Blood Moon (Howl #2) (4 page)

“
Not all werewolves are bad, Sam. Look at us. Declan is just a perfect example of what happens to werewolves when they have someone like Jason as their Alpha.
The good news is that after tonight, he’ll no longer be able to communicate with you mentally,” Luke
said, looking at her as he turned off the ignition.

Samara smiled. “That’s always a plus.” Glancing around the parking lot, she realized that they weren’t the first ones here. Samara spo
tted several kids from school.

Grandview High School students were given the day off to attend Lilly’s funeral if they wanted. Samara was glad that the school was allowing everyone time to grieve and mourn. Not that it was going to help her. In a way, she was beginning to feel responsi
ble for Lilly’s death. Would she still be alive if Samara
hadn’t pretended
that
she was going to go through
with the Vyka initiation? If Samara
hadn’t
gone through with that plan
, Jason wouldn’t have gone off looking for Lilly.

Shaking the thought away because there wasn’t even anything tha
t she could do about it now, Samara
buttoned her black
pea coat
and climbed out of the car. Luke followed close behind, grabbing her hand and giving it a tiny squeeze as they walked into the funeral home
together.

When she stepped inside, Samara glanced around at all of the people who crowded the room. It was a bit surprising. As far as she knew, Lilly had been somewhat of a lo
ner who kept mostly to herse
lf.
Then again, people always seemed to become more popular when they died. Girls at school who hadn’t been friends with Lilly were teary-eyed, their eyes running with mascara. They were probably acting like she had been their best friend.

In the front of the room, a woman was sobbing. Samara realized that it must have been Lilly’s mother.
A man, who
she assumed was Lilly’s father
,
sat next to the woman
,
a protective arm wrapped around her
small
shoulders
.
Walking to the front of the room to place the white flowers that she and Luke had brought with them, Samara tried to not look at either of them. Knowing that they were going through this, without knowing what had happened to their daughter, made her feel guilty again. It made her feel relieved that they had decided on a closed casket for Lilly because she didn’t want to have to face he
r – dead or alive.

Have you ever been to one of these things before?
Luke asked.
Are we supposed to pray?

I don’t know,
Samara hesitated.
I’ve never really been to one.

When her Grandpa Joe McKinley had died, Samara hadn’t been allowed to go to the funeral. Her mom had said that she was too young to understand what was going on. Afterwards, her mom explained to Samara that Grandpa Joe had gone to heaven – but
his death hadn’t bothered her this much
because Samara hadn’t kn
own her grandfather that well.

After standing in front of the memorial for a few moments, Samara and Luke both turned
around and scanned the crowd.

Samara noticed Josh Masterson sitting alone in the back row.
She began walking towards him.

What are you doing?
Luke asked her.
She could feel that he was panicked for some reason, but she wasn’t sure why.

Comforting him. He just lost his girlfriend, you know.

Sam, this isn’t a good idea,
Luke replied.
He started to say something else, but
Samara turned around and looked him in the eyes.
I’ve known him forever, Luke. I can’t just say nothing.

She slid into the aisle and sat down on the bench next to him
, smoothing out her skirt
. “I’m sorry for y
our loss,” Samara said softly.

Josh turned to look at her and, for a short moment, she was sure that she saw a look of appreciation in his eyes. It quickly flashed away to something else – something that looked more like anger. He opened his
mouth but quickly shut
it before getting up and wa
lking out of the funeral home.

Samara felt her face flush red with embarrassment. She had just scared Josh away from
his own girlfriend’s funeral.

What did I do?
Samara asked, turning to Luke. It was moments like this – moments when things
around them
were silent and it would be awkward or rude to talk about personal things –
that she felt appreciative of their ability to communicate with each other mentally.

I tried to warn
you, but you didn’t want to listen to me. You spoke to him,
Luke replied, a look of sympathy on his face.
He’s not allowed to speak to you.

But I haven’t even officially become an Ima yet,
Samara replied.

It doesn’t matter. Like you told Declan, you already are one. You should probably get used to this. You’re not going to be able to speak to any of them after you
go through initiation tonight.

Samara sighed
out loud
. She knew that Luke was right – that she should get used to this because it was probably only going to get harder as time went on. She was still having a hard time accepting the idea that she was going to need to treat Josh, Declan, and her brother like enemies, when really they were the peo
ple who she cared about most in life
.

Samara didn’t know much about being a werewolf yet, but one thing was for sure. She hated that they couldn’t all
just get along with each other.

Chapter 3

****

“Samara? Where are you going?” Mrs. McKinley asked from her place on the sofa.
As Samara pulled a fleece sweatshirt over her head, she said, “I’m just going fo
r a walk. I’ll be back later.”

“Be careful, please? I don’t feel comfortable with you going outside when there’s a murderer on the loose. Why don’t you call Luke and ask him to go for a walk with you?”
Samara smiled. Her mom obviously was warming up to the idea of
the two of them
d
ating
if she was insisting that he take walks alone with her at night. “Luke’s actually already waiting for me. I’ll s
ee you later.”

As she snuck out the back door, Samara breathed in deeply. She was really nervous about initiation, but she wasn’t sure why. If the Ima’s initiation ceremony was anything like the Vyka’s ceremony – in which one had to cut off a piece of their hair and throw into the fire – i
t wasn’t going to be that bad.

Samara realized that it wasn’t that she was nervous about the initiation ritual.
That would probably be over really quick, and
there probably wouldn’t be much pain, if any, involved
.
She was nervous about what was
going to happen to her after the initiation ritual
was over. Jason had made it clear that they would be enemies if she chose to become an Ima – and that she was going to be the first on his hit list, so to speak, because
she woul
d make another pack too strong. Si
nce Jason wanted to be the Alpha to the most powerful pack in the area, this was a problem for him.

Samara
could only hope that everyone was right, that she would be
that
powerful
.
She needed as much help as she could get. Samara
knew that joining
the Ima
was
the only way to keep Colby, Luke, and her cousin, Kyle, safe.
Jason’s plan to take over the Ima was part of what had made Samara’s decision to join the Ima that much easier. In order to take over a pack, one must kill the Alpha and the person that’s next in line to become Alpha. Jason had been plotting to not only take over the Ima, but to take over other packs in the area so that he could be the Alpha of a pack with many members. The idea of Jason killing Colby still made Samara sick to her stomach.

Colby was doomed whether Samara was on his pack or if she chose to be a Vyka, but at least this way, Samara could help protect him.
Even though Jason had probably already turned Declan and Seth
into
cold-hearted
monsters, Samara knew that they were at least somewhat safe in his pack. Jason wouldn’t hurt them – as long as they obeyed hi
m, which Samara knew they would – but Samara didn’t have a doubt in her mind that Jason would try to hurt her.

She was afraid
to die. Every night since Lilly had died,
Samara’s
sleep had been consumed with nightmares. In them, Jason was always standing above her, locking her body on the ground so that she couldn’t move. He’d pushed on her lungs so she couldn’t breathe; once she felt her heart stop in her dreams, she’d wake up panting, waking Luke up through mind-speak because she was terrified and his voice was the only thing that calmed her. Even when she was awake, though, the nightmares haunted her.

Trying not to think about
death right now
, she continued walking through the woods until she reached the area right next to Starlight Lake where she had agreed to meet her pack. Colby, and the other guys on the pack – Chris Priestley, Steve Bryan, and her cousin, Kyle – were all
sitting around a blazing fire as they waited for her.

As Samara approached them, she realized that one pack member was missing. She knew from her pretend initiation with the Vyka that the initiation ceremony could not take place unless all members of the pack
were present. “Where’s Luke?”

“He just went to get something,” Colby replied. “He’ll be back soon. Are y
ou excited?”
Samara shrugged.

“You’re not going to back out on us, are you?” Kyle asked f
rom his place across the fire.
His tone sounded like he was joking, but for some reason, it made her feel a little annoyed. Did they really think that she would give up her best friend and her brother if she really didn’t want to be an Ima?

“Of course I’m not
going to back out,” Samara replied. Realizing that her nervousness was probably why Kyle had asked, she added,
“
I’m just afraid of what’s going to h
appen after this. That’s all.”

“Don’t worry,” Kyle said. “No matter what happens,
we got your back. Right,
guys?”

Colby, Chris, and
Steve all nodded their heads in agreement.

“We’re in this together,” Colby said. “And don’t worry. I think you’ll begin to feel more confident in yourself after tonight. I have a feeling that once you
are
initiate
d
, you’ll begin to real
ize how strong you really are. You’ll start to see your true powers.”

“Let’s hope so.” Samara sighed. Everyone had been telling her that she was going to be a strong werewolf like her Grandpa Joe,
and she couldn’t help but feel pressured from it
. What if Seth was the one who had gott
en the super werewolf powers? Then the Ima would be disappointed; she would be useless to them. They would wish that they had bitten Seth and changed his fate instead of hers.

“
I hope you know that we’re happy to have you, no matter what the outcome may be
,” Colby said, as though he were reading her mind.
“
It’s a known fact that the next in line to be a strong werewolf like Joe McKinley was going to be a girl
.
”
Heck, he was her Alpha, so he probably
was
listening to her thoughts. Even though Colby had once
t
old Samara that he could only hear her thoughts if she wanted him to, Samara didn’t really know how to block him out
like the others could
.
Maybe
a small part of her had
even
wanted him to k
now what she had been thinking.

“Why is it a known fact?” Samara asked, putting her hands on her hips. She
felt a little left out because
no one had ever mentioned this to her before.

“It’s a known fact because Joe McKinley left
all of
his belongings to the next female werewolf in
his
family line,” Colby said matter-of-factly. “Why would he leave it to a girl when our culture is sort of male dominated? He probably would have wanted to leave it for a boy. But he
didn’t, because he
must have known that you we
re going to be really strong.”