Blood Moon (Howl #2) (26 page)

Samara said, pointing to
Colby
. Luke glanced over and smiled. He didn’t e
ven try to hold back his laugh.

Colby was break dancing to a rap song, and surprisingly, for the first time since she had known him, he actually had the attention of an audience of girls. For once, it didn’t look like they were just watching him because they thought he was a nerd or because they wanted to make fun of him; it seemed like they were genuinely entertained and intrigued by his
dancing skills.

“Hey, Colby Jack, don’t hurt yourself,” an all too familiar voice shouted. Scanning the crowd, Samara spotted him for the first time. Jason Masterson. He was wearing a black suit with a red undershirt and matching tie. Was he intentionally sporting the Vyka color? It wouldn’t surprise Sam
ara. He was that into himself.

Samara knew that she should feel relieved that Jason was here because it meant that their plan was probably going to work,
but instead
she felt annoyed and sickened by his presence. The guy standing in front of her – that half of the girls in the school were batting their eyelashes at – was nothing but a monster.
A sick, twisted monster that didn’t deserve to live.
Samara was going to have to keep telling herself that; it would make killi
ng him so much easier.

Laughter erupted from Jason and his friends as they
shouted
. “Hey, Colby Jack! Maybe you should be a male stripper! I bet the other guys would lov
e to get lap dances from you!”

Samara found herself gritting her teeth. No one messed with her pack. “You’d probably be the first one
in line for
a lap dance,” she shot at Jason. Turning to Colby, she said, “Ignore him, Col
bs. You’re an awesome dancer!”

Out of the corner of her eye, Samara noticed that a few girls were shooting her death gla
res.
It made her think that they were interested in Colby, and they were
jealous that she was interfering
. To prove to them that she wasn’t interested in Colby, she pre
ssed her body closer to Luke’s.

Feeling his rock-hard chest press against her, Samara was reminded of just how attracted she was to him. Not that she had ever forgotten, but with all of the other crazy things going on in her life, there had been little time for her to appreciate the chemistry and tension between them. His body was warm and s
trong.

Next to him, Samara couldn’t help but feel a sense of safety. Even though she couldn’t wash away the nerves and fear that she felt about tonight, she knew that Luke wouldn’t let anything bad happen to her.

When the next song came on, Luke pulled away from her. “Do y
ou want some punch?” he asked.

“Sure,” Samara replied. As Luke
headed
to the refreshment table, Samara glanced over at Emma. She was dancing with Troy, who seemed to be inattentive. The look on Emma’s face told Samara that she had picked up on it, and that
she wasn’t having a good time.

Emma caught Samara’s gaze and motioned for her to come over to her. Samara went over and Emma said, “
Come to the bathroom with me?”

Samara followed Emma to the bathroom. Once they were inside, Emma’s eyes glistened with tears. “Something is going on with Troy, but I can’t figure out what. Yesterday, he told me that he already booked the hotel room. Tonight, he told me that he forgot.” Emma looked at herself in the mirror. “Do I look okay? Is my dre
ss not sexy enough?”

Samara gave Emma a sympathetic look. She really did feel bad for Emma.
So much of h
er life revolved around what guys thought of her. Samara always figured it was because she had never had a real father figure in her life; Emma had never met her dad, and her stepfather pretty much ignored her.
Being an only child without a male role model to teach her how she was supposed to be treated by the men in her life had to have been difficult for her.
“You look fine. I don’t know what his deal is, but me and Luke both thought he was being a jerk to you earlier about the corsage. I think you should just dump hi
m. You can do so much better.”

“You’re probably right.” Sighing, Emma dabbed at her eyes for a tissue. “Tha
nk God for waterproof makeup.”

“Are you ready to go back to
the dance now?” Samara asked.

Emma nodded and opened the door to the ladies’ room. When
Samara stepped out, she froze.

She was standing face-to-face with Declan.

Chapter 20

****

“Uh, hi,” Declan grunted, a hardened expression crossing his face. He was looking at Emma, but from the stiffness of his body – which made it look like he was stuck in quicksand – told Samara that he had definitely seen her.

“Did you come with a date?” Emma asked Decla
n, making casual conversation.

Declan shook his head. “Nope, I’m flying solo.” He lowered his head, looking down at the tiled floor. Samara couldn’t help but think that he looked a little bit depressed . . . or maybe he just hadn’t been prepared to see her face-to-face yet. It was actually kind of surprising that they hadn’t seen each other before now; Declan must have been going out of h
is way to stay away from her. 

Emma glanced back at Samara. “I think I’m gonna give you two a min
ute alone. See ya later, Dec.”

Declan flashed Emma a smile. Once the clicking of her heels against the tiled floor had faded away,
he glanced down at the floor.

“Declan?” Samara thought, making a mental note again that she wanted her thoughts blocked fr
om Luke’s mind. “How are you?”

“Fine,” Declan replied, con
tinuing to look away from her.

“I tried to text and call you. It told me that your phone number was disconnected
, though,” Samara said softly.

“Yep,” Declan r
eplied. “I changed my number.”

“Is that
because of me?” Samara asked.

Declan finally made eye contact with her. His brown eyes poured through her, and for a moment, Samara felt guilty. She had given up her best friend.
She
was the one who had decided to go through with this, and
she
was disappointed that he wasn’t treating her the same way he normally did, the way he treated her when they were best friends. How selfish could she be?
Declan opened his mouth, as though he was going to say something, but before he had the chance to, another pair of eyes fell on her – a pair of green ey
es that Samara knew and loved.

“Luke,” Samara stumbled. “Declan and I just ran into each other when I ca
me to the bathroom with Emma.”

Luke just stared back at her, a pained expression on his face. “I’ll bet.” He turned as though he were about to walk away. Suddenly, he turned back around and stood next to Samar
a, wrapping his arm around her.

Luke looked down the hallway and, when he saw that no one else was around to hear them, he looked at Declan and said lo
wly, “Stay away from my mate.”

Samara was positive that she heard Luke let out a low growl. She hoped that he would be able to control his anger. The last thing they needed was a wolf roaming the halls of Grandview High School, which would draw even more attent
ion to the town’s wolf problem.

“Stay away from
her
?” Declan’s normally deep voice shrilled angrily and his face turned an angry shade of red. “She’s the one who called
me
!”

Samara felt her heart stop at the same time as Luke
removed his arm from her waist.

Lu
ke stared at her like she was
someone who he didn’t know, a total stranger. “I – I just wanted to tell him what I was telling people about why we’re no longer friends,” Samara said, hoping that her voice sounded convincing. She was telling the truth . . . wasn’t she? “Everyone was asking me questions . . . and I wanted our stories to match up
so no one got too suspicious.”

“Why didn’t you just tell me that?” Luke asked. “If that’s the only reason you called him, why didn’t
you come to me and tell me that
?
Why did I have to hear it from him?”

Samara shrugged, knowing that Luke had a point. She should have told him. It wasn’t just about keeping him happy; it was also about pack loyalty. How could any of the pack trust her if she couldn’t be honest with them? “I just didn’t want you to get
upset or jealous. I’m sorry.”

“Well, I am upset,” Luke told her. Giving her a hard stare, he walked away from her and out of the building. Great, Samara thought. Not only was she going to have to go through one of the hardest things that she’d ever done in her life tonight, but
her mate was mad at her, too.

“So, what
are
you telling people about why we stopped being friends?” Declan asked.
Samara turned to him and scoffed. Ignoring his question, she said, “I can’t believe that you told him
that. Why would you do that?”

“Because I don’t care,” Declan replied, meeting her eyes again. This time, his eyes had taken on a cruel look. “You’re no longer a part of my life. I no longer care what your mate, if that’s w
hat you call him, has to say.”

Samara felt the tears build up behind her ey
es. “You don’t care about me?”

Declan looked down at the ground. “I’ve forced myself to not care about you anymore . . . to not care what you would think.  You didn’t think about me when
you decided to become an Ima.”

“That’s not fair,” Samara said shifting in her shoes. “My decisio
n had nothing to do with you.”

“No, it had everything to do with me, Sam. That’s what you don’t get,” Declan replied, his voice rising with anger. “Your decision affects us . . . forever. I don’t think you really understood that when you decided that you want
ed
to be one of them – when you decided that you wanted
to be with him instead of me.”

Feeling the tears sliding down her cheeks, Samara turned away from Declan and began walking down the hallway, trying to figure out how sh
e could make Luke forgive her.

“Samara?” Declan called. “You didn’t tell m
e what you’re telling people.”

Samara turned around and, in the harshest voice she could manage, told him, “I said that you were acting pathetic because you couldn’t get over the fact that I’
m with Luke and not with you.”

She turned around quickly so that she didn’t have to witness the pained exp
ression on Declan’s face.

*
 

Luke was sitting on the ground outside when Samara walked up to him. “You’re going to
mess up your suit,” she said.

Luke shrugged. “Doesn’t really matter. I ow
n it.”

“Well, in that case,” Samara said, sitting down on the grassy mound next to him. “I don’
t care about my dress either.”

Luke looked over at her, his green eyes glimmering in the bright light that was casted by the full moon. “I care about you,” he
said softly.

“I care about you, too,” Samara replied. “More than you could know. I’m sorry about the Declan thing . . . I really am, but I promise . . .  it doesn’t change my feelings for you.” Looking at the sky, she sighed. “Declan was my past. You are
my present and future.”

He wrapped his arm around her, pulling him in closer to her. Samara shivered at his touch; his warm hands felt strong against her back, and, for a second, she wished more than anything that they didn’t have to deal with tonight, that they could just go back to Colby’s house and hold each other until they fell asleep.
Luke smile
d. “That’s relieving to hear.”

“I just really didn’t want my dad or Emma to catch on and start asking questions,” Samara explained. “I’ve been trying to act as normal as possible lately, but it’s getting hard. Eventually, someone in my life is going to put two and two together. I want to be able to tell
them on my own time, though.”

“I understand,” Luke replied quietly. “Just please be more honest with me in the future, ok
ay?”

Samara nodded. “I will.”

“We have a big night ahead of us. I really didn’t want us to be angry with each other before all o
f this goes down,” Luke added.

“Me either. I’m rea
lly nervous,” Samara admitted.

“Don’t worry,” Luke said, reaching for her hand and giving it a small squeeze. “I’ll be there by your side the wh
ole time. I’ll keep you safe.”

Samara gave him a small smile. She wasn’t about to admit that having him there wasn’t going to ease
her
worries. Tonight, she was going to have to remember everything that all of the guys from her pack had taught her –
and
find
a way to control her nerves.