The Pack: Rule Number 1 - No Mates

Chapter One Hundred-Fifty-One

DELILAHI

Staring at the back of my brother's head with a can of soup in my hand, ready to be thrown- | wonder, for maybe

the five billionth time. how anybody could be as stupid as he is. | mean, he was born normal. A least, | think he

was. Then again, | wasn’t there during the hatching so there might be details of his birth that my mother chose

to leave out each tshe told the story. Dad's story almost matched hers too perfectly. It was probably

rehearse There had to be an incident, or unseen variable. Maybe there was a shockwave at the very moment he

was born, or maybe the nurse wrapped his body up too tightly and the blood couldn’t flow properly. Im not sure

what happened, but something did! Because he is an idiot!

A bonafide moron on two legs (sometimes three).

And now... while | stare at his sandy blond head, | contemplate whether or not his being canned in the back of

the head would even do any real damage. | doubt it. It'll probably just open my soup,

I sigh, putting the soup down on the raggedy wooden counter of the rickety wooden kitchen in this ruggedly

decrepit cabin, and glaring out the window at the full moon in the sky.

“lI can’t believe you idiots draggedout here,” | complain, turning on the faucet and watching the sludge roll

out of the tap. Every fucking time. It's going to take five whole minutes for that shit to clear.

Oh con, baby,” Charlie, my brother's best friend says, suddenly at my side. “You would've been lonely

without me.”

He sidles up to me, rubbing the front of his pants along my ass. Rolling my eyes, | whip my arm up *Don’t

fucking touch me, Charles.”

up and kn

knuckle crack him in his forehead.

“Damn it, D! You could have broken my nose!” Charlie snaps.

“Coulda - woulda - shoulda. Cback over here and I'll try again.”

“Quiet!” my brother Cane shouts

He’s got his dumbass arms headset things on his wide melon head and is pointing sweird little microphone

out toward the woods. When his feet start bouncing | know it's about to get real and | clench my teeth in anger

as he and Charlie start suiting up to head out.

“We got one! Cane cries out, tossing his headset and snatching up his rifle and night goggles.

“Yes!” Charlie squeals like the bitch he is, before grabbing his hunting knife and trang gun.

Cane turns to

toright before they go outside and says, “Stay here, D.

“Well duh Captain America,” | snap, watching them go.

One of these d

days those two are either going to get killed or sent to prison

I'm fine with hunting if you you live out in the wilderness and youneed food. But poaching is just plain wrong.

And that is absolutely all those two do, | don’t completely blmy simple-minded older brother. It's not like he

dreamed of killing animals from the the was small. My dad is the one who got him into it. They went on their

first excursion together when Cane was ten and | was five. | still remember what it felt like when they came

hwith two dead wolves hidden in the bed of my dad's truck. | cried for a damn week. Wolves are so

beautiful and so... fierce! Why does anyone feel the need to turn one of the Earth’s most cunning predators into

a trophy?

It disgusts me. They disgust me. The only reason why | cwith them when they do this is to make sure

someone is there for that eventual tthat the shit hits the fan. In the old days, it would've been my dad, but

he died last year. He was a member of selite potching society called The Elder Few and Cane was supposed

to join in, but my dad died before he could nominate him- thank God!

1/3

Chapter One Hundred Fifty One

As | turn back to my soup and grab a pot out of the nighnend, a loud stepping noise sounds just outside the

kitchen window, followed by the yelp of what | know has to

“City God,” hist. “They out fuking trap around the house toor

SATA wild thrashing wands on the other side of the wall and | know its the animal trying to get free. | should help

itit’s the least | can

traps are harder than bell to release when there’s an animal caught in one. I'll have to get really close.

“Fuck!” | short, before grabbing her and a flashlight

| have to do this. | have to. For my peace of mind.

switch on the ashlight just as a gut wrenching booed sounds on the right side of the cabin and jump. Oh no! Its a

wolf! They've caught

Shift Pacing amound the

cabin, | swing

light back and forth near the brush. At first | don’t see anything, just bushes and

trees, but then... the flashlight glints off tw medallions of guld sparkling in the dark and | freeze

That is the biggest fucking wolf fve ever seen.

But hory is he beautiful.

1 appruch slowly, holding the hammer in the air like a flag of truce as | shine the flashlight steadily on the wolf's

beautifully sleek gray- gn coat. He’s growling and whining at the stime, and when my light catches on his

fangs for a moment | almost stop dead. They are longer and sharper than any teeth I've ever seen, and my dad

caught a lot of wolves over the years. But not one like this. Beautiful and damn near as big as a horse. God, if

the one that Cone went after is as big as this one is, he’s in trouble.

“Hey there,” | con when I'm about seven feet from him.

He's thrashing still, seemingly ignoring me. | think if | can get close enough while he’s doing that, then I can

release the trap wil having to worry about being torn to ribbons. So | take a deep breath and step closer and

closer. One little tiny foot at a tuntil I'm foul feet from him and | can see where the wolf's entire front paw is

caught in the wide-tooth bear trap Cane must have set up yesterday.

“Oh no!” | whimper when | see all the blood on the ground and around the trap. But then | notice something...

the peg that releases the trap is nearly out. But... how? What?

A deep growl catches my attention and my head jerks up to meet the most mesmerizing eyes | have ever seen.

They're full on yellow. Gorgeous and glowing and | gasp in in admiration, forgetting for a moment that this

beautiful beast is growling at me.

“We're so pretty,” | say softly, noting the drool that’s dripping from his angry mouth. “I want to get you out.

Okay? I'm going to try to help you. But if you bite me? If you take off an arm, or a leg? | won't be able to. Got it?”

He snarls, snapping his jaws atand for the first t| know how truly stupid of a move this was. But... I'm

already hera-tm two feet from the damn prg. | take a deep breath, noting the wolf changing position as he

prepares to strike, but praying that there is a God and he loves creatures too. All creatures... even my dumb ass.

The wolf moves his head closer, growling

ling and snarling as the pair of us urge toward each other.

6 Bm an (1 Q

This is it. I'm right over the peg now. |

stare into the eyes of the wolf as |

bring the hammer, dowRyashétd a

oem; seieaRing When | hear the clang

snap of the trap releasing and | go

flying back into the dirt, clutching my

flashlight like a baton. The content is

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| sputter and cough as | work to catch my breath, but the rumbling of an angry growl hasfrozen yet again.

" en H .

Oh shit,” I whisper, noting that the

wolf is free and standing over Me

His fangs 1s spendin from

oO fe IF

ohetfoot away. Jesus Christ. I'm

. uw ,

going to get rufen. “You're free now.

” :

G—go!” The content is on

novelenglish.net! Read the latest

chapter there!

2/3

Chapter One Hundred Fifty-One

stop po hug my t| we

f ? q

In glad you're okay, | whisper, closing

my my as he os ed igh

were tHieansuids ace myself for

the pain The content is on

novelenglish.net! Read the latest

chapter there!

Chapter Comments

KKN

oooh another mate? the suspense is killing me

Marietta Gary

Hot damn.

VIEW ALL 4 COMMENTS

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* SHAPE