Howl (Howl #1) (11 page)

Luke?
Samara asked, her mind flashing back to the mental exchange he had made with her the night of Emma’s party. If he could communicate with her mentally as a human, maybe it me
ant that he was a werewolf, too? The situation was crazy either way, but it would feel slightly less crazy if Samara knew that Luke was also a werewolf.

The wolf stared at her
, and for a moment she thought he was going to say that he was, in fact, Luke. The wolf shook his head
.
I don’t want you to know who I am. Not yet.

So, let me get this straight
, Samara began.
You think
that
it’s okay for you to bite me and turn me into a
werewolf without my permission because your pack needs me,
but you refuse to tell me who you are? You ruined my life, and now you won’t even show yourself to me. I think you’re a
selfish
coward.

The gray wolf snorted loudly.
Don’t get so testy. I want to tell you, trust me. If I tell you right now,
though, I’m going to seem less . . .
authoritative. I am your Alpha. You need to learn to respect me as a wolf before I
can tell who I am in human form.

Samara shook her head.
No, I need to know.
You know what? It’s okay. Y
ou don’t have to tell me. I’m going to stay here all night until you turn back into a human. Then, I’ll know who you are
. She didn’t want to tell him that’s what she had been plan
ning to do all al
ong. It was what she had been planning
when she found him tonight
in the first place.

The gray wolf chuckled in his head.
It’s a smart plan, Samara, but it’s not going to work. You have no control over the
wolf inside of you right now.

How do you know?
Samara snapped.
I think I have lots of contro
l. I morphed into a wolf all on my own tonight.

You wake up in the morning without y
our clothes on, don’t you?

Samara stared at him.
So?

So, that’s because you haven’t figured out how to control your inner wolf yet. I’ve been a wolf longer
than you. I can choose when I wa
nt to be a human and when I want to be a wolf. You’
ll get to that point, in time
. It just takes some practice.

Samara felt relieved. She had no idea that she would be able to control this. It was nice to know that she eventually wouldn’t have to worry about someone besides her mom finding her
lying
on the ground naked after she turned into a wolf one night.
How do you
control it?

It’s about controlling your emotions. You’ll also need to keep your wolf emotions separate from your human emotions. If you become angry as a human, you’
re going to turn into a wolf.

But it’s all about the moon, isn’t it? The moon makes us turn into wolves,
Samara said, matter-of-factly. She didn’t care what he would say; the moon had major pull over her wolf. There was no way she would be able to control her inner wolf when the moon was out.
It had compl
ete and total control over her.

Sort of,
the gray wolf answered.
Ever hear the old saying, “it’s because of the full moon?” Well, the truth is that humans do tend to get crazy when there’s a full moon. They lose touch with their emotions, and we’re more likely to turn into wolves because of this. You can overcome it, though. It’s also possible for your inner wolf to come out at o
ther times of the month, too.

Samara dug at the dirt underneath
of her
and planted her body into a hole in the ground. The dirt seemed to cool
down
her feverish body.
I’m going to control my inner wolf tonight. I’m going to wait here to find out who you are. When you change back into a human, I’ll know who you are.
If I want it bad enough, it can happen.

Good luck
, the wolf replied.
I’d like to see it work, honestly. We need you to matur
e faster than the other pups.

I’m not a puppy,
Samara growled.

New werewolves are called pups. Even though you don’t look like a puppy, you’re not
as mature as an older werewolf.

Why do you need me to mat
ure faster than the other
pups? Are you an old werewolf?

I am not an old werewolf. I am a pup but because I have been appointed Alpha due to my family history, I have developed my powers quicker than the other pups will.
The wolf stood up and circled around her, staring into her eyes. Samara got the feeling that he was trying to intimidate her, but it wasn’t working. The vibes that he gave off told her that even if she did do something wrong, he wasn’t going to hurt her.
Besides, why would he hurt her if he really needed her to be on his pack that bad? It wouldn’t make sense.

You need to mature faster for three reasons. The first reason is you’re the only girl in our pack. You need
to mature so that the other pups
don’t try to push you around. Keep in mind that since the female to male werewolf ratio in our area is very low, they’re also in desperate need of mates, so they may get a bit rowdy at times. You need to be able to stand your
ground when you’re around them.

Great
, Samara groaned. She thought that part of her life was over when she dropped out of the high school band. All of the nerdy high school boys were constantly trying to get her attention, but Samara had never been interested in any of them. She had a feeling that being in a pack of all male werewolves
was going to be the same way.

Secondly, we need t
o work on building our pack up s
o
that we can
be strong and powerful. And we need to do it soon
, the gray wolf went on.
There’s another pack who’s trying to move into our area. In the very near future, there’s going to be a fight between our packs, and we need to be as prepared as we possibly can be.

The gray wolf paused and looked at the lake. Samara glanced in the direction he was looking in. When he didn’t answer after a few minutes, she assumed that he was just as mes
merized by the moon as she was.

What’s the third reason?
Samara pressed.
She didn’t want to be vain, but it was kind of flattering to know that she was needed by the pack, but so far, her Alpha hadn’t given her any reason that was specific to her. It sounded like he just needed numbers in his pack; it seemed like he just wanted to increase the size so that his pack wouldn’t be beaten.

The wolf turned around and looked at her.
I can’t tell you
the third reason
. Not until you’re better adjusted to this change in your life. It’s going to be a lot to take in. It’s why we need you on our pack. It’s the reason I bit you.
I’ll tell you when you’re ready.
 

Chapter 10
****

When Samara woke up the next morning, she glanced around. She was
lying
in the same area of the forest where she had been talking to the gray wolf the night before. The looming trees casted a
dark shadow over her bare skin.

Samara wanted to scream
at someone, but she wasn’t sure who
.
She was angry at herself, but in a way, she was angrier at her Alpha for not letting her know who he was. Samara
had tried to stay awake until the gray wolf returned to human form, but it hadn’t worked. She’d fallen asleep or whatever it was that happened to her before she turned back into a human herself. The gray wolf had been right; she didn’t have enough con
trol over her inner wolf yet.

Getting up,
Samara tried
her best
to cover
her
body and darted through the woods that led to her backyard. Just as she was about to run into the yard, she noticed her brot
her coming out the back door.

Samara crouched behind the McKinley’s shed, peering
around the corner to make sure that
Seth wasn’t coming towards her.

When she saw him go to his car, which was parked in the driveway, she ran towards her bedroom window and climbed in. As she was closing it behind her, there was a knock at her bedroom door. “Who is
it?” Samara called.

“Me,” Mrs. McKinle
y called back. “Can I come in?”

“Hold on
. I’m changing
.” Samara quickly pulled her clothes on and flung
her bedroom door open. “What?”

“Good morning to you, too,” Mrs. McKinley replied sarcastically. She came into the room and sat down on Samara’s bed. She began smoothing out the white down comfor
ter. “I think we need to talk.”

Samara sighed. She hoped that her mom at least wanted to talk about something important, like enrolling Seth in anger management
classes
. “What
is it?”

“You’ve been acting very different lately,” Mrs. McKinley replied
. “Is everything okay at school?
”

Samara nodded. “Yeah
, everything’s fine at school.”

“A
re you and Emma getting along?”

Samara nodded again. Even though she wasn’t sure if Emma and she really were getting along, she really didn’t feel like talking to her mom about that.
Not until she was completely sure
of
what was going on. She didn’t want to say something that made her mom think less of Emma and then realize that nothing was th
at bad between them.

“It’s just that there was that sleepwalk
ing
incident. You’ve been
sleeping later than usual and your eating habits have changed. A
ll of a sudden, you’re eating meat like it’s going out of style. That’s not like you, honey,” Mrs. McKinley
said, her voice filled with concern. “If there’s someth
ing going on, you can tell me.”

“Mom, everything’s fine,” Samara snapped. “If this
is
all you want to talk about, I
’d rather just go back to bed.”

When she saw the saddened expression on her mom’s face as she walked out of her room, Samara felt bad. She couldn’t help it, though. Her mom was making her angry, and she felt a weir
d tingling sensation running up and down her spine
. She was afraid that what the gray wolf
said was true – that
if she didn’t control her anger, she was going to turn into
her wolf form
right
in front of her mom. That was the las
t thing Samara needed right now.

Flopping down on her bed, she
tried to compose herself. Samara hadn’t made the transition from human to wolf during the day
and she wasn’t actually sure if it was even possible
, but she didn’t want to risk someone seeing her in wolf form. Like the boys in her biology class had pointed out, wolves weren’t that common in Grandview.
Her guess was that there were even less white wolves in the area.
Samara didn’t want to draw any unnecessary attention to h
erself if she didn’t have to.

Just as she was about to get something to eat, her phone jangled from her bedside table. The caller ID said that it was Emma. Samara groaned. As much as she didn’t want to talk to Emma, she knew that she couldn’t avoid her forever. They had been best friends for years. It was going to look weird if Samara just suddenly stopped answering her phone calls. Sh
e picked up the phone. “Hello?”

“Sam! What are
you doing today?” Emma asked.

“Umm, nothing really,” Samara replied hesitantly. She was afraid t
o know what Emma had in mind.

“I want to come over there to sho
w you something. Is that okay?”

“That
’s fine. Give me at least an hour to get ready,” Samara said before hanging up the phone. She didn’t want to see Emma, but there would be at least one good outcome: Samara’s mom wouldn’t have to question if t
hey were getting a
long anymore after she saw her.

In the kitchen, Seth was scarfing down a ham and cheese sandwich. When Samara came into the room, he looked up at her. His eyes were bloodshot again. “Are your allergies acting up?” Samara asked. “Y
our eyes are
all
red and glassy.”

Seth shook his head.

Samara grabbed a leftover cheeseburger from the fridge and put it in the microwave.
Out of the corner of her eye, she
noticed her brother continuing to stare at her. Samara felt tempted to ask him why he was staring, but she knew that would only make him mad. She didn’t want to be responsible for him runnin
g away again for the next week, so she
decided to keep her mouth shut.