The Mating Rules

‘Umm’ I start uncertainly before my mouth closes again and I glance at Caden in panic.

‘Rogues at the northern border!’ Suddenly the voice of our patrol fills our heads.

All four men snap their heads up, jumping to their feet as I go to join them.

‘Stay here’ Caden orders, grabbing my shoulders.

‘What? No I need to defend the pack’ I reply, trying to get passed him to take up my position.

‘Baby, I need you to go and lock yourself in my room right now’ the young Alpha orders.

‘NO!’ I growl back, ‘I can’t hide in the pack whilst everyone fights Caden, I need to be out there.’

Surprisingly, it’s Hadley that steps in, placing his hands on my face and drawing my gaze to him. ‘Listen to Caden’ he murmurs softly, ‘after what we just heard, we don’t know who is at the border, until we know who this guy is and where he is, we need to keep you safe.’

I swallow a lump that’s formed in my throat as I nod, they are right, it could be this mystery man coming for me, I need to stay hidden.

Kissing me, Hadley lets me go, rushing from the room as Caden drags me out by my hand and presses his lips to mine before giving me a gentle shove toward his room. ‘Lock the door Leeway’ he calls after me, ‘do not come out until either Hadley or I come to get you.’

I turn around and nod quickly before running to his room and shutting the door, turning the locks and then pushing Caden’s dresser across the door for good measure. Backing up, I sink onto his bed, grabbing his pillow and holding it to my chest as I wait, my gaze unwavering from the door in front of me.

Below me, the area is silent, so I know that the Rogues haven’t managed to breach the warriors. I stand up, unable to sit still, anxiety coursing through me as I pace over to the window and look out over the forest, trying to see any indication of a fight.

After an hour, I’m desperate to call out to either of my mates and find out what is happening, but too scared that they are still fighting and my distraction will cause them to get hurt.

Inside my mind, Skarla is prowling back and forth in agitation, a low whimper coming from her lips as we continue to wait. Finally, after two hours, I see people walking out of the tree line toward the pack. Some are supporting injured wolves and a few are carrying bodies that I just know are fallen pack members.

I scour the people down below me, searching for both Hadley and Caden, but am unable to pick either of them out of the fighters.

‘Caden?’ I call out nervously through our min link, ‘are you OK?’

A tired voice comes back to me, ‘yes baby, I’m fine’ he replies softly, ‘are you OK? Still in our room?’

I nod before remembering he can’t see me, ‘yes, I put both locks on and put the dresser in front of the door’ I murmur. ‘What about Hadley?’ I ask, ‘he’s OK too?’

The Alpha chuckles, ‘yes, the a*****e is fine, got a few scratches on him but nothing that Hunter can’t fix up. We’re coming up now, so you can move the dresser out of the way but keep the door locked until we get there.’

I frown, ‘why are the Rogues still out there?’ I question worriedly, ‘didn’t you get them all?’

Caden sighs, ‘we got them’ he confirms, ‘they put up a good fight but we were better trained, had very few casualties.’

‘So why can’t I come down and meet you?’ I ask, really desperate to get to both of them and check them over myself.

‘Because we don’t know who here is your ally’ the Alpha replies sadly, ‘and I don’t want my dad to get hold of you and try to Alpha order you into telling him what Luella said.’

In my mind, Skarla scoffs, ‘like to see him try’ she growls, her tail swishing from side to side in annoyance.

I shh my wolf as Caden chuckles in my head, ‘I heard that mate’ he growls down the link and the rough voice tells me that it’s all Cobalt now.

‘Wasn’t trying to keep it from you Alpha, my mind and body are an open book to you’ my wolf purrs back seductively as I silently roll my eyes. Even in a crisis, my wolf is trying to get mounted, how am I not dead yet.

Minutes later, a knock on the door has me scrambling over to the barricade and dragging it out of the way before leaning against the wooden structure and calling through the barrier, ‘who is it?’

‘It’s us baby’ Caden’s fatigued voice calls back and I rip open the locks immediately, throwing the door open and launching into first Caden’s arms and then Hadley’s before stepping back and pulling them into the room so I can inspect them both thoroughly.

‘We’re fine Leeway’ Caden sighs, trying to fend me off, but Skarla growls loudly at him until he raises his hands up in surrender and allows her to stalk around him checking for injuries.

After she’s satisfied with the Alpha, she moves to Hadley, who stands quietly, letting my wolf smell him all over, searching for damage, a small whine leaving her as we detect b***d on one of his legs.Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

‘I’m OK sweetheart’ the warrior murmurs, lifting up the leg of the sweatpants he’s wearing to reveal a long cut running up his calf that is already healed and fading. ‘I had three on me at once’ he explained, wrapping his arms around me, and pulling me into his chest, ‘the third got a swipe on me whilst I was dealing with his friends. Don’t worry, I paid him back in full for it, I knew you’d be upset and no one upsets my girl.’

Skarla purrs happily in his arms, pushing me aside so she can rub our body all over the half naked man holding us.

‘Hello?’ comes Caden’s grumpy voice, ‘I also fought in the battle, where is my love and overprotectiveness?’

My wolf releases Hadley and turns into the Alpha, licking his neck as she snuggles against his chest.

‘Hmm, I think you should take some notes’ the Alpha growls softly, ‘Skarla is a lot better at this showing affection thing Leeway.’

I shove Skarla back, taking over again as I pull away to glare at him, ‘I’m affectionate’ I huff.

‘Yeah, but Skarla is reeeeally affectionate’ Caden teases, making my wolf snigger in the back of my mind.

Ignoring him, I turn back to Hadley who is heading into the closet where some of his clothes are stored. Since I marked them both, they seem to have come to an agreement that they’ll each keep a few bits of clothing for the other one until we all decide where we will live.

Walking in, he rummages for a second before coming out with some jeans and a shirt gripped in his hand, ‘I’m going to shower’ he announces, looking over his body in distaste. Dirt from the fight still covers his chest and his hair is caked with a mixture of mud and b***d.

Disappearing into the bathroom, we hear the shower start as the door is pushed almost closed. Turning myself back toward Caden, I let out a shaky breath, ‘do we know why they came?’ I asked worriedly, ‘did they give any indication of what they wanted?’

The Alpha sighs as he shakes his head, sitting down on the chair that sits beside his desk as he looks up at me. ‘They just crashed through the border’ he responds, ‘none remain alive, so we can’t even ask any of them.’

‘None?’ I gasp back in surprise.

Caden grimaces as he shakes his head, ‘even when they could see it was fruitless, they just kept on fighting’ he growls. ‘Not one tried to surrender or run away, they just fought and fought until they were killed.’

I sink down to the floor, wrapping my arms around my knees as I stare unseeingly in front of me.

‘Hey’ Caden calls out, sliding off his chair and shuffling over to me, settling beside me and wrapping an arm around my shoulders, pulling me into him. ‘It’s OK’ he whispers, kissing my hair, ‘they are all gone, we made sure of it.’

I nod, ‘but do you think they were sent by him?’ I mutter, ‘this man? Are they from him?’ I glance up at my mate, biting my l*p as I voice my worries, ‘do you think he’s real? That Luella was telling the truth and this whole Spirit Wolf thing is real?’

My mate shrugs, ‘she knew about the eyes’ he replied uncertainly, ‘and she has your personality pegged.’ Smirking as I raise an eyebrow at him, he squeezes me gently. ‘You’ve never been one to take orders Leeway’ he teases, ‘and when your mate was threatened, you took on my dad and made him submit. I’ve never heard of a Beta wolf forcing an Alpha to his knees, not even a marked Luna. He’s the Alpha Wolf in this pack, no one should be able to overpower him but you can.’

I nod in response, still unsure, Caden cups my cheek, pulling my face around so I am looking at him. ‘Have you asked Skarla about it?’ he questioned.

I nod again, ‘yeah, she doesn’t know either’ I sigh. ‘When we made your dad kneel, it shocked her as much as it did me after we calmed down. At the time, all we were thinking about was that he was threatening Hadley and we couldn’t let him hurt our mate. Nothing mattered but making sure he never tried to hurt Hadley again, we didn’t even really acknowledge that he is our Alpha, he was just a threat.’

The Alpha nods slowly, absorbing my words, ‘that could be what triggers your eye change’ he muses. ‘When you are focused on protecting us, this spirit wolf emerges. That’s maybe why we couldn’t get them to change again. Neither Hadley nor I were in danger, so you didn’t feel any threat to call her out.’

I rest my head on his shoulder, his words sinking in as he rubs his thumb up and down my shoulder comfortingly.

‘Caden’ I murmur, not looking up as he nods against my hair, his cheek resting on top of my head. ‘I’m scared’ I admit, ‘this man is going to find me, he’s going to try to kill you and Hadley and he’s going to make me watch.’

A growl reverberates out of my mate as he holds me tightly, ‘he’s not getting anywhere near you, and he’ll have a damn fight on his hands if he tries to come after me or Carrington, I can promise you that. That warrior in there would still be clawing at his enemy as his last breath leaves his body, especially if it was you he was defending.’

I smile sadly, ‘what about you? Will you stand back and let Hadley have all the fun again?’

The Alpha huffs out a laugh, ‘not regarding this baby’ he replies, ‘I’ll be right beside that a*****e ripping out that bastard’s heart if he tries to hurt what is mine.’ He straightens up slightly, tilting my head up to his and pressing his lips gently against my own. ‘Make no mistake Leeway, you are mine and if he hurts Hadley, he hurts you so I’ll murder anyone who tries to take him or me away from you.’

My smile widens as I shift around, wrapping my arms around his neck, ‘you almost sound like you like him’ I tease.

Caden rolls his eyes playfully, making me giggle, ‘he’s still a d**k’ he grumbles roughly, ‘but he’s your d**k, and because he makes you happy, I admit that he’s growing on me . . slowly.’