by Morse, Jayme
“Yeah, he came over last night. He was all upset. He feels really bad about it, Sam. I think you need to forgive him.”
She sighed. “Of course you’re going to say that. You’re his best friend. You didn’t see the way he reacted, though.”
“No, I didn’t, but I can imagine how he reacted. But here’s the thing. He could have reacted a whole lot worse than he actually did.”
“How do you figure? It was pretty embarrassing.”
“It’s natural instinct. A lot of werewolves kill humans who so much as look at their mates in the wrong way, Sam,” Colby explained. “It’s not uncommon to become territorial with your mate.”
Samara sighed. “I just don’t think I deserve for him to freak out on me just for wearing a shirt that I bought to wear for him. It doesn’t seem fair.”
“As mates, we’re prone to jealousy,” Colby replied, meeting her stare. “That’s just the way it is. At some point you’re going to feel the same way about him. If you can’t handle that, you’re better off just ending your relationship as mates and choosing a companion instead.”
“You mean, we don’t have to be together?” Samara asked, wide-eyed. “I thought mates didn’t have a choice in the matter.”
Colby shook his head. “Nope, you don’t have to be together.” He hesitated. “But, usually, we want to be together. Typically, nothing can tear mates apart.”
He climbed out of the car, leaving Samara sitting there by herself. She stared out the car window in silence.
Did she really want to give up what she had with Luke? Even though he had embarrassed her and made her feel angrier than she had been at anyone in a long time, the truth of the matter was that she didn’t want to be away from him. She wanted to be with him, even if that meant that she had to deal with his jealousy issues on occasion.
And Colby was right. She was bound to get jealous again eventually, too . . . and Luke was just going to have to deal with it when she did.
As she climbed out of the car feeling pleased with herself for forgiving Luke, Samara glanced up to see Chris and Kyana pulling into the circular driveway alongside Colby’s car.
Kyana climbed out of the car and ran over to Samara, a wide grin on her face that met her golden honey brown eyes. “My Papa is coming to visit us! He’s been recovering really well from the attack and now that he’s out of bed, he wants to come see me.”
“That’s great! I’m so happy for you!” Samara smiled, knowing how hard it must have been for Kyana to leave her pack, her family, and the climate where she grew up to become an Ima. Seeing her father, Orkos, might make the transition a little easier. “He’ll be staying here at the house, then?”
Kyana nodded, tucking a piece of silky black hair behind her ear. “Linda said it was okay for him to stay in the guest bedroom.” As Chris got out of the car, she added, “Papa said he’s coming because he wants to see me and talk about my decision to become an Ima. But he mostly came so he can get to know Chris a little better, since he’s my future husband and all.”
“Yeah, I get to become better acquainted with my future father-in-law,” Chris said. He sounded less than thrilled. Samara noticed that the color had drained from his face, and she wondered if he was nervous about meeting Orkos again. Normally, Chris wasn’t the type of person to get nervous, but maybe this was different because Orkos was his mate’s father and he actually wanted to leave a good impression on him. It was sort of sweet.
“Let’s go in the house,” Samara said, turning to head toward the door. “I need to talk to Emma.”
Kyana and Chris followed her into the house. Samara headed straight to Emma’s bedroom, which Emma and Kyana had painted ocean blue the night before. The furniture was still pushed to the center of the room.
Emma glanced up from the book she was reading as Samara entered the room.
“Hey, what are you reading?” Samara asked.
“Oh, it’s called the Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne,” Emma said, glancing at the title on the cover. “It’s about this lady who commits adultery and has a daughter, so she has to walk around wearing a red ‘A’ all the time as punishment,” Emma explained. “It’s actually really good. I can’t believe how cruel people were back in those times. You should read it sometime.”
Samara laughed. “I read the Scarlet Letter in English class last year. It kind of put me to sleep, to be honest. I didn’t know you like to read, though.” In all the time she’d known Emma, she hadn’t known her to pick up a book. Then again, that could be because reading probably wasn’t a ‘cool’ thing to do, and Emma was all about popularity.
Emma shrugged. Sitting up, she pulled her blonde hair into a ponytail on top of her head. Samara glanced down at her hands, and noticed that she wasn’t wearing the ring that Colby had given her. Even though Samara knew she shouldn’t have found it to be surprising, she did, for some reason.
“I’m starting to find that I don’t mind reading as much as I used to. And I don’t have much else to do now that I’m living here, anyway. It gets kind of boring at times. Kyana and Chris are so wrapped up in each other that they don’t have time for me, and Linda’s never home. I might as well focus on my schoolwork,” Emma explained. Sighing, she added, “I had to tell people today that I'm not going to be having a party anytime soon. It was kind of hard to do. They all expect it from me, you know? I hate to disappoint them.”
“If they’re really your friends, they’re not going to care that you can’t throw parties,” Samara replied, trying to seem sympathetic, even though she didn’t understand her best friend’s desire to please everyone just to stay popular. She sat down on the bed next to her. “Also, I do have a cure for your boredom.”
Emma’s ocean blue eyes lit up with wonder. “What’s the cure?”
“Why don’t you try getting to know Colby a little better?”
Her best friend wrinkled her nose. “Seriously? That’s the best you can come up with? No parties, fashion shows, or other cool events to attend? Just spend time with Colby Jack?”
Samara made a face. “Don’t call him that. It’s mean. And, look, he’s really trying, okay? The very least you could do is go on a date with him and just try to get to know him a little better. I think you owe it to both of you.”
Her best friend sighed. “Colby’s nice and everything, Sam. It’s just that . . . ” Emma stopped mid-sentence, and then looked over Samara’s shoulder.
Samara followed her gaze to the doorway. Kyle was standing there, Nuka at his side.
“Nuka!” Samara chirped excitedly, and the dog bounded over to her. “What are you doing here, girl? Did Kyle bring you by for a visit?”
Nuka was the Siberian Husky that had once belonged to Joe McKinley. Nuka was an immortal dog. Joe McKinley had given her an immortality potion that he’d gotten from a witch to keep Nuka alive. Even though Joe had wanted a pet, he didn’t want to get attached to one that would go on to die, while he stayed alive. Samara and the Ima had brought Nuka back from Alaska with them, and the dog had been living with Kyle and her Aunt Rae.
As the dog happily licked at her hands, Kyle explained, “My mom thought it would be best for Nuka if she lived here from now on. She’s already gotten so attached to Kyana, I guess because she and Orkos were feeding her every day. Kyana and Chris were coming over every few days to visit Nuka when she first got home, but that eventually stopped, and Nuka’s been missing her ever since. She’s actually been pretty depressed. I think she’ll be happier living here.”
“Aww, you’re such a sweet girl,” Samara cooed, ruffling the Siberian Husky’s fur. “From now on, you don’t have to worry about not seeing Kyana. She’ll be here for you every day after school.”
The dog opened her mouth wider, revealing her teeth in a canine grin, and Samara couldn’t help but think that she was really smiling because she understood.
“So, I just wanted to drop her off over here so my mom didn’t have to do it. I gotta bounce,” Kyle said. His skin had that happy glow to i
t again.
“Did Colby tell you at school today that we’re having a pack meeting tonight?” Samara questioned. She hadn’t let Colby know until the very end of the day, so it wouldn’t be surprising if he hadn’t seen or talked to her cousin since then.
“I’m not gonna be able to make it,” Kyle replied, shaking his head. His copper hair looked like it had just been cut, and it was slicked back with styling gel. He was also wearing a navy blue polo shirt instead of his usual graphic t-shirt or athletic team sweatshirts. “Have fun without me tonight, though. If anything important happens, let me know. I’ll see you at all school tomorrow.”
Once he walked away from them and down the hall, they heard the sound of the front door being slammed shut. Emma turned to Samara. “What’s with him?”
Samara shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. He seems really happy for some reason.”
“No, no. That’s not what I meant,” Emma replied, waving a hand in the air. “He’s normally really talkative and doesn’t shut up about where he’s going or what he’s doing. It seems to me like he’s keeping some sort of secret.”
“Kyle and I don’t keep secrets from each other,” Samara said, but as soon as the words left her mouth, even she knew that it wasn’t the truth. Her cousin had never told her that he was a werewolf, just like she hadn’t said a word to him about being one herself until she found out that he was an Ima. At the time, it seemed like it had been a secret worth keeping for both of them, but what if that wasn’t all Kyle was hiding from her? What if her cousin was still keeping secrets of his own?
Shrugging it off, she decided not to think about the worst. It’s not like he’d given her reason to think he was keeping anything important from her. Maybe Kyle really just had plans with his mom. Her Aunt Rae had to be lonely lately; after all, Kyle was gone most of the time and her husband, Billy, was always traveling for work. Maybe he was just spending time with her . . . or doing homework or something else that was really important.
Turning back to Emma, Samara said, “So back to the whole Colby conversation.”
Emma, who had made room on her bed for Nuka and was now rubbing her belly, rolled her eyes. “No, we’re not talking about Colby. I won’t be going out with him anytime soon. I might eventually, but to be honest, I’m not ready yet. So, please stop asking me about him before you really start to get on my nerves.”
Samara sighed. “Okay, I’ll shut up about it . . . I promise. I wanted to tell you about the plans for tonight’s pack meeting, anyway. I have an idea.”
Emma’s eyes lit up. “Am I the first person you’re telling about it?”
Samara nodded.
“I feel so special.” Her best friend frowned. “Of course, that probably means that Colby might be in on it, too, since he can hear my thoughts and all.” Emma rolled her eyes in annoyance.
“Here’s a secret. To keep him out of your thoughts, all you have to do is think about how you don’t want him to hear you. It works like a charm. Actually, he said you did once already, but you must not have known you did it.”
Emma closed her eyes, deep in thought, and then opened them. They were now filled with a look of relief. “Okay, now you can tell me!”
*
Later that night, most of the pack gathered around the coffee table in the living room.
Luke sat down on the hardwood floor next to Samara and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. She smiled, happy to be able to touch him again after the argument they’d had the night before. When he’d gotten to the house for the meeting, he had offered her a long apology, but she told him that it wasn’t actually necessary because she’d already forgiven him, and they left it at that.
Once the pack was all settled on the floor, she told them, “So, when we were packing up everything at Colby’s old house, we came across these old board games. One of them was this old werewolf Ouija board.” She pulled the game out of a plastic bag. “And then I had a dream about Grandpa Joe the other night. He gave me advice. He told me that I had to know my enemy. I know it was just a dream and it didn’t actually mean anything, but it really got me wondering . . . What advice would he actually give me if he was able to? So, I decided that we’re going to try contacting his spirit.”
“Are you serious?” Colby asked, glancing over at her, a look of fear in his wide blue eyes. “You really think that’s a good idea?”
Samara nodded. “My hopes aren’t that high. I’ve never had a human Ouija board actually work. Someone always moved it. I know you said that it’s easier to get in touch with werewolf spirits, but I don’t really believe that this is going to work, either. But . . . if it does somehow work and we can actually contact Grandpa Joe, it could be worth it.”
Colby hesitated. “I don’t know, Sam. I’ve heard of a lot of stories about people calling bad spirits with these Ouija boards. It seems sort of risky.”
“Right, but we’re not going to try to call any bad spirits. We only want to contact my grandfather,” Samara reminded him. “Don’t worry, Colbs. It’s going to be okay . . . if it even works at all.” Turning to the other members of her pack, she asked, “Is everyone else okay with playing this game?”
“Hell, yeah,” Steve replied, his chocolate brown eyes wide with wonder. “I love the supernatural.”
“Dude, we are the supernatural,” Chris replied. Turning to Samara, he added, “I’m in.”
“I’m not,” Kyana replied, shaking her head firmly. “I’ll stay in the same room and watch you all do this, but my hands aren’t going anywhere near that spirit board. I don’t want to evoke any demons.”
Chris turned to Kyana. “Do you want me to sit this one out too, then? I don’t want to be the cause of anything that might scare you.”
Kyana shook her head and offered him a small smile. “No, it’s okay, baby. Just don’t mention my name. I don’t want the spirits to get mad at me for anything.”
“Okay, I won’t,” Chris promised, leaning over and kissing her on the forehead.
Samara smiled. Even though their clinginess towards each other got to be too much to witness at times, she had definitely seen a change in Chris, who had been a ladies’ man before Kyana was his mate. She’d never thought she would see the day where he would be able to stay truly faithful to just one girl, let alone do cute things like buy her flowers, such as the bouquet of pink lilies that were on the kitchen countertop right now that he’d given her, or kiss her on her forehead.
There was a positive change in him, a change that only being in love—real love, not the type of feelings that he must have had for Rain—had brung out.
Turning to Luke, Samara asked, “Are you in?”
He grinned at her. “Of course. If you’re in, I’m in.”
Samara smiled and glanced across the coffee table at Emma, who was perched on the sofa. She nodded. “I’m still doing it. I love ghosts! This is so cool.”
“This is not cool,” Colby said, turning to look at her. “It’s potentially dangerous. And to be honest, Sam, I’m still on the fence about it.”
“The more people we have, the more powerful our energy should be,” Samara pointed out. “If you help, we might actually be able to contact Grandpa Joe.”
Colby didn’t respond right away; he just ran a hand over his short blonde hair. “You could be right.”
“Oh, come on, Colby. Just live a little. So what if we contact bad spirits? I doubt they can even hurt us,” Emma insisted.
Colby glanced over his shoulder into Emma’s pleading eyes before sighing defeatedly. “Okay, I’ll do it. But don’t say I didn’t warn you that this is a really, really bad idea.”
“We won’t.” Samara smiled. She glanced around the room. “Where did Josh go?”
Steve shrugged. “He left a while ago. He said he would be back sometime later tonight.”
“Huh.” Samara didn’t even bother to wonder where Josh might have gone. She glanced over at Colby. “Okay, so how exactly do we do this? Do we have to do a spec
ial chant or something so the spirits will hear us and be able to respond?”
“Not according to the instructions,” he replied, gesturing to the paper manual that he held in his hands. “It does say that if there’s a specific spirit you want to get in contact with, you should say his name to summon him.”
Samara nodded, placing her hand on the crescent moon-shaped indicator. Luke’s hand covered hers, sending an icy hot jolt through her when their skin touched. Emma, Steve, Chris, and Colby all piled their hands on top of Luke’s.
“Joe McKinley—Grandpa Joe—I summon your spirit,” Samara said, glancing down at the Ouija board, hoping that the rest of the pack didn’t think she sounded as lame as she thought she did.
When nothing happened, Emma added, “Joe McKinley, I’ve never met you, but please show yourself to me. Or answer us back or whatever’s supposed to happen.”
The room remained silent. Nothing happened.
They waited for a few minutes before Steve sighed. “It looks like it’s not gonna work. So much for the supernatural.” He removed his hand from the indicator.
Chris and Colby also took their hands off of the indicator. After a few moments, Emma removed her hand, too, leaving only Samara and Luke still touching the indicator.
Samara sighed. “Maybe you’re right. I don’t know why I thought this could even work. It was just a waste of time.” She was about to remove her hand from the game when she felt the indicator slowly slide beneath her fingertips.
“It’s moving,” Luke whispered, as the indicator dragged across the board to the H, and then to the E, followed by the L.
“H-E-L,” Emma read out loud. “L-O.” She paused a moment before glancing up at Samara, her eyes full of wonder. “Hello.”
Chapter 10
“Kyana, can you go grab paper and a pen?” Colby asked, being the one to break the silence.
Nodding, Kyana rose to her feet and tiptoed into the kitchen. Samara heard the sound of the kitchen drawers being opened, as Kyana searched for a pen.