The Mating Rules

Someone is screaming, a heart wrenching sound that rips though you and it takes me a moment to realise the sound is coming from me. I’m on my feet, and two arms are wrapped around me as I claw desperately to get to Hadley who is staring at the enchantress with his mouth open in shock.

‘No! No, he’s my mate! Let me go!’ I yell, trying to get away from whoever has a hold on me.

‘Order!’ Chandra hollers angrily, ‘Alpha, keep your Luna in check or I will find her in contempt and she can join Mr Carrington in the cells!’

‘Put me in contempt’ I snarl, refusing to back down, ‘I want to go with him! Hadley! Don’t you leave me!’

‘Leeway, you need to calm down’ Caden growls earnestly in my ear and I realise its him that has a hold of me.

‘No, Hadley is my mate, I need him, they can’t take him from me!’ I shout in desperation, giving everything in me to try and get out of his grip.

‘Caden! Get her out of here!’ Hadley roars, his eyes on me in fear and I’m lifted off my feet instantly, being carried out of the court room at full werewolf speed.

‘Hadley!’ I scream brokenly, ‘you promised! You promised you’d stay with me! Don’t go!’

The last look I get of my mate is the man who showed us in clapping a pair of cuffs onto my mate’s wrists as he stares at me, pain in his eyes.

I’m whisked by Caden down the corridor and out of the building where I’m bundled into a waiting car that one of our warrior’s is behind the wheel of. The Alpha must have called his men and told them what was happening as they peel out of the Council grounds before Caden has even shut his door.

I start to pummel the Alpha, screaming at him, ‘turn around, take me back! I can’t leave him! Take me back!’ I yell as my mate just sits beside me and allows me to hit him, not even raising his hands to defend himself.

I strike everywhere I can reach until I can barely lift my arms and I fall forward as sobs wrack my body.

Two arms wrap around me, pulling me closer as Caden rocks me gently, letting me cry into his shirt.

‘I’m sorry baby, I didn’t want to leave him but we had to’ Caden’s distraught voice croons above me as k****s are pressed into my hair.

‘No’ I whimper, ‘we could have argued, made them see that they were wrong.’

The Alpha shakes his head, ‘Carrington’ he starts, his voice cracking before he clears his throat and tries again. ‘Hadley . . he was scared baby, not for himself but for you, I think your eyes turned silver, that’s why he told me to take you.’

I shake my head, refusing to accept his words, ‘I don’t care, I don’t care about my eyes, everyone can know if it gets my mate back to me! We should go back and let Skarla pull out her Spirit wolf thing and make them give him back!’

The Alpha sighs deeply as he shakes his head, ‘no baby, you can’t do that’ he tries to placate me. ‘We don’t know who is with this guy who is after you, letting the Council know that you are this special wolf is like putting a sign over your head asking him to come get you!’

I growl angrily, pulling away from him and throwing myself back in my chair, my tears abating as my anger takes over again. ‘He might not have the Council in his pocket’ I retort, crossing my arms over my chest.

‘And he also might’ the Alpha soothes, leaning back next to me and pulling at my hand until I allow him to take it, linking our fingers together. ‘Hadley will be OK Leeway, he’s an Alpha strength protector.’ He turns slightly so he’s facing me, ‘as soon as we get back to the hotel, I am going to start trying to get him released’ he adds solemnly, ‘I’m not leaving him there.’

I peek up at him, the figth leaving me, ‘Luella said I needed to keep you with me’ I whisper, ‘she said not to let anyone split us up.’

Caden nods, releasing my hand and wrapping his arm around my shoulders, ‘ I know baby, and I’m going to get him back’ he murmurs.

‘Promise?’ I ask, my voice small as I bite down on my l*p trying to stop the tears that are threatening again.

‘I promise’ the Alpha replies firmly, ‘no-one breaks my Luna’s heart, not even the damn Council.’

I nod, snuggling into his chest as I glance at the privacy window that separates us from the driver. ‘It’s sound proof baby’ Caden murmurs softly, ‘Dad made sure of that when he booked our cars, he didn’t want anyone accidentally learning about you. I had our warriors double check it when we landed as well before we got off, just to make absolutely sure.’

I relax slightly, staring at the dark glass, my mind moving to Hadley, feeling through our bond for him, trying to sense if he is OK.

I stiffen, my gaze swinging to Caden, ‘I can’t feel him’ I mutter worriedly, ‘Hadley, I can’t feel our bond!’

Caden sighs, pulling me tighter against him, ‘they probably dosed him with wolfsbane baby’ he admits sadly, ‘that will knock out your bond until he gets it out of his system.’

I shiver, thinking of my poor mate, alone in a cell without even Hunter to help him. What if he has a cell mate? Someone who tries to hurt him before he recovers from the poison in his system?’ Panic fills me as my thoughts jumble into a sea of horror, each idea sprouting in my mind worse than the last.

‘He’ll be OK Leeway’ the Alpha murmurs, ‘trust me, and if you don’t trust me, trust him. Hadley will do whatever it takes to get back to you, he’s not going anywhere.’

I nod reluctantly, deciding to hold on to the thin thread of hope Caden hands me. My mate is a protector, he’ll come back to me, he has too because I can’t live without him.

Just as we reach the hotel, Caden’s phone suddenly vibrates in his pocket, his body stiffening as he pulls it out and reads whatever was sent to him. His eyes clear and he suddenly scrambles from the SUV, opening the passenger side door and ordering the driver to wait outside before dragging me through the reception area and into an elevator. Pushing the button repeatedly, he curses under his breath, glaring at the numbers as they slowly tick up to our floor.

He doesn’t even wait for the doors to fully open, before he’s grabbing my wrist again, pulling me into the hallway and toward our suite. Opening the door, he releases me, giving me a small push as I stare up at him bewildered.

‘Go pack baby’ he growls before turning away from me and heading toward his own room.

‘Caden?’ I call after him in confusion, still standing just inside the entrance.

‘Now Leeway, please!’ my mate’s concerned voice calls back to me before I hear his low voice talking and I assume he’s on the phone.

Turning toward our bedroom, I hurry inside, grabbing my case and throwing all my clothes haphazardly inside.

Caden appears moments later, pulling out his own and Hadley’s cases and doing the same as I rush into the bathroom and grab all our personal items, walking back into the bedroom for Caden to snatch them from my hands and thrust them into one of the cases, zipping them both closed.

He easily picks up all three cases, hurrying back into the living room just as a knock sounds on the door.

I go to step toward it when the Alpha stops me, shaking his head silently and motioning me to move back into the bedroom. Closing the door almost all the way, he then moves toward the door, peering through the small peep hole before stepping back and opening the door.

Two members of our detail stride into the room, the first grabbing the cases from the Alpha as the other bows and mutters to him in hushed tones. Caden nods quickly before moving back toward our room and opening the door, taking my hand as I step out hesitantly.

‘Luna’ the warrior greets me, giving me a small bow that I return with a small smile. ‘If you will follow me, we’ll get you out of here.’

I allow the two men to sweep me from the room where we are joined by two further guards. The two men flank Caden and I on either side and they hurry me into the lift, silent and alert as we travel back down to the ground floor.

Stepping out of the small elevator, the three warriors scour the foyer before letting us step out behind us and we are rushed out of the front doors and back into our SUV that squeals away from the front of the hotel.

‘Caden?’ I ask nervously, peering over at my mate who has his phone in his hand, checking a message that seems to have come through.

His eyes glaze as he holds a finger up to me, silently asking me to wait. The car turns abruptly at the next junction and we speed down the highway as I press my back into the seat.

‘Caden?’ I call again, taking his hand with my own that I realise is trembling slightly.

Squeezing my fingers, Caden smiles down at me, ‘sorry Leeway’ he sighs, ‘I didn’t mean to scare you, it’s just . . . ‘ He swallows thickly, seeming unsure how to explain to me what is going on. Taking a deep breath, he captures my other hand, forcing me to shift slightly so I am facing him.

‘When we left, our lead warrior contacted my father to tell him what had happened, that was him messaging me’ he adds, nodding to the pocket I know holds his phone. ‘He told me to change hotels immediately’ he admits as my eyes widen.This content © Nôv/elDr(a)m/a.Org.

‘Why?’ I ask, his nervousness through the bond putting both Skarla and I on edge.

The Alpha g****s, his gaze dropping to our hands before finding my face again, ‘he said that this whole Council meeting, Hadley being sentenced? It could be a way for that damn Warlock to split us up, and weaken you. He said that if the man does have hooks in the Council, he could easily find us from the forms our warriors filled in.’ Caden dips his head as I tense, ‘Baby’ he murmurs, ‘he could turn up and jump us, taking you from me. I’m not willing to risk you, not even on a random thought my father has. If my dad thought of it, then this Avrilak guy could think of it, so we are moving to another hotel. Dad has already booked us in under the name of one of our smallest companies and paid the bill. It’s not fancy Leeway but that also means no asking for ID or a credit card.’

I nod numbly, trying to absorb what the man beside me is saying. Suddenly, the warlock isn’t just a small fear that I shiver over occasionally, he’s not someone who haunts my nightmares as a faceless threat anymore. Now it feels like he is only steps behind me, I can almost feel his breath on my neck, and though I’m running, trying to stay ahead of him, I’m acutely aware that I do not have an escape route in place and I could well be running right into this man’s trap.

Most likely feeling my anxiety, Caden releases my hands and pulls me into his chest, wrapping me in his arms. ‘I’ll keep you safe Leeway’ he murmurs into my hair, ‘I’ll die before I let anything or anyone get to you. Don’t worry about Avrilak, we just need to concentrate on getting Hadley back where he belongs, with us.’