The Mating Rules

Jamie-Lee’s POV

I have never felt pain like this, I can feel a warm liquid on my skin and I’m pretty sure I must have been ripping at my own flesh with my claws.

‘Stop pain!’ Skarla howls in my mind, her claws mentally digging into my mind as if she’s trying to tear the pain right out of us.

I curl up on the floor, fighting to breathe, she wolves talk about the agony of labour pains but I’d take ten back to back babies over what I’m feeling right now.

‘What is wrong with us?’ I manage to gasp out to my wolf.

‘Mate’ is the curt reply I get back but it’s enough to drag a whimper from my lips. One of my mates is in pain and I’m getting echoes of it. If this is an echo through the bond I can’t imagine what Caden or Hadley are going through.

My pain addled mind pushes through that it must be Caden, Hadley was with me and he was fine as I collapsed, I had felt him near. He’s gone now though and I don’t know where he is. I can’t even lift my head to try and find him, I’m incapacitated on the ground.

When I begin to think that I can’t bear any more, the pain starts to lessen. Slowly I feel it recede and I roll onto my stomach, gasping in lung fulls of air.

‘Is it over?’ I link to Skarla, ‘are we OK?’

My wolf merely whimpers, still curled in a tight ball against the waves of fire licking our veins.

I force my head to the side and find I’m peering through the back legs of a huge wolf. ‘Hunter’ I mutter in relief, Hadley’s wolf is here and I can tell by the anger radiating off him that he’s protecting me from whatever is in the room.

I can just make out the base of what I think is a stone table but the wolf in front of me blocks off the top from sight.

Slowly, Skarla uncurls in my mind, the pain is still there but bearable and I can push it aside enough to bring myself up onto my hands and knees, my arms shaking like jello underneath me.

A loud growl reverberates from the wolf in the doorway and as I use the doorframe to help me, I stumble to my feet to find Avrilak between Hunter and the stone table that I now realise has Caden strapped to it.

The Warlock is staying out of Hunter’s reach, moving side to side as though he’s trying to taunt the wolf to step away from me. Despite the sounds of displeasure from the huge animal between us, Hunter won’t budge, keeping me out of the room.

I place a shaky hand on Hunter’s back, smoothing his fur as I link to him, ‘I’m OK Hunter, Skarla is OK.’

‘He wants Mate’ Hunter replies stubbornly, ‘can’t have you, I will kill him.’

A small smile quirks at my lips over the wolf’s determination to protect me, ‘thank you Hunter’ I reply softly, ‘but I need to face him.’

Hunter growls again, ‘can’t take mate’ he huffs, his face twitching back and forth, following the Warlock whose gaze is now on me.

Huffing, I drag my gaze from the Warlock to Caden, my heart clenching as I take in his state. The Alpha is strapped spread eagle on the table, his wrists, ankles, stomach, and neck all strapped down so he can barely move. I can see the sweat coating his skin and clothes, his t-shirt sticking to his body as he shivers uncontrollably.

I try to reach out to him through the link but, though I can feel him, it’s faint and distorted.

‘Skarla!’ I mutter worriedly, ‘what’s wrong, why can’t I reach Caden?’

My wolf sits up, and I can feel her reaching out to Cobalt, her tail swishing before a howl leaves her, ‘Mate is severing our bond, I can feel them slipping away’ she says brokenly.

‘What? Why?’ I ask, ‘they would have to reject us, how are they severing the bond? We’re mated and marked! It would hurt surely!’

Skarla shakes her head, tilting it to the side as if she’s listening to something, ‘Cobalt’ she murmurs sadly, ‘he says they had no choice. To save us they need to block the pain, it’s the only way.’

‘No!’ I yell through the link, reaching for the Alpha desperately, ‘Caden! No! I told you I would never accept your rejection! I need you!’

I don’t get any reply and staring at my Mate’s pasty white skin, I’m not sure he’s even conscious anymore.

My wolf whimpers, watching her mate through my eyes as his chest rises slower and slower. ‘He’s dying’ she whispers to me, another pain, worse than what I felt before cutting through us both.

‘He’s dying!’ Skarla says again, but her voice is stronger now, her hackles raising as she forces my eyes toward Avrilak who is still trying to get past Hunter. ‘He did this’ she snarls, ‘he caused all of this!’

I feel heat rise within me as a rage I’ve only felt once before spreads through my body right to my fingertips.

‘He killed my Mate’ I growl loudly and I must have said it out loud because the Warlock’s eyes snap to mine.

‘Finally!’ he says, his eyes lighting up with excitement, ‘Spirit Wolf, you have arisen!’

‘I have’ Skarla and I speak together, her claws extending from my fingers as I shove Hunter out of the way as though he weighs nothing, dragging him behind me so that the path between myself and the Warlock is free.

‘I’ve waited for you to come forward, it is good to see you again’ Avrilak replies happily.

‘It won’t be so good after I rip you apart’ we retort as I instinctively raise my hands toward him. ‘You killed my Mate’ I hiss venomously, ‘you tried to kill my other Mate, you will die.’

The Warlock sighs heavily as he rubs the back of his neck, ‘yes’ he mutters, ‘I’m not sure how the warrior survived the bullet, I underestimated him. Never mind, I won’t do that again.

He waves his hand, causing smoke to coalesce around the whole room, his thick fingers finding my wrist in the darkness as I feel a tug, the sound of snarls and hissing filling the air around me before my feet leave the floor and I’m sucked through space.

As they land on a hard surface, my knees buckle from the impact and I stumble slightly before shaking off the hand that I now realise belongs to Avrilak and we are alone in a room lit only by moonlight that shines in from a huge skylight above us.

Avrilak moves around the room, muttering under his breath as he waves his hands in complicated movements.

Skarla snarls, launching us forward and slashing at his back with our claws, cutting ribbons through his shirt and skin as he hisses.

Turning back to us, he looks at us reproachfully, ‘now is that any way to behave?’ He asks, twisting to see the damage and sighing deeply before muttering some weird words as his skin knits back together.

‘Where are my Mates?’ I demand angrily, stalking toward him again.

‘I see you are not going to behave’ the Warlock huffs, waving a hand in an arc as I walk into an invisible barrier that is between me and the man who kidnapped us all.

I can feel my anger rising again, my body heating at an incredible rate as I slam my fists against the barrier between us, a loud boom echoing off the walls of the stark room.

The Warlock ignores me, continuing around the room, waving and muttering and as I follow him I find that I’m in fact, inside an invisible tube. Being captive unleashes a fury in me and I pound my fists on my cage over and over, Skarla pushing forward to join me as we growl menacingly.

Once finished, Avrilak turns to me, crossing his arms and staring at me in amusement, ‘just a few more minutes and it should be time’ he murmurs.

‘Time for what? What do you mean a few more minutes?’ I snarl angrily just as a pain slices through my chest, my hand grasping at my shirt instinctively as I curl forward.

The Warlock strides toward me, smirking, stopping just a couple of feet away, ‘just a few more minutes until both your Mates are dead and you are ready to be harvested’ he explains smoothly.

‘My Mates?’ I repeat as the image of Caden’s unmoving body rush to the surface of my mind. ‘You murdered Caden’ I roar, power coursing through me as I tremble from the feeling.

Avrilak nods, smiling widely, ‘and my little halfbreed helpers will be dealing with the warrior right now’ he agrees. ‘That’s the best and worst part of this world you know’ he adds softly. ‘The fact that you all shun your own kind if they happen to only be half your species. By victimising and degrading those people who want only to be accepted, you gave me the means to dominate you.

You stupid wolves and those equally single minded Vampires, Witches, and Humans, you are all so scared of something different that you handed me an army with which to fight and defeat you! The oppressed will always gravitate to someone who can offer them what they crave, in the case of the half breeds, it was me. I promised them a world that would respect them as equals, a way to walk among their peers with respect, do you know how tempting that is?

While you were so busy trying to irradicate and subjugate your brethren, people just like you, you paved the way for an uprising! Your species laid the bricks, piece by piece, guiding them straight to me. They don’t even know what they are really fighting for, they only know that you hold the key to their dreams and those two men upstairs are all that stands between them getting everything they ever wanted.’

I shake my head, glaring at the Warlock, ‘I do not have a problem with hybrids’ I argue, ‘my pack doesn’t discriminate.’

Avrilak Laughs loudly, ‘really?’ he croons, taking another step forward so his hands are pressed on the barrier between us. ‘So how many hybrids are there in your pack Spirit Wolf? How many wolves have non wolf mates’ he c***s his head to the side, ‘not including the human and witch mates obviously, because they would be fine in a wolf world, what with our physical limits, we’d never be considered a threat to your kind would we?’

He’s smirking at me now, watching my face as I open my mouth to reply before snapping it shut again because he’s right, we do only have human / wolf mated couples or witch / wolf couples in our world. There are no Vampire, bear or other magical creature mixes in our pack or any other pack that I have visited when I’ve needed to travel for pack work.

The warlock nods as though he can see my mind working, ‘you see, your kind and every other kind out there, don’t want to accept anything that might threaten their dominance. It matters not that your precious Moon Goddess picked mates from all species to mate with her wolves, you as a species cannot accept it. A Vampire/wolf hybrid? Well, that cannot be welcomed as that mix could end up stronger than a regular werewolf. What if they have the ability to walk in the daylight like a wolf but can drink a creature dry like a Vamp. They might have the strength of their wolfen half and the soullessness of the Vampire half, they could wipe out an entire pack.’

I try to respond but am cut off as I gasp again, my hand flying to my neck, Skarla snarling in my mind as Avrilak’s smirk widens. ‘I see they are making short work of the Warrior’ he muses, ‘shame, I thought after he overcame my serum, which by the way, was very impressive, that he would pose more of a challenge. By the looks of your face, it seems I was, unfortunately, wrong, what a disappointment.’

‘Mate is hurt’ Skarla growls in my mind, as another shot of pain rips through me, this time in my thigh.

‘Hunter is not going to die’ I snarl loudly and I can feel as my eyes start to glow and I know if I had a mirror, my eyes would be silver. ‘You are NOT killing my MATE!’ I scream and I slam my fists against the invisible barrier with everything I have over and over again.

The Warlock laughs loudly, waving a hand at me, ‘carry on Spirit Wolf’ he urges, ‘show me your power! Tire yourself out, it just makes my next move so much easier.’

I feel Skarla move and it’s not like when she takes control, instead, it feels like she’s merging with me, our two consciousness becoming one. Blinking, I can feel her with me, side by side as we glare at the amused man in front of us, a cruel smile crawling across our face.

‘Let us show you exactly what we can do’ my wolf and I offer, licking our lips as we pull back and punch the barrier with all the force of us both combined.

Satisfaction courses through me as we watch the Warlock’s smile falter before it slides off his face and he stumbles forward a step, his fingers reaching out between us, running across the hairline c***k that has appeared between us, suspended in the air.

My own smirk widens as I wink at him, ‘I hope you won’t be disappointed’ we hiss as we lift our arm again and swing toward the visible c***k.