Black Magic (Howl #4) (20 page)

Chapter 24

“Merry Christmas!” Mrs. McKinley said, planting a kiss on each of Luke’s cheeks. She winked at him before scurrying into the kitchen to help Linda.

Samara turned to Luke, raising her eyebrows at him. “What was that all about?”

Luke shrugged. “Beats me. I guess your mom just likes me.” He flashed her a cocky grin, and she rolled her eyes at him.

Slumping her head against his shoulder, Samara let out a relieved sigh. “I can’t believe Jason’s finally gone. It feels so strange. I keep thinking that he’s out there somewhere plotting against us, but . . . he’s really gone.”

Luke nodded. “I know what you mean. It feels good to know I don’t have to worry about him coming back to your room at night. None of the Vyka will, since there’s no one left.”

“I wonder what time Seth is supposed to get here,” Samara commented, glancing at the clock. They were having Christmas dinner at six o’clock, which was in an hour, a
nd Seth still wasn’t there yet.

“I think your mom mentioned that he was just having dessert with us,” Luke said. “He wanted to celebrate Christmas with Declan and his dad first, since he’s been living there with them and all, you know. That’s what he was planning to do before all of this happened.”

Samara nodded. She’d called Declan earlier that night to invite him and his father both to celebrate Christmas dinner with their pack, but Declan claimed to have other plans. Samara didn’t object or question it; the truth was, she knew it would be a little awkward to have both Declan and Luke in the same room at the same time. Eventually, they would probably learn to be friends, but it just didn’t feel like the right time yet.

“Samara, can I talk to you?” Emma questioned, coming to stand in front of her.

“Sure.”

Emma hesitated. Tossing her blonde hair over her shoulder, she whispered, “It’s kind of pers
onal. Come to my room with me?”

Shooting a confused look over her shoulder at Luke, Samara rose to her feet and followed Emma into her bedroom. Once they were inside, Emma closed the door behind them. Slumping down on the bed, she didn’t say anything.

“So, what did Colby think of his Christmas present?” Samara asked her. Her best friend had gotten Colby a hot dog grill because she thought they were his favorite food, but Samara hadn’t seen them open the presents they had gotten each other. They’d done presents before she had c
o
me over this morning.

Emma smiled. “He really liked it.” Tugging at the light blue sweater she was wearing, she said, “Do you like what he got me? I think it’s so pretty. It’s cashmere.”

“It’s a good color for you,” Samara replied, nodding her head.

“The boy has surprisingly good taste. Who would have thought?” Emma asked.

S
amara laughed. “Maybe he just knows you really well already.”

“Did you give Chris his present yet?” Emma questioned.

Samara nodded. “Yeah, he said he’s going to leave for Alaska tomorrow morning.”

“Is he just going for a visit, or is he planning to stay?”

Samara shrugged. “I don’t know.
He
doesn’t even know how long he’s going to be there for. He’s planning to try to talk her into coming back here, but I don’t think it’s going to work. I guess we’ll see.”

“Drama, drama, drama,” Emma commented with a giggle. “I hope whatever happens makes both of them happy. He seems so miserable lately.”

“I agree,” Samara replied, nodding. “So, what did you want to talk to me about?”

“I need to ask your advice. What do you think of nice guys?”

“Um . . . they’re nice?” Samara laughed. “I don’t really get what you’re asking.”

“If there was a really nice guy who wanted you to give him a chance, would you give him one?” Emma questioned, a note of seriousness in her voice.

“If I felt like I was attracted to him, yes,” Samara replied, unsure of where her best friend was going with this. Emma still hadn’t told her the truth about the movie theater, and she wasn’t sure if she was going to. Samara hoped Emma hadn’t been leading Colby on when she’d kissed him, but it seemed like her best friend was becoming more op
en to the idea as time went on.

“Even if you were used to only dating jerks?” Emma asked. “I mean, what if you didn’t think you deserved any better than guys who treated you like crap? It might make you feel like you would hurt him eventually because hurt and pain is all you’re used to. And that would really suck if the guy was super nice and didn’t deserve to be hurt.”

Samara raised her eyebrows. “Emma, I know you’ve dated a lot of jerks in the past, but you deserve a nice guy.” Under her breath, she added, “Like Colby. And you won’t hurt him . . . as long as you give him a real chance.”

Blushing, Emma rolled her eyes. “I wasn’t asking about
me
, Sam. I needed your help for homework reasons. It has to do with one of the books I’m reading.”

“Oh, okay.” Samara laughed, not buying it for a second. “What book are you reading?”

Emma glanced around the room. After a few moments, she met Samara’s eyes. “It’s called A Girl and Her Wolf. It’s by this new author named Alfreda Hitchcock. It’s a classic.”

“Oh, hmm. I’ve never heard of it,” Samara replied, trying to stifle a giggle. “I’ll have to check it out sometime.”

“No, you can’t do that!” Emma protested, redness blooming on her cheeks.

“Why not? It sounds like it’s really interesting if it’s making you ask my opinion about it.”

“Because I just don’t think it will be your type of book,” Emma replied. “It has a lot of romance, and I know that’s really not your type of thing.”

“Okay,” Samara replied, studying Emma’s face. Her lips were in a tight line, and she nervously darted her eyes to the corner of the room.

Emma glanced up at her. “That’s all I needed to talk to you about,” she said coolly. “I just needed your opinion for my homework. Come on . . . let’s go back in the living room before our mates start to wonder where we are.” She rolled her eyes, the same way she normally would.

Samara followed her friend out into the living room. Once she was in the living room, sitting on the couch next to Luke again, she did a Google search on her iPhone for
A Girl and Her Wolf
by Alfreda Hitchcock.

Just as she suspected, the book didn’t exist.

*

“Come on, let’s go outside,” Luke said later that night, grabbing her hand and leading her out the front door.

Once they were outside, standing on the front porch, the snowflakes swirling around them, Samara turned to him. “I’m so happy that we were able to spend Christmas like this. You . . . my family . . . the pack. It just feels so perfect.”

Luke stared into her eyes, his own sparkling in the moonlight. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” He kissed her on the forehead before adding, “I’m so proud of you. I’m proud of you for standing up to Jason the way you did. If it weren’t for you, he would have gotten away. It feels good to know that he’s finally been put to rest.”

“It does feel good.” Samara sighed. “I just feel so relieved to know this is all finally over. It’s so nice not having to worry about Declan trying to kill people to make sacrifices, or trying to hurt us. We can finally start acting like we’re normal people again.”

Luke nodded. “I know what you mean. It feels nice to finally be able to focus on other stuff.”

Wrapping her arms around him and pulling him close in a tight embrace, Samara smiled. “I don’t want this moment to end. I wish it could be Christmas every day so everyone can always spend the day together.”

“I don’t ever want to spend another day away from you,” Luke said quietly.

“Me either.”

Grabbing Samara’s hand, Luke sunk down on one knee in front of her. He pulled a box out of his pocket and glanced up at her, his emerald green eyes full of magic and wonder.

A million thoughts raced through her mind. Her breath caught in the back of her throat, and her heart froze inside her chest as she just stared him, knelt on the ground in front of her. Was this really happening?

Opening the box, Luke said, “Samara McKinley, the first time I ever laid eyes on you, I knew there was something different about you. Once I got to know you, I would come to find it was that I wouldn’t want to watch another sun rise or set without knowing you’re mine. I don’t have a lot to offer you yet, but without you, I’ll never be anything. Together, we can do anything, and I promise to keep you safe for all of eternity. Will you marry me?”

Samara glanced into the admiring eyes of her mate, the tears sliding down her cheeks. A thousand thoughts ran through her mind, but one thing was clear: this was exactly what she wanted, what she needed. Through the emotions that erupted within her, without any hesitation, she managed to whisper, “Yes, I’ll marry you.”

A smile spread across Luke’s face, as he pulled the ring out of the box and slid it onto her finger.

Samara glanced down at the ring; it was a princess-cut, vibrant green emerald stone surrounded by a halo of diamonds. The silvery white band split on each side, and both thin strips of metal were covered in diamond chips.

“It’s beautiful, Luke,” she whispered, wiping away the last of her tears, a smile tugging at her lips.

“Not as beautiful as you,” Luke replied. Rising to his feet, he took her face in his hands and leaned in closer to her.

As his lips met hers, she was jolted by the intensity of their kiss; it felt like his lips were burning her, but at the same time, the icy cold feeling that she always felt when their skin touched extinguished the fire. Ignoring the feeling, she tugged him by the hair, pulling him in closer to her. He wrapped his arms around her, and she kissed him with all of the passion that burned inside her.

His thoughts filled her mind, and hers filled his just as loudly. They were both thinking the same thing; in that moment, they both knew that no matter what happened between them, from then on, they belonged to each other, fully and completely.

Chapter 25

When Samara and Luke went back into the house, everyone cried out, “Congratulations!”

Samara’s jaw fell open. “You all knew Luke was going to propose to me?”

Emma laughed. “I told you I knew what your Christmas present was!”

“I thought you were talking about the gold hoop earrings Luke gave me earlier! You really knew about this, and you kept it from me?”

Emma nodded, proudly. “I told you I wasn’t going to spill the beans about your Christmas present. I’m so happy for you!” she squealed
,
throwing her arms around her. “It’s going to be so fun to start planning your wedding!”

Samara smiled and turned to her parents. “You knew about this, too?”

Her dad nodded. “Luke’s a good man. He came to ask us for our permission.”

“And you said yes?” Samara asked, dumbfounded. She hadn’t been expecting her parents to be okay with this; before she came in the house, she was afraid she was going to have to break the news and talk them into letting her get married, maybe once she turned eighteen, but they had known the whole time that this engagement was going to happen.

“We couldn’t say no,” her mom replied. “He is your mate, after all. You’re going to be with him one day, no matter what we say. Besides, letting you get married while you’re still in high school isn’t the strangest thing, considering the fact that you’re a werewolf.” Pausing, she added, “You have to wait until your sixteenth birthday, though, at the very least. Pennsylvania state law says you can get married when you’re sixteen with our permission.”

“Okay, we can wait,” Samara beamed. “I’m not in any rush.”

“I’m so happy for you guys,” Colby said, giving Samara a small hug. “I guess since Luke is sort of like my brother, this means that you’re going to be sort of like my sister-in-law.”

Samara laughed. “Yeah . . . sort of.”

“Congratulations, Cuz,” Kyle said from the couch where he was sitting. Samara noticed that an attractive olive-skinned guy was sitting next to him. They both had that happy, glowing look that could only be worn by two people who were in love. Sometime while she was outside with Luke, Silas must have arrived at the house and came through the back door.

“Hi, Samara, it’s nice to meet you,” Silas said with a smile. “And congrats on your engagement. You must be so excited! If you ever want some help on wedding colors and themes, you know where to find me.” He winked.

“Thanks. It’s nice to meet you, too.” Samara smiled. She could already tell she and Silas were going to be good friends.

“Hey, Sam,” Steve called from the hallway that led to the entertainment room. “We’re happy to hear about your engagement and all, but we need you to come in here for a sec.”

“Okay,” Samara replied, grabbing Luke’s hand—her
fiancé’s
hand—as they followed their pack members into the entertainment room.

Once they were inside, Chris explained, “We were just playing Candy Land, and—”

Luke laughed. “You were playing Candy Land? Are you serious?”

“Dude, shut up. It’s always been a Christmukkah tradition in my house,” Chris replied, rolling his eyes. “Anyway, we were playing Candy Land, and the Ouija board just started moving all on its own. It was the craziest thing. So, we went over and talked to Bennett for a few minutes, and he wanted us to light some candles.”

Steve pulled a match out of the box and lit a few white candles. Once they were lit, they were blown out by a gust of wind and the walls shook a little before coming to a halt. Bennett, Dante, and Nadia appeared in front of them.

“Hello, everyone,” Bennett greeted them, taking a small bow before them.

“Hi,” Samara replied with a smile. “I was actually going to summon you soon, anyway. I wanted to thank you for saving me.”

“It’s not a problem,” Bennett replied. “I’m going to be honest, though. Saving you wasn’t the easiest thing we’ve ever done.”

“A lot of spirits were invoked last night,” Nadia said. “More spirits than we’ve ever had to deal with. Luckily, we were able to round up a lot of other trusted spirits to help us out, or you would have been toast.”

“Burnt toast,” Dante agreed.

“Luckily, Dante owed a favor to another spirit, so we were able to save the day,” Bennett explained.

“Yeah, so you can all thank me,” Dante nodded, smiling.

“Thanks for saving my mate,” Luke told him. “I really appreciate it.”

“Why did you need us to call you here?” Steve questioned.

“Yeah, I don’t like ghosties who keep secrets!” Emma whined.

“Don’t insult the ‘ghosty’ who knows all of
your
secrets,” Dante teased. “I could tell everyone in this room about what I saw you and
someone else
in this room doing the other night,” he said, glancing over at Colby.

Emma’s cheeks reddened and she crossed her arms over her chest angrily.

Curious about what Dante had seen but knowing that Emma didn’t want to talk about it in front of the whole pack, Samara shrugged it off. Glancing over at Bennett, she asked, “Anyway, what’s going on, Bennett?”

“We were eavesdropping on your conversation with Luke on the front porch,” Bennett explained, lowering his eyes to the ground. “Congratulations on your engagement. But what we wanted to tell you was that you’re wrong about something.”

“What?” Samara asked.

“The dark spirits are growing stronger every day, and they’re being invoked by the masses.”

Luke narrowed his eyebrows. “So, what exactly are you saying?”

Bennett sighed. “This isn’t over yet. It’s not even close to being over.”

Marked (Book #5 of the Howl Series) COMING SOON!