Blood Moon (Howl #2) (17 page)

She caught up with him just as he had swung the front door open. “Luke!” Samara hissed, trying to keep her voice down in case the Jackson’s were trying to sleep now – even though they seemed like n
ight owls. “Wait!”

Luke turned around and looked at her befor
e closing the door behind him.

Samara felt the heat spreading throughout her body as the anger built up inside of her. She opened the front door and closed it as she ran onto the front porch an
d down the front steps.

When she reached Luke, Samara grabbed his arm. “What’s wrong?” Even though she had only known Luke a really short time, he had never acted like this before. It almost reminded Samara of when he told her that he didn’t want to go on a second date, even though she knew that he had feelings for her, because he didn’t want them to get involved until after she rea
lized that she was a werewolf.

Luke scoffed and turned to look at her. “I can’t believe you’re letting him on our pack withou
t even calling a meeting.”

“That’s what this is about?” Samara asked
. “You wanted us all to vote?”

Luke looked down at the ground. “I –
I don’t want him on our pack.”

“Why?” Samara asked.

Luke met Samara’s
eyes. “He likes you, Samara.”

“What? That’s ridiculous. He’s grieving his deceased mate,” Samara said, shaking her head, and laughed. “So, th
at’s it? You’re just jealous.”

Luke didn’t answer her, but from the look in her eyes, she could tell that was it. If he were just any old human teenager, Samara would have broken up with him for being so jealous. It wasn’t Luke’s fault, though. It was werewolf instinct to get really jealous when you thought your mate was desired by someone else; even Samara had gotten jealous at Emma’s party when Ashley Everest
had put her hands on Luke.

“I’m so glad that’s all this is. You have nothing to worry about. Even if he did like me – which he doesn’t – it wouldn’t matter.” Samara took a step closer to him and wrapped her arms aro
und his neck. “You’re my mate.”

Tilting her chin, Samara pressed her lips against Luke’s lips and felt the butterflies begin swirling around her stomach. Luke kissed back more passionately than he ever had before. Looking up at the half moon, Samara smiled.

*

“So, you have to promise me that next time I have a house party, you’ll stay the whole
entire time, okay?” Emma said.

Samara nodded, as she pulled books and notebooks ou
t of her locker. “Sounds good.”

“Good because, to be honest, I keep wondering if you still think things
are weird between
us,” Emma replied. “It makes me thinking that you’re running away and
leaving my parties on purpose.”

Samara gave Emma a sympathetic look. Even though she didn’t feel as close to Emma as she once had due to obvious reasons, it still made her feel bad that Emma thought that this was her fault. “It’s not that, I promise.” She slammed her locker door closed and linked her arm through Emma’s, something that Emma had once dubbed ‘their BFF thing’. Once they had started doing it, all of the other girls who went to Grandview
started doing the same thing.

“Well, that’s good because . . . I was going to apologize,” Emma said quietly. When Samara glanced at her questioningly, Emma went on. “I feel a little guilty about the fights we’ve been having over the past few weeks. I’m sorry I said that I thought you were just jealous of me and Jason, when really, you were right the whole entire t
ime. I can do so much better.”

Samara smiled, feeling relieved that Emma really was moving on from Jason. “I’m so glad you can see that now. Anyway, I forgive you. I’m sorry, too
. Maybe I was a little harsh.”

“It’s whatever,” Emma said, laughing. “The past is the past. I’m so h
appy to have my BFF back. Yay!”

At that moment, Ashley Everest and her best friend, Briell
e Morris, walked over to them.

“Hey, Emma, do you want to come shopping w
ith us tonight?” Ashley asked.

Emma glanced over at Samara before saying, “I’ll text you and let you know. I might have o
ther plans, but I’m not sure.”

Ashley stared at Emma with a blank e
xpression. Feeling herself grow angry over
what had happened
the night at the party, Samara considered asking Ashley why she looked like she had just bee
n punched in the face.

“But there’s a huge sale at Nordstrom’s!” Brielle protested. “We have to go or we’ll miss out on the thirty percent
off on shoes and perfumes!”

Em
ma rolled her eyes. “Ladies, ladies . . . I didn’t say no. I just might have other plans. I’ll let you know if I can go. Now drop it.”
Once Ashley and Brielle walked away, Emma turned to Samara. “God, they’re so annoying.”
Samara raised an eyebrow. “I thought that you liked them. They’re, like,
your new best friends lately.”

“You’ll always be my best friend,” Emma said softly. “No, they just push me really hard to do things with them even though I don’t want to. Last week, they wanted to go to Starbucks and I was like, um, I have a major migraine . . . I just want to go home. And they’re all like ‘but it’s going to be so
much
fun’.” Emma turned the corner to their homeroom classroom. “Besides, I might have plans with Troy tonight. And . . .” Emma drifted off. “Okay, I’m going to tell you something
super important
, but you have to promise that
you’ll keep it to yourself, okay?”

Samara nodded. “I promise.”

“After you and Luke left my party,” Emma began, talking low so that no one could hear her, “Ashley wouldn’t shut up about how much she likes Luke. She said she’s planning to steal him away from you. You’re my
best friend for life
. I can’t hang out with someone
who wants to steal your man!”

Samara could feel her cheeks turning an angry shade of red, and Ashley’s face flashed through her mind. She was pissed . . .  so pissed, in fact, that she knew that if she didn’t find a way to focus her mind on something else right now, she was going to lose
control and turn into a wolf.

“I’ll be back,” Samara whispered to Emma. She ran to the front of the room and bolted out of the classroom door. Mrs. Shay, their biology teacher, was walking into the classroom at the same time. She gave
Samara a funny look, and Samara muttered, “I forgot somethin
g in my locker.”

Samara debated leaving the school, but decided to go to the bathroom instead. Once she was inside a stall, she felt herself panting and gasping for air. Why was she so upset? It’s not like Luke would ever leave her for Ashley. They were mated; Luke being with Ashley wasn’
t even an option . . . was it?

When Samara calmed down enough to come out of the bathroom stall, the
bathroom
door swung open and a girl stepped inside, running her fingers through
her freshly highlighted hair.

Samara’s heart sto
pped.

It was Ashley Everest.

As Ashley got closer to Samara, her pouty lips turned into
a small smile. “Hi,” she said.

A range of emotions swept through Samara’s body. She wanted to teach Ashley a lesson – throw her against a wall, punch her in the face, or maybe just scream at her. Samara knew that doing any of those things wouldn’t make Luke happy, though, and she would also probably get in trouble for them or be labeled as a psycho once
the rumor spread
around school.

Instead, Samara did something easier; she glared at Ashley before slamming the door loudly shut. Once she was in the hallway, a low growl escaped her throat, but Samara was positive that no one had heard it.

*

The following evening, Samara grabbed her purse from the coat hanger and opened
the front door.

“Samara?” Mr. McKi
nley asked, coming up from behind he
r. “Can we talk for a minute?”

“Right now?” Samara asked impatiently. She was getting ready for her lesson with Chris and was planning on convincing Luke to teach her tonight, too. Samara had a feeling that a fight between two packs would be happening soon because things had been quiet lately, and she
wanted to be prepared for it.

“Yeah, we don’t get to talk much anymore,” her dad replied, running a hand over his receding hairline. “I just wanted to ask  .
. . have you heard from Seth?”

“I – umm, yes,” Samara lied, noting the worry in her father’s fa
ce. “He said he’s doing fine.”

“Where is he staying?” Mr. McKinley asked with a surprised look on his face. Samara hoped that she hadn’t just made things worse; did he think that Seth had made the effort to get in contact with S
amara and not his own parents?

“With the Kingsbury’s,” Samara said, unsure if telling her dad where Seth had been staying was the right thing to do. After all, if it ever got back to her brother that they knew, she would have to figure out where she had gotten the information from without letting Jason think that someone from the Ima had talked to someone from the Vyka. Then again, Steve had just heard Declan talking about
i
t in the class. The information was fair game to anyo
ne within earshot . . . right?

Mr. McKinley’s face twisted in a look of even bigger surprise. “That’s kind of random. I thought that Declan was your friend. I didn’t realize that he and Seth hun
g out.”

“Yeah, it’s a new friendship, I guess,” Samara said, shrugging her shoulders. “I don’t really know. I
don’t talk to Declan anymore.”

“Why not? You and Declan have been friends for so long.” Mr. McKinley smiled to himself. “To be honest, I always thought that Declan would be the first guy who you’d ever want to date. I even figured it would work out
. That boy’s crazy about you.”

“That was the problem,” Samara said, lying again. She had been trying to think of the perfect excuse for why their friendship had ended, but her father had just given her an idea. “He did like me, and I’m with Luke now. Declan just couldn’t take it, I guess. He said that if he couldn’t be with me, he didn’t want to be friends wit
h me at all.” Samara shrugged.

“Well, that’s a shame,” Mr. McKinley said. “He’ll come
around eventually, I’m sure.”

“Yeah, he probably will.” Another lie. Samara knew darn well that she and Declan would never be friends again. “Well
, I’m going to get going now.”

“Wait, who are you going out with?”
Mr. McKinley asked.

“Luke.”

Mr. McKinley frowned. “I have to admit that I do like Luke a little more t
han I thought I was going to.”

“But?” Samara aske
d, knowing that it was coming.

“But,” Mr. McKinley went on, “don’t you think the two of you have been spending an awful lot of time together lately? Things seem to be getting
really serious really quick.”

Samara stared at her father wide-eyed. If only he knew the truth . . . that Luke wasn’t just a high school boyfriend, that this was serious because he was her mate. “Half the time we’re doing homework and stuff,” Samar
a told her dad. “Don’t worry.”

“Okay,” Mr. McKinley said, shrugging. She had a feeling that he was just letting the matter go right now because he didn’t want to lose another one of his c
hildren.

As Samara headed out the front door to Luke’s car, which was parking in the driveway, she realized something. The more time went on, the more Samara was beginning to think that her dad really had no clue that Grandpa Joe was a werewolf. If her dad did know – if he was a werewolf himself – he would also know about werewolf mates, and he would understand why she and Luke were so close. There was no way her dad knew. If he did, she would be really
surprised.

“Ready for your lesson?” Luke asked when
she got in the car.

“Lessons. You’re teaching me tonight, too,” Samara replied
, as she buckled her seatbelt.

“But, I don’t think
you’re ready yet,” Luke said.

“Nonsense,” Samara said. “I’m completely ready. As your Alpha, I command you to give me a less
on tonight.”

Luke grinned. “Well, when you put it that way . . .”
Samara laughed as he drove away.

Chapter 14

****

Fifteen minutes later, she stood outside Colby’s house with Chris. “So, I just have to bite?” Samara asked. “It doesn’t matter how hard?
”

“You need to bite as hard as you want to,” Chris replied, looking bored. “If you don’t want to hurt anyone, you won’t bite hard. If you want to do some serious damage,
though, you should bite hard.”