The Mating Rules

Caden’s POV

One minute I’m fighting with everything in me to keep my fingers from tightening around the neck of the woman I love more than life for the second time and the next a hand grabs me, and I’m obscured by white smoke.

As the smoke clears around me, I find myself in a stone room with no windows, a black chandelier with lit candles, hanging from the ceiling over a large stone table with cuffs attached.

I try to move but the Warlock’s voice cuts through the air beside me as I freeze involuntarily. ‘Uh uh uh!’ he scolds, walking around me and heading to the other side of the table, ‘let’s just keep you where I can see you.’

A growl rolls up my throat as the man who forced me to hurt my beautiful mate strolls around, the remote clasped in one hand as the other moves a trolley on wheels closer to the table.

My mind wanders back to Jamie-Lee and my chest constricts painfully, I have no idea if she’s OK, she was unconscious when I was ripped away from her, but what if I didn’t hold back enough? What if I . . .

I can’t finish the thought, cutting it off abruptly, I have to believe she’s alive, why would Avrilak keep me if she wasn’t still here? He’d have taken her, surely?

I feel my legs moving of their own accord and my gaze snaps to the man across from me who is fiddling with the remote in his hand.

‘Take a seat Alpha’ he mutters distractedly as I shuffle onto the table without actively telling myself too. My body lays itself down and my arms and legs rest over the cuffs as I try to fight against the invisible power that’s controlling me.

Ignoring me, the Warlock places the remote out of reach, moving around me, clipping the anchored cuffs into place on each of my limbs before removing the ones he placed on me earlier.

I feel the burn immediately and grimace against the silver that’s igniting my flesh where it connects. I flex my fingers as I regain control of myself, trying to wriggle but the cuffs hold me tightly and Avrilak is now securing my torso and neck with thick leather belts making me practically immobile.

The Warlock sighs deeply as he glades around the room, walking out of my line of sight as I can’t tip my head back to follow him.

‘The warrior was even tougher than I expected’ he murmurs, ‘he should have bled out, I don’t know what went wrong.’ He shakes his head as he walks around into view again, one hand holding a bottle of clear liquid, the other a large syringe that he pushes into the top of the bottle, turning it upside down as he draws back the plunger, filling the small space with the fluid.

‘Normally I would have the Spirit wolf here’ he continues idly, as he places the bottle onto the metal table beside me and flicking the syringe before pressing the plunger slightly until liquid squirts from the top.

Seeing me eyeing him he grins, ‘I wouldn’t want a bubble of air to enter your b***d stream Alpha, I need you alive for what I have planned.’

He shrugs, placing the filled syringe down beside me and moves up and down the side of me, checking my restraints. ‘This table is special’ he confides, ‘I built it myself, it’s imbibed with ancient magic and is designed to contain the magical entities of this realm.’ He raises and eyebrow at me, ‘that means, I can strap a magical being to this stone and he or she cannot call upon her supernatural abilities BUT they will all still be in full working order.

I frown at his words, ‘what are you talking about?’ I snarl, ‘they either work or they don’t.’

Avrilak laughs cruelly, ‘you wolves’ he chimes out in amusement, ‘so damn arrogant, yet always so ignorant. You think because you are a strong species that you know everything, that you are better than others, where in fact it’s the other way around. You are strong but your penance for your increased physical attributes is a lack of mental abilities.’ He stares down at me in disdain, ‘in simplified words so you can understand, your muscles might make you hit harder, but your brain couldn’t outwit a box of rocks.’

He pulls a second bottle out of his pocket, waving it slowly back and forth in front of my face, ‘this’ he says softly, ‘is an antidote to the Wolfsbane in your system. You see, my wolfsbane isn’t like the stuff that your kind use on each other, it’s genetically modified to last longer, be more potent and can only be reversed by what is in this tiny bottle.’

I try to look indifferent as I turn my head away from him as much as I can, ‘Hadley doesn’t seem to have had a problem breaking your voodoo wolfbane mixture’ I taunt.

The Warlock sneers, ‘yes, that was . . unfortunate but when I’ve dealt with you, I’ll be sure to take samples from the warrior so I can alter the concoction for the next time a Spirit Wolf arises.’

I scoff loudly, ‘you make it sound like you are going to win’ I retort, ‘yet Hadley is alive, you don’t have Jamie-Lee and you ran away from the fight like a coward.’

I feel cold fingers grip my chin, forcing my head back toward the man who chained me to this damn table, his eyes narrowed angrily as he scowls down at me. ‘Let us not forget that you are the one strapped to a table’ he spits venomously. ‘You have no wolf, no special strengths, you couldn’t even stop yourself from trying to kill your own mate! And now? Now you are going to be the ultimate down fall for your little mate and her precious protector.’

‘I wont help you do a damn thing to get to Jamie-Lee, you’ll have to kill me’ I snarl back stubbornly, like hell am I going to put my mate in danger! Hadley will take care of her, he’ll get her through my death. I swallow down the heart ache, pushing away the thoughts of her mourning me, the fact I will never see her face again, feel her lips on mine, here her laugh when I tickle her.

Avrilak straightens up, his grin widening, ‘oh but you will’ he replies smoothly, grabbing my arm and pressing against the bulging vein on the inside of my elbow.

Grabbing a second syringe, he inserts it into the antidote, filling the syringe slowly as he gives me a wink.

Moving the now full injection toward me, I try to flinch away, growling loudly as he chuckles, ‘keep that the f*ck away from me’ I order, clenching my fists, my wrists now raw against the silver restraints.

Ignoring me, the Warlock presses the needle against my skin, carefully pushing into my vein as I hiss from the sting.

‘Oops, sorry’ Avrilak coos, ‘maybe I should have said sharp scratch first like the nurse does with the kiddies when they get their shots. I’m sorry to say that I don’t even have a lolly to give you afterwards for being such a brave little boy.’

Grabbing a swab from the tray, her presses it firmly onto my arm as he withdraws the needle, dropping the now empty syringe on the tray as he beams at me.

‘See Alpha’ he soothes sarcastically, ‘that wasn’t too bad now was it? Now we just need to wait a few minutes for your wolf to wake up and then the fun is really going to begin.’

I press my lips together firmly, if he thinks I’m going to tell him when Cobalt reconnects with me, he’s got another thought coming. My wolf and I will figure out a way to get out of these damn cuffs as soon as he’s at full strength and we’ll be taking this a*****e down.

I lay silently, staring at the ceiling, ignoring the Warlock who is rummaging through a trunk that’s pushed against one of the walls.

‘Caden’ suddenly comes a weak, drowsy voice in my head.

‘Cobalt?’ I call back immediately, closing my eyes to not give away the fact I’m linking with my wolf. ‘Are you OK?’ I add worriedly, my wolf sounds terrible, like he’s been on a week long bender drinking wolfsbane spiked whiskey.

‘Head . . . feels . . . weird’ Cobalt mutters as he comes into view and slowly shakes his head before trying to climb to his feet. His legs wobble precariously for a second before they collapse under him and he falls back to the floor with a growl of agitation.

‘It’s OK buddy’ I say reassuringly, ‘get your strength back, I’ll keep the a*****e busy.

My words perk my wolf up and he lifts his head, trying to push forward to see out of my eyes at what is around us. He manages a quick look before he recedes back in my mind, exhausted.

‘Rest’ I order him gruffly, we are going to need every bit of strength you can get.’

‘Where are we?’ Cobalt mutters darkly, his tail swishing back and forth angrily, ‘why are we tied down’

I huff out a breath, weighing up explaining it, I really don’t want my wolf to go off like a rabid animal but I need him to know how much crap we are in right now. ‘Avrilak has us’ I admit, ‘dosed me with his own special blend of Wolfsbane, you’ve been gone for about two days from what I can work out. He gave me the antidote to bring you back.’

Cobalt tilts his head in surprise, ‘why would he do that?’ he asks cautiously, ‘everyone knows that you are stronger with me, most enemies would keep me drugged.’

I nod in agreement, I don’t understand it either, ‘I can’t get out of these cuffs’ I mutter, ‘they are silver. I’m hoping as you gain strength, that we can bust out of them.’

Cobalt smiles widely, that cocky Alpha look crossing his face that annoys our mate but also makes her heart beat faster when I aim it at her. ‘This guy doesn’t know what he’s done’ he growls, ‘I’m going to make him regret waking me up.’ He shakes his head before focusing on me again, ‘Mate?’ he demands quietly.

I swallow, ‘alive’ I reply with certainty, as soon as Cobalt awoke, I would have felt the pain of our bond severing. ‘I . . ‘ my mouth dries as I try to tell my own wolf what I did.

‘What?’ Cobalt snarls angrily, pushing into my thoughts as I lay back, not even fighting him. ‘Son of a b***h!’ he roars in my mind, his eyes glowing gold as I fight back the tear trying to run down my cheek.

‘I’m sorry’ I whisper, ‘I tried buddy, I really tried.’

‘Not your fault’ Cobalt growls, ‘Warlock hurt mate, I will kill him.’

‘Ahh! Looks like your wolf has awoken!’ Avrilak says from beside me as I snap my eyes open and glare up at his smirking face. ‘Excellent’ he says enthusiastically, picking up the second syringe and bringing it to my vein.

‘Now Alpha wolf, it’s time to let your mate know where you are’ he murmurs before the needle pierces my skin and liquid flushes through my bloodstream. It takes a few seconds before my body bursts into a fire of pain and I can’t stop the scream leaving my lips as my entire body writhes against my restraints in desperation. Holy Goddess, I’ve never felt pain like this, there isn’t a single place on my body that doesn’t feel like acid is burning it.

‘That’s right Alpha’ Avrilak grins down at me, ‘feel that pain, send it down your mate bond to our beloved Spirit Wolf mate as I’m sure she’s already trying to work out where you are so she can come to try and save you, lets draw her a clear map right to your current location, help her out with her search.’