The Mating Rules

Six days later and we are once again in front of the Alpha. I’ve managed to dodge meetings with him since the Rogue attack but he’s finally cornered us all and now I’m sat on the sofa next to Hadley as Caden sits in the chair opposite his father looking mutinous.Property © NôvelDrama.Org.

‘It’s personal dad, it’s not right to force Jamie-Lee to divulge information she’s not ready to repeat’ the young Alpha argues hotly.

‘I have a right to know Caden’ he dad shoots back angrily, ‘The council have been informed of your situation and are on their way. I need to be aware if there is something going on, I don’t want to be blindsided. Jamie-Lee is also my pack member and my best friend’s daughter, that makes her my responsibility. If there is something putting her in danger then I need to know.’

‘Who said she was in danger?’ Caden shoots back suspiciously, ‘I didn’t.’

Alpha Scott sighs deeply, leaning back in his chair, ‘son’ he starts again, straining to control his temper, ‘a woman comes to my pack demanding to speak to the she wolf with two mates. No one outside of our pack knows about you, I put an order on every wolf other than us that they were not permitted to talk about it to outsiders. She then kicks me out of my own office and when I finally get back in, Lee looks like she’s going to throw up, Hadley is worried, and you are radiating possessive anger! It’s not hard to work out that something is going on and it’s not good news.’

From where I’m sitting, I can see my mate is starting to lose control of his temper and I quickly stand up, moving over to him and placing my hands on his bare arms to calm him.

‘Alpha Scott is right’ I murmur quietly, ‘he is my Alpha and he needs to know.’

Caden looks up at me, ‘no Jamie-Lee, don’t let him bully you’ he snaps.

I shake my head, ‘he isn’t Caden,’ I glance up at the man across from us, ‘I trust him.’

Alpha Scott gives me a small smile as Caden’s shoulders drop, his anger leaving him.

‘Alpha Scott’ I say, ‘please could you call my dad here too? I’d like to tell you both what was said but I need you both to promise not to tell anyone else, including the Luna and my mother.’

The Alpha opens his mouth to argue but Caden jumps in again, ‘she wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t really important dad’ he growls. ‘It’s not about trust with mum and Mrs Sparks, it’s about protecting Jamie-Lee, the less people who know about this the better.’

Alpha Scott studies us both for a moment before nodding curtly, his eyes glazing over to call my dad who enters the office a few minutes later.

‘Scott’ he greets the Alpha cordially, before nodding his head to both my mates, ‘Hadley, Caden, how are you boys? We haven’t seen you at dinner yet, Mrs Sparks is growing impatient.’

I giggle, covering my mouth with my hand, mum has linked me almost every day since my mating to try and get us over to her house so she can grill my mates about when she’ll be getting her first grandchild. She pretends it’s about welcoming them in to the family, but I know her. I’m actually surprised my old room hasn’t had all the gym equipment thrown out and replaced with a crib already.

Caden stands and holds out his hand to my father, shaking it, ‘we’ll make sure to come over this week’ he replies making my father chuckle.

‘Good, good, it’s growing harder each day to stop the woman marching over to Hadley’s house and drag you all by your ears back to ours’ the Beta laughs.

The two men smile at my father as I try to hide my face in Hadley’s shirt, they think he’s joking but my mum will absolutely come over and demand our presence at her table.

Taking the other seat in front of the Alpha, my father looks between us all curiously, ‘so why am I here?’ he asks finally.

‘Jamie-Lee has decided to tell us what Luella told them last week’ Alpha Scott replies, perking my father’s interest.

Turning to me he raises an eyebrow, ‘are you sure JJ?’ he asks gruffly, ‘you didn’t seem to want to divulge anything at the time, I don’t want you to feel pressured.’

I give my dad a grateful smile but shake my head, ‘I need to tell someone’ I sigh, ‘it’s too big to keep to myself and to be honest, I think we are going to need your and Alpha Scott’s help.’

My father nods his understanding and sits back in the chair waiting for me to speak.

Taking a deep breath, I start to repeat everything I can remember from the meeting with the Seer. Hadley adds in pieces that I miss and between us we catch both men up with the situation.

Once I’m done, I bite down on my l*p nervously as the two older wolves stare at me mutely. Beside them, Caden stands up, walking over to me and sitting down on the opposite side to Hadley, wrapping his arms around me as I instinctively lean back against him, breathing him in.

‘I’ve never heard of a Spirit Wolf’ my dad murmurs uncertainly, ‘are we sure this is true? Maybe she’s just a crazy old lady wanting to cause issue.’

‘What would she gain from it though?’ Hadley asks immediately as Caden and I nod silently in agreement with him. The three of us have gone over and over this for the last six days, trying to figure out if it’s true and we keep coming back to the same result, the woman knew too much about me to be lying.

‘Nothing I suppose’ my dad sighs, slumping slightly into his chair.

‘She knew you had two mates’ Alpha Caden frowned, ‘that alone tells me that she has some sort of powers, we kept that damn secret like a vault. She knew about Lee’s eyes, no one else apart from us and the doctor has seen them. Doctor Meadows is bound by an Alpha order, I haven’t told anyone, have any of you?’ he asks, looking over myself and my mates.

We all shake our heads, ‘we didn’t want anyone else to know about it until we knew what it meant’ Caden supplies.

‘Bit upset that I wasn’t told about this Scott’ my dad growls in annoyance, glaring at his friend, ‘her eyes changed colour? How is that even possible?’

‘Sorry mate, but we didn’t know what the hell it was about and we couldn’t replicate it’ Alpha Scott apologises. ‘We didn’t know if it was just a one off thing or if maybe we had all imagined it, like a trick of the light type thing. Even Skarla couldn’t tell us what it was, and I questioned her extensively myself.’

‘You should have told me’ my father huffs, ‘she’s my daughter.’ He scowls at each of the other men, before looking at me, sending a small smile my way that I return.

‘When are the council getting here?’ Caden asked, changing the subject, his abrupt question making my stomach churn with nerves.

Alpha Scott grimaces, ‘tomorrow’ he admits reluctantly, ‘they are sending someone down to speak directly to you all and me. The phone call wasn’t pleasant so don’t expect a warm greeting when whoever it is turns up.’

The younger Alpha shrugs, ‘nothing they can do now, we’re all marked, she’s my Luna and even the council can’t force the breaking of an Alpha and Luna bond.’

The Alpha sighs, ‘Caden’ he mutters tiredly, ‘we really don’t know what they can do right now, this is a law that has been around for centuries.’

‘Well when they turn up, maybe we can ask where this damn rule came from when supposedly no one has ever been double mated’ his son grumbled stonily.

My brow creases as I think, rolling everything over in my mind before raising my gaze to the men around me, ‘what if’ I start hesitantly before halting.

‘What JJ, what is on your mind?’ my dad asks immediately, turning his attention to me.

‘What if there has been a double pairing before’ I murmur. ‘What if there was a Spirit Wolf before me that was given two mates?’ My gaze moves to Caden and then Hadley nervously, ‘With there being no record of this wolf in our books, it wouldn’t be hard to hide the fact that she had two mates would it?’

‘Why would the Council care?’ Hadley asked, frowning deeply.

‘Because the Spirit Wolf is stronger with two protectors’ Caden growls angrily, ‘force her to chose only one and she’s weaker. This bastard is thousands of years old, it’s not hard to believe that he has connections in high places. If the last Spirit Wolf had two mates, it would make sense that this Avrilak guy wouldn’t want her to be able to accept both, so he leans on his friends in the Council to out law it.’

A rumble of disapproval reverberates from Alpha Scott’s chest, ‘we need to keep this Spirit Wolf stuff to ourselves’ he announces sternly. ‘When this Council representative arrives tomorrow, I will do my best to stop him meeting with Jamie-Lee. Caden’ he snaps, turning to his son, ‘they are most likely going to want to meet you, make sure that your wolf isn’t going to rip Hadley’s apart in a possessive rage. I’m hoping that we can convince them to sanction the pack and leave you all alone. As long as we mention nothing about her eyes or Luella’s information we might be able to get them accept it. If they are in he pocket of this Warlock, they can go back and tell him that she doesn’t show any signs of importance. If they are looking for the Spirit Wolf, I’m sure that they have been prompted with questions to ask to try and reveal her.’

Caden nods, gripping my to him tightly, ‘I’ll be at the meeting’ he agrees, ‘Hadley will stay with JJ, keep her safe and I’ll use the bond to contact them if things seem to be getting out of hand. He can do what he needs, to keep her away from these people.’

Alpha Scott glances at my dad, ‘you need to be there too Greg’ he says, ‘you’re her father, you can play up the fact she’s a Beta wolf.’

‘Don’t tell them that she’s stubborn or likes to defy authority’ Hadley intercedes as I turn to him scowling.

‘Hey!’ I huff as the men all laugh at me, ‘I do not defy authority!’

‘OK, you have a selective mentality toward orders, is that better?’ my warrior mate teases.

‘Hadley is right, Luella mentioned that refusal to submit to others and demanding respect were part of this Spirit Wolf’s personality. The Moon Goddess always picked a she wolf with those types of traits.’

Alpha Scott nods, ‘good thinking, we’ll slip in some information about Lee being a good Luna due to her sympathetic and motherly nature.’

Behind me Caden snorts with laughter, grunting when I ram my elbow into his stomach.

‘So motherly’ he whispers hoarsely, ‘I’ve never thought of a more fitting word to describe you.’

Rolling my eyes, I turn back to the Alpha as he finishes up the meeting and dismisses us. ‘Keep close to her boys’ Alpha Scott calls out as we head toward the door after I stop and plant a k**s on my father’s cheek. ‘I don’t know why, but I’m feeling nervous, Kyanite is pacing as well so keep vigilant.’

Nodding, the two men steer me out of the office, shutting the door behind me as Caden cages me against a wall. ‘You heard him mate, we need to stay close to you’ he growls, running his nose up my neck as I whimper.

‘I think you need to be closer than this’ I agree, my eyes closing as Hadley takes my hand and tugs gently.

‘Let’s go to our house’ the warrior rumbles, his eyes dark as they train on me. ‘I think we need to get as close as possible, to really keep her safe.’

Caden takes a step back, picking me up and carrying me toward the stairs, Hadley on his heels as I giggle. Settling into his arms, I don’t even argue with him about carrying me, if I let him do what he wants we’ll get there much quicker with their long strides over my short legs.