The Pack: Rule Number 1 - No Mates

Chapter Two Hundred Twenty–Six

CANE

There’s this moment that passes when you’re about to die. An instant of complete clarity. It is almost as if there is a layer of fog lifted

the colors seem brighter. Detalls are more acute and so are intentions. In fact, right then, when you realize whe

you know there is any way around it, you move toward it without fear, For that half a second, time stretches, the

acceptance lakes over. You brain says, Chi, so das in it then. This is low? And, you

Drun it

to get the bullets. Or Griffin.

1 knew better, I never should have taken my eyes off of him. I should have sent Quinn to get

There was never any y way they were going to watch over him the way I would, because they are not human. They can heal

1, however, cannot,

Gayle.

I should have listened to her when she asked me to go with them. I should have said, “Fuck this asshole. Let him come for me and the spent as much time as I could noticing every single one of Gayle’s smiles in the way that she apparently noticed mine.

Now… I’ll never know them. Those precious couple of hours with her in roy arms is all i will ever get.

dry didn’t 1997

I mean… why

Why was I so obsessed with playing the hero?

But I know what the answer is. Of course I do.

weaker than

have been plenty of time for heroics if I’d just conceded to her request.

was begging. She begged me. And what do I do? Shoot her again and

and she was going

those stupid, arrogant, pricks – and then I s her outside of the cottage, disabling her and taking her right to choose

me for. That’s all she’ll remember

Pain.

sorry Kitty Cat

Goddamn it

shool

1/3

Two Hundred Twenty–Six

could love me and’t felt that. I felt it and

it off. Cane. You get what you get. At least

that’s when he was able to take out the bullets. That’s probably the real reason he kept talking so much shit. He wanted one of us to lose our temper and attack him so he’d have an excuse for moving. I don’t know what it is he said to Quinn to get him to do it, but

wolf bleeding out from his abdomen attracts my attention and 1 smile.

is still smoking in my hand when look over at him, at Roman. His big orange–brown eyes are angry as he watches me, blood coloring the dark brown fur of his

a majestic

2

you too asshole. See you on the other side.

a pool of my own blood, with a gash the size of my forearm and as deep as my

my eyes spied the bullets on the ground, I heard it. The snap, crackle, and pop of bones shitting into something otherworldly. By the time I was able to lift my chin, Roman was already half wolf and his fully shifted paw was flying toward my mid–section. It

did it. That’s when I shot him.

and into my hand easily, then I simply took aim and emptied the chamber into his stomach. At that point, I no longer cared that they wanted him alive, because I wanted him

deep, frantic voice sounds above me, panic more than evident in his

me like some frightened mother hen as he surveys my injuries. For a moment,

Roman then back again. Quinn meets my eyes, then shakes his head.

will you?” I say, because I’m pretty sure there is a special hell for people like him and my Pops. “I can’t be sure,

I taste blood in my mouth. Frowning, 1 picture Cayle’s face when she hears the news and I want to kick

happen!” Gryffin snarls. “I won’t let this happen!” Then Gryffiny disappears into my room, coming back with

blanket.