The Pack: Rule Number 1 - No Mates

Chapter One-Hundred-Forty-Three

RAINIER

Shit! Shit!, shit, shit! When | stepped out of the shower on the yacht, my pants were folded neatly on the bed. At

the time, | know Felix must have been the one to place them there and | was actually a little touched that she

had even bothered. Never once did it occur tothat she might have searched my pockets. | wonder what she

was looking for. Money? Was she planning to leave?

thed be

In truth, she didn’t really seem too thrilled about the job at the bar, not the apartment that cwith it. | would

have thought sh happier about the opportunity. Not that bartending was a glamorous career, but it was way

more respectable than the one she had before we met. | almost felt like | was forcing her into it when | left her at

the bar. Fuck. The more | think about it, the uneasier | feel

She didn’t even mention finding the ring, which probably means that she has already writtenoff. She's going

to leave.

Well... she’s going to try. I'm not going to let her. Tonight during the shift, I'll be more animal than man, and |

may not be entirely connected to the human side of my life. But one thing's for certain, | will know she is mine

when | see her. So if | can just stick to the wooded area closest to the bar, Fcan watch over her through the

night. At least | hope.

The problem is, during the forced shift, we as wolves are overcwith a rush of primal instincts. Everything

about our human lives will fade into the background and all we will know is the beast on the other side. During a

normal shift, we are in complete control of both Identities. We maintain our human nature while in beast form.

We know exactly who and what we are. During a forced shift, we simply becwolves. Every human thought

and memory falls into the darkness and we spend the entire night racing through the forests. We may go into the

shift intent on being present and planning to keep watch over our loved ones, but it never ever happens that

way. Not for any of us. At least, not yet. Often times we shift back into ourselves miles from town and end up

having to shift back into our wolves to face home. So as much as | hope I'll be able to stick around and watch

Felix, | know it’s not likely to happen.

Maybe nothing has been important enough toyet. Maybe Felix could be the one thin to bridge the gap for

me.

I sigh, my eyes back on the front door as | bite the bullet and take a step inside.

“Angie?” | call out, hoping she’s not still sleeping. I'd hate to have to wake her up to deliver this kind of news,

“Well, look who’s home,” she teases, coming out of the kitchen with a martini in her hands.

It smells like she’s been drinking all night, her breath is literally a hundred proof as she walks up to me, her eyes

slightly glazed over.

“You've been up all night,” | say flatly, suddenly curious as to what might have motivated her to drink away the

night.

Angie is used tonot coming home, and | very rarely am here at night. | have been known to sleep more in

my office, or in my SUV, than | ever have in my bed. More or less because she is always in it, but also because |

like to be ready for action when I'm needed. So | know right off, Angie's concern for my whereabouts is not what

prompted her latest binge.

“I have,” she giggles, pushing up ontoand attempting to grab my dick.

“Hey! Whoa!” | complain, grabbing her wrist in my hand and steering her toward the sofa. “Settle down for a

moment,” | suggest, taking a seat across from her in my arm chair. The one piece of furniture that | might

actually miss.

She eyeswarily, her normally pretty face suddenly pinched with irritation. It's as if the vodka Gods have just

whispered in her ear of what is coming as she begins to shake her head at me. “I knew it. | fucking knew it!” she

hisses, tossing back the rest of her drink as she glares out the window. “You ve been cheating on me.”

She’s not wrong. Well not exactly... Only because, | don’t personally consider being with one’s mate cheating.

Ironically enough, in the eyes of a Shifter, Angle is the other woman. Regardless of who | met first.

When | don’t deny her accusation this taround, she goes completely still for a moment, her face growing so

red, | can't tell if she’s angry or just surprised.

1/3

Chapter One-Hundred-Forty-Three.

“Angie,” | say softly, folding my hands in front ofand propping my arms up on my knees so that | can lower

my harad wwen ) spevar have something to tell you.”

She begins to cackle angrily, shaking her head as her face twists into a cowl. “Oh yeah? Do you, but? You fucking

bestand it you leaving me? You want a divorce? You don’t loveanymore? Tell me, please do. Tellwhich of

these things

brought to your attention, knowing that you were unhappy with me, only for you to insist that | was being

paranoid and for you to that | was wrong - tellwhich of them you ate about to confess to. Please!”

| sigh, rubbig my temples as the beginning of a headache begins to form, | look at her, at the anger in her dark

brown eyes and what | und up saying is, “I never meant to hurt you.”

Again she freezes, as if she really and truly expectedin deny these things again. “I cheated on you, she says

suddenly. A haughty inte smirk forming on her lips. “I met this guy, and he is-she closes her eyes so fucking

amazing Her eyes flare back open. He doesn’t keep things fromlike you do. He doesn’t lie and pretend and

he lovesHe said sou,”

absorbed ber new, | might

She watchesintently for a reaction, but | remain stoic. Because should | move at all, or speak before 1

accidentally break out in song and dance and that simply would not do God, | hope that’s true,” | say instead.

| can see her imploding, her anger bubbling to the surface before she murs, “You HOPE that’s true? Are you

fuckes kidding that I've been fucking around on you?”

God yes, | shake my head, silently grateful that she gavean easy way out of here. Because now, with her

confession, | no longer fuck of hurt her feelings or not. Now, | can be as cold and as straightforward as a

mortician when | say, “I want a divorce. I'm thing in the moming. Her jaw drops, but she doesn’t move an inch,

so | continue, Tm giving you the house, the bank accor You can have everything. | don’t want any of it.”

She's sputtering now as | head for the door, shaking her head in disbelief. “You never loved me! Did you? You're

just as cold-hearted your father!”

I no longer wish to lie. Not to myself or anyone else, so | say, “No, Angle. I'm sorry, | didn’t love you, but | did

care for you. When you were helpless and... lost. Without a soul in the world and | wanted to take care of you. |

thought that would be enough for me. And might have been if...

“T?” she hissed. “If what?”

If I hadn't been the one to answer the call that day. If it had been a different town or a different club that Hector

decided to visit. “If | didn’t know for sure that there was someone out there for you. Someone who will see

everything you do as special and will notice the littlest things about you that are beautiful.”

You'd think she would have smiled at that, but no. “That is NOT what you were about to say RAINIER RIOTTE!”

Yeah, well, prove it bitch. “Maybe that guy you were tellingabout is the one. For my sake, | hope that he is.

And just so you know, 1 never cheated on you. Not in the way that you think | did. | was faithful until | was sure it

was over. If you're honest with yourself, I'm sure you'll find that you never lovedeither.” | turn around,

leaving the wedding band on the shelf next to the closes, then head for the door and open it.

“You're horrible! | hate you so much! | will never forgive you!” she screams. Then, her voice Junkers almost

menacingly. “Is there someone else?” she asks, and | suddenly have a flashback of Felix on the yacht, when she

pretty much asked the sthing.

Without turning around, | smile and | say, “No. There's not someone else. But... there is someone.”

“Do you love her?” she cries out as 1 step over the threshold.

This t| turn around, if only to study Angie's face as | leave. To make sure she doesn't look like she’s going to

blow something up or else use the hairdryer in the bathtub. Thankfully, she appears to be calm. Almost too calm.

| meet her eyes. “I'm pretty sure | do... Yeah.”

Her face twists into an angry frown and | race toward the driveway to get back into my SUV, ripping up the

asphalt as | fly down the

2/3

08:47 FTI, NOV 15

Chapter One-Hundred-Forty-Three

street toward the bar. Tfor

Snother, terribly uncomfortable

conversation. When | pull into the lof,

)

| park next to Heclsrdea heh,

3 y a

gfanginaLe Ney E [ix's surprised,

slightly hopeful, slightly sud, face in

the window of the apartment above

and | mentally prepare myself for the

: )

groveling I'm about to do. Then |

realized... my situation would

probably be a lot easier for her to

understand if she knew | was a The

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the latest chapter there!

wolf.

Not yet... After the shift maybe, not not yet.

As | replay the conversation | had with Angie in my head and trudge upstairs to the apartment, | freeze.

) q Q q

| can't believe | missed it. | cannot

g 9 B Q

believe | didn't catch what she,said

Wille | wasthere: She CRbped right in

font ofand my brain was too

fucked up to even notice. The

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the latest chapter there!

But now, her words replay in my

2 sy ow

head, taunting ReIe yaw

5 ) .

holy loxecheDi you? You're just

1 ”

as cold—hearted as your father!” The

content is on novelenglish.net! Read

the latest chapter there!

Such a strange thing for her to say when she’s never even met him...

Chapter Comments

KKN

hmmmm.......very weird indeed. what does she know about his father?

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