Blood Moon (Howl #2) (25 page)

“My mom also doesn’t want Billy to know,” Kyle added, g
ulping down some orange juice.

“Why not?”

“She’s afraid that telling him would be putting him in danger,” Kyle replied, shrugging. “I don’t know the exact reasoning . . . I’m guessing it has something to
do with Grandpa Joe, though.”

“Hmm,” Samara murmured. She was surprised that Rae hadn’t mentioned that she didn’t want Billy knowing that they were werewolves when Samara had spoken to her. What if Samara hadn’t known and had slipped up? She was just glad that she had thought t
o ask Kyle what Billy thought.

Samara definitely didn’t want to be the one to put Billy’s life at risk.

Chapter 19

****

On Saturday night, Emma brought makeup bags and ha
ir tools over to Samara’s house
. “We are going to get beautified,” Emma said excitedly as she plugged in a curling iron. “What shoes are you wearing?”

Samara motioned to the silver sparkly shoes in the corner of her bedroom, and Emma wrinkled her nose. “You should have gone with a bigger heel. Those ar
e only what . . . two inches?”

“Something like that,” Samara replied.
“I don’t mind smaller heels.”

“Don’t you want to be closer in height to Luke? He’s like . . . wa
y taller than you,” Emma said.

Samara frowned. “He’s not that much taller than me . . . only a few inches. Beside
s, I kind of like his height.”

“Whatever floats your boat,” Emma replied, waving the curling iron in the air. “Troy is a good height for me, I think.” Emma began curling a piece of Samara’s dark chocolate brown hair. “Aren’t you s
tarting to get bored of Luke?”

“No, why would I?” Samara asked, surpr
ised that Emma had even asked.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Emma replied, meeting eye contact with Samara in the mirror. Emma’s own blonde hair had been twisted into a bun on top of her head with a few curls hanging in the front. She had applied a shimmering light gray eye shadow that made her blue eyes pop, and there were clumps of mascara on her long lashes. “It feels like the two of you have been together for a long time already, and, to be hone
st, you’re kind of boring me.”

“How are
we boring you?” Samara asked.

“You just never want to do anything,” Emma explained. “It almost seems like he’s the type of guy who just wants to watch movies on the couch with you all night.
And it seems like he’s in control of you. Like he didn’t want to go to the Homecoming game with us, so then you didn’t want to go.
He’s not really into partying, and it doesn’t seem like you do anything all that
adventurous with each other.”

Samara laughed. The irony of that statement was almost funny. She wasn’t sure what could be more adventurous than being with a werewolf when you were in high school. “We’re fine. I really like him. Actually, I think I’m falling in love with him.” Even though Samara hadn’t actually said the words aloud before, she knew that it was true; she didn’t want to think about what her life would be like right now if Lu
ke wasn’t it.

“Well, that’s good, I guess,” Emma said, starting on a new curl. “All I have to say is that I’m glad it’s you and not me who ended up with him. I don’t think he’s my type at all anymore. He’s not as much of a
bad boy as I thought he was.”

Samara breathed a sigh of relief. She had always worried that Emma held some sort of grudge because Samara had ended up with Luke instead of her. It was good to know that she w
as accepting it and moving on.

As Emma placed a sparkly clip in Samara’s hair, Samara noticed that she was still wearing the ring. “You haven’t given Jason his
ring back yet?”

Emma shook her head. “I already told you . . . I’m not going to.” She held the blue ring up to her Homecoming dress. “Besides, doesn’t the ring match my dress perfectly?”

Samara shrugged. She didn’t think that that the blue sparkly sapphire ring matched the periwinkle dress that well, but her opinion was probably clouded by the fact that the ring
had belonged to Jason.

After Emma finished curling Samara’s hair, Samara changed into her royal purple dress and glanced at herself in the mirror. This was the first time she had ever gone to a dance and, with the exception of Aunt Rae’s wedding, which she had gone to dateless, it was the first time she had gotten so dressed u
p.

Even Samara had to ad
mit that the results were good.

When the doorbell rang, Samara was expecting it to be Luke; she was surprised to find Troy standing in the doorway. He gave Samara a sh
eepish smile. “May I come in?”

“Sure,” Samara said hesitantly, opening the door wide enough to let him in. Emma was still in Samara’s bedroom fixing her lip gloss, and for some reason, it made Samara
nervous to be alone with Troy.

Just as Samara was about to tell Emma that Troy was here, he yanked her wrist. “I just want to tell you that I
know who you are,” Troy said.

“Oh,” Samara replied, surprised that Troy was ad
mitting it aloud. “Umm, okay.”

“My cousin, Rocco . . . he’s told me all about you. He says you’re
a little stubborn,” Troy said.

Samara shrugged. “I don’t think I’m stubborn. I just
know what pack I want to be on
, and I’m not going to take orders from Rocco – or
anyone else, for that matter.”

Troy glared at Samara, and suddenly, she couldn’t help but feel like his hazel eyes weren’t as warm and friendly as they had been when she first met him. Did he have a problem with her, or was he just another person who wanted her on his pack just
because Rocco wanted her, too?

Either way, Samara was relieved
when the doorbell rang again.

This time, it was Luke. As she looked out the window, she told him,
Tr
oy’s not as good as I thought.

I heard the whole conversation,
Luke replied.
I think we both just need to stay away from him tonight as much as we can.

I’m afraid for Emma,
Samara protested.
Do you think he’ll try to hurt her if she does something to annoy him?

Probably not. It’s usually only pups or crazy wolves who can’t keep their anger under control,
Luke replied.

“Are you going to open the door?” Troy asked from behind her, his thick brown eyebrows raise
d.

“Uh huh,” Samara replied, as she turned the doorknob. When Luke stepped inside, he circled a corsage around her wrist. It was made up of two royal purple lilies that matched her dress and a white rose, along with tiny yellow flowers that Samara couldn’
t identify.

“You lo
ok beautiful,” Luke whispered.

“Thank you,” Samara r
eplied, staring into his eyes.

“Well, let’s get this show on the road,” Emma said, as
she walked into Samara’s living room to join them
. “The limo’s already here,” she said, pointing to the black limo tha
t had pulled into the driveway.

Troy wrapped his arm around Emma’s waist. Emma grinned at
Samara. “Are you guys ready?”

Samara nodded, her curls bouncing over her s
houlders. “Yeah, we’re ready.”

As Emma stepped outside, she noticed the corsage that
Samara was wearing around her
wrist. She turned to Troy. “Why
didn’t you get me a corsage?”

“I didn’t know I ha
d to,” Troy said, shrugging. “Oh
well.
Sorry.” He slid into the limo.

Shrugging, Emma
slid into the limo behind him.

It doesn’t seem like he cares about her that much,
Luke said, as though he were reading Samara’s mind, as they both climbed into the limo.

It makes me wonder wh
y he’s dating her in the first place
,
Samara agreed.

Emma must have picked up on the same thing – that or she was annoyed that Troy hadn’t thought to get her a corsage – because she didn’t say a
single
word t
hroughout the whole
ride to the school.

Once they arrived at school, they all climbed out of the limo, and Luke and Samara followed Troy and Emma into the gymnasium, where the dance was taking
place.

Samara took in the white streamers that hung from the ceiling, the blue and white balloons that floated in the air, and the Eiffel tower that had been designed from Christmas tree lights. The Homecoming theme this year had been “Around the World,” so each float had been designed to look like a certain count
ry, and the dance had been decorated to resemble
Paris, the most romantic of the cou
ntries that had been assigned.

We should go to Paris one day,
Luke said, as he le
d Samara onto the dance floor.

Samara smiled as she wr
apped her arms around his neck.
Really? You want to go to Paris someday, too?

I want to go anywhere you want to go,
Luke replied.
Paris is a city of love, though, so of course I’d love to go there with you.

Samara rested her head on his shoul
d
er as they began swaying back and forth to
the beat of a Bruno Mars song.

I’m glad that you chose to be an Ima,
Luke told her, tucking a curl behind her ear.
I don’t know if I’ve ever told you that before.

I’m not sure if you have
either
,
Samara replied hesitantl
y.

Luke wrapped his arms around her waist.
Well, I am. I’m glad
that you chose to be with me.

Me too,
Samara replied. For some reason, she saw Declan’s face flash through her mind and, quickly, thought about how she wanted to block Luke from her thoughts. Why was she thinking about Declan again? Did she have feelings for him still? No, that couldn’t be, Samara thought, quickly shaking the thought away. That wasn’t even
possible. She had a mate now.

It had to just be that Samara was missing her best friend. She missed Seth, too – even though she didn’t think about her brother nearly as often as Declan. It was probably because it upset her that
Declan
was intentionally shutting
her
out, even going to the extent of changing his phone number. Did he hate her n
ow?

Samara thought about how she might
never really know the answer.

Glancing out of the corner of her eye, Samara saw a mess of
blonde hair in their direction.

“Hey, lovebirds,” Colby said, punchi
ng Luke on the shoulder a bit.

“We’re here,” Chris said, coming up from behind him. “I’m gonna go start looking for some lad
ies, though, until it’s time.”

Samara giggled. “You mean to tell me that the Captain of the basketball team came
to Homecoming without a date?”

Chris shrugged and grinned at her. “There were so many options
. I didn’t know who to bring.”

Samara rolled her eyes.

“Does anyone know if Josh is here yet?” Steve wh
ispered as he approached them.

“I haven’t seen him,” Luke replied. “I’
m sure he’ll be here, though.”

“What about Jason?” Colby asked
. “I haven’t spotted him yet.”

“Jason’s not about to miss out on Homecoming,” Samara pointed out. “He might be one of us, but he also wants to be popular . . . and no popular boy
is going to miss out on this.”

“I’ll just feel better once we see them both,” Kyle said. Samara picked up on the worry in his voice, and she knew that he was just afraid about what was goin
g to happen tonight as she was.

“Just relax, guys,” Samara said, trying to sound like the strong one. If their Alpha wasn’t convinced that this plan was going to work, how could they be supportive of the idea? “I’m sur
e they’ll both get here soon.”

The guys all agreed and walked away from them. Samara noticed that Chris was already talking to, not just one, but, two girls in the corner of the room. She had to laugh. It felt
good to be able to joke with Chris now that he had accepted her as his Alpha
.

As an upbeat song came on, Luke untangled himself from her body, and they began dancing next to each other. Glancing at the center of the dance floor,
Samara
stifled a giggle. “Look!”