“So, you’ve been hanging out with Kit a lot again?” His face was sad, but his tone was bitter, showing his conflicted his emotions.
“Just like you’ve been hanging out with Heather. Is there a problem with that?” Samantha retorted, equally as bitter. Pain flashed across Riley’s face and she instantly felt bad. She began to fidget with her new necklace and she looked away, “I heard that you tried out for the basketball team… Thanks for telling me…”
“You don’t tell me anything, either…” He sounded hurt that time and Samantha’s heart sank further.
She looked back up at him, “Did you at least make the team?”
He leaned against the lockers and touched her cheek lightly with his fingertips, silent for a moment. She looked away again, but he gently turned her face back towards him and he shook his head slowly, “I didn’t…” His voice was barely a whisper and he looked at her as though he was thinking hard about something.
“What?” Samantha finally asked, shifting uncomfortably under his gaze.
“What’s happening to us? Three months ago I couldn’t tell you a single day that I didn’t see you for at least a little while. Now we practically avoid each other…” He stepped closer to her once more and ran his fingers through her hair. There was barely an inch between them now, but Samantha didn’t step back.
She felt a twinge of sadness in her stomach. She looked away from him once again. He didn’t say anything else and just kept running his fingers through her thick locks. She wondered if she should call him out about spending almost every day with Heather, but she knew what he would counter with so she decided not to. When she looked up she expected to see falseness in his broken hearted façade. The pain appeared genuine and it dampened her spirits further. She wasn’t sure if she felt bad because they had been together for the better part of three years and she felt obligated to feel bad or if it was because she still had feelings for him.
“I think that we need to sit down and have a conversation about what we each want out of this relationship… And if we both still want to be in this relationship…” Riley’s voice broke as he spoke the last part of the sentence and Samantha felt the tears welling up in her eyes. Samantha simply nodded and he huffed when he realized that she wasn’t going to respond, growing annoyed with her apathy.
“Come to my house after school… We can talk about it then? Nobody will be home so we can talk in private…”
Samantha took a deep breath, hiding the panic that bubbled up inside of her. She wasn’t sure how she was going to get through school and sort out her emotions. She was distracted enough as it was worrying about the vampires and school was hard enough. How the hell was she going to sort out her feelings by the end of the day? The warning bell rang, and she almost sighed in relief; she wouldn’t have the chance to say anything more to Riley. She turned around without saying good bye, eager to get to her class.
“Wait…” Riley said frantically as he grabbed her arm. He spun her around and pulled her close to him, kissing her on the lips. He held her face with one hand and wrapped his other arm around her waist, holding her securely against him, not giving her any room to pull away. Her eyes fluttered shut and she instinctually kissed him back, wrapping her arms around his neck. He moved his hand from her face to her back, pressing her against him, running both his hands up her back then back down. He groaned and she moved her hands to his face, his five o’clock shadow prickly against her skin. She pulled away to take a deep breath, but then she froze.
Underneath his usual leathery smells was a faint but familiar smell of another female wolf. She felt instantly nauseas as she put two and two together. It was the same sickeningly, sugary, yet sweet perfume that had been on Kedar during the time that they had been fighting. She staggered backward a few steps as the epiphany hit her hard. It was the same perfume Heather always wore. She choked back the lump that was forming in her throat, unsure if she was more upset that Kedar had been with Heather when they were fighting or that Riley had Heather’s perfume all over him at that current moment.
“I need to go to class…” She mumbled, blinking hot tears from her eyes. She hurried away, wiping a stray tear that had escaped from her cheek. She didn’t dare turn back to look at Riley. She could only imagine the hurt or confused expression that might have been on his face, and it only made her feel that much worse about herself.
***
The school day was a blur. Samantha spent most of the day trying to make sense of her feelings. Did she still love Riley? Was she just comfortable with him? Was it ever really love to begin with, or did she think she loves him because that’s what everyone told her? She didn’t know the answers, and it was much too difficult to sort out while attempting to pay attention to the material she was supposed to be learning. All the while she had to also keep asking herself why she had run back to Kedar more than once. Was it some base, animal like instinct that drew the two of them together? Was it lust for him that was too strong for her to ignore? Or did they have a deeper, more emotional connection? Did she love them both? Did she love either of them? She decided that she needed more than a few hours to sort it all out, and she intended to tell Riley as much. Even though she knew it would hurt him it would be better to be honest with him then telling him what he wanted to hear.
At the end of the day she felt so drained. She got to her car and her phone went off in her purse. She rubbed her temple, but she checked it anyway. She had two text messages waiting for her. One from Riley and another from Kedar. She opened her phone, checking the text from Kedar first.
“Can’t wait to see you! Hurry here”
“Shit…” She mumbled to herself. She had completely forgotten that she had told Kedar that she would go see him after school. She hastily checked the message from Riley.
“Follow me to my house.” It read. Samantha huffed, it wasn’t even a question it was a demand. That frustrated her. If he was going to be like that he could wait.
“Forgot I have to do something I’ll be there in an hour or so.” She responded simply. All Riley had to say to that was ‘fine’. She groaned in aggravation, but drove to Kedar’s house, still very emotionally drained. She hoped that seeing him would improve her mood.
When she got to his house she let herself in after she knocked. He had gotten her a key a few days ago, so that she could let herself in whenever she wanted.
“Kedar?” She called as she closed the front door behind her. She scratched at her collar bone, her wool sweater irritating her skin.
Kedar called from the top of the stairs, “Wait there! I’ll be right down!”
Samantha smiled to herself, already beginning to feel better for the most part. She heard him rummaging through stuff upstairs and she took her jacket off. She hung it on the coat rack and she left her shoes next to the welcome matt. She sat down on the couch, waiting patiently and continuing to scratch at her neck. She turned when she heard him clamoring down the steps and she smiled widely as he came into view. He carried a little box, clearly hand wrapped. The wrapping paper was folded, crumpled and disheveled. She stood and smiled more, feeling his excitement.
He handed her the box, smiling, “Open it!” He prompted enthusiastically.
She nodded and sat on the couch, placing the wrapped box on the coffee table. She carefully unwrapped it, keeping the wrapping paper as intact as possible. She beamed when her present was completely unwrapped. It was a small wooden box with a rose and an ‘S’ carved into the top in a beautiful calligraphic font. There was a little handle on the side, so she cranked it. As she did the music box emitted a lovely melody, and she covered her mouth with her hands as tears welled up in her eyes. It was playing Debussy’s Reverie. She had played the song nonstop when she was painting with Kedar. It was her favorite song, and she had told Kedar that, though she hadn’t told him why. When she was little, before her parents died, her father would play it for her on his piano each night; the same piano that now stood in Melody’s gathering roo
m. She knew Kedar didn’t know that, but it made the gift no less touching.
“What’s wrong?” Kedar asked, reaching out and wiping her tears away, “Do you not like it?”
“No!” She exclaimed through her tears, “No, I love it… It’s wonderful. Thank you so much…” She wiped her eyes with her sleeves, trying to stop herself from crying more.
Kedar smiled at her, “I made it myself…” He said proudly.
Samantha threw her arms around him and buried her face in his neck, “Thank you thank you so much… So, so much…”
Kedar hugged her back as he kissed her head, “You’re very welcome…” He squeezed her tight and kissed her head again.
“Sorry I didn’t get you anything,” She mumbled into his neck.
He pulled away from her and cupped her chin with his hand, “Like I said earlier, you can be my present…” He leaned in to kiss her, but he stopped and moved her sweater away from her neck instead, “You have a rash…”
“I do?” Samantha asked, puzzled and looking down at herself.
Kedar moved her sweater more then he saw the chain to her cross. He ripped it off of her, the chain breaking easily, “Who gave this to you?” He growled.
“Charlotte did, as a sort of peace offering from Zach…”
“That bastard…” Kedar took his pocket knife from his pocket and cut into the gold of the necklace, revealing a silver interior. He turned it over in his hands to find that the gold plating on the back had begun to chip away; presumably from rubbing against the locket Samantha wore.
Samantha stared at the necklace, angry, “That lying sack of shit!” She snapped, standing up quickly. She was dizzy out of nowhere and she sat down, holding her head.
Kedar threw the necklace aside and sat beside Samantha, touching her face with his cool hands carefully, “How are you feeling?”
“I’ve been foggy all day, honestly…”
Kedar pressed his lips to her forehead, checking her temperature. She was admittedly warmer than she should have been. He sat back and caressed her cheek, “Stay here, I’ll be right back.”
Samantha didn’t say a word. She sat back and waited patiently for Kedar to return, closing her eyes as she leaned back. She could hear him rummaging through things; pots hitting each other, cabinet doors opening and closing. She leaned forward and opened her eyes. Kedar walked by the kitchen door with a book in one hand and a small glass jar in the other. Samantha leaned back and closed her eyes again, wondering what he was doing. Shortly after Kedar came back into the room and shook her shoulder gently. She opened her eyes and saw that he still had the glass jar, but now it had an off white, almost green cream inside. He placed it on the coffee table and helped her pull her sweater off.
The rash was much worse that what she had thought; she was almost baffled by its size. Kedar didn’t say anything. He simply rubbed the homemade salve onto the irritated area with gentle hands. When he was done and the rash was covered in an even coat of the salve he pressed his lips to her cheek lightly, letting his lips linger for a moment longer than necessary. He wiped his hands on his already grease stained pants and stood.
“You should probably rest, I don’t know if the rash was only topical or if the silver got into your blood stream. I won’t know until that sits on the rash for a little and if not I’ll have to make you wolfs bane tea, it’ll counter act the reaction to the silver, but you’ll probably get sick shortly after drinking it.”
Samantha simply nodded unsure of what to say.
“If you need to go anywhere I can drive you and then bring you back here later to get your car. Or you can just stay here for the night if you’re not feeling up to much,” Kedar offered.
Samantha shook her head. She knew Riley would be pissed if Kedar dropped her off at his house, and honestly she didn’t want to go see him. She was tired and agreed with Kedar, she should probably just rest until they knew how much damage the silver had done.
“I’ll just stay here, I don’t have to go anywhere. But please don’t make me drink any of that awful tea. Please.”
Kedar laughed and got back onto the couch with her, wrapping his arms around her, “Do you need anything from your house?”
Samantha shook her head, “No, I’ve got everything I need right here.”
Kedar smirked and pressed his lips to hers, “Perfect…” He crooned, kissing her again.
Samantha smiled and curled up against Kedar. She didn’t care how livid Riley was going to be when she never showed to his house. She would rather spend her evening curled up with Kedar watching television than arguing with Riley.
***
In the morning Samantha rolled over and buried her face in Kedar’s chest, wrapping her arms around him tightly. He wrapped one arm around her, holding her against him, pressing kisses into her hair. She sighed in contentment and cuddled closer, very happy to be laying there in his arms.
“Good morning, beautiful,” He whispered, kissing her head another half dozen times.
“Good morning,” She replied in a sleepy voice.
They laid there for a few long moments in silence. Samantha rolled over and Kedar pulled her close to him so that her back was against his chest. He kissed her shoulder gently and slowly, keeping her close all the while. Samantha felt herself drifting back to sleep, comfortable and happy.
“How did you sleep?” Kedar’s voice roused Samantha from her light sleep. He nuzzled the back of her neck, kissing her again.
“Great, what about you?” She asked as she intertwined their fingers. He smiled into the back of her neck.
“Wonderful, absolutely wonderful…” There was a long silence and then Kedar sighed, “We should get up, do you need a ride to school?”
“I don’t want to go, can’t I just stay here?” Samantha protested as she rolled over to face him again.
He slowly ran his fingers through her hair, “You have to go to school. Your education is very important.” Kedar said firmly.
“But Kit…” Samantha continued to protest, scrunching up her face.
Kedar kissed her on the nose, “But Kit nothing, you’re going to school. It’s extremely important, alright?”
Samantha sighed, “Fine, I guess.”
Kedar laughed, moving on top of her and tickling her sides, causing her to squeal.
***
After Kedar and Samantha showered and got dressed they stopped by her house to get clean clothes.
Thankfully Melody was still at the hospital. Kedar then drove Samantha to school, taking his time to get there. There was still fifteen minutes until first period. Standing in front of the school were Alex and Olivia, but Samantha had spotted Riley’s truck in the lot. Samantha turned to Kedar to say good bye and she smiled as he tucked her hair behind her ear.
“Do you want me to pick you up from school?” He asked softly.
“Actually, I’m going to be having Alex set up a meeting for at my house, so just go there around three, I’ll catch a ride with Alex or Jaden,” Responded Samantha as she leaned her face into Kedar’s palm.
Kedar nodded, “Of course, that sounds great.”
“I’ll see you later then,” She said. She unbuckled her seat belt and went to get out of the truck.
“Sam, don’t go yet…” Kedar said abruptly.
Samantha turned around but before she could ask Kedar what he wanted he cupped her chin and was kissing her slowly. She practically melted in her seat and she put her hand on his chest. The continued to kiss passionately, Kedar moving his hand to the back of her head tangling his fingers in her hair. She pulled away first, turning a light shade of pink. She took a deep breath and bit her lip.
“I’ll see you later…” Kedar smirked.
Samantha smiled, but she could feel Alex’s eyes burrowing straight through the back of her head and she could only imagine the look she must have been getting. She hoped out of Kedar’s truck and turned back to him, smiling again. He handed her bag to her, their hand’s touching for
a moment.
“Have a great day, Kit.”
“I’ll try… Sam? I’m really happy that you’re a part of my life…” His voice was barely a whisper and she could see the sincerity in his eyes. She had to ask herself when the last time Riley had said that to her was, and honestly, she couldn’t remember. Nonetheless, she smiled wide at him, butterflies fluttering inside of her stomach.
“Me too…” She closed the truck door and Kedar waved to her before driving off. She watched him for a moment and then she turned, trotting up the steps to Alex.
“What the fuck was that?” Alex snapped.
“It was none of your damn business.” Samantha scoffed and decided it would be best to just go straight to her locker instead of stopping to argue.
Alex, however, wasn’t going to let that happen. She grabbed Samantha’s arm and turned her around quickly, “You’ve got to be kidding me. I just watched you swab spit with some random guy that you met in the woods that you’ve got piggy backing on our pack meetings because he’s all knowledgeable about vampires and you’re going to tell me that it’s none of my business?”
“Yeah, basically. It isn’t your concern who I ‘swab spit’ with.” Samantha yanked her arm away from Alex, “And he isn’t just some random guy, the whole pack has known him for months.”
“I don’t give a damn, you’re with my brother Samantha,” Alex fumed.
“Fuck off, Alexandria.” Samantha turned and continued to storm away.
“Don’t walk away from me, damn it!” Alex followed her the rest of the way up the steps where the rest of their friends, with the exception of Riley, were waiting.
“Instead of concerning yourself with my personal life maybe you should worry about the fact that the necklace I got from Charlotte’s little pet was silver,” Samantha pulled down the collar of her shirt to expose the rash that was still marring her skin.
Blood Moon (Moons of the Wolf Series Book 1) Page 15
