The Mating Rules
Book 2 – Chapter 24

Jamie-Lee’s POV

It’s been twenty four hours since we fled from the hotel and I’ve been laying on the small double bed in our room staring at the ceiling since we got here. Caden tried to get me to sleep but I couldn’t, I felt unsettled without both my mates sandwiching me between their warm bodies, holding me safely in their arms.

Caden has been up since dawn, on the phone constantly trying to replace out how to get Hadley released and where the hell he has been taken too. We have a few prisons in the supernatural world and there is no guarantee that he’s been taken to the nearest one that is still a good fifty miles away.

A knock on the door alerts me to someone outside, and I push myself up so my back is against the headboard before calling out for them to come in.

The door opens to reveal Mark who is carrying a takeout bag that he brings over to me.

‘Sorry Luna’ he murmurs, placing the bag beside me, and a large drink on the bedside table. ‘It’s slim pickings around here for a meal, it was burger barn or something from the gas station back near the highway.’

I give him a small smile, ‘thank you but I’m not really hungry’ I reply.

Mark shakes his head, giving me a fatherly look, ‘I know you don’t Luna, but you still need to eat’ he coaxes. ‘Warrior Hadley wouldn’t be happy if you starved yourself and I really don’t want my a*s kicked by Alpha Caden when you faint from lack of food.’

I giggle softly as he grins down at me, ‘for me Luna’ he urges, ‘just a couple of bites so I can argue with Alpha Caden that you ate something?’

I sigh but open the bag, reaching in and pulling out a huge burger wrapped in foil and a cardboard carton overflowing with fries.

‘Will you eat with me?’ I ask softly, looking up at the man through my lashes, ‘I um . . I don’t really eat alone any more, it kind of feels weird.’

The warrior nods and I scoot over to make room for him on the bed, unwrapping the burger and pulling it in half. Offering him the bigger piece, I watch as he shakes his head in amusement before accepting it and taking a huge bite.

I hold the other half daintily between my fingers and take a small bite, the greasy goodness rolling over my tastebuds as my stomach suddenly wakes up and growls loudly making me blush.

Mark’s smile widens, ‘see’ he chuckles, ‘you should always listen to your elders, we know what you need even when you think we don’t.’

I laugh, raising an eyebrow at him, ‘you could be an Alpha with that level of cockiness’ I tease, making the man laugh harder.

‘I’m definitely no Alpha’ he replies with a shake of his head, ‘but I am a father of four so I’m pretty well versed in kids who think they are not hungry but actually are.’

I nod, curious about the man beside me, ‘you have four kids, wow’ I comment after swallowing another bite.

Mark grins, ‘four girls’ he replies, ‘getting through their teen years was a mission, couldn’t say a damn thing right for about ten years! It was both a blessing and a curse to have them all so close in age. Harper is my eldest, she’s twenty four and has her own little one now, then we had the twins, Courtney and Cerys who are twenty three, Cerys found her mate last year at another packs claiming ceremony, Courtney still waits to be answered.’

I reach out and pat the man’s arm at the down turn of his lips. ‘She wants her mate?’ I ask, a concept that not so long ago was foreign to me.

Mark nods, ‘she talked about her mate from very young’ he sighs, ‘she always said she was going to call out and a strong warrior would answer her, she was adamant, it gets a little harder each full moon when she comes home unanswered. Plus with her age . . .’ his voice falls away and I swallow back the lump that forms in my throat, I feel his unspoken words, she’s getting closer to twenty five.

‘What about your youngest?’ I ask, hoping to divert the man’s attention.

Mark perks up, a hug smile gracing his face, ‘ahh my little girl’ he murmurs affectionately, ‘the spitfire of our family. Eleanor, she is twenty two, headstrong and independent, her mate had a rough ride on his hands when he came for her on the night of her Claiming’ he adds with a chuckle.

I can’t help but smile back at the wolf, allowing his obvious pride to warm the coldness I’ve been carrying since yesterday. ‘What happened?’ I ask, intrigued as I grab a few fries and pop them into my mouth.

The warrior chuckles, sliding the last of his half of the burger between his lips, chewing slowly and swallowing. ‘Oh, my baby girl was answered on her very first claiming’ he said, shaking his head in amusement. ‘It was one of the warriors in the Elite group, Jonas is his name and he was twenty seven at the time. Now my little girl, she supposedly took one look at him as he burst through the trees, wolf on the surface and growled right at him. He’d been waiting six years for her was almost feral, but she wasn’t cowering, not my baby, that’s not who she is.

The way he tells the story, it took him over ten minutes to get from his room to the trees and through. When he got there, she just raised an eyebrow at his wolf, sneered and said, “don’t think just because you are my mate and an elite warrior that I’m going to do what you say.” She then stood up, stalked up to him, slapped him round the face for making her wait for him, and then kissed the ever living hell out of him. In Jonas’ words, he’d never been so floored and turned on in his life. They’ve been together a year now and he follows her like a lost puppy, he gets some sh*t from the guys because she’s so strong, knows what she wants and goes out to get it herself. Jonas doesn’t care though, he just shrugs and says at least he never has to worry about her safety if she is ever in a fight.’

I giggle, my head falling back as the image of his daughter’s claiming assault me. ‘How did I not know about this?’ I murmur, though I know why, I determinedly avoided the claiming, hated it and everything it stood for, it seems many she wolves had their own way of dealing with the tradition though.

My laughter subsides as I look over at the warrior who is smiling at me with a fatherly expression, ‘thank you for distracting me’ I say softly, ‘and for the food.’

Mark stands up, picking up the rubbish and bowing his head to me, ‘anytime Luna’ he replies before giving me a second head nod and heading back out of the room, closing the door behind him.

As I rest my head against the headboard, my mind wanders back to my own claiming, the moment when first Caden and then Hadley stepped out into the moonlight. The Alpha wolf on the surface, dangerous possession in his eyes as he openly claimed me as his. Then Hunter, walking out, eyes only for me as he called out the word ‘Mate.’ How Hadley’s wolf had instantly stood up to Caden and Cobalt when they demanded he step away, refusing to let me go even when it was his own future Alpha commanding him.

How the pair of them had vied for my attention first of all, trying to show me that they were who was the right choice, then making that stupid deal to choose for me to try and save me from the guilt.

Skarla snorts in my head, she’s been quiet since Hadley was taken into custody but she’s still there, listening to my thoughts and everything else that is going on with searching for Hadley.

Finally, my mind plays out how those two enemies, wolfs that couldn’t stand to be around each other and held so much animosity, put their own pain aside just to make me happy. How every single day since our marking, they have both grown closer to each other, joined by their love for me and my wolf.

A warmth blossoms in my chest, a feeling of completeness that has been missing since I was dragged from the court room by my Alpha mate.

‘I will replace you Hadley’ I murmur softly, ‘and when I do, I am coming to get you. No one is going to keep me from my mates, not even the Council or Avrilak. You, me, Caden, we are meant to be one and I’ll die before I let our bond be sacrificed in any way.

In my mind, Skarla growls agreement, her aura washing over me, causing me to shiver slightly. I can feel it now, the difference, my Beta wolf was strong and cocky and I could feel her power when she pushed forward, but this is different. ‘We’re going to replace him Skarla’ I whisper to my wolf.

‘I know’ Skarla replies, swishing her tail as she lays in my mind, ‘I’ll track him down to the end of the Earth if I have to. Hunter is coming back to me and his human is coming back to you, and Goddess help anyone who stands in my way.’

Nodding, I sink down onto the bed sheets, blindly feeling around by my knees until my fingers replace the edge of a folded up blanket. Pulling it out from underneath me, I drape it over my clothed body and rest my head against the pillow that smells like Caden. Gripping it tightly, I pull it closer, breathing in his scent and wishing that it was mingled with Hadley’s like our ones at home are.

‘We’re coming Hadley’ I mutter, my eyes closing, ‘hold on, we’re coming.’

My breathing evens out as a sudden wave of tiredness washes over me, taking me into the haunting world of my dreams where I’m running through the corridors of the Courts, chasing shadows that look like guards who are dragging my unconscious and chained up mate between them.

‘Hold on Hadley, please! Just hold on’ I yell out, my voice cracking, ‘I’m coming!’

There is no response though, and the shadows lengthen and then disappear into the surrounding darkness, leaving me screaming hoarsely for my mate as I sink to the floor, my trembling hand reaching out toward the vacant spot in front of me where he had been only moments before.

Waking in a sweat, I gasp for breath, my hand covering my heart as I will myself to calm down. Rolling over, I squeeze my fingers around the blanket over me, refusing to allow the images to haunt me. My eyes close once more and thankfully this time, the images of my tortured mate don’t return.