The Pack: Rule Number 1 - No Mates

Chapter Two Hundred Eighty–Six

ANASTACIA

The ride to the beach is faster than 1 expected it would be. For the first time, I allow myself to take note of the picturesque landscape that surrounds me. The woods, the beach, the houses… Port Orchard is a town festooned in a magic of its very own. It’s charming and carries a mystique that is subtle, yet powerful. The dark of the morning is draped in heavy curls of fog which send a shiver of foreboding up my spine, In New Orleans, the fog is different. It’s whole and cloudlike and can sometimes last for days. This fog is so thick and so dense, it almost feels alive. Like arms reaching out to me and welcoming me home.

Home, And? Really?

But wouldn’t it be? If Paul were to mark me, as he calls it, would this not be home? I very much doubt he and his pack are planning to follow me to New Orleans, Would I ever sleep another night in Gran’s house again?

Shit. For the first time, I’m starting to see a problem with this bood thing. I grew up in Louisiana. It’s all I know. Festivals and fairs. Hurricanes and electric storms. Magic and masquerades. Everything that I love is there. The swampland, the marshes, the bayou

My sister, Chelsea” is there.

A sudden sadness takes hold of me as my gaze lifts to the side. I study Paul’s face. The firm set of his jaw, his prominent cheekbones, delicate, yet masculine slope of his perfect nose. He is handsome beyond imagination, and the way his lips seem to always quirk up on the left side before the right.

I want him. Yes, I most definitely. But could he be my home? Could I let go of the hot muggy summers and the warm breath of a Louisiana fall? Could I trade at for this place? This beach town?

Would his loving me simply dissolve my need of everything else that has been my life since a child?

And what if he doesn’t ever love me? What if, despite all the Gran claimed during our visit, Paul never truly accepts my heritage? What if all I’m really meant to give him is a baby? A future Alpha… A half Mystic half Wolf Shifter.

From schat I remember of Gran’s stories, Alphas are terribly important in a pack. When I look at Paul, I see it in him, but something tells me he’s not their leader. No… but he’s close to one. The Beta, maybe. That much is clear. There’s no way he would be convinced to leave

all this behind.

I would ask him t

on the road beyond the windows. Not only does the good sheriff take full advantage of his position as we rac down the street, but his deputies do too. Something tells me these wolves make up all the rules in this town and the humans wholly acept their word as law. Strange, but fantastic

The black of the ocean is barely visible beneath a rolling curtain of fog. and for a moment I’m afraid this might now even work. Have we missed the dawn? How will we know if

sharp left turns has Paul’s arm squeezing tight around my waist to keep me in place. Instead of the rocky pebbled shore that I anticipated we were headed to, we end up at the docks. And before I know it, Paul has

Paul’s embrace is quickly becoming my very

is slightly ridiculous,” I chuckle with a bite of my lip. N

upon

wanted to come with us and

he can press his mouth full

of his gaze. I don’t want him to know how much he affects me. Not yet. Because should he choose not to mark me, I don’t want

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Two Hundred Eighty–Six

his pity, it will be his loss anyway. However, it will be felt as my own.

shouldn’t say things like that

he whispers, looking away with a smile. “I

sure you like it then? Because I seem to

saying, goddamnit. It was stupid and it was said out

out, my eyes fluttering upward: “Of

“yes, of you.”

you with magic