Howl (Howl #1) (26 page)

I heard everything that you said to Declan. Remember I’m your Alpha and even though Declan might know how to block Jason from overhearing, you haven’t mastered keeping me out of your mind yet.

Samara crossed her arms impatiently. “Okay, so you listened to my conversation. What
about it? Get to the point.”

Colby sat down in fron
t of her and looked up at her.
If you decide that you want to be an Ima, I need you to find out how the Vyka are getting so powerful. I want you to go to them and pretend that you’re going to become a member of their pack. Take note of everything that they do. Hang around them. Ask them questions. Dig up any dirt that you can. Once you figure out the secret, come back to us and join our pack instead.

Samara hesitated. “I’m not sure if I want to be an Ima or a Vyka yet, but I’m a little confused. If they think I’m part of their pack, Jason won’t let me leave if I want to when I’m ready.
He won’t let Lilly Phillips leave his pack, even though she doesn’t want to be a part of it. That’s what m
y brother told me, at least.”

Colby snorted at her.
As long as you don’t actually join his pack, he won’t be able to have any control over it. That’s why you must come back before he wants to do your initiation ceremony. As long as you don’t take part in initiation, you won’t officially commi
t to being a member of the pack, and he won’t be able to not let you leave.

Samara sighed heavily. “I really don’t know, Colby.
Being a spy feels wrong.
I guess that if I decide that I want to be an Ima, this all could work. What happens if Jason finds out, though?
I’m not a very good liar, and it sounds like it’s going to be really hard to pull this off.
”

Colby shook
his head and glared at her.
He’ll never find out about this. It’s not possible. The only way he could f
ind out
what we’re planning
is for you to tell him.
He can’t hear your thoughts the way I can because, at this point, I’m the closest thing that you actually have to an Alpha.

“Well, just so you know, I’m not going to tell him. Even if I decide to become a Vyka, I won’t tell him
that you asked me to do this for the Ima
.
I don’t want to get you into any sort of trouble, especially with what they’re already planning.
”

That’s really nice of you. I appreciate it
,
Colby replied.

Samara smiled at him. “I should try to get home soon. My parents will start to ask questions if they see I’m gone.
How do you deal with your parents when you’re out late at night?”

My parents know all about this
, Colby replied.
Both of them are werewolves themselves
. They’re in the adult Ima pack.

Samara sighed. It seemed like she was the only werewolf with parents who had never mentioned anything about the whole werewolf thing to her. It made dealing with this a lot more difficult. The only thing that had helped keep her sane for the past few weeks was her friendship with Colby, but they weren’t going to be allowed to stay friends with each other if she decided to become a Vyka.
“This is really random, but why can’t we stay friends with someone unless they’re a member of our pack?
Why can’t we all just try to make peace with each other
?” Samara asked.

Colby looked up at the moon.
I’ve sometimes wondered
about
that myself. Then I realized there was no point in wondering about it. We’re all set in our ways. Our parents have more or less taught
us that we shouldn’t get along, that we
should hate people from other packs. We won’t be able to change it now
…even though it would be nice if there was harmony
between all of the
packs.

“Well, we could try,” Samara huffed. “How do you k
now unless you try?”

Colby let out a deep
growl, and Samara jumped back.
You need to get that idea out of your head right now, Sam. We’ve tried to get along. It doesn’t work. There’s always going to
be
a power struggle
between all of the packs
. One pack is always going to want someone else’s territory
or to form a larger pack
.
No matter what pack you choose to belong to,
you must remember
that you can trust no one but yourself.
 

*

When Samara got back to
her room, her cell phone was chiming. Wondering who could be sending her a text message at three o’clock in the morning, she picked it up and glanced at the screen. She ha
d thirty-two new text messages. Another text message appeared on the screen and then another.
Thirty-four new text messages.

They were all from Emma.

Just as Samara went to open and read one of the text messages, her phone chirped again and a text message popped up.
Sa
m? Wake up! I need 2 talk 2 u.

I just woke up, let me read your texts
, Samara texted back. Within seconds afte
r she hit send, her phone rang.

“Emma?” Samara whispered loudly
, trying to keep her voice down
. “What’s wrong?” She knew that something was going on because Emma would never allow h
erself to look this
pathetic unless
something was seriously wrong.

“
Oh God, Sam
! Things didn’t go good tonight
,” Emma said in between sobs.

Samara remembered that Emma and Jason were supposed to go on their date tonight. The one that he had told her was
going to be really important
. Suddenly, she had an incredible sinking feeling in the pit of
her stomach. “What happened?”

“The date went great
at first
, but then he got really weird,” Emma replied, sniffling. “He asked me about
that guy I dated like a year ago,
Brian. I said I didn’t have feelings for him anymore, but it didn’t seem to matter. He got so
angry, and –”

“Did he hit you?” Samara asked when Emm
a couldn’t get the words out.

“No, no, Jason would never do that! But he asked me to give him back the ring
that he gave me
. He said that he wanted to give it to someo
ne who was more
deserving
of it,”
Emma managed to say
in between her tears
. “How could he do that to me? I wasn’t even lying. I don’t have
feelings for Brian anymore! I haven’t for months now.” She let out a sob. “My heart belongs to Jason, no one else.”

Samara breathed a sigh of relief. She had been afraid that Jason had physically harmed Emma or, even worse, bit her. Samara should have known better, though. It was just like her best friend to get upset
about having to give
back a ring
. “Emma, it’s obvious that Jason just isn’t the right guy for you. I think
that you’re probably way better off without him
.
If he’s that worried about you having feelings for Brian when everyone in school knows that the two of you have been over for a long time and he’s been with Michelle for months now, he’s obviously insecure
.”
And not even human
, she th
ought to herself in her head.

“Better off? Better off?” Emma
gasped
dramatically. “He is the greatest thing that’s ever happened to
me!”

“I’m sure lots of other great things will happen to you,” Samara said, softening her voice. “I rea
lly think you can do better.”

Emma sighed. “You’re probably right, but it still hurts right now. Anyway, I just want you to know that you shouldn’t expect to see me in school on Monday. Me and my Snuggie have a date with Ben and Jerry’s and Lifetime Movi
e Network for the next week.”

“Okay.
Well, I hope you feel better about this. I’m always here to talk.
Goodnight,” Samara said, hanging up the phone. Even though she wanted to tell Emma that she was being ridiculous by being so upset over
something as small as
this, she had decided against it. As much as she wanted Emma to act more mature and realize that there was more to life than boys and clothes and popularity, Samara knew that there was no way she would ever understand unless she
knew about everything. And there was no way Samara
was going to
tell Emma everything anytime soon
.
 

Chapter 20

****

On Saturday morning, there was a
loud
knock at her bedroom door. “Samara?” her mom called.
“Someone’s here to see you!”

Samara looked at the clock and groaned. It was only nine o’clock. She scrambled to get out of bed and pulled on a hoodie. Glancing at herself in the mirror, she decided that her hair was a total mess, but she didn’t care. Whoever was nuts enough to wake her up at nine o’clock in the morning shouldn’t expect h
er to look like Miss America.

When she strolled into the living room, she found Luke standing in the hallway. He was staring at a photograph on the wall. In it, Samara was wearing a pink polka dotted dress with her hair in
long
pigtails. Seth was sitting next to her, a dreamy look in his eyes.
He was wearing a stethoscope around his neck.
Samara remembered the day perfectly. Seth had been working on a project for school on what he wanted to be when he grew up. He’d decided that he wanted to be a veterinarian so that he could save pets like Buddy, their
thirteen year old Lab who
had passed away that same year.

Sometimes, she wished that Seth would get that same typ
e of motivation back. She knew that things were hard, but she seriously doubted that he would be graduating from high school
this year
. It wouldn’t bother Samara so much if she didn’t know that it was going to spark even more arguments between Seth an
d her parents.

“Luke? What are y
ou doing here?” Samara asked.

Luke turned and looked at her. “Do you think we can talk outside?” he asked, motioning towards the kitchen, where Samara could
see
her mom opening a
nd closing the cabinet doors. She knew her mom was just trying to stay within earshot, so that she could make sure the
y kept their conversation in a family-friendly zone
.

“Sure. Mom, I’m going outside,” Samara called, as she stepped out the front door. She followed Luke into
the front yard. “What’s up?”

Luke had a worried expression
on his face. “Last night after you went inside, Colby was ambushed in
the forest by a few wolves.”

“What?” Samara asked, a sick feeling forming
in her stomach. “Is he okay?”

“Yeah, he’s fine,” Luke replied. “Luckily, we were all nearby. Otherwise, I’m not
sure what would have happened to him.
Out there all alo
ne, he probably would have died
.
”

“Wow,” Samara whispered. In that moment, she realized how much she really cared about Colby, the sam
e way one would care about a
brother. “I decided, Luke. I want to be an Ima.
Colby needs me . . .
You need me. Kyle needs me. The
Ima need me more than the Vyka . . .
and Jason scares me. I don’t want him to be in control of me.
”

Luke’s face brightened. “I’m really glad to hear that. Because here’s what you don’t know about the am
bush. It had to do with you.”

“Me?” Samara whispered, surprised. “
Was it Jason and his pack?”

Luke shook his head. “No, it was wolves from the Seku and Zuri packs. What you need to know about these two packs is that they have become the weakest in the area, mostly because their members have decreased over the years. They’ve lost some prominent members
who came from strong bloodlines during attacks
. So, it’s not too surprising for us to find out that they’re joining forces to make the Seku a larger pack. The Zuri wi
ll eventually be unheard of.”

“Okay, so they’re joining forces. What does that have
to do with me?” Samara asked.

“Well, the reason they ambushed Colby is because they want you on their pack,” Luke said. “They’ve threatened to kill him if he doesn’t agree to allow you to be on their pack. What they don’t realize is that you
’re not an official Ima . . .
yet.”

Samara sighed. “
Everyone
wants me to be on their pack. I don’t understand. I’m not that special. We don’t even know that I’m powerful yet. My grandfather’s power gene or whatever might have skipped
me
. . .
Maybe Seth is the one who got it. Why doesn’t everyone want him on their pack?”