The Pack: Rule Number 1 - No Mates

Chapter Two Hundred Fifteen GAYLE My stomach drops when I realize I've just crash landed onto Cane's bare and beautifully sculpted chest. He dexes undemeath me, his body tensing up as I turn my head and my breath fans out across the grooves of his abdominal muscles. After working so hard not to get caught staring, the smooth solid feel of him warms with sparkling energy against my skin and I shudder. My laughing stops and I lift my head slowly, not wanting to accidentally knock him in the face too. Catching glimpse of the large bulge that has developed behind his m shorts, I feel n I my cheeks pinch with heat.

With a package like that, he would fit in so well at the den, Just that thought is enough to depress me, because I know what I want is impossible. It's not that I don't think I could convince Taedora and Goose to accept him. It's that I know Gryffin won t Unless..

I shake off the idea before it can take root inside my head. Cane is a a hunter. The only reason he's even been flirting withis because he thinks I'm just spretty girl. A girl, just as human as he is.

If he knew... Or more like when he finds out that I'm not, he might be disgusted by me. Hunters are the way they are for a reason. They kill animals for sport. If Cane felt anything for the girl he had in his arms on the night we met, he wouldnt be out here training to hunt More shifters.

I have attacked every hunter.

or I've ever met since my mother was killed. I should hate Cane too. I really should. But God help me, I dont "I'm so sorry! Did I hurt you? It really was an accident. Just another uncharacteristic bout of clumsiness I seem to be experiencing whenever he's around. The find one being when I fell into his steel trap. Not that I'm going to tell him about that.

"I'm fine," he says huskily. Then, "Nothing you could do would ever hurt me." "You don't think I can hurt you?" I snort, dipping my head down so that my hair fell over my face.

"I didn't mean it like that. I'm sure you could. It's just," he sighs, "I know that if you did hurt me, it wouldn't be any more that I deserved." *1 I tremble at that, flipping my hair out of my eyes to assess his mood. A few minutes ago, I was sure he had recognized me. The sudden scowl on his face was aimed directly atand he looked so disappointed I could hardly breathe. Even Delilah seemed worried.

But she knows everything about him that I don't, so when she leftin here to go and talk to Quinn, I knew I'd be okay. Well, I hoped. Now that we've actually met, just the image of him realizing who I am and taking aim to shootthreatens to crush my heart.

Now that I'm looking at him again, I don't see any of that former disappointment in his baby blue eyes.

He's watchingso intently I don't even notice his hand slide forward until I feel one of his fingers tracing up and down the side of my leg.

"You don't like women?" he asks with a quick smile.

"No," I whisper, my breath hitching and my eyes growing heavy as he broadens his exploration and gently strokes over my knees.

Thank fuck," he says, tilting his head to watch the graze of his hand.

"We were just joking when she said that, I explain, shamefully leaning little farther into his touch. My body is purring as he continues Chapter Two Hundred Fifteen to strum my leg, his fingers becoming more and more bold with every passing second. I'm forced to bite down on my lip just to keep making any catlike noises and by the this fingertips skim the back of my ass I've nearly given up the fight You still have to tell him who you are! didn't find the joke to be nearly as funny as you did," Cane says, in a low, steady mire as his palm settles over the top of my fact, he raises his hand a bit higher, a little closer to my core, I found it pretty depressing "Why?" I can't help but ask.

"Because I'm not a woman," he says simply, his hand kneading my thigh "No, you're not. You're a hunter," I whisper and his hand freezes, his gaze raising to mine.

He studies my eyes for a moment, then my face, but he doesn't remove his hand. “Right, I "Why?" I can't help myself. I want to know. "Do you love it that much? Hunting?" His jaw clenches and his soft blue eyes darken when he shakes his head. "I've never loved it, but I used to enjoy A small coll of hope begins to wind inside of me. "You don't anymore? "No. I don't," he rasps out, his hand tightening a little on my thigh..

My eyes catch on his fingers, then ride the vein that bulges over the muscles of his forearm all the way up his face. "What changed?" vonderfully cut biceps to Again his jaw clenches and with it, his grip on my thigh. "You probably wouldn't believeif I told you," he says smoothly.

"Try me." I say.

He smiles slightly, his eyes sparkling a little as he watches my face. "You're from Port Orchard, right?" "Not exactly, but close enough,” I admit.

He nods as is satisfied. "Then I'm sure you've heard the stories about the animals that live there in the woods." I nod, eager to see where he's going with this. "A few nights ago my buddy and I were out there bunting." "It's illegal to hunt out there," I point out, a little bit of my anger getting the better offor a moment.

"I know," he chuckles. "Which is why so many do it. If you can get away with it, there's not much competition from other hunters." "Gross. But okay, go on." "I needed sbig gfor something that I'm working toward and I knew that would be the one place I could find it. Within the tfrthat I've been given, I had to make a splash so I headed out there confident I could get what I needed. 1 set up more traps than ever before in the best location possible and then headed back to the cabin and 1 waited. Monitoring the area with a high frequency mic, I was able to hear every rustle of leaves, every whisper of wind... every animal cry." He looks away fromto stare straight ahead at the wall.. “It didn't take long, maybe an hour, before it screeched through my headphones. Even though it was my first thearing it, I knew right away it was the sound of a wounded lion. I could hear it thrashing in the trap so I knew it was caught." He takes a deep breath, still not Jooking my way. The first shot I gave her was from a decent distance, but she was still thrashing.

"She?" I choke out. That's when I realize I've started to cry and my side that he shotin has started to ache. I swipe at my cheeks to wipe the tears away and his gaze steadies on me, the blue of his irises full of an emotion I can't quite place. "Go on," I press him.