The Mating Rules

I scroll through page after page of information, reading everything I can find about spirit wolves and the beliefs around them, my note pad filled with scrawled information as I find anything that looks like it could be important.

Straightening up, I wince as my neck protests the movement, realising I’ve been hunched over the table for too long. I look around the room and find myself still alone and by the feel of it, I have been ever since Caden walked out to talk on the phone.

Unease creeps through me as I stand up, moving over to the window and shifting the curtain slightly, peeking out at the car park that is deserted in the dying evening sunlight. I try to angle my head to see the door of our room, but I can’t quite see far enough round to spot our guard.

I open my mind link up quickly as I drop the curtain back into place, ‘Caden? Where are you?’ I call out, trying not to panic.

‘I don’t get a reply and feeling for our bond, my knees weaken and I fall to the floor when I realise I’m no longer connected to him. Both my mates are out of reach to me and fear licks at my insides as I scoot backward until my back hits the side of the bed and I draw my knees up to my chest.

‘Skarla?’ I call out softly, ‘our mates . . ‘

‘I know’ my wolf growls back, I can feel her fear and anger as she stalks around my mind. ‘Something is wrong’ she adds, ‘Cobalt would not put a wall up to me for any reason, we need to find mate.’

My eyes widen, ‘but if he’s been taken, isn’t this exactly what his captor would want me to do?’ I try to reason even though everything in my body is clawing at me to go and find my mate. I can’t lose both of them, I just can’t, I’ll die. I’m barely holding on with Hadley missing, but not to not feel Caden too, I can already feel the pain of separation.

‘If Avrilak has my mate, I will kill him’ Skarla replies forcefully, ‘no one hurts my mates.’

I unwind my arms from around my knees, straightening them out and shoring up my shaky resolve. I’m a Beta bred warrior wolf, the future Luna of our pack and I’m cowering here like a tiny pup. I give myself a firm mental shake and stand up, there is no actual proof that Caden has been taken by the warlock and as far as we really know, Hadley is in the custody of the Council. I’m letting this threat rule my reactions and it needs to stop.

Striding over to the door, I put the chain across an gently open it a c***k, a breath of relief leaving my lips when I see the young warrior female sitting in a chair beside the door, her sunglasses on to shade her eyes from the waning light. If the guard is still there then I need to stop worrying so much. I close the door, taking off the chain and reopening the door wide so I can slip outside.

‘Hey, have you seen the Alpha’ I ask, as I hover in the doorway nervously.

The guard doesn’t reply and with a frown, I reach out to touch her shoulder, the slight movement causing her to slump sideways, her head tilting to the side to reveal a deep gash through her throat.

Swallowing down a scream, my eyes dart around the abandoned car park, instinctively looking for our other guards before I turn around and rush back into our room, slamming the door behind me. Locking it tightly, I pull on the double bed, hauling it over to the doorway and using it as a makeshift barricade before sinking down on the mattress in shock.

Mark! I need to contact Mark! I think desperately, and open up the mind link to the warrior, feeling for him. Again, I feel nothing, it’s as though I’m cut off from everyone. I try each warrior in turn but none of them connect.

I glance around the room, I don’t even have a phone, Caden tossed both our sim cards and bought the one he was using when his father called. I have no way to contact the pack and tell them that I’m in danger.

‘Think Jamie-Lee’ I scold myself, ‘you are not a weak a*s woman, you are a damn Beta born warrior and a Spirit Wolf to match! Get your head out of your a*s, stop feeling sorry for yourself and start making a plan.’© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

Nodding decidedly, I take stock of my situation, both of my mates are missing, I can’t get hold of any of our warriors either with us or at the pack from this room. I’m currently a sitting duck waiting for someone to come up here and take me.

‘We need to get out of here’ I mutter to Skarla.

‘Agree’ my wolf growls, ‘don’t want to wait around for trouble, if we are going to be seeing a battle, let’s make it hard for them.’

Shuffling around the bed, I move to the closet and pull it open, Caden and my clothes are hanging on the rails, our empty suitcases and Hadley’s full one lined up underneath. I can’t take my suitcase, it will slow me down, I need something that I can put on my back. I open Hadley’s case and rummage through his things, pulling out a couple of pairs of jeans, some tshirts and a wash kit. Pushing his case aside, I drag out Caden’s opening the main compartment to find it empty. I growl in annoyance, running my hands along the pockets until a thin bulge draws my attention. Unzipping the material in the lid, I pull out a small cross body bag. Frowning, I wonder for a second why my mate even has it, but quickly shake off the thought, it doesn’t matter, I can fit a bottle of water, some food and money in it.

Standing up, I swipe through my clothes, pulling down some jeans, a shirt and a hoodie that I throw onto the bed before stripping off the thin summer dress I’m currently wearing and drop it unceremoniously to the floor.

Dragging on the clean clothes, I drag out my sneakers from next to the cases, slip them on my feet, and stand up. Heading to the tiny refrigerator that hums in the corner of the room, opening the door, and grabbing one of the bottles of water that Mark put there for us yesterday, shoving it into my bag along with some trail mix and a box of candy that was on the table beside my tablet.

Debating for a few seconds, I also pick up the small electronic device and force it into the tiny bag, before cramming some clean underwear and a pair of shorts into the remaining space before zipping the top closed and praying to the Goddess to help the plastic fastening hold tight.

Rushing over to Caden’s bedside table, I pull open the top drawer and find his wallet, flipping it open and taking out roughly two hundred dollars. My fingers brush over the photo beside his drivers licence of me, Hadley and Caden either side of me, each with an arm around my waist. It was from a couple of days after our marking, Isaac had taken it with Caden’s phone, he must have printed it out at some point.

Carefully, I slip the photo out of the plastic cover and place it with the cash into the front pocket of my bag. I contemplate the pack credit card, should I take it?

Deciding against it, I flip the wallet shut and put it back in his drawer. I don’t know what this person is capable of, if he has my mates and my warriors he could have infiltrated my pack. I don’t want to give him any help to track me, and the pack credit card will be like a walking advertisement on their bank statements.

Taking a deep breath, I give the room a quick sweep before heading into the bathroom and looking up above the bath. A small oblong window runs along the top of the wall with a slide opening. Pushing it, I grit my teeth as it screeches its complaint until the gap is wide enough that I can boost myself up and wriggle free.

Getting myself through the window is painful and slow, the metal runner digging into my flesh but I’m not walking out the front door. The bastards killed my guard and left her outside the door, I don’t doubt for a minute that they are not watching me.

‘Come on!’ I grunt out, pushing on the outside wall and wriggling my h**s as I slowly inch through the small gap until, with a shriek of shock, I fall forward through the window and land face first in the dirt behind our room.

Though the mud is dry, my hands act as a cushion and I avoid hitting my head as I roll my body over to land on my feet.

Straightening up, I glance around, pressing my back to the wall, listening for any sounds before setting my sights on the trees in front of me and sprinting as fast as I can for the cover of the forest that surrounds us.