The Pack: Rule Number 1 - No Mates

Chapter One Hundred-Forty-Nine

DREAM SEQUENCE

I'm running through the woods, wearing nothing but an inversized button ap shirt that I'm fairly a

doesn’t belong to me. Although my (feet are bare, | somehow don’t feel the sharp rocks when I land on them or

the thorny bushes as barrel through them um laughing and playing. Iraping nimbly from tree to tree as hide.

Each t| hear a brunch break, or catch a whisper in the wind, | move on. Slowly but surely making my way

deeper and deeper into the kingdom of Evergreens. The further in Ign, the higher the ground becomes and soon

| am climbing. over boulders and shattered tree stumps. Hurding my way toward the sover hala of light that

beckons beyond a tight circle of redwoods. | must there. | have to find him. He is searching for me. | know it. No

matter what it takes. | have to make it to that point so that | can fully meet Him. My guardian in the woods, my

wolf I havent heard him howling forbut in my heart | can feel him calling. He waits at the highest point.

Minding his secrets and my own at the top of this grueling hill.

Suddenly, | catch my foot on something and look down. At first, 1

the streets of LA Except

ether you might

slivers of

In woods so brevity beced

what is staring back at me. It just appears to be a face, like any

forest, on a mountainside rodilled with spikes of green and “there is a part who uta atop this peak smoking a

cheroot and dressing the

trees in curfs of smoke.

This face ducunt belong here. As | pert closer, Enota

sht about the neck that | didn t before, it appears to be torn. A long gash has (the first tattered and uneven. | pop

en my eyes curch on the letters written’ulong the chin and

“are ubu mumbers circling the evelib, hed etched along

ripped the oneer soft skin of the thereket over the forehead. They mean sthe jawline that end just at the

aman

of the

| fall to my needs a pot of the face o Tinije”

meuth any bat bytt

and the terribly dead eyes burn incu and follow my movement. The ground

arway from the face. A rumble bus sturted behind me. An

19 kkond Jew, than a black beast made from the dark of the trees. Soon |

painful throbbing thrums at the base of my

the dark monsters of the forest

muita out of the black cou?

and poodles, his powerful body almost wraithicke under the

bar kounts in Font of me. Freach and for him, whimpering

linat as if he can’t understand any words

face and Man any bady before settling in the side of my

side and my neck and shoulders are bare for his

|

“Kamer? Fury out as | dungting in the ground. My font une untunging is he bringscloser and shudder,

marveling at the perfectly curved toge of hugs. They get drop of black und forming at the sharpened points

bound the curve mat.” | whoper.

A losst growl erupti frum has bya as he darts forward, plunging the points at his fangs into the side of my neck

an | scream.

END OF DREAM SEQUENCE

panting

sweating as | guow about

« darkanud zlom. “While the fud.” | say, dukim

tuo meal beling dia,

Bartlett

Chapter One Hundred-Forty-Nine

| was supposed to be on the yacht. Then a lingering scent walls up to

my nose and | smell Vanilla Bourbon. My heart clenches with pain as the memory of Rainier’s wedding ring

surfaces. My mind is still Hazy, and the events of the morning mill fogo, bet atsto where | am. “Shit, | say to

myself, my eyes welling with tears. “Damn | whine. He's married.

| tremble with sadness as | open up the floodgates, ready to cry it out, but a whispering in my head won't let me

release my tears. Bly neck on the tight side tingles and burns for a moment and | gasp as the sensation quickly

becomes soothing Chasing away the melancholy in my heart of the events of the day slowly cback to m

The only light in this little stuis coming from the windows and a tiny lamp near the front door. Looking down

at my hands, | realize I've been clutching something to my chest. It’s a dark, navy blue shirt that smells just like

Heaven and | hold it closer as | stand up. Flipping on the nearest lightswitch, the apartment is suddenly flooded

with yellow light. | frown as | realize Rainier isn't here and that | am well and truly alone.

Where did he go? When did he leave?

| can still see him, the way he looked when | told him he had to letgo. The instant anguish... the panic. Then

his loss of control when he snapped and latched onto my body, beggingto forgive him. He is like

Maybe he went hdummy. To his wife. You know the one

Rolling my eyes | lift the shirt to my nose and take a deep satisfying whiff. The scent rolls over me, firing my

insides and causing the sore spot on my neck to heat. Walking toward the full length mirror next to the window, |

tilt my head to inspect my neck. It doesn’t long to find what I'm looking for, but when | do my eyes widen like

saubers and the ending of my dream resurfaces. “Oh my God! 1 hiss, shifting closer to the mirror to get a better

look. My throat is covered in hickles and even though the sight of them causesto blush furiously and my core

to start dripping with heat, they are not what I'm looking at

There. Just at the junction of my neck and my shoulder- there is a mark that isn’t like any love bite that I've ever

seen.

He

le bit m

me, | knew he did. | felt it when it happened. But | could have som he punched right through my flesh. Studying

it, | notice the two darkest points of the bitemark. Right above where the incisors should be, there are two large

perfect circles. Circles... Jang marks?”

the first

| gasp, falling back a step as more of my memory surfaces. | hold up the shirt and realize for the first tthat it

is ripped beyond repai “Did that shit really happen?” | whisper, closing my eyes as the image of Rainier hovering

overon the couch superimposes onto the image of Rainier in my dream. “No fucking way,” | say to myself,

shaking my head.

No. No way | can’t afford to turn reality y into fantasy. | need to think logically.

But that’s the trouble with me. | act on intuition more than | do logic. Always have, always will. Even when my

dad agreed to tradeto Hector for his debt - | relied on my intuition. | was hurt, certainly. Ashamed, definitely.

But there was also this little voice inside my head that said my sacrifice would not go unrewarded. That

somehow one day, the sick twisted life | was forced into would eventually takewhere | was meant to be.

And | was right wasn’t 1?

“No! No, | was not right,” | scolded myself. “He’s married.”

Even hearing myself say it, | know better. Whether Rainier is married or not doesn’t in matter.fie is where | was n

he is. Maybe the simple truth of it is... | just arrived too late.

meant

ant to be. He is! | know

My breath shudders as | hear a knock

at the door and my eyebrows shoot

up. A smile spreads across.my lips

as | Pegi quithe wing to see if

SA : f )

Reirlier's SUV is outside. It's not and |

frown, stepping cautiously toward

the door as the person behind it

knocks again, this tmore

urgently. The content is on

novelenglish.net! Read the latest

chapter there!

“Just a moment,” | called out, slowly approaching. Right away | see the note taped just beneath the peephole.

It’s from Rainiert

2/3

Chapter One Hundred-Forty-Nine

| scan it without reading, smiling

when | see the bottom that reads,

Love Rainer. fsdhexriadk Sounds

alain, 1Bftne note off the door and

fold it, pocketing it as | peer through

the peephole. The content is on

novelenglish.net! Read the latest

chapter there!

It’s a woman. She appears to be alone, so | shake away the warning bells that chfaintly in my head and open

the door.

“Can | help you?” | ask softly.

“I hope so,” she says coldly, stepping pastwithout Invitation to see around the room.

I chuckle humorlessly as | eye her back, leaving the door open on purpose so that she’s aware that she’s going

to leave. “What can | do for you? 1 ask sharply.

She glares, lifting her left hand to her

chin so that her ring finger sparkles in

the lamplight. The bar@)s Geautiul,

Sparkling nf Famonds and

emeralds. But there is another right in

front of it. One of plain gold. One that

looks... extremely familiar. The

content is on novelenglish.net! Read

the latest chapter there!

“My nis Angela Riotte, and 1 was hoping to find my

husband.”

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