The Pack: Rule Number 1 - No Mates

Chapter Two Hundred Three

BARTLETT

Thave news!” Doc Rhodes says coming toward me from around the nurses station

Throwing a quick glance over my shoulder at sweet Lady Rosen, I step out into the hall to confer with the doc. I hesitate to leave her for even one little minute just on the off chance that she could wake up and I could miss it. For some reason, I want to be the very first thing she sees. “What’s that?” I ask.

Doc Rhodes grants me a mirthful smile, probably noticing the way I continue to stretch my attention from him to her and back again. “You know the only reason you’re even allowed in there is because I’ve known you from the time you were born, right? It’s actual hospital policy that you either be immediate family, a guardian, or some form of medical personnel.”

I chuckle, sending him a half grin that says try and remove me.

Doc Rhodes rolls his dark brown eyes and his silver mustache twitches with delight as he wiggles his nose. “Anyway, back to the news.”

“Yes, please. Let’s hear it,” I tell him

him, thi

training my eyes on

The first thing is, her name is not Rosen, it’s Rose. According to her father, Rosen is her older brother and she is wearing his jacket.”

My head jerks in the doc’s direction. According to her father? So “They were able to get in touch with her family so soon? A clocal of gloom descends on me almost immediately. I know I should be happy for her and I am, but…….. I’m unhappy for me. The sooner they get here, the sooner 11l be pushed out.

Doc Rhodes flashes a wide grin full of sparkling ivory teeth. The policere able to make contact with her parents after they impounded the RVs. Apparently, Miss Rod Gruber and companions are all members of the same church. The official story is that she and a few members of her youth group drove out here without permissions.”

“Youth group?” I scoff in disbelief. ‘Like a church youth group

“Thats what I’m hearing.“ Dọc Khudes ways, but the doct

many congregations

much. Every other moment that I get out of my practice is spent at this hospital.

.

quite that much, Doc. She went out there saving souls, that I can

chuckles, “Next thing you know, they I be claiming that she came all the way out here to

trying to picture her

the gunpowder stains on

were out here hunting Doc. Five of them were. She’s lucky I found her when I did,

human blood smeared on the bark of Hemlock tree. In the woods.” He meets my gaze pointedly. They re still saying it was a bon. And with this new

“Just bet.

one of the nosier nurses edges closer to

wild animal attacks, or it could

1/3

Hundred Three

we were hom we have led there. When we turned eighteen and everything changed, Doc Rhodes became my fucking neighbor. So grant it, he’s seen his fair share of weird shit. He knows the animals in our woods are more than meets the eye, but he never outright said so. When I turned eighteen and bought the house next to his, I spent a lot of time trying to drink my pain away. Just like the rest of my brothers, I like a house with a lot of windows, and apparently so does Doc Rhodes – Why? Because we have better eyesight than most creatures do and we like to see what’s coming for us before it shows up. On the outside, Doc Rhodes house and my own, have only one very distinct difference. Mine is on the corner of the

drunk and i shifted in my living room thinking It might be easier to walk on four legs instead of two (I was wrong by the way – double the effort for double the legs) and when I realized it wasn’t going well, I shifted back. When I was finally ablo to see clearly, I realized I wasn’t even in my house. I was in Doc Rhodes house, standing right in his kitchen. He didn’t say a word, just poured me a fresh ning of coffee and walked me home. He

just like the rest of Port Orchard’s homegrown community, loyal.

charming her as I twirl my finger in a gesture for privacy. She just rolls her eyes then scampers

throw the

down the hall.

closer to the Doc’s car, I whisper, “The rest of her friends were male, so it is my belief that the forest didn’t show them

mercy.

Doc Rhodes remarks. “Unfortunately for Rose, that means the authorities won’t have anyone else to blame. With this big a mess, they’re

just prefer not to think about it until I can smuggle

desk first.”