Marked (Howl #5)

by Jody Morse

  Samara changed back to her human form and went to kneel on the ground before him when Colby said, “Don’t! You don’t want to leave your DNA.”

  “Oh, Sam,” Emma cried, coming over to her and flinging her arms around her. “It’s just so sad! He used to come to all my parties until he turned into such a nerd. Who could have done this to him?”

  The tears streamed down Samara’s cheeks as she continued to stare at Brad. She didn’t know why, but somehow she knew that this was all her fault.

  “The swan,” Samara said, glancing over at Colby, who nodded.

  “That’s what I thought, too.” Pulling something out of his pocket, he said, hesitantly, “I don’t want this to upset you more than you already are, but there’s something you need to see.”

  Samara took the crumbled piece of paper from him. Someone had written in a scrawling handwriting: To Samara. I hope you enjoy your present. I know I did.

  Glancing over at Colby with wide eyes, Samara asked, “Where did you find this?”

  “Whoever did this—whoever killed Brad—left this piece of paper right over his heart,” Colby explained. “I turned into my wolf form and took it so I wouldn’t leave any human DNA. I don’t want the police to somehow trace this back to me.”

  “We know we need to call the police, at least anonymously, and let them know we stumbled on a body in the woods,” Emma explained, wiping away the tears away from her eyes, which were red from crying. “But you wanted you to have a chance to see for yourself, since this was obviously targeted at you.”

  Wiping away her tears with her sleeve, Samara nodded. “Umm, thanks for that. I don’t even know what to say.” Then a thought occurred to her. “Did you guys say anything to anyone else in the pack?”

  “No, we thought we should tell you first before letting everyone else know,” Colby explained. “We didn’t want you to hear it from someone else . . . and we wanted you to see it for yourself.”

  Samara nodded. “Okay, but . . . can you guys do me a favor?”

  “Of course, Sam,” Emma replied, sniffing. “What do you want us to do?”

  “Don’t tell Luke about this.” When Colby and Emma’s eyes both widened, Samara explained, “I mean, you can tell him about finding Brad’s body. Just don’t tell him that there was a note on him left for me.”

  “Okay, but why?” Emma questioned, raising a blonde eyebrow. “He’s your mate. You’re getting married. Shouldn’t you want him to know what happened?”

  “No, because Luke will worry about me,” Samara lied, not wanting the truth to them—that she had lied to Luke about studying with Brad. “I don’t want him to be afraid that there’s someone who’s out to get me.”

  Colby hesitated for a moment before saying, “But, Sam . . . what if there is? Obviously someone wanted to hurt you by leaving this . . . present . . . for you.” His voice shook as he said the word ‘present’. “Do you know of anyone who’s out to get you?”

  “The better question would be, who isn’t out to get me?” Samara said sarcastically. “Obviously there’s Darren,” she said, careful not to refer to him as Colby’s father. “And there’s Rain. I know she was pretty pissed off at me because Jason’s dead and even though Seth was technically the one who killed him, she blamed it on me.” She paused. “I don’t think Rocco would do this. Even if he found out the truth about, you know, the violet . . . he would have just sent your dad. He wouldn’t have killed Brad.”

  “Is there anyone else?” Emma questioned. “There has to be someone that would kill Brad.”

  Samara’s mind flashed to the last study session she’d had with Brad. Who had been spying on them from behind that bookshelf? She had a weird feeling that whoever had been watching her was the one who had killed Brad.

  “What were you guys even doing out here so late, anyway?” Samara asked, realizing that it was unusual for Emma and Colby to be alone in the woods together at this hour. Their pack meeting had ended hours ago. Why hadn’t they gone home?

  “Oh, we were just bored at home. We couldn’t sleep,” Colby said, glancing down at his Converse sneakers nervously. “We wanted to go for a little night stroll.”

  Emma nodded, not meeting Samara’s eyes. “Yeah, Colby was too afraid to walk through the woods alone. He needed me here to protect him.” Colby shot her a glare.

  Even though neither of them seemed too convincing, Samara didn’t question it. It was obvious that the reason Emma and Colby had been alone in the woods together was because they were sneaking around again. In fact, Samara realized, Colby had something light pink and glossy on his lower lip. Samara was willing to bet it was the lip gloss that was smeared on Emma’s lips.

  “I guess we better get going so we can call the police,” Colby said. He took one last, long look at Brad’s body, splayed on the ground, and shook his head in disgust. “I tried to pick up on a scent to see if we could figure out who did this, but . . . I can’t smell anything. It’s like whoever did it either knows about wolfsbane, so they hid their scent, before vanishing into thin air.”

  At that moment, something dawned on Samara. Whoever had been watching her in the library had also seemed to vanish into thin air. Was it because whoever it was had cloaked themselves with black magic?

  Chapter 18

  “So, do you want red and white flowers or white flowers only?” Silas asked, glancing up at Samara and reaching for one of the chocolate chip cookies that were piled high on a plate in front of him.

  “I don’t know. I’m not sure.” Samara shrugged her shoulders. It had been a few weeks since Brad had died, but it was still the only thing she could ever seem to think about. As hard as she tried to focus on planning her wedding, she couldn’t get into it. “What do you think would look best?”

  Putting his ballpoint pen down, Silas narrowed his eyes at her. “Sam, you don’t really seem too into planning this wedding. Is something else going on here?”

  A knot formed in Samara’s stomach. She knew that she couldn’t tell Silas the truth—that someone, whoever it may be, had killed someone who she was beginning to consider a good friend. How could she focus on planning a wedding when all she could wonder was if she was next? And that wasn’t even to mention how guilty she felt about the whole thing. If Brad hadn’t been her tutor—if he hadn’t been there that day at the library bonding with her—he never would have been killed.

  She even had a swan tattoo on the back of her neck to remind her daily that, if it weren’t for her, Brad would still be alive. Samara tried not to look at it, but it was hard not to. She wondered if it would ever disappear from her skin or if it would be there for the rest of her life to serve as a constant reminder of what had happened and how she hadn’t been able to stop it.

  Samara met Silas’ brown eyes, which were studying her curiously.

  “I think I might know the problem,” Silas said, putting his hands on his hips. “You never played with Barbie dolls when you were a little girl, did you?”

  “Oh, actually,” Emma said, coming into the kitchen and plopping down in one of the chairs, “she didn’t really. I mean, she had them . . . but she always wanted to play outside with her brother.” Emma rolled her eyes and tossed her hair over her shoulder. “She had such a huge collection of Barbie’s, too. I always wanted to play with her because they were so much better than mine, but she would have rather rolled around in the dirt like a boy.” She wrinkled her nose.

  Silas shook his head in disgust. “Such a shame. What little girl doesn’t have a Barbie dream wedding?” He paused. “Well, I mean, in my version, it was always a Ken dream wedding, but you know what I mean.” He turned back to Samara. “Don’t worry, honey. I have a better idea to get you through this wedding planning idea. I’m going to make a few wedding inspiration boards, and you can let me know which ones you like the best. How does that sound?”

  Samara gave him a small smile. “Thank you. That would be good.”

  “Actually, I have a better idea,” Emma chimed in
. “Why don’t Silas and I just plan this whole thing for you? It will be like our surprise wedding gift to you.” She shot Samara a sympathetic glance. “No offense, Sam, but everything will look way better this way, anyway. Silas and I both have really good taste. We will make sure your wedding is stunning.”

  “That’s fine,” Samara replied. The truth was, she felt guilty even thinking about worrying about the color of the bridesmaid dresses or the type of flowers that would be in her bouquet, when she she should be thinking about more important things . . . like who had killed Brad.

  “Now, there are two local venues that both have vacancy the day after your birthday,” Silas said, glancing down at his clipboard. “So, we’ll be looking at a March Second wedding. Do you want to go with the venue that will allow us to do an outdoor ceremony or a pretty indoor ceremony?”

  “Outdoors,” Samara replied quickly. That was the only thing she actually did know she wanted. “I’ll probably be nervous, so the cold air will probably be refreshing.”

  “Not so much for your human guests, though,” Silas replied, “but that’s okay. I’ll note on their invitations that the ceremony is being held outdoors, so they’ll want to bright their winter coats.”

  Before Samara had a chance to respond, Luke’s voice filled her head. Hey, Sam. How much longer do you need with Silas?

  Actually, we’re pretty much done here. Why do you ask?

  There was a momentary pause, and then Luke spoke to her again. You planned our wedding that quick?

  Well, no, not exactly, Samara replied. Would it have mattered if we did finish planning already, though?

  I guess not. It’s just that we haven’t really talked about what type of wedding we both want. Don’t you think we should?

  Yeah, I guess. Samara found herself sort of surprised by his answer. I didn’t know you wanted to have a say in the wedding planning process.

  Oh no. Please tell me you’re not going to be one of those horrible bridezillas who thinks the whole wedding should be all about her.

  Actually, I’m not, Samara replied, honestly. The truth was, the wedding didn’t matter all that much to her. She didn’t care what it looked like or what their guests thought of it. Emma and Silas are going to be doing most of the wedding planning, though, so if there’s something you want, you should let them know.

  Okay, I will. Hey, I just wanted to ask you if you can stop over at Colby’s for me once you’re done. There’s something your dad asked to borrow from me . . . an old book of mine. I left it at the house with Chris and Kyana for you to pick up.

  Alright, I was planning to go over there once we’re done, anyway, Samara replied. Me and Emma are supposed to have a chick flick movie marathon over there tonight since you and Colby are going away for the weekend.

  Okay, thanks. I’ll talk to you later, Luke said.

  “Sam?” Silas questioned. “Do you still have any of your old Barbie dolls? Me and Emma are going to use ours to see if we can use them to plan your wedding. You know, dress the dolls up in different colors for potential bridesmaid dresses, tuxes, and hairstyles. Use them as mini-models so we can decide what colors to go with and everything. The more clothes we can dress them up with, the better.”

  “Sorry, guys. I can’t help you out with this one,” Samara replied. “I only kept my G.I. Joes.”

  *

  When Emma pulled into the driveway at the pack’s house, she turned to Samara. “Huh, that’s strange. There’s a limo here. I wonder if Linda’s home.”

  “Where has Linda been?” Samara questioned. She knew that Colby’s mom hadn’t been around lately, but she hadn’t asked anybody where she’d been, mostly because she didn’t want to seem nosy. It was also sort of selfish, but Samara couldn’t help but think that the further Linda stayed away from the house, the safer the rest of them would be. She was afraid that Darren would somehow figure out where his wife was, which would put all of them in danger. Not that Samara wanted to see Colby’s mom in any danger, either.

  “She has this cousin who lives in Canada,” Emma replied, grabbing her purse from the backseat. “Darren apparently doesn’t know where her cousin lives. He’s never met her, either. So she’s hiding out there. Linda says it’s because she needs some time to herself, but I think she’s sort of going nuts living in this house with all of us, too. Can you imagine living with all the guys in this pack?”

  Samara shook her head. “No, but it doesn’t sound fun.”

  “Umm, trust me, it’s definitely not,” Emma said. “I would know firsthand. They can be really gross and annoying sometimes. Why do you think I spend so much time alone in my room?”

  Samara laughed. “Well, maybe in the near future you and Colby will be able to get a place of your own. That’s what Luke and I are planning to do when we go off to college.”

  Emma didn’t say anything in response. Samara knew it was because she had mentioned her future with Colby. It seemed like things were progressing, though. Emma was no longer denying that she and Colby would have a future together; she just didn’t like to address the issue.

  Once they were inside the house, Samara was about to go in the direction of the entertainment room where she figured she would probably find Chris and Kyana when she heard the sound of music coming from the living room. The song “We Belong Together” by Gavin DeGraw was playing.

  “Samara?” a voice called from the living room.

  “What?” Samara poked her head inside and she found that there were rose petals strewn across the floor, scattered in a path leading to Luke, who held a large bouquet of red roses in his hands.

  “Happy Valentine’s Day, Samara,” Luke said, grinning.

  “You’re not really going on a trip with Colby?” Samara questioned, surprised.

  “And miss spending Valentine’s Day with you? You’ve gotta be crazy if you think I would miss out on our last Valentine’s Day as an unmarried couple.”

  “Oh. I didn’t get you a present,” Samara murmured. The truth was that she had completely forgotten that it was Valentine’s Day. Her life had been so crazy lately that she hadn’t even had time to think about the holiday. When Luke had told her he was going away with Colby, she hadn’t even considered the possibility that it was just a cover for her surprise.

  “That’s okay,” Luke replied. “You can give me a present now.”

  Samara raised her eyebrows at him. “What?”

  “Dance with me,” Luke said, wrapping one of his arms around her waist and taking her hand in his. Samara wrapped her other hand around his neck and swayed back and forth with him to the beat of the music.

  Luke said, in a low voice, “I know you said Emma and Silas are going to be planning our wedding, but this is one of the things I thought we should choose together. Can this be our first dance song?”

  Samara nodded, and she felt a feeling of happiness wash over his body, radiating into her skin. Glancing into his emerald green eyes, she couldn’t help but think how true the words in the song really were. Even though she was also mated to someone else, fate had decided that they did belong together, in some way.

  Once the music stopped and they let go of each other, Samara heard someone say, “Aww!” She glanced over her shoulder and found Emma standing there, watching them with a tissue in her hand.

  “You guys are just so cute!” Emma said, wiping away a tear that fell from her eyes. “It’s the sweetest thing. I’m going to end up bawling like a baby when you dance the first time at your wedding. It’s going to be epic.”

  Samara pointed at the pink teddy bear that Emma clutched against her chest. “Where did that come from?”

  Emma held up the teddy bear. “Oh, Colby got it for me! I do have to say, the boy is kind of thoughtful sometimes. And he already knows my favorite color. And he got me a box of chocolate covered strawberries. You know those are my favorite! Maybe having a mate who can read my mind isn’t such a bad thing, after all.” Glancing over her shoulder to make sure Colby wasn’t nearby,
she added in a lower voice, “None of my human boyfriends ever would have figured things like this out without being told, like, a gazillion times, and even then, they did things their way.”

  Samara smiled. “Colby’s a good guy, Em. And he might have his quirks, but he really does care about you. I think he’s a keeper.”

  Emma smiled and shrugged. “I’ll go put those in water,” she said, pointing her chin at Samara’s roses.

  As Emma pranced off into the kitchen, Samara found herself alone with Luke, who was still feeling happy. She wondered how Declan was feeling at that moment, spending Valentine’s Day by himself, and she realized something in that moment.

  Declan might be her mate, too, but Luke had been her mate first. Nothing would change the fact that she and Luke had experienced so much together—things that she would never be able to experience with Declan. She’d shared her first real kiss with Luke and made love to him for the first time.

  Maybe things would be different between them if Declan had been the one who had asked her to spend the rest of her life with him first, but he hadn’t. It had been Luke . . . and spending the rest of her life with him was exactly what she wanted to do.

  Chapter 19

  March 1st

  Samara stared into the tiny lights on the candles on the cake in front of her as her friends and family sang to her. It was her birthday, but since it was also the day before her wedding, they had just had their wedding rehearsal dinner, too.

  “Make a wish!” Emma chirped from next to her once everyone had finished singing. “And make it a good one! You only turn sixteen once.”

  Closing her eyes, Samara thought, I hope I don’t fall on my face as I’m walking down the aisle tomorrow.

  She blew out the candles with one single blow and breathed a sigh of relief that she had. Hopefully it meant that she wouldn’t fall in front of the two-hundred guests who were invited to her and Luke’s wedding as she walked down the aisle the next afternoon at two o’clock.