The Mating Rules

Caden’s POV

It’s the next day and I’ve left Jamie-Lee with Hadley whilst I go to meet the Council members that are arriving soon.

Before leaving, I held that warrior’s gaze as I told him not to let our mate out of his sight. I don’t care if she needs the bathroom, he sits on the bath while she goes!

Cobalt is pacing in my mind, he’s bothered by this meeting, not liking being out of control of a situation. You and me both buddy, I think to myself as I stride across the training ground, skirting around the early morning workouts to get to the pack house.

Glancing at the Elite group as I pass, the absence of both myself and Hadley is obvious. Normally we would be in the centre of the group, sparring with other warriors, or just outright fighting each other. Sorry everyone, but my days of fighting against that man are over, he makes my Leeway happy which means he doesn’t get to go home bloody anymore, you’ll have to get your kicks from somewhere else.

A few of the fighters’ nod to me as I walk by, returning to their training after I acknowledge them with a nod of my own. Turning toward the pack house, I eat up the remainder of the space and push open the front door, stepping inside and heading up to my father’s office.

Knocking curtly, I wait for my father’s voice to call out for me to enter. Opening the door, I step inside, taking in Jamie-Lee’s father sitting across from my dad, and the head of my father’s private unit, George lounging in one of the armchairs, his foot on the coffee table.

‘Caden’ George calls out, raising his hand to me in greeting, ‘why aren’t you on the field showing the youngsters how to fight? That mate got you whipped already?’ He laughs at his own joke as I shake my head and make my way to the other armchair, folding myself into it.

‘Why aren’t you there?’ I counter, ‘surely this meeting is only for the high ranking wolves? Bit above your pay grade don’t you think?’

I smirk as the older wolf flips me off, a grin plastered on his face, ‘still a little sh*t I see’ he observes.

‘And you are still a grumpy old bastard’ I reply with a laugh.

George was like a surrogate father to me, whilst my own father and Jamie-Lee’s father were busy running the pack and meeting other Alphas, George would look after me. He was the one who taught me to swim, came to cheer me on at football games in middle school and helped me learn how to tie a tie on the night of my prom. I think he secretly hoped that I’d be mated to his daughter but considering Emily is more interested in breasts than d**k, he was going to be disappointed even before I found Jamie-Lee.

‘So, when are you bringing that poor girl that got saddled with your arrogant a*s over to ours so we can apologise to her for how you turned out? Jenna is starting to think you are ashamed of us’ the warrior demands, eyeing me.

‘Not until they’ve been to mine’ Jamie-Lee’s father cuts in, ‘if they haven’t sat around my table yet, they sure aren’t sitting around yours mate.’

I roll my eyes, ‘we only got marked two weeks ago, it’s not like you’ve all been waiting years.’

‘When it comes to our mates and their expectations, that they verbalise . .frequently . . , it feels like years, believe me’ George grumbles, making me laugh.

‘I’ll bring her and Hadley over next week OK?’ I relent, ‘to both of you’ I add as the Beta opens his mouth.

‘Can we get back to the subject at hand now?’ my father growls and I bite back the desire to point out that HE hasn’t asked me to bring my mate to dinner.

‘Yes, go ahead, the Council will be here before we know it, we need to get our stories straight’ the Beta agrees.

‘We need to play up that she’s quite meek and gentle’ I quickly insert into the conversation.

George gives me a strange look and I realise belatedly that the man opposite me was not included in our conversations about Jamie-Lee and her wolf.

‘Uh, we want to give the impression that she wouldn’t survive if they tried to forcefully break one of our bonds’ I quickly add which seems to satisfy the older wolf as he nods his agreement.

‘Good idea’ he rumbles, ‘the more we push the fact that trying to remove one of her mates would likely kill her the less likely these people are to try and force us to do it.’Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

Our Beta nods solemnly, ‘and we should also point out that a dead Luna would seriously weaken our future Alpha and this pack’ he adds with a glance in my direction.

‘Well, that’s not far from the truth’ I hear my father mutter and bite down on the inside of my cheek to stop the retort falling out of my mouth. Now is not the time to get into a fight with my dad, I need him on my side right now.

Straightening up, I ignore the old man and focus instead on Jamie-Lee’s father, ‘you are going to have the most sway here’ I say to him. ‘As her father, how you describe her is what they are going to accept as truth, how do you want to play this?’

Our Beta frowns as he thinks for a moment, ‘I don’t want to stray too far from the truth’ he eventually says, meeting my gaze again. ‘This is the Council, it’s made up of some pretty strong creatures and I have a strong suspicion that at least one will be able to pick up on outright lies. We need to tamp down the truth, say things like she’s a people pleaser. To us that means she likes to help anyone who needs it, to them it comes over more like she’s easily swayed by others.

We could also say that she’s known for her sympathetic nature, we just don’t tell them that it’s mor likely to be shown toward animals rather than her fellow pack members who she only has time for if they aren’t, and these are my daughter’s words here, absolute assholes who need putting in their place.’

I smirk at his words because that is my Leeway, though Hadley and I get to see her softer side more and more since we marked her.

To everyone else, she’ll treat you how you treat her, try to use her or speak down to her and she’ll put you firmly in your place no matter what your rank. Goddess help anyone who abuses an Omega in front of her too. I still remember watching her be hauled away by her dad at thirteen after one of the warrior kids tried to force an Omega to eat dirt. Let’s just say that it was the warrior’s kid who was puking up mud round the side of the pack house that day. Leeway came back to the pack house for tea and the Omega boy’s mother slipped her a special dessert when the Beta and her mum weren’t looking.

I felt the air shift around me, drawing me out of my thoughts to find my father’s eyes glazed, the Beta and my dad’s lead warrior staring at him expectantly until his eyes cleared again.

‘The Council are at the gate’ he growls, his gaze moving to Jamie-Lee’s dad who nods and stands, heading toward the door quickly.

We all sit in silence, our eyes trained on the closed door until, what feels like a lifetime later, a loud knock sounds before the door opens again and Beta Greg enters the room again, bowing to my father respectfully.

‘Alpha’ he announces loudly, ‘I have Council person Allegra and Council person Isaiah.’ Stepping out of the way, he holds the door open as a woman in her late sixties walks in. The knitted shawls are wrapped around her neck, give her a grandmotherly vibe, but her penetrating gaze sweeping the room and taking everything in undermines that thought, this woman is sharp as a tack.

As she walks toward my father, shaking his hand before taking one of the seats in front of his desk, my gaze moves to the tall gentleman who follows her in. He is well over six foot, and the tailored suit screams money. He doesn’t look a day over fifty and his features are a lot warmer than his companion’s who sniffs haughtily as she arranges her skirt to cover her ankles.

‘Council man Isaiah’ my father greets, shaking the other man’s hand firmly, ‘it’s been a while.’

The blonde man laughs loudly, patting my father’s hand that is still grasped in his own, with his other. ‘Too long Scott’ he booms, ‘you haven’t come to the last three functions, Council woman Silvie will think she has fallen out of favour with you.’

My father chuckles, a sound I rarely hear come from that man as he releases the Council man and waves a hand toward the other chair. ‘Tell her that I will make sure that Esme and I attend her next shindig. Now my son has finally found his Luna’ his gaze flickers to me for just a moment before returning to the guests in front of him, ‘I can start to leave him in charge while I travel.’

I stamp on the scowl wanting to cross my face at his underlying dig that he couldn’t trust me before Jamie-Lee became my mate.

Council man Isaiah sighs as he glances at me, ‘ahh yes’ he muses, ‘Congratulations Alpha, it is a day to celebrate when a future pack leader finds his mate.’

I nod curtly, ‘thank you Council man Isaiah’ I reply courteously, ‘I am indeed blessed, Jamie-Lee is truly the other half of my soul.’

The man nods, ‘you don’t realise how incomplete you were until you find them do you’ he murmurs, holding my gaze.

I force a smile, ‘no you don’t’ I agree, ‘but now I have her, I can no longer imagine a world where she wasn’t beside me.’

Beside him, Council woman Allegra scoffs loudly, ‘but she may not always be by your side young man’ she says pointedly, those dark almost black eyes pinning me in my seat. ‘We have the slight issue of how you and your mate broke werewolf law, or did you think we were just going to skip over that?’