The Pack: Rule Number 1 - No Mates

Chapter Two Hundred Fifteen

GAYLE

My stomach drops when I realize I’ve just crash landed onto Cane’s bare and beautifully sculpted chest. He dexes undemeath me, his body tensing up as I turn my head and my breath fans out across the grooves of his abdominal muscles. After working so hard not to get caught staring, the smooth solid feel of him warms with sparkling energy against my skin and I shudder. My laughing stops and I lift my head slowly, not wanting to accidentally knock him in the face too. Catching glimpse of the large bulge that has developed behind his m shorts, I feel n

I my cheeks pinch with heat.

With a package like that, he would fit in so well at the den,

Just that thought is enough to depress me, because I know what I want is impossible. It’s not that I don’t think I could convince Taedora and Goose to accept him. It’s that I know Gryffin won t

Unless..

I shake off the idea before it can take root inside my head. Cane is a a hunter. The only reason he’s even been flirting with me is because he thinks I’m just some pretty girl. A girl, just as human as he is.

If he knew… Or more like when he finds out that I’m not, he might be disgusted by me. Hunters are the way they are for a reason. They kill animals for sport. If Cane felt anything for the girl he had in his arms on the night we met, he wouldnt be out here training to hunt More shifters.

I have attacked every hunter.

or I’ve ever met since my mother was killed. I should hate Cane too. I really should. But God help me, I dont

“I’m so sorry! Did I hurt you? It really was an accident. Just another uncharacteristic bout of clumsiness I seem to be experiencing whenever he’s around. The find one being when I fell into his steel trap. Not that I’m going to tell him about that.

“I’m fine,” he says huskily. Then, “Nothing you could do would ever hurt me.”

“You don’t think I can hurt you?” I snort, dipping my head down so that my hair fell over my face.

“I didn’t mean it like that. I’m sure you could. It’s just,” he sighs, “I know that if you did hurt me, it wouldn’t be any more that I deserved.”

*I

I tremble at that, flipping my hair out of my eyes to assess his mood. A few minutes ago, I was sure he had recognized me. The sudden scowl on his face was aimed directly at me and he looked so disappointed I could hardly breathe. Even Delilah seemed worried.

But she knows everything about him that I don’t, so when she left me in here to go and talk to Quinn, I knew I’d be okay. Well, I hoped. Now that we’ve actually met, just the image of him realizing who I am and taking aim to shoot me threatens to crush my heart.

don’t see any of that former disappointment

watching me so intently I don’t even notice his hand slide forward until I feel one of his fingers tracing up and down the side of my

women?” he asks with

I whisper, my breath hitching and my eyes growing heavy as he broadens his exploration and gently strokes over my knees.

his head to

explain, shamefully leaning little farther into his touch. My body

Two Hundred Fifteen

more and more bold with every passing second. I’m forced to bite down on my lip just to keep making any catlike noises and by the

have to tell him who you are!

find the joke to be nearly as funny as you did,” Cane says, in a low, steady mire as his palm settles over the top of my fact, he

can’t help but

woman,” he says

hunter,” I whisper and

then my face, but

I want to know. “Do you love

soft blue eyes darken when he shakes his head. “I’ve never loved it, but

to wind inside

I don’t,” he rasps out, his hand tightening a little on my thigh..

vein that bulges over the muscles of his forearm all the way up his face. “What

biceps

clenches and with it, his grip on my thigh. “You probably wouldn’t believe me if I told you,”

I

smiles slightly, his eyes sparkling a little as he watches my

exactly, but close enough,”

there in the woods.” I nod, eager to see where he’s going with this. “A

bit of my anger getting

chuckles. “Which is why so many do it. If you can

But okay,

one place I could find it. Within the time frame that I’ve been given, I had to make a splash so I headed out there confident I could get what I needed. 1 set up more traps than ever before in the best location possible and then headed back to the cabin and 1 waited. Monitoring the area with a high frequency mic, I was able to hear every rustle of leaves, every whisper of wind… every animal cry.” He looks away from me to stare straight ahead at the wall.. “It didn’t take long, maybe an hour, before it screeched through my headphones. Even though it was my first time hearing

I choke out. That’s when I realize I’ve started to cry and my side that he shot me in has started to ache. I swipe at my cheeks to wipe the tears away and his gaze steadies on me, the blue of his irises full of an emotion I can’t