Blood Moon (Moons of the Wolf Series Book 1) (14 page)

Kedar tensed, becoming visibly aggravated, “Oh, Jaden?”  He took a long sip from his soda.

Samantha nodded, “Yeah, his father made dinner and he invited Riley, Olivia and me.  But I was the only one who was able to make it.”

Kedar nodded and finished his soda, tossing it into his trash bin that was dedicated to recyclables.

“What’s the matter?”  She asked, tilting her head to the side.

“Nothing…”  He mumbled, rummaging through his fridge again.

“Are you jealous of J?”  She asked, almost laughing.

“Nope.”  The oven went off and Kedar took the pizza out, setting it on a cooling rack.

“Then why are you suddenly so upset…?”  Samantha stepped over to him and caressed his cheek with the back of her hand.

Kedar moved away, “You should go, I remembered that I have stuff to do.  Maybe you should go see ‘J’ again.”

“Oh.  My.  Lord.  He’s my
brother
Kedar.  Remember?”

“Oh…”  Kedar blushed lightly, feeling very self-conscious, “I forgot…”

Samantha rolled her eyes, but then she stepped over to him and wrapped her arms around him in a hug.  He couldn’t help but hug her back and kiss her forehead, breathing slowly as he took in her scent.  She smelled like the forest after the rain with just a hint of musky wood.  It drove him crazy to smell him still on her.  He just held her against him, continuing to breathe her in.  After a moment she stepped away from him.

“Are you good?”  She asked as she touched his chest.

He nodded in response, “Let’s just eat…”

They sat down and ate in peaceful silence.  Samantha thoroughly enjoyed the homemade pizza, although she was only able to eat a small slice as she was still full from her dinner earlier.  When they finished Kedar insisted on cleaning the kitchen by himself and sent Samantha to go wait for him in the living room.  After a few minutes he joined her, sitting beside her and pulling her against his side.  He draped a throw blanket over them and searched through the twelve channels of basic cable that he received before going to his bookshelf and picking an old horror movie off of the shelves.

They continued to cuddle on the couch, Kedar rubbing Samantha’s side absentmindedly as they laughed and poked fun at the terrible digital effects and poor acting.  Samantha looked up at Kedar just as he was mocking one of the actor’s incredibly fake accents, and she smiled to herself.  What Samuel had said about Kedar’s remarks about vampires being interesting nagged at the back of her mind and she frowned again slightly.  She wanted to ask him about it, but she had this sinking feeling that he would not be too pleased if she did.  He looked down at her and he brushed his thumb across her cheek lightly.

“What’s up?”  He asked softly.

Samantha stared at him for a moment, debating with herself if she should really tell him what she was thinking of.  She decided against it and racked her brain for something to say.  There was no way she was going to talk about her father and risk upsetting Kedar.  Finally she took a deep breath and she began to speak.

“When I left work today I saw Zach going into the restaurant with a very attractive young woman, who I presume was also a vampire.  I don’t know what it was about, but I have this feeling that something was up.”  She wasn’t quite lying, that was bothering her too.  Just not as much as her father’s comment at dinner.

Kedar’s body tensed and his jaw tightened, “Am I the first person you’re telling?”

Samantha shook her head, “No, I spoke to Charlotte about it but she brushed my concerns off.”

Kedar sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, “Of course she did.  That girl is going to get one of us killed.”  He snarled and moved away from Samantha, leaning forward.

“Do you think I should bring it up to Colin?”

“He won’t do anything about it.  Neither will Malcolm.  They’re too preoccupied with playing the waiting game.  I’ll figure it out…”

“How?”  Samantha put her hand on his back.

“I don’t know.  But I will, don’t worry.”  He leaned back and pulled her into his lap, “Would you like to stay the night?  I’ve got work in the morning, but I love having you here…”

Samantha smiled softly, “I have to ask my aunt first.”  She jumped out of his lap and went into the other room, calling Melody.  There was no answer on her cellphone.  Samantha frowned; it wasn’t like Melody not to answer her phone.  She tried the house and still no answer.  Samantha took a deep breath and tried her cell phone one more time before she began to panic.  After four rings Melody finally answered.

“Sam?  What’s wrong sweetie?”  Melody answered.

“Oh thank goodness!  I thought something was wrong, why didn’t you answer?”  Samantha sighed in relief.

“I was on the phone with Chantal about setting up an interview to start the process of getting my fostering license,” Melody replied.

“Oh…  Thank God.”

“So, what’s up, honey?”

“I was wondering if maybe I could stay at Kit’s tonight.”  Samantha asked.

Melody hesitated, “You spend an awful lot of time with him unsupervised…  He lives alone, right?”

Samantha sighed softly, “Yes, he does…  Does that mean no?”

“No, but if you guys want to have sleep overs I would feel much more comfortable if the next few were at our house.  That way you can have some type of adult supervision.”

Samantha rolled her eyes and rubbed her temple, “Alright, auntie.”

“Don’t sound so disappointed.  I love you.”

“I love you too, auntie.”  With that Samantha hung up and went back into the living room.

“Well, what did she say?”  Kedar raised his eyebrows.

“I can’t stay here but we can stay at my house.”  Samantha replied, not attempting to hide her displeasure, “Because we need ‘adult supervision’”

Kedar shrugged, “It’s not a big deal.  It’s fine with me.  Let me grab some stuff and then we can go.  Does that sound good?”

Samantha smiled, “That sounds good…”

CHAPTER 17

Three days before Christmas Vacation Samantha woke at her usual time and got ready to go to school.  She text Alex letting her know that she was going to drive herself.  All she got in response was ‘K’ and she rolled her eyes.  After she showered and dressed she sat at her vanity and brushed and braided her hair.  She quickly lined her eyes and put on her lipstick, and then slipped her shoes on and headed out the door.  She checked her phone before pulling out of her driveway and she was glad she did; she had a text from Kedar.

“
Come to my house after school, I’ve got a present for you!
”

She smiled and quickly text him back “
I’ll be there but I didn’t get you anything…
”  She added a sad face to the end of the message before sending it.

He text her back almost instantly, “
You can be my present, don’t worry about it
”

Samantha smiled to herself and put her phone, backpack and purse in the passenger seat, buckled up, and then drove to school.  She arrived a half hour before first period, so she sat on the front steps, pulled a book from her bag and waited for her friends to arrive.  Not long after she heard the unmistakable roar of Alex’s car and she looked up.  Alex pulled into the spot next to hers and she got out, followed by Charlotte, Jaden and Olivia.  Samantha frowned, wondering to herself where Riley was.  Alex must have sensed what was bothering Samantha as she walked up because she sat down beside her and patted her shoulder gently.

“Riley went to pick up Heather.  Dad thinks that it’s great that he’s making friends in the other packs.  ‘It’ll make the packs stronger,’” Alex smiled as she mimicked her father, but frowned when she saw that it didn’t make Samantha feel any better.

“He’s only doing it to piss me off…”  She spat.

Alex sighed, “Unfortunately, you’re probably right.”  The rest of their friends stood around, clearly uncomfortable.

Charlotte cleared her throat to break the awkward silence, “So.  Enough of this negativity.  I’ve got presents for everyone.”  She said as she took off her backpack.  She pulled out four little white boxes, handing one to each of her friends.

“What are these?”  Alex asked skeptically as she took the box from Charlotte, raising her eyebrow.

“Just gifts from Zach,” Charlotte replied.

“I see…”  Alex grumbled.  She opened the box and pulled out a golden cross on a thin gold chain.  Samantha and Olivia also opened their boxes and inside were identical necklaces.  In Jaden’s box was a men’s version of the same necklace.  They all looked at Charlotte wearily.

Samantha raised one of her eyebrows, “Crosses?  Really, Char?”  Her tone was unconvinced.

“Zach said that they’re going to protect us from vampires and that they’ll be useful.”  Charlotte replied as-a-matter-of-factly.

“How was Zach able to handle them, then?”  Alex scoffed, turning the necklace over in her hands, inspecting it for any silver.

The look that flashed across Charlotte’s face told the group that she hadn’t posed that question to herself.  She stuttered, “W-Well, he clearly still has his humanity,” Was Charlotte’s hesitant response.  “There isn’t any silver, Alex.  I’ve had mine on since last night and I’m fine.”

“Right,” Samantha mumbled, pulling on her necklace, it clanking against her mother’s locket.  Alex, Jaden and Olivia all pulled on their necklaces as well.

Charlotte smiled, “See?  He really isn’t the bad guy…”

Jaden huffed, not even attempting to hide his disdain, “Sure…”

Just then Riley pulled into the school parking lot.  Samantha watched as his truck sped past hers and Alex’s, whipping around the corner and going to the lot in the back.  Samantha had seen Heather in the passenger seat and it made her blood boil.  She and Riley may not have been on the best terms, but he was still her boyfriend and she still expected a little bit of respect.  He could at least keep his relationship with Heather under wraps like she did with her relationship with Kedar.  She didn’t say anything to the group, but once Riley’s truck was out of sight, she turned and stormed inside.

She walked to her locker, thoughts racing through her mind.  She couldn’t even begin to rationalize with herself as to why she was so upset.  Yes, he was her boyfriend, but she was with Kedar too.  If he was cheating, it shouldn’t make her so upset since she was doing the same thing.  She wasn’t even entirely sure if she was still in love with Riley.  She felt like such a hypocrite and she knew that’s what her friends thought of her as well.  But at the same time it was
Heather
for God’s sake.  She bullied Samantha for being the smallest, weakest wolf in the four surrounding packs for years, practically tormenting her.  It wasn’t like he had picked some random girl to cheat with, he knew that Heather would get under Samantha’s skin.  She sighed and gathered her books out of her locker, trying to push the thoughts from her mind.  She
needed
to concentrate on school, or at least getting through her day.

“Hey…”  Riley said from behind her, placing his hand on her lower back.

She turned around and almost said something incredibly rude, but she stopped herself, “Hey…”

Riley ran his fingers through her hair slowly, stepping closer to her.  It was obvious that he was studying her scent.  She stepped back, her face portraying her annoyance.  Riley tucked her hair behind her ear and just stared at her for a moment before he said anything.  He looked sad, remorseful, and it made Samantha’s heart sink.

“So, you’ve been hanging out with Kit a lot again?”  His face was sad, but his tone was bitter, showing his conflicted his emotions.

“Just like you’ve been hanging out with Heather.  Is there a problem with that?”  Samantha retorted, equally as bitter.  Pain flashed across Riley’s face and she instantly felt bad.  She began to fidget with her new necklace and she looked away, “I heard that you tried out for the basketball team…  Thanks for telling me…”

“You don’t tell me anything, either…”  He sounded hurt that time and Samantha’s heart sank further.

She looked back up at him, “Did you at least make the team?”

He leaned against the lockers and touched her cheek lightly with his fingertips, silent for a moment.  She looked away again, but he gently turned her face back towards him and he shook his head slowly, “I didn’t…”  His voice was barely a whisper and he looked at her as though he was thinking hard about something.

“What?”  Samantha finally asked, shifting uncomfortably under his gaze.

“What’s happening to us?  Three months ago I couldn’t tell you a single day that I didn’t see you for at least a little while.  Now we practically avoid each other…”  He stepped closer to her once more and ran his fingers through her hair.  There was barely an inch between them now, but Samantha didn’t step back.

She felt a twinge of sadness in her stomach.  She looked away from him once again.  He didn’t say anything else and just kept running his fingers through her thick locks.  She wondered if she should call him out about spending almost every day with Heather, but she knew what he would counter with so she decided not to.  When she looked up she expected to see falseness in his broken hearted façade.  The pain appeared genuine and it dampened her spirits further.  She wasn’t sure if she felt bad because they had been together for the better part of three years and she felt obligated to feel bad or if it was because she still had feelings for him.

“I think that we need to sit down and have a conversation about what we each want out of this relationship…  And if we both still want to be in this relationship…”  Riley’s voice broke as he spoke the last part of the sentence and Samantha felt the tears welling up in her eyes.  Samantha simply nodded and he huffed when he realized that she wasn’t going to respond, growing annoyed with her apathy.

“Come to my house after school…  We can talk about it then?  Nobody will be home so we can talk in private…”

Samantha took a deep breath, hiding the panic that bubbled up inside of her.  She wasn’t sure how she was going to get through school and sort out her emotions.  She was distracted enough as it was worrying about the vampires and school was hard enough.  How the hell was she going to sort out her feelings by the end of the day?  The warning bell rang, and she almost sighed in relief; she wouldn’t have the chance to say anything more to Riley.  She turned around without saying good bye, eager to get to her class.

“Wait…”  Riley said frantically as he grabbed her arm.  He spun her around and pulled her close to him, kissing her on the lips.  He held her face with one hand and wrapped his other arm around her waist, holding her securely against him, not giving her any room to pull away.  Her eyes fluttered shut and she instinctually kissed him back, wrapping her arms around his neck.  He moved his hand from her face to her back, pressing her against him, running both his hands up her back then back down.  He groaned and she moved her hands to his face, his five o’clock shadow prickly against her skin.  She pulled away to take a deep breath, but then she froze.

Underneath his usual leathery smells was a faint but familiar smell of another female wolf.  She felt instantly nauseas as she put two and two together. It was the same sickeningly, sugary, yet sweet perfume that had been on Kedar during the time that they had been fighting.  She staggered backward a few steps as the epiphany hit her hard.  It was the same perfume Heather always wore.  She choked back the lump that was forming in her throat, unsure if she was more upset that Kedar had been
with
Heather when they were fighting or that Riley had Heather’s perfume all over him at that current moment.

“I need to go to class…”  She mumbled, blinking hot tears from her eyes.  She hurried away, wiping a stray tear that had escaped from her cheek.  She didn’t dare turn back to look at Riley.  She could only imagine the hurt or confused expression that might have been on his face, and it only made her feel that much worse about herself.

***

The school day was a blur.  Samantha spent most of the day trying to make sense of her feelings.  Did she still love Riley?  Was she just comfortable with him?  Was it ever really love to begin with, or did she think she loves him because that’s what everyone told her?  She didn’t know the answers, and it was much too difficult to sort out while attempting to pay attention to the material she was supposed to be learning.  All the while she had to also keep asking herself why she had run back to Kedar more than once.  Was it some base, animal like instinct that drew the two of them together?  Was it lust for him that was too strong for her to ignore?  Or did they have a deeper, more emotional connection?  Did she love them both?  Did she love either of them?  She decided that she needed more than a few hours to sort it all out, and she intended to tell Riley as much.  Even though she knew it would hurt him it would be better to be honest with him then telling him what he wanted to hear.

At the end of the day she felt so drained.  She got to her car and her phone went off in her purse.  She rubbed her temple, but she checked it anyway.  She had two text messages waiting for her.  One from Riley and another from Kedar.  She opened her phone, checking the text from Kedar first.

“
Can’t wait to see you! Hurry here
”

“Shit…”  She mumbled to herself.  She had completely forgotten that she had told Kedar that she would go see him after school.  She hastily checked the message from Riley.

“
Follow me to my house.
”  It read.  Samantha huffed, it wasn’t even a question it was a demand.  That frustrated her.  If he was going to be like that he could wait.

“
Forgot I have to do something I’ll be there in an hour or so
.”  She responded simply.  All Riley had to say to that was ‘fine’.  She groaned in aggravation, but drove to Kedar’s house, still very emotionally drained.  She hoped that seeing him would improve her mood.

When she got to his house she let herself in after she knocked.  He had gotten her a key a few days ago, so that she could let herself in whenever she wanted.

“Kedar?”  She called as she closed the front door behind her.  She scratched at her collar bone, her wool sweater irritating her skin.

Kedar called from the top of the stairs, “Wait there!  I’ll be right down!”

Samantha smiled to herself, already beginning to feel better for the most part.  She heard him rummaging through stuff upstairs and she took her jacket off.  She hung it on the coat rack and she left her shoes next to the welcome matt.  She sat down on the couch, waiting patiently and continuing to scratch at her neck.  She turned when she heard him clamoring down the steps and she smiled widely as he came into view.  He carried a little box, clearly hand wrapped.  The wrapping paper was folded, crumpled and disheveled.  She stood and smiled more, feeling his excitement.

He handed her the box, smiling, “Open it!”  He prompted enthusiastically.

She nodded and sat on the couch, placing the wrapped box on the coffee table.  She carefully unwrapped it, keeping the wrapping paper as intact as possible.  She beamed when her present was completely unwrapped.  It was a small wooden box with a rose and an ‘S’ carved into the top in a beautiful calligraphic font.  There was a little handle on the side, so she cranked it.  As she did the music box emitted a lovely melody, and she covered her mouth with her hands as tears welled up in her eyes.  It was playing Debussy’s
Reverie
.  She had played the song nonstop when she was painting with Kedar.  It was her favorite song, and she had told Kedar that, though she hadn’t told him why.  When she was little, before her parents died, her father would play it for her on his piano each night; the same piano that now stood in Melody’s gathering room.  She knew Kedar didn’t know that, but it made the gift no less touching.