Howl (Howl #1) (19 page)

Pouting, Samara pulled her clothes back o
n and turned back to the group.
She
realized that the dark hair and mocha-colored skin
of the wolf
that
had just shifted
belonged to Steve Bryan.
Samara didn’t know Steve very well, even though they had been in each other’s classes since they were in kindergarten, but she always thought that he seemed like a nice guy.

Samara smiled at him and moved to the next werewolf, who also developed a blue
cloud around him as he changed. Blushing, she turned away when she caught an eyeful of him as the cloud of smoke faded away.

Not funny, Chris. Not funny at all. You know you were supposed to transform with your clothes on,
the voice of her Alpha rang out through her thoughts.

Cackling, Chris Priestl
e
y pulled on clothing, smiling at her. “It was more fun this way,” he replied.

“Wait, we can do that?”
Samara gasped
. “Transform with our clothes?”

“
We
can. You won’t be
able to until you’
re initiated,” Chris replied. Chris was a guy who came to all of Emma’s parties and who was in most of her classes at school. He was the captain of the basketball team and was well known as a class clown. She didn’t dislike him, but she also did
n’t know him too well, either.
             

“That’s not fair,” Samara said, trying to shrug it off. At least she kne
w that in the future, once she was initiated, she wouldn’t have to worry
about bringing her clothes with her.

Samara moved on with her introductions. Al
though she had never seen him in wolf form before, she immediately recognized Luke as the next wolf in line. It w
as his wagging tail that gave him
away. His fur had a fluffier texture than all of the others in the pack, and she couldn’t help but notice t
hat he had broader shoulders.

You think I look better because I’m you’re mate. Physically, you’re more attracted to me,
Luke told her. Somehow, she knew that the mental exchange had on
ly been between the two of them, even though the wolves could all hear each other
’s thoughts
w
hen they communicated.

Samara nodded and moved on to the next wolf, who barked at her playfully.
It’s me!
Samara knew right away that she recognized his voice, but she wasn’t sure who it belonged to.

When his blue smoky cloud was gone, Samara realized that it was her cousin, Kyle. “Oh, my God! You’re a werewolf?
!” She hugged him.
“But, I don’t get it. You’re related to me!
Why aren’t you on the Vyka pack?
We’re not supposed to be Ima.
”

“Werewolf blood runs on both sides of my family. Grandpa Joe was a Vyka, but my great-great-grandfather on my father’s side was an Ima. The werewolf gene skipped a few generations on that side. We all thought I’d be a Vyka if anything because Grandpa Joe was so strong, but it turns out that I’m an Ima.” He shrugged. “I guess I was just meant to be on this pack.”

“Wait. Are you saying that your family knew that you were going t
o be a werewolf?” Samara asked.

Kyle nodded. “Yeah, my mom knows. And my dad knew,
too.”

Samara felt the anger washing over her and her cheeks reddening. “I don’t understand why my family kept it from me. If Aunt Rae knew,
my dad had to have known, too.”

“I don’t know if he does or not,” Kyle said.
“My mom’s never actually said eithe
r way.”

Samara
tried to give her dad the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he really didn’t know, but she was beginning to have her doubts about that
. “How did you know which werewolf pack you belong
ed
to after you changed?”
Samara asked.
She hadn’t really thought about what would have
happened if she had become
a werewolf naturally. Did the Alpha of each pack come to find all of their pups or had she been a special case?

“Two ways,” Kyle replied. “You develop that particular pack’s scent so that when you come face-to-face with members from other packs, they know that you’re a foreigner, so to speak. Once you have that scent, you know how to find your way to your pack. The other way is this.” He rolled up his sleeve and showed her his arm. There was a blue tattoo in the shape of a paw. “We get a paw print tattoo that’s the same exact color and shape as the rest of the wolves in our pack. The color is also the same color as the smoky clou
d that you see when we change.”

Samara rolled up her own
sleeve. “I don’t have a tattoo . . .
and I’m pretty sure that I don’t have a cloud of smoke when I make the change. Why don’t I?”

That’s because you have an important decision to make,
her Alpha told her.
You have to decide if you want to be an Ima or a Vyka. You won’t get your tatto
o until you choose.

“When do I have to make tha
t decision by?” Samara asked.

I’ll give you
until the next full moon.
That seems fair enough
.

Samara nodd
ed and took a step closer to her Alpha
. “Are you going to show me who you are, now that I’ve seen the rest?

You must promise that you will continue to respect me as your Alpha
, even after you know who I am. I deserve the same level of respect as
a human that
you’d give me in wolf form.

“Fine, fine,” Samara replied hastily
. “You’ve said that already.”

There was a strong gust of wind
and the blue smoky cloud whirled
around her Alpha
like a tornado. Samara gasped at how much more powerful it was than the other wolves’
clouds
.

Once the cloud disappeared, her Alpha pushed a lock of his
blonde curly hair behind his ear.

Samara stared back into Colby’s face. “You’re my Alpha?!”
she shrieked in sho
ck.

Colby nodded and looked down at the ground bashfully. “I told you that knowing who I am might make
you think differently of me.”

“I don’t . . .
I’m just surprised, that’s all. You’re such a confident wolf, but that doesn’t seem to carry over into your human form.”
As a wolf, he stood tall and strong, but as a human, he was always awkward. Samara never, in a thousand years, would have guessed that Co
lby was her Alpha.

Colby shrugged. “I might not be as confident as you think
I am
. That’s why I need you
to be on this pack, Samara.”

“We all need you on this pack,” Kyle chimed in. “There’s no way we’ll ever be able to fight the Vyka without your help
.”

“It’s true,” Steve agreed
. “Without you, we
don’t stand a chance. The Vyka . . .
I don’t know what they’re doing
at the gym
or what they’re eating
, but they’re getting stronger more quickly than they should for their age. It’s like they’re on werewolf steroids. You’re our only hope if we want
even a shot at defeating them.”

Samara sighed. She felt so conflicted about all of this. She felt comfortable with this pack.
Even though they didn’t know each other well,
Luke seemed like the right mate for her, and Kyl
e
was her cousin. He was family.

If she chose the Vyka, she would be turning her back on her own flesh and blood. Samara also had a newfound respect for Colby. She really couldn’t ask for a better Alpha than him. She’d only met the black wolf for a minute, but he had seemed really cold-hearted and bossy. Samara got the feeling that Colby would never try to control her; he would only try to
steer
her to do the right thing, but she didn’t know how the Vyka Alpha
handled his pack. She had a feeling that he was more demanding, more manipulative.

“If I choose to stay on this pack, I’m going to need to learn how to fight re
ally fast,” Samara told the wolves
. She was going to have to learn how to defend herself against the Vyka. They had made it crystal clear that she was one of the first werewolves that they wanted to get rid of if
she didn’t choose to join their pack
. Samara wasn’t going to let them win that easily; she was going to fight until the end.

Colby waved his hand in the air. “Don’t worry! Your Alpha’s got it covered. I’ve come up with an intense training program that I’m going to put you through right away so that you can learn to fight quic
ker than the rest of us did
. I’m convinced that due to your bloodline, you’ll also pick up
on everything much quicker than the rest of us, too
.”

“I’m a little confused about something,” Samara said. “If werewolves live hundreds or thousands of years, why is it that there are only people our age in this pack? I was sort of expect
ing there to be some adults.”

“We have adult packs and youth packs. We’re a youth
pack, and one day, we will be an adult pack
. Our children and grandchildren will be the next youth pack. Basically, there are three packs. There is another Ima pack which is made up of many of our own parents, aunts, and uncles, as well as one that is made up of our grandparents, great-grandparents, great-great-grandparents, and so on. If there were eve
r
an emergency situation, they will come to defend us, but we try
to keep our
packs separate as much as we can. Plus, we haven’t really had a reason to call in other packs lately.
”

“I see,” Samara replied, coming to a realization. All of the wolves on the Ima pack were gray. It made her wonder why all of the wolves on the Vyka pack weren’t; some were gray, the Alpha was black, and Samara, who was technically supposed to be on their pack, was white. “Why are certain werewolves different colors? Why am I white? Does it have to do with our packs?”

“I had a feeling that one was coming,” Luke said, laughing. He wrapped his arms around her waist. “Your white fur is beautiful. I don’t
know why you’re complaining.”

“I’m not complaining,” Samara snapped at him, looking at him over her
shoulder. “I’m just curious about
why I look different from all of you
and the Vyka pack.”

Colby held his hands in the air. “Let’s not argue, pups.” Glancing at Luke, he said, “Samara has every reason to wonder why her f
ur is white instead of gray.”

“See,” Samara said sweetly to Luke. He shr
ugged and kissed her
fore
head.

“It has to do with origins,” Colby went on. “Most of us are gray wolves. You’re an arctic werewolf, though. That’s because your great-grandfather, Alexander McKinley, was from Alaska, where arctic werewolves are common. We can only assume that arctic werewol
ves mus
t run in your bloodline.

“
Members of the same pack tend to be the same type of wolf, but there are times when a member from another pack chooses a new pac
k. That’s why the Vyka’s Alpha ha
s black
fur
. His werewolf ancestors originated from Florida, where there is a smal
l population of black wolves.”

“How do you know so much about my great-grandfather?” Samara asked. “I didn’t even know where he was from.”

“Let’s just say that just about every werewolf in the country knows a lot about your family’s history. You’re pretty much a cele
brity to the werewolf world.”

“Wow,” Samara whispered. She was surprised that her grandfather had been so stro
ng and powerful that he was
so well-known. The truth was that she hadn’t really known him all that well herself. He had died when she was only eight years old. Her parents sometimes talked about him, but neither of them had ever mentioned his supposed strength and power. Maybe they really hadn’t known that he was a werewolf. If her dad ha
d no idea, where did he think Grandpa Joe
was when he was off conquering villains and savi
ng the werewolf world, though?

“
It’s getting late.
Do you have any other questions?” Colby asked, rubbing his hands together. Samara assumed th
at he must be cold; it was Novembe
r in Pennsylvania, and he was naked from the
waist up.

“No questions that you can answer for me,” Samara replied. “
Not right now, anyway.
But I do have a lot that I need to figure out on my own.”

“Before you go, I just want you to know that we really do want you on our pack,” Colby said. “If we didn’t, we wouldn’t have gone to the extent of changing your destiny. We would have let nature run its own course.”