The Mating Rules

Caden’s POVMaterial © of NôvelDrama.Org.

‘We hereby find you guilty’

My heart stilled as the words left the enchantress’ mouth and proceeded to shatter as the screams of my mate filled the courtroom. Instinctively, I grabbed her around the waist, holding her to my chest as she struggled against me, her hands out toward Hadley who was standing in front of the Council, stunned.

‘No! No, he’s my mate! Let me go!’ Jamie Lee is literally clawing at my arms, drawing b***d as Skarla pushes forward to help her get away, both intent on reaching the warrior.

‘Order!’ Chandra hollers out, ‘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’ my mate snarls back, ‘I want to go with him! Hadley! Don’t you leave me!’ she adds, her gaze pinned on the man who turns toward her.

‘Leeway, you need to calm down’ I mutter in her ear, trying to hold on but damn she’s strong. I suddenly feel the change in her, she’s realized it’s me that’s holding her and though she’s still arguing, still fighting to get loose, she’s not actively clawing at me anymore.

‘Caden! Get her out of here!’ Hadley roars, and the fear I see in his eyes chills me as I realise that he’s not looking at me, he’s looking at Jamie-Lee, straight at her eyes. Glancing at the Council who all seem to have eyes on Hadley as that damn bailiff comes forward to place handcuffs on my woman’s other mate. The only one who isn’t is my father’s friend Isaiah who is staring at the floor between his feet a look of defeat in his features that makes me think he didn’t vote for this to happen.

Wordlessly, I tighten my grip on Jamie-Lee and lift her off of her feet hauling her out of the court room at full werewolf speed as she begs Hadley to come with us even though she knows he can’t.

Mind linking to my men, I order for the car to be outside, and all my warriors to convene on us as I run through the corridor and out into the afternoon sunlight.

Our SUV is at the bottom of the steps, our driver at the wheel and he throws the vehicle into gear before I even get my door shut completely. As I struggle to get a seatbelt onto the she wolf, she’s punching me with everything she’s got, tears streaming down her face. I abandon the restraint and just sit, waiting for Leeway to wear herself out. I know she’s not angry with me, not really. She’s heartbroken, scared and I’m the person she feels safe letting that out with.

It takes a full five minutes for Jamie-Lee to break down, her hands falling to the seat as a wail of despair leaves her and sobs come, her chest heaving as pain like I’ve never felt before crashes through our bond.

I immediately wrap my arms around her, pulling her into my chest, trying to use my scent, Cobalt, anything to calm her down even though I’m breaking too.

It sounds crazy, Hadley isn’t my mate, but somehow we don’t feel complete, with him now gone from beside us. I rock her in my arms, rubbing her back as I apologise over and over. I wanted to stay, fight for him to be released but the moment Hadley’s face morphed into one of fear, I knew I had to get her away before everyone found out who she really is. Even if the Council are under the thumb of this warlock guy, they still don’t have categorical proof of who she is and we need to keep it that way.

I have to fight the urge to tie her to me physically when she suggests returning to the Council and allowing Skarla to show herself, actively for letting everyone know who she is if it gets Hadley back with us.

I shake my head, ‘no baby, you can’t do that, 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!’

Jamie-Lee’s eyes flash as Skarla growls directly at me before the she wolf slumps back into the seat, arms crossed, refusing to look at me.

I pull at her hand, tugging it until she reluctantly lets me hold it once more and try to convince her that Hadley will be OK. He’s a strong wolf, something I envied for so long but right now appreciate more than I care to admit. He will come back to us no matter what I and the pack have to do to get him.

After a while, I feel her relax slightly her mind wandering as I frown to myself, absentmindedly playing with her fingers as I run over everything that was said in the court room.

Suddenly Jamie-Lee sits bolt upright, the panic back, ‘I can’t feel him’ she mutters, her grip on my hand tightening slightly. ‘Hadley, I can’t feel our bond!’

My stomach knots at her words but I force myself to sound calm.

They probably dosed him with wolfsbane baby’ I offer up as way of an explanation. ‘that will knock out your bond until he gets it out of his system.’

I have no idea if the words I’m speaking are true, but it’s what my mate needs to hear right now.

I can feel the worry pouring through our bond and am slightly relieved that Hadley most likely can’t feel her either right now. If he knew how much she was torturing herself with worry about him, it would distract him from what he needs to do to keep himself safe.

‘He’ll be OK Leeway’ I murmur in her ear, ‘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.’

My phone in my pocket vibrates, and I pull it out, glancing at my screen to see my father’s name at the top of a text message. Opening the thread, I stamp down on a growl as I read what he’s written.

D: Mark has already filled me in on what happened. I have our lawyers working on getting Hadley’s conviction overturned already and they are sorting out your fine.

You need to pack up though, get everything packed in your suite and get Jamie-Lee out of there.

My fingers fly across the screen as Jamie-Lee turns away from me to stare out of the window again.

Me: Why, what’s going on?

D: Greg is concerned, Lee was told to keep you both close, it may not be anything, but we can’t rule out that someone is helping to separate you from her. Now Hadley is out of the way, you are more vulnerable to attack. The Council have the address of the hotel, they probably even have your room number by now. If this a*****e is using the courts to find her, then he could turn up at any time.

We need to get you both out of there and somewhere safer. Greg is already working on getting you a new hotel, it’s not going to be fancy but it will hide you from anyone who might be looking for you.

Pack your stuff, get in the car and I’ll text you as soon as I have the address of where you will stay.

I close my phone, trying not to show the anxiety rolling through me, my eyes glazing as I connect with Mark who is in the car behind us.

‘As soon as we reach the hotel, we are packing up and moving, when we leave, I need you beside the Luna’ I order. ‘Get two warriors to flank us when we are ready to depart, I want her under protection until we reach the suite. Check the room before we enter.’

‘Yes Alpha’ the warrior replies immediately, not even flinching at the order or questioning if Jamie-Lee is in danger. It’s why I picked him to come with us, he’s been on my dad’s detail since I was a pup and the man had put himself in danger for both my dad and my mum many times without thought.

As the car pulls to a stop, I throw open the door, my hand covering Jamie-Lee’s as I bark at the driver to wait here for us. Pushing my way into the hotel, I almost drag my mate toward the elevators, jabbing my thumb into the call button and tapping my foot until the cart arrives and we can step inside.

I press our floor quickly, pushing it a few more times when the doors don’t immediately shut, then curse at the slow climbing of the numbers on the display to our floor.

Entering our suite, I give Jamie-Lee a gentle push toward our room, telling her to pack, begging her when she tries to ask me what’s going on. We don’t have time to talk, we need to get out of here.

Stepping into the small office, I pull out my phone and press my father’s name, his voice comes through the speaker seconds later.

‘Son? Are you out of the hotel yet?’ my father demands as way of a greeting.

‘Lee is packing now’ I reply, rubbing my hand down my face, ‘any news about a new hotel?’

My father sighs and I can already hear the stress in his voice, ‘not yet’ he admits, ‘we are trying to find somewhere that doesn’t want ID, try and keep you both off the grid. We’re going to book it under one of our smallest companies, use the company credit card too so it’s harder to trace you.’

I nod, huffing out a breath, ‘thanks dad’ I mutter, we are not close, but at this minute, the man is going above and beyond to protect my mate.

‘She’s my daughter in law, son’ my dad replies, ‘I’ll always protect her.’

I nod to myself, saying goodbye and hanging up before returning to Jamie-Lee who is already trying to zip up her case.

Grabbing mine and Hadley’s cases, I throw everything in haphazardly, we can sort it out when we get to a safer location.

Grabbing the cases, I head into the living area as a knock sounds on the door, I glance at Jamie-Lee as she goes to open it and silently shake my head, indicating back toward our bedroom and waiting until she moves back inside and pushes the door too.

I move toward the door warily, peering through the peep hole before pulling it open in relief. Mark stands on the other side with Ford, his second in command. Clark grabs the cases from me and hurries out again as Mark moves toward me, talking in a low tone.

‘I have two men outside the door’ he rumbles, ‘all three cars are outside and there are a further two men at the entrance watching for anything that might be off. Are you ready to leave Alpha? I’d prefer to get the Luna away from here as quickly as possible, the sh*t that went down today? Gives me a bad feeling.’

I nod, walking back to our bedroom and opening the door, taking Jamie-Lee’s hand and pulling her toward me. Heading out of the room, the two warriors stationed outside flank us all so that Lee is sandwiched between us, two men on either side of her. I can see our guards gazes flicking around us, zeroing in on any sound as we bundle into the elevator and head back down to he ground floor.

Mark places a hand in front of us as the doors open, he and his men stepping out and checking the area before beckoning us out to follow them, hurrying us out and into the waiting SUV.

We pull out of the driveway and start heading toward a nearby highway, driving aimlessly as we have nowhere to go right now but wanting to keep moving to make it harder for anyone to track us.

My phone beeps and I pull it out to find two lines of text.

D: 3776 Vineland Avenue, Canberry Motel, room paid.

Shutting off my phone, I link to the driver, giving him the address and we take the next right as the warrior punches the address into the satnav. I try to explain to Leeway why we needed to change hotels, not wanting to scare her but also knowing she needs answers.

We sit together in the back of the car, each lost in our own thoughts, though I notice that our driver takes quite a few sudden turns and I assume that Mark has ordered the convoy to do so just in case anyone is following so we won’t lead them straight to our new base.

An hour later we finally pull up outside of a dingy motel, the neon sign above the place missing the N from Canberry. The doors face outward and has a depressing and neglected feel. Mark jumps out from the car behind us and jogs over to the entrance, going inside, returning minutes later with three keys in his hand.

Opening my door, he steps back as I climb out, holding out my hand to Leeway who takes it immediately and slides out, her eyes moving over our surroundings.

‘Not quite what we left behind’ I joke, taking a key from Mark who then leads the way toward our rooms.

‘I don’t know’ Leeway murmurs, nudging me with her shoulder, ‘it looks like an adventure to me.’

Reaching our door, I unlock it, Mark and Ford going inside and checking the room before coming out and nodding to me. I let Jamie-Lee go first, hanging back to speak to the warrior who nods to me.

‘Two men will be on watch in the car out front at all times, and two will be out the back by your bathroom window. We’ll do four hours shifts between us throughout the night so everyone gets some sleep.’

I nod, reaching out and grabbing the man’s shoulder, squeezing it, ‘thanks Mark’ I mutter gruffly.

The older man grins, ‘no thanks necessary Alpha’ he replies, ‘our future Luna’s needs is never a burden to us.’

Giving his shoulder one final squeeze, I head in after my mate, shutting the door behind me and taking in the dingy room we now find ourselves in.

‘Well at least it’s clean’ Jamie-Lee smiles, patting the bed beside her for me to join her. ‘I already pulled back the covers to check the sheets’ she winks.

Laughing, I move closer, sitting down beside her and pulling her into my arms, ‘I’m sorry’ I sigh, ‘it’s hardly the life I wanted to give you.’

Leeway shakes her head, her gaze on me, ‘Hadley is in a cell somewhere’ she replies, her voice sad, ‘I’m not going to complain about having to hide in a seedy motel for a while. I’ll live the rest of my life in poverty if it means I get Hadley back beside me, none of the fancy hotels and nice meals matter to me, All that matters is my mate and getting him out of that Council prison.’