The Pack: Rule Number 1 - No Mates

Chapter Two Hundred Thirty

GAYLE

When I come to, I’m lying on the floor next to my bed and my body is completely capped of energy I have no idea whose face it is floating above me like a spirit of unrest until I lash out.

“Get back, demon!” I hiss, swiping at the thing with my somewhat drunken limbs. “You’ll not have him!

“Joor–sumusss!” a familiar voice chimes out. “Chill out the spirit snarls leaping backward and out of my reach

Tac?” I mumble, relieved that it is, in fact, her and not some wayward ghost I pissed off by refusing to lan

and gaze at my bedroom door. It remains closed and intact, the dead bolt still securely in place. Although this is mollifying in sy to aid in my discombobulation. “How the fuck did you get in here?

The sudden thought that Cane may have let her in has my head snapply in the direction of my bed. Sadly, he remains in ti

position he was in when I marked him for the second time. Still and lifeless. I can see from here that he’s still not breathing and although the actuality of it hurts, I won’t let it deter me. I will not give up.

He will breathe again. I know it.

“I’ve been knocking for thirty damn minutes. When I warned you to answer me and you didn’t, I scaled the side of the

in the window. She turns her worried eyes toward me, her gaze reaching into my soul. “What are you doing. Gayle s her head.

Tears fill my eyes, but I don’t let them fall. I don’t know if I can take one more person looking at me like I’m about to beak with a prod lift of my chin I walk over to Cane. My heart wrenches when I allow myself to look down at him and observe my untested.

Tandora’s eyes follow

and she gasps. Gayle…”

I hold my hand up defensively, stopping her before she has a chance to reach for me. I know what this looks, but I pre not what this is!”

“Oh no?” Taedora hisses, crossing her arms over her chest in annoyance. “Are you sure? Because what it looks marked him twice. Depleted yourself, twice! Despite that his condition hasnt changed! What it looks like to me refusing to let go of someone who is already gone! And making your friend – his sister–suffer alongside you to let him go, Gayle! He deserves to move on!”

of her words being true. What if she’s right? What if I imagined everything I’ve been feeling simply be to believe that he’s not gone? Could that be? Could I have imagined the golden warmth of his

of what I felt in the jeep and I can’t s felt so strongly that he was

in

word like a whisper in my head and

was not my voice.

of the voice. The male voice. When I don’t notice anything attention grabbing, I return my gaze to the

What were you doing?” Tagora asks. She steps in front of me, blocking my danch

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Two Hundred

only imagine how crazy I must look to her right now, but I refuse

accurate. Most. Not all. Yes, I marked him twice, and I know his condition hasn’t changed, I’m not fucking blind Tae! Nor am I stupid! And I’m aware that Lilah is going through it, I understand that, trust me I do. Hut you need to understand something as well. I turn away from her, stroking my hand over the warmth of Cane’s chest when I speak, He’s not gone, Tue. I know this. I realize that none

she asks, tilting her head with worry. “You… heard

fuck’s

treating me like a basket case, I’m going to

Cane’s torso- the wrap probably came loose when I turned him over the last time and his bloody waistline is exposed. My eyes lock on the beautifully chiseled ridges of his punctuated abdominal muscles and I suddenly have the urge to clean off the dried blood. Pushing him onto his back, I reach up to ruffle his hair, frowning when I feel how hat his

bathroom and grab a – AAAAAAAAHHHHELLE MAHAHA!!! I my mouth with

How did I

Omigod, omigod, amigod!

wrong?” Tandora shouts, shaking my

a scream, jumping up and covering

sobbing into my hands as I do and

of it, Gayle! What’s going on?”

Snap

very satisfied smile on my face. Touch

head. “No,

“Touch

insist, not even mentioning the best part

least

nod happily. “If you touch him I’ll even come out of my room and make you a