Blood Moon (Moons of the Wolf Series Book 1) (18 page)

“Twenty-one,” Samantha snapped.

“Twenty-one?”  Katarina repeated, enraged, “Melody lets you be involved with a twenty-one-year old?  Does she realize how old he is?  Or is she perfectly alright with letting a fully-grown man have sex with a child?”

“The age of consent is sixteen, get over it!”  Samantha practically hollered.

“Don’t yell at your aunt, Samantha.  She’s concerned for your safety.”  Roberto interrupted.

Samantha turned to him, “My aunt is acting like a crazy person.”

Katarina whacked the table with the palm of her hand, hard.  Samantha jumped and turned back to her, eyes wide, “I don’t care what Melody allows you to do.  I understand you want to be treated like an adult, but the reality is that you are a child.”

“I’m a young woman, not a child.”  Samantha protested.

“That may be how Melody treats you, but she’s in the hospital in a coma right now.  So as long as she’s in the hospital, I will be your caregiver.  Therefore, you’ll be treated how I see fit.”

“And that’s like a child?”  Samantha mocked.

“Exactly.  You’ll be living by my rules from now on, and one of those rules is no boys in my house.”  Katarina’s voice was sharp as ice.

“Your house?”  Samantha pushed her seat back and leaned forward a bit, “Your house?  I hate to burst your bubble, Aunt Kat, but this isn’t your house.  You haven’t seen me, you haven’t see either of us, in years.  How dare you come into Aunt Mel’s home and tell me how I’m going to live my life.  You don’t know anything about me.”  She stood.

Katarina stood as well, “You’re about three seconds away from getting yourself punished.”

Samantha rolled her eyes, “What are you going to do, take my dolls away?  Fuck this bullshit.  I’m out of here.”

“Excuse me?  Is that how Melody raised you?”  Katarina yelled as she clenched her fists.

“Yup, that’s exactly how she raised me.  See, here I am, raised by Aunt Mel.  I’m getting in the shower, I’m packing a bag and I’m going to the hospital.  I’ll be staying elsewhere until you come off your power trip.”  Samantha turned away, but Katarina grabbed her arm, spinning her around.

“Don’t walk away from me.  You aren’t going anywhere.”

“You can’t tell me what to do.  You most certainly can’t tell me that I’m not allowed to go see the woman who took me in and raised me in the hospital.  You know maybe, just maybe, if you had owned up and helped Mel while I was growing up I’d consider doing as you say.  But you pussied out as soon as mom died.  How long was it before you called me?  Four, five years?  Then you disappeared for months after that, and now we’re lucky if we hear from you on Christmas.  This big visit was a huge surprise, I had expected another unsigned card this year.”  Samantha spat.

Smack
– Katarina slapped her hard across her face, “I’m the only family you have left in the states.  Your father’s parents are in Brazil, mine are in Portugal.  You need to get used to my way of things, you have no other choice.”

Roberto stepped in between the two, facing his wife, “You need to go upstairs and calm down, Kat.  You don’t have the right to lay your hands on Samantha.  It’s Christmas, for God’s sake.  You can’t talk to people like that, especially your flesh and blood.”

Katarina huffed, and went to move around Roberto and Samantha.  When she was in the doorway Samantha stopped her.  She turned around, half expecting an apology.

“I’ll be staying with my father, you know, the
sheriff
, until Melody wakes up…”  Samantha shot, pushing passed Katarina and going up to her bedroom.

***

An hour and a half later Samantha sat outside of Melody’s hospital room.  She was on quarantine and until told otherwise Samantha could only watch her from the window in her door.  She sat for the better half of the day, alone.  Around three o’clock, Jaden walked up and sat beside her.  They went down to the cafeteria, had an early dinner, and went back up to the ICU, waiting in silence for Melody to wake.  Just before visiting hours ended, Riley sat on Samantha’s other side and Jaden bid them both goodnight.

“Hey…”  Riley mumbled softly.

“Hey…”  Samantha responded.

He shifted uncomfortably, not looking directly at her, “How are you holding up?”  He sounded as though he didn’t really want to know.

“I’m good…”  Samantha hesitated, “…You?”

Riley looked at her, “I’m…  I’m good too.”  He looked away quickly and Samantha knew that he was lying.

Samantha frowned, “Good…”

Riley reached over and put his hand on hers, “Melody is going to be fine, you know that right?”  His voice was soft and sincere.

Samantha nodded slowly, but moved her hand away from his, “I know…”

After what felt like an eternity of awkward silence, Kedar walked up to them with his hands shoved in his pockets.  He didn’t sit, but instead opted to stand adjacent from Samantha, half facing Riley.  Samantha could tell that he was uncomfortable, but she didn’t bring any attention to it.  She smiled at him and he smiled back weakly.

Riley cleared his throat, “I just wanted to let you know that there’s a meeting at my house tomorrow.  It’ll be after school, and my father requested that you be there as well, Kedar…”  Riley mumbled, looking up at Kedar, who didn’t respond.  Riley stood, “Alright then…  I’ll catch you both later…”

“Bye…”  Samantha mumbled.

Once Riley was out of earshot Kedar sat down and turned towards Samantha, “I thought you two broke up?”

“We did, he only came to talk for a minute.  He’s still a member of the pack, I can’t just ignore him,” Samantha sighed.

Kedar nodded slowly.  He placed his hand on Samantha’s back, “Do you want me to go back to your house?”  He asked.

Samantha shook her head, “My aunt Kat is freaking out because I had you sleep over.  She’s on some kind of power trip because she’s taking care of me until Melody wakes up.  I told her I’d be staying with my father since she’s acting like a maniac, but, he’s in Italy and I don’t really want to stay with him anyway.  Is there any way that I can stay at your place for a few days?”

He smiled softly, wrapping his arm around her shoulders, “Of course you can, babe.”  He kissed her head gently, rubbing her arm.

CHAPTER 21

The following evening Kedar picked Samantha up from school and they went straight to Riley’s house.  They were relieved to see that they were not the last to arrive and they chose to stand in the back of the room, where they would hopefully go unnoticed.  Slowly the rest of the pack member’s arrived and eventually the room was very crowded.

Colin stood front and center.  He scanned the room, taking a mental head count.  When he was satisfied with the number of pack member’s present he cleared his throat, calling for everyone’s attention.  “I am glad that you are all here today.  I just came back from a meeting with Malcolm and the other alphas of the area.  We have collectively decided it is high time that we go and locate the general whereabouts of the vampire brood’s lair…”  He pulled a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket and he unfolded it, “Malcolm has given me a list of pack members, both past and present, who he wishes to be present during this hunt.”

Kedar clenched his fists.  Samantha touched his hand lightly and looked up at him.

Colin began reading, “Luca McLaughlin, Jackson and David Pandev, Riley Patrick Caleb McLaughlin, Charlotte Ann Lévesque, Jaden Adler, Kedar Isaac Taylor, Devon and Chantal Lévesque, and Samuel Adler.”  He put the paper back into his pocket, “You ten will be accompanying Malcolm, myself and the rest of the…  Hunting party, for lack of a better term, on this hunt for the vampire lair.  The trip will last around three weeks and we will be leaving in two weeks, so you have sufficient notice in order to take time out of work.  I apologize for the short notice, I only found this out an hour ago.  If you have any objections please let me know.  To be taken off the list you will have to speak to Malcolm directly.  Does anyone have any questions?”

Samantha lightly brushed her fingers down Kedar’s arm, sensing that he was tense.  She almost expected him to object to going along with the pack, but he said nothing.  The rest of the pack was silent as well and Colin breathed a sigh of relief.

“Then on to our next order of business.  In light of the situation with Melody our younger pack members will no longer be permitted on patrols until further notice.  Charlotte, will you have Zachary investigate the attack, alright?”  She nodded, “I’d also like you to explain to the pack how you allowed Melody to be attacked and why you were nowhere to be found for hours afterwards.”

Charlotte was quiet.  She looked around the room her eyes finally falling on Samantha.  They made eye contact.  Charlotte looked away first, turning her eyes back to Colin.  She stuttered, “I…  I left…”  A low murmur of disapproval went around the room.  Charlotte continued, “I told her that I didn’t feel well and went to lay down in Runt’s room, as both guest bedrooms were occupied by Madam Pandev and Katarina.  Once I knew that she wasn’t going to check on me I snuck out the window.”

“You did what?”  Samantha bellowed, stepping forward, “You lied to her and then you left her?”  Kedar grabbed her wrist, holding her back.

“Knock it off…”  He mumbled.

She ripped her arm away from him and stepped closer to Charlotte, pushing passed a couple of pack members, “You do realize that this is your fault, right?  My aunt could die because of your carelessness!”  She went to step over to Charlotte, her fists clenched.  Kedar wrapped an arm around her waist and lifted her up.  He dragged her out of the room before she had the chance to make more of a scene.  He held her tightly so she couldn’t break free and charge back into the room.

“What the fuck is your problem?”  He snapped, putting her down and grabbing hold of her shoulders.

“You heard her!  She
left
my aunt
alone
!  She is the reason that Melody is in the hospital!”  Samantha yelled, pulling away from him.

“You don’t know that, Samantha.”

“If she was there it would have been one more person to help Aunt Mel fight off the vampires.  Don’t pull that shit with me, Kit.  She abandoned her post and my aunt could die because of it.”  She pushed him away from her then turned around.  She covered her face to hide the tears that began to well up in her eyes.

Kedar grabbed her by the shoulders, rougher than the first time.  He used one of his hands to grab her hands and pull them away from her face.  He held her chin, a little too tight, making her look at him, “Stop it.  Charlotte is not the enemy.  She’s a pack member.  I understand that she made a mistake, but Colin will handle it.  Melody getting hurt is not directly Charlotte’s fault directly.  Shut up and let Colin do his job.”

Samantha stared up at Kedar, tears rolling down her cheeks silently.

He sighed loudly and wrapped his arms around her.  He understood how scared she felt, he couldn’t be mad at her.  He kissed her head gently, “She’ll be okay, Sam…”  He said softly.  He rested his chin on her head.

“I don’t want you to go…”  Samantha whispered, leaning her head against Kedar’s chest.

Kedar tensed, “I don’t want to either, but it’s my duty to.  Besides, I need to protect what’s mine.”

Samantha was quiet.  She wasn’t sure if she was part of what Kedar considered ‘his’.  Honestly, she was afraid to ask.  She knew he had only told Roberto that he was her boyfriend to upset her, not knowing she had broken things off with Riley.  It made her doubt if he wanted to be with her like that.  For the moment, however, she was fine with the current dynamics of their relationship.  She took a deep breath and Kedar stepped away from her.  He wiped the budding tears from her eyes and smiled softly.

“Let’s go back into the meeting…”  He said before pressing his lips to hers gently.

She kissed him back just as gently.  Yeah.  She was fine with things the way they were.

Once Kedar pulled away from the kiss he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and turned towards the sitting.  Riley stood there in the doorway.  There was a mix of hurt, confusion and anger on his face.  The hurt quickly disappeared and he glowered at Samantha and Kedar.  He turned and stormed away.

Samantha followed him with her eyes, frowning.  Her heart sank when she heard him slam his bedroom door and very clearly punch something.  Samantha assumed it was a wall.  She half turned towards the stairs, and Kedar dropped his arm back to his side.  She looked up at him, furrowing her eyebrows.

“You can follow him…”  Kedar mumbled, shoving his hands into his pockets.

Samantha glanced back over her shoulder, but shook her head, “No…  I’m not going to follow him…  Not anymore.”  She responded as she linked her arm with Kedar’s.  They walked back into the sitting room and took their previous spots in the back.

“Is your little episode over?”  Colin asked.

Samantha nodded slowly, “Yes, sir.  I’m sorry.”  She replied.

“Very good.  Charlotte, you may continue.”  Colin ordered and turned back to Charlotte.

“I…  I just thought that since I ‘went to bed’ that Melody would have had Katarina accompany her to the meeting point…”  Charlotte continued.  She stared down at her hands, clearly humiliated.

“Did I not make myself clear, little miss, that I am
pregnant
?  Why would Melody take her pregnant sister out at
night
when there are
vampires
lurking about?”

“Let Charlotte speak!”  Colin snapped, “I won’t tolerate another outburst during this meeting.  The next one of you to speak out of turn will be thrown out, do you all understand?”  Nobody dared to speak, “Charlotte, why did you leave?”  Colin continued.

Charlotte took a deep breath, “Zach had come to see me before I went to Melody’s house; he had wanted to spend time with me…  I told him that I couldn’t see him, and he begged me to see him later and I finally agreed.  But he never showed.  He told me that he couldn’t get away from the brood mistress when I heard from him next.”

The room fell silent.  All eyes turned to Colin.  He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck with his palm.  He didn’t know how he wanted to punish Charlotte for her disobedience.  He took a deep breath.

“Charlotte, you understand that your insubordination is not something that I can take lightly, correct?  Your willingness and ability to follow orders and put the needs of the pack above your own personal desires is incredibly important, especially since you are the beta-in-training.  Unfortunately I have no other choice but to strip you of your rank and title temporarily.  Until further notice you are no longer the pack Delta and have been instead demoted to scout.”

“Colin!”  Devin protested, jumping to his daughter’s defense “She’s a child, you can’t punish her for making a mistake!”

“Leave, Devin.  I made myself clear when I warned the pack about speaking out of turn.”  Colin ordered calmly.

“You can’t just strip my daughter of her rank!  You have nobody else to fill in as beta-in-training!”  He continued to shout.

Colin’s look was so sharp it could wound someone, “There are thirty-six members in this pack.  All of whom are more fit to be the beta-in-training than Charlotte is right now.  If your daughter can prove she has the capability of being loyal to her pack before you step down from your position of beta we won’t have to find another delta.  Now, I believe I already told you to leave.”  Both Devin and Chantal left the room in anger.

Colin rubbed the back of his neck again and turned back to Charlotte, “As I was saying.  I will also be petitioning Malcolm to have you removed from the hunt list.  I feel as though you would compromise the well-being of the hunt, being that you are romantically involved with one of the brood members.  Do you understand?”  Charlotte just nodded, not looking up to meet Colin’s gaze.  Her shoulder’s shook and Samantha was sure that she was crying, “Good, now get out of my sight.  This meeting is adjourned.”

Charlotte pushed through the group to the door, hanging her head.  The rest of the pack began to file out after her, murmuring amongst themselves.  Before Samantha and Kedar could duck out, however, Colin stopped them.

“May I speak with you in my office, young one?”  He asked in a tight voice.  Samantha knew that although he had worded it as a question that it was an order.

“I’ll wait in the truck,” Kedar said, letting go of Samantha’s hand.  She hadn’t realized their fingers had been intertwined for the remainder of the meeting.  She nodded and followed Colin into his office.

He motioned to the chair that faced his desk, “Sit.”

She obeyed quietly.

Colin sat across from her and folded his hands on his desk.  “First of all, I have given you the next five weeks off of work so that you can be available should Melody’s condition change.  Second, while she is incapacitated Katarina is your care taker.  She has brought it to my attention that you’ve been less than respectful.  You must treat her with respect, she is your elder and your family.”

Samantha frowned, “I’m sorry, sir, we just don’t see eye to eye, necessarily.  But thank you for the time off.  Is that all?”  She went to get up out of the chair slowly.

“No.  Stay seated.  It has also been brought to my attention that you and Riley have run into some problems.  Now, normally I wouldn’t interfere in my children’s love lives, but he asked me to have a word with you about it.  Personally, I think the only reason anything has changed between you is because you’ve been hanging around another man, more than you should be no doubt.  You and Riley were a lovely couple and would have made an excellent alpha pair.  I think that it would be best that once the brood has been taken care of that you stop seeing Kit.”

Samantha raised her eyebrows and leaned forward in her seat, “Excuse me?”

“You heard me, young one.  Once this ordeal is over with you’re no longer permitted to see him.”  Colin repeated.

“No,” Samantha protested softly at first.

“No?  I don’t think you understand, Samantha.  That’s an order.”

“Absolutely not!”  Samantha snapped with tenacity, “It is my choice who I see and it’s my decision what kind of relationship I have with Riley, and whether or not we even have one at all.  You have no say what I do with my personal life.  And you most certainly can’t tell me I have to be with your son because it’s convenient for you.  I will be with whoever I chose because what makes me happy is what matters, I couldn’t give a flying fuck about anyone else has to say about it.”

“You’re forbidden to see Kedar.  That’s a direct order.”  Colin stood and slammed his fists on the desk.

“Whoops.  I forgot to care.”  Samantha stood as well and stormed from the room.  She walked to the front door briskly, unexpectedly meeting a small group of pack members outside on the porch.  Maia approached her.

“What’s the matter?”  Maia asked in a soft tone.

“Colin is being an overly controlling dick.”  Samantha muttered.  She had been unaware that her emotions were written over her face.  She sighed.

“How so?”  Maia pried.

“It doesn’t really matter and I honestly would rather not talk about it…”  She went around the group and walked straight to Kedar’s truck.  She climbed into the passenger seat and covered her face with her hands.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”  Kedar’s voice was soft and he lightly placed his hand on her shoulder.

Samantha lowered her hands and looked at him, “Colin was trying to forbid me from seeing you.”