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Bella stood up on two legs and shook her long blonde hair down her back. “You’ve met Blake?”
                  So Blake was a tattletale. I did my best to sneer in his direction. “I have had that pleasure.”
                  “And you ran from him?” Bella raised one thin eyebrow.
                  I shrugged and shook off the accusation. “He could have come with me.” I couldn’t figure out who Blake was. Was he a friend of Bella’s? She must have known him; she was sort of being nice to him.
                  “We’ll go back to the house,” Bella announced with a grin. “We’ll have a nice little chat.” She reached out to pat my hand but fell short and let her arm fall away. She smiled but it was dead and it put a coldness in my chest.
                  Ivy was waiting for us at the house but I was glad to see that Carlie had left. “Nice outfit,” Ivy chuckled.
                  I glared her way, feeling a childish urge to stick my tongue out. I hurried past her and sprinted up the stairs with her catcall whistles following me. It didn’t take me long to throw on a new shirt and pair of jeans. I didn’t even glance at the design, I was just glad that it was whole.
                  I couldn’t really explain why I was so angry. Obviously there had been some sort of mistake. No way could I be a leader of anything, let alone a whole pack. Besides that, there were no other packs around. We would know if there were.
                  “Maybe Bella knew.”
                  I shot that annoying inner voice down. Bella didn’t know, she would have told me.
                  “He said they sent you here.”
                  There is no way. Blake is a loner wolf.
                  “He knows Bella.”
                  Bella knows a lot of wolves.
                  I pulled my brush brutally through my tangled curls but gave up quickly. I didn’t care what I looked like. I took a deep breath and sank to the edge of my bed. I had to get control of myself before going down there. I needed a clear head.
                  Maybe this i s just a joke, I thought suddenly. My eyes darted back and forth as I worked out the scenario in my head. Blake was an old boyfriend of Bella. She thought it would be funny to freak me out with this leader crap. The council. I snorted loudly. There was no such thing as a council.
                  The only thing close to someone in charge of the wolves were the vampires in the ancient city. The vampires would never care about a pack without a leader unless they needed to be put down, and a wolf would never work with the vamps. That would just never happen, even if he were a loner.
                  I bit the inside of my lip. If this was a joke and I went down there acting all mad, it would just make Bella’s day. I had to stay calm and hear what they had to say. I’d been around Bella long enough to know when she was just joking. I was pretty sure of at least that much.
                  “Willow!” Bella screamed from downstairs. That must have been my cue that they were done waiting.
                  I shoved my hair behind my ears and slowly made my way to the hall. I slipped into the small bathroom and splashed water on my too red face. I took a deep, calming breath and glared at my reflection. “No tears, no matter what,” I whispered. I grimaced at the sight of my unruly hair. It was somehow worse than usual. In my defense, I had changed to a wolf and run through the forest this afternoon.
                  With my breathing slightly more even and a heavy heart, I went downstairs to hear Blake out.
                  They were both sitting on the same couch when I got to the living room but Bella’s frown was so pronounced it made my steps falter.