Read Online Not The Leader Of The Pack by Annabeth Leong - Free Book Online Page A

Six
    Two Council investigators stood guard outside Sarah Edmond’s modest ranch house. Even half-hidden in the surrounding forest, their presence emphasized the Council’s intrusion on Neil’s hometown and pack. He ignored them deliberately, and lifted his hand to knock on the battered front door.
    Before he could complete the action, the door opened and revealed Juli. He froze, his fist still in the air, staring into those eyes, bigger and bluer than the wide-open Montana sky. He should have smelled that she was here. He certainly caught her scent now, earthy and delicate, like new growth in Spring.
    Juli recovered before he did. “You have another visitor, Sarah,” she called over her shoulder. Nodding to Neil, she disappeared before he even caught his breath.
    Neil did manage to lower his hand before the older female werewolf appeared in the entryway, her coffeepot in hand. She still got as much sun as ever, her wrinkled skin a pleasant nut-brown tan. An elastic flowered headband held back wild gray and white hair, and matched her housedress. Silver stars embossed the sides of her bright blue eyeglass frames. No one could have presented a friendlier, more welcoming image, but Neil couldn’t summon an appropriate greeting. Most of his mind had spun off in daydreams of Juli.
    He wanted to kick himself. Considering the trouble he’d started, he couldn’t afford to be so distracted by Darrow Gunby’s daughter. She made him feel like he was twenty again, still a stammering kid casting about for the right thing to do.
    Sarah Edmond gave him an amused smile that made his face flush. “I assume you’re standing on my porch because you want to come inside? Though I’m pretty sure I’m not the reason you’ve got that look on your face.”
    Neil shook himself. “Yes, please. I thought I’d visit, since it’s been a while since I got the chance to see you.”
    The older woman dismissed his words with an impatient gesture. “I’m no fool, Neil. I know why you’re here. Come sit down so we can do this over coffee. And close your mouth. You look like a guppy.”
    She swept back down the hall and into the house. Neil waited another beat, then stepped in and closed the door behind him. Being inside Sarah Edmond’s house felt a little like being on one of the trails at the edge of town. She’d stuffed her home full of pressed wildflowers and other mementos of the outdoors. Water splashed in a miniature fountain to the left of the door, and Neil thought he recognized the rocks inside it as the kind found on the banks of the Clark Fork River. Beside the fountain, he noticed a framed photograph of Will Edmond, the werewolf who had been her mate until his death three years before.
    “Are you coming to the table, Neil, or are you searching my house for valuables instead?”
    Neil came to himself with a jerk. He’d come here to ask for the support of a well-respected member of the pack, and he’d started by behaving strangely on her porch. “Sorry!” Neil rushed into the kitchen to find Sarah waiting with two cups of coffee and a tray of thinly sliced roast beef. On the counter beside the sink sat a dirty coffee cup and an empty dish identical to the one on the table. He nodded. “You just had this exact conversation with Juli.”
    Sarah smiled slowly, the expression spreading creases over her face. “No conversation is ever exactly the same. Juli wasn’t quite so tongue-tied when she showed up.” She slipped her glasses down her nose and studied him over their frames. “You’re both good kids. I’m not going to get between you.”
    “Mrs. Edmond, I’m not sure if Juli filled you in on all the details of the dispute between us—”
    She made a sound of disgust and waved his words away with one hand. “Those fancy people from Lewistown have gotten into you, boy. You call me Grandma Sarah like you always did. And you tell me what you really want to say.”
    Neil hesitated, embarrassed by her criticism. Hadn’t