Howl (Howl #1) (20 page)

What the Vyka Alpha had said flashed through her mind:
“
It’s not that he wants you, he just wants your power.”
But a
s she gazed into
his
ha
zel eyes, she could tell that Colby
wasn’t lying
to her
. He really did want her to be on his pack.
He didn’t just
want
her for her power; he
needed
her. There was a difference.

“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind,” Samara repl
ied. “I’ll see you all later.”

As she turned to walk away, Luke ran to her s
ide. “I’ll walk you home.”

Samara led him through the woods that divided the backyard of the McKinley’s house from the lake.
“So, I guess this is why you
go to Starlight Lake in the summer. To be with the pack?”

Luke nodded. “Yeah
, we hang out here a lot all year long.”

“Why did you move here? I mean, I know it has to do with you changing,” Samara said.
“How come you just didn’t stay wher
ever you lived before, though?”

“My birthday is in February, and I started changing in April. My parents brought me to Grandview immediately because they knew that I was going to be an Ima. If I stayed in Maine, there would have been a lot of problems. There were a lot of packs there already. My scent would have smelled ‘off’ to them, and they would have tried to attack me because I would be a threat to their territory.
And a wolf needs to be with the pack that it belongs to. I belong to the Ima.
”

“
How did you know that you were supposed to be an Ima?
Are either of your paren
ts werewolves?” Samara asked.

“
Yeah, my mom’s a werewolf. And my
dad was,” Luke replied. When he noticed the confused expression on her face, he explained, “He died when I was thirteen.
When I talk about my dad
, I’m
usually
talking about my stepdad. He’s not a werewolf, but he’s pretty cool about it.
”

“I’m sorry,” Samara said
, realizing at that moment just how little she actually knew about Luke. “If you don’t mind me asking, how did it happen?”

“He was killed by the Alpha of the Vyka. That’s
why it’s so important to me that
you to join our pack. I need to get revenge, Samara,” Luke said, turning to look at her. “I need to do it for my dad. If you don’t join the Ima, the V
yka are going to take us down.”

“Well, I’m not makin
g any promises yet,” Samara replied, trying to keep the emotions she was feeling out of her voice
.
Didn’t Luke want her to be on his pack so that they could be together – so that she could be his mate?
“I have a feeling that I am going to join the Ima, though. I feel less
comfortable around the Vyka, even
though
I don’t know who they are yet.”

Luke looked into her eyes
. “I originally felt bad when we changed
things . . .
you know, by Colby biting you and all. But the truth is, I’m really glad that we did because I’m
falling for you and –
”

“Wait a minute,” Samara interrupted
, throwing her hands up in the air to halt the conversations
. “You knew that this was going to h
appen the whole entire time?”

Luke looked down at the gro
und and nodded. “Yeah, I knew.”

“Did you go on a date with me just to lure me to a spot where Colby could bite me?” Samara asked, recalling the secluded location he had chosen
for them to stargaze.

Luke paused. “No, not exactly. I knew that he was going to bite you, but I didn’t know when. I had no idea it
was going to be that night.”

“Yeah, right,” Samara scoffed. “You knew this was going to happen to me, and you just let it. You allowed my life to become more complicated than it was already going to be. And for what
reason
? T
o seek revenge for your dad?”

Luke shook his head. “No, it’s not like that. I had no say in this. Colby was going to do it, no matter what. His mind was made up
long before I even moved to Grandview
.”

Samara took one final look at him and whirled around. She ran towards her house, climbed inside her bedroom, and slammed the window behind her.

Chapter 16

****

On Friday morning, Samara woke up groggily. She had a really hard time sleeping the night before. After Luke left, he kept apologizing to her, over and over again, but she was in no mood to
speak to
him, in person or in her head. The worst part was she could turn off her cell phone, but there was no way to stop him from talking to her in her head.

Samara hadn’t considered that Luke might have a role in all of this. It made perfect sense, though. Even if he didn’t know that she was going to be bitten that night, he must have known that it was going to be a possibility. He hadn’t done anything to stop it or to warn her.
Samara fe
l
t
anger and
resentment towards him.

As she got dressed for school, Samara tried to put on a happy face. She wasn’t about to walk around like a zombie all day just because she was upset with Luke.
If she bumped into him, she wanted to look happy. She didn’t want him to know that fighti
ng with him made her miserable.

Feeling her stomach growl, Samara
went into the kitchen to raid the fridge. She found her mom sitting at the kitchen
table, her head in her hands.

“Mom, what’s wrong?” Samara
asked, concerned.

Mrs. McKinley looked up at her. Her eyes were puffy and red
from crying. “Seth is gone.”

“Di
d he say where he was going?”

Her mom shook her head. “No. Your father and
he
got into a big argument last night. When I checked in his room
before I went to bed
, he was gone. I
looked in
again this morning,
and he still isn’t back yet.”

“I’m sure he’ll be back soon,” Samara said sympathetically, pulling some lox out of the refrigerator and gr
abbing a bagel from a bag on the counter
. “He always does. It just might take
him a few days.”

“I know that,” Mrs. McKinley replied. “It’s just becoming more and more difficult to deal with as time goes on. I just keep asking myself all of these questions. How long is he going
to keep doing this? Does he hate us? Am
I a bad mothe
r?”

Samara sat down in the chair next to her mom. “Of
course you’re not a bad mother.
This isn’t your fault. Seth is just obviously having some problems dealing with his anger lately. He might
have a mental illness or addiction problem
for all we know. I really think that the most important thing is f
or us to get him counseling.”

Mrs. McKinley nodded. “You’re right.
He’s always so angry. And he never brings his friends around anymore.
I’m not just afraid that he’s going to hurt us any longer. I’m afraid tha
t he might hurt himself, too.”

“Why are you a
fraid of that?” Samara asked.

Her mom pulled a small notebook out of her bathrobe pocket. “I
found this drawing
in his bedroom. Look at this.”

Samara took the sketchbook that her mom had handed her. It was opened to a picture of a guy with a heart that was ripped out of his chest. There was blood on the floor that spelled out “The End.”

Samara looked up at her mom. “He
’s obviously really depressed. I just wish I knew why. He did get into a fight at school the other day. I wonder if it’
s related.”

“A fight?
Why didn’t we hear about it?”

Samara shrugged. “I really thought he was going to get suspended over it, but he didn’t. I only caught the very end of it. I assumed that Seth was
just
being Seth and that he was just angry, but maybe
it’s something more.”

“Maybe the kids at school are bullying him, and that’s why he’s been so angry lately,” Mrs. McKinley said quietly. “Not that we’ll ever know either way. He’s never going to open up to us about it. Does he have any friends? Maybe you could ask one of
them what’s going on with him.”

Samara thought about all of the times she had seen Seth at school. He’d always been alone. She shook her head. “No, I don
’t think he has any friends.”

“Figures,” Mrs. McKinley muttered. Glancing at her watch, she stood up. “I really need to get ready for work. We have a big case to work on today. I’ll see you after school, sw
eetie.”

“Bye,
mom,
” Samara replied, wishing that there was something that she could do to fix her family.
 

*

Throughout the
school day, Samara felt haunted by th
e words in her brother’s drawing
. What could be so bad that he rea
lly wanted his own life to end (assuming that’s what
t
he
sketch was really symbolizing)?

As she was eating lunch in the cafeteria, Steve sat down across from her. “Hey,” h
e said, flashing her a smile.

“Hi
,” Samara replied, putting
her cheeseburger
back
on her tray. She and Steve Bryan had never
really
talked in school before
unless it had to do with homework
.
It was obvious that he had come to talk to her for a reason right now, and she assumed that the reason had nothing to do with helping her get to know him better so that her decision would be an easier one to make.

“I just want you to know that you shouldn’t be mad at Luke. It w
as
going to happen e
ither way. The good thing is
at least
he was
there with you w
hen it happened,” Steve said.

Samara sighed. “I guess you’re right.
I guess I was just really mad when he told me because I was shocked. That’s all.
” In her head, she thought,
I’m sorry. I’m not mad at you, Luke. Shh, though.
I’m talking to Steve right now.

“I also wanted to tell you something that you mi
ght not know about the Vyka.”

“Lovely. More things to think about,” S
amara muttered. “What is it?”

“I know that you’ve been told how much our pack needs you, but I don’t think you realize how much we really do. The Vyka are trying to take over all of the other packs in the region. They’re the most powerful pack in the tri-state are
a
right now
, which is pretty big because there are a few really strong packs in the Catskills
. Ours is the first pack that the
Vyka is planning to conquer
.

“They might not try to fight us if they have you on their pack,” Steven continued, “because they won’t need our numbers to take over the other packs if they have your strength, but I think Colby would rather fight them and get it over with before this
gets out of hand. I know that’s what I want
.
”

Sa
mara frowned. “I’m a little
confused. If a pack is going to take over another pack, why would they
need to
conquer that pack? Doesn’t taking them over mean that they’re technically joining forces
with all of the other packs?”

“It means that their Alpha will become o
ur Alpha once they take us over.
”

“What are they conquering, though? They’re not killing an
yone, are they?”

Steve looked at her. “Yes, they are going to kill someone. In order to take over a pack, they need to kill the Alpha of that pack. They will also need to kill the person
who
has
been
appointed to be next in line in the event of his death
.”

Just thinking about anyone in the pack dying gave her a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. What if the second in line to be Alp
ha was Luke? “Who’s been appointed
?” Samara asked.

Steve shrugged. “It’s fate – it’s impossible to predict or know
.
We’ll only ever find out
who it is
if it actually happens.
”