The Mating Rules

Lauren’s POV

I g***n softly, my eyes opening to the bright room that I’m in, my head still hurts, but nowhere near as much as it did before, in fact I can open my eyes fully now and I’ve only got a dull throb to deal with. I try to wriggle slightly as I’m getting really uncomfortable being in this bed for so long, but the attempt to move makes me realise that I’m not alone when my hand doesn’t move with my arm.

Glancing over, I find a mop of blonde hair lying on the edge of my bed, on top of my hand, a slight snore coming from whoever it is.

I clear my throat scratchily, hoping the sound will wake him up but the man merely mumbles something incoherently and continues to snore.

‘Um, hello?’ I call out, wiggling my fingers under his cheek.

‘Ren I’m sleeping, come back later’ the man grumbles, moving his head slightly and tingles run through me as his lips brush the back of my hand.

‘I’m sorry, but could you let me have my hand back?’ I try again, tugging at the limb which is completely pinned.

The warrior slowly sits up, yawning widely as I lift my hand, clenching and unclenching my fingers to try and get rid of the pins and needles that flare through my skin.

The man beside me stretches his arms above his head, his shirt rising slightly, giving me a clear view of the bottom of a well defined six pack. His eyes open, finding mine and I swallow hard at the piercing blue, green irises that hold me captive.

‘Uhh, hi’ I squeak nervously, not really sure how to speak to this person beside me, was I always awkward like this? Did I get tongue tied around him frequently? Surely not if we were friends, but I don’t remember him so how would I know.

‘Ren?’ the male murmurs sleepily, ‘you’re awake, how are you feeling?’

I give an awkward shrug, ‘better’ I reply, tugging at the covers so they come right up to my chin, acutely aware that all I have on underneath is a backless gown.

Noting my movement, the warrior’s face falls slightly, ‘you still don’t remember me do you?’

I shake my head, feeling awful, ‘I’m sorry’ I whisper, ‘I wish I did, but I don’t.’ I study his face for a moment, trying to encourage some sort of familiarity, ‘your name is Tyler right?’ I ask.

The warrior nods, smiling sadly, ‘you call me Ty’ he replies, ‘and I call you Ren or Rennie.’

I nod, absorbing the information, ‘so . . how did we become friends?’ I question hesitantly, waving between us, ‘no offence but I’m not sure how this would have happened.’

Tyler chuckles, reaching out for my hand before stilling, inches from my fingers and slowly retracting again, the laughter dying from his face. The look of pain that flickers fleetingly across his face hurts me and it’s frustrating that I don’t understand why.

‘We met in second grade’ he tells me, the corners of his lips quirking upward as he remembers. ‘You had really long hair because your mum wouldn’t let you cut it and she’d braided it into two pigtails. You were hanging upside down on the jungle gym when Billy Jensen snuck up behind you and grabbed them both, tying your hair to the bars so you couldn’t get down without pulling your own hair.’

I frown, digging through my jumbled brain for the memory but all it does is cause the throb in my head to become almost unbearable so I give up, laying back on my pillow with my eyes closed.

‘Then what happened?’ I ask quietly.

Tyler laughs again, ‘All his friends were laughing while you screamed at him, so I pushed through the crowd and untied you, helping you down.’ I open my eyes to find him giving me a knowing look, ‘I was going to punch Billy in the jaw for being mean, but you shoved me aside, stormed up to him and gave him a black eye. He had to be picked up by his mum because he wouldn’t stop crying.’

I giggle, unable to stop myself, ‘is he from this pack?’ I ask curiously.

Tyler shakes his head, ‘human’ he replies, ‘we went to a mixed school, the previous Alphas all believed that we should spend time interacting with them so that we could learn how to live beside them.’ He winks, ‘Billy wasn’t so keen to be around you after you punched him, in fact he was scared to death of you and would run away any time he saw you coming.’

I snort, ‘so he should’ I mumble, ‘tie my hair to the jungle gym, you are going to see a bad side of me. So, after that we just became best friends?’

Tyler nods, ‘yup, if anyone messed with you, I’d be right there beside you, anyone messed with me, your fists would be on them before they could finish talking about my mum.’© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

I tilt my head, noticing how the warrior looks away form me as he mentions his mum, ‘your mum?’ I ask curiously.

Tyler nods, ‘she left my dad and I when I was two’ he says quickly, ‘it seems not everyone is looking for their fated mate. Turns out she had a love before she called out, and it wasn’t my dad, it was some guy from an alliance pack nearby. She stuck it out for four years before she decided that she didn’t want to dedicate her life to the man that the Goddess chose for her. She rejected him, left me in my bed and ran off to the other pack. It almost killed my dad, but he always said that my cuddles are what kept him fighting when his wolf wanted to give up. Neither him or his wolf could leave me to fend for myself, it just wasn’t in their DNA so every time he felt Otis slipping away, he’d pick me up, hold me tight so his wolf could feel me and come back.’

I reached out instinctively, taking his hand in mine, ‘I’m so sorry Tyler, that’s awful.’

The warrior shrugs, giving me a lopsided smile, ‘well it sucks that we are still alliance with that pack so if they ever need help or we do, we’ll see the a*****e she ran off with. On the other hand though, my dad met a lovely she wolf when I was seven, her Mate was killed before they even had a chance to have a pup. Dad and Alice felt a spark and they ended up as chosen mates. Alice and her wolf accepted me as their own and she’s been an amazing mum. I kind of like to think that maybe the Goddess wanted Alice and my Dad together and I was supposed to end up being the son of my step mum.’

I nod, squeezing his hand, ‘that’s good, I’m so glad your dad found someone special’ I say sincerely.

Tyler smiles, ‘she always loved you though, probably more than me, she would always go, is Lauren coming over today? Oh maybe I’ll make a chocolate cake. There was no maybe about it, she always made chocolate cake’ he laughs.

I giggle with him, ‘so I take it I like chocolate cake?’ I ask good humouredly.

The fun atmosphere turns solemn at my words and I bite my l*p nervously, wondering what I’ve said wrong.

‘Chocolate cake is your favourite’ Tyler mutters, ‘whenever it’s either of our birthdays, our mums make a chocolate cake for you and a peach cobbler for me. Your mum made us both our favourites for your birthday last week, though your dad probably ate them both as we weren’t there to fight him off’ he adds with a weak smile.

I let go of his hand quickly, grabbing hold of my blanket instead and tucking it around me so I can avoid his gaze. My favourite cake is chocolate? What other favourite things do I have that I don’t remember?

As I’m drowning in a sea of confusion, Tyler looks at the watch on his wrist before standing up. ‘I uh . . I have to go’ he says reluctantly, ‘I have guard duty and Caden has already told me that I can’t ditch any more days.’

I nod as he flicks his gaze to my face before staring back at his feet again, ‘I’ll . . come back and see you tomorrow? I’m on till eleven so visiting hours will be over.’

‘Okay,’ I agree, wrapping the edge of the blanket around my fingers as an awkward silence falls between us.

‘Well . . . feel better’ Tyler says finally, his body moving forward as if he’s going to bend toward me before he changes his mind and jerks back upright, instead tapping the bed covers with his fingers before striding from the room.

Watching the door close behind him, I reach up and rub my forehead, trying to ease the tension that has built up there through my conversation with Tyler.

‘Laila?’ I call out softly to my wolf, ‘do you remember my favourite cake?’

My wolf lifts her head from where she’s lying in my mind, yawning widely as she shakes her head. ‘I don’t even know what my favourite cake is’ she replies, ‘you have no chance of me remembering yours.’

I g***n, turning my head so I can stare up at the ceiling, wondering if I will ever remember all these little things that make me, me.

The door opens as I’m wallowing in my self pity, my usual nurse sticking her head in the door and smiling widely when she notices I’m awake.

‘How are you doing?’ she asks, stepping inside and walking to the annoying machine that still keeps beeping, studying whatever those weird squiggly lines mean.

‘I’m feeling better’ I admit, ‘my head doesn’t hurt as much, I just really want to get out of this bed and stretch.’

The nurse nods, checking the bag of fluids before picking up my chart and writing something down.

‘I bet you do’ she agrees warmly ‘well good news is that your Wolf seems to be healing well, the big bruise you had on your head is almost gone and the scrapes from the fall are no longer visible.’

I inch up slightly, giving the woman my attention, ‘so does that mean I can leave soon?’ I ask hopefully.

My nurse shakes her head, ‘that isn’t my call Lauren, the doctor is the only one who gets to decide when you are OK to be released.’ Seeing my crestfallen look she pats my leg, ‘but, if you keep progressing the way you are, I can’t see that he’ll keep you here much longer.’

Giving me one last smile, the nurse leaves me alone once again with my thoughts which are no less of a mess than they were after I woke up.