The Pack Rule Number 1 No Mates

Chapter Two Hundred Seventy-Three

The fog is thick this morning. Lassoed around my grandma's house kere twined about a body. It's winter tone and the sky is more gray than it has ever been, but even so the fog is never quite so thick here, so I have to wonder what the hell is going on. Stepping past the weatherbeaten threshold and into my grim's living room cases me to hear by breath. ty ripe with rabia's egg blue in every

It may be dark outside, but the living room is bright and the new beyond the windows shows a cloudless sky direction. What the - huh??

A quick gaze around finds may gran sitting quietly in her favorite chair, a spl of yarn and fresh knitting on her lap.

"Gran! Hey! Where's Chelsea? My eyes search the space for my sister, frong when I come up empty.

Gran laughs, her dark blue eyes swirling as she looks up at me. "Child, you ow dong well these visits are personal and private."

I squint, turning my head to observe her carefully. She looks younger somehow. Not sick the way she was the last time we were together.

11hen wassss the last time we were together?

"Oh my Goddess!" I exclaim. "This is a dream, isn't it Gran?"

My grandama smiles at me, nodding her head knowingly. "No child, this is a visit. I've been holding onto the veil, waiting for this day for a while now, baby. You've been lost to us for the fast two years. It's nice to know someone has finally breached Draco's barrier over your heart. you

are free now.

What the heck is the talking about? Fr

Free?

"Oh Gran, You were so, so right about him. Jo so sorry. But, you're wrong He's still out there. He's been chasing me since the day you died. He pretended he was gonna take me to go and see you. To see your body, but fall to my knees he lied, Gran. He led

"It's not your fault, angel. You only hoped to be loved. One thing I have learned since passing is that straying from the path is sometimes necessary for the greater good, Even if it may not seem that way at the time. She sighs, "I still love you. No matter the choices you made. I held your hand when you sang your song of sorrow. I was there when you finally decided to run from the best."

"Still," I moan helplessly. Tm sorry I wasn't there for Chelsea... and what do you mean someone has finally breached the barrier? What barrier,

Gran?

She purses her lips, lowering her eyes to the plush white carpet at her bare feet. "Draco placed a barrier over your heart, sweet girl siphon. You are my Gifted her. Your innate ability to inherit my gifts sparked to life the day I traveled. So all of your emotions and eff of your magics, along with mine, were locked up inside of you. You couldn't complete much more than a few surface conjurings before she grins "-now though-" her ryebrows wag "-a true mate has set you free."

"The mate? Gran? What in the niligator crust are you talking about?"

Grandmama's eyes.pl with tears and when i reach forward, to grasp her knees and my hands go straight through "Gran? Her body is fading right before my eyes. "Hair"

She chuckles, the sound of a tingle of song from for for away. "I did, baby girl. A week. Now that I've finally been able to say goodbye, I can Nally pass beyond the veil. I love you my angel. The next time you open your eyes you will know true power. You're going to have to save him from himself. Whatever you take from this visit, let it be that. He will not believe in you at first and you will have to fight tooth and mail to keep Jim close. But I have faith in you, child. You and he will birth a son. And that child will be the next Alpha of his pack." What? Gran? What are you talking about? I cry as everything around me beglas to disappear and I'm suddenly back in the woods,

I glance around in a panic as I realize, I've just fallen again and the hounds are only a few steps behind me. I can hear them, smell them, feel them on the wind... and leap to my feet and race forward. A gray sky looms ahead through a crack in the treeline. The tang of ocean brine rides air and I know the coast is near. Salt water! Perfect! Shadow Hounds are extremely susceptible to ocean water! sinute... how do I know that? What the hell? And why-

All coherent thought leaves me as I tumble down the mountainside and hit my head on a boulder, my skull resounding with deathly crack

pair of eyes glint red in the darkness at the edge of my yard and I flash my fangs in warning. The scent of fear is like a siren's song to wolf and I take my first step in their direction, my lip lifting as I growl The biggest of the hounds shifts into his human form right eyes and the man behind the dog grins.

trouble with you, brother, but the female you are protecting is mine. She belongs to me. She promised herself to me after murdering nay sister. She owes me. A life for a life."

Tricky meaningless drivel is all I hear and I don't answer to such things. Instead, I growl. Low, angry, and intent on making myself clear. My muscles bunch as 1 prepare to pounce, knowing it will be much easier to kill the Alpha of their pack while he is human, but something

A crushing pain envelopes my throat and fear blazes across

Anastacia?

chest.

I step back, lowering my head as pretending to understand the vagrant dog at the edge of my woods. Shifting back into myself, the shifted hounds ayes go wide with shock.

your only

This is you ay from here? I snarl. I don't care what life you think she owes you. This is not her town, nor is it yours. warning. Leave tonight," I snap, ignoring the flash of anger I receive in return before turning my back on him in a show of disrespect. I'm not afraid of you, mutt. Nor am I afraid of your little strays.

Then I step back in the house and lock the door, panicking as I look around and see Anastacia has gone.

hiss in disappointment. She doesn't answer, but my heightened senses can hear her heart beating and my eyes follow the

she lays unconscious on the floor and barely breathing "Fuck!"