The Mating Rules
Book 2 – Chapter 5

‘When your mate has finished with his s****l innuendoes’ Luella grumbles, glaring at my mate again.

I nod quickly, encouraging her to go on.

‘So,’ she continues, ‘werewolves could now reject their mates, and years went by fairly peacefully without much incident. That was until war broke out between the wolves and the Vampires. Selene decided not to meddle, despite concerns, there had been wars before and the groups had managed to figure it out between themselves. Unfortunately, this time was not the same, and as such, many lives were lost and the werewolf kind was almost decimated.

Selene knew she had made a mistake sitting back instead of talking to Thana and the pair of them working together to sort out the issue. She decided that what her children needed wasn’t just brute strength and a true love, what they needed was a protector, something that could be sent to help them in times of strife. She looked among her many wolfen population and found a young she wolf, just turning fourteen and about to awaken her wolf. The child was kind of heart, yet fierce and independent, never backing down from a situation that she felt was unfair. The Goddess bestowed upon this young girl, a gift, a wolf of immense power who could help her children survive through difficulties.

The young she wolf gained her wolf but being so young, she was easily manipulated by older wolves who, upon seeing her power, wanted it for themselves. Thinking she was helping her people, she used her strengths against other species who had done no wrong.

Selene took back her gift, leaving the poor child to live with the destruction she had caused.

Life moved on, the earth dwellers recovered once again before another incident forced the Goddess to once again step in. She was reluctant, but decided to try again with her special wolf, searching for and picking a she wolf who she felt could handle the burden.

This time, though, she chose a wolf of age, one who would be less likely to be swayed by others or coerced into using her powers for the wrong reasons. Her plan worked, the incident was resolved and the she wolf was revered.

After that, the Moon Goddess would send her wolf down each time she felt it was needed to calm ripples and keep all the Earthlings safe.

Then she sent her wolf down during an infraction between the wolves and the Warlocks. The wolves rejoiced when the gift appeared, the she wolf who would once again help them replace harmony. This time, however, there was one particular Warlock who was more ambitious than any before him. Upon hearing that the Goddess’ wolf was once again roaming the Earth, he decided that he wanted her. If he could take her as his mate, then he would be more powerful than any other being, he could rule every species.

The Warlock hunted her, and tried to convince her to be with him, but the she wolf wasn’t interested in ruling over others, she just wanted to help her people. So the Warlock took her against her will, tried to force her to mark him and accept him as her mate. When she refused over and over to join him, he finally lost his temper and murdered her in a fit of rage.

Her b***d splattered over him as he slashed at her body with a knife, so frenzied was the attack that he accidentally imbibed some of her b***d. When he calmed down, he tried to hide what he had done, but the wolves found out and came after him. This is when he discovered that by consuming her b***d, he had taken into himself some of her powers and the werewolves suffered greatly from his new found abilities.

The werewolves retreated, and the Warlock tried to use his strength to strong arm the various species to submit to him. He still was not strong enough though and he was forced into hiding as the world fought against him.

Many years passed and this was when the Warlock received a second revelation. His ability to age had slowed, one hundred years passed yet he had barely aged five physically.

Twenty years later, the Goddess once more sent her wolf to Earth, and the Warlock, who had been waiting for news, searched her out once again, killing her and absorbing her powers through her b***d. He found the more of her b***d he consumed, the stronger he became and the slower he aged.

Over and over, the Warlock hunted the wolf down, stealing her powers to make himself stronger. He also found himself followers, others that wanted to rule and could see their chance in the most powerful man to ever exist.

The Goddess watched her gift be slaughtered repeatedly until she decided that her special wolf needed a guardian, someone to protect her whilst she protected others.

She sent the she wolf a mate. This werewolf was usually of Alpha b***d and he was strengthened by her wolf when they marked each other. The Goddess’ wolf also would not emerge until the marking was complete, this way it was hoped that the she wolf would be able to defend herself against the Warlock and ultimately defeat him, ridding the Earth of its biggest danger.

But the Warlock was already too strong, and each new she wolf was slaughtered after being weakened by the death of her mate. So it has been forever more, the wolf appears and the Warlock comes for her, murdering all that stands in his way before forcing her to watch him kill her mate and then die at his hands.’

Luella stops talking, watching us as we each silently process her words, ‘this wolf’ I mutter uncertainly, ‘what is so special about it? What are these powers?’

The old woman smiles, ‘The Spirit Wolf, is the queen of all werewolves, she bows to no one. She carries the essence of the Goddess herself, which is why her adversary doesn’t age. He embalms the Goddess’ immortality each time he consumes her essence through the wolf vessel’s b***d.’ She looks at me kindly, ‘it is a pleasure to meet you once again Spirit Wolf’ she adds.

I lean back, blinking, ‘sorry?’ I stammer, ‘I’m not a special wolf.’

Luella chuckles, ‘child, I have been documenting your arrival every time since the beginning’ she murmurs, ‘I was alerted as soon as your wolf awakened, that is why I am here, to warn you of the danger you face.’

Beside me, Caden huffs, ‘Skarla is a Beta wolf, she always has been, my father and I can both make her submit.’

The Seer raises an eyebrow at him, ‘you could’ she agrees flippantly, ‘before her wolf fully awoke from your mark. Now I doubt you could so much as raise the hair on the back of her neck and you are actually more likely to piss her off than make her obey.’

The Alpha goes to speak before shutting his mouth again, glancing at me, obviously remembering last week as I am, when I had not only refused to bow to our Alpha, I had forced him to submit to me.

Luella grinned widely, ‘she’s fought off an Alpha order before, hasn’t she’ she demands and Caden nods his head reluctantly.

‘It proves she’s strong, but that doesn’t mean she’s been hand picked by the Goddess and has magical b***d’ he grumbles.

The Seer tilts her head, ‘OK, tell me this, Mr disbeliever, when she refused to back down, did her eyes change?’ Our gazes all whip to the woman as she smiles triumphantly, ‘they turned silver didn’t they’ she queries.

‘You know why my eyes went silver?’ I ask eagerly, inching forward on my seat as Caden wraps an arm around my waist to hold me back.

Luella nods, ‘it’s a sign of the Spirit Wolf, her eyes are Silver to match the hair and eyes of the Goddess. She is the only wolf to be blessed with a likeness to your creator and it is the main way to verify a new Spirit Wolf’s existence.’

‘How do you know when this Spirit Wolf appears’ Hadley asks, finally joining the conversation.

The old woman turns her attention to him, ‘I see her’ she replies simply. ‘When her wolf awakens, a picture is sent to my mind of her wolf, her eyes glowing silver. She comes to me in a vision with a tether, an invisible line that will lead me to where she lives so I can follow her movements to document her time on the mortal plane.’

‘Why do you even need to document everything anyway?’ Caden asks roughly, cutting off Hadley’s attempts to ask further questions.

Luella rolls her eyes tiredly, ‘pup’ she snaps, ‘do you have a library here?’

Caden nods uncertainly, ‘OK, and in that library, do you have historical tomes? Books containing stories of old, information obtained over millenia?’

Again my mate nods silently, ‘and where do you think the authors of those books get their information?’ Luella demands, ‘from where did all these stories begin?’ Without waiting for him to reply she snaps, ‘from me and my sisters, every single word written comes from our tomes. Each writer is given that information in some way so that you mortals can at least try to learn from your mistakes. You only have a drop of water from an ocean of knowledge, but still, it was taken from our dedication to the job bestowed upon us by the entities.

Every word taught to you in your schools, every fable whispered to you by your loved ones as they tucked you into bed, every single treaty devised by packs to deal with issues from the past, came into existence from the work of my sisters and I.’

Luella breathes harshly as she glares at my mate, who looks at the floor sheepishly, not speaking again.

‘You said that no wolf has ever had two mates’ Hadley questions slowly, ‘so this is not part of this Spirit Wolf thing you think Jamie-Lee is?’

The Old woman shook her head, ‘I can only connect to the Spirit Wolf when she emerges, and that only happens when she is marked and marks her mate. Never before has a spirit wolf been marked by two men, she always had one mate.’

The warrior frowns, ‘so why does Jamie-Lee have two mates? Is this a new idea by the Goddess maybe?’

Luella shrugs, ‘Possibly’ she agrees, ‘I won’t know until the Goddess decides I will. Maybe she feels that her Spirit Wolf will survive this time with two mates to protect her.’ She studies Hadley closely, ‘not an Alpha like the other one, a warrior?’

Hadley nods tensely, ‘You have strength, I can see it, more than other wolves’ the Seer murmurs.

Caden stiffens slightly, ‘he’s as strong as an Alpha’ he rumbles, ‘he is evenly matched with me in strength and skill.’

Luella hums curiously, ‘you are a protector’ she muses, ‘I can feel it, the power in you. This will be interesting, one Alpha mate and a Alpha strength protector, perhaps this time you will succeed where your predecessors failed.’