Blood Moon (Howl #2) (6 page)

“Turn around,” Luke said softly, giving her the handheld mirror.

Samara cautiously raised the mirror in her hand to look at her back before losing her grip
on it, sending it to the floor.

Chapter 4

****

Samara traced the seven large paw prints that climbed up her spine with her fingernail. She knew that she should be proud of her new Alpha tattoo
because it was something important
, but she had been expecting something smaller, like the tattoos her pack members had gotten
when they initiated
. Samara had never been a big fan of tattoos.
She’d never really wanted one, even though she loved how
they
looked on other people.
Her biggest worry
right now
, though, was hidin
g the tattoo from her parents.

In the summertime, Samara and her mom went to Starlight Lake together
almost every day
. Even if she wore her hair down to try to cover the upper portion of her tattoo, how was she was going to explain to her mom that she had decided to ditch her bikini for a one piece bathing suit? And what if her mom wanted to take her clothes shopping for a backless dress or something? How was she going to
hide
the tattoo
while
they were in the d
ressing room?

Sighing, Samara turned to Luke. “Th
is was
way
more than I asked for.”

“It’s a good thing, though,” Luke replied. “Your tattoo is the biggest Alpha tattoo I’ve ever seen or heard of. The bigger an Alpha’s tattoo is, the more powerful they usuall
y are.”

Samara stared at him wide eyed. She hadn’t believed – or maybe she hadn’t wanted to believe – that she would be as powerful as he
r
g
randfather. But
maybe she was going to be as powerful as him. The thought scared her because she knew that with power, there was usually abuse of power. More than anything, Samara didn’t want her power to go to her head. She didn’t want to end up like Jason: a werewolf who was willing to do anything it took to be the best.

“Besides,” Luke went on. “Y
ou’
re also the first in history.”

“What do you mean? There have been plent
y of other Alphas before me,” Samara replied confusedly.

“But never a girl,” Luke pointed out. “You’re the first female A
lpha who has ever existed.”
*

Samara was surprised to find that it had only been an hour since she had left her house and woken up on Colby’s
couch
. Knowing that her mom was going to begin questioning where she was if she didn’t get home soon because it was a school night
, she had Luke drive her home.

When Luke pulled into her driveway, she looked over at him. Before she had gone through initiation, she’d found him more attractive when he was in wolf form, and he had explained that
it was because he was her mate.

Now, though, Luke was attractive to her in human form, too. She didn’t think he was just attractive
like usual
– she thought he was
really
attractive
now
. Samara had always thought Luke was cute . . . but now, it wa
s
as
though she was drawn to him.
Samara couldn’t imagine herself having eyes for anyone else in the world; no one could compete with Luke right now.

“I guess this is what Declan meant,” Samara told Luke, trying to ignore the pang that she felt at mentioning her former best friend’s name. “My feelings for you are so much stronger now that
I’ve gone through initiation.”

“Oh, ye
ah?” Luke asked flirtatiously.

“Yeah,” Samara replied, giggling. She felt like a giddy school girl who was just talking t
o her crush for the first time.
It was almost like she and Luke were meeting – really meeting – for the first time, though. Everything was changing between them now that things were different.

“I’ll
let you in on a secret
.” Luke leaned into her so that his face was next to hers. Samara felt his
warm
breath against her ear. “I
feel stronger about you, too.”

Luke reached over and tilted her chin. He ran his fingers through her hair as he leaned in and met her lips. Samara kissed back, running her
hands over his shirt, grabbing the soft material in her fingers
. She wanted to pull it off, to climb into the backseat with him, but she knew that it wasn’t the right time yet, so she pulled away from him
while she still had control over herself
. “Goodnight,”
she told him,
giving him one last kiss and
forcing herself to climb out of the car. She felt like a hormonal teenage boy right now. Samara had vowed to stay a virgin until she knew for sure that the time was right, but it wasn’t going to be easy now with the strong physical attraction that s
he suddenly felt towards Luke.

When she unlocked the front door, all of the lights in the house were turned off – which wasn’t an unusual occurrence in the McKinley house at
ten o’clock on a school night.

Feeling the gurgle that came from her growling stomach, Samara went into the kitc
hen to grab something to eat.

“Hi, Sam,” Mrs. Mc
Kinley said from behind her.

Startled, Samara jumped.
“Oh, hi, mom,” Samara said warmly, trying to hide the guilt that she felt. She hated when her mom stayed up late at night worrying about her. If only her mom knew that she didn’t have to
worry anymore, that Samara was able to take care of herself . . .

Samara grabbed a container
of leftover
fried
chicken from the fridge and sat down across from her m
om. “Is everything
okay?” she asked, noticing that her mom’s expression was rather solemn.

Mrs. McKinley looked down at the mug that she was
grasping between her fingers, her fingers paling from the force that she was gripping it with
. “Seth moved out
of the house
today.”

“What?” Samara asked, not even trying to mask the shock in
her voi
ce.
She was both surprised and hurt. Sure, she had known that things would change after she initiated, but she really hadn’t been expecting this to happen.
“How do you know that?”

“He told us he was moving in with a friend,” Mrs. McKinley replied.
Her voice cracked a little, and Samara realized that her mom was choking back tears.
“He
just came home to pack
his bags
,
and
then he
left.”

“Which friend did he move in with?” Samara asked, pulling off a piece of chicke
n and popping it in her mouth.

Mrs. McKinley shrugged. “I – I don’t know. He wouldn’t say. I was really surprised – and your father was, too. We didn’t even
know that he had any friends.”

“Me either,” Samara murmured. She hadn’t seen Seth hang out with any friends in months. It was probably because he had been so angry since he had started the transformation into a werewolf – and he probably felt out of place. Samara knew that she could no longer relate to her own best friend, Emma Taylor. Of course, it probably didn’t help that Emma was in lov
e with Jason – Samara’s enemy.

Samara hoped that Seth wasn’t staying with Jason, but she knew that if he was staying with anyone, it was probably someone from the pack. Then again, it didn’t really matter if he was staying with Jason or not. Jason was still Seth’s Alpha, and it was obvious that Seth was loyal to him.

Even though Samara hated that her brother had left, she knew there was nothing she could do about it. She should have be
en prepared for this all along. Had she really expected her brother to continue living under the same roof as her after they were officially on different packs and, thus, enemies?

Samara had been expecting to continue living with him, actually. It hadn’t crossed her mind that he would just leave without saying goodbye. She had just figured that they would continue living in the same house, even if it meant that they didn’t speak to each other. Samara hadn’t expected Seth to put her parents through this pain. Part of her hated his selfishness, but she knew that if she had made different decisions, she wouldn’t have forced him into making this one. Once again, it was her own fault.

In fact, her initiation was probably
the reason
Seth had chosen to leave today
, of all days
. . . which also meant that Jason and the rest of the Vyka had to kn
ow that she was
officially
an Ima by now.

“Samara?” Mrs. McKinley asked, snapping Samara back to realit
y. “Is everything okay, honey?”

Samara forced a smile and nodded
, knowing that she couldn’t cry in front of her mom
.
How could she expect her mom to be strong when she was weak? No, she wouldn’t cry . . . not until she was alone.
Deciding tha
t she had lost her appetite, Samara
put the remaining chicken back in the fridge. “Yeah, everything’s fine. I’m just
going to miss him
.”
 

*
 

“
So, guess what we’re
doing tomorrow night?” Emma asked
the next morning in biology class. Her voice was as cheerful as the highlighter-yellow sweater that she was wearing.

Samara raised one eyebrow. She really hated when people made plans involving her
without asking first. “What?”

“A double date!” Emma replied excitedly. “You, me, Jason, and Luke! I bought us
tickets to see that new Johnny Depp
movie that already sold out, and I thought we could go to the Olive Garden for dinner afterwards, since it’s
vegetarian-friendly and all.”

“
I’m not a vegetarian anymore.”

“Oh, that’s right,” Emma said, smacking her palm against her forehead. “Sorry, I keep forgetting . . . probably because you’ve been a vegetarian e
ver since I’ve known you.”

Samara smiled. “It’s okay. I don’t think a double
date is a good idea, though.”

“Why not?” Emma asked, her face twisting in anger. “Don’
t you want to go out with us?”

“I want to,” Samara lied, “but whatever’s going on between Jason and Luke is serious, Emma. They’re not going to want to have to pretend to be nice to each
other just to make you happy.”

Emma gawked at her. “You’re kidding me, right? You don’t want to go
because
Jason and Luke don’t get along? That’s all this is abo
ut?”

Samara sighed. “Have you even told Jason that you’
re planning
on
this double date?”

Emma shook her head, her blonde waves bouncing
across
her back. “No. I thought it would
be really fun to surprise him.”

“
I can’t help it
, I think it’s a bad idea
. Me and Luke won’t b
e coming with you. I’m sorry.”

“Fine, whatever,” Emma said
,
turning away from her and
giving her the cold shoulder.

Samara gritted her teeth. She didn’t want to argue with Emma again, but she also knew there was
no
way they could go through with this double date. Not only were Luke and Jason enemies, but he was Samara’s rival now, too. She still hadn’t seen him yet since she had
been
initiated – and she wasn’t looking forward to it. Jason had said that she was first o
n his list to kill, after all.

Would Jason try to kill me on school grounds?
Sam
ara asked Luke inside her head.

There was a long pause. Finally, Luke replied,
I’m not really sure. Usually, we don’t put ourselves in situations where we could risk humans finding out what we are. If there was no one around, though, I wouldn’t put it past Jason.

Great,
Samara thought.
Hey, I wonder if he knows I’m Alpha yet.

No, he probably doesn’t,
Luke answered.
The only way would be if someone from our pack has told him or if he’s seen your tattoo.

Well, that’s good at least,
Samara replied.
I can’t imagine how much more he’d want to get rid of me if he knew I was Alpha.