Not The Leader Of The Pack (4 page)

Chapter Three

Juli tossed the keys to her childhood home from one hand to the other and stared at the structure before her. Wooden siding, simple storm windows, and a closely trimmed lawn. It didn’t look like much from the outside, but she knew how carefully her father had always kept the inside. She still hesitated before fitting the key to the lock.

She hadn’t been inside in years. Worse, Neil lived in the guest room—her father had put him up the last few years, knowing he made a tiny salary with his rookie-level Minor League team. If she’d had the money, she would have stayed in her motel room just to avoid any further encounters. Unfortunately, the pack had decided that any transfer of leadership would have to wait until a formal meeting could be called, and Werewolf Council regulations required two weeks advance notice for those. She couldn’t stand to watch her credit card bill climb any higher while she waited that out and navigated the paperwork associated with her father’s death. She truly had every right to be here—even Neil couldn’t dispute her claim to her father’s house.

Darrow Gunby had made neat preparations for his death, burial, and estate. Another sign he’d known what was coming. Maybe he’d even planned to tell her if he’d had the chance to talk to her in person.

She sucked on a fingertip, restraining the urge to bite a fingernail. Her recent habit of painting them with clear nail polish seemed to be helping.

Juli imagined how ridiculous she looked shifting from foot to foot on the front lawn. Fed up with herself, she opened the door and went in, shouldering her overnight bag. At the very least, she needed to use her father’s washing machine.

“Neil?” She called the beta’s name several times, loudly, and went weak with gratitude when no one answered. She had actually come on to him again the other night in his truck, and then been offended when he said he hadn’t planned to seduce her. What would it take to get it through her head that Neil Statham just didn’t like her that way, and probably not at all? He didn’t consider her fit to lead the pack, and, even in the Minor League, a pro baseball player probably had his pick of groupies. He had no use for her, and she hoped to see him as little as possible from here on out.

Juli locked the door behind her, and paused to survey the old house. It smelled of pine and window cleaner, and she had to crack a smile. Death was probably the only thing in the world that could force her father to tolerate dirty glass. No matter how bad he’d been feeling, he obviously hadn’t compromised his housecleaning standards at all.

She headed for her old room, holding down her emotions as sternly as she could. By now, her father had probably converted her bedroom into a giant display case for his hunting trophies. She’d given him no reason to do otherwise. With a deep breath, she swung open the door, only to gasp and start shifting uncontrollably as a wave of unexpected grief hit her.

Juli fell to her knees and wrestled within herself for control.

Everything was as she’d left it, except for a new cork board on the wall above the bed. Not a single speck of dust had been allowed to settle here. Her father must have come in here every day, right up to the end. Her every possession had been preserved and lovingly kept clean and ready. Hunting knives and the shotgun she’d used when he took her on trips with him. Her collection of Gray’s Anatomy DVDs. Programs from the annual wildlife film festival downtown, which she’d attended every year from age 8 until she left.

If all that hit her hard, the cork board packed even greater effect. She hadn’t written a paper letter home, so he’d printed out her e-mails, even the ones where she’d only given him a few terse lines. They’d been pinned up beside a large print of her college graduation photo. He hadn’t attended that event as far as she knew. She had no idea how he’d gotten a photo of it, much less that he’d wanted one.

At that moment, her cell phone rang. Juli groaned. She needed hands to answer that, not paws. Squeezing her eyes shut, she counted rapidly, then reached into her purse. Her hands still felt furry, but at least she’d managed opposable thumbs. She lifted the phone out, then gulped when she saw her boss’s image displayed on the screen.

“Gabriel! I’ve been trying to call about getting emergency leave. Sorry I haven’t been able to—”

He cut her off neatly. “Never mind about the leave. What’s this about you taking over the Missoula pack?”

She caught her breath. That she had not yet discussed with her employer. “Where did you hear that?” The hand holding the cell phone shook. Neil must have made good on his threat.

“From the formal complaint on my desk, Juli. Let’s not play games.”

“Of course.” She eased herself off the floor and headed for the bed. The familiar scent and feel of the bedspread still comforted her after all these years. The patches of fur on her body began to recede. Good. She desperately needed a clear head to speak to Gabriel. She could swear that man could see through the phone—he always seemed to pick up on any turmoil she tried to hide.

He cleared his throat, then spoke with impatience in his voice. “I’m waiting for your explanation, Juli.”

She rolled all the way back on the bed and stretched out at full length. Her father had even fluffed the pillow recently. Tears stung her eyes, but she collected herself to describe the situation to Gabriel. Of course, she left out the part about half-shifting all the time, and also the part about hitting on the beta she’d been crushing on since her preteen years. She told him everything else.

“I see,” he said when she’d finished, and she cringed at the disapproval the two words held. Gabriel terrified her. She’d seen him reduce the fiercest alphas to puppy whimpers. “Of course, it was improper for the beta to suggest the two of you alter the story of Darrow Gunby’s death. My opinion of him drops for that, certainly. But I must remind you of your duties in Lewistown.” He paused for a moment. “Council investigators could certainly come up with plenty of loopholes that would allow you to pass responsibility for the pack to Neil Statham legally, and our records show he is well-liked by the rank and file.”

Juli gaped at the phone. Her shock caused her to respond without thinking. “Gabriel! How is that any different from what Neil offered me?”

He took her outburst in stride. “It doesn’t involve lying.”

“It does involve bending the rules to suit everyone’s convenience. No! My father was the sharpest man in the Northwest. He knew what he was doing. I’m not going to just stomp all over that, no matter what the personal cost to me.”

“A sense of honor is noble, Juli, but it’s for misguided alphas, not sober investigators.”

Oh Lord, there went the fur again. “Misguided?” She repeated the word into the phone, wincing at the growl that came with it.

“The sort of werewolf who allows gut instinct to cloud her mind to the view from above,” Gabriel returned coolly. “Too feral. Too bestial.”

“Too alpha,” Juli finished for him. For all that Gabriel loved cowing alphas, she knew he loathed unchecked emotion and most other signature werewolf traits. He shifted once a month for full-moon exemption, but she’d heard rumors that he took lycanthropy suppressants the rest of the time. She didn’t need rumors to know his opinion of werewolves who had trouble controlling the shift. She’d heard his insults firsthand plenty of times herself. She sat up straight on the bed, suddenly envisioning a new kind of life for herself. “Maybe I’m not a sober investigator, Gabriel. Maybe my father was right about what I am.”

He blew air into the phone, and she could just see his upraised eyes and carefully folded fingers. “Juli, you’re a talented investigator. Your skill with forensics truly shows promise. I’ve been discussing the possibility of funding additional education for you along those lines. There’s plenty of important work that you could do in Lewistown. You could make a real contribution to the future of our kind.”

She sighed. Just a few weeks ago, her heart would have leapt to hear words like that from her stern and exacting boss. Her father’s death had shifted her perspective on everything, it seemed. “I’m sorry. I’m going to need to put in my resignation in order to accept the duty my father passed on to me. I’ll get the official paperwork to you by the end of the week. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the opportunity you gave me, and your confidence in and support of my abilities.” She spoke without hesitation. A part of her watched from the ceiling in disbelief. Had she really just quit her job with the Council? After everything she had sacrificed to get it, and all the battles she’d fought with her father?

Juli fingered her perfectly laundered bedspread and smiled. For all the tension between them, her father had apparently known exactly how to get her on his side when it really counted. She wouldn’t let him down.

Gabriel had launched into the formal language regulations required him to speak in this situation. She’d given up her pack to become part of the Council, and her pack bore no obligation to accept her return. Investigative privileges were revoked immediately, but her health insurance would last through the end of the month. Those details were only the beginning. She waited through the speech, giving formal acknowledgment of her understanding where necessary.

When they’d gotten through all that, Gabriel paused. “Juli, are you certain I can’t change your mind? This situation promises to get extraordinarily unpleasant. Disputing for leadership of a pack when there’s a popular candidate from within is always a thankless affair.”

She spoke coldly, and with a confidence she couldn’t remember feeling for a very long time. “I understand completely.”

“Then we’ll send investigators and get this underway.”

Juli hung up the phone and sighed. Frankly, she could use a nap right here. Any respite she might hope for, however, shattered with the sound of a key turning the lock in the front door. Juli lay as quiet and still as she could, praying that Neil would not bother to notice her presence. No such luck.

“Juli! Just the girl I wanted to see!” His hypnotic scent entered the room before he did, with just enough of a lead to get every single one of her nerve endings stimulated in anticipation of his arrival. Neil swung into her bedroom a moment later, smiling as if he didn’t have a care in the world. She stared, confused at the change in his attitude toward her.

“How are you, Neil?” Juli adjusted her posture stiffly. She felt wooden, numb, and awkward, unable to remember any method of sitting that felt at all natural.

“I’m good.” He plopped at the foot of the bed. “I want you to come out with me tonight.” His voice held a subtle smolder. Juli’s body flooded with hormones, a situation that was all the more humiliating since she knew he could probably smell it.

Had he been hit on the head? “Go out with you? Like on a date?” Jeez. Only a glutton for punishment would put out so many invitations for rejection.

A shadow flickered over his face. “Not a date.”

Of course not. Juli rubbed the heel of her hand over her eyes. “Then what?”

He shrugged. “Just to talk. Please, Juli. Things got out of hand the other night. I don’t want us at each other’s throats.”

What an apt choice of metaphor. She studied him. The squint lines around his eyes from long hours out on the baseball diamond made him look older than he was, but in fact he only had two years on her. He probably had as little idea of what to do at any given moment as she did. If he wanted to make up, maybe she should give him the benefit of the doubt. Besides, if she had even the barest chance of talking him into retracting his formal complaint, it would be worth it, for the sake of herself, him, and every other werewolf in Missoula.

Juli knew all too well what it would mean if Council investigators came swooping in. She forced a smile. “Sure. Let’s go out.”

Chapter Four

Neil thanked God for small mercies—so far, Juli hadn’t commented on the sorry state of his truck. The ancient hunk of metal literally creaked as he parked it just south of the Wilma. The theater’s old-time marquee lit the night, but not as much as the carousel just beyond in Caras Park.

He barely suppressed a grin as he surveyed the hokey old downtown attraction, but Juli’s reaction couldn’t have been more different. “You brought me here?” The shriek in her voice hurt the upper ranges of his hearing, and he gave a little dog whine to let her know.

“What’s the problem?” He kept his face innocent, though he knew damn well why she objected. He’d chosen this place specifically because of the history they had here.

She growled in reply. He wondered if she knew how frequently the wolf in her slipped out since she’d come back to Missoula, or how hot it was.

Now that he’d made his complaint to the Werewolf Council, Neil felt comfortable pursuing the more personal unresolved issues between them. For days, he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her willingness to stay in Missoula to fulfill her father’s last request. Maybe they could negotiate an outcome that satisfied everyone. If she agreed to stay in town as a regular pack member, she could involve herself in pack governance in the spirit of her father’s wishes. She could stay by Neil’s side. If both went well, one day they might even lead the pack together as a mated pair.

The idea brought the now-familiar surge of animal desire. Neil shook his head to clear it. That needed to wait until the right time. He couldn’t afford to bomb another conversation with her.

Neil turned to her with his most charming smile. “I’ve never actually ridden the carousel. Have you?”

“You said this wasn’t a date,” she pointed out. “You told me you wanted to talk.”

He met her eyes. The anger in them didn’t frighten him. Quite the opposite. It spoke of a passion he would love to get to know. Despite his fantasies, Neil followed his long-standing habit of playing it cool and kept his voice mellow. “Whatever you want.”

She crossed her arms below her breasts, calling his attention to her curves despite his best efforts. “No games, Neil. Why did you want to talk here?”

He sighed. Again, she’d jumped straight into the thick of it. “Things went wrong between us that night five years ago. I wanted to start over, and it made sense to come back here to do that.”