Blood Moon (Howl #2) (20 page)

There was a huge blood stain on the black pavement where the trick-or-treater had been attacked
the night before
. The stain was big, and Samara could clearly see whe
re the pool of blood had been.

Gritting her teeth, Samara remembered, ag
ain, how much she hated Jason.

As they
walked
passed Kyle’s house and got to Colby’s, Samara noticed that there were a bunch of cars that she did
n’t recognize in the driveway.

Before they even rang the doorbell, Colby was swinging the front door open
. “Come inside,” he whispered.

Glancing into the living room, Samara noticed that there was a group of adults sitting on the sofa. They all h
ad solemn looks on their faces.

Before Samara had the chance to ask Colby who they were, Mrs. Jackson said, “Samara! Luke! Kyle! Please come into the living room. This affects you, too.”
Luke grabbed Samara’s hand and they stepped into the living room
. “What’s going on?” he asked.

“As you probably already know by now, Jason Masterson,” Mrs. Jackson said, with a negative emphasis on Jason’s name, “killed
an innocent child last night.”

Samara nodded, her mind flashing back to the blood-stained str
eet that they had just passed.

“This isn’t allowed,” one of the men who were sitting on the couch said. The man, who had blonde hair and looked really tall, appeared to be in his mid-thirties. “Not only is it completely uncalled for,
but it also puts us at risk.”

“A
t risk of what?” Samara asked.

“Of being exposed,” Mr. Jackson spoke up, eyeing Samara the same way he always did. “No one here knows that there are werewolves. Up until now, most of the people in this area also didn’t know that there were wolves, period. Now, the news reports are all focusing on the wolf problem. Before we know it, they’ll be telling hunters that they should try to kill the wolves because we’
re a danger to the community.”

“Well, it’s not like they can kill us unless they’re using silv
er bullets,” Luke pointed out.

“That’s an even bigger problem,” the blonde guy said. “They’ll be wondering why these wolves
won’t die when they’re shot.”

“So, what are you suggest
ing that we do?” Samara asked.

“We want you to kill Jason,” Mrs. Jackson said, looking over at Samara through her turquoise blue eyes
that were so much like Colby’s
. “You’re the only one who’s probably powerful enough to do it.”
“I – we were thinking the same thing,” Samara said. “The only thing that we’re waiting for is for Josh Masterson to become a member of our pack.”
“Josh Masterson?” Mr. Jackson asked incredulously. “You mean, Jason Masterson’s twin brother?”

Samara nodded. “He doesn’t want to be a Vyka a
nymore. Jason killed his mate.”

“That’s so sad,” Mrs. Jackson said, glancing over at Colby. Samara knew that Colby’s mom was thinking the same thing she was thinking; this wasn’t the first time Jason had killed someone’s mate. “What is the purpose of
waiting until Josh is an Ima?”

“Because there will be retaliation,” Luke said. “And there’s also a good chance that the Vyka aren’t going to let us fight Jason without a struggle. The more members of the pack we h
ave, the better off we are.”

“That sounds like reasonable logic to me,” an auburn-haired woman sitting on the couch next to blonde man said. By their closeness to each other, Samara was pre
tty sure that they were mates.

“All I know is this needs to be taken
care
of soon,” the blonde guy said. “The sooner you can get this boy on your pack, the better off we are. Is Jason allowing h
is brother to leave the Vyka?”

Samara shook her head. “No, but . . . we found in an old book of legends and myths that it was going to be possible for him to join our pack by making a sac
rifice during the blood moon.”

“The blood moon already pass
ed,” Mrs. Jackson pointed out.

“No,” Colby
replied
, shaking his head, his blonde curly hair
swaying
with it. “
The
other
blood moon, mom
,” Colby said, looking at each of the adults. “The blood moon that the witches cause.”

“Interesting,” the blonde man said. “I’ve never heard of that myth before. Let’s hope it’s
not just an old urban legend.”

Samara felt an unsettled feeling form in her stomach. She had been hoping that the legend was accurate, but what if it wasn’t? That would mean that Josh wouldn’t be able to join their pack. She knew that would break his heart. Samara also didn’t even want to think about what would happen to Josh if he couldn’t become an Ima. He might speak out against Jason because he was angry at him for killing Lilly and
end up getting himself killed.

“I’m sorry, Samara, I’ve been so rude,” Mrs. Jackson said. “Everyone here is a part of our adult Ima pack. This is Ted and Valerie,” she said, motioning towards the blonde
guy and the red-haired woman.

“Hi,” Samara said to them.

“And this is Duncan, Barry, Alex, and Alison,” Mrs. Jackson went on. Duncan had dark hair, Barry was balding, Alex had Latino coloring, and Alison was a pretty brunette who Samara thought looked familiar from somewhere. “Samara is the new Alpha for our youth
pack,” Mrs. Jackson told them.

“So I’ve heard,” Alex said, looking over at Samara. “That’s pretty impressive, but n
ot surprising for a McKinley.”

“Um, thanks,” Samara said. She was still getting used to the fact that everyone seemed to know everything about her family history – err, werewolf family history. “So, that’s the only solution you’ve come up with this point . . . conquer the Vyka?”

“It seems to be the only logical thing to do,” Mr. Jackson replied. “As Alpha of this pack, that’s what I recommen
d you, a fellow Alpha, to do.”

“Okay,” Samara said. “Well, thanks for your input. Now, if you don’t mind, I came here to t
alk to Colby about something.”

“That’s fine. We hope to see you again soon,” Mrs. Jackson
said with a smile on her face.

“You, too,” Samara replied before motioning to Colby to follow her out of the living room
. Kyle and Luke also followed.

Colby led them upstairs to his bedroom, which Samara had never been in before. She glanced around at the forest green walls, the Beatles posters, and the lava lamp. It was definitely the type of bedroom that she would expect him to have. Once he had closed the door behind him, Colby asked, “What did
you want to talk to me about?”

“Do you really think the Vyka are that strong?” Samara asked Colby
after they had made their way to his room.
H
e sat across from the
room
from her, gnawing on a chicken wing. He lifted the plate to offer her one, but she shook her head. For the first time since she had become a werewolf, she really d
idn’t have any appetite at all.

“They are very strong,” Colby replied, licking his fingers clean. Samara wrinkled her nose at him. She knew that she shouldn’t expect a pack of werewolves to have manners, but would it hurt to use a napkin? Then again, she had been guilty of doing the same
thing occasionally when she was really hungry.

“How much do we know about black fighting?” Samara asked. “I mean . . . can anyone do it?”

Black fighting was when a werewolf pack used black magic to fight. Samara didn’t know all that much about it or how it worked; she just knew that some of the Ima were convinced that Jason and the Vyka had been using black fighting to make themselves more powerful than the other packs in the area.

Colby met her eyes and said firmly, “We can’t do it if that’s what you’re getting at, Sam. If a wolf wanted to use black fighting, they could easily learn it. But if any of the other packs in the country knew that Jason was using it, they would want to have him killed. Black fighting is not respected because it gives those packs an unfair advantage over everyone else.” He paused.

“That’s exactly why we need to take Jason down before he does too much damage.”

“How does black fighting work?” Samara asked. “I mean, what do they have to do to make it happen?”

Colby shrugged. “I don’t know a ton about it because I’ve never done it. I do know that it mostly works through spells and rituals. I also read that black fighters need to make a human sacrifice at every full moon.”

Samara gulped. “So, you mean, at every full moon, Jason and the Vyka have to kill an innocent human for black fighting to work?”

Colby nodded. “Yes, from what I understand.”

Samara thought of all the people she knew on the Vyka: Jason, Josh, Seth, and Declan. If what Colby had said was true, they were involved in this every month . . . and they were okay with it? Just the idea of being on a pack where this type of sacrifice was a regular occurrence made Samara feel sick to her stomach and reminded her, once again, how grateful she was to have chosen to become an Ima instead of a Vyka.

“You just want me to kill Jason, right?” Samara asked, looking up at Colby. “You don’t want me to conquer the Vyka?”

Colby nodded. “We don’t need to conquer them. I personally don’t believe in killing other wolves unless it’s really necessary. We need to get rid of Jason. He’s dangerous to this community. I don’t think that the rest of the Vyka are that dangerous, though, so I don’t think we need to take over their pack.”

Samara frowned. She knew that what Colby was saying was reasonable. There was no reason to kill two people if it wasn’t necessary. In a way, Samara almost wanted to conquer the Vyka, though. It wasn’t because she wanted to expand her pack members or anything like that, but she knew that if they took over the Vyka, she would be able to talk to Seth and Declan again.
Not that things between her and her brother or her former best friend would ever be the same again.

“You had another question?” Colby asked her.

“Luke told me that it’s not normal to crave live animals,” Samara said, realizing that this conversation seemed a little pointless in comparison to everythin
g that was going on with Jason.

“I crave them, though. My mom’s getting a puppy, and I’m afraid I’ll be tempted to
eat it
.”

Colby raised his eyebrows. “You
seriously want live animals?”

“Um, yeah, except I thought that was normal,” Samara said. “There was a time when I was in the woods after a rabbit, and another werewolf came and snatched it away from me. I thought it was someone from the pack, but come to think o
f it, I never saw who it was.”

Colby sat down on his twin-sized bed. “I don’t know who it could have been, but I do know why you’re craving fresh meat.” He paused, glancing at Kyle and Luke. Both of them looked completely clueless, as though they had never heard of a wolf wanting to eat live animals before. “In ancient werewolf history,” Colby went on, “it was customary for a pack to bring back live prey to its Alpha. The Alpha would then get to eat whatever meat it wanted first and allow the other werewolves to have what it wanted second. If a werewolf was being punished, he or should generally wouldn’t be fed as much meat as the rest of the pack – and werewolves were sometimes rewarded with meat. I’m guessing that you’re having your meat cravings be
cause of your Alpha heritage.”

“So, you had meat cravings when you were Alpha?” Samara asked, assuming that Colby knew so much about this because he
had experienced it firsthand.

Colby shook his head. “No, I didn’t, but that could be for a few reasons. I mean, I obviously wasn’t even Alpha. I was just a placeholder
until your time came
. And I also don’t have an Alpha heritage that’s as strong as yours. My dad is Alpha, but he’s nowhere near as strong or powerful as your grandfather was. Those two factors, combined, probably have to do with why you would be more likely to
crave meat than me.”

Samara sighed. This was yet another thing that was the result of her family’s history. “So, what I am
supposed to do about the dog?”

Colby shrugged. “Try to stay away from it?” When Samara made a face, he said, “Just learn how to control your cravings. As long as you get plenty of protein, you should be oka
y.”

“Hey, Colbs?” Sama
ra asked. “Do you have a dog?”

Colby shook his head.

“That’s what I thought.”

Chapter 16

****

“Me and Troy are going to the movies tonight,” Emma squealed into the phone. “Can you and Luke come with us? We’re going to see the new Adam Sandler movie, a
nd I know he’s your favorite.”