The Mating Rules

I smile weakly, ‘they did love me something fierce’ I admit, feeling the tinge of grief squeeze my heart.

The Goddess nods, ‘they loved you as only a mother and a father can’ she agrees. Standing, she brushes the creases from her dress before holding her hand out to me, ‘take a walk with me’ she asks.

Nodding automatically, I take her hand and push myself up from the ground, standing beside her as she smiles up at me happily.

‘You were always so tall’ she pretends to pout, ‘I forget how big you all get, I feel like a doll standing next to you.’

I chuckle at her words, the tension leaving my shoulders as we set off at a leisurely pace through the poppies.

‘Your mother begged and begged me for a child’ the Goddess murmurs beside me in sadness. ‘Every night she would come out and kneel before the moon, praying to me with everything she had for a pup of her own.’

‘Why didn’t you just let her carry her own pup?’ I ask curiously.

Selene sighs, ‘even with my powers my child, I am not infallible, and not everyone is created exactly as they wish to be. For some reason that even I don’t understand, your mother’s body could not bear a child. She and your father tried for many heats to conceive but they were never successful. She never blamed me for her issues though, never once let her pain taint her soul even when each test produced that one single line that destroyed her hope for another cycle. All she would do is pick herself up and come out to ask me to find a way that she could get the pup that she desperately wanted.

When someone is that determined, and as full of love as your mother was? I knew that she was someone special and she I needed to find a way to grant her wish. A special woman like your mother? Well she deserved a special child, so you were handpicked by me to be her son. I knew that she and her mate would be able to raise you into who you needed to be for your own Mate.

I found a she wolf and gave her you, told her that you were special and that you needed to be taken to the Diamond Star pack to be given to your parents. The she wolf? She was a good woman, accepted my request, and carried you to term, protecting you fiercely until it was time to give you up.

She placed you outside of the pack where I instructed her to and I willed one of the guards to find you, you were not even on the ground for five minutes. The guard took you to the pack house, handed you to the Luna who took you in her arms and cradled you against her pregnant belly. That was your very first interaction with Caden, and though you don’t remember it, you reached out to place your hand against her stomach, feeling for him, your connection already starting to form.

I whispered in her ear to call your parents to her and your mother stepped into the room, eyes falling on you as she growled out ‘MINE.’

She knew who you were, that I had sent you to her and there wasn’t a second of hesitation in her claiming her pup.

Even though you were birthed by another woman, she was not your mother, her wolf would have never let you go if she had been. She was merely a vessel, carrying you for the people who were always meant to be your parents.

You were always destined to be Hadley Carrington, you were their son.’

I swallow thickly, blinking back tears as the Goddess’ voice fades, ‘I really was their son’ I whisper, wiping at my cheek as a tear manages to escape, ‘I wasn’t a foundling, unwanted.’

A hand brushes through my hair comfortingly, ‘no child’ the Goddess murmurs, ‘you were quite possibly the most wanted pup that I have ever gifted to a couple.’

A hand brushes through my hair comfortingly, ‘no child’ the Goddess murmurs, ‘you were quite possibly the most wanted pup that I have ever gifted to a couple.’

She huffs out a breath, shaking her head in annoyance, ‘you know, I always despised the word foundling’ she confides, ‘it makes it sound like some of my children were accidents or rubbish to be thrown away. None of my offspring are unwanted’ she growls, her eyes sweeping to me as I listen intently. ‘Sometimes, albeit rarely, things don’t go as I plan, a she wolf maybe doesn’t feel ready for the gift I give her, or I bless a couple only for the mate to pass away leaving a mourning she wolf who only has the strength to hold on to life until she gives birth. These children are not abandoned, I guide all my children and I make sure that any child who cannot be raised by their birth mother is found and given to a couple who will love them as their own. Every one of my children is a gift to someone and sometimes they get to their forever family in a more unorthodox way to others. Not one of the small number of babies that are left outside packs are there accidentally, they are not “found”, because they were never lost, they are merely waiting to be collected by the people who will love them the most.’

I gaze out over the fields that surround us, absorbing her words silently for a moment.

‘So what happens now?’ I ask quietly, where do I go from here?’

‘Now you go back’ the Goddess replies gently, ‘and help your Mates to finally remove a very dangerous man from power.’

‘How?’ I croak, ‘I know you said I’m still alive but I was shot with a silver bullet covered in Wolfsbane, my wolf is barely there and even if he was fully awake, he wouldn’t be able to heal me, I must be bleeding out as we stand here.’

The Goddess laughs as she shakes her head, ‘no my child, you are far from death, silver can’t kill you.’

I snort disbelievingly, ‘I felt that bullet hit me, it tore me up good, the pain was unbearable, I am not immune to silver.’

Selene smiles, ‘painful yes, but fatal to you? No. Did you not notice whilst you were incarcerated that the burns to your skin from the cuff were superficial at most? As I said Hadley, you are a very special wolf, I needed a warrior who would protect his mate against threats that her Alpha mate was weakened by. You are immune to silver my child, I cannot stop the pain but I can gift a way for your wolf to fight the poison that tries to spread within your bloodstream. It’s also why you can take so much sedative and wolfsbane’ she adds with a wink, ‘something I don’t believe Avrilak expected when he separated you from Jamie-Lee and Caden. Sometimes a person’s strength is not in ways we can see with the naked eye. You may be strong physically, I had to make sure of that as my Spirit Wolf will see a battle and needs her protector and her Alpha by her side to stand a chance of winning.’

She fixes me with a stern look, making me want to hunch away from her like a scolded child, ‘you must return now Hadley, Avrilak has my wolf and she is already weakened, he won’t waste much time in trying to break her completely.

‘He’s hurt her?’ I snarl, and I can feel my wolf stir in agitation for the first time since the fight in the dungeons.

‘Not in the way you think’ the Goddess sighs, ‘Skarla is a Spirit Wolf, it is not her physical being that the Warlock needs to weaken to drain her powers . . there is a reason he attacks her mate whilst she is forced to watch.’

‘That’s why he brought in the law about two mates, the pain of rejecting one of her mates would weaken the Spirit Wolf before she even emerged’ I mutter.

Selene nods, ‘my wolf carries my essence, she requires two mates not only to support her and protect her, but also to help her handle the powers I bestowed on her.

When you marked her as yours, you and Caden both imbibed some of my essence through your bites, you also carry a trace of my power which makes you even stronger than you were previously.’

I nod my head curtly, my mind now fixated on returning to Jamie-Lee and Caden, I need to help them, protect them like I was designed to do.

‘How do we defeat him?’ I question, holding her gaze.

Selene touches my shoulder, a warmth spreading through me, radiating from her touch. ‘By uniting as one’ she replies cryptically, ‘you can only defeat darkness by shining a light through it.’

I open my mouth to argue that her answer is hardly helpful but the colours around me are starting to swirl slowly, melting into each other and I am struggling to see the Goddess through the blur.

‘Selene!’ I yell desperately, my hand reaching out to find her, ‘Moon Goddess!’

‘It is time my child, your body is waking, your wolf repairing the damage, he will be with you when you rouse from this dream. Remember Hadley, you and Caden are connected now, on a deeper level than just your pack bond. Your bond will be vital, don’t shy away from it, do not be scared my child, it is how it’s meant to be.’

‘Selene’ I call out again, ‘wait! I don’t understand, what do you mean?’

I hear her tinkling laugh as my body feels heavier, ‘You will understand when the time comes my son’ she replies. ‘oh and Hadley?’ she calls out, ‘if you find a moment during the fight with the Warlock, can you pass on the message that Luella is pissed about him pretending to be her. I think it might be more to do with him displaying her as a cranky old woman with health issues than anything. Luella is an eternal creature, just like I am, why would I make her age? She is still in her mid twenties physically just as she was when I brought her into existence. I had hell to listen to when she had to document that description of herself in the tomes for eternity.

He better hope that he doesn’t end up in any of the afterlives, because though she is theoretically tied to the tomes, I might just give her special dispensation to visit him just once if she asks me nicely.’

I sink down to my knees as the winds roar around me, I can no longer hear the Goddess over the noise and I press my hands to my ears to try and block out the sound. I close my eyes instinctively, lowering my head to the ground, bunching my shoulders to protect me from the gale.

‘I’m coming sweetheart’ I mutter to myself, pressing as hard as I can to each side of my head. ‘Don’t give up, wait for me, I’m coming for you!’

Slowly I feel myself slip from consciousness, the sound of the wind muting until I can no longer hear it, I want to open my eyes but it feels like I have weights attached to my eyelids.

‘Hold on Hadley’ my wolf calls out to me distantly, ‘I’ve got you human, I’ll get us where we need to be.’

I nod weakly as it’s the only thing I can do, my whole body is paralysed, I trust my wolf though, he’ll make sure we get back to Jamie-Lee and Skarla, I know he will.’