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.

with me. I wanted her to see me as someone who could protect her. To know that just because I was human and weaker than her in some ways, that I had plenty to give. I needed to do something for her that she was never able to do

have been plenty of time for heroics if I’d just

She begged me. And what do I do? Shoot her

me yet, and she was going

selfish hastard just to be one of those stupid, arrogant, pricks – and then I s her outside of

me for. That’s all she’ll remember of

Pain.

sorry Kitty Cat

Goddamn it

shool

1/3

Hundred

I felt it and it felt so good. I wanted it. Wanted

get what you get. At least you got to see her again.

I’m sure 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

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

angry as he watches me, blood coloring the dark brown fur of his underside. As far as wolves go, he’s fucking ugly and looks more like a

than a

2

See you

of my own blood, with a gash the size of my forearm and as deep as my whole hand, along my

before. Now that I have, I’ve got to say, it’s pretty fucking scary. The moment 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 is safe to say that a wolf’s claws are pretty goddamned sharp. I never even felt the blow. But it knocked me back about a dozen feet, and I was

That’s when I shot him.

and emptied the chamber into his stomach. At that point, I no longer cared that they wanted him alive, because I wanted him dear. Looks like I’ll get my wish, so

voice sounds above me, panic more than

look up, I’m surprised to see that it’s Gryffin, and not Quinn, that is carrying on up above me like some frightened mother hen as he surveys my injuries. For a moment, he looks around like a helpless child, his chest heaving as he

yells, his gaze going from me to Roman then back again. Quinn

I turn back to Rogan’s wild, feral glare and give him the middle finger. “Give this to my dad, 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, but I’m betting you and I are headed different places you

1 picture Cayle’s face when she hears the news and I want to kick myself for

let this happen!” Then Gryffiny disappears

blanket.