by Jayme Morse
Luke scoffed and turned to look at her. “I can’t believe you’re letting him on our pack without even calling a meeting.”
“That’s what this is about?” Samara asked. “You wanted us all to vote?”
Luke looked down at the ground. “I – I don’t want him on our pack.”
“Why?” Samara asked.
Luke met Samara’s eyes. “He likes you, Samara.”
“What? That’s ridiculous. He’s grieving his deceased mate,” Samara said, shaking her head, and laughed. “So, that’s it? You’re just jealous.”
Luke didn’t answer her, but from the look in her eyes, she could tell that was it. If he were just any old human teenager, Samara would have broken up with him for being so jealous. It wasn’t Luke’s fault, though. It was werewolf instinct to get really jealous when you thought your mate was desired by someone else; even Samara had gotten jealous at Emma’s party when Ashley Everest had put her hands on Luke.
“I’m so glad that’s all this is. You have nothing to worry about. Even if he did like me – which he doesn’t – it wouldn’t matter.” Samara took a step closer to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. “You’re my mate.”
Tilting her chin, Samara pressed her lips against Luke’s lips and felt the butterflies begin swirling around her stomach. Luke kissed back more passionately than he ever had before. Looking up at the half moon, Samara smiled.
*
“So, you have to promise me that next time I have a house party, you’ll stay the whole entire time, okay?” Emma said.
Samara nodded, as she pulled books and notebooks out of her locker. “Sounds good.”
“Good because, to be honest, I keep wondering if you still think things are weird between us,” Emma replied. “It makes me thinking that you’re running away and leaving my parties on purpose.”
Samara gave Emma a sympathetic look. Even though she didn’t feel as close to Emma as she once had due to obvious reasons, it still made her feel bad that Emma thought that this was her fault. “It’s not that, I promise.” She slammed her locker door closed and linked her arm through Emma’s, something that Emma had once dubbed ‘their BFF thing’. Once they had started doing it, all of the other girls who went to Grandview started doing the same thing.
“Well, that’s good because . . . I was going to apologize,” Emma said quietly. When Samara glanced at her questioningly, Emma went on. “I feel a little guilty about the fights we’ve been having over the past few weeks. I’m sorry I said that I thought you were just jealous of me and Jason, when really, you were right the whole entire time. I can do so much better.”
Samara smiled, feeling relieved that Emma really was moving on from Jason. “I’m so glad you can see that now. Anyway, I forgive you. I’m sorry, too. Maybe I was a little harsh.”
“It’s whatever,” Emma said, laughing. “The past is the past. I’m so happy to have my BFF back. Yay!”
At that moment, Ashley Everest and her best friend, Brielle Morris, walked over to them.
“Hey, Emma, do you want to come shopping with us tonight?” Ashley asked.
Emma glanced over at Samara before saying, “I’ll text you and let you know. I might have other plans, but I’m not sure.”
Ashley stared at Emma with a blank expression. Feeling herself grow angry over what had happened the night at the party, Samara considered asking Ashley why she looked like she had just been punched in the face.
“But there’s a huge sale at Nordstrom’s!” Brielle protested. “We have to go or we’ll miss out on the thirty percent off on shoes and perfumes!”
Emma rolled her eyes. “Ladies, ladies . . . I didn’t say no. I just might have other plans. I’ll let you know if I can go. Now drop it.”
Once Ashley and Brielle walked away, Emma turned to Samara. “God, they’re so annoying.”
Samara raised an eyebrow. “I thought that you liked them. They’re, like, your new best friends lately.”
“You’ll always be my best friend,” Emma said softly. “No, they just push me really hard to do things with them even though I don’t want to. Last week, they wanted to go to Starbucks and I was like, um, I have a major migraine . . . I just want to go home. And they’re all like ‘but it’s going to be so much fun’.” Emma turned the corner to their homeroom classroom. “Besides, I might have plans with Troy tonight. And . . .” Emma drifted off. “Okay, I’m going to tell you something super important, but you have to promise that you’ll keep it to yourself, okay?”
Samara nodded. “I promise.”
“After you and Luke left my party,” Emma began, talking low so that no one could hear her, “Ashley wouldn’t shut up about how much she likes Luke. She said she’s planning to steal him away from you. You’re my best friend for life. I can’t hang out with someone who wants to steal your man!”
Samara could feel her cheeks turning an angry shade of red, and Ashley’s face flashed through her mind. She was pissed . . . so pissed, in fact, that she knew that if she didn’t find a way to focus her mind on something else right now, she was going to lose control and turn into a wolf.
“I’ll be back,” Samara whispered to Emma. She ran to the front of the room and bolted out of the classroom door. Mrs. Shay, their biology teacher, was walking into the classroom at the same time. She gave Samara a funny look, and Samara muttered, “I forgot something in my locker.”
Samara debated leaving the school, but decided to go to the bathroom instead. Once she was inside a stall, she felt herself panting and gasping for air. Why was she so upset? It’s not like Luke would ever leave her for Ashley. They were mated; Luke being with Ashley wasn’t even an option . . . was it?
When Samara calmed down enough to come out of the bathroom stall, the bathroom door swung open and a girl stepped inside, running her fingers through her freshly highlighted hair.
Samara’s heart stopped.
It was Ashley Everest.
As Ashley got closer to Samara, her pouty lips turned into a small smile. “Hi,” she said.
A range of emotions swept through Samara’s body. She wanted to teach Ashley a lesson – throw her against a wall, punch her in the face, or maybe just scream at her. Samara knew that doing any of those things wouldn’t make Luke happy, though, and she would also probably get in trouble for them or be labeled as a psycho once the rumor spread around school.
Instead, Samara did something easier; she glared at Ashley before slamming the door loudly shut. Once she was in the hallway, a low growl escaped her throat, but Samara was positive that no one had heard it.
*
The following evening, Samara grabbed her purse from the coat hanger and opened the front door.
“Samara?” Mr. McKinley asked, coming up from behind her. “Can we talk for a minute?”
“Right now?” Samara asked impatiently. She was getting ready for her lesson with Chris and was planning on convincing Luke to teach her tonight, too. Samara had a feeling that a fight between two packs would be happening soon because things had been quiet lately, and she wanted to be prepared for it.
“Yeah, we don’t get to talk much anymore,” her dad replied, running a hand over his receding hairline. “I just wanted to ask . . . have you heard from Seth?”
“I – umm, yes,” Samara lied, noting the worry in her father’s face. “He said he’s doing fine.”
“Where is he staying?” Mr. McKinley asked with a surprised look on his face. Samara hoped that she hadn’t just made things worse; did he think that Seth had made the effort to get in contact with Samara and not his own parents?
“With the Kingsbury’s,” Samara said, unsure if telling her dad where Seth had been staying was the right thing to do. After all, if it ever got back to her brother that they knew, she would have to figure out where she had gotten the information from without letting Jason think that someone from the Ima had talked to someone from the Vyka. Then again, Steve had just heard Declan talking about it in the class. The inform
ation was fair game to anyone within earshot . . . right?
Mr. McKinley’s face twisted in a look of even bigger surprise. “That’s kind of random. I thought that Declan was your friend. I didn’t realize that he and Seth hung out.”
“Yeah, it’s a new friendship, I guess,” Samara said, shrugging her shoulders. “I don’t really know. I don’t talk to Declan anymore.”
“Why not? You and Declan have been friends for so long.” Mr. McKinley smiled to himself. “To be honest, I always thought that Declan would be the first guy who you’d ever want to date. I even figured it would work out. That boy’s crazy about you.”
“That was the problem,” Samara said, lying again. She had been trying to think of the perfect excuse for why their friendship had ended, but her father had just given her an idea. “He did like me, and I’m with Luke now. Declan just couldn’t take it, I guess. He said that if he couldn’t be with me, he didn’t want to be friends with me at all.” Samara shrugged.
“Well, that’s a shame,” Mr. McKinley said. “He’ll come around eventually, I’m sure.”
“Yeah, he probably will.” Another lie. Samara knew darn well that she and Declan would never be friends again. “Well, I’m going to get going now.”
“Wait, who are you going out with?” Mr. McKinley asked.
“Luke.”
Mr. McKinley frowned. “I have to admit that I do like Luke a little more than I thought I was going to.”
“But?” Samara asked, knowing that it was coming.
“But,” Mr. McKinley went on, “don’t you think the two of you have been spending an awful lot of time together lately? Things seem to be getting really serious really quick.”
Samara stared at her father wide-eyed. If only he knew the truth . . . that Luke wasn’t just a high school boyfriend, that this was serious because he was her mate. “Half the time we’re doing homework and stuff,” Samara told her dad. “Don’t worry.”
“Okay,” Mr. McKinley said, shrugging. She had a feeling that he was just letting the matter go right now because he didn’t want to lose another one of his children.
As Samara headed out the front door to Luke’s car, which was parking in the driveway, she realized something. The more time went on, the more Samara was beginning to think that her dad really had no clue that Grandpa Joe was a werewolf. If her dad did know – if he was a werewolf himself – he would also know about werewolf mates, and he would understand why she and Luke were so close. There was no way her dad knew. If he did, she would be really surprised.
“Ready for your lesson?” Luke asked when she got in the car.
“Lessons. You’re teaching me tonight, too,” Samara replied, as she buckled her seatbelt.
“But, I don’t think you’re ready yet,” Luke said.
“Nonsense,” Samara said. “I’m completely ready. As your Alpha, I command you to give me a lesson tonight.”
Luke grinned. “Well, when you put it that way . . .”
Samara laughed as he drove away.
Chapter 14
****
Fifteen minutes later, she stood outside Colby’s house with Chris. “So, I just have to bite?” Samara asked. “It doesn’t matter how hard?”
“You need to bite as hard as you want to,” Chris replied, looking bored. “If you don’t want to hurt anyone, you won’t bite hard. If you want to do some serious damage, though, you should bite hard.”
“What if I want to kill?” Samara asked.
Chris laughed out loud. “You’re joking, right?” He snorted through his laughter. “You? Kill?”
Samara stomped her foot on the ground. “Yes, me kill. In case you haven’t realized, a lot of people want to kill me right now. I need to know how to fight back and defend myself if necessary. That’s the whole point of this.”
Chris stared back at her as though she were an alien. “Right, well . . . if you want to kill through a bite, you need to bite a certain area of the body with all of your strength.” He paused and looked at the life-sized werewolf stuffed animal that Colby’s dad had given them to use for this lesson. “You have two choices. You can either go for the throat to constrict the airways or you can pierce the heart. I prefer going for the throat myself.”
“Why?” Samara asked.
“Easy. If a wolf has teeth sinking into its throat, cutting off its ability to breathe, it will be harder for it to fight back. When you pierce the heart, the wolf can fight back.”
Samara raised an eyebrow. “Have you killed many other wolves during attacks?”
Chris shook his head. “Not really . . . just three. All of them were out of self-defense.”
Samara took a step closer to the stuffed werewolf before turning to Chris. “How do you pierce a heart through a bite?”
“You need to bite the chest, right where the heart is, and sink your teeth in as hard as you can,” Chris explained. “Very few werewolves have ever been able to do pierce hearts.”
“But you have?” Samara asked doubtfully. What were the chances that one of the wolves on her pack had done something that few other werewolves could do?
Chris nodded. “My dad taught me. He was one of the best biters in history.” He shrugged. “I guess that’s why I’m so good at this.”
“Well, thanks for teaching me,” Samara said, impressed by Chris’s talent. “It means a lot because I know you’re not too fond of me.”
Chris sat down on one of the lawn chairs and looked up at the sky. “That’s not it. I don’t have a problem with you personally. It’s just . . . if Colby isn’t Alpha, why did it have to be you? Why couldn’t it have been me? This is a man’s world . . . and it’s like I’m not good enough.”
“I don’t know why it happened this way,” Samara replied, sitting down on the grass next to him. Luckily, she had on dark jeans because the grass was wet. “It just was meant to be, I guess. I promise it’s not because you’re not good enough, though.”
“How do you know that?” Chris asked, looking over at her.
“You just told me about something that you’ve done that hardly anyone else can do,” Samara said. “You have a talent. And to be honest, I’m supposed to be one of the most powerful werewolves in the world. You’re on my pack. That says something about how powerful you must be.”
For the first time since Samara had become Alpha, Chris smiled at her. “I guess you’re right. I’m sorry I haven’t taken this so well.”
“That’s okay,” Samara replied, smiling back. “I’m just glad you were finally honest with me. I just thought you didn’t want a girl to be your pack leader.”
Chris laughed. “No, it’s okay. I feel better now.”
“Good.” Samara glanced back at Colby’s house, which was lit up by the gold Christmas lights. She noticed a dark figure looming in the kitchen window. When the person looked up, Samara knew who it was right away.
Mr. Jackson. The way he stared back at her from behind his dark eyes, it felt like he was trying to search her soul for something – but Samara had no idea what. She wished that, at the very least, she knew what he wanted from her. He was beginning to freak her out.
Feeling goose bumps rise on her arms, Samara turned to Chris. “I’m going to get Luke so he can give me my lesson now.”
“Good luck with that,” Chris said, laughing.
“What’s so funny?” Samara asked.
“You’ll see.”
Rolling her eyes and chuckling, Samara headed back to the house. Instead of following Chris through the back door, she chose to go to the front door, so that she didn’t have to come face-to-face with Mr. Jackson.
Before she could turn the doorknob, the door swung open, and Luke stepped out. When Samara looked at him strangely, Luke explained, “I heard you think about me giving you your lesson now.”
“Okay, well let’s go to the backyard.” Samara began walking down the grassy slope in the Jackson’s yard that led to where she and Chris had just been doing their lesson.
&
nbsp; “We’ll want to want to go in the woods behind the house,” Luke said. “I don’t want any of Colby’s neighbors to freak out if they see or hear us.”
“Hear us?” Samara asked with an eyebrow raised.
"Yeah,” Luke replied, leading her to the woods. Once they were in a blanket of trees, he changed into a wolf, the blue smoke creating a fog-like appearance in the dark night.
Samara followed his lead, changing into wolf form, too. When she was level with him, she asked, now what?
Now, I’m going to teach you how to become a ferocious beast who can intimidate her opponents, Luke replied.
Samara gulped. She had never thought about the fact that, once she finally did get into a fight with other werewolves, she was going to have to find a way to intimidate them – to make them feel fearful of her. Even though Samara now knew how to make herself look confident physically, she was still lacking in the emotional department, although part of that probably had to do with the fact that so many people – err, werewolves – wanted to kill her.
You can’t let them get to you. You can’t let them know you’re afraid. If they know you’re intimidated, then they’ll know your weakness, and they’ll be more likely to succeed, Luke told her. He turned around and walked away from her, leaving her standing alone under the canopy of trees overheard.
When Luke came back, he raced towards her; he was growling loudly. When he was in front of her, he snarled, baring his pearly white teeth at her.
Luke got closer to her face, continuing to show her his teeth and growling.
For a moment, Samara froze, forgetting that this was Luke – her Luke, her mate. He wasn’t going to attack her. This was all just to teach her, to help her do the same thing.
When Luke took a step back, he sat down in front of her. Your turn now.
I – I don’t know if I can do it as good as you just did, Samara replied, already feeling nervous at the idea of having to do what Luke had just done. Was it possible for her to make herself that scary?