The Pack: Rule Number 1 - No Mates

Chapter Two Hundred Ten

GAYLE

That has to be the bridge your brother was talking about,” I shout, pointing toward the top of a wooden structure that barely peeks out

over the tall grass.

“Where? Delilah snaps, exasperated.

“Over there!” I point toward a large copse of trees and what looks to be the drop off of a jagged valley. It’s behind the woods. It’s camouflage.”

“Well, do you see the road he was talking about?” she asks, pulling to the side of the lone highway and shielding her eyes from the sun as it creeps up on the horizon. “Because I can’t see anything. Why are your windows not tinted??? Everybody tints their windows! Don’t they?”

I giggle, shaking my head as I fish around in the center console for Tars old sunglasses. “Not lions. We have exceptional vision in both the daylight and the dark. I can look dead at the sun at any time of day and watch the birds fly under it.”

“Really?” she exclaims. Really? For how long?”

“What do you mean?” I find the glasses then slide them into her lap. “Here, you can have these. Put them on.”

“Thank you! These are badass,” she gushes, studying them before she puts them on. “What I went to ask was, how long can you look directly at the sun before it starts to tase your eyesight?” She gasps, “Gajde! Are you aware that these are Prada?”

“Yes, of course I am, Lilah. They were Tag’s and that’s the only brand of sunglasses that she ever wesurs.

She loves her sunglasses, even though they’re completely useless to us.” I punch the moon release button and slide open the sunroof. And to answer your other question all day. From sunup to sundown.” Then I unbuckle ny seatbelt and stand up in my seat, poking my head out of the sun roof to study the landscape more carefully.

What does it look like?” she asks.

A big glowing ball surrounded by sparkling fire,” I inform her, spotting the river cane told us about a mile away where the valley flattens, out a bit. “Not only can we literally sun watch, but we can also see eight times farther than you guys can. I can see more of the bridge now that my view isn’t obstructed, but I’m still having a hard time finding where the dirt path meets the highway that we’re on. The grass is just too damn high,

“That’s so unfair!” she grumbles. “How is it that we as humans are born with enough brains to skyrocket ourselves to the top of the food chain, but we are at the bottom of the barrel for absolutely everything else. Every other predator on earth gets to have a bunch of cool stuff! Perfect eyesight, superior strength, exceptional speed, sharper teeth!!!

I laugh, hoisting myself up so that I’m seated on the roof of the jeep. And what makes you think humans are at the top of the food–chain, Lilah?”

She snickers. “Because we are! Not naturally, no. But our brains are more advanced than that of the natural apex predator and what we weren’t born with… we created.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” I tease, glancing down at her through the roof’s opening before launching myself up onto my feet. “You’re forgetting there’s one more species even higher up on the pyramid than humans.”

taunts almost arrogantly. “And what

carefully camouflaged road, but I can see the mountain In the distance. And…the cottage on the far side of the river. That’s it that’s the place. Hes in there right now… waiting for us. With a genuine smile that I don’t think I’ve flashed since my mother died, 1 effortlessly slip back down into my seat and

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21:28 Fr, NOV

Two Hundred

CANE

roll up out front just as I step clothes in

I step out

to wrap a towel around my waist.

I rip open the bathroom door, steam chasing behind me as I spot my sister through the large bay windows. She and her friend must have parked on the far side of the house instead of under the awning, which

from every vantage point, it can stay there at least until tomorrow. Besides, it’s not like Roman is here to bitch about it and she is my sister. The absolute only female in

I can finally see the color of her eyes. A normal Delilah, a

today… her eyes are more green–gold than they are any shade of blae… and that can only mean

pissed about something.

dangerous than

one thing.

must know

mur All me.

to fucking

lock and 1 do a mental inventory of every door and every window in the house. Dif I leave any unlocked? Holy fuck I hope not. The possibility that my sister may have played me like a fiddle this morning is enough to

wanted to know where I was. The real friend she is talking about,

of us saying a word. As I continue to remain frozen, as stuck as a Roman statue, my eyes dart back

don’t see any sign of her and my suspicions of this being some kind of a set up increase tenfold.

she demands, her gaze narrowing on me as

the mirror lately?”

brush my hair,

D. Your

already given herself away, but to my surprise, she just rolls her eyes and says, “Okay Cane, yeah, you got me. I’m super pissed about what you

alive! If Dehlah knows about it, then he has to

Thank fuck

flood of relief washes over me and a piece of the wall that I built around my heart that day crumbles, but the

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