The Pack: Rule Number 1 - No Mates

Chapter One Hundred Ninety–Eight

GRYFFIN

with the little bland man–child chained up in the After Quinn left I made à point of staying upstairs where I couldn’t be tempted to loy basement. I need to gather myself first and maybe even pat ingether at of questions to ask him when he finally comes to. It may sound stupid, but the truth is Ive never had one in my care that I didn’t outright minder. There have only been a handful of times that Gayle or I have been fortunate enough to take one of them alive, and each of these times my anger got the better of me. I ended up shifting and tearing them to hits. However, I can’t shift these days, so this time will different. This time, maybe I’ll get a few answers that I need and finally figure out which hunter it was that killed my mother.

Whoever he was, he took her body before we could retrieve it. I want it lock.

I’m not stupid. I know what the fucker probably did with it. It turns my stomach to imagine her that way, but what kind of son would I be if I let some bastard keep her like a stuffed trophy. Passing her down from generation to generation as if she wasn’t someone’s mother,

She was a queen, but we never treated her like one. We should have. We took the fact that we were shifters for granted. Thinking we wer safe. Thinking we were invincible. Well, we’re not. We’re just a lot harder to kill.

She asked me to help her that day. She said she needed me to help her track some hunter because there was something different about him. I blew her off thinking she was paranoid..

There was this girl, her name was Amber, she was a cheerleader at my high school. I wanted her for my mate. I even pretended she was my mate just so my mom would let me bring her around, but deep down I knew she wasn’t much more than a human girl with a bangin body. I was young, stupid, and horny. My mother was killed while I was out fucking the ditzy bimbo in an abandoned parking lot.

Believe it or not, I felt it when she died. The sad shame is, once I was finished fucking Amber, I didn’t want her anymore. Dumped her that same day. She cried and called me an asshole and I langhed as i rode off on my bike. In the next few moments, I felt it. The loss. The dread. The acute realization that something had gone terribly wrong and nothing would ever be the same again.

Back at the den everyone was in tears and right away, I knew, Goose had been with her. I guess when I refused to help her, she asked him to join her instead. According to Goose, she saved his life. He was just as young as I was, but with less training and ended up making some rookie mistake that put him right in the hunter’s path. Gouse said my mother yowled in warning, signaling that the hunter was in the trees, but by the time he spotted the guy it was too late. So my mother, forever the protective lioness, stepped in the line of fire like the queen that she was.

It should have been me

Gayle was her baby. I was her protector! Her oldest! I failed her.

She deserves a proper

burial.

Shaking off the ghosts of the past, the sound of a helicopter overhead catches my

attention.

I “Gryff!” Goose screams from downstairs and I race out of my ro

of my room as fast as my non shifting legs will carry me.

I approach him, his face is a mask of panic. “What? What happened? Where’s

his head

make the girl suffer. For whatever reason, Bartlett stepped in. He ripped Gayle off the human with his teeth and Gayle disappeared into the

I ask, throwing open the front door and stalking into the yard to scan the woods. I cant see anything. I need my lion back!

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me for if moment as a helicopter hovers overhead Fuck.

voice could be heard coming from the ginnt speakers attached to

ecuate the area. This is a no hunting zone and all violators will be detained. We are searching for a large adult conger. Assured to be near seven feet in length and two hundred pounds. This animal is extremely aggressive, please be advised. This is a warning.

the fuck?”

says, idling up next to me. Duys from all over. My eyes rip toward him, and

ask, knowing they’ve got more than a few guys on the force.

was a lot of commotion at the campsite, so we went our

assume it was all Gayle. They’re

unhinged, yeah, Taedora says from behind me. “But she’s not stupid and she’s not deaf. She’s not going

for a mate. The little bastard tried to kill her and all she would say about it was that she just needed to meet him again. As her human self. She really thinks he won’t recognize her. She may be right, but I’m not willing to risk it, so I

We wait.”

DELILAH

I do. My eyes pop open and at first I have no idea where I am. Sitting up in bed and seeing that I’m naked, I suddenly remember. My cheeks flame

where is he?

other side of the bed, I see it remains untouched. He must not have come to bed yet. The

run at night or something? He is a wolf.

TAT, TAT, TAT.

and I listen intently, trying to figure

TAT, TAT.

I have no idea what is making that sound. But what if it’s Quinn?

TAT, TAT,

I need to check

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