Black Magic (Howl #4) (6 page)

With her jaw still hanging open, she muttered an apology to Brad and, reluctantly pulling on her coat, followed Luke out of the restaurant.

Once they were out in the cold night, Luke turned to her and smiled. “Do you want to go back to your house? We could watch a movie or—”

“Or nothing!” Samara snapped at him. “You just humiliated me in there. I can’t believe you acted like that. I’ve given you no reason to not trust me.”

Luke’s jaw tightened. “I see.”

“So, to answer your question, yes I do want to go back to my house. You can drop me off at home,” she said, darting her eyes away from him.

Once they both climbed into the car, Samara crossed her arms in front of her. They didn’t speak to each other the whole way back to her house.

Chapter 8

Samara laid in her bed, wiping away the tears as they slid down her cheeks. How could Luke act this way to her? It didn’t seem fair. She had worn the shirt for
him
and only him—not for Brad or anyone else who might have been staring at her tonight at the restaurant.

Sam, please listen to me
, Luke pleaded.

She groaned.
No, Luke. Leave me alone. I need time to myself to think right now.
Deciding that she didn’t want to deal with him right now, she thought about how she didn’t want him to be able to access her thoughts. Immediately, she could feel a barrier in her mind go up, blocking Luke out like the Great Wall of China.

There was a knock at her door. “Sam?” her mom called. “Is everything okay, sweetie?”

“I’m fine.” Even as she said the words, Samara knew that they weren’t convincing, so it didn’t surprise her when her mom opened the door and came into the room anyway.

“Samara, why are you crying?” her mom asked, sitting down on the bed next to her and running a hand through her hair.

“I-I don’t know,” she replied in between tears. “Just a little argument with Luke. It’s no big deal.”

She wasn’t going to tell her mom too much about her fight with him because it didn’t really matter how upset she was over it, she was going to have to forgive him eventually. It wasn’t like she could break up with him or something. They were mates; they were in this for the long haul. Saying too much would make her mom start to question her relationship with Luke, and she really didn’t want that.

“Oh, Samara, you’re fifteen years old, honey. It’s only natural for you and your boyfriend to get into fights occasionally,” Mrs. McKinley murmured. “I’m sure everything will work out in the end.”

“I know it will,” Samara replied. “I mean, it has to. He’s my mate.”

Her mom hesitated. “Sweetie, are you
sure
he’s your mate?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be sure?”

Mrs. McKinley shook her head. “No reason. It’s just hard for me to understand . . . as a human and as a parent . . . how you can have a mate at such a young age. You have your whole life ahead of you. It seems like a bad idea to tie yourself down to only one person at this age.”

“It’s not like we get to choose who our mates are,” Samara replied. “Fate—or destiny or some higher power—decides it for us. But once we know, we don’t want to be with anyone else. It’s hard to explain, and probably difficult for you to understand.”

Her mom shook her head. “Actually, it’s not as difficult for me to understand as you may think. I understand the concept of soul mates. I believe your father is mine.”

“How did you know that dad was your soul mate?” Samara asked, glancing over at her.

Mrs. McKinley’s lips turned into a wistful smile. “I knew when no one else in the world gave me the same feeling I got with him when we first met. Even now, your father can still give me butterflies. Not all the time after all these years, but when he does sweet little things. Like last year on our anniversary, he played the first song we ever danced to. We danced to it all over again, and it reminded me of the very first time.”

Samara smiled. “I wonder if I’ll still have that feeling about Luke in years from now.”

“If he’s really the right one for you, you will.” Her mom hesitated before continuing. “Sweetie, I know you have a lot going on in your life right now, but I want you to remember that you’re only in high school. You have to focus on your schoolwork.”

“I do focus on my schoolwork,” Samara replied.

Her mom shook her head. “You’re not doing quite as well as you used to. I got a phone call from your biology teacher today. She says that you’ve gotten a C or lower on your past three tests. Do you want to tell me what that’s about?”

Samara shrugged. “They were harder than the other ones we’ve had, I guess.”

Mrs. McKinley raised her eyebrows. “Are you sure that’s the real reason? I was a little surprised to receive the phone call because biology has always been your strongest subject. It comes easy to you, even though I never understood how because your father and I are both pretty awful at it.” Her mom paused. “I thought you might be struggling, though. That’s why I’ve hired you a tutor.”

“A tutor?
Why
?” Even as the words came out, Samara knew how defensive she sounded, but it didn’t matter. The last thing she needed to deal with right now was a tutor. If it was going to be anything like the Spanish tutor her mom had hired for her in the sixth grade—a little old man who was more interested in teaching her curse words in the language than actually helping her conjugate her verbs—it was going to just be a total waste of everybody’s time.

“Yes,” Mrs. McKinley replied. “I saw an ad in the paper. I actually just got off the phone with him before I came into your room. He’s won quite a few science fairs over the years, and he seems to have a genuine interest in biology. Not that any of that really matters, though, as long as he can help you understand the material enough to get your grades up.”

“I guess,” Samara muttered, sighing relentlessly. She knew that there was no getting out of this. Her mother’s mind was already made up. She was going to have to be tutored, whether she liked it or not.

*

In her dream, Samara was chasing after Joe McKinley. They were both in wolf form, but somehow, she knew it was him; it must have been his white, arctic wolf fur which looked just like hers that gave him away. He was also swifter on his feet and had broader shoulders than Seth did while he was in wolf form.

She followed him to the other side of Starlight Lake, where he leapt into the water.

Her instincts told her that she knew how to swim even when she was in wolf form, so Samara followed after him. It became a little bit of a struggle to swim, as the cool water clung to her fur and weighed her down. She didn’t give up, though; she continued to follow her grandfather.

He dove to the bottom of the lake, and she waited for him to come back up to the surface. When he didn’t come back up, she felt herself beginning to panic. Was he stuck under the water? She wondered if werewolves could even stay under for that long without dying.

Just as she was about to dive in after him to attempt to save him from whatever was below the murky water, she saw his white fur break the water’s surface. Then, meeting her gaze with his fiery red eyes, he said,
Know your enemy.

Chapter 9

The next day after school, Colby drove Samara and Emma over to the new house. Samara still hadn’t spoken to Luke, and she wasn’t planning to say a word to him anytime soon. Just thinking about how he’d acted on their date the night before made her feel angry inside. He could wait for her after class and follow her around like a puppy all he wanted, just like he had today, but she wasn’t going to give in so easily.

Once they reached the house, Emma climbed out of the car and headed inside.

Colby turned to Samara. “Have you noticed if she’s been wearing the ring I bought her yet? Every time I look at her, she’s had her hands covered by mittens or shoved inside her hoodie.”

Samara shook her head. “No, I haven’t noticed, but I haven’t really been looking yet either. I’ll let you know.”

She reached for the door handle to get out of the car, but Colby said, “Wait, that’s not all I wanted to talk to you about in private. There’s something else.”

“What?”

Glancing at the windshield, which had clouded up from their hot breath, he said, “Luke told me what he did last night.”

“
He did
?” Samara’s eyes widened. She hadn’t expected Luke to tell Colby—or anyone else from the pack—what had happened between them the night before.

“Yeah, he came over last night. He was all upset. He feels really bad about it, Sam. I think you need to forgive him.”

She sighed. “Of course you’re going to say that. You’re his best friend. You didn’t see the way he reacted, though.”

“No, I didn’t, but I can imagine how he reacted. But here’s the thing. He could have reacted a whole lot worse than he actually did.”

“How do you figure? It was pretty embarrassing.”

“It’s natural instinct. A lot of werewolves kill humans who so much as look at their mates in the wrong way, Sam,” Colby explained. “It’s not uncommon to become territorial with your mate.”

Samara sighed. “I just don’t think I deserve for him to freak out on me just for wearing a shirt that I bought to wear for him. It doesn’t seem fair.”

“As mates, we’re prone to jealousy,” Colby replied, meeting her stare. “That’s just the way it is. At some point you’re going to feel the same way about him. If you can’t handle that, you’re better off just ending your relationship as mates and choosing a companion instead.”

“You mean, we don’t
have
to be together?” Samara asked, wide-eyed. “I thought mates didn’t have a choice in the matter.”

Colby shook his head. “Nope, you don’t have to be together.” He hesitated. “But, usually, we want to be together. Typically, nothing can tear mates apart.”

He climbed out of the car, leaving Samara sitting there by herself. She stared out the car window in silence.

Did she really want to give up what she had with Luke? Even though he had embarrassed her and made her feel angrier than she had been at anyone in a long time, the truth of the matter was that she didn’t want to be away from him. She wanted to be with him, even if that meant that she had to deal with his jealousy issues on occasion.

And Colby was right. She was bound to get jealous again eventually, too . . . and Luke was just going to have to deal with it when she did.

As she climbed out of the car feeling pleased with herself for forgiving Luke, Samara glanced up to see Chris and Kyana pulling into the circular driveway alongside Colby’s car.

Kyana climbed out of the car and ran over to Samara, a wide grin on her face that met her golden honey brown eyes. “My Papa is coming to visit us! He’s been recovering really well from the attack and now that he’s out of bed, he wants to come see me.”

“That’s great! I’m so happy for you!” Samara smiled, knowing how hard it must have been for Kyana to leave her pack, her family, and the climate where she grew up to become an Ima. Seeing her father, Orkos, might make the transition a little easier. “He’ll be staying here at the house, then?”

Kyana nodded, tucking a piece of silky black hair behind her ear. “Linda said it was okay for him to stay in the guest bedroom.” As Chris got out of the car, she added, “Papa said he’s coming because he wants to see me and talk about my decision to become an Ima. But he mostly came so he can get to know Chris a little better, since he’s my future husband and all.”

“Yeah, I get to become better acquainted with my future father-in-law,” Chris said. He sounded less than thrilled. Samara noticed that the color had drained from his face, and she wondered if he was nervous about meeting Orkos again. Normally, Chris wasn’t the type of person to get nervous, but maybe this was different because Orkos was his mate’s father and he actually wanted to leave a good impression on him. It was sort of sweet.

“Let’s go in the house,” Samara said, turning to head toward the door. “I need to talk to Emma.”

Kyana and Chris followed her into the house. Samara headed straight to Emma’s bedroom, which Emma and Kyana had painted ocean blue the night before. The furniture was still pushed to the center of the room.

Emma glanced up from the book she was reading as Samara entered the room.

“Hey, what are you reading?” Samara asked.

“Oh, it’s called the Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne,” Emma said, glancing at the title on the cover. “It’s about this lady who commits adultery and has a daughter, so she has to walk around wearing a red ‘A’ all the time as punishment,” Emma explained. “It’s actually really good. I can’t believe how cruel people were back in those times. You should read it sometime.”

Samara laughed. “I read the Scarlet Letter in English class last year. It kind of put me to sleep, to be honest. I didn’t know you like to read, though.” In all the time she’d known Emma, she hadn’t known her to pick up a book. Then again, that could be because reading probably wasn’t a ‘cool’ thing to do, and Emma was all about popularity.

Emma shrugged. Sitting up, she pulled her blonde hair into a ponytail on top of her head. Samara glanced down at her hands, and noticed that she wasn’t wearing the ring that Colby had given her. Even though Samara knew she shouldn’t have found it to be surprising, she did, for some reason.

“I’m starting to find that I don’t mind reading as much as I used to. And I don’t have much else to do now that I’m living here, anyway. It gets kind of boring at times. Kyana and Chris are so wrapped up in each other that they don’t have time for me, and Linda’s never home. I might as well focus on my schoolwork,” Emma explained. Sighing, she added, “I had to tell people today that I'm not going to be having a party anytime soon. It was kind of hard to do. They all expect it from me, you know? I hate to disappoint them.”

“If they’re really your friends, they’re not going to care that you can’t throw parties,” Samara replied, trying to seem sympathetic, even though she didn’t understand her best friend’s desire to please everyone just to stay popular. She sat down on the bed next to her. “Also, I do have a cure for your boredom.”

Emma’s ocean blue eyes lit up with wonder. “What’s the cure?”

“Why don’t you try getting to know Colby a little better?”

Her best friend wrinkled her nose. “Seriously? That’s the best you can come up with? No parties, fashion shows, or other cool events to attend? Just spend time with Colby Jack?”

Samara made a face. “Don’t call him that. It’s mean. And, look, he’s really trying, okay? The very least you could do is go on a date with him and just
try
to get to know him a little better. I think you owe it to both of you.”

Her best friend sighed. “Colby’s nice and everything, Sam. It’s just that . . . ” Emma stopped mid-sentence, and then looked over Samara’s shoulder.

Samara followed her gaze to the doorway. Kyle was standing there, Nuka at his side.

“Nuka!” Samara chirped excitedly, and the dog bounded over to her. “What are you doing here, girl? Did Kyle bring you by for a visit?”

Nuka was the Siberian Husky that had once belonged to Joe McKinley. Nuka was an immortal dog. Joe McKinley had given her an immortality potion that he’d gotten from a witch to keep Nuka alive. Even though Joe had wanted a pet, he didn’t want to get attached to one that would go on to die, while he stayed alive. Samara and the Ima had brought Nuka back from Alaska with them, and the dog had been living with Kyle and her Aunt Rae.

As the dog happily licked at her hands, Kyle explained, “My mom thought it would be best for Nuka if she lived here from now on. She’s already gotten so attached to Kyana, I guess because she and Orkos were feeding her every day. Kyana and Chris were coming over every few days to visit Nuka when she first got home, but that eventually stopped, and Nuka’s been missing her ever since. She’s actually been pretty depressed. I think she’ll be happier living here.”

“Aww, you’re such a sweet girl,” Samara cooed, ruffling the Siberian Husky’s fur. “From now on, you don’t have to worry about not seeing Kyana. She’ll be here for you every day after school.”

The dog opened her mouth wider, revealing her teeth in a canine grin, and Samara couldn’t help but think that she was really smiling because she understood.

“So, I just wanted to drop her off over here so my mom didn’t have to do it. I gotta bounce,” Kyle said. His skin had that happy glow to it again.

“Did Colby tell you at school today that we’re having a pack meeting tonight?” Samara questioned. She hadn’t let Colby know until the very end of the day, so it wouldn’t be surprising if he hadn’t seen or talked to her cousin since then.

“I’m not gonna be able to make it,” Kyle replied, shaking his head. His copper hair looked like it had just been cut, and it was slicked back with styling gel. He was also wearing a navy blue polo shirt instead of his usual graphic t-shirt or athletic team sweatshirts. “Have fun without me tonight, though. If anything important happens, let me know. I’ll see you at all school tomorrow.”

Once he walked away from them and down the hall, they heard the sound of the front door being slammed shut. Emma turned to Samara. “What’s with him?”

Samara shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. He seems really happy for some reason.”

“No, no. That’s not what I meant,” Emma replied, waving a hand in the air. “He’s normally really talkative and doesn’t shut up about where he’s going or what he’s doing. It seems to me like he’s keeping some sort of secret.”

“Kyle and I don’t keep secrets from each other,” Samara said, but as soon as the words left her mouth, even she knew that it wasn’t the truth. Her cousin had never told her that he was a werewolf, just like she hadn’t said a word to him about being one herself until she found out that he was an Ima. At the time, it seemed like it had been a secret worth keeping for both of them, but what if that wasn’t all Kyle was hiding from her? What if her cousin was still keeping secrets of his own?

Shrugging it off, she decided not to think about the worst. It’s not like he’d given her reason to think he was keeping anything important from her. Maybe Kyle really just had plans with his mom. Her Aunt Rae had to be lonely lately; after all, Kyle was gone most of the time and her husband, Billy, was always traveling for work. Maybe he was just spending time with her . . . or doing homework or something else that was really important.

Turning back to Emma, Samara said, “So back to the whole Colby conversation.”

Emma, who had made room on her bed for Nuka and was now rubbing her belly, rolled her eyes. “No, we’re not talking about Colby. I won’t be going out with him anytime soon. I might eventually, but to be honest, I’m not ready yet. So, please stop asking me about him before you really start to get on my nerves.”

Samara sighed. “Okay, I’ll shut up about it . . . I promise. I wanted to tell you about the plans for tonight’s pack meeting, anyway. I have an idea.”

Emma’s eyes lit up. “Am I the first person you’re telling about it?”

Samara nodded.

“I feel so special.” Her best friend frowned. “Of course, that probably means that Colby might be in on it, too, since he can hear my thoughts and all.” Emma rolled her eyes in annoyance.

“Here’s a secret. To keep him out of your thoughts, all you have to do is think about how you don’t want him to hear you. It works like a charm. Actually, he said you did once already, but you must not have known you did it.”

Emma closed her eyes, deep in thought, and then opened them. They were now filled with a look of relief. “Okay, now you can tell me!”

*

Later that night, most of the pack gathered around the coffee table in the living room.

Luke sat down on the hardwood floor next to Samara and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. She smiled, happy to be able to touch him again after the argument they’d had the night before. When he’d gotten to the house for the meeting, he had offered her a long apology, but she told him that it wasn’t actually necessary because she’d already forgiven him, and they left it at that.

Once the pack was all settled on the floor, she told them, “So, when we were packing up everything at Colby’s old house, we came across these old board games. One of them was this old werewolf Ouija board.” She pulled the game out of a plastic bag. “And then I had a dream about Grandpa Joe the other night. He gave me advice. He told me that I had to know my enemy. I know it was just a dream and it didn’t actually mean anything, but it really got me wondering . . . What advice would he actually give me if he was able to? So, I decided that we’re going to try contacting his spirit.”