Howl (Howl #1) (21 page)

“Then, how do y
ou find out
who it is
if Colby does . . .
die?”

“Remember what the Ima tattoo is? A blue paw? Well, Colby’s tattoo has a little more complex design. If Colby died, the next Alpha’s tattoo would change.”

Steve seemed shaken up
. Samara didn’t know him very well, but he would barely meet her eyes when talking about members of his pack dying. She wondered if he might
think
that he could be the replacement Alpha
.
For all she knew, he was.

“Thanks for telling me all of this,” Samara said, smiling at him. “I will definitely keep it in
mind when I make my decision.”

“Great. Cool. Well, I guess I’ll see you around,” Ste
ve replied, leaving the table.

Samara glanced around to make sure that no one in the cafeteria had heard them. Luckily, no one had. She breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn’t really sure how much she should be talking about wolves and packs at school. If someone heard her mention that she was a werewolf, they would think she was insane.

Thank you f
or forgiving me,
Luke said.
It means a lot
to me
.
I don’t like when you’re angry.

You’re welcome,
Samara replied.
Let’s go on a rea
l date. How about tonight?

Sounds great. I’ll pick you up around six.
 

*

“So, what are you wearing?” Emma asked cheerfully into the phone. “I think you should go with that sexy low-cut black sweater and skinny jea
ns. Oh, and you should wear your
Victoria’s Secret bra. The hot pink one. It ma
kes your boobs look awesome!”

“Yeah, I guess I’ll wear that,” Samara sighed into the phone. She had let it slip
to
Emma during their E
nglish
class that
she
was planning to go on a date with Luke tonight. Samara hadn’t been expecting her best friend (even though she felt more like an acquaintance lately
, even after they had made up
) to call and check up on her after scho
ol to
see what she was going to wear.

Samara wanted to scream into the phone that there were more important things in this world than cloth
es and awesome-looking boobs. But, if
she did that, she was going to have to tell Emma everything. Samara wasn’t ready for that, though. She wasn
’t sure if she ever would be.

The doorbell rang. “Look, I have to go. Luke’s here. I’ll call you sometime over the weekend,” Samara said before hitting the end button
on her cell phone
without even listening to her friend’s response. She tugged the black sweater over her head and grabbed her purse from her bed before
heading
to the front door.

When she opened it, Luke was standing on the front stoop, holding a single red rose. “For yo
u, my lady,” he said sweetly.

As Samara took the rose, she leaned into him and gave him a peck on the lips. She grabbed
her jacket from the coat hanger.

“Samara?” Mrs. McKinley asked, glancing at Luke standing in the do
orway. She r
aised her eyebrows in question.

Samara felt like a butterfly
that
was trapped in a net
with no way out
. She had gotten so caught up in everything happening with the two packs that she had totally forgotten that her mom didn’t want her to date until she was eighteen.
What her mom didn’t realize was that this wasn’t just any ordinary guy; this was her (possible) life mate.

“Mom, this is my friend Luke,” Samara said warmly. “We’re just going to go out for
a bite to eat. Is that okay?”

“Hello, Mrs. McKinley,” Luke spoke up. “I promise I’ll
have her home by nine.”

“I – uh
, I guess,” Mrs. McKinley replied hesitantly. Samara knew that her mom wasn’t happy that she was going out
w
ith a boy, but she also knew her mom
hated confrontation. Her mom probably wouldn’t really question it until Samara got home because she didn’t want to cause a scene in front of Luke. Samara was just glad that her dad wasn’t around because he wouldn
’t have been so civil
about it.

Hurrying out the door, S
amara followed Luke to his car.

“What w
as that all about?” Luke asked.

Samara glanced at him. “My parents don’t want me dating. I’m sorry, I totally forgot about it. Next time, we’ll meet somew
here.”

Luke laughed. “Let me get this straight. Your parents don’t want the
ir werewolf daughter dating?”

Samara shrugged. “I’m not even sure if they know
I’m a werewolf
, to be honest with you. My parents have never mentioned it
to me
before. That’s why this whole thing was a complete surprise to me
, and that’s why I was shocked that Kyle said my aunt knows
.”

“Huh,” Luke said, the confusion obvious in his voice. “I’d be really shock
ed if your dad doesn’t know.”

“Why?”

Luke turned off her street, staring ahead. “Well, rumor has it that Joe McKinley left a few things behind for the next
female werewolf descendent.
No one really knows what it is. Some of us think that one of the items is his legendary talisman, though. Anyway, I would be surprised if your dad doesn’t know because, well, how else are you going to get what he left
for you?”

Samara shook her head. “I have no idea. Mayb
e they’re just waiting until
my sixteenth birthday
before they tell me. I mean, that would make sense. They probably just don’t want me to worry about it
until it’s closer to happening . . .
maybe they’re w
aiting to see if I even change
. If I don’t change, maybe they’re not planning to tell me
at all
.”

“I don’t thin
k so,” Luke said. “Even if you we
ren’t the next
girl
in line, it could
have been
one of your children. They should have given you a forewarning.
I’d give them until your sixteenth birthday, but if they don
’t say anything by then . . .
you’re probably right, and they really don’t know. Or they’re choosing to keep it a secret from you.
”

Samara thought about it. If her parents did know
about her grandfather being a werewolf
, it made no sense why they wouldn’t have told her. “I want to ask them, but what if they don’t know? How hard is it going to be for them to accept that their only daughter is a werewolf? How shocked will my dad be to find out
that his father was a werewolf . . .
that his whole life was basically a
lie? I’m afraid to tell them.”

Luke pulled into the movie theater parking lot. “It would be difficult, but what if they find out on their own, anyway? Would
n’t it be easier for you to just tell them so that it won’t hurt even more if they find out
?”

“I guess you’re right. But if they don’t
already
know, they’re
just
going to think I’m nuts.”

Leaning over to her side of the car, Luke tilted her chin. “I don’t think you’re nuts, and that’s all th
at really matters right now.”

When their lips connected, Samara realized how right he was; Luke was the only one who mattered at that moment
in time
. 
 

*

When Luke dropped her off at her house, all of the lights were
turned
off. Realizing that her parents must have gone to bed early, Samara breathed a sigh of relief. She had just had one of the best nights of her life. She really didn’t want an argument with her mom to ruin
it for her.

As she tiptoed down the hallway that led to her bedroom, Samara noticed that her brother’s light was on and the door was wide open. She stuck her head in his room. It was empty, but his bedroom window was open and the blue curtains were gently s
waying in the October breeze.

Samara looked out the window. She saw Seth walking towards the lake. Realizing that this might be her one and only
chance to find out where he had been going
, Samara climbed out his window and followed after him.

Crouching down in hopes that he wouldn’t see her, Samara ran across the yard
after him so that she wouldn’t fall too far behind and lose track of where he was going.

Seth turned up one of the paths in the forest and continued walking until he brought her to the same
clearing of woods that
Samara had gone with the werewolf who had told her to call him E the night he to
ok her to see the Vyka Alpha.

Glancing
at
the grassy circle, Samara noticed that although there were no werewolves
in sight, the fire was blazing; its flames were higher than it had been the night that she’d been there. Samara guessed that someone
had just recently lit the fire.

Looking back at her brother, she noticed a red cloud of smoke encircling him. When it was gone, he looked identical to the white wolf that she saw when she looked at her own reflection. Samara gasped
loudly. Seth was a werewolf, too.

As Samara turned to run back towards the house, she stopped herself. All five of the werewolves in the Vyka pack w
ere walking in her direction.

I see you’ve decided to join us,
the black wolf said, taking a step towards her. Samara noted a t
one of surprise in his voice.

The wolf began circling around her.
She glanced down at her hands, realizing that she could not defend herself against a pack of wolves even if she wanted to whi
le she was in human form. “Well . . .
yes, but it was on accident.”

Accident, you say? There are no accidents,
the black wolf replied, giving her a hard stare through his golden eyes.
Every
thing we do is for a purpose.

“Well, I followed my brother out into the woods. I just wanted to see where he was going. I didn’t realize he was go
ing to lead me to your pack.”

From a few feet away, Seth growled at her, pinning his ears back and staring at her coldly through his dark brown eyes.
You followed me? Why?

“I wanted to know where you were going, Seth. I’m sorry. I
’
ve
just
been trying to find out why
you’ve been acting so angry.”

Well, you got your answer then, didn’t you?
the black wolf asked.
So, you can go now
.

“I don’t know what you mean,” Samara replied. “He hasn’t told me why
he’s angry, so no.”

That much is obvious, unless you’re a moron,
the black wolf barked
.
Your brother’s so angry because he’s making the transition from human to werewolf. The change only recently began for him. It started just before his seventeenth bir
thday.

Samara stared at him blankly. “Well, I just changed into a werewol
f, too. I haven’t been angry.”

It’s because you’re a girl, Sam,
Seth said, walking closer to her.
Male werewolves get angrier quicker.
Especially when they’re just making the first change.

Samara stared back at him in complete shock. She had suspected so many things that could have been the cause of his anger issues – bipolar disorder, drugs, alcoholism, depression, and even being bullied. Why hadn’t she considered, at least once, that he could be a werewolf, too? Especially after she had found out that it ran in the McKinley bloodline.

Well, gender is only part of the reason Seth is angrier than you
,
the black wolf
corrected him
, interrupting her thoughts
.
The other part is the way you become a wolf
. Seth w
ent through the change the natural way
,
like most of us do.
This causes a great deal of physical pain. It can also be more difficult to cope with emotionally because some of us go through it alone if we don’t know that it’s coming, like in
Seth’s case.

“It was painful for me.”

The change wasn’t nearly as painful for you as it should have been.
You were saved from a great deal of pain because you were bitten.
This goes back to ancient werewolf history. Traditionally, the only time we were supposed to bite someone was when we absolutely needed to expand our packs or
if our mate was a human. For this
reason, the change happens more quickly
and painlessly
for people who are bitten by werewolves. Colby actually saved you from the whole painful ordeal by choosing the unnat
ural route for your existence.