Wolf Ways (The Madison Wolves Book 9) Read Online Free Page B

Before.” She looked away. “It wasn’t an act, Zoe.”
    “I’m going to ask a question, Elisabeth, and I want an honest answer.”
    “I can’t promise that, Zoe.”
    “If you lie to me, and I ever find out you lied, I won’t betray pack secrets, but I will do everything in my power to hurt you.”
    She snapped her head back, scowling. “Do not threaten me.”
    “I’m serious,” I said. “I deserve an honest answer.”
    “What?” she snapped.
    “Is my apartment bugged?”
    “Not by the pack,” she replied. “And Gia says it’s clean; no one else is bugging it.”
    We stared at each other for a good thirty seconds. Then I asked, “You promise?”
    “I promise.”
    She continued to scowl at me. I studied her face. I couldn’t tell if she was lying, but I decided I was done distrusting anyone. I smiled then looked away and down at my legs. Then, very deliberately, I pulled the skirt up another half inch.
    She didn’t move, and I didn’t look at her. Instead, I sat sweetly with my hands in my lap. I’d made my move, and now I would wait.
    “My turn,” she said.
    I turned back to her, still smiling softly. “Yes?”
    “What would you have done if I’d said ‘Yes, it is’?”
    My smile faded while I thought about it. Elisabeth watched me carefully. Then the smile returned. “I would have adjusted my skirt and thanked you for telling me the truth, but I would keep it in mind if I ever decided I wanted an overnight guest.”
    “You haven’t answered my question. What’s going on?”
    “You asked me on a date. I said ‘yes’. Or is this just dinner between friends? I can pull my skirt back down.”
    “I like your skirt just the way it is,” she said, glancing at my legs.
    And so I set my hands back in my lap, relaxed, and looked out the window.
    Neither of us said anything for a minute. Once we were on the road, I said, “I want to ask you something.”
    “Of course you do.”
    “Did Michaela engineer all of that just to get us together?”
    Elisabeth barked a short laugh. “Not literally all of it. She wouldn’t need to be that convoluted just to get us in the same room. But from the moment she got in her car? Yes, probably. But with her, there’s oftentimes more than one thing going on at once.”
    By this time, I was watching her. I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed watching her. She glanced at me.
    “It doesn’t do you any good to try to outguess the fox.”
    “Clever as a fox?”
    “Yeah.” She smiled.
    “What?”
    “Oh, nothing. She just keeps all of us guessing. She has since the very beginning. Did you see her stand up to me today?”
    “Yes, I did.” I paused. “You like her.”
    “I admire her a great deal,” Elisabeth said. “I’ve never seen anyone bounce back the way she does. The things she’s been through.” She looked over at me. “It drives all of us crazy when she does what she did today. You didn’t notice, but I aired your apartment out while you were showering.”
    “Was my fear scent that overpowering?”
    “It was masked by the fear scent wafting off the rest of us.”
    “Seriously?”
    She nodded. “I suppose not all of us. Portia always remains cool, and Eric was awfully cavalier. But Serena was terrified, and I was pretty worked up. Angel was biting her nails, something she hasn’t done since she was thirteen. And Rory kept screaming at us to drive faster.”
    “So the tension I felt wasn’t imagined.”
    “No.” She looked over. “Thank you for not fighting me when I told you to sit.”
    I scoffed. “Fighting you? Are you serious?” I paused. “Does Michaela know all of you were that upset?”
    “Of course she does.”
    “How do you know that she knows?”
    Elisabeth didn’t answer.
    “Maybe you should tell her,” I suggested quietly. “And maybe when she says she needs to go for a walk by herself, you should treat her like an adult.”
    At that, Elisabeth snapped her head to me. “Don’t tell me how to do my job.”
    I