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The Pack: Rule Number 1 – No Mates
Chapter Two Hundred Sixty–Three
BARTLETT
“Bartlett…” she whispers and beyond the fear in her eyes 1 can see the longing there too. “What are you saying?”
My eyes catch on Draven’s for a short moment before she nods and stands up, helping Rose to her feet when she does.
“I’m saying exactly what it sounds like I’m saying,” I decree. The bark of my words fighting through the ache in my chest that started the moment when I read her father’s message. “There is no way in this world I’m letting go of you so that you can go home and marry some sorry fucking prick that isn’t me.”
“Have you spoken to Gayle?” Draven asks as she approaches.
“I have,” I say softly, my eyes still on my mate and the insecurity of her gaze. Maybe if I can just get her inside and beneath me again, I can get her to listen to me. Maybe if I stake my claim over and over with my dick, she’ll see reason.
Seriously, Bartlett?
But I can’t help it. My hunger for the beauty on the docks has only multiplied tenfold since having her last night and there is no way in the world I’m going to let her go. The longer I watched her out here with my Luna, the harder it became for me to adhere to my promise of allowing her to leave. The more and more I thought about it, the old ways – the ways of our ancestors – became deviously tempting. They believed a mate should not only be claimed but forced to accept their lot in life, and sure, out in Port Orchard we have never done things that way, but I was starting to see the appeal.
Draven’s arms wrap around me in a hug and despite the sudden jealousy I see flare in Rose’s eyes, I hug her back. Im so happy for you.” Draven whispers. “She’s shy, but lovely. She’s going to need you to make yourself perfectly clear. She doesn’t think that you want her enough.”
I flinched at that last part, especially when Draven gifted me with a quick kiss on the cheek and the sound of my Alpha growling barreled
down the hill.
“Baby! What the fuck?” Domonic’s voice could be heard from the top of the hill, but all he received in return was Draven’s middle finger.
“See you both inside,” Draven declares. before turning around to bounce up the stone walkway and back up to the house.
The words she spoke to me were whispered so quietly that I’m sure it made our momentary embrace look like more than what it actually was and the cute little snark on Rose’s face couldn’t be denied.
“You’re jealous,” I say with a grin, stepping down onto the docks to gaze down at my beautiful mate.
“No.”
“Lies,” I rumble, smirking when she glares up at me.
“She’s like… really pretty. And someone who I could definitely see you with so-”
“Hey!” I snap suddenly, gripping her chin in my hands and ignoring the spark of electricity that jolts at my fingertips.
“What?” she snaps, glaring at me defiantly, the maple brown of her long, long, locks waving in the wind. “She is.”
Shaking my head slowly, I allow my gaze to lock on the sexy heave of her breasts beneath my shirt. “You are every bit as beautiful as she is, princess. Even more so to me. If you only knew…” I trail off, shifting my eyes away from her as my dick hardens painfully in my pants. The memory of the way she looked last night when she came undone is still so fresh in my mind and everytime I picture the part of her lips when she came in my arms I’m almost overcome with the urge to drop to my knees in worship.
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Chapter Two Hundred Sixty–Three
*Knew what, Bartlett?” she asks somewhat breathlessly and that’s all it takes to snag her into my arms and lock her against my chest.
Her eyes flare wide and my fangs snap out, forcing me to look away from her so that she isn’t afraid. “How much I want you. It’s unreal. I can’t let anyone even sneer your way without-”
“Look at me!” she commands with a sudden authority to her words that they could almost come from our Luna. God help me, I do. I can’t not. So I turn my face toward hers, fangs and all, and steel myself against the fear I expect to see in her eyes. “Why did you look away from me, Bartlett?”
I shake my head, clamping my eyes shut and trying to will my fangs back into hiding, but they don’t go. They can’t. She’s already threatened me with leaving and my beast is hovering, waiting to pounce. The need to keep her from leaving so great I’m almost afraid I might shift right here. ‘I don’t want you to have to see the monster in me, I choke out.
That’s when I feel it. The gentle, erotic, stroke of her fingers over my teeth and God help me, I groan. “There’s no monster in you,” she whimpers. “I’m so sorry I said that. I was just… I was…”
I growl, sealing my hands over the back of her ass and pulling her flush against me. My eyes fall open before her fingers leave my fangs and I kiss the tops of them before she can pull away. “I would never hurt you and I’m sorry if my fangs scare you but… they seem to come out when you make me horny,” I rumble, averting my gaze from hers when I feel my face heat to absolute mortification.
Did I really just say that? What the fuck is wrong with me?
She giggles and I feel her hands slide over my chest as she presses her glorious boobs up against me. “I make you horny? Have you any idea what just looking at you does to me? Your tattoos and your muscles – your beard“-she pauses, biting her lower lip-“they drive me…”
“Don’t stop,” I beg her. “Tell me. Don’t be shy. I want to know.”
Her face heats, coloring to full on red and she yanks my head closer. “They drive me insane, okay? They make me so… wet.”
Oh no. Oh shit. She’s really done it now.
“Fuck, princess,” I snarl. “Would you hate me for dragging you onto that yacht right now and fucking you senseless?”
“Yuck! I definitely would!” A female voice sounds at our back and I curse myself for not hearing her coming.
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It’s Rose. She grabs my attention and locks it deep. It’s almost like I have no idea what is going on around me when I have her in my
arms.
Rose tenses, but instead of pushing away from me, she curls into my chest – almost as if seeking my protection. That alone is enough to warm the ache right out of my chest and a growl to my throat.
“Now is not the time Gayle,” I say without looking away from my princess.
“Oh, but it is,” Gayle quips, leaping toward the docks from her perch ten feet away. “I was told that she and I need a little word. A little… one on one chat to air out our differences.”
“Gayle,” I snap in warning.
Gayle giggles and the tremble of fear in Rose’s bones tells me she’s perfectly aware of who it is that stands at my back and she’s deathly afraid of her.
