Read Blood Moon (Howl #2) Online

Authors: Jayme Morse,Jody Morse

Blood Moon (Howl #2) (24 page)

Oh, yeah, that
, Steve said slowly.
A lot of wolves think that being a traitor runs in our blood. If your parent could be a
traitor, why can’t you?

Anyone can be a traitor
, Samara replied, thinking about her own brother. Even though she knew that it wasn’t his fault that he had been naturally put on the Vyka pack, it still sort of felt like he had been a traitor to her family. Of course, he would say that she was the one who had been a traitor by choosing to be on a pack that Grandpa Joe probably wouldn’t
have approved of.

Yeah, I agree
, Steve replied.
It’s not fair really . .
. it’s just the way it is.

It doesn’t have to be
, Samara replied.
I want Rain to become an Ima. Well, I want to get
to know her first.

Why?
Steve asked incredulously.

Because she needs a pack to belong to
, Samara replied.
Why not make it our pack?

I guess, but if you’re just doing this because you feel bad for Chris, you shouldn’t. Letting Rain be an Ima won’t guarantee that they’ll be mates, you know,
Steve replied.

Samara chuckled.
Why would I feel sorry for
Chris?
He’s one of the biggest players
at Grandview High.

Because this shit is serious, Samara. It’s not just some fling for him. Chris reall
y loves that girl.

Samara sighed. Then she was going to definitely have to find a way to get Rain on their pack. It was a surefire way to win Chris’s friendship for good. And how could she just let the poor girl take blame by other packs for something that wasn’t her f
ault? It didn’t seem logical.

Samara decided that, after everything went down with Jason, she was going to get to know Rain better.

 

 

“I’m hungry,” Colby announced, standing up. “Who wants burgers for lunch?”
Everyone agreed that they were hungry, incl
uding Samara.
She had been eating less lately because of her nerves, and it was definitely beginning to catch up with her. It was probably a good idea for her to load up on some protein before the Homecoming dance. Samara was going to need all the strength she could muster if their plan was going to work.

“I’ll help cook,” Luke said, following Colby into the kitchen. Kyle and Steve followed, too, leaving Samara and Steve alone in the living room.

“Hey, can you do me a favor?” Samara asked Steve quietly when the others had left the room. “Don’t tell Chris what I told you . . . about how I want to meet Rain and m
ake her an Ima.”

Steve ran his fingers across h
is lips. “My lips are sealed.”

“Thanks. So, do you have a mate yet?”
Samara asked turning to Steve.

Steve laughed. “Nah, not yet.
I guess my mate must be a late
b
loomer.”

“Oh,” Samara said. She couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. It was hard enough to become a werewolf when you already had a mate. She couldn’t imagine how much worse it would be to not have one yet. “There are less female werewolves then male werewolves. Are there ever times when a
werewolf doesn’t find a mate?”

“Oh, yes, definitely,” Steve replied. “It ha
ppens pretty often, actually.”

Samara was about to ask Steve how he knew that he actually had a mate, but he answered her question on his own. “Usually, you wait until you’re twenty-one. If you haven’t already found a mate and you still want one, you pick a mate of
your choosing and bite them.”

“Is there really a guarantee that you’ll be mates then, though?
Colby bit me and I’m not his mate,” Samara pointed out
. Her mind drifted to the conversation that she had with Lilly about Josh biting her. Lilly hadn’t been entirely convinced that they were really mates until after she became a werewolf herself and was able to hear Josh’s thoughts herself. Could it have been possibly that they were
n’t even really mates, though?

“Well, it’s kind of complicated,” Steve replied. “There’s this whole theory that whoever you bite is who you were really meant to be with. There are rare occasions, though,
like yours or
where the other person is resistant. This usually happens when they get mad at the wolf who turned them.” He patted the top of his head, pushing down on his braids. “If there’s enough anger, the person can un-mate themselves from that wolf. It doesn’t mean that you’re not mates, though, or that you weren’t meant to be mates all along.

Samara knew that Lilly didn’t want to be a wolf, and it had definitely seemed like she was resentful towards Josh for changing her. Could it be possible that, although Josh and Lilly had been meant to be mates, there was a chance that her anger an
d resentment had un-mated them?

Sighing, Samara realized that it didn’t even really matter anymore. Lilly was gone, and she knew that Josh felt as guilty as she did for what had happened. There was no reason to stir up things that n
o longer made a difference.

The aroma of hamburgers filled Samara’s nostrils, and she shot up from the sofa, following it into the kitchen. Once she was there, s
he stopped dead in her tracks.

Darren Jackson was sitting at the kitchen table, scarfing down one of the hamburgers that Colby had cooked for him. He made eye contact with her, his nearly black eyes penetrating her own. She gulped, trying not to show
him that she felt intimidated.

Samara heard Luke’s voice fill her head.
It’s okay
, he said gently.
Just relax. H
e hasn’t done anything to you.

Not yet, no, but he’s creeping me out
, Samara replied.

“How do you want your
burger, Samara?” Colby asked.

“Rare,” Samara replied, trying to avoid Darren’s eyes. Maybe if she didn’t look at him, he would just go away . . . or at least stop staring at her. As she sat down at the table, she knew that wasn’t true; his eyes
were still studying her face.

“Hello, Samara,” Darren said. “T
ell me, how’s the plan going?”

“It’s going good,” Samara replied, knowing that he was talking about the plan to kill Jason. What she wasn’t sure was why he was asking her when he could ask
his son any time he wanted to.

“I’m glad to hear that. Because it would be a shame if this plan failed for you,” Darren replied, getting up from the table and throwing his paper plate in the garbage. He strode out of the room, leaving Samara with a weird feeling in the pitch of her stomach and a chill shooting down her spine.

*

 

As the sun shone through her bedroom window the next morning, Samara s
tretched and yawned.

She heard Kyle stirring on the floor. Glancing down, she noticed that his coppery hair was a dishevel
ed mess. “Kyle?” Samara asked.

“What?” Kyle asked groggily.

“I’m curious about something,” Samara said. “What’s up with Colby’s dad
?”

Kyle looked up at her from his sleeping bag on
the floor. She had won the bed anyway, in their coin toss. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, I feel like he looks at me like I’m a biology project or a celebrity or something. The way he does it . . . it just f
reaks me out,” Samara replied.

Kyle shrugged. “Actually . . . it’s kind of weird. I’ve been hanging out at their house for months now, and I don’t know much about him. He stays holed up in the library or his bedroom a lot when he’s home. He usually isn’t home as much as he has been lately, though. It’s only been ever since you started coming over that he’s hung around at home.” Kyle paused. “That’s
kind of unusual for an Alpha.”

“Hmm,” Samara murmured, thinking to herself. Was the whole reason Mr. Jackson was coming home lately because of her? The way he looked at her, it wouldn’t surprise her that he just wanted to be there to observe her. Just the tho
ught was really creepy, though.

“Did your dad ever say anything about him?” Samara asked, turning to Kyle. “I mean, your dad was an Ima, so wouldn’t that hav
e made Mr. Jackson his Alpha?”

Kyle thought for a moment. “He didn’t talk about him that much. Most stuff that happens on a pack is kept private. He did say something once, though. I’ve never really thought about it until now, to be honest. My dad told me that when Darren wants something, it needs to b
e done his way . . . or else.”

“Do you remember why he brought that up?” Samara asked. It seemed like an odd thing for a father to tell his son, especially when he kept most of the other pack stuff a se
cret.

Kyle shook his head. “No, but . . . it was weird. The way he told me, it was like . . . he was afraid of him, I think.” Pausing for a moment, Kyle shrugged. “I’m sure it was probably nothing. They probably just got into some weird type of argument or something. I think Darren Jackson is probably fine. I mean, would Colby really be such a nice
guy if his dad was a psycho?”

Samara thought about Josh and Jason; they were twins who were born within minutes of each other, and they couldn’t be any more different. Shrugging the idea off, she hopped out of
bed. “Let’s go eat breakfast.”

When they went into the kitchen, Mrs. McKinley was sitting at the kitchen table. She had laid out a tray of bagels, muffins, and a variety of types of cream cheese, ranging
from strawberry to vegetable.

Samara grabbed a cinnamon raisin bagel and began spreading it with cinnamon cream cheese, while Kyle reache
d for a chocolate chip muffin.

“How’s your mom doing?” Mrs. McKinley asked Kyle. “I haven’t spoken to her in about a
week.”

“She’s good,” Kyle replied, his mouth full of muffin. He
wiped his mouth on his sleeve.

“She’s just been really busy lately. Her and Billy are goin
g on a cruise in a few weeks.”

“Oh, yeah?” Mrs. McKinley asked. “I was thinking of booking a cruise soon, too. Where are they going?”

“The Bahamas.” 

“I wonder if there’s still time for us to book for the same cr
uise,” Mrs. McKinley murmured.

“What?” Samara asked. “You’re going to go on a cruise in t
he middle of the school year?”

Mrs. McKinley raised an eyebrow and nodded. “Yeah, with how crazy things have been lately, your father and I just really need to get away. Maybe you could st
ay with Rae while we’re gone.”

“Not if you’re going on the same cruise as her,” Samara pointed out, rolling her eyes a
t her mom.

“Oh, I guess you’re right,” Mrs. McKinley realized. “Well, I think you’re old enough to stay here alone and fend for yourself. Maybe Kyle can stay with you if we d
o go at the same time as Rae.”

“But,” Samara began to protest. She was going to ask why her mom suddenly trusted her to stay home alone – especially when she had a boyfriend who could sleep over whenever she wanted –
in hopes of changing her mind.

Before she could get
a word out, though, Kyle said,
“Sounds good to me.” He grinned at Samara from across the table at Samara. She knew what he was thinking: that this would be a lot of fun – and that they could throw parties and do whatever they wanted while their parents were gone. Fun wasn’t what Sama
ra was thinking about, though.

Her
b
iggest fear was that Jason or Rocco or some other werewolf who wanted her dead would have easier access to her while her parents were gone. Samara was going to have the whole pack spending every night at her house (or at Kyle’s) every night her parents were gone.
When Mrs. McKinley had left the room, a thought occurred to Kyle. “D
oes Billy know?” Samara asked.

“Yeah, he’s really excited for the cruise,” Kyle replied. “He actually suggested it. Their a
nniversary is coming up soon.”

Samara rolled her eyes impatiently. “Not about that.” She glanced over her shoulder to make sure that her mother wasn’t in earshot.
“About you being a werewolf.”

“Oh,” Kyle replied, shoving the remaining bits of muffin into his mou
th. “No, he doesn’t actually.”

“How do you explain everything then?” Samara asked. “I mean, doesn’t he notice when you go out late at night?” In a way, it made her feel relieved to know that she wasn’t the only one on the pack who was hiding this
from someone in their family.

“Billy doesn’t seem to care,” Kyle shrugged. “He doesn’t ask questions, at least. I think he has the attitude that disciplining and parenting me isn’t one of his chores. It might have been different if I grew up with him as a step
dad, but I’m almost an adult.”

Samara nodded. That
made sense.

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