The Mating Rules
Book 3 – Chapter 36

Isaac’s POV

I can feel Jamie-Lee’s gaze drilling into the side of my head, but I ignore her, keeping my attention on my mother who seems to snap out of her trance, jumping to her feet and engulfing me in a hug.

‘Isaac! You came!’ she gushes before letting me go and hurrying around me to Raelyn, pulling her into an equally fierce hug, the she-wolf stiffening slightly before slowly returning the gesture.

‘I hope it’s OK that I came’ Rae murmurs nervously, ‘Isa… Umm . .Beta Isaac invited me to your party, he said it would be fine, but if it isn’t I can just . . ‘ she jerks her thumb over her shoulder with an awkward laugh.

‘Tsk, of course it’s fine’ my mother growls, pulling back and placing her hands on Raelyn’s shoulders. ‘The more the merrier, though I feel you might be disappointed, it’s just sandwiches and some cake, not like a huge party with dancing or anything.’

Raelyn smiles shyly, ‘that sounds wonderful, as long as you are sure it’s Ok . .’

My mother waves a hand dismissively, bending slightly and poking Lauren with her finger as the youngest Sparks child jolts from the contact, looking up in surprise.

‘Move your butt, miss’ mum growls, ‘and you Tylor’ she adds to Lauren’s best friend, ‘make some room for your brother and our guest. Go into the closet and get the spare chairs we’ll all shuffle round to make room for you.’

Huffing loudly, Lauren stands up, ‘those chairs are so uncomfortable’ she m***s, though she’s already heading toward the door. ‘Why does Isaac get the comfy kitchen chair? He was late, he should sit in the folding one.’

Rae glances at me, ‘I don’t mind having a folding chair’ she murmurs quietly, ‘I don’t want to put anyone out.’

My sister hears her, tossing her long hair over her shoulder as she turns back to the Omega. ‘Oh no, you can totally have Ty’s chair, you are a guest, but him’ she huffs, pointing at me accusingly, ‘he should be sitting in the crappy orange fold up.’

‘Lauren Felicity Sparks’ my mother’s voice growls, the warning clear to us all as every kid and grandkid shuts up, eyes on Lauren who squeaks before grabbing Tylor’s hand and dragging him out of the room.

I hold out Tylor’s chair for Raelyn, waiting for her to take a seat before sitting down next to her, as my mother bustles around getting us each a slice of her birthday cake that is square with white icing and red fondant roses decorating the top. Seeing my brother’s puppy dog eyes, my mother rolls her eyes but cuts him a second slice, placing it on his plate as he reaches out with his free hand and pulls the woman into a one armed hug.

‘You are the best, ma’ he grins as she swats at him playfully.

‘Please, you think those sweet words work on me?’ she huffs, ‘I’m the wolfs tail right up until that cake is gone, don’t think I don’t know that.’ Her hand brushes his hair affectionately though, a small smile on her face before she heads back to her chair and takes a seat.

Turning to Raelyn, mum gives the Omega all her focus, leaning her elbows on the table as she studies the woman curiously.

‘You are the young woman who agreed to a trade for our warrior are you not?’ she asks.

Raelyn nods, delicately licking the icing off her fingers before she replies.

‘Yes, that is correct’ she agrees.

Mum smiles, reaching out and patting the younger woman’s hand, ‘now please don’t take this the wrong way, I mean nothing by it I swear, but why did you do it? I don’t remember an Omega being traded since . . ‘ she taps her chin with her finger as she thinks, ‘well since the eighteen hundreds when she wolves were basically property and they were all basically Omegas, and traded for . . ‘ she frowns, her words trailing off.

‘Eww! They traded she wolves as s*x slaves?’ comes Lauren’s voice as she comes back in the room, her lap dog on her heels carrying both of their chairs.

‘Lauren! Watch your language’ my mother scolds, glaring at my youngest sister.

Lauren rolls her eyes as she takes the seat that Tyler sets out for her, ‘mum, s*x is not a bad word’ she huffs, ‘and I’m twenty, it’s not like I don’t know how pups are made.’

‘You better only know because of s*x ed class and not the practical kind’ Philip growls, his eyes narrowing at our sister as she turns away from him, scratching her cheek with her middle finger.

‘Well we wouldn’t all want to be following your lead would we, Mr three minutes in the back of dad’s truck when you were seventeen’ she retorts.

Philip tries to swipe at Lauren who laughs loudly, dodging out of his reach, knowing he won’t dislodge his mate to chase her.

‘OK enough!’ my mother snarls, ‘we have a guest! Can we please pretend that we have some semblance of manners!’

Raelyn giggles as she smiles at my mum, ‘my adoptive brothers are a lot worse Mrs Sparks, it’s quite nice to be around a family, I . .’ her excitement fades a little, ‘I miss the bustle and teasing’ she whispers sadly.

Mum’s fingers tighten around Raelyn’s clasped hands, squeezing them, ‘I’m sure you do dear’ she soothes, ‘all my babies apart from Lauren are grown and gone, Sunday dinners are a little too quiet sometimes. If you ever want a family dinner rather than the madness of the pack house, you are always welcome here.’

Raelyn gives my mother a grateful smile, ‘thank you Mrs Sparks, that’s . . that’s so nice.’

Mum beams, keeping the Omega’s hands encased in her own, ‘none of that Mrs Sparks nonsense’ she huffs. ‘That was my mother in law, the old witch, I buried that name with her’ she adds under her breath, ‘call me Mary-Anne’ she insists.

‘Mum!’ Jamie-Lee yells in horror, ‘you can’t say that about Grandma!’

My mother waves a hand dismissively, ‘she was an old battle axe, always looking down her nose at me and your aunts. None of us were good enough for her precious boys, glad she’s gone.’

My dad just sits beside her, quietly eating his cake, this is nothing he hasn’t heard before.

Turning back to Raelyn, my mother waits expectantly as the young woman clears her throat nervously. ‘I uh . . I agreed because your warrior, Lance, he really seemed to already love Mercedes. Our Beta’s daughter, she’s a little. . high maintenance and very impetuous I suppose you’d say, but she’s a nice girl and I really think that he could win her over if he had the chance. I didn’t want her to make a decision wrecklessly that she’d have to live with for the rest of her life.’

My mum looks impressed, smiling brightly, ‘but what of you Raelyn, you literally left all your family for someone else’s chance at happiness.’

Raelyn shrugs, ‘I’ve lived at Silver River my entire life’ she replies, ‘as much as I loved being there and all my pack mates, it could sometimes be . . stiffling’ she admits, blushing deeply. ‘I was the Omega adopted daughter of the Alpha, no-one really knew how to be around me, I always had to be on guard, were people being nice because they liked me or to get closer to Jasper, our future Alpha? I . . I wondered what it would be like for people to see me just as me.’

The she wolf looks embarrassed at her admission and quickly picks up her cake, taking a bite, her eyes fixated on her plate.

Mum pats her hands again, ‘I can understand that’ she replies warmly, ‘and I for one think that what you did for Lance was very selfless. You are a remarkable young woman Raelyn and I would like to thank you on behalf of the pack and Lance’s parents for giving him the opportunity to win over his fated mate.’

I can see that Raelyn needs the spotlight off of her so I quickly reach out and grab my mother’s hand, bringing her attention to me.

‘So where is Bailee?’ I ask, looking around everyone, ‘why has she flaked out of the most important day of the year?’

Mum’s face clouds slightly before she forces a smile again, ‘you know she’s pregnant Isaac’ she replies. ‘Arthur is worried about bringing her all this way when she’s so far along, what if she went into labour?’

‘We have a clinic right here’ I retort, a bite of anger to my voice, ‘we were all born there and amazingly, the doc was perfectly capable. Plus she’s only four months! She’s not going to be popping out that kid in the next few days!’

I’ve never been overly fond of Bailee’s mate, the guy is a douche and rarely allows her to come back to see us. I’m pissed that again, he’s kept my sister from out mother especially today.

Mum squeezes my hand, ‘it’s fine, I video called her, she was quite tired, I think the journey would have been a little to much for her.’

I let it go, biting back the retort that their pack is only three hours away because mum obviously doesn’t want to talk about it and it’s her birthday so I don’t want to sour the mood.

Instead I reach into my pocket and pull out the box, holding it out as my mother’s eyes light up in surprise. ‘You bought me a gift?’ she asks, gently taking it from my hands and turning it over to look at the wrapping, ‘it looks so fancy’ she murmurs.

‘It’s probably another paperweight with a fake rose in it’ Philip scoffs, and I turn a menacing stare on him until he shuts up. That was a f*cking awesome gift, mum was so upset when it fell off the shelf and got broken . . . . oh!

Mum is already slowly pulling the ribbon open and I quickly turn back to her, she drops the ends of the ribbon and lifts the lid, a small gasp leaving her lips as she lifts out the box.

‘It’s from me and Raelyn’ I say quickly, ‘she helped me pick it, do you like it?’ I ask hopefully.

Mum’s eyes fill with tears as she stumbles to her feet and rounds the table to me, pulling me into a tight hug, ‘it’s so beautiful Isa’ she bawls, falling back to the name my siblings called me when they were toddlers. ‘And you’ she adds, releasing me and engulfing Raelyn, ‘you helped him buy this? How did you know I would love this?’ She takes her seat again, wiping at her eyes as she opens the box and inspects it carefully.

‘Soooo do you like it?’ I double check nervously glancing out of the corner of my eye at Raelyn as she tries to smother a giggle.

‘I love it’ mum gushes excitedly, ‘I’m going to put it on the dresser, I now have somewhere to put all my necklaces.’ She beams at me, ‘thank you baby, this is so thoughtful.’

As she turns to show my dad, Raelyn nudges me gently, raising an eyebrow at me in a ‘told you so’ way and man, it just makes me like her more.