Howl (Howl #1) (29 page)

I’m pretty sure it is
,
Samara lied. She sat down on the cold ground, tucking h
er tail underneath her.
I just need to get to know you better
.

Jason chuckled.
Ask me whatever you want, and I’ll be completely honest
.

If I decide I want to be a Vyka, will you ever let me go if I eventually decide I want to be on another pack?

Jason’s black eyes flashed.
No. Once you are a Vyka, you’ll be a Vyka until the day you die
. As long as I’m Alpha, at least. If something were to happen to me, I couldn’t tell you what the next moronic Alpha might do.

Samara had already suspected that Jason would tell her that, but she had just wanted to confirm her suspicions. It wasn’t like she was really considering bec
oming a Vyka anyway
. . .
was she?

What makes you the most powerful werewolf pack around?
Samara asked, deciding to just be blunt. She didn’t really think she was going to get an answer by asking, but she figured that she would never know unless she tried. And besides, it seemed like a question she might really ask if she was
considering becoming a Vyka.

I’ll tell you on the night of your initiation
, Jason replied
thoughtfully
.
It’s far too risky for me to tell you when there’s a chanc
e that you might become an Ima
.
He said the word Ima with obvious disapproval, his hatred for the pack that Samara wanted
to be on was completely obvious.

Fine. Then, let’s do my initiation tomorrow night
, Samara said.
Be here
at nine. The whole entire pack.

We will be.

As Samara walked away from the Vyka, she wondered how she was going to be able to pull this one off.

*

Samara searched the forest for Colby. She followed his scent, but it didn’t lead her to him. Eventually, she realized that Colby wasn’t in wolf form.
He must be at his house
, Samara thought to herself
. Samara wasn’t sure where that was, but she was going to have to go there. Colby had to know about the pickle that
s
h
e had just gotten herself in.

As she walked up the path that led to her house, Samara heard a growl. Turning around, she saw a wolf. Its fur was
much
lighter than most of the other gray wolves she had encountered, but i
t was definitely a gray wolf.

Terrified that the wolf was someone from the S
eku pack, Samara growled back.
What do you want?
she barked.

Oh, Samara, it’s just you
,
a female
voice said with a hint of relief
. The wolf sat down.
You’re very pretty in wolf form. It’s me – Lilly
.

Lilly
,
Samara responded, unsure of what else to say. Somehow, she had nearly forgotten that
Lilly Phillips was a werewolf.
I need to know something.
Why don’t you want to be a Vyka?

I don’t want to be a werewolf
, Lilly replied.
I don’t want any of this. I didn’t ask for th
is. It’s not even in my genes.

You don’t have a family member who was a werewolf?
Samara asked, surprised. She had never heard of anyone in the Vyka or Ima packs n
ot having a werewolf relative
, and she could have sworn that Seth had told her that Lilly’s mom had been a werewolf
.

Nope. I got this because I was bitten
, Lilly replied.
Josh bit me.

Samara gasped.
Why would Josh do that to you?
She had never known her cousin’s best friend to be vicious. If he had really bitten Lilly, it
had to have been an accident.

He wanted me to be a werewolf
,
so that we could be together,
Lilly whimpered
.
It was too dark to see, but Samara knew that Lilly was crying.
He claims that I was his mate. He
says that he
could hear my thoughts when I was a human. That’s how he knew. I didn’t even believe him until I started hearing his thoughts, too. Ever since he bit me, things have been different
between us
, though
.

Different, how?
Samara asked.

He just started to get really angry all of the time. I know it’s not his fault. He’s just defensive over me
, Lilly
replied.
But I’ve also pulled away. I don’t want any part of the Vyka. I would rather have no pack than be a part of that pack
.

Why don’t you want to be a Vyka?
Samara asked, glad that the answers were finally begi
nning to spill out of Lilly. She hadn’t expe
cted
Lilly
to give her any details.

Jason. He
’s just . . .
he’s not a good guy
,
Lilly said.

Samara nodded her head. No one had to tell her that. She hadn’t liked Jason for a long time, even befo
re what he had done to Emma
.

Are you going to become a Vyka?
Lilly asked.

I’m considering it
,
Samara lied. She didn’t think that Lilly would go back and tell anyone what she had said, but she couldn’t be too careful. Josh apparently could hear Lilly’s thoughts. Samara recalled that Colby said that an Alpha could hear his pack
members’
thoughts, so there was a possibility that Jason might be lurking around in Lilly’s m
ind to find out information.

Don’t. Jason has plans for you. Bad ones. You have to stay away. I can’t say anything else about this right now
,
Lilly said before running away f
rom where they were standing.

Lilly, wait
!
Samara called, but Lilly kept running. Before Samara could ask her anything else, she had
disappeared into the forest.

Samara groaned in her head. She didn’t have t
ime to chase after
Lilly right now.
Luke
, she thought.
I need you
.

What’s up?
he quickly answered.
Is everything okay?

Samara was pretty sure that Declan was
already
blocked from her thoughts, but she blocke
d him again just to make sure.
I’m okay. Everything’s not okay, though. I need you to come pick me up, right now.

I’ll be at your house in five
,
Luke replied. Seconds later, she heard him think to himself,
Man, I hope she’s all right
. Samara smiled. It was the first time she had ever heard his thoughts when he wasn’t trying to communicate with her. She already believed he was her mate (or a possible mate), b
ut this confirmed it for her.

Samara switched back to her human form and pulled on the gray sweat pants and white hoodie that she had left laying behind the shed for her to change into. She also p
ulled her boots over her feet.

Glancing at the windows to make sure that no one was watching, Samara darted alongside the house. She crouched on the ground below her parents’ bedroom window until she heard Luke’
s car idling in the driveway.

“Hey,” Samara said, climbing into the car. “W
e need to go to Colby’s now.”

“Why?” Luke asked,
a surprised look on his face.

“I need to talk to him.
I don’t know where he lives.”

“So, that’s the only reason you called me. T
o take you to Colby’s house.”

Samara raised her eyebrows at him. “Well, wouldn’t you rather be there to hear about
how
my night pretending that I’m going to become a Vyka
went
, or would you r
ather find out about it later?”

“Of course,” Luke said, reaching over and grabbing her hand. His fingers were warm in comparison to own cold hands. “I alway
s want to be there with you.”

“Good. Now drive before my parents see that I’m in the c
ar with you,” Samara replied.

Luke sped out of the driveway. He drove a few blocks over until they reached a white three-story house with columns that Samara tho
ught resembled the White House.

“Wow,” she managed to utter
before climbing out of the car
. “Are you goi
ng to call him or something?”

“No,” she heard Colby say as he opened the front door. “I a
lready knew you were coming.”

“
How did you know?” Samara asked, shocked.

“I can hear your thoughts, remember? I heard the urgency in your thoughts. I was going to come meet you behind your house. By that time, I already heard you calling for Luke, though. So, what’s going on? I was kind of slee
ping when whatever happened.”

“Wow, you actually sleep at ni
ght?” Samara asked surprised.

“Not usually,” Colby admitted. “This was the first time in a long time. I usually try to sleep
in
between the time
school gets out until night.”

“I have a lot to tell you,” Samara said. “Do you think we can come in or will your parents
mind?”

“Come in
.” Colby gestured them inside
. “My parents aren’t home, but even if t
hey were, they would understand.
They’re werewolves too, remember.
Anyone from the pack is allowed to come in and out
of our house as they please.”

“Oh, good. It’s so cold.”

“Your body hasn’t adjusted yet?” Luke asked. “That’s kind
of strange, isn’t it, Colby?”

Colby shook his head. “No. I’ve heard of this happening
to other werewolves
before. She probably won’t get used to it until
she goes through initiation.”

“I won’t be cold anymore?” Samara asked. She hadn’t realized that being a werewolf would help keep her warm when
it was cold out.

“Oh, yeah,” Luke replied. “If anything, the problem is going to be during summer. You’re going to feel so hot from all of your fur as a wolf that you won’t be able to cool
off even as a human.”

That
might explain
why Grandpa Joe’s father
had wanted
to live in Alaska. Samara couldn’t imagine living in such a cold climate, b
ut then she had always wished she
live
d
in Florida or California or someplace warm. That would proba
bly never be able to happen now.

“Okay, so here’s what happened,” Samara said, sitting down on one of the plush couches. Luke sat down next to her.
“Jason started to get a little . . .
suspicious, I think. Even though we didn’t think he would. He wanted me to make a final decision about whether or not I wanted to be a Vyka. So, I told him that we could do initiation tomorrow night. Well, t
echnically tonight, I guess.”

“You did what?” Luke exclaim
ed. “Why would you say that?”

“Luke, calm down,” Colby snapped. “But, seriously, Sam, why
did
you do that?”

“I don’t know,” Sam
ara admitted
. “
He put me on the spot and
I didn’t know what else to say. It was just the first thing that came to mind. Oh, and he said that
he would tell me their secret of
why they’re the strongest pack on the night of my initiation.”

Colby tapped his hand against the
glass
coffee table, deep in thought. “Well, I guess that we can keep faking it. You can pretend like you’re going to go through with initiation and then somehow back out o
r we’ll divert the attention.”

“But how? How are we going to do that if they’re going to take a piece of her hair? Once they have it, there’s no turning back.
She’ll be a Vyka,” Luke said.

“My hair? Isn’t that a little lame?” Samara hadn’t been told what initiation would be like, but she had pictured it a little differently in her mind.

Colby scowled at her. “Samara, this is an ancient tradition of the Vyka that you’re making fun of,” he scolded. “That being said, our initiation is so much cooler.”

“What’s the initiation?” Samara asked, become more interested.