have to speak for me, Samara shot back at him.

  I’m sorry. Please don’t be mad at me. Luke looked down at the ground, guiltily.

  As after everyone had given Josh their drink orders, Josh said, “I’m gonna need someone to go with me. This is just going to be too much for me to carry.”

  “I’ll go with you,” Luke volunteered, giving Samara one last pleading look, hoping she would accept his apology, as he followed Josh over to the crowded bar.

  Samara sighed relentlessly and told him, I’m not mad at you.

  Luke glanced over his shoulder and shot her a wide grin. She smiled back. The rest of the guys followed Josh and Luke, leaving Samara and Kyana.

  “Did your dad ever find that guy’s last name?” Samara asked, trying to make conversation.

  Kyana shook her head, her eyes locked on Josh, who was grabbing a glass from the bartender. “No, he was still looking when I left.” She turned to look at Samara. “So, you and Luke really aren’t expecting a pup yet, then?”

  Samara wasn’t sure if she should be offended by the question. Glancing down at her stomach, she knew that Kyana couldn’t have mistaken her as being pregnant. “No, we’re a little young for that,” Samara replied. “How did you know that Luke’s my mate, anyway? I don’t remember mentioning that to you or your father.”