A Symphony of Howls

by Val St. Crowe

  “Oh, it is,” said Judah.

  Vivia turned to me. “Judah is the alpha of the Northeast Pack, Camber.”

  “Oh,” I said, giving him a different look. I could ask him all the questions I had about being an alpha, then. Maybe that was why Vivia had brought him here, to help me out. And here I was, thinking the worst of her. I felt ashamed of myself for my paranoia.

  “And Camber is a new wolf,” said Vivia. “Where did you grow up, Camber?”

  “Winville,” I said.

  “And you have a vampire sister, I understand,” said Vivia. “She was created under special dispensation from the king himself. So, when it comes to allies, Camber is quite well positioned.”

  I furrowed my brow. What the fang was that supposed to mean?

  “Your sister’s a vampire?” said Judah. “Really?”

  “Yes,” I nodded. “Her name is Desta. But I don’t think she really has any influence over the king. He’s, you know, the king, and she’s just a new vampire.”

  “Oh, of course,” said Judah. “Honestly, there is no allying with the vampires. They want us all dead.”

  “Well, my sister doesn’t know where I am,” I said. “She said it was safer that way.”

  Judah nodded. “Yes, that’s smart.”

  “Still, it could lead to something in the future,” said Vivia. “One never knows what might come of such connections.”

  Judah turned to her, bringing his brows together. “I think you’re trying to say something, but I don’t know what it is,” he said. “Can you just come to the point? Why did you invite me here?”

  I appreciated his directness. I had been wanting to say the same thing to Vivia, but I didn’t know how.

  “Well, it’s really quite simple,” said Vivia. “I’ve found her, Judah. Camber is your mate. She’s your female alpha.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  Judah was on his feet. “What?”

  “Do you really want me to repeat myself?” Vivia laughed.

  I was too stunned to move. What was this? The world’s worst blind date? She was setting us up? On the one hand, Judah was handsome and he seemed polite, but I didn’t know a thing about him. How was I supposed to be his mate? Certainly, we would have time to get to know each other before we made a decision to commit to each other.

  Judah shook his head. “It’s not your business to meddle in such things, witch.” His voice had gone lower. There was a threat in it, and now I could see that Judah was an alpha. I could feel the power radiating off him in waves. And what was more, it felt familiar. I remembered the night that the call had gone through me like a deep male voice. Had it been Judah’s voice?

  “Now, don’t be that way,” said Vivia. “I’m trying to do you a favor. I thought we were friends.”

  “You have been a business partner for the pack,” said Judah, “and we have been pleased with our partnership. But this is going too far. This is pack business, not yours. Furthermore, it’s my personal business.”

  “Um,” I spoke up.

  And they both looked at me.

  “I don’t really understand,” I said. “How am I an alpha? Are some wolves just… alphas and others aren’t?”

  “Yes,” said Judah. “It’s inherited, just like the call is. There’s no rhyme or reason to it, near as anyone can tell.”

  “And how do you know you’re an alpha?” I said. “And what if there are too many alphas and not enough packs for them? And if I’m your female alpha, does that mean you don’t have a female alpha of your pack currently? Can the pack exist without an alpha?”

  “That’s a lot of questions,” said Judah.

  I cringed. “Sorry.”

  “It’s all right,” he said. “I grew up in the pack, even though both of my parents never got the call, so it’s normal to me. But I can see why you must be confused.”

  “The alpha traits eventually surface,” said Vivia. “For instance, you would probably soon learn that you could control your shift. In fact, last night, when I was testing you, you almost shifted on your own. You have the ability to call the wolf on your own or to send it away. And when you are tied to your own pack, you will have a mental connection to all the wolves in the pack. You can guide them.”

  “You mean control them,” I said softly.

  “No,” said Judah.

  But I remembered what Landon had said about packs, about how alphas controlled everything. So, I would be the controller, just like Desta had been to Landon. I didn’t know if I wanted that. I swallowed hard. What if I couldn’t handle the responsibility? What if I hurt someone? Look what Desta had done to Landon. Hell, this wasn’t what I wanted at all.

  “Alphas are drawn to their packs, just as wolves are drawn to the woods,” said Judah. “If you truly belonged to us, you would have made your way to us. There is no need for interference.” He said the last pointedly to Vivia.

  “Oh, certainly,” agreed Vivia. “And if the woods weren’t crawling with bloodhounds ready to rip wolves to pieces, I’m sure she would have made it to you. But I saved her. And now I deliver her to you. As a gesture of goodwill and friendship. Trust me, Judah, I can sense that she belongs with you. If you give yourself the chance, the two of you will sense the rightness as well.”

  Judah turned to look at me, and his look was penetrating, as if he was looking under my skin. It made me squirm, and I didn’t like it. His jaw twitched, and then he cast his gaze elsewhere. “This is not your business, witch.”

  “Perhaps I sprang this on you in the wrong way,” said Vivia. “I suppose I thought you would take a look at each other and… well, bond, I suppose. But maybe it isn’t that easy.”

  “It’s not,” said Judah, and he turned to look at the door. “You have overstepped, Vivia. I don’t appreciate the encroachment. Neither does the Northeast Pack.” He turned to me. “Camber, it was quite nice to meet you.” And then he turned to the door again and strode out quickly, without a backwards glance.

  I slumped against the couch. I didn’t know what to think, what to feel.

  Vivia smiled at me. “Don’t worry. He’ll be back.”

  * * *

  I lay on the foot of my bed on my stomach. Sinead sat at the head, propped up by my pillows.

  “Well, I guess we’re not fighting over him,” said Sinead. “I’m not an alpha.”

  “I don’t even want this,” I said into the blanket. “I don’t want a pack. I don’t want responsibility. I don’t want to be able to force people to do things.”

  “I don’t think you can,” said Sinead. “Sure, alphas can influence the pack, but only in wolf form, at least that’s how I understand it. And it’s mostly for safety purposes, so that the pack can move as one, avoiding danger. I think it’s also useful for hunting, but werewolves don’t have to hunt their food.”

  I turned to look at her, cheek against the bedspread. “You know this for sure?”

  “No, I’ve never had an alpha,” she said. “But it can’t be that awful, can it? When I think of the idea of a pack, of an alpha, it gives me a sort of warm feeling in my stomach, like it’ll complete me. Maybe there’s a bit less freedom, but what’s freedom compared to love? Compared to family?”

  I sighed. “I don’t know.”

  “Look, you were attracted to him the moment he appeared,” said Sinead. “That must mean something.”

  “But I don’t know him,” I said. I sat up, stretching. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. He left and said that it was none of Vivia’s business, and I’ll probably never see him again.”

  “I doubt that,” said Sinead. “Vivia’s right about these things. She always is. You were meant for the Northeast Pack, and for Judah. And he was meant for you. It’ll all work out. I just know it.”

  I was not nearly so confident.

  I thought about calling Desta, just to talk, but every time I picked up the phone, I thought about her problems with the vampire king and with compulsion, and I didn’t want to add to her burden.

&nbs
p; The thing that I hated about it the most was that it all felt decided already, as if it was a choice outside of me. I was an alpha, whether I wanted to be or not. I was supposed to mate with Judah, who I didn’t even know. Sure, he seemed nice enough, and he was attractive, and maybe it was his voice that called to me in the darkness, but that didn’t mean I should have to be his mate.

  I wanted a choice in the matter.

  * * *

  For the time being, however, it didn’t seem as if it mattered, because Judah was gone. He’d left the house, driven off in his car, and we hadn’t seen him since.

  A day passed.

  Two.

  Well, it had all been a false alarm. I’d gotten worked up over nothing. I was relieved. So relieved that I didn’t even bother to mention Judah again to Sinead. Instead, we planned out a movie marathon of Dirty Dancing, Legally Blonde, Mean Girls, and Clueless during which we intended to eat all the ice cream in the house, which was a lot, because we had discovered a freezer in the basement with several tubs. Lots of delicious flavors, too, including mint chocolate chip and raspberry.

  The two of us were giggly girls about it as we were planning it out, both of us coming up with ideas and crowing out, “I know! We’ll make banana splits!” or “I know! We’ll skip dinner to have more room for ice cream!” and then dissolving in shared laughter. It was funny, because I’d never been a giggly girl with someone before.

  My friendship with Sinead was new, but I had slid into it, like sliding into a pair of well-worn jeans. It was as if we had always been friends, and we were just picking up where we left off. It was wonderful.

  I hadn’t realized how my loneliness had left such a big hole in my heart, but with Sinead, it was mended. I connected to her the way that I’d never connected with anyone else. I didn’t know if it was because we were both werewolves or if it was because we had been through so much getting to this safe house that we bonded over our losses. Whatever the case, I was glad to have found her.

  And I was glad not to have to mate with Judah after all, because I realized that being the alpha of the Northeast Pack would mean that I had to leave Vivia’s house, and I didn’t want that.

  Sinead and I had planned to watch our movies on the big screen TV in the basement, but at the last minute, we discovered that Vivia and Alan had a longstanding plan to watch football on that TV, so we were forced to relocate to the den upstairs, which had a slightly smaller TV. It was a fine trade, because we could shut the door in the den and no one would hear us giggling.

  Halfway into a shared mint-chip sundae covered in chocolate sauce and peanuts, someone knocked on the door of the den.

  Sinead paused the movie, which was just at the part where Baby and Johnny were balancing on the log in the woods, and we exchanged a glance.

  “Yeah?” called Sinead.

  I started to giggle.

  She started to giggle.

  “Uh, is Camber in there? I was told that she was in here,” said a male voice—a familiar male voice.

  I shot to my feet. Judah? And here I was pigging out on ice cream.

  Sinead was still giggling, although even harder.

  “Shut up,” I whispered to her. “Is there ice cream on my face?”

  She shook her head.

  I went over to open the door to the den.

  Judah was standing there. He was fiddling with the zipper on his leather coat.

  “Hi,” I said.

  “Hi,” he said.

  “You came back,” I said.

  “Uh… it was a spur of the moment thing,” he said. “I, um… you know what? Never mind. You’re obviously in the middle of something.”

  “Um, okay,” I said, confused.

  “Okay.” He nodded. And then he turned and started to walk away.

  Should I call after him? I wasn’t sure what the protocol was here. I felt bad, even though he was the one who had interrupted my evening.

  He stopped. He turned back around. He hesitated, and then he walked back over to me. “Okay, look, I came here to ask you to dinner tonight, which is crazy short notice, and it was a stupid idea, and I think I sabotaged it on purpose because all of this is insane.”

  “I’m, um, I’m not really hungry anymore. We’re having ice cream and movies. It’s a girls’ night.” I felt bad, but there was no way I was bailing on Sinead. I had been looking forward to this. We had planned it all out.

  “Right,” he said. “What about tomorrow night?”

  I hesitated. Then nodded. “Okay, sure.”

  “Great,” he said. “So, I’ll pick you up tomorrow for dinner, then.”

  “Like a date?”

  “Well, if we’re going to be… to do…” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “A date first would be appropriate, don’t you think?”

  I couldn’t help but smile. “Yes, it definitely would.”

  “Cool,” he said. “Then until tomorrow.”

  “Until tomorrow.”

  He leaned in and gave me an awkward, one-armed hug, which I tried to return, but couldn’t because I got tangled in his coat.

  We both laughed a little.

  I was blushing.

  He looked down at the floor. “Okay, bye, then.”

  “Um, wait,” I said.

  He looked up at me. “Yeah?”

  “Where are we going? I just mean, is it fancy? Do I need to dress up or…?”

  His gaze swept me. “Dress up,” he said, and his voice was very, very deep.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Sinead was putting dresses out on my bed. “So, we’ve got red, we’ve got blue, we’ve got yellow flowers, and we’ve got two black dresses, one short and one long.”

  I picked up the short black dress. “This one.”

  “I think you need to try them all on,” she said.

  “Um, this is the one,” I said. “It’s a little black dress. It’s perfect, right?”

  “Don’t you want to try the dresses on?” she said. “I want to see you in all of them and live vicariously through you. I haven’t been on a real date since I turned into a werewolf. This is huge.”

  I turned to her, biting my lip. “I kind of wish he hadn’t come back.”

  “What? Why? He’s cute. You like him. I can tell you like him.”

  “I don’t know him,” I said. “And, to be honest, I don’t want to go away and leave, not after we just started to be friends. I, um…” I looked away, embarrassed. “I didn’t really have a lot of friends before.”

  She reached out and grabbed my hand. “I don’t want you to go either.”

  I looked up at her, grinning. “I sound pathetic.”

  “Well, if you’re pathetic, I’m pathetic too.” She laughed. “I’ve been so lonely, and then you showed up, and…”

  We both grinned at each other for a minute, but then our grins faded, and we let go of each other’s hand.

  “You have to go with him,” said Sinead. “He’s your destiny. It’s romantic.”

  “It’s weird,” I said. “It’s like an arranged marriage. No one asked what I wanted.”

  “Well, I guess you don’t have to go with him,” said Sinead. “But you can’t refuse him because of me. Instead, what you have to do is go with him, scope out the pack, and convince some really hot pack member to come back and mate with me. Then we’ll be together again, and it’ll be awesome.”

  “That does sound awesome,” I said. “But I can’t even imagine leaving to go live with this guy. I mean, I don’t know anything about him. What if he’s horrible? What if he’s a serial killer?”

  She laughed. “He’s not. He’s an alpha wolf. I’m sure he’s a perfect gentleman. Anyway, that’s what the date is for.”

  “I hear that serial killers can be very charming,” I said, not ready to give up.

  “You’ll give him a chance,” she said. “You have to. He’s, like, your soul mate.”

  I picked up the dress and made a face at the mirror. “It’s not like I’ve been on that man
y dates to begin with.” Or any, really.

  “No?” said Sinead. “Why not? Guys don’t measure up to your exacting standards?”

  “More like guys don’t notice I exist,” I muttered.

  “Well, that’s just silly,” said Sinead. “You’re beautiful.”

  “All my life, it’s been as though no one really ever looked at me, you know? Like I was practically invisible.”

  “Try on the red dress,” said Sinead. “At least try on the red one. For me?”

  I sighed. “Okay.” I took the dress into my bathroom and put it on. I could only see myself in the mirror in the bathroom from the waist up, but the dress seemed to fit okay. It had a scooped neck, no sleeves, and then it spilled down into a long, full skirt. It was simple but elegant.

  I stepped out of the bathroom and looked myself over in the full-length mirror.

  “That looks great on you!” gushed Sinead.

  “It fits,” I admitted. “I’m just afraid it’s too fancy. I don’t want to look like I’m trying too hard.”

  Sinead tapped her bottom lip. “Maybe you’ve got a point.” She surveyed the dresses on the bed. “Okay, try the one with the yellow flowers next.”

  I picked it up and went into the bathroom, but I didn’t shut the door all the way.

  Sinead’s voice floated in. “So, when was the last time you went on a date?”

  “Um, never, actually,” I said. “I was supposed to go on a real date with my ex, Parker, but it didn’t work out.”

  “Why not?”

  “He dumped me,” I said.

  “Right before your date?”

  I emerged from the bathroom in the yellow-flower dress. “To be fair, he didn’t even remember that we were supposed to go on a date. We were kind of casual. So, he wasn’t a complete and utter jerk.”

  “Whatever,” said Sinead. “He sounds like a jerk to me. Why did he want to break up?”

  “I don’t really know, to be honest. I never felt like the two of us ever completely connected. I kept trying to connect, but everything on the other side of the fences was like that. Like things weren’t as real as they are here, or something. Maybe that sounds weird.”