The Head Warrior's Special Boy

New Best Friend

Xavier's POV
Upon arriving at Emily's hut, she was already standing outside with her brother as commanded by Alpha Lucas. "Alpha Lucas told me I should be expecting a new guest. Rory?" She smiled kindly.

Rory turned towards me unsurely so I gave him a gentle nudge from behind. Shuffling forward, he reached out to shake Emily's hand. "I-I'm R-Rory. N-nice to m-meet y-you." He stuttered.

With that, I began to slowly make my way towards the training grounds. I caught Rory staring at me longingly from my peripheral vision before I forced myself to trudge towards the warriors' huts.

Rory's POV
I didn't want Wolfie to leave but Emily explained to me that he had to tend to his duties as the pack guard wolf. He was required to train all the new recruits and scout reserves as well as daily border patrol. On top of that, he was the Alpha's private body guard and the clan's main warrior. It was safe to say his life was always the first to be put on the line in times of danger.

"It seems Xav's taken a liking to you Rory, care to share how you guys met?" She winked playfully. "X-Xav?" I asked confusedly. Emily frowned. "Xavier.. the wolf that carried you here." She explained.

I blinked in confusion, "I-I n-nick-n-named h-him W-Wolfie, I d-didn't k-know h-his n-name w-was X-Xavier." I rubbed my neck shyly. "B-but u-um, e-ever s-since I r-ran a-away f-from my o-old c-clan, u-um h-he's b-been l-looking a-after m-me." I stuttered.

Emily wiggled her eyebrows playfully. "Xavier caring for a stranger - never heard of that one before!! You'd do a lone wolf like him some good though." She said petting me on the shoulder. "Oh also, this is my brother Mathias." She pointed at the large male sauntering into the room.

He smiled kindly and outstretched his hand. I hesitantly grabbed it and gave it a quick gentle shake but he seemed reluctant to release it. "It's nice to meet you Rory, I hope you feel welcomed here." He smiled warmly again before finally releasing my hand.

Moving into their hut, Emily lead me to the living room and made sure I was seated properly. "You probably don't know very much about our clan at the moment so I'll give you a quick brief and you can ask me anything you're curious about." She smiled playfully.

I nodded my head in agreement and waited patiently as Mathias brought soda and snacks. "So, our Alpha is Alpha Lucas Ferlo but you can either adress him as Alpha Lucas or simply as Alpha. His Beta is my brother Mathias and his personal body guard is Xavier, as you know."

Before she could go on, I decided to quickly ask her about mates since it was something I had overheard in Lucas' conversation with Xavier this morning but never got to ask about. "Wait, you don't know what a mate is?" Emily and Mathias peered at me with sympathy. "My old clan didn't really think I'd end up with one so they never really explained much to me." I elaborated.

Mathias placed a hand on my shoulder in sympathy causing me to tense as I trembled slightly. "It means something different in every clan. Here, we court the people we're interested in until they agree or we just move on to courting someone else but there are a few rules involved." Mathias explained kindly.

Subtly shaking his hand from my shoulder, I turned to the both of them. "Would you mind explaining the rules to me?" I asked shyly. They both agreed happily.

"So a courting is started when a dominant presents a hand-made bracelet to the submissive they want to court, the whole courting process generally lasts 4 weeks and then the pursuer will receive either a yes or a no as an answer."

"If the answer is yes, the couple will go on to mate at the next full moon unless a heat or rut presents itself before then. If the answer is no, the bracelet is handed back to the pursuer for them to hand to another submissive but the dominant can also try again after the next full moon if they so wish."

"If the person who is being courted is unsure of whether their answer is a yes or no, the pursuer can choose to either give up or re-instate the courtship for another 4 weeks. If they choose to give up, they can only reinstate the courtship after the next full moon."

"At no point in time during the 4 weeks of a courting ritual are any sexual relations allowed to occur. This is just in case either party decides to default at the last minute, then both parties can remain pure for their intended mates." Mathias explained it all slowly.

I nodded my head slowly. "Okay, I t-think I g-got it." I managed to say. To add to my confusion, Emily started talking about challenges for the potential mates of others.

"We also have a challenge system for mates. If a submissive is already being courted by a dominant, then the only way another dominant can court that submissive is by challenging the existing pursuer."

"There are two types of challenges that can be issued. A court-war or a combat-war. A court-war lasts for 4 weeks and the submissive decides on the rightful mate at the end. If the submissive doesn't take a liking to either, then either dominant has the chance to re-court after the next full moon if they want to try again and the submissive is still available."

"For a combat-war, it's a lot more aggressive and the outcome is decided then and there. The dominants are each soaked in the scent of the submissive to provoke the other. The dominants can either fight in their human forms and be provided with armour and weapons or in their wolf form with no aid provided whatsoever."

"The winner will have the right to court the submissive and the rest goes on. Oh also, the losing dominant can issue another combat-war challenge again after the next full moon if the submissive is still not mated by then." Emily said.

"Lastly, combat-wars take precedence over court-wars. If a dominant wins a court-war but declines or loses a combat war, the dominant will lose the submissive."