Blood Moon (Howl #2) (13 page)

The look on Emma’s face told Samara that she didn’t want to be
anywhere
near her ex-boyfriend, which made Samara
feel instantly relieved
. “Yeah,
you’re right. L
et’s get out of here,” Emma whispered, as sh
e started heading for the door.

When they were safely situated in Emma’s car, Samara
let out a sigh of relief
. Not only did Samara not have to explain to Emma why she didn’t want to be around her brother, it was also a really close call. She was lucky that Emma had been with her at the mall this time because who knows what Jason might have tried if she had been alone and, ultimately, more vulnerable.

*

That evening, Samara was lying in bed, talking to Luke through mind-speak. He was trying to get her to tell him what the Homecoming dress she had picked out looked like, and she wanted it to be a surprise. One of the cool things about being able to communicate through mental exchange was that Samara never had to worry about either of her parents hearing what she was talking about – which was a lifesaver right now because Samara had just said, “I bet you’ll look hot,” when there was a knock on her bedroom
door.

“Samara? You have a phone call,
honey,” Mrs. McKinley called from outside the door.

Samara opened her bedroom door and gr
abbed the phone from her mom. “It’s D
etective Scotts,”
Mrs. McKinley mouthed to her.

Crap. Samara had forgotten that there was an ongoing investigation, and that she had seemed like one of Detective Scotts’ biggest suspects, even though he hadn’t admitted it to her yet. Maybe
that’s why he was calling now.

Once Mrs. McKinley had walked back down the hall, Samara p
ut the phone to hear. “Hello?”

“Hi, Samara. This is Detective Sc
otts. How are you doing?”

“Okay,” Samara s
aid hesitantly. “How are you?”

“
Fine, thanks
. Listen, I’m calling because I just wanted to let you know that you were right,” Detective Scotts explained. “I ran a DNA analysis on the hair that was found in the woods to compare it to the sample that you provide
d me with. It wasn’t a match.”

Samara breathed a sigh of relief. She had been
worried that some of her
DNA would be found on the hair from the woods since she had put the wig
on with her hands, after all.

“But,” Detective Scotts went on. “I do have some further questioning for you. I spoke with Lilly Phillips’ parents, and they seem to think that you were harassing her. They don’t know why or what was said. Do you know why Lilly Phillips would mention to her parents
that you were harassing her?”

Samara’s mind shot back to the weird conversation that she had with Lilly Phillips in the general
store. Lilly had told Samara
not
to
talk to her and that there was nothing that Samara could say to her that she didn’t already know. What had she even been talking about that day? Did it have something to do with Jason and the Vyka? Maybe Lilly thought that Samara was
already
a Vyka at that poin
t, even though she had no intentions of ever joining that pack.

It didn’t make any sense, though. On the night of her death, Lilly had warned Samara to stay away from Jason because he had “bad” plans for her. It made Samara feel like Lilly was on her side, if anything. Why would Lilly say
that Samara was harassing her?

Frustrated, Samara said into the phone, “No, I don’t know why Lilly would tell her parents that. I didn’t really know Lilly all that well. I only knew her because Josh Masterson was my cousin’s best friend. When I was around Lilly, we seeme
d to get along fine, though.”

Detective Scotts paused. “Are you sure a
bout that?”

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Samara replied. “We never
argued or anything like that.”

“Well, according to one of her friends, Lilly was afraid of you. D
o you know why that might be?”

“No,” Samara answered, beginning to grow annoyed with the detective. “Maybe this ‘friend’ would know why, though. That’s w
ho you should be questioning.”

Detective Scotts sighed into the phone. “I understand that this is frustrating for you, Samara. I’m sorry if it feels like I’m accusing you of anything. I’m not . . . I’m just trying to do my job and get to the bottom of the story. If you think of anything else – anything at all – that could be helpful to the investig
ation, please
don’t hesitate to
give me a call.”

“Okay, I’ll keep that in mind
,” Samara sai
d before hanging up the phone.

Sorry about that,
Samara told Luke.
Why do you think Lilly would have told people that I was harassing her . . . and that she was threatened by me?

I have no idea, but I know who would probably know,
Luke replied.

Who?
Samara asked.

Josh.

Chapter 11

****

I’m calling a pack meeting
, Samara told all of the guys
through mind-speak
.
Be at Starlight Lake in ten minutes
. Glancing at her reflection in the mirror, she ran the mascara
wand
over her eyelashes. She’d already done a smoky eye look using
black eye
shadow and had applied a light pink gl
oss to her lips.

Samara normally didn’t care about doing her makeup. On the rare occasion that she
did wear it
, she normally just slapped on some brown eye shadow and used clear gloss. Something was changing in her, though. Suddenly, she cared about doing her makeup – and while she knew that being mated to Luke probably had something to do with it, she also thought that it had somethi
ng to do with her being Alpha.

Samara felt like she had to impress the guys on her pack. She knew that some of them – Chris, in particular – still weren’t thrilled with the idea of having a female Alpha. Her body becoming more athletic definitely made her feel more confident, but she still felt like she had to
put in the extra effort
. Obviously, she didn’t want to try to attract them; she just wanted to win them over, and hopefully,
looking pulled together would help.

When Samara finished getting dressed, she climbed out her bedroom window and walked to Starlight Lake. Colby, Steve, and Lu
ke were already sitting
at their usual spot waiting for her
.

Taking her place at the center of the circle, Samara tapped her boot against the hard dirt impatiently. She hated waiting for people. Just as she was about to call Kyle and Chris to see what was taking them, they both walked toward
s her from the same direction.

Once they had taken their places at the circle, Samara said, “We have something very important to talk about tonight. As you already know, the detective who is working on Lilly’s case has been questioning me. According to him, Lilly was . . . talking about me before she died. She told her parents that I was harassing her, and she told one of her frien
ds that she was afraid of me.”

Samara glanced around at the guys in her pack
for a reaction
. They each stared back at her. Colby’s turquoise blue eyes were filled with worry; Luke’s green eyes shimmered in t
he light from the moon
, already knowing what she was going to say next; Kyle’s deep blue eyes were filled with a look of confusion, probably because he was the only one in the pack who had known Lilly well at one point; Steve’s chocolate brown eyes were full of intrigue. Chris’s blank stare was one that Samara couldn’t figure out, though. It was as though he was just waiting
for her to say something else.

“This is all beginning to make me look like a person of interest,” Samara went on. “And I can only think of one way to figure out what was going on
with Lilly
. There’s only one person who would know why Lilly was so angry at me, but . . . because of werewolf pack code of honor, I
’m not allowed to
spea
k to him in a friendly manner.”

“Who?” Kyle asked, a blanket of curiosity
in his voice.

“Josh Masterson. He was the love of Lilly’s life . . . at one point,” Samara trailed off, remembering that Lilly had told her that things had changed between her and Josh
in the weeks before she had been killed
. “He was also her mate, so he could hear her thoughts. If anyone out there knows why Lilly was scared of me, it would be Josh.” She paused, afraid of how the pack was going to react to what she was about to say next. “With your approval, I’d like to speak to Josh . . . in the friendliest manner possible. So, let’s take a vote. If the majority says ‘yes’, I’ll talk to him, but if you’re al
l mostly against it, I won’t.”

Colby twisted his watch around his wrist. “Usually, Alphas make these types of decisions on their
own, Samara,” he said quietly.

“Well, I want us to
be a united
pack,” Samara replied. “I don’t want to do things that the rest of you don’t agree with. So, let’s vote. Raise your hand if you are okay with me talking to Josh to find out
more information about Lilly.”

Kyle’s hand was the first to shoot up, which made Samara feel relieved. She knew that her cousin
still
sometimes hung out with Josh secretively, without the pack knowing. Samara didn’t mind, but she was going to have to have a talk with him soon.
She was fairly certain that he wouldn’t say anything, but s
he had to make sure that Kyle wouldn’t reveal any of their pack’s secrets to Josh because she didn’t want any
thing getting back to the Vyka.

Luke raised his
hand next, followed by Colby.

Samara glanced at the two remaining guys. Steve had a hesitant look on his face, as though he didn’t know if he should vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Chris, on the other hand, looked like his decision had already been made. He sat
in front of
the log, slumped with hi
s arms crossed over his chest.

“Well, the majority wins,” Samara said slowly, “but
I want to hear your concerns.”

“I’m just afraid about what might happen to you if Jason and the Vyka find out
that you and Josh are speaking to each other
,” Steve spoke up. “It will just piss them off more . . . which isn’t good because they
’re already pretty pissed off.”

“Okay, I understand your concern,” Samara said
. She actually hadn’t really thought about it that way herself, but there was the risk of Jason and the Vyka finding out
. “Chris? Why don’t you
want me talking to Josh?”

Chris looked at her like she was stupid for even asking. “Because it’s not allowed . . . and I suggest to the rest of the pack that if you do speak to Josh, we have you exiled. Why should you b
e allowed to break the rules?”

“Because it’s for her own protection,” Luke said, standing up. “If she doesn’t figure out what’s going on, the police might try to accuse her of killing Lilly.
If she gets arrested, then we’re left without an Alpha.”

“Good, then we can appoint
a real Alpha,” Ch
ris muttered under his breath.

Luke took a step forward with balled fists. “We have a real Alpha. Maybe you need to s
tart acting like a real wolf.”

Chris stood up, and Luke got closer to him. Just as Luke reached for Chris’s thro
at, Samara screamed, “Enough!”

Both of them stared back at her wide-eyed, as though they didn’t know that she was capable of
emitting such a loud scream.
It was the first time she had ever raised her voice with them, and it was also the first time she had ever done anything in which she’d acted like an Alpha.

“Sit down,” Samara instructed. “We’re not going to fight with each other. We’re a pack . . .
a team! We need to get along with each other. We already have enough people against us. We don’t need to be against each other, too.”

Luke sat down, remaining quiet and composed. As Chris sat back down next to him, he said, “For the record, part of the reason I voted ‘no’ is because I don’t think Josh will talk to you, anyway. He knows that you’re r
esponsible for Lilly’s death.”

“What do you mean? How am I responsible when Jason’s the one who killed her?” Samara thought back to Lilly’s funeral. Josh had walked away from her when she had tried to console him, but she had assumed that was because of pack ethics. She knew that she certainly wouldn’t want to be caught communicating with someone outside of her p
ack if Jason had been her Alpha.
Had Josh
really
walked away from Samara because he blamed her, though?