The Mating Rules

I’m sweaty and hot and bruised and miserable. No, I do not believe that b***h who was sparring with me when she said it was an accident when she elbowed me in the eye.

Thank Goddess we heal fast or I’d be heading out on my first official mate date with a black eye.

I storm up the stairs, muttering under my breath about the cheating no good, a*****e warrior. I’ve seen her hanging off Caden’s a*s more than once but I’m not sure she ever got anywhere with him though.

Pushing through my door, I trudge through to my bathroom to shower off the mud that seems to have gotten into every crevice of my body. Training in the rain is no damn fun even for shifters I can tell you that now.

Staring in the mirror, I gingerly touch my eye which is already a nice shade of greeny yellow, and sigh thankfully. That’ll be gone before Caden gets here, I do not need him going Alpha male over this, I can fight my own battles and I’ll damn well pay that trash dog back, she can count on it. She may have caught me distracted once and that was mainly because whilst we were fighting, Hadley stepped out of the forest in nothing but a pair of shorts! Do you even know how many abs that man has? It was like a muscle buffet and no-one gave me a damn spoon to dig in. That moment of distraction cost me and I got an elbow to the face much to my annoyance, and her cocky look just fueled the fire in me. Shame Albert called time and then set us to laps or I could have given her a return present, but I won’t forget, she’ll get her medicine, I’ll make sure of it.

Stripping off, I throw my clothes into the washing basket and step into the shower, washing away the grime that clings to my skin. Shampooing, shaving and pampering every inch of my body, I decide not to look to closely at why I’m making so much effort.

Stepping out, I wrap a towel around myself, heading back into my room and sitting down on the chair in front of my desk to dry my hair.

I decide to forgo the whole straightening thing, it’s a lot of work and let’s be honest, do men even notice? Scrunching it with my hands, I wave the dryer back and forth encouraging the natural curl to come out.

Once it’s dry, I head into my closet, rummaging through the array of clothes wondering where we will be going. Caden gave me no idea’s at all, is it a dress up or dress down kind of date.

Biting on my l*p, I consider opening the link and asking him but chicken out and instead send a mind link to Ashleigh who bursts into my room without knocking two minutes later, making me scream in shock.

‘Ash! I could have been naked!’ I hiss, gripping the towel to my body as she rolls her eyes at me.

‘Please, I’ve seen your goods’ she replies airily, ‘and believe me, there isn’t enough there to turn me to the other side.’ As I glance down at my chest with a frown she throws herself on my bed adding, ‘now Saffie? She’s got a rack that would get any girl taking a double take. How does she keep those girls pointing upwards, does she have some scaffolding under there maybe?’

‘Ashleigh, focus’ I g***n, not wanting to talk about Saffie’s breasts when I have a dilemma.

‘Right, yes, yes, I’m here, let your fairy Godmother see what rags you have to turn into a fabulous ball gown’ my best friend sighs, pushing herself up off the bed and walking over to my closet.

‘Nope, no, Goddess no’ I hear as the hangers are pulled across the rail, ‘seriously? Can we just mark this as what were you thinking? Did you buy this as a dare?’ came her disgusted voice.

‘Whatever it is, it’s comfy’ I shout at her, walking over to my underwear drawer and pulling it open.

Peeking around the door, she looks at me appraisingly, ‘sweetie, no one needs to be that comfortable, burn it.’

Shaking my head, I drop my towel and pull on my panties and bra, straightening up just as Ashleigh steps out waving a strappy dress, ‘a dress?’ I ask, wrinkling my nose, I was just going to wear jeans and a nice top.

‘Yes a dress, the future Alpha is taking you out for dinner! You aren’t going to be going to a truck stop Lee, and no you can’t wear your jeans.’

Groaning, I return to my underwear drawer and pull out some stockings, I need something to keep my legs warm. Taking the dress I pull it on, Ashleigh zipping up the back as I rub my arms, I can already feel the damn goosebumps rising!

‘Fine!’ my best friend mutters, stomping back to my closet and returning with a white cardigan, holding it out to me with a huff.

‘It’s cold’ I m**n, pushing my arms through the sleeves.

‘Yeah and you are covering your best assets’ she retorts, waving a finger at my chest area. ‘That bra gives some serious uppage to your little handfuls and now you’ve covered it all up! Give the guy something to focus on Lee.

I snort, ‘I kind of want him to focus on my face so I can get to know him’ I reply, rummaging around in the bottom of the closet until I find some black pumps and pull them off.

‘Flats?’ Ashleigh g****s, eyeing my feet like I’ve amputated them and replaced them with frog legs.

‘Yes, I don’t want to fall on my face on a first date, lets try and give a semblance of me not being a clutz’ I mutter.

I sit down in front of the mirror again, picking up a brush that is immediately taken off me by my friend who rummages around in my tiny makeup bag.

‘Do you even own a lipstick?’ she complains, pulling out some eyeshadow and a l*p gloss.

‘I don’t like the way it tastes’ I mumble as she presses her fingers into my chin and forces my head up toward her.

Somehow, it takes thirty minutes to put these two items on me and for Ashleigh to fuss around me before she deems me presentable.

As I climb to my feet a knock sounds on my door and my stomach flops knowing who it is.

‘Keen much, it’s only seven fifteen’ my best friend muses, winking at me as she saunters over to the door, pulling it open to find a bouquet of flowers with legs on the other side.

‘For me? Alpha, you shouldn’t have, but I’ll accept’ my friend coos as Caden peeks over the top in confusion.

‘I uh, thought this was Jamie-lee’s room’ he mumbles, glancing down the corridor then back at my door worriedly.

Elbowing my friend, I try to see over the forest in his arms, ‘it is, ignore her, she’s had a martini spritzer this evening, she never could handle her drink’ I say firmly.

‘Oh’ Relief sweeps my mate’s face as he holds out the bouquet to me, ‘these are for you.’

‘Thank you’ I reply, taking them and walking into the bathroom to place them in the sink until I can get a vase.

‘Did you leave any in the shop Caden?’ Ashleigh asks, leaning against the door and smirking up at our Alpha who doesn’t seem to know how to answer her. I don’t blame him, no one can handle Ashleigh, she does what she wants and doesn’t care about anyone else’s opinion.

‘they are lovely’ I cut in, glaring at my friend who just smiles serenely back at me. ‘Shouldn’t you be going’ I add pointedly, jerking my head toward the corridor.

‘Whatever, I’m going’ my friend replies, slipping by Caden before turning back around and pointing at him behind his back, making swooning gestures and fanning her face.

‘Bye Ashleigh!’ I almost yell hoping to the Goddess he doesn’t turn around and see her pretending to hump his a*s now.

Grinning, she waves and saunters off up the corridor to her own room.

Looking down at me, Caden smiles, ‘so are you ready to go?’ he asked, his eyes trailing over my body making me shiver unintentionally. ‘Cold?’ he murmurs, reaching out to tuck a strand of my hair behind my ear.

‘No, I’m fine’ I squeak, I need to get a damn grip, I’m almost on my knees just from him touching my face. ‘Shall we get going then? I’ll just grab my purse’ I ramble, reaching behind the door for my bag and slinging it over my shoulder.

Nodding, Caden holds out his hand to me, waiting as I take it uncertainly and step outside, shutting the door behind me.

Keeping my hand clasped tightly in his, he leads me down the corridor toward the stairs. Descending to the main floor I notice that a fair few of the unmated girls are milling around, staring at us.

‘Alpha’ one of the girls calls out, ‘I wondered if I could have a quick word, I just need a few minutes of your time.’ She bats her eyelashes at him as Skarla snarls angrily in my head.

‘No, I’m about to take my mate on a date’ Caden replies firmly, ‘if you have a pack question, my father is in his office.’

‘Oh, no it wasn’t a pack issue’ the girl replies, twirling her hair around her finger and I can’t help but want to laugh at her. Does she think that makes her look cute or innocent? It just makes her look desperate.

Caden stares down at her, ‘then I can’t see why you would need to talk to me Clarice’ he retorts firmly. ‘Especially when I literally just said I am taking my mate out for a meal, there is literally nothing more important than that.’

I keep my face devoid of emotion as the she wolf glances at me with obvious jealousy. Caden tugs my hand, getting me moving again, ‘come on baby’ he says easily, like he’s always had this pet name for me, ‘our reservation is in half an hour, we don’t want to be late.’

Nodding, I let him pull me out of the door and away from the catty women behind us.

‘I will rip her face off if she tries that again’ Skarla growls angrily as I smile. That girl had some balls, I’m the best female warrior we have, so to blatantly try and get to my mate in front of me is a death wish, Skarla will destroy her.

‘What are you smiling about Leeway?’ a voice croons into my ear, making my stomach tighten even with that damn nickname coming out again.

‘Just wondering where we are going’ I reply quietly, walking beside him as we make our way to his shiny new truck. Reaching the passenger door, Caden opens it for me, helping me up before shutting my door and going to his own side.

Once in the drivers seat, he starts the vehicle, backing out of his space and turning toward the town, I notice he didn’t answer me, mysterious a*****e, where are we going?