The Unmated Love

[Jonathan’s POV] Judging by the gradually increasing volume of male voices and the thickening smell of alcohol, the alpha meeting was going well. Every year, the alphas of all the packs in the country had a meeting to solidify the alliance between them. It wasn’t a very political assemble though… Sure, they had a few hours of real discussions a day, but every night during the weekend was pretty much spent partying. Except for the few maids belonging to the hosting pack, only alphas, betas and gammas were allowed. As the only ranked female in the entire country, this meant that Leyla was the only female attending the actual meeting. For this reason, she didn’t drink. She needed her wits and full strength about her, in case any of the neighboring alphas decided to make a move on her.  As a beta, she didn’t have a problem fighting off betas and gammas. The alphas, however, did impose a threat. I had even warned her about some of them, earlier in the day. For the same reason, I restrained myself from drinking too much. I had to be ready, if anyone overstepped. I, Leyla and our gamma, Benjamin, were slumped down into the very soft cushions of the black couch positioned in front of the fireplace, in the room next to the party. After a long night of partying, we were all utterly exhausted, but we weren’t quite ready to go to bed yet. Except for Benjamin, who was snoring loudly to my left, leaning his head back into the couch, the inside of his mouth on full display. The volume of Ben’s snores was kind of impressive, but he was also utterly wasted, compared to Leyla and me, who were just sober and tipsy, respectively. We had been silent for a few moments, just staring into the fireplace, as we drank our alcoholic and non-alcoholic beer, enjoying a few moments of silence between us, after a long day of discussions and loud voices exhausting our minds. I was buried in my thoughts, worrying about Leyla. She was a strong beta, no doubt about that. The strongest in the entire country, which was no small feat in a country like Luminar. However, the majority of the packs were old school, refusing to follow the social development, because “that’s how it’s always been”.  So, they kept the old traditions going; teaching the females self-defense only, allowing no females to join the warrior’s training, let alone being ranked.  As a young alpha raised in a different time by parents with kinder hearts, I didn’t discriminate between sexes, but not all took kindly to Leyla being ranked and even a beta at that. Furthermore, and probably the biggest reason for my worries: Leyla was beautiful. Her waist-long chocolate brown hair framed her face like the picture, it was. Her deep green eyes made you catch your breath, and her lovely plumb lips could form an incredible smile.  Her slim and toned body formed a slight hourglass, being proof of her hard work at pack training. I leaned my head back into the couch, drawing my fingers through my hair. God, I needed to get these thoughts out of my head. I was the alpha of the strongest pack in the country, and she was my beta. I couldn’t think of her like that. Apart from that, I had a mate waiting for me somewhere, and so did she. No matter what, she was an eyecatcher, which made her prey to the ranked males attending the yearly meeting, who thought of she-wolves as mere toys for pleasure.   “You should lock your room tonight,” I finally said out loud. Her face scrunched, and her eyebrows furrowed.  “Is that really necessary?” I sighed and leaned forward, resting my elbows on my thighs. “I am afraid so. You are the first female to receive a rank. Our pack knows your strength and skills, but some packs don’t think highly of female wolves. Some of them are very much against female wolves having a rank at all.” She crossed her arms and huffed in annoyance. “Oh, that’s right. I forgot. Females are just around for males to fuck.” Her voice revealed her displeasure with the situation. She was determined to be independent and to stand up for herself, never backing down from a challenge and by principle, never to change anything because of males. My lips twitched in response. She never changed, and I wouldn’t want her to. “Just be careful, will you? Benjamin will be in the room next to yours, but I don’t think, he’s worth much, if anything should happen.”  She snorted out loud, a little pissed about the situation. “I can handle myself.”    I sighed. Honestly, I loved her independence and stubbornness, but I also knew that she wouldn’t stand a chance against some of the present alphas. We were alphas for a reason, and our alpha blood made us significantly more powerful, than any other lower ranked wolf. I had seen more than one of these particular alphas look at her, as if she was a piece of meat that they wanted to devour.  “Just promise me that you will take care and call me, if you need me.” Leyla was silent for quite a few seconds, before she sighed loudly and slumped her head back into the sofa. “All right! I promise.” I smiled, slightly less worried, before I rose from the couch and stretched. It was time for my nightly run.  “I’ll go for my nightly run, before I go to bed. Will you take Benjamin to his room?” Leyla glanced at Benjamin, who was drooling down his shirt, before she rolled her eyes. “You’re so demanding!” she exclaimed, though her face lit up with a grin. I just laughed, before I walked out of the room and through the party, glancing around the room to see, who was still up and going. I was relieved that most of the alphas had already went to bed.  As I continued to and out the front door, I removed my clothes and shifted into my wolf form. I ran straight into the woods, lounging forward in a sprint, stretching my muscles and enjoying the simple mindset of a wolf.     [Leyla’s POV] I got off the couch and stood in front of Ben. I smirked, as I took my phone out of my pocket to snap a picture of him. It had become some sort of a tradition to take a picture of him, every time he passed out, which was a lot. He was a weak ass drinker. Every party they went to, he drank too much for him to handle and ended up snoring and drooling in weird positions and places. I had made it my task to capture all of these beautiful moments on camera, which me and Jonathan had a huge laugh about. Benjamin was less excited about it, though he didn’t hate it enough to avoid it. I put my phone back in my pocket, before I pulled one of his arms above my shoulders, lifting him up and leaning his weight against me.  “Come on, big guy. You need to go to bed,” I said with a strain in my voice. Was he always this heavy? Benjamin mumbled something in-comprehensible. At the very least, he tried to use his feet, but it wasn’t really a success. We still managed to leave the party behind, walk into the hallway and enter Ben’s room. When we reached the bed, I let go of his heavy body, and he literally fell on to the bed. I took off his shoes and threw them on the floor, right next to the bed, before I stretched my back. I watched him with a warm smile on my face. Ben was a good guy. Tall, muscular and heavy. His resting b***h face made him look extremely intimidating, but he was proof of the big bear type of guy. He was like a brother to me. Ben’s mother had taken me in, after my parents died in the Great War, 11 years ago. Ben and she were the closest thing to me having a family, and I would be forever grateful to the both of them. I ruffled up his blond hair, before I left the room, closing the door behind me. I turned down the hallway, walking towards my room, which was just to the right of Ben’s. Only two steps further towards my room, I felt a strong aura behind me. I sniffed, recognizing the scent immediately, and turned around in a flash. Right in front of me, too close for comfort, was one of the alphas. I could’ve sworn, that he had gone back to his chambers long before, but apparently that wasn’t the case. He was definitely still drunk. I could smell the alcohol on his breath. That’s how close he was. He had a wicked smirk plastered on his face, and his dark eyes revealed his drunk lust and hunger. “Alpha Kane.” I greeted him with a dry voice. Doing my best to sound and appear bored, and unaffected by his sudden appearance, and creepy expression. Kane slowly tilted his head to the side, not saying a single word, but his eyes lit up with curiosity and excitement. I stared at him, refusing to back down, even though my body begged me to increase the distance between us. With his right hand, he gently brushed a lock of hair behind my ear. My body tensed up and adrenaline flooded my brain, but before I could react to his touch, he slammed me up against the wall with a hand on my throat, with so much speed and force that the back of my head greeted the wall with a bang.   For a moment, I saw nothing but stars, but I could still feel his hand resting on my chest, just above my breasts, as he buried his nose in my hair. He took a deep breath, obviously taking in my scent. It made me sick.   “I wouldn’t do that, if I were you.” I said, keeping my voice steady, though I could feel my body shake with adrenaline. He didn’t retreat. I could hear him huff in amusement right next to my ear. “No? And what would happen, if I did?” You could hear the superiority in his voice. He knew, he was stronger than me. He certainly didn’t fear, let alone respect me. As he answered, he gently caressed my left cheek. Apart from that, he didn’t move. I took a deep breath, trying to calm and steady myself. I was both burning with fury and fear of his actions, but I wouldn’t let him get to me. “I will make it a living nightmare.” I said, starring straight ahead, not reacting to his touch. A deep chuckle vibrated through his chest, as he drew back his head. He looked at me, and I met his stare head on. “You know… I like my females feisty.” His eyes went dark with lust, and he licked his lips. In a quick move, he grabbed my arms and held them above my head with only one of his hands. He pushed his lips against mine, pressing the back of my head against the wall, making it difficult to turn away from him. With his other hand, he cupped my breast, roughly massaging it, before his hand continued down to the hem of my pants. I could feel the bulge in his pants, as he grew hard from the touch alone. I had to act now. So, I bit down hard on his lip, tasting blood, and kicked my knee into his erection, making him growl in pain and annoyance. He let go of my arms and stumbled back a few steps. The alpha seemed to sober up with that. His lustful eyes were now full of anger, and I could feel my hackles rising in response. With a sinister sneer, he threatened me. “If you ever try that again. I will kill you on the spot. Your alpha may have made you his beta, but it doesn’t change the fact that you are nothing more than a female. You need to learn your place.” Suddenly, he was close to me again, grabbing my throat with his right hand, squeezing so hard I couldn’t breathe. My back was pushed against the cold wall behind me, and he stood too close for me to use my legs. In no time, I once again began seeing stars. Suddenly, a loud growl interrupted and caught Alpha Kane’s attention.