Wolfsbane (Howl #3) (12 page)

“Colby watches chick flicks!” Kyle snorted.

“
I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Kyana replied
, ignoring Kyle’s comment
. “We don’t have TV, and Papa doesn’t
like for us to go to the movie theater
often. Usually, we only see ca
rtoons to entertain the pups.”

“That’s probably a good thing,” Colby said. “TV corrupts our minds.” Chris and Steve both burst into laughter, obviously amu
sed by what Colby was saying.

“That’s what Papa says,” Kyan
a replied sadly.

“It’s just like this Emma girl! She probably watched too much TV,” Colby continued. “Something had to have corrupted her mind. She’s not very nice
. She thinks she’s the greatest thing in the world . . . . and she’s not the brightest light bulb in the box either, if you know what I’m saying.”
He shook his head, as though the idea of Emma gave
him a headache or something.

Samara shot him a glare, surprised that he was capable of talking so meanly
behind someone’s back, since Colby
was always picked on at school himself. Plu
s, he had been so nice about saving Emma’s
stepdad the night before. The way he was talking
seemed really out of character for him.

“I wonder,” Samara began slowly, knowing that Orkos probably wouldn’t like that she was bringing it up, “if your father would be will
ing to let you become an Ima.”

Kyana’s eyes lit up at the idea. “Really? Yo
u would let me be one of you?”

It was difficult to tell if Kyana was more excited at the idea because she wanted to get away from her own pack’s strict rules, or if it was because she was clearly falling for Jos
h. Either way, Samara nodded. “You’re more than welcome to be one of us. Assuming
your fa
ther w
ill agree to let you join, that is
.”

“Well, it’s not up to my father, exactly,” Kyana said, slowly. “It’s mostly up to my brother, Akar. He’s the Alpha of our youth pack. He’s supposed to obey our father on most aspects
. . . such
as mating—” sh
e explained, shooting Samara a ‘
l
ook’
which told her that she was talking about having puppies at a young age
,
“but if he gives me permission to leave, I’m not sure that the decision can be reversed
if my father goes back on it.
He won’t like it, but I’m not sure there’s much he can do about it.
”

“Sounds like a lot of possible family drama to me,” Colby said, and Samara almost wanted to thank him for being the one voice of reason in the room. “I would make sure that you know it’s exactly what you want before you ask your brot
her if you can become an Ima.”

Kyana glanced over at Josh with a look in her eyes that only a girl who was falling in love could have.
“I never ask for things unl
ess I’m positive I want them.”

Samara glanced over at Luke, who was staring at her intently, a blank look in his eyes.
Is everything o
kay?

“I need to speak to you,” Luke told
her
out loud
. “Outside if that’s okay.”

Nodding, she turned to the rest of the pac
k. “We’ll be back soon, guys.”

“Oh, it’s dark out there,” Steve whispered to Chris, who responded with, “
Wonder what they’re gonna do.”

Samara rolled her eyes at them. “Way to be mature, guys. We’re on a life or death mission right now, and you’re acting li
ke a bunch of kindergarteners.”

“Oh, please, we’re not immature. Don’t give each other cooties, t
hough,” Chris said, smirking.

Once they were outside, Samara glanced
up at Luke. “What’s going on?”

Luke stared into her eyes. “You blocked me from y
our thoughts last night. Why?”

Samara glanced down at her feet, which she could barely see through the dark morning. “I
. . .
I didn’t want you to know that I w
as upset with you last night.”

“Because I slept in the living room,
” Luke
said knowingly.

She nodded. “Why did you do that? Why d
idn’t you want to be near me?”

Luke let out a deep breath, which formed a wispy cloud as it hit the Alaskan morning air. “It’s hard
for me to resist you, Samara.”

“What do you mean by ‘resist me’?” she asked, feeling
her
heart quicken its pace.

Luke met her eyes. “It’s hard for me to
resist being intimate with you.
When we touch, I feel like
. . .”
He
paused, searching for the right words
to say
.
“I feel like my whole body is frozen and on fire at the s
ame time, if that makes sense.”

“I feel the same way,” Sam
ara whispered, realizing how accurate his description was of the way she felt.

“I know you’re not ready yet, though,” Luke told her.
“And I understand that. We don’t have to
do anything until you’re ready. I’m not going to pressure you.”

“Thank you for being so understanding,” Samara whispered, inching closer to him. She glanced
around. “Look, it’s snowing.”

Luke nodded and turned to walk back towards the house, but she grabbed his wrist and spun him closer to her. Standing on her tiptoes, she
pressed her lips against his.

He ran his fingers through her hair, making his way down her back, and encircled his arms around her waist, pulling her closer to him. With the snow swirling around them, they both lost themselves in the icy
,
fiery feeling of their lips
brushing against one another.

Chapter 16

That night, the guys were goofing around outside, and Samara was sitting at the kitchen table telling Kyana what it was like to go
to a public school when there was a loud yelping in the backyard. Rising to her feet, she went t
o the back door and opened it.

Three of the guys, in their wolf forms, stood on the back porch, staring at her. Colby, who she was able to identify right away due to the heart-shaped patch of brown hair on his otherwise gray body, rolled around on the wooden boards, scratching his back. In front of her, the other two guys sat down on all fours, scratching their bodies with the
ir hind legs.

Samara raised her ey
ebrows at them. “Itchy much?”

Yes, we have fleas,
C
hris’s voice filled her head.

Samara burst out
laughing. “Are you serious?”

This ain’t no prank,
Steve replied, shaking his furry head with attitude.
This itches li
ke hell.

Can you get them off of us?
Kyle asked, scurrying over to her, rubbing his f
ur-covered butt on the porch.

“
Yes, I’ll get them off you,” Samara
s
aid, just as Kyana came outside behind her.

Kyana raised her thick eyebrows. “What’s going on?”

“The guys have fleas,” Samara told her, stifling a giggle. She knew it was mean to laugh, but
she couldn’t help herself. The sight of the guys rolling around on the porch was just so funny.

Kyana laughed
, too
. “All of them?”

Everyone but Luke,
Colby told Samara.

“Everyone except for my guy,” Samar
a said with a sigh of relief.

“Great,” Kyana muttered with a giggle. “I’m h
ead over heels for a fleabag.”

Hey, it’s not my fault,
Josh said, a pouty tone to his voice. Then, excitedly, he proclaimed,
She’s head over heels for me! Woohoo!

Samara laughed
, trying to ignore the feeling of tiny bugs crawling on her arms. She pushed up her sleeves, only to find that she was just being paranoid. She didn’t have fleas—not yet, at least.
“Would I know if I had
them when I was in human form?”

Kyana nodded. “Yeah, you would definitely know
. When we get fleas,
they
stay alive on us even when we’re in human form, since we’re st
ill technically part doggie.”

She’s right,
Colby confirmed
matter-of-factly
.
I’m pretty sure you don’t have fleas. You haven’t been around Nuka when you were in wolf form, I don’t think. You can keep them when you’re in human form, but we
only get them
while we’re
in wolf form
because they’re drawn to our fur
.

“Nuka is the reason you guys got fleas?” Samara asked, turning to Kyana. “Did you know Nuka has fleas?”

Kyana shook her head.
“No,
I didn’t know. A
nd I groom her regularly. I don’t know how she could have gotten them.” She opened the door, and the Siberian Husky bounded outside, wagging her tail
happily
.
Kyana bent down next to her and said, “Let
me check you for fleas, girl.”

A moment later, Kyana
pinched something and
, holding it up to the outside porch light,
said, “Yup, it looks like they’
re right. Nuka has them, too.”

Samara turned to the guys. “So,
let me guess. Y
ou w
ant me to give you flea baths?”

They all wagged the
ir tails excitedly at the idea.

*

Several hours later, Samara finished running one of the flea combs that Orkos had
brought
over through Kyle’s long, fluffy gray fur. Orkos had said a flea comb would be
the best option if it worked
because they had never tried using flea products, like sprays or baths, so they d
idn’t know how
werewolf skin
would react to it
—and a flea comb wouldn’t create a huge, soggy mess in the bathroom.

It had been a struggle to get all the fleas off, but Samara was pretty sure she’d gotten rid of them all, so hopefully she and Luke wouldn’t have to worry about catching any of the fleas remaining in the other guys’ fur.

“I found a tent,” Luke said, coming into the kitchen, where all of the wolves had lined up earlier to have their fleas removed. Kyle was the last one left.
“There might still be some fleas left in the house, so I figured you and I could sleep outside tonight so we don’t get them.
Who knows if one of us will turn into wolf form during a dream tonight or something? It’s better to be
safe than sorry.”

Samara grinned at him, thinking that talking about fleas was just like the human equivalent of talking about the stomach
flu. She also had a feeling that he was just trying to get them some extra alone time together, since it seemed unlikely that either of them would
actually be at risk of getting
fleas tonight.

“Sounds perfect . . .
I’m so glad you’re not a fleabag, too.” She heard the low growling that came from Kyle’s chest, and she realized that she’d offended
him.
“Sorry,” she
said, patting her cousin
on the head.

I’m not a dog, I’m your cousin. But I gotta say, you have great fingernails for giving
back
scratches,
Kyle told her,
rubbing up against her hands.

Samara laughed. “Maybe another time, Kyle
. . .
like when I don’t have to worry ab
out getting bitten by fleas.”

“I’m gonna go put the tent up now so it will be ready for us to sleep in once you’re don
e,” Luke told her.

Samara nodded. “Okay, sounds good. I’m just going to try to get all the fleas off Nuka, and the
n I’ll come out and join you.”

Luke
carried the tent out the back door
, and Samara stood up. “I’m done with you,” she told Kyle. A gust of blue smoke encircled him as he cha
nged back into his human form.

“Whew, it’s about time those suckers are gone,” Kyle said. “That was one of the worst
things I’ve ever experienced.”

Samara raised her eyebrows at him. “It couldn’t have been that bad. I’d bet that case of poison ivy you got when we were kids was worse.” When they were six or seven, Kyle had gotten poison ivy
all over his face. It had been
so bad he’d barel
y been able to open his eyes.

“No, I’m not kidding. This was way worse than that. Imagine having bugs al
l over your body biting you.” Kyle
shuddered. “I never knew what those p
oor cats and dogs go through.”

Samara sat down
on the hardwood floor next to Nuka, who licked her in the face happily. “Speaking of dogs . . .” She glanced up at Kyle.
“I don’t want to leave Nuka here. I feel like we should take her back home. It’s what Grandpa would have wanted us to do, I think. I mean, the poor thing has to be really lonely living in this house by herself with only a dail
y visit from Orkos and Kyana.”

“Yeah, you’re probabl
y right,” Kyle agreed.

Samara frowned. “Except, my mom has her heart set on this Yorkie puppy and I doubt she’d want to adopt a second dog righ
t now, so I was just wondering if maybe Nuka can live at your house?”

Kyle hesitated. “I’ll have to ask my mom, but I don’t see why it would be a problem
. . .
especially once I tell her she was Grandpa’s dog. I think she’ll give in. If not, I’m sure Nuka can live at Colby’s house.
His mom loves animals.
”

Samara nodded, as she began combing out the tiny bugs that crawled around the dog’s fur. “I feel bad. I feel like his mom takes everyone in. So, hopefully
your mom goes along with it.”
She ruffled Nuka’s fur, as she searched for fleas, and the dog
wagged her tail contently
. “Do you think we remind her of him? Maybe that’s why she likes us so much
.”

“Maybe,” Kyle shrugged. “Though, I know I, for one, am nothing like Grandpa Joe. He was a cold man sometimes. He ba
rely felt like a grandfather.”

“
I know,
” Samara admitted, sighing. “It’s so weird that he
left all this stuff for me, even though he never seemed to want
anything to do with me when he was alive.” She paused. “I’ve been thinking . . . it’s not fair tha
t he left everything to me
and nothing to you. So, I
want to give you some of it.”

Kyle’s blue eyes lit up. “Really? Yo
u don’t have to do that, Sam.”

“I know I don’t have to. But I really want to. It will make me feel less guilty about it.” She pulled a few fleas out of Nuka’s fur and killed them in the bowl of flea killer medicine.
“I’ve also been thinking . . . I might want to give some of it to Seth, t
oo.”

“Seth? What are you talking abo
ut?” Kyle asked incredulously.

“Kyle, he helped Luke. If it weren’t for Seth, Luke might be dead right now.
Enemy or not, he saved my mate . . .
and Grandpa Joe was his grandfather, too,” Samara explained. “Agree with it or don’t, but I thi
nk it’s what I’m going to do.
Not right away, but eventually.
”

“Have you told the rest of the pack about this?” Kyle asked, lowering his voice. He glanced into
the living room,
where the others were passed out on the couches, exhausted from the whole flea ordeal. It was doubtful that any of them had heard what she
’d said
.

Samara shoo
k her head. “No, but—
” she started to
say, but Kyle interrupted her.

“If you decide to go through with this, you shouldn’t tell them
.
They won’t be happy with your decision. I don’t know if I even am, but I guess I shouldn’t complain too much since you’re doing a nice thing for me, too. If you really decide to give some of the money to Seth, you should do it on under anonymous circumstances. Don’t even tell Luke. I wouldn’t wa
nt to see you get overthrown.”

Samara raised her eyebrows. “Overthrown? I’m the Alpha. No one can over
throw my decisions, can they?”

“No one can overthrow your decisions,
as long as you’re
Alpha, no, but here’s the thing. I
f they don’t agree with what you do, it is possible for them to overthrow you. Basically, it would banish you from the pack
. . . or
at least from being the Alpha.” Kyle met her eyes. “It rarely happens, but when it does, it isn’t pretty. If
anyone found out
you spoke to Seth, I could see you
being
over
thrown.”

Samara opened her mouth to argue
with him, but she
quickly closed it. “Okay, I’ll keep it to myself,” she
told him. “For now, at least.”

“Good. I’m not trying to be a bossy cousin or anything, but it’s really in your best interest.”
He elbowed her in the ribs playfully like he always did. “I’m gonn
a go to sleep now. Goodnight.”

“Night,” Samara murmured. She wanted to believe that her pack would never overthrow her—for any reason—but maybe it wasn’t as simple as that. Maybe Kyle was right; she did need to keep these
types of decisions to herself.
She didn’t want her own pack to hate her for communicating with the enemy.

After she finished
removing all the fleas she could find from
Nuka
’s fur
, Sam
ara
started her way outside.
The tent that Luke had pitched in the backyard was visible through the porch light that was casted over the backyard
.

“Boys, you’re all so helpless,” Samara muttered as she climbed inside the tent, z
ipping it closed behind her. As she flopped down beside Luke, she
realized how exhausted she was fr
om removing all of the fleas.

Luke raised an eyebrow at her. “You underestimate us. We’re not all helpless,” he murmured, as he pulled her closer to him, and tra
ced his fingers down her spine.