Howl (Howl #1) (22 page)

Samara groaned. She was getting a little
tired
of hearing that her existence was unnatural. Even if the black wolf didn’t agree with it, she knew that Col
by’s intentions were good. As much as she was trying to be open-minded about this Alpha, she couldn’t help but think that he was completely
biased and also a jerk.

“Look, if you want me to consider being on your pack, I need to know who all of you are. So, I would appreciate it if you would all turn back into humans right now,” Samara told them, as she conti
nued to stare at their Alpha.

I suppose we can do that,
the Alpha said.
E, you go first.

The first gray wolf in line was enveloped by a red cloud of smoke. Samara realized that red must be the Vyka’s cloud and tattoo color, since it was the color that she had
also
just seen when her brother
had transformed.

Moments later, Ethan Miller stared back at her. Samara raised an eyebrow. “I thought that you
said that you
never saw a gray wolf before,” she said, remembering wha
t he had said in biology class.

“I didn’t,” Ethan said, looking her in the eye. It was clear that he remembered what she was referring to. “The wolf I saw was someone from our pack, coming to let me know what was happening to me. I just didn’t know that yet. I started making
the change in early October.”

“I see,” Samara replied. She moved on
to the next wolf in the pack.

A red smoky cloud danced and twirled around him. Samara gasped when she saw the dark
brown
slicked back hair when he had changed. She clamped her hand over her mouth.
“Josh!”

Josh nodded, looking down at the
ground. “Yup, it’s me.”

Samara felt relieved that at least one person who she knew
and liked
was on this pack. She was surprised, though. Josh and Kyle were best friends, but they were on opposing packs? Samara wondered if it had anything to do with why she had
n’t seen Josh and Kyle hanging out
together
at
school recently – although they had gone to Emma’s party together. She was really going to have to learn a lot more about werewolf pack etiquette and culture so that things would be less confusing for her.

The next werewolf in the pack took a step forward. The red cloud of smoke formed around him and moments later, Samara found herself staring into the face of Mark Stevens, one of her neighbors.
She didn’t know him that well, but she didn’t really hav
e a problem with him.

“Hey, Sam
,” Mark said, smiling at her.

“Hi,” she said, smiling back at him befor
e moving on to the next wolf.

I’m not changing. I want to go last,
the gray wolf said. Samara wasn’t sure whose voice she was hearing, but she got the feeli
ng that it was someone she knew . . .
someone
familiar
.

I guess I’ll go next then,
the black wolf said. The gust of wind that seemed to
carry
the red cloud of smoke
around him
was
more powerful for the Alpha, though not as powerful as the smoke that had forcefully en
gulfed Colby when he had changed. When the smoke began to fade away, Samara’s jaw dropp
ed.

Jason was the Vyka Alpha.

She felt tempted to run away, to tell them that there was no way she was going to be on their pack. There was still one last person who she
hadn’t seen yet, though
. Someone who seemed familiar and, for some reason, wanted to reveal himself to her last.
It made her all the m
ore curious to know who he was.

When she turned around, she noticed that the red smoky cloud was already swooping over him. As the cloud disintegrated, Samara c
lamped a hand over her mouth.

It was Declan. Her best friend was a Vyka.
 

Chapter 17

****

“Are you surprised that I’m Alpha?” Jason asked, i
nterrupting her moment of shock about Declan.

Samara shrugged. She wasn’t about to tell him that she didn’t like him. If her choice in pack depended solely on Alpha, she would have
gladly
chosen Colby. They weren’t the only ones in the pack, though. There were other
people – people
who
she loved and cared about – in
both packs. That made her d
ecision so much harder to make.

On the Ima, she had Luke and Kyle, two people who she cared about so much. But on the Vyka, she had her brother and Josh, who she felt
a certain amount of
close
ness to for some reason. And Declan, her best friend in
the world.

How could Declan be a werewolf? How long had it been since he had made the
change? Did he know that he was a werewolf whe
n she had asked him about it?

Yes.

Samara stared at Declan with wide eyes. She was positive that she had just heard his voice inside her head, loud and clear
, even though he was in human form
. Was she imagining it?

She heard Declan chuckle inside his own head.
No, you’re not imagining this. You can hear me.

So, that means . . .
you’re my mate?
Samara asked.

Declan shrugged his shoulders, which looked a little wider
to her right now than she remembered them to be. Was it because she was physically attracted to him now, or was it because becoming a werewolf was changing his appearance?

I suppose that I am your mate,
Declan said.
Of course, I’ll only be your mate if you decide to be on the Vyka. If you go back to the Ima, you’ll have another mate.
I’m not sure if you know that.

Samara nodded her head.
Yes, I already know who my Ima mate is. How do you feel about me being
your mate?

“I don’t know,” Declan sai
d out loud. “It’s too new to me and a little weird, honestly.
”

Samara looked down at the ground. She wasn’t sure how she felt
about it
herself, but for some reason, it hurt her to think that Declan might not
even
want her to be his mate
if she chose this pack
. Sure, the circumstances were kind of strange. They had been best friends for years, and Samara had even compared him to a gay best friend
or brother
at one point because she didn’t think it was remotely possible for her to be interested in him.

She wasn’t so sure now, though.

Tonight, Samara noticed that Declan’s face had a certain glow to it, a glow that she had never noticed before. Was she becoming attracted to him?

Samara didn’t k
now, but one thing was for sure:
she knew that she didn’t want to be rejected by him either. If she did choose to be a Vyka, she wanted to make sure that she would have a mate. Life was too long for a werewolf to be all alone.

As Samara looked at him, trying to catch his gaze to see if he had just heard all of her thoughts, she realized that Declan wouldn’t even look at her.

“So,
you wanted to find out who we are. Now you know. Do you have enough information to make a decision
?” Jason snapped at her. “I mean, we don’t have all day. Are you going to be on our pack or not?”

“I need time to think about this,” Samara replied. “It’s a big decision. The Im
a have given me to the next full moon to decide. That’s four days from now.
I guess everyone will know what my decision is then.”

“Are you serious, Sam? You really need to make a decision
about this?” Seth ask
ed, an angry tone in his voice.

“Umm, yeah. T
his is my life,” Samara said. “It’s
not like choosing what
color of crayon yo
u want to use when you’re a kid or what ice cream flavor you want. This decision is going to affect the rest of my life, so I think it’s important for me to be
absolutely sure of w
hich pack I want to belong to.”

“How could you be so selfish?” Seth yelled at her. “Grandpa Joe wouldn’t be happy if he thought you were going to turn against his pack.”

Samara sighed. “Seth, if you want me to be perfectly honest, I’m not sure if I really even care how Grandpa Joe would feel about this. We barely even knew him. I have, like, one memory of him, and it’s not even that clear. We didn’t get to have a relationship with him, probably because he was
too busy
off fighting werewolves. I barely even consider him family.”

Glancing around at the
pack, she noticed that each of the guys was scowling at her, even Declan. It was obvious that there was a strong sense of camaraderie amo
n
g pack members, living or dead.

“Well, as Alpha, I’m going to tell you the same thing.
T
ake until the next full moon to decide
. We want to know your answer, e
ven if you decide that you don’
t want to be one of us.”

Samara turned to walk away. As she was climbing up the rocky path that would lead her back home, Jason shouted, “And Samara? If you decide that you don’t want to be a Vyka, just know that you will no longer be on our side
. You will be our enemy.”
 

*

Samara woke up in the middle of the night to see someone hovering over her. Blinking her eyes, she realized that it was Seth. “What d
o you want?” she as
ked groggily, rubbing her eyes.

“To talk,” Seth replied, sitting down on the edge of her bed. “We need to talk
about this.”

Samara sat up. “Yeah, I guess we do. You didn’t tell me what was going on
with you
when I asked you
all those times
, though. So if you’re just trying to convince me to be a Vyka, please leav
e.”

“Well, I do want you to be a Vyka. You’re my sister. I do
n’t want you to be my enemy.”

“I don’t want to be your enemy either, Seth, but don’t you think that Grandpa Joe would have wanted
us to do what we felt was right for us?
What if I would rathe
r be an Ima?”

Seth shook his head. “I don’t know what Grandpa Joe would have wanted. You’re right. We didn’t know him all that well. He was barely even a grandfather to us.”

Samara nodded. “Speaking of that, have you talked to Mom and Dad yet about all of this?”

Seth scoffed. “I’ve been fighting with them for the past few months. Of course I haven’t told them. Why, have you?”

Samara shook her head. “No, I haven’t.
I was just curious. I’ve been
wondering if Dad even knew that Grandpa Joe was a werewolf. He’s never mentioned it. You would think he would have told us
that this could happen to us
.”

“I know. T
hat’s part of why I’ve been so angry at him,” Seth replied. “How could he let something like this happen to me without at least giving me a warning? That’s all I’ve been thinking about lately.
He didn’t even tell us, but he still expects us to have respect for him. I don’t. I’
ve lost all respect for him.
”

“Maybe he really had no idea,” Samara said. “
There’s always that chance that Grandpa Joe might never have told him. I don’t think we can really blame him for sure until we know either.”

“
I guess,” Seth said, shrugging.

She paused. “I thought that he may have been waiting until it was my sixteenth birthday to tell me, but if that was the case, he
would have told you.”

“Yeah, and he didn’t,” Seth sighed. “I also wanted to tell you something else. I’m pretty sure that you don’t already know this. Lilly Philips is on our pack.”

Samara’s eyes widened. “She is? Why wasn’t she there tonight then?”

“Lilly doesn’t want to be a part of this,” Seth replied. “Like you and me, she was completely unprepared for this. Her mother apparently was a werewolf, but she abandoned Lilly when she was just a baby. She doesn’t even remember her. I don’t know if her dad knew
she was a werewolf
or not
,
but if he did, he never told Lilly
. Anyway, Lilly just wants to make it go away.
She’s been having a really hard time accepting it
”

“Can it just go away? If you w
ant no part of it, can you just . . .
get rid of it?” Samara asked hopefully. She hadn’t even considered the possibility before, but it seemed like t
here had to be a way to become
human again.
She loved being a werewolf. It made her feel free. But if she could go back to the way her life had been before she found out she was a werewolf, she wouldn’t have to worry about choosing a pack and all that came with it. But it also meant she would be turning her back on her own family and friends and Samara knew she could never do that.