Blood Moon (Howl #2) (27 page)

“I probably should have brought something to change into,” Samara said aloud. “If I have to kick some werewolf ass, I’d rather not be phasin
g with a Homecoming dress on.”

Luke laughed. “Maybe so, but changing into clothes might clue Jason in. We can’t let him know that this was planned until Josh makes his move. We
need to catch him off guard.”

Samara nodded. “W
e will. I know we can do this.”

“Me, too,” Luke replied. “With an Alpha
like you, we can’t go wrong.”

Doing what she had wanted to do all night, Samara leaned into him. Wrapping her arms against his neck, she pressed her lips against his, kissing him hungrily.

There was a chance that this could be their last kiss, that one of them could get killed tonight
, so she had to make it count.

Samara felt both of their
bodies light up like fireworks
as they kissed each other passionately. Even though she knew that she had to break away, that they had to get this show on the road, it felt like there was a magnetic force between them, holding them in place.

Finally, Samara pulled back and slid her iPhone out of the silver clutch bag that Emma had lent her and glanced at the time. It was nine o’clock. Only a half hour until this was all going to go down, and Samara had to be ready for it.

Chapter 21

****

When it got closer to nine thirty, Luke stood up and pulled Samara to her feet. Hold
ing her hand, Luke led her from the football field
to the woods that were
nestled behind Grandview High.

The forest was shadowed by the canopy of trees that it was covered by. It was well lit by the light from the blood moon.
She
wasn’t positive, but she thought that the blood moon shone brighter in the night sky than other full moons. Hopefully that was a good sign f
or what they were about to do.

Glancing behind the trees, Samara noticed that all of the other guys had already arrived and that they were all hiding. They all knew that there was a risk that Jason might pick up on their scents. If Jason brought it up, Josh was going to mention that the Ima had recently passed thro
ugh the woods.

“Come here,” Luke whispered, crouching behind a large oak tree. Samara ducked down beside him, keeping her eyes on the lit up clearings in the woods. She looked at the time on her cell phone ag
ain. It was nine twenty-eight.

At nine thirty exactly, Samara heard footsteps crunching on the old leaves that covered the ground, and a face appeared in between the trees. It was
Josh. He had arrived on time.

Josh glanced around, scanning the woods, and gave the signal to let them all know that he couldn’t see any of them.
She breathed a sigh of relief. They were all well-conc
ealed. Jason wouldn’t see them.

Even if he
did
see them
,
Samara
knew that it would still be okay. The members of the adult Ima pack that was led by Mr. Jackson were all hiding deeper in the woods, so that if anything were to happen, Samara’s pack would have backup. It made her feel relieved to know that they had protection, if necessary, but she was hoping that they wouldn’t need it. Hopefully, everything would
go smoothly enough on its own.

Samara heard the sound of footsteps again. Looking up, she noticed that Jason had cut through a grassy shortcut that led into the woods. He seemed calm and collected – not like his guard was up or that he suspected anything, which made Samara feel relieved. The longer he didn’t know they were there, the more likely everything would go according to plan. Maybe Samara was panicking over nothing; everything was goi
ng to be fine . . . she hoped.

Jason’s tall, muscular body was covered by the darkness of the trees that loomed over him. As the shadows crossed over his face, Samara felt goose bumps shoot down her spine and
the hair on her arms prickle up.

“So, tell me, Josh,” Jason began, smoothing out the black suit he had been wearing to Home
coming, “what brings us here?”

“I wish to become an Ima,” Josh replied. Even though Josh looked confident, Samara swore she had heard his voice crack. Luke placed a hand on Samara’s knee. She noticed that it was shaky and
covered his hand with her own.

“What?!” Jason asked, his voice rising. “Why would you want to do
something as moronic as that?”

“Because I don’t want to be a part of your pack. You and I are nothing alike.”
Jason scoffed loudly. “We came from the same womb . . . we share the same father. We were born minutes apart. Like hell we have not
hing in common!”

“Perhaps,” Josh agreed. “I’m not arguing that we share the same DNA. But we’re not
alike
, you and me. You live to kill. I am the opposite. I want peace and serenity. I want to be on a good pack . . . a pack with nice people
that treat each other like family
. I want to be
an Ima.”

Jason scoffed again, this time the moonlight reflecting against the anger that flashed through his nearly black eyes. “You think the Ima are good? You think Samara McKinley is
good
? Wait until she gets a taste of the power she’s capable of, once she sees what it does when it runs through her veins more freely than it does now. Samara McKinley is going to become power hungry, and then you’ll be grateful that you’re a Vyka. We’re going to stop this bitch – because that’s all she is, a female dog – f
rom taking over the world.”

Josh stood there silently for a minute, as though he were processing everything that his twin brother had just told him. Finally, he said, “No . . . you’re wrong.
You’re
the one who
wants to take over the world.”

Jason’s white teeth glowed in the moonlight as his lips twisted into a sinister smile. “And you’re going to help me do it. I’m not allowing you to leave our pack. You will not become an
Ima
.” The emphasis that he put on Ima made it sound like a dirty word, a word that he despised. Samara fe
lt herself gritting her teeth.

“What you don’t understand is that I don’t need your permission,” Josh replied, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out something that looked like a piece of paper – something that Samara couldn’t identify
in the darkness of the night.

“What is that?” Jason asked,
an annoyed tone in his voice.

“If you must know, it’s a family picture,” Josh replied. He tilted his head to the moon and shouted, “I sacrifice my family. In exchange, I wish to be granted the ability to lea
ve the Vyka and become an Ima.”

Samara held back the gasp that had caught in the back of her throat. She didn’t know what she had been expecting Josh to sacrifice, but she never would have guessed that it would be his family. Did sacrificing his family mean that he would never be able to talk to them again? Did he really want to never speak to either one of his parent
s again just to become an Ima?

Samara didn’t know Jason and Josh’s parents. She assumed that there was good in them somewhere, though. After all, Josh was a great guy. That had to come from at le
ast one of his family members.

Deciding that Josh couldn’t go through with this if it meant that he could never talk to his
family again, Samara stood up.

No, don’t say anything
, Luke hissed at her through mind-speak.
Let Josh fight his own battles. W
e need to worry about our own.

Samara crouched back down.
I know you’re right. This is just so hard to watch.
She knew that it was probably even harder for her to witness because of Seth. If Josh’s parents cared about him as much as Samara’s mom cared about her brother, this was going t
o be extremely painful for her.

“You
idiot
! This isn’t going to work! The blood moon has already passed,” Jason yelled, interrupting Samara’s thoughts. He laughed de
monically at his twin brother.

“Nope . . . you’re wrong,” Josh replied. Samara crossed her fingers behind her back, hoping that the old book of legends was right, that this would really work. “There are two blood moons.” Before he had even finished his sentence, a red cloud of smoke danced around him, as his body sunk do
wn and he morphed into a wolf.

It didn’t work?
Samara
asked Luke through mind-speak.

I’m not sure, but it doesn’t look like it
, Luke replied.

The red cloud of smoke was quickly replaced by a purplish color as it transitioned to blue – the same shade of blue that always circled Samara’s pack when th
ey changed from human to wolf.

I
t had worked. Josh was an Ima.

Now, it was time.

Chapter 22

****

Samara quickly changed from her human form to her wolf form. For some reason, the blue smoke that circled around her created a bigger gust of wind than it normally did, reminding her that she was Alpha. No matter what the outcome of tonight was, Samara was responsible for it. If she really didn’t want anyone to get hurt, sh
e could stop things right now.

Samara didn’t want to stop this, though.
They had to follow through with their plan.
Jason deserved to die. She owed it to Lilly.

Glancing around, she checked to make sure that each of her pack members had also changed to their wolf forms. Luke stood closest to her, his normally broad shoulders stiffened.
Kyle and Colby walked over to her, tiptoeing over the leaves that they crunched over, barely making a sound. Chris and Steve had both changed into their wolf forms, too. They all stood there, ready to fight and
waiting for Samara’s command.

Samara glanced through the trees at Jason. As they had all speculated, he wasn’t even paying attention to them. Jason appeared to be in complete shock over what Josh had just done.
Samara glanced back at the pack and nodded.
It’s time.

All of the wolves on the Ima
youth
pack formed a semi-circle and walked towards Jason. Samara wasn’t positive, but she thought that she noticed a look of fear pass through his nearly black eyes. It quickly passed, however, and Jaso
n was enveloped by a red cloud of smoke.

Once he was in wolf form, he glared at them.
I’m not going to let you get away with this. Do you think you can take any member of my pack that you want at your
own will?

Guess what?
Samara asked.
Josh doesn’t
want
to be on your pack anymore. He doesn’t belon
g with you. He belongs with us now. He’s an Ima.

Jason took a step towards Samara and let out a low growl. Samara felt a growl escape her own throat. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that Luke
was baring his teeth at Jason.

I should have done this sooner
, Jason said as he took a step towards Samara.
I knew that as soon as you initiated, y
ou were going to start trouble. I knew it from the beginning.

The only trouble I see here is you
, Samara shot back. She felt a feeling of nervousness wash over her body as she took a step towards Jason. Samara knew what she had to do, though – and she only had one shot to kill him while he was still unsuspecting of the Ima’s intentions.
If she didn’t do it soon enough, he would figure out what she was trying to do and kill her first.

Samara
felt a wave of nervousness wash over her body as she took a step towards Jason. Samara knew what she had to do, though – and she only had one shot to kill him while he was still unsuspe
cting of the Ima’s intentions.

Pushing her shoulders back so Jason wouldn’t know that Samara was really feeling unconfident, she tried to hold it together. She thought about all of the things that she had done, and she felt the anger flash through her body. As she stared into Jason’s nearly black eyes, Samara couldn’t help but feel her body trembling. She tried to control it, knowing that it would make her look weak – and she didn’t want to be the Ima’s weakest link. She couldn’t be; she wa
s Alpha, she had to be strong.

Samara wondered how long it was going to take for Jason to call the other members of his pack, how long it would take for them to get here and start using black fighting to rip the Ima to shreds. Samara quickly shook the thought away. She couldn’t think like that. She had to trust that their pack was strong enough to defeat Jason and, if necessary, the entire Vyka pack. Deep down, Samara knew that it was going to be a close fight, and it was all going to come down to her next move.