by Jayme Morse
Chapter 10
****
“Do you want to go with a short dress or a long dress?” Emma asked, her arms filled with a heaping pile of dresses in just about every color of the rainbow that she had picked out for Samara to try on – which looked like a lot in comparison to Samara’s own meager pile of two dresses, which consisted of a short plain brown dress and a silver halter dress that she knew was way too loud for her.
Samara shrugged. “Whatever you think will look best.” Emma had insisted that she would be able to find some awesome dresses for Samara’s body type since her new goal in life was to become a personal shopper for the rich and famous, so Samara had agreed to let Emma pick out whatever she wanted for her to try on. She’d only picked up a few dresses on her own so that the saleswomen wouldn’t think she was a weird to be not picking out anything to try on.
Emma plucked a few of the dresses from the pile and shoved them at Samara. Samara took them from her and stepped into the dressing room, closing the curtain behind her.
Samara began peeling off her clothes. As she tossed the lacy powder pink camisole that she had been wearing under her fuchsia sweater to the chair, she glanced at herself in the mirror.
Samara had always been on the slender side, which she’d attributed always to her mostly-healthy vegetarian diet. She looked different now, though.
Her body was beginning to look much more athletic than it ever had before. Not only did her arms look like she had been lifting weights, but her stomach was also starting to look more toned . . . way more toned. It might have been the lighting, but Samara was pretty sure a six pack was beginning to form – which was kind of random because she never really exercised much.
The only thing that had changed was that she was a wolf now. She hadn’t noticed these changes when she first became a wolf, though. Were these changes new because she was an Alpha now?
Samara pulled a long, frilly Barbie-like dress off the top of the pile, wrinkling her nose at the highlighter-orange color. Orange was one of her least favorite colors.
As she pulled up the spaghetti straps and began zipping up the dress, Samara glanced at her back in the mirror and held in the gasp that wanted to escape her lips.
She had completely forgotten about her tattoo – and the fact that she was going to have to hide it from Emma and everyone else at the Homecoming dance. The paw prints were visible – very visible – in this dress.
“Sam?” Emma called from the next dressing room over. “Are you ready to show each other?”
“Umm, hold on. This dress doesn’t fit so I’m going to try on the next,” Samara lied, hoping that her nervousness wasn’t blatantly obvious from the tone of her voice. She rummaged through the pile for a dress that had a higher cut in the back, but all of the other dresses were either strapless or worse, halter tops, which she knew would leave her entire back exposed.
Would Emma even notice the tattoo? She obviously hadn’t noticed, after all of these years of friendship, that Samara didn’t even like the color orange. And, so what if she did notice the tattoo? Maybe Samara could just tell her that she and Luke had gotten matching tattoos together. Knowing Emma, she would probably think it was romantic and would give Samara props for being a badass for once.
Deciding that it didn’t matter if Emma knew she had the tattoo, Samara looked through the pile for a dress that she actually liked. She settled on a royal purple tea-length dress with sparkly sequins that extended from the waist to the cleavage area.
As soon as Samara stepped into the dress, she knew that it was the one she was going to get. The color complemented her fair, but slightly olive, skin tone, and the dress hugged her hips in all of the right places. It was one of the most flattering dresses that she had ever worn.
When she opened the curtain and stepped out of the dressing room, Emma was standing outside, twirling around in front of the full length mirrors, waiting for her. Samara had been expecting her to choose a short little black or red number that showed off too much leg and barely covered her cleavage, mostly because she had heard Emma tell Troy that she was going to wear something sexy to the Homecoming dance. So, when she saw the long periwinkle gown that Emma had chosen for herself, Samara gasped. “You look like an angel.”
Emma laughed. “Not that I’ll be one on Homecoming night.” She winked. “No, but, seriously, do you like it?”
“I love it,” Samara replied. “And Troy would be crazy not to like it.”
“Okay, I’m getting it then,” Emma said, running her fingers over the taffeta material. She glanced at Samara’s dress, as though she were noticing it and taking it in for the very first time. “Wow, that dress looks awesome on you. Are you going to get it?”
“I really like it,” Samara admitted. “Do you like the color?”
“Yes, we can be purple twins!” Emma said excitedly. “I wonder if they make purple limos! If they do, we should totally get one for Homecoming.”
Samara rolled her eyes. Did people normally take a limo to the Homecoming dance? Samara didn’t even want to think about what Emma was going to plan for them for prom. Realizing that Emma hadn’t asked to see the back of the dress, Samara breathed a sigh of relief. No one knew about her tattoo yet. Hopefully she could keep it that way.
After they had paid for their Homecoming dresses, Samara and Emma headed to the mall food court to get pretzels from Auntie Anne’s. As they were waiting in line, Samara happened to glance over at the KFC line. She froze.
Jason and Seth were standing in line. This was the first time she had seen either of them since she had been initiated, and the first time she had seen Seth since he had moved out of the McKinley’s house.
Just as Samara was about to look away so they wouldn’t notice her, she felt Jason’s nearly black eyes fall over her, giving her a cold hard stare. Quickly turning her head, she tried to act like she hadn’t noticed them and pretended that she had been talking to Emma. “So, what does Troy look like?”
Emma swung out her iPhone and opened a picture of a Latino guy, who reminded Samara of Orlando Bloom. “He’s cute,” Samara said. She could still feel Jason’s eyes on her back. Through the corner of her eye, she could tell that he was still staring at her. Samara felt her cheeks reddening.
When the woman working at Auntie Anne’s handed both of them their pretzels, Samara asked, “Do you mind if we take these to go? We could eat them outside or somewhere else instead.”
“Why?” Emma asked, raising a perfectly waxed blonde eyebrow at her. “We always eat in the food court. And the good table by the fountain is actually empty for once.”
Deciding that she didn’t want to tell Emma that Jason was creeping her out, she whispered, “Seth’s here.”
“So? You guys are best buds. Maybe he’ll even want to eat with us! I haven’t talked to your brother in ages.” Emma spun around, as though she was going to call Seth over to them, but she froze when she noticed that Jason was with him.
The look on Emma’s face told Samara that she didn’t want to be anywhere near her ex-boyfriend, which made Samara feel instantly relieved. “Yeah, you’re right. Let’s get out of here,” Emma whispered, as she started heading for the door.
When they were safely situated in Emma’s car, Samara let out a sigh of relief. Not only did Samara not have to explain to Emma why she didn’t want to be around her brother, it was also a really close call. She was lucky that Emma had been with her at the mall this time because who knows what Jason might have tried if she had been alone and, ultimately, more vulnerable.
*
That evening, Samara was lying in bed, talking to Luke through mind-speak. He was trying to get her to tell him what the Homecoming dress she had picked out looked like, and she wanted it to be a surprise. One of the cool things about being able to communicate through mental exchange was that Samara never had to worry about either of her parents hearing what she was talking about – which was a lifesaver right now because Samara had just said, “I bet you�
�ll look hot,” when there was a knock on her bedroom door.
“Samara? You have a phone call, honey,” Mrs. McKinley called from outside the door.
Samara opened her bedroom door and grabbed the phone from her mom. “It’s Detective Scotts,” Mrs. McKinley mouthed to her.
Crap. Samara had forgotten that there was an ongoing investigation, and that she had seemed like one of Detective Scotts’ biggest suspects, even though he hadn’t admitted it to her yet. Maybe that’s why he was calling now.
Once Mrs. McKinley had walked back down the hall, Samara put the phone to hear. “Hello?”
“Hi, Samara. This is Detective Scotts. How are you doing?”
“Okay,” Samara said hesitantly. “How are you?”
“Fine, thanks. Listen, I’m calling because I just wanted to let you know that you were right,” Detective Scotts explained. “I ran a DNA analysis on the hair that was found in the woods to compare it to the sample that you provided me with. It wasn’t a match.”
Samara breathed a sigh of relief. She had been worried that some of her DNA would be found on the hair from the woods since she had put the wig on with her hands, after all.
“But,” Detective Scotts went on. “I do have some further questioning for you. I spoke with Lilly Phillips’ parents, and they seem to think that you were harassing her. They don’t know why or what was said. Do you know why Lilly Phillips would mention to her parents that you were harassing her?”
Samara’s mind shot back to the weird conversation that she had with Lilly Phillips in the general store. Lilly had told Samara not to talk to her and that there was nothing that Samara could say to her that she didn’t already know. What had she even been talking about that day? Did it have something to do with Jason and the Vyka? Maybe Lilly thought that Samara was already a Vyka at that point, even though she had no intentions of ever joining that pack.
It didn’t make any sense, though. On the night of her death, Lilly had warned Samara to stay away from Jason because he had “bad” plans for her. It made Samara feel like Lilly was on her side, if anything. Why would Lilly say that Samara was harassing her?
Frustrated, Samara said into the phone, “No, I don’t know why Lilly would tell her parents that. I didn’t really know Lilly all that well. I only knew her because Josh Masterson was my cousin’s best friend. When I was around Lilly, we seemed to get along fine, though.”
Detective Scotts paused. “Are you sure about that?”
“Yeah, I’m sure,” Samara replied. “We never argued or anything like that.”
“Well, according to one of her friends, Lilly was afraid of you. Do you know why that might be?”
“No,” Samara answered, beginning to grow annoyed with the detective. “Maybe this ‘friend’ would know why, though. That’s who you should be questioning.”
Detective Scotts sighed into the phone. “I understand that this is frustrating for you, Samara. I’m sorry if it feels like I’m accusing you of anything. I’m not . . . I’m just trying to do my job and get to the bottom of the story. If you think of anything else – anything at all – that could be helpful to the investigation, please don’t hesitate to give me a call.”
“Okay, I’ll keep that in mind,” Samara said before hanging up the phone.
Sorry about that, Samara told Luke. Why do you think Lilly would have told people that I was harassing her . . . and that she was threatened by me?
I have no idea, but I know who would probably know, Luke replied.
Who? Samara asked.
Josh.
Chapter 11
****
I’m calling a pack meeting, Samara told all of the guys through mind-speak. Be at Starlight Lake in ten minutes. Glancing at her reflection in the mirror, she ran the mascara wand over her eyelashes. She’d already done a smoky eye look using black eye shadow and had applied a light pink gloss to her lips.
Samara normally didn’t care about doing her makeup. On the rare occasion that she did wear it, she normally just slapped on some brown eye shadow and used clear gloss. Something was changing in her, though. Suddenly, she cared about doing her makeup – and while she knew that being mated to Luke probably had something to do with it, she also thought that it had something to do with her being Alpha.
Samara felt like she had to impress the guys on her pack. She knew that some of them – Chris, in particular – still weren’t thrilled with the idea of having a female Alpha. Her body becoming more athletic definitely made her feel more confident, but she still felt like she had to put in the extra effort. Obviously, she didn’t want to try to attract them; she just wanted to win them over, and hopefully, looking pulled together would help.
When Samara finished getting dressed, she climbed out her bedroom window and walked to Starlight Lake. Colby, Steve, and Luke were already sitting at their usual spot waiting for her.
Taking her place at the center of the circle, Samara tapped her boot against the hard dirt impatiently. She hated waiting for people. Just as she was about to call Kyle and Chris to see what was taking them, they both walked towards her from the same direction.
Once they had taken their places at the circle, Samara said, “We have something very important to talk about tonight. As you already know, the detective who is working on Lilly’s case has been questioning me. According to him, Lilly was . . . talking about me before she died. She told her parents that I was harassing her, and she told one of her friends that she was afraid of me.”
Samara glanced around at the guys in her pack for a reaction. They each stared back at her. Colby’s turquoise blue eyes were filled with worry; Luke’s green eyes shimmered in the light from the moon, already knowing what she was going to say next; Kyle’s deep blue eyes were filled with a look of confusion, probably because he was the only one in the pack who had known Lilly well at one point; Steve’s chocolate brown eyes were full of intrigue. Chris’s blank stare was one that Samara couldn’t figure out, though. It was as though he was just waiting for her to say something else.
“This is all beginning to make me look like a person of interest,” Samara went on. “And I can only think of one way to figure out what was going on with Lilly. There’s only one person who would know why Lilly was so angry at me, but . . . because of werewolf pack code of honor, I’m not allowed to speak to him in a friendly manner.”
“Who?” Kyle asked, a blanket of curiosity in his voice.
“Josh Masterson. He was the love of Lilly’s life . . . at one point,” Samara trailed off, remembering that Lilly had told her that things had changed between her and Josh in the weeks before she had been killed. “He was also her mate, so he could hear her thoughts. If anyone out there knows why Lilly was scared of me, it would be Josh.” She paused, afraid of how the pack was going to react to what she was about to say next. “With your approval, I’d like to speak to Josh . . . in the friendliest manner possible. So, let’s take a vote. If the majority says ‘yes’, I’ll talk to him, but if you’re all mostly against it, I won’t.”
Colby twisted his watch around his wrist. “Usually, Alphas make these types of decisions on their own, Samara,” he said quietly.
“Well, I want us to be a united pack,” Samara replied. “I don’t want to do things that the rest of you don’t agree with. So, let’s vote. Raise your hand if you are okay with me talking to Josh to find out more information about Lilly.”
Kyle’s hand was the first to shoot up, which made Samara feel relieved. She knew that her cousin still sometimes hung out with Josh secretively, without the pack knowing. Samara didn’t mind, but she was going to have to have a talk with him soon. She was fairly certain that he wouldn’t say anything, but she had to make sure that Kyle wouldn’t reveal any of their pack’s secrets to Josh because she didn’t want anything getting back to the Vyka.
Luke raised his hand next, followed by Colby.
Samara glanced at the two remaining guys. Steve had a hesitant look on his face, as though he didn�
��t know if he should vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Chris, on the other hand, looked like his decision had already been made. He sat in front of the log, slumped with his arms crossed over his chest.
“Well, the majority wins,” Samara said slowly, “but I want to hear your concerns.”
“I’m just afraid about what might happen to you if Jason and the Vyka find out that you and Josh are speaking to each other,” Steve spoke up. “It will just piss them off more . . . which isn’t good because they’re already pretty pissed off.”
“Okay, I understand your concern,” Samara said. She actually hadn’t really thought about it that way herself, but there was the risk of Jason and the Vyka finding out. “Chris? Why don’t you want me talking to Josh?”
Chris looked at her like she was stupid for even asking. “Because it’s not allowed . . . and I suggest to the rest of the pack that if you do speak to Josh, we have you exiled. Why should you be allowed to break the rules?”
“Because it’s for her own protection,” Luke said, standing up. “If she doesn’t figure out what’s going on, the police might try to accuse her of killing Lilly. If she gets arrested, then we’re left without an Alpha.”
“Good, then we can appoint a real Alpha,” Chris muttered under his breath.
Luke took a step forward with balled fists. “We have a real Alpha. Maybe you need to start acting like a real wolf.”
Chris stood up, and Luke got closer to him. Just as Luke reached for Chris’s throat, Samara screamed, “Enough!”
Both of them stared back at her wide-eyed, as though they didn’t know that she was capable of emitting such a loud scream. It was the first time she had ever raised her voice with them, and it was also the first time she had ever done anything in which she’d acted like an Alpha.
“Sit down,” Samara instructed. “We’re not going to fight with each other. We’re a pack . . . a team! We need to get along with each other. We already have enough people against us. We don’t need to be against each other, too.”