Howl (Howl #1) (16 page)

Samara could smell her Alpha, but she couldn’t find him. She’d searched the whole entire forest
,
and she could tell from the strong scent that he was still in wolf form, but
she didn’t see him anywhere.

She trotted along the path
in the forest
, con
tinuing to look for him. When Samara
got to a log in the mid
dle of the path, she stopped.

The smell was strong and alluring. Samara licked her lips.
Her tail wagged on its own.

Getting down low, she stuck her head into the log. Beyond the tip of her own black nose, she saw it
starin
g back at her.

The rabbit
was
big
. Samara could hear its breaths getting quicker. It
was obvious that it feared her.

Timidly, the
rabbit hopped out of the log.

Samara raced to the other end of the log, just as the
rabbit
was hopping
onto the grassy ground
. She chuckled inside her own head. The bunny was so naive that it really t
hought it could outsmart her.

Just as she was about to sink her teeth into the bunny’s neck, she saw gray fur dash past her
and dip its head into the log
alongside her
.

The wolf, whose smell she did not recognize, ran past her and deeper into the forest. It wasn’t until after it was gone w
hen Samara let out a growl. How dare another wolf go after the prey that she was so obviously ready to pounce on? The next time this happened, she would be more prepared to
claim what was rightfully hers.

Sama
ra heard a rustle in the bushes behind where she was standing.

Pinning her ears back, she let out a low growl. She hadn’t seen many big animals in the forest since she had changed into a wolf, but she knew that they were there. There were often bear sightings near Starlight Lake.
She had to be prepared to stand her ground if she e
ver came face to face with one.

Just as she prepared herself to
pounce on anything that might threaten her
, she saw a gray furry paw step out from behind the bush. Even before she saw the light brown heart-shaped patch of fur on his side, Samar
a knew that it was her Alpha.

Her Alpha exuded a certain type of confidence that she hadn’t noticed among the other gray wolves that had been in her yard. He carried his shoulders high and if she didn’t know any better, she would assume that he was the king of the forest.
It made her surprised
to know that there were other Alphas out there somewhere, even though she hadn’t come across any of them yet.

Nodding his h
ead at her, her Alpha sat down o
n the ground in front of her.
Hello, pup.

Samara growled.
I don’t like being referred to as a pup. It makes
me sound young and immature.

Ah, both of which you are,
her Alpha chuckled.
So, Luke told
me that you know he’s a wolf.

And that he’s my mate,
Samara replied matter-of-factly.
I wanted to ask
you some questions about mates.

Shoot.

Well, for starters, do you only have on
e mate in your entire lifetime?

Her Alpha looked up at the moon.
It’s possible to have more than one mate, but I’ve never
heard of it happening before.

Why doesn’t it happen often?
Samara asked.

It has to do with what I can’t tell you yet. Anyway
, what are you
r
other questions?

Samara held back the growl that she wanted to let out. She was sick of all of this secret-keeping that her Alpha was doing. It would be easier to just know
everything
.
How could she come to terms with this if he wasn’t telling her all there was to know? Instead of arguing about it, she asked:
What
does it mean to have a mate?
Am I expected to get pregnant?

Her Alpha laughed.
No. Not yet, at least. But most werewolves do go on to hav
e puppies
with each other
.
It is how we keep our bloodline going. If no one ever had babies, we wouldn’t be able
to have youth packs eventually.

Are werewolf babies born as babies or puppies?
Samara asked, mostly out of curiosity.

It can happen either way. It depends on whether you’re in human form or wolf form when the baby is born. If yo
u’re in human form, it will be born as a
human baby, but if you’re in wolf form, it will be
born as
a wolf baby.

Somehow, her Alpha’s answer made her even more confused about werewolf babies.
So, they can stay wolves or
babies then until they grow up?

No. If the baby is born a human, it will stay a human. If it’s born a wolf, though, it will change into a human within an hour. It’s kind of cool if it’
s born a wolf
because it lets you see what co
lor of fur your child will have, even if it only is for an h
our.

So, w
hat are we supposed to do right now
if we’re not actually supposed to mate
, then
?
Samara
asked,
feeling relieved that she wasn’t going to need to have babies any time soon. Her parents would never be okay with that.

The point of a mate is to have someone who is always there for you, someone who will love you through even the most difficult of times. Even though you might not like each other at first, you will grow to care for each other deeply,
the gray wolf explained.
To put it more simply, your m
ate is the love of your life.

Unless you have more than one
mate
,
Samara pointed out
.
Would that
only happen if your first mate dies? Is that what you’re going to tell me? Someone’s going to kill Luke soon?
Just the thought of Luke dying
made her stomach sink. They didn’t know each other that well yet, but she didn’t want to lose him. Not now or ever.

Her Alpha shook his head.
No, as far as I know, no one’s going to kill Luke
.
And you won’t have a second mate if your first mate dies.
In fact, most of us remain single for the rest o
f our lives if our mate dies.
We can choose to move onto a new mate, but we don’t feel the same powerful connect
ion as we felt with our first ma
t
e
. It would mostly be for companionship rather th
an love.

Samara sat down on the ground,
tucking her tail underneath her and thinking about the other questions she
had wanted
to ask her Alpha.
When are we going to fight this other pack
you told me about
?

It could be any day now. We’ve made an agreement to not attack each other
until a certain event takes place
.
I can’t tell you about that either, so please don’t ask.
W
e have to keep our guard up, though. W
ord around the forest has it that they’re plotting their
attack as we speak.

The idea of being attacked a
nd having to fight against another pack
unnerved Samara. She didn’t even know who the other people in her pack were, but she still felt a special allegiance with them. Even though she hadn’t been introduced to them, they were her
family, and
they all shared one thing in common
:
they were all werewolves.
Then again, so were the wolves that they were going to have t
o attack, she reminded herself.

Is Luke
in our pack?
Samara asked, realizing that whoever her
Alpha was in human form, he had to know
Luke.
H
e had just admitted it to her.

Yeah. Luke made the change earlier this year, right around his sixteenth birthday.
It was actually right before he moved he
re, and it was the whole reason
his parents brought him here. He was meant to be on this pack because of genetics.

Samara remembered watching a documentary about women who were married to men
who had
other lives. They had been married to other women and had families in other states or, in s
ome cases, only blocks away and
their wives didn’t know
anything
about
it
. Samara couldn’t help but think that this was
a similar situation
. Luke wasn’t even human and although she had kissed
him on the night of her date, she hadn’t even known it. What would have happened if they had dated and he had gotten angry at her? Samara didn’t even want to think about it.

Luke made the change
on his own
, on his sixteenth birthday
,
but I didn’t. Y
ou said it’s different because you bit me
,
Samara said.
But was I still destined to be a werewol
f, like other werewolves are?
Just thinking about the possibility that her Alpha might have changed her destiny by biting her made her want to attack him. If he had done this and ruined
what could have been a perfectly normal
human life, she didn’t think that she would ever
be able to forgive him for it.

You were destined to be a werewolf, yes,
her Alpha replied.
That’s all that I can tell you right now.
Sorry, Samara. I have to go.

Wait
, Samara cried out in her mind.
I had more questions!

You will have the chance to get answers to them and more very soon. Bye
, her Alpha replied before nodding at her and running back to
the bushes he had come from.

Samara glanced up at the moon and howled. She howled, hoping that it would help her release all of the pain that she had in
her
hear
t. She howled because she wasn’t a human, yet she was
a human. She was stuck at this
unfamiliar, in between place
and it scared her
.

In between her howls, Samara heard footsteps come up from behind her.
Is that you again?

When there was no answer, Samara stood up on all fours and looked behind her. She found herself staring into the face of another gray wolf. Glancing at its side, she noticed that there wasn’t a patch of light br
own fur. I
t wasn’t her Alpha.

Samara growled loudly.

Calm down. There’s no need to get your panties in a knot. I haven’t ev
en said two words to you yet.

You know who I am,
Samara said matter-of-factly.
Wh
o are you and what do you want?

You can call me
E. My Alpha wants to see you.

Oh yeah?
Samara asked with more attitude than she realized she could even have.
And who is your Alpha?

I’m not allowed to give you that information
, E replied.
I’m only
supposed to lead you to him.

If he wants to see me, he should come to me
. I shouldn’t have to go to him
, Samara replied,
staring the wolf into his clear
,
golden brown
eyes. She
could see her own reflection in
them. She was still getting used to seeing her silky white fur instead of her dark chocolate brown
hair when she was in wolf form. It seemed ironic that her hair and fur would be on two opposite ends of the color spectrum; it was like night and day, except it would have made more sense if her night coat wa
s darker than her daytime hair, or at least the same color.

Don’t be so stubborn.
My Alpha won’t like it. All of the members in our pack ne
ed to be on their best behavior. Otherwise, you’re bound to be put in your place.
Then again,
you
might be special,
E replied putting a sarcastic emphasis on “you”
.

Samara scoffed in her mind.
Why would I be specia
l? He hasn’t even met me yet.

He wants you to be on our pack
, E answered, turning towards the forest.
Now, come on.