The Mating Rules

Lauren’s POV

‘Who are you?’ I ask the Godly looking stranger who is holding my hand.

‘Sweetie?’ my mother says nervously, ‘this is Tyler, you remember Tyler, right? He’s your best friend.’

I frown in confusion, this guy? This chocolate bar of deliciousness is my best friend? He can’t be, I’ve never seen him before in my life and if I did, I certainly wouldn’t have wanted to be his friend.’

‘I’m sorry, I don’t remember you’ I mutter, my head starting to pound harder as I will myself to dredge up some sort of memory about him.

The machines beside me start to beep louder as I whimper, scrunching up my eyes against the overwhelming pain as the door pushes open and people in white coats rush in, pushing my parents and the stranger out of the room as they bustle around me.

‘calm down Lauren’ a man says as he pulls a stethoscope from around his neck, ‘relax, that’s it, just keep calm.’

The nurse beside me, pushes a syringe of something into the bag beside my bed, emptying the contents as my eyelids become heavy and my head sinks into the pillow.

The last thing I hear is the doctor telling me to rest, just relax and let my body heal before everything goes dark.

When my eyes open again, it’s dark once more and I’m alone, the door to my room is cracked open and I can hear muffled voices speaking.

‘She doesn’t remember him’ my mother’s worried voice whispers, ‘they’ve been best friends since second grade doctor, how can she not remember him? What does this mean? Does she have brain damage, did the head trauma cause irreparable damage? Can’t her wolf do something?’

‘Mary-Anne’ the voice of the doctor soothes, ‘she hit her head pretty badly, to be honest, we don’t yet know what the repercussions of her injury will be, but memory loss isn’t unexpected. What we need is for Lauren not so put strain on her mind, her memories will return when they are ready too and her trying to force them will only make things worse.’

‘So what do we do?’ my dad asks, ‘Tyler is scared out of his mind, he wants to be with her but if his presence is going to hurt her . . ‘

‘Tyler being around Lauren is fine’ my doctor reassures my parents, ‘actually, it’s probably a good thing as familiar routines might her jog her memory. He needs to go slow though and absolutely not try to force her to remember him.’ The doctor sighs deeply, ‘honestly guys, Tyler is going to have to build their friendship all over again.’

I sink back into my pillow, soaking in the man’s words, so this Tyler guy really is my best friend? Why don’t I remember him? How did we become best friends?

The door opens further and my mother peeks through the gap, opening it wider and stepping inside when she sees that I am awake.

‘Hey sweetie, how are you feeling?’ she asks, moving toward my bed and resting a hand on my forehead.

‘Thirsty’ I reply, unsure how long ago it was that I had that last drink.

My mum quickly fixes me a glass, holding out the straw so I can suck the water down and I try to slow my mouthfuls even though my instinct is to get as much as I can into my body.

As I release the straw, the door bangs open making me whimper before a woman older than me hovers over me, her hand running over my arm.

‘Ren? Oh Goddess do you know how worried we’ve been?’ she huffs.

‘It’s taken both of us to stop her living here’ a gruff male voice agrees as I glance around the she wolf at the bulk of a man behind her.

‘Sorry, do I know you?’ I ask, glancing over at my mother worriedly.

‘Ren?’ the woman questions, her face paling, ‘it’s me, Jamie-Lee, your sister, and this is Caden, my Mate, your Alpha.’

I frown, my gaze moving from one to the other in confusion, ‘I don’t remember you’ I whisper, my gaze moving to my mother again worriedly, ‘I don’t remember them mum, why can’t I remember them?’

My mother hurries toward me, brushing her hand over my hair as she shushes me, ‘it’s OK, the doctor said there might be others you can’t remember’ she comforts me. ‘Just don’t try to force it OK? That’s the most important thing, your memories will come back, you just have to be patient.’

Beside me, the woman who claims to be my sister looks back at her Mate worriedly as he steps forward and takes my hand.

My wolf immediately reacts, ‘Alpha!’ she growls weakly.

‘Are you sure?’ I ask her, not having any clue who the man is, but I can feel his power radiating off him.

‘Definitely’ she replies firmly, ‘must submit to Alpha’ she adds as she forces me to mare my neck as I whimper loudly, pain flowing through me.

‘What are you doing? Why is she in pain?’ the woman asks frantically as the man releases me.

‘Her wolf recognises mine even if Lauren doesn’t recognise me’ the Alpha replies, Caden, I think my sister said? ‘I wanted to see if her wolf had the same problem. I don’t know if Laila remembers Cobalt but she definitely knows that he is her Alpha, she forced Lauren to submit when I released my Aura.’

‘Well don’t do that again! She’s hurt! You a*s!’ my sister growls, swatting at the man who doesn’t seem at all phased that a tiny she wolf is slapping him. Surely he should be making her submit? As the Alpha, no one should disrespect him.

‘Sister wolf also strong’ Laila murmurs tiredly, ‘can feel her.’

I just accept my wolf’s words as the effort of being forced to submit has worn me out to exhaustion.

As my eyes start to droop, the door opens again and anther warrior steps in, dressed in shorts and a tshirt. He smells of the outside so I assume that he was probably on patrol.This text is property of Nô/velD/rama.Org.

He k****s my sister and her Mate before heading toward me and smiling down affectionately.

‘Hey Pup, how are you doing?’ he grumbles as I chuckle weakly at his nickname.

‘I’m OK, just really tired, were you on patrol Hadley?’ I mumble.

Everyone around us goes silent, and I force my eyes open to find everyone standing at me and my brother in law.

‘You remember Hadley?’ my sister asks me.

I nod, ‘of course, he’s Mated to my sister’ I reply, ‘I’ve known him since he was born.’

My own words register as I turn back to Hadley who is looking at all of us perplexed.

‘I remember you!’ I say excitedly, grabbing at his hand that is inches from my own, ‘I remember you, you are my brother in law! I know who you are.’

I want to cry, finally someone I know other than my parents.

‘Well I’d hope you remember me’ Hadley chuckles, ‘I’m like your favourite brother in law.’

The Alpha, Caden snorts loudly, ‘please’ he grumbles, ‘I’m everyone’s favourite.’

‘So why are we so excited that Lauren knows my name?’ Hadley asks, waiting for someone to explain.

Jamie-Lee steps forward, placing her hand on top of mine and her Mate’s, ‘Lauren doesn’t remember me or Caden, we don’t know how many others she doesn’t remember, but she remembers you.’

‘She doesn’t remember Tyler either’ my mother mutters quietly, this news seeming to surprise the warrior even more than me not remembering my own sister.

The five people around me continue to talk but I’m incapable of keeping up with what they are saying, the buzzing pain in my head is building again and I just want everyone to be quiet so I can make it stop.

After what feels like forever, the door opens and the nurse who has been looking after me steps inside, informing everyone that they need to let me rest.

My mum and dad both fuss around me, mum plumping my pillow as dad makes sure that my cup of water is filled and within reach before they each place a k**s on my head and leave the room.

Next my sister flattens my blankets, smoothing her hand over the heavy blue covering as she watches me out of the corner of her eye.

‘I’m not going to break’ I finally sigh, making the woman look at me, ‘I’m sorry I don’t remember you.’

Jamie-Lee smiles sadly, ‘you’ll remember me soon’ she replies, ‘I’m your favourite sister, you can’t forget about me that easily.’

‘And I’m your favourite brother no matter what that one says’ Caden growls, patting my hand before grabbing Jamie-lee’s hand in his own and tugging her away.

Finally Hadley is the only one left with me, smiling down at me as I soak in the calm from knowing who he is, the lone beacon of hope that I’m not completely losing my mind.

‘You get better soon kiddo, you hear me?’ he grumbles, ‘I have a new throw I want to show you, I think you’ll take Tyler by surprise with it, I haven’t taught it to anyone yet.’

I nod, ‘I’ll be up before you know it’ I mumble, my eyes already closing now that the sound of everyone’s voices is absent.

‘Yeah,, I know kid, you are stronger than nearly everyone I know’ he replies. ‘Get some sleep and I’ll pop in to see you tomorrow, if you are feeling up to it, maybe I’ll bring Hailee in to see you.’

My eyes open at the name and I frown as a brown haired girl swims in my mind. ‘My niece’ I murmur, ‘Hailee is my niece, your daughter?’

Hadley grins as he pats my shoulder ‘see’ he teases, ‘you’re already on the mend, I’ll bring her in tomorrow afternoon, she’s the quietest out of the rabble, so won’t cause your headaches to get worse.’

Giving me a wave, he walks out of the room, leaving me to my own thoughts, rabble? He has more than one kid? How many nieces and nephews do I have?

Try as I might, I can’t bring any other names or faces to mind and the pain of trying soon has me giving up. Closing my eyes I sigh in defeat, the memories will come, I just have to be patient, only problem is patience doesn’t seem to be something I’m good at.