The Pack: Rule Number 1 - No Mates

Chapter One Hundred-Sixty-Three

DELILAH

My life hasn't been a very good one up until this point. | never realized just how empty and meaningless it was

until today. There is no one in my life that | even care about, other than my ding dong brother,) mean, | used to

love my mom with all of my heart and then some, but | suppose all children do at first. When you're small, you

don’t really know any better. Your love with your whole heart and simply assthat the feeling is mutual, And |

guess, in scases it might be. Well, at least | hope it is. But in my case, it wasn’t. In my case... it was never

going to be. It’s kind of funny if you think about it. spent six years of my life in blissful ignorance after | was born,

under the illusion that families love each other unconditionally. | spent the next six trying to make sense out of

the way my parents treated me, Or rather, the way they did. My dad was alright most of the time. I'm even

pretty sure that he actually did love me. But my mother? Oh... no. That woman was - is - a cold piece of work, |

was twelve when | started catching on to the little things she did to makefeel worthless. The lies she would

whisper in may dad's ear. In Caned For a long t| thought I'd done something horrible to her, That I'd

somehow made an unforgivable error that lund caused her to stop loving me. So naturally, | set out to fix it. Just

to find out that my mother’s distaste for me, it didn’t stem from anything 1 did, It didn’t even really have

anything to do with we. It was all about her. | guess the first six years of my life fooledinto thinking that she

care were simply peaceful because | didn’t present a threat to her. | was her to make the other ladies in my dad's

club jealous, Or when she neededthen she had to her chihuahua. Well, then again, | think she actually loved

her dog.

aboutand that she loved me. In actuality, those first six years laughter, | was new... | was her toy to play

with when she needed cute kid on the Christmas card. She had no more attachmwot to

By the t| hit puberty and | started changing... so did she. | would get complimented on how pretty | was, or

how amazing my eyes were and she always made sure that | knew that people only said those things to me

because they felt bad for me. Because according to her. | was the exact opposite of beautiful and no one was

ever going to truly love me. Her words, not mine.

You see, my mother loved herself above all else and she still does to this day. She was the Prom Queen and the

town beauty. She married the most handsguy in her high school and was the most coveted fe in town. With

all of that you'd think she would be the picture of confidence. But no. She is not. She is jealous and hateful. She

is Snow White's stepmother cto life.

It takes a long tto accept the truth about a person. To this day | still have a hard tbelieving that she truly

doesn’t care aboutor my brother. But the proof is in the pudding and when my dad died... she even stopped

referring to us as her kids.

But enough of that, I'm over it. Cart you tell?

As | was saying before my rant... my life is empty and meaningless. And 1 only just realized this because the

damn thing just flashed before my eyes. All thanks to an angry mountain lion.

My life was crap, and now it’s over, | won't even get my

my Twinkies, Sob,

y eyes off this

My heart is beating so wildly that I'm pretty sure 1 could see it if | looked down at my chest, but I'm not going to

take my beast until she rips them from my head.

The lion is crouching with its ears back and fangs showing. I'm pretty sure | read somewhere that it means the

beast is about to pounce. | close my eyes, hoping that it might make this next part less scary, but Im wrong.

When | hear a loud splash, | let out a scream to wake the dead and brace myself for claws across my chest and

fangs along my jugular.

What

atl get

instead... is wet.

I'm freezing now and soaked from head to toe. Well, not completely soaked. It's just my back that’s wet. When

nothing attacks me, | open my eyes and nearly scream again. The lion is still there and it is... staring at me. No...

it is staring at something behind me.

Oh fuck. Please don't tellthere's another one.

Warm breath fans my neck and | swear my soul leaves my body as 1 surrender myself to the circle of life. I'm

about to be eaten by two fucking lions and they better not waste a bite.

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Chapter One Hundred-Sixty-Three

“Get behind me,” the bringer of the breath says and Il takes use a minute to understand that there is a human at

my back.

“Um...” | start. “Th-no, | don’t think I can nove.”

A masculine chuckle sounds and my spine tingles as if hit with a live wire,

“Okay,” the voice says. Then I'll get in front of you, but you have to close your eyes.”

w

“What?” | snap. “Wh-why?” | ask as | begin shivering.

“Fine. Then don't.”

My eyes are on the lion as this person steps around the site of me. The rst thing | notice about him is how tall he

is. The shadow of a six foot male falls upon the boulders right over my own. | am pretty short, only five feet and

one point five inches. My brother always laughs when | add the point five because he thinks I'm being extra

when | say it, but I'm not. | need every point five inches | can get.

The second thing | notice about this stranger is that he is completely and totally Adam and Eve naked. What the

fuck kind of shit is this? Gasping in shock as he takes his place in front of me, my eyes roam the back of him like

a bank robber that’s just stepped into the vault. Heat begins to rise into my cheeks and suddenly I’m no longer

shivering. This man... is oll man.

I've never ever in life seen a body like his in person. When | was a senior in high school, | took anatomy and | had

to memorize all the different muscles of the human body. We even had live models that cin one day wearing

only speedos and we were made to labul each of their muscles with markers. Those models were hot as hell and

incredibly built, but they were nothing like the specimen standing betweenand death.

1 suddenly want a Sharpie pen and dry pair of panties. He would be so damn easy to label.

Two words. Gluteus Maximus.

That should be this guy’s name, Maximus.

“Oh wow,” | breathe out before | can stop myself.

An irritated snarl rips from the lion on the rock and | whimper, shrinking as much as i can behind Maximus large

form. The lion hisses at him, suddenly restless as it paces back and forth using quick steps on the rock. | watch

Maximus shake his head no, then wag his finger at the cat like he’s reprimanding a toddler. The lion lets out a

sound that is half bark and half meow before spinning in a circle on the rock, If | didn’t know better, | would say

this animal is having a tantrum and it is the strangest thing because Maximus is literally doing nothing but

standing there. What the hell? Maybe he’s a local and knows all the tricks of the trade. Or he’s like a ranger, or a

cat whisperer, or stype of Dr. Dolittle.

All of a sudden, a loud roar echoes through the trees and like a warning and it did not cfrom the lion on the

rock. Holy shit bubbles. Right at that moment is when | decide that | am never going back to that cabin in the

woods ever again. Sony Wolfe Guess | won't be seeing you again. A strange wave of sadness washes over me

with that thought, but I'm going to have to get over it. Because | never war to see a lion ever again.

A sharp growl rumbles from the lion's chest, then it hisses before leaping from the boulder to disappear into the

woods.

Talmost fall back into the water, | am so relieved.

“Oh my God!” | gush, wasting no tdarting past Maximus and onto the shore on the other side of the creek. |

bend over and take a few deep breaths. My heartrate is still way too high for my liking and | need to calm down.

“I'm guessing youre not from around here,” Maximus says, the thick, corded muscles of his calves coming into

view.

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Chapter One Hundred-Sixty-Three

W.. those are nice.

And I'm guessing you are, | reply.

| straighten up slowly, following the

line muscles above his knee as | sind.

From his rectus feo todisVastus

laperali$¥ohis'sartorius, each one of

them flexing beneath the confines of

his lightly tanned skin. My oh my he

must have spower in his legs.

And that’s when | catch sight of penis.

q ) q

Oh shit! That's right, naked means,

naked! The contentys on. C

ER omi Read the latest

chapter there!

Chapter Comments

Visitor

love this chapter!

Marietta Gary

Yup, naked usually does mean n3ked,

as in the absence ORALD clothing

TReombd is on novelenglish.net!