by Jayme Morse
Thinking about Chris’s comment, Samara felt the ager rising to her cheeks. Luke came back into the living room then – and just in time because Samara had a feeling that she wasn’t going to be able to control her inner wolf for much longer.
Luke sat down next to her and grabbed her hand. Samara felt a tingly feeling shoot down her spine. Luke’s touch felt so much different now that she was initiated. It made it feel like they were bonded. It was as though he belonged to her; when he held her hand, he was all hers.
“We need to talk about keeping Sam safe,” Luke told the pack. “She may be the Alpha, but she still needs to learn how to fight. In the meantime, we know that Jason’s going to try to attack. We need to be prepared.”
“What can we do about it if we don’t know when he’ll attack?” Kyle asked, coming into the living room and sitting down on the floor next to Samara’s spot on the couch. “Sorry I’m late.”
“They’ll try to catch us off guard, which is why we need to be ready for them. I want one of us to be with her or within say, five hundred feet of her, at all times,” Luke said firmly. Samara noted a protective tone in his voice, which comforted her. “I want us all to take shifts guarding the forest by her house. I also want one of us to be with her at all times. Kyle, you and I are the only ones who are going to be allowed in the house without her parents asking questions, and they’ll never allow me to spend the night.”
“You want me to spend the night?” Kyle asked. Samara thought that he looked surprised at the idea, and she couldn’t blame him. It had been years since Kyle had stayed the night at the McKinley’s house. The last time she could remember was when his mom and dad had gone on a trip to Hawaii to celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary, which had to be at least seven years ago. Kyle and Samara had drifted apart sometime after his father had passed away.
“I was thinking you could pretend to be having problems at home and ask to spend the night on days when you need to? Do you think your mom would be on board with that?” Luke asked.
“Yeah,” Kyle replied hesitantly, ruffling his copper hair. “She should go along with it.”
“And my parents should be easy to convince now that Seth moved out.”
“He did?” Kyle asked, a look of surprise on his face.
Samara nodded. “Yeah, he left last night . . . I guess because of my initiation. We have no idea who he’s staying with.”
“Declan,” Steve chimed in. When everyone stared at him accusingly, wondering if he had willingly communicated with a Vyka, he explained, “I heard Declan talking about it in history class.”
Samara felt her insides warm up a bit. At least her brother was staying with her old best friend. Declan’s dad was a nice guy, so she knew that he would be safe at the Kingsbury’s house. Samara wished that she could thank Declan for taking her brother in, but she knew that she couldn’t do that.
No, you can’t, Luke told her softly. You need to remind yourself that the reason Seth left is because of your decision.
Samara met his emerald green eyes and sighed. This was going to be even harder than she realized. “Okay, so, the next thing that we need to talk about is fighting. I know that Colby was supposed to work with me, but . . . who is the best fighter here? I need to learn from the best.”
For a moment, all of the guys were quiet. They stared around the room at each other. Colby had a look in his turquoise blue eyes that told Samara that he wanted to say something, but he kept it to himself.
“I think we’re all good at something,” Steve said slowly. “Kyle is good at catching his opponents off guard. Luke knows how to go all bestial and intimidate his enemies. Colby exudes this confidence that intimidates some wolves who haven’t met him before. Chris is good at biting; he knows all the right places to make a werewolf yelp. And me, I’m pretty good at figuring out who the weakest links are.” Samara couldn’t help but flinch. Did he think that she was the weakest link of their pack?
“So, you’re all good fighters,” Samara said slowly, noticing that Colby was staring down at the floor. “What’s wrong, Colby?”
Colby looked up at her, twitching his freckle-covered nose. “It’s just . . . my best quality as a wolf is that I’m confident. It’s my worst quality as a human.” He shrugged. “I guess it just bothers me.” Samara was surprised that he had been able to talk about this so casually in front of the pack, but then again, there are no secrets within a pack.
No one said anything. Everyone knew that Colby wasn’t a confident human. Samara took in the outfit that he was wearing today: a yellow and orange striped turtleneck sweater with brown corduroy pants. Even though Colby thought that he was being cool, he usually wasn’t – and Samara suspected that it bothered him more than he let on.
She was going to make sure that she gave him a makeover from head-to-toe. Hopefully, that would help to boost his confidence as a human, even if it was just a little bit.
That’s all fine and dandy, but not yet, okay? We have more important things that you need to be doing right now than giving Colby a makeover, Luke told her. Out loud, he said, “So, it’s settled then. We’re all going to teach Samara how to fight.”
“As a group?” Kyle asked.
Luke shook his head. “No, that’s a bad idea. Samara will need to focus on whatever it is that she’s trying to learn, so it should probably be one-on-one.”
From across the room, Chris scowled. His normally tannish skin had turned a shade of pink. Samara remembered that she had seen him throw tantrums in classes that they had together in the past. Chris was the captain of the basketball team, and whenever the team lost a big game, he would sit there scowling throughout the next school day. She had never seen him act this way around his pack, though.
“Chris, is everything okay?” Samara asked.
He looked up at her and shrugged. “Yep, I’m fine.”
Colby? Samara asked in her head. I thought you said I could hear everyone’s thoughts?
You can . . . if they let you, Colby replied.
But you could always hear mine, Samara pointed out.
You didn’t know how to block me out. They know how.
Then why did you tell me that you always heard them? Samara asked.
I think they have their guards up right now, Colby replied, staring at her from across the room with a sympathetic look on his face. They didn’t care if I listened to their thoughts, but none of them are really happy that you’re Alpha. They don’t want a girl listening in on their private thoughts.
Samara sighed. She had a lot of learning to do about being Alpha.
*
An hour later, Luke was walking Samara to the front door. The lights in the house were off, but the porch light was on. As they came to a halt at the front door, Luke wrapped her in his arms. “I wish your parents weren’t so strict.”
“Me too,” Samara whispered, feeling the goose bumps form on her arms as she felt his warm breath on her neck.
“I think that we need to think about telling your parents,” Luke said gently. “They might be more agreeable about you spending time with me if they knew.”
Samara shook her head. “No. I’m not ready to tell them yet.”
“But what if they already know?” Luke asked. “You might be hiding the fact that you’re already a werewolf for no reason.”
“And what if they don’t know?” Samara protested, her voice rising louder than she meant for it to. She lowered it to merely a whisper, mostly in fear that her parents would hear their conversation from inside the house. “I still want to go with my original plan. If they don’t say anything by my sixteenth birthday, then I’ll tell them. I have a feeling they won’t tell me then because they didn’t tell Seth.”
Luke sighed. “Fine, you win.”
“I’ll always win,” Samara replied, giggling and poking him in the chest. “Just remember that.”
“You’ll always win because I’ll always let you win.” Luke leaned in closer to her. Samara tilted her hea
d and closed her eyes. As his lips came down on hers, she felt the butterflies in her stomach begin swirling in circles. Every time they had kissed since she had been initiated, her feelings for Luke grew stronger.
“Okay, so, if anything bad happens tonight, I’ll let you know,” Luke told her after he pulled away from her. Samara felt disappointment cross over her; she hated having to say goodnight to him.
“Sounds good. Goodnight,” Samara said, giving him a final peck on the lips. Luke went down the porch steps and walked around the side of her house to join the rest of the pack members, who had all taken a post in the forest behind her house to guard her for the night. She had pondered going to the woods with them, but Colby thought that it would be a bad idea. He thought it would just open the doors for an attack, which they obviously weren’t ready for yet – Samara especially.
Luckily, there wasn’t a full moon tonight, so she wouldn’t feel the urge to go outside. Although Samara was mostly in control of her inner wolf now that she was beginning to mature (at what seemed to be a quicker pace than other wolves), she still found herself taken by the full moon. On the plus side, she no longer had to worry about anyone finding her lying on the ground naked now that she had gone through initiation, which gave her the ability to shift into wolf form with her clothes on. There were definitely perks that came along with belonging to a pack.
When Samara went into the house and climbed into bed, her mind drifted to her brother. It made her sad to think that things would never be the same between them again. For all she knew, Seth probably hated her now that he was a Vyka and she was an Ima. It wouldn’t surprise Samara if Jason had tried to brainwash him; what better way to bring Samara down than to turn her own brother against her? Just thinking about it made her feel sick to her stomach.
Her cell phone chirped from her nightstand. There was one new text message from Emma. Samara opened the text. It said: Can u come to my party tomorrow night? It’s going 2 be a lot of fun.
Is Jason going to be there? Samara texted back.
Her phone beeped again right away. No, he said he has to visit family in the Catskills. So, will u come? Luke can come 2.
I’ll let you know tomorrow, Samara texted back and hit send before turning her cell phone off and rolling over to go to sleep, feeling safe knowing that the pack was out there to keep her safe.
Chapter 6
****
“So, tell me again why we’re going to this thing,” Luke said, as he pulled his Honda Civic onto Emma’s street. Samara had been able to convince Luke to go to the party, but he definitely wasn’t happy about it. He didn’t want to go anywhere he might bump into the Vyka. When Samara asked him why he had gone to Emma’s parties before then, he said that it was because of her – originally because Colby had convinced him that they needed to befriend her before he bit her and then because he wanted to protect her when he found out that she was his mate.
It made Samara feel happy to know that, even then, Luke had been looking out for her.
“I don’t want her to start thinking that something’s up,” Samara replied. “We have to act like everything’s completely normal, and that you and Jason just don’t get along.”
“Well, I think it’s going to be fun,” Colby said in a matter-of-fact voice from the backseat. “When’s the last time we relaxed and enjoyed ourselves?”
Samara turned around and grinned at him. “That’s the spirit.”
Colby was gripping a case of Budweiser that Samara had convinced him to bring instead of red wine, his usual drink of choice to bring to Emma’s parties. Even though Jason and his friends weren’t going to be here to publicly humiliate Colby tonight, Samara knew that most of the other kids from school would still chuckle about it amongst themselves.
Once Luke had pulled his Honda Civic into the driveway, Samara climbed out of the car and headed up the steps of the front porch. Before Samara had the chance to knock, Emma swung the front door open. “Hey, hey!” she slurred, giving Samara a loose and somewhat sloppy hug. Samara stepped into the house and took off her jacket.
Luke followed close behind her. Samara watched as Emma slapped him against the shoulder. “Hey, pal! I’m glad Samara brought my best bud with her,” Emma slurred.
Samara rolled her eyes. Couldn’t her best friend throw at least one party at her house without getting drunk? Probably not, Samara thought to herself. Emma probably thought that being sober at a party where there was alcohol would put her popular girl status in jeopardy. Samara was even beginning to wonder if Emma’s drunkenness at parties was just an act.
When Colby walked in through the door, Emma’s face twisted in disbelief. “Samara? You’re hanging out with Colby Jack now?” she snickered. Samara loved how even though Emma probably had no clue what was going on, she still somehow remembered that everyone made fun of Colby.
Samara rolled her eyes and announced loudly, “Yes, I am hanging out with Colby now. Do you have a problem with that?”
“No, no problem . . . just surprised.” Emma turned to Colby, giving him a look up and down. It seemed like she was trying to see why Samara could possibly be interested in being friends with him. “Wow, you brought beer! I didn’t know you drank beer! I thought you only drank wine.”
Colby looked like he was about to say he didn’t, but instead he said, “Well, I’m drinking beer tonight. Would you like one?”
Samara smiled at his manners. She didn’t know how he could be so nice to Emma after she had been so cruel to him. If he hadn’t been Luke’s best friend, he wouldn’t even be invited to Emma’s parties. Everyone knew that Luke never went to social events without Colby, so the invitation was always extended to him, too, even though no one really understood him.
“Definitely!” Emma began dancing across the room, singing a song that Samara didn’t recognize with the words “thank you” in it. After a few seconds, Samara realized that Emma had make the song up herself.
I don’t know how you put up with her, Colby said in his head. She is so damn annoying.
Tell me about it. Samara stifled a giggle. She recalled that before she had known that Colby was her Alpha, he had said that Emma had a parrot nose and stringy Barbie hair. Samara had found it funny because she was angry at Emma at the time but she wasn’t sure if she had ever gotten over their fight. Emma got on her nerves lately. She hadn’t understood that Samara was genuinely concerned about her relationship with Jason and had automatically assumed that Samara was just jealous. Samara hated that her best friend didn’t realize that she was concerned about her, but it was going to be difficult to get her to fully understand unless she told her the truth about being a wolf.
Samara didn’t know if she would ever be able to tell Emma the truth. Not only would it be hard for any outsider to really believe, it would also require Emma to become more mature. And that definitely didn’t seem to be happening any time soon.
“I wish Jason was here right now,” Emma stated when she came back, a bottle of Smirnoff Ice in hand. “Family schmamily,” she slurred.
“I didn’t know he had family that lived in the Catskills,” Samara said casually.
“Me either. Some uncle or something,” Emma replied, shrugging. “Oh, well. We’ll have lots of fun without him!” She bumped against Samara’s butt with her hip.
There are other packs in the Catskills. Do you think Jason is trying to take them over this weekend? Samara asked, meeting Luke’s eyes.
It wouldn’t surprise me, Luke replied. He might be staking them out to get a feel for them. He might be trying to gain more pack members before he attacks us . . . which is kind of good. It gives us time to prepare to fight back. In fact, as soon as we get out of here, Colby and I should start teaching you.
Sounds good to me, Samara said. Realizing that she was getting nervous about fighting, even though Jason wasn’t in town, she went to the bathroom and splashed water on her face. The party was beginning to get louder as more people arrived.
When she was do
ne in the bathroom, she went back into the living room, just as Emma was carrying a tray of greasy-looking food – including Buffalo wings, which was one of Samara’s new favorite foods – to the living room. “Want some, Sam?” Emma asked.
“No, thanks,” Samara said politely. With the way she gobbled down food lately, she wasn’t about to embarrass herself by eating in front of people from school. Most of Emma’s friends were really judgmental, too.
Samara scanned the room for Luke, trying to ignore the smell of chicken that filled her nostrils. She spotted his short-cut brown hair in the corner. Ashley Everest, one of Emma’s close friends, was talking to him. Flashing him a bubble-gum pink lip glossed smile, she tossed her long auburn hair (which seemed to change colors every week) over her shoulder. Laughing at something Luke had said, Ashley threw her head back laughing and placed a hand on his shoulder.
Samara felt the low growl form in her throat. She wasn’t sure if she released it, and if she had, no one seemed to notice. Staring at them from across the room, Samara scowled. Luke was her mate. How dare Ashley touch him? Besides, didn’t she know that Luke and Samara were involved with each other? Everyone else seemed to know. Or did she know and just not care?
Feeling the anger build up inside of her and the tingly sensation that she always had when she was about to transform start to build up in her legs, Samara darted through the crowd of people in the living room and hurried out the front door.
She ran behind Emma’s house and felt her body shifting out of her control.
Staring up at the half moon that hovered in the sky, she let out a loud, angry howl. Samara heard someone gasp from behind her, and she whirled around.
Tina McFarley, a girl from school, and a guy who Samara didn’t recognize stood feet away from her, frozen in their steps. “What is it?” Tina whispered to the guy. Samara could see the fear in her eyes; it was the same fear that Samara had experienced that night during the summer when she had seen the wolf at Emma's party. At the time, she had thought it was just a wild, rabid animal. Now, she knew that it had been a werewolf, even though she still wasn't sure who it had been or why they had been there, eyeing her up . . . the same way she was staring at Tina and this guy right now.