“What do you think…?” He managed to breath after a moment.
Samantha stared at the ring for a moment, still unsure of what to say. After a few moments she took a deep breath, and said the first thing that came to mind, “It’s beautiful…” She murmured.
Riley smiled softly and almost sighed in relief, “Just like you…” He responded. He pulled her as close to him as he possibly could, his hands wandering up her thighs.
“Don’t you think we’re too young for this kind of commitment?” She whispered as she hastily closed the box and set it aside.
Riley panicked for a moment, he took a deep breath and turned her towards him, quickly thinking of something to say, “No, not at all. All the time that we have spent apart has proven to me that I want to give all of my time to you. We’re ready…we can do this.” He kissed her on the lips slowly, praying that she wouldn’t realize that he had come up with that response on the fly.
Samantha felt the heat rush to her face, and she closed her eyes, touching his chest with her fingertips. She pulled away from his kiss after a moment, jumping up out of her bed and turning away from Riley, “Hmm… But, I don’t know if I’m ready to make this kind of decision yet…” She whispered away and looking down, her mind turning to Kedar’s smiling face and warm hands. She almost instantly felt guilty and sat back down.
Riley turned her around once again and put his hands on her hips, “You don’t have to tell me now…” He kissed her slowly, “I didn’t expect an answer right away. I’ll wait for you forever…” He kissed her again, pulling on her hips to bring her body closer to his.
Samantha sighed softly, letting Riley kiss her as she attempted to push the thoughts of Kedar into the back of her mind.
***
Samantha and Riley arrived to school with just enough time to sign in late and run to their lockers before going to their first period classes. They kissed outside the main office briefly and parted ways, Riley going towards the South Wing and Samantha going towards the North Wing.
She went to her locker, quickly put in her combination and started sifting through her books, looking for what she needed for the day. She opened her backpack and saw the little black box that contained the ring sitting neatly on top of her binder. She smiled to herself – she couldn’t help it – realizing that Riley must have snuck it into her bag, and she opened it. She saw no harm in wearing the ring for one day, so she looked around and quickly slipped it onto her finger. She held her hand out in front of her to admire the ring. She felt as though she should have been happier, but looking at the gorgeous Victorian ring on her finger did not fill her with joy. To her it felt out of place, but she certainly was not going to tell Riley that. She frowned, but didn’t take the ring off.
She sighed and shoved the books into her backpack. She stood, shut her locker and turned around. To her surprise, and dismay, there stood Heather, so scantily clad that she could have been sent home for violating the dress code, with a smug look on her face.
“What do you want?” Samantha grumbled, looking away. She had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach and wanted to avoid as much conflict as possible.
“I just wanted to see how your poor back was doing,” Heather replied mockingly as she looked Samantha up and down. Her eyes landed on a decent sized hickey on Samantha’s collar bone, and Samantha quickly readjusted her sweater to cover it up.
“Its fine,” Samantha snapped, “No thanks to you.” She shifted from one foot to the other, Heather’s judgmental gaze making her uncomfortable, “Why do you care?”
“Does it really make a difference?” Heather continued to mock her.
“I wouldn’t know, I’m not in that twisted head of yours. But, seeing as how we’re having this nice little chat, how’s anger management going?” Samantha smiled sweetly and raised her eyebrows.
Heather huffed and rolled her eyes, “Shut it, Omega.”
Samantha growled and pointed at Heather, using her left hand, completely forgetting that she was wearing the engagement ring, “Listen here, you’re not my superior, so don’t you dare speak to me like that.”
Heather roughly grabbed Samantha’s hand, her face turning a shade of pink and her eyes filling with anger. The emotion quickly vacated her eyes as quickly as it came and she laughed, “An engagement ring? Ha! What, do you guys plan on having an open marriage or something?” Heather smirked, “Because sweetie, you may have that hickey and that ring, but Riley spends more time with me than you.”
Samantha pulled her arm away from Heather’s grasp and shoved her hand into her pocket, “Do you have a ring on your finger? Hmm, let me see. You don’t. So, I would suggest that you keep your mouth shut and stay away from my boyfriend.”
“Which one? Riley? Or Kedar?” Heather’s smirk widened and Samantha’s face fell.
She felt the heat rushing to her face as fury bubbled up in her chest, “He… Kedar isn’t my boyfriend,” She began as her cheeks became increasingly redder. She wasn’t sure why she was so defensive of her relationship with Kedar, but she didn’t have time to ponder it, “He’s just a great friend. But even if he was my boyfriend he’d be too good for a skank like you, so I wouldn’t worry.”
Heather laughed again, “Oh, honey. I think you need to reconsider how well you know the men in your life. Kedar can’t keep his dick to himself. If you’re going to call anyone a skank, it should be him. As for Riley, well, let’s just say that we’re closer than you think, dearie.”
Samantha was fuming. She shoved Heather into the lockers and got in her face, standing on her toes so she was at eye level with her, “Alright, you little cunt, I don’t care how you know Kedar, but he’s a great man, so I better not hear you disrespect him like that again, got it? And you keep your filthy little paws off Riley, otherwise we are going to have some serious problems…” The late bell ran, so Samantha stepped away from Heather and stormed away.
By the time lunch rolled around, Samantha’s new engagement ring was the talk of the school. She didn’t like the attention, but it was the least of her worries. She couldn’t get a word that Heather had said out of the back of her mind. It bothered her, a lot, and she couldn’t help but wonder if Riley was with Heather when she wasn’t around.
The bell for third lunch – Samantha’s lunch – rang and she made her way to the cafeteria. She saw Riley and walked over to him, her hands stuffed in her pockets. He hastily wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, burying his face in her hair. Samantha took a step back and looked down at her feet.
“Can we talk before going to sit with the pack?” She whispered, unable to look at Riley in the face.
Riley frowned but nodded slowly. Samantha led him away from the bustling crowed and he leaned against the wall, “What’s up, baby?”
“Heather approached me this morning and insinuated that you two have been…seeing each other…when I’m not around…” She mumbled.
Riley touched her cheek gently, “She’s just jealous baby, don’t listen to her. I love you and only you…” He whispered as he went to kiss her.
She pulled back, not allowing their lips to touch, “That didn’t really answer my question, Riley,” She replied as she took off the ring, “If I’m having these sorts of doubts and we aren’t even engaged yet…” She sighed, “Well, I think it’s best if you hold in to this for now…” She placed the ring in Riley’s hand, not looking up at him, afraid to see the hurt in his eyes. He simply leaned his head on hers as he closed his hand around the ring.
“It’s okay, like I said. I’d wait for you forever. We have all the time in the world, we were meant to be…”
Samantha looked up at him and smiled weakly. She could hear the falsity in his voice, though she wasn’t sure what he was being untruthful about; was it his relationship with Heather or his feelings about her? She didn’t dare ask. She just took his hand and went into the cafeteria.
They sat at the table where the pack was sitting, and it was unusually quiet. Sa
mantha instantly spotted the reason for the silence; it was a young unfamiliar boy. He was maybe a year older than she was, with blond hair and green eyes. Samantha didn’t recognize him, and she could tell by Alex’s aggravated expression that he was not company that she wished to have. Samantha took a deep breath and discreetly smelled the air. She understood why Alex so clearly did not want him sitting with them; he was not a wolf.
“Hey guys!” Charlotte said, unusually chipper.
“What’s up, Char?” Samantha asked, taking an apple out of her bag and biting into it.
“I wanted to introduce everyone to Zachary together, but you two,” Charlotte indicated Riley and Samantha with a wave of her hand, “Took your sweet time getting here. But, anyway, this is Zachary,” Charlotte almost giggled, holding onto Zachary’s arm.
Riley reached across the table and shook Zachary’s hand, “Nice to meet you, bro. I’m Riley and this is my girl, Samantha.” He said as he rested his hand on Samantha’s shoulder.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Samantha said with a polite smile.
“Zachary and I are going on a date on Friday” Charlotte exclaimed, “And I was going to bring him to the Halloween party.”
“That’s nice…” Samantha said before abruptly standing, “I don’t feel well, so if you guys would excuse me, I’m going to go to the nurse.” Riley’s insincere words still rang in her head, filling her with doubt, and nausea.
“I’ll go with you…” Riley started, but Jaden interrupted.
“No, Riley, I’ll take her. I wanted to talk to Sam anyway,” He said. He kissed Olivia on the forehead before standing and following Samantha into the hallway.
“Are you okay?” He asked softly.
Samantha shrugged, “Just…I don’t even know…” She whispered.
“Oh… I see…Well, you know my dad… I mean… Dad…Wants to see you…” Jaden muttered, “He keeps insisting that you, Riley, Olivia and I all have dinner at my house.”
“If I’m going to talk to him, I would honestly rather do it alone…” Samantha replied.
“I understand… Look, I know finding out that he’s your father must be hard, but there’s an upside to all this.”
“Oh? And what’s that?” Samantha asked, raising an eyebrow.
“You’ve gained a pretty awesome brother!” Jaden chirped, laughing and nudging Samantha with his elbow.
Samantha laughed as well, “Thanks…”
“And if anybody messes with you, they’ll have to answer to big bad brother wolf,” He continued before ruffling her hair. They reached the nurses office and he turned to her, “Really though. I’ve always been here for you and now that I know that you’re my little sister, that doesn’t change a thing and I’m not going to let anything bad happen to you,” He smiled softly.
Samantha smiled back and hugged him, “Thanks…”
“No problem… Text me if you need me, and feel better…” He said before walking away.
Forty minutes later the nurse had called Melody and had Samantha dismissed from school. She went right out to her car and just sat there for a few moments. She sighed, turned her car on and drove straight to Jaden’s house. She parked right in front and stared at the house for a moment. She wasn’t quite sure why she had even shown up there and she sighed. Her hands shook as she got out of the car and went up to the front door. She knocked once then folded her hands behind her back, trying to control her breathing as she waited.
Samuel opened the door and stared at Samantha for a moment, “…Samantha…” He practically gasped.
“Hi… Jaden had said that you wanted to talk to me…” She said softly, her voice almost trembling.
“Yes… Yes, come on in…” Samuel said as he stepped aside.
Samantha stepped inside and looked around quickly, “What did you want to talk to me about…?”
Samuel just shut the front door and stood quietly for a moment, “Nothing…” He finally said, “I just wanted to see you.” He tucked her hair behind her ear, caressing her cheek, “You’re beautiful… Just like your mother…”
Samantha looked up at him, “Can you just tell me what happened between you two…? And why you never came around…?” Samantha pressed, clearly uncomfortable.
Samuel was shocked, “Well… I met your mother a few months after my wife Abigail passed away giving birth to Jaden… I fell in love with her immediately. I offered for her to come to my pack, but she didn’t want to, so I left my pack to be with her… I thought she was going to leave her husband… But when she found out she was pregnant with you she called it off,” Samuel sighed, “Then Colin banished me and demoted Elizabeth to scout for cheating on her husband…”
“Your alpha was just going to let you leave the pack…?”
Samuel was silent for a moment, playing with a ring on his finger that Samantha had yet to notice. She took a step closer to him to get a better look at the ring. It was big, like a man’s high school class ring, with a huge wolf head adorning it; an alpha’s ring.
“That’s the thing… I was the alpha… I denounced my alpha-ship and passed it down to my second in command…”
“Oh… And my mom… What was she demoted from?”
“She was a beta… Nobody ever told you?”
Samantha shook her head. The silence that followed hung heavy in the room. Samantha shifted uncomfortably before finally speaking.
“So… Why did it take so long for you to attempt to be a part of my life…?”
Samuel sighed and shifted his weight as well, “Colin ban me from speaking to both you and Elizabeth. I was just too cowardly to do anything about it.”
Samantha frowned and looked towards the ground; that wasn’t exactly what she had hoped to hear, “…Well, I have to go…”
“So soon…?” Samuel furrowed his brow.
“I’m sorry, but yes. I’m supposed to be meeting with someone…”
“Then we will just have to catch up another time. Perhaps over dinner? You can come and bring your boyfriend, Jaden tells me you’re with Riley McLaughlin, and Jaden and Olivia can come as well. How does that sound?”
Samantha forced a smile, she wasn’t sure about how she felt about the situation, “That sounds nice…” She mumbled.
“Well, goodbye then…” Samuel said as he walked Samantha out.
She nodded slowly, “Yeah, goodbye…” She walked down the front steps, not glancing back at Samuel. She got into her car and sped towards Kedar’s house, buckling her seatbelt as she drove. After about fifteen minutes she was pulling up the dirt road. He was outside, closing the hood of his truck. Samantha parked behind him, took a deep breath, and then stepped out of the car.
Kedar walked over to her, “Shouldn’t you be in school?” He asked with a smirk on his face as he wiped his hands on a cloth which had been tucked into his pocket.
“I left early… Today has been… Stressful,” She explained as she stepped close to him, opening her arms for a hug.
“I’ve been working on my car, I’m pretty dirty,” Kedar objected as he stepped back.
“Do I look like I care…?” She asked as she looked up at him, tears brimming her eyes.
Kedar frowned slightly, “I guess not.” He wrapped his arms around her, pulling Samantha into a tight embrace as he buried his face in her thick curls, “Do you want to talk about it?” He rubbed her back slowly as he waited for a response.
Samantha buried her face in his chest for a moment, and didn’t respond immediately. After a long pause she stepped back and shook her head quickly, “No. Not right now. Let’s just go and get you a cell phone.”
Kedar smiled, “Actually, I already got it. My boss heard me talking about it with a customer so he went and picked one out for me. It’s inside, come on…”
Samantha followed him inside and into the kitchen. On the table was a big black flip phone. He picked it up and tossed it at her, and to her relief she was able to catch it.
“I’m going to get cleaned up
, you can play around with it and add your number. I’ve already got it figured out for the most part.” Kedar prompted before leaving the room.
Samantha sat down and turned the phone over in her hands. It was big and heavy, good for a hard-working and rugged man like Kedar. She assumed that by its size it was probably a “life-proof” phone. After a minute of playing around with it she created a new contact and punched her number in, with a smiley face next to her contact name. After another couple of minutes Kedar came back into the room.
“So, anything special you want to do now?” He asked as he took his phone from her.
“I just want to relax…” Samantha sighed, sounding defeated.
“I’d like that,” He responded as he smiled. He led her into the living room and sat down on the couch, giving her plenty of space to choose just how close she sat to him. She sat down beside him, resting her head on his shoulder, and he wrapped his arm around her, pulling her closer. He turned on the news for background noise, and Samantha closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. They sat together in comfortable silence for what felt like a very long time, eventually moving so that they were laying down together, Samantha’s head rested comfortably on Kedar’s chest. Finally Samantha sat straight up and looked at him.
“Can I talk to you about something? It’s been bothering me all day…”
Kedar propped himself up and looked up at Samantha, “Sure… What is it?”
Samantha reached out and touched his face gently. She quickly pulled her hand away, unsure of how he was going to react, “Um… Do you know a girl named Heather Armstrong?” Samantha asked, her voice shaky.
Kedar froze, “Why?” He growled as his whole body tensed up.
Samantha took his unsettled expression for a yes, “Are you sleeping with her?” Samantha’s voice was barely a whisper and she looked away from him, sensing his anger.
Blood Moon (Moons of the Wolf Series Book 1) Page 8