by Jayme Morse
Luke grabbed Samara’s hand and they stepped into the living room. “What’s going on?” he asked.
“As you probably already know by now, Jason Masterson,” Mrs. Jackson said, with a negative emphasis on Jason’s name, “killed an innocent child last night.”
Samara nodded, her mind flashing back to the blood-stained street that they had just passed.
“This isn’t allowed,” one of the men who were sitting on the couch said. The man, who had blonde hair and looked really tall, appeared to be in his mid-thirties. “Not only is it completely uncalled for, but it also puts us at risk.”
“At risk of what?” Samara asked.
“Of being exposed,” Mr. Jackson spoke up, eyeing Samara the same way he always did. “No one here knows that there are werewolves. Up until now, most of the people in this area also didn’t know that there were wolves, period. Now, the news reports are all focusing on the wolf problem. Before we know it, they’ll be telling hunters that they should try to kill the wolves because we’re a danger to the community.”
“Well, it’s not like they can kill us unless they’re using silver bullets,” Luke pointed out.
“That’s an even bigger problem,” the blonde guy said. “They’ll be wondering why these wolves won’t die when they’re shot.”
“So, what are you suggesting that we do?” Samara asked.
“We want you to kill Jason,” Mrs. Jackson said, looking over at Samara through her turquoise blue eyes that were so much like Colby’s. “You’re the only one who’s probably powerful enough to do it.”
“I – we were thinking the same thing,” Samara said. “The only thing that we’re waiting for is for Josh Masterson to become a member of our pack.”
“Josh Masterson?” Mr. Jackson asked incredulously. “You mean, Jason Masterson’s twin brother?”
Samara nodded. “He doesn’t want to be a Vyka anymore. Jason killed his mate.”
“That’s so sad,” Mrs. Jackson said, glancing over at Colby. Samara knew that Colby’s mom was thinking the same thing she was thinking; this wasn’t the first time Jason had killed someone’s mate. “What is the purpose of waiting until Josh is an Ima?”
“Because there will be retaliation,” Luke said. “And there’s also a good chance that the Vyka aren’t going to let us fight Jason without a struggle. The more members of the pack we have, the better off we are.”
“That sounds like reasonable logic to me,” an auburn-haired woman sitting on the couch next to blonde man said. By their closeness to each other, Samara was pretty sure that they were mates.
“All I know is this needs to be taken care of soon,” the blonde guy said. “The sooner you can get this boy on your pack, the better off we are. Is Jason allowing his brother to leave the Vyka?”
Samara shook her head. “No, but . . . we found in an old book of legends and myths that it was going to be possible for him to join our pack by making a sacrifice during the blood moon.”
“The blood moon already passed,” Mrs. Jackson pointed out.
“No,” Colby replied, shaking his head, his blonde curly hair swaying with it. “The other blood moon, mom,” Colby said, looking at each of the adults. “The blood moon that the witches cause.”
“Interesting,” the blonde man said. “I’ve never heard of that myth before. Let’s hope it’s not just an old urban legend.”
Samara felt an unsettled feeling form in her stomach. She had been hoping that the legend was accurate, but what if it wasn’t? That would mean that Josh wouldn’t be able to join their pack. She knew that would break his heart. Samara also didn’t even want to think about what would happen to Josh if he couldn’t become an Ima. He might speak out against Jason because he was angry at him for killing Lilly and end up getting himself killed.
“I’m sorry, Samara, I’ve been so rude,” Mrs. Jackson said. “Everyone here is a part of our adult Ima pack. This is Ted and Valerie,” she said, motioning towards the blonde guy and the red-haired woman.
“Hi,” Samara said to them.
“And this is Duncan, Barry, Alex, and Alison,” Mrs. Jackson went on. Duncan had dark hair, Barry was balding, Alex had Latino coloring, and Alison was a pretty brunette who Samara thought looked familiar from somewhere. “Samara is the new Alpha for our youth pack,” Mrs. Jackson told them.
“So I’ve heard,” Alex said, looking over at Samara. “That’s pretty impressive, but not surprising for a McKinley.”
“Um, thanks,” Samara said. She was still getting used to the fact that everyone seemed to know everything about her family history – err, werewolf family history. “So, that’s the only solution you’ve come up with this point . . . conquer the Vyka?”
“It seems to be the only logical thing to do,” Mr. Jackson replied. “As Alpha of this pack, that’s what I recommend you, a fellow Alpha, to do.”
“Okay,” Samara said. “Well, thanks for your input. Now, if you don’t mind, I came here to talk to Colby about something.”
“That’s fine. We hope to see you again soon,” Mrs. Jackson said with a smile on her face.
“You, too,” Samara replied before motioning to Colby to follow her out of the living room. Kyle and Luke also followed.
Colby led them upstairs to his bedroom, which Samara had never been in before. She glanced around at the forest green walls, the Beatles posters, and the lava lamp. It was definitely the type of bedroom that she would expect him to have. Once he had closed the door behind him, Colby asked, “What did you want to talk to me about?”
“Do you really think the Vyka are that strong?” Samara asked Colby after they had made their way to his room. He sat across from the room from her, gnawing on a chicken wing. He lifted the plate to offer her one, but she shook her head. For the first time since she had become a werewolf, she really didn’t have any appetite at all.
“They are very strong,” Colby replied, licking his fingers clean. Samara wrinkled her nose at him. She knew that she shouldn’t expect a pack of werewolves to have manners, but would it hurt to use a napkin? Then again, she had been guilty of doing the same thing occasionally when she was really hungry.
“How much do we know about black fighting?” Samara asked. “I mean . . . can anyone do it?”
Black fighting was when a werewolf pack used black magic to fight. Samara didn’t know all that much about it or how it worked; she just knew that some of the Ima were convinced that Jason and the Vyka had been using black fighting to make themselves more powerful than the other packs in the area.
Colby met her eyes and said firmly, “We can’t do it if that’s what you’re getting at, Sam. If a wolf wanted to use black fighting, they could easily learn it. But if any of the other packs in the country knew that Jason was using it, they would want to have him killed. Black fighting is not respected because it gives those packs an unfair advantage over everyone else.” He paused.
“That’s exactly why we need to take Jason down before he does too much damage.”
“How does black fighting work?” Samara asked. “I mean, what do they have to do to make it happen?”
Colby shrugged. “I don’t know a ton about it because I’ve never done it. I do know that it mostly works through spells and rituals. I also read that black fighters need to make a human sacrifice at every full moon.”
Samara gulped. “So, you mean, at every full moon, Jason and the Vyka have to kill an innocent human for black fighting to work?”
Colby nodded. “Yes, from what I understand.”
Samara thought of all the people she knew on the Vyka: Jason, Josh, Seth, and Declan. If what Colby had said was true, they were involved in this every month . . . and they were okay with it? Just the idea of being on a pack where this type of sacrifice was a regular occurrence made Samara feel sick to her stomach and reminded her, once again, how grateful she was to have chosen to become an Ima instead of a Vyka.
“You just want me to kill Jason, right?” Samara asked, looking up at
Colby. “You don’t want me to conquer the Vyka?”
Colby nodded. “We don’t need to conquer them. I personally don’t believe in killing other wolves unless it’s really necessary. We need to get rid of Jason. He’s dangerous to this community. I don’t think that the rest of the Vyka are that dangerous, though, so I don’t think we need to take over their pack.”
Samara frowned. She knew that what Colby was saying was reasonable. There was no reason to kill two people if it wasn’t necessary. In a way, Samara almost wanted to conquer the Vyka, though. It wasn’t because she wanted to expand her pack members or anything like that, but she knew that if they took over the Vyka, she would be able to talk to Seth and Declan again.
Not that things between her and her brother or her former best friend would ever be the same again.
“You had another question?” Colby asked her.
“Luke told me that it’s not normal to crave live animals,” Samara said, realizing that this conversation seemed a little pointless in comparison to everything that was going on with Jason.
“I crave them, though. My mom’s getting a puppy, and I’m afraid I’ll be tempted to eat it.”
Colby raised his eyebrows. “You seriously want live animals?”
“Um, yeah, except I thought that was normal,” Samara said. “There was a time when I was in the woods after a rabbit, and another werewolf came and snatched it away from me. I thought it was someone from the pack, but come to think of it, I never saw who it was.”
Colby sat down on his twin-sized bed. “I don’t know who it could have been, but I do know why you’re craving fresh meat.” He paused, glancing at Kyle and Luke. Both of them looked completely clueless, as though they had never heard of a wolf wanting to eat live animals before. “In ancient werewolf history,” Colby went on, “it was customary for a pack to bring back live prey to its Alpha. The Alpha would then get to eat whatever meat it wanted first and allow the other werewolves to have what it wanted second. If a werewolf was being punished, he or should generally wouldn’t be fed as much meat as the rest of the pack – and werewolves were sometimes rewarded with meat. I’m guessing that you’re having your meat cravings because of your Alpha heritage.”
“So, you had meat cravings when you were Alpha?” Samara asked, assuming that Colby knew so much about this because he had experienced it firsthand.
Colby shook his head. “No, I didn’t, but that could be for a few reasons. I mean, I obviously wasn’t even Alpha. I was just a placeholder until your time came. And I also don’t have an Alpha heritage that’s as strong as yours. My dad is Alpha, but he’s nowhere near as strong or powerful as your grandfather was. Those two factors, combined, probably have to do with why you would be more likely to crave meat than me.”
Samara sighed. This was yet another thing that was the result of her family’s history. “So, what I am supposed to do about the dog?”
Colby shrugged. “Try to stay away from it?” When Samara made a face, he said, “Just learn how to control your cravings. As long as you get plenty of protein, you should be okay.”
“Hey, Colbs?” Samara asked. “Do you have a dog?”
Colby shook his head.
“That’s what I thought.”
Chapter 16
****
“Me and Troy are going to the movies tonight,” Emma squealed into the phone. “Can you and Luke come with us? We’re going to see the new Adam Sandler movie, and I know he’s your favorite.”
Samara sighed. The last thing she really wanted to do was go on a double-date, with everything else there was to worry about. She knew that Emma would get offended if she didn’t agree to go though, and as much as Emma had been on her nerves lately, Samara also didn’t want her to start questioning why she had been acting different lately. “Yeah, we can go. What time?”
“Seven o’clock,” Emma replied. “I figured that, after the movie, we could get cappuccinos or something. I feel like we haven’t talked much lately, and it will give Troy and Luke a chance to get to know each other.”
“Okay, sounds good to me,” Samara said. “See you then.”
When she hung up the phone, Luke stared back at her through his light green eyes. “We’re going out with them?”
“Yeah,” Samara replied. “We might as well get this double-date thing over with, or she’s going to start bugging me about it.”
Luke laughed. “I guess you’re right. Not that going on a double-date is going to be all that bad. I mean, isn’t it what we do if we were just normal teenagers who were dating?”
“I guess,” Samara shrugged. Luke was the first guy who she had ever dated, so she didn’t really know what they would have done if they were, as he put it, normal. He would know, though. Luke had been with a lot of girls. Just thinking about the fact that he had been with so many made Samara feel a bit of resentment – even though she knew she shouldn’t because he had been with them before he had met her.
“And you make me feel like I’m the only one who gets jealous,” Luke said, shaking his head.
“I told you I got jealous that night at the party,” Samara said quietly. It sort of embarrassed her to admit that she had gotten jealous. She wasn’t naturally a jealous person. Then again, she wasn’t a person now, so that didn’t really apply anymore.
Luke shrugged and wrapped his arm around her. “Neither of us should get jealous,” he whispered. “We’re mates.”
Samara smiled. Knowing that she was mated made her happy for some reason.
*
A few minutes after seven o’clock, Samara and Luke were standing in line at the movie theater to buy their tickets.
“Samara! You’re here!” Emma called from down the hall.
Samara turned around. Emma was wearing a pair of tight skinny jeans, a low-cut top, and a cropped jean jacket.
“Aren’t you cold?” Samara blurted out. It was November, and Emma looked like she was dressed for spring or fall.
“Beauty is pain,” Emma shrugged. “Who cares if I’m cold? Maybe it will be more of an incentive for Troy to keep me warm. Hi, Luke,” Emma said to Luke, who was now next in line to buy movie tickets.
“Hey,” Luke replied. “So, where is this Troy person I keep hearing about?”
Emma sighed. “He said he’s running late, so we’re just going to start watching the movie without him. He’ll be here before it’s over, though. And we’ll definitely all get coffee afterwards for sure.”
Samara wondered what Troy was going to be like. What type of guy didn’t even show up on time for a movie? It made her wonder if Emma had chosen yet another winner – but anyone she dated now had to be better than Jason. At least Troy was a human and not a deranged werewolf.
When they went into the theater, they chose three seats towards the back. Emma put her purse in a fourth seat to reserve it for Troy. “So, what’s new? What’s this about your brother living with Declan?” Emma asked.
“How do you know he’s living with Declan?” Samara shot back, trying not to sound too accusing.
“Declan and I hung out recently,” Emma replied, shrugging her bare shoulders. “When I rang the doorbell, Seth answered . . . and Declan told me that he’s been crashing there. I didn’t even know Declan and Seth were friends.”
“They used to be,” Samara murmured, remembering that when her brother had been normal and had less of an anger problem, he and Declan had gotten along fine. Then again, Samara and Declan had gotten along fine back then, too.
“I know, but why’s he living there?” Emma asked, popping a gummy bear into her mouth.
“He just wanted to move out,” Samara said, shrugging. “I don’t really know.” She had known that she was going to have to deal with questions related to her brother leaving eventually, but it made it worse that he was living with her former best friend – even though she was glad that Seth wasn’t living with the Masterson’s.
“And why aren’t you and Declan friends anymore?” Emma asked.
<
br /> Samara glanced over at Luke before saying, “He liked me and couldn’t accept that me and Luke were together.” She paused. “Declan said if he couldn’t be with me, he’d rather not be friends at all.”
“Day-um,” Emma said. “No wonder he wouldn’t tell me why you’re not friends anymore! How embarrassing that must be for him to admit. I never really would have pegged him for the jealous type, but I always knew he liked you.”
Samara could feel Luke stiffen next to her. Stop being jealous, Samara told him. It doesn’t matter if he always liked me. I chose you. That’s what matters most.
When the theater grew darker, Samara whispered, “I have to go the bathroom.” She went into the ladies room and found an empty stall. Closing the door, which felt like a protective barrier, Samara pulled her cell phone out of her purse. She thought about how she didn’t want Luke to be able to get into her mind and opened a new text message to Declan.
Samara typed: Everyone’s asking why we’re not friends anymore. I’m telling them that it’s because you were just jealous that I’m with Luke. Just so you know.
As she went to send the text message, Samara’s heart began beating faster. She felt really nervous. What if someone from the Vyka pack found out that Samara was texting Declan? Would they try to come after her? Not that it really mattered – they were planning to come after her no matter what.
What was Declan going to say? Would he be mad that she was telling people that he liked her (even though it was true)?
Deciding that Declan needed to know what she was telling people, no matter what his response would be, Samara hit “send”.
Her phone beeped back right away. Afraid to read what Declan had to say, Samara took a deep breath and opened the text message.
Message could not be sent.
Samara opened her cell phone address book and scrolled down to Declan’s cell phone number. This time, she hit the “call” button and put the receiver to her ear. A female operator’s voice came from the other end. “We’re sorry, but the number you have dialed is no longer in service.”