The Unmated Love

CHAPTER 12

Leyla and Jon were both woken up by a terrible scream. It took a second for them to realize, what they had just heard, but both of them got up instantly, running towards the window, as the scream had come from the back yard.

A horrible sight met them. A dead body was spread across the lawn. Just like all the other ones, though Jon and Leyla hadn’t seen them with their own eyes, the man had been flayed and ripped to pieces.

Leyla felt the color drain from her face, as she realized, who was the culprit behind that, and how close they had been to their home – their safe place, which didn’t feel much safe anymore. She felt sick.

Jon noticed Leyla’s pale face and terrified eyes. He pulled her into his arms, hugging her protectively. “It’s okay. Ben and I are going to handle it. You stay in here, keep yourself warm and rest your body.”

Leyla pushed herself out of his embrace and went for the door. “Hell no. Just because I was injured in a fight, doesn’t mean you can just keep me in here for the rest of my life. I’m fine. I’m healed. I’m going down there.”

Jon scowled at her. God damnit. Why would she never just listen? He hurried after her, following her all the way to the backyard, where a small crowd had gathered. The crowd consisted of Zack, Batch, Ben and the female wolf, who had found the body. She was sobbing uncontrollably, while Ben was holding her, trying to soothe her.

Zack heard their footsteps and turned to them with a grave look on his face. His gaze fell to Leyla.

“We have a problem…” He handed out a note, which Leyla grabbed. Jon read the note above her shoulder.

My darling. You should come home, where you belong. If you don’t, the number of dead bodies will double each day. I’m waiting for you.

-          Caleb

Leyla started shaking, her face as pale as ever, and her eyes full of pure terror. Jon pulled her back against his chest, wrapping his arms around her, holding her close. A low grumble escaped his chest, as his mind went blank with rage.

“That’s not gonna happen,” he said, his voice dripping with authority and protectiveness of Leyla. He stared down the others, challenging them to stand up against him, but none of them said a word.

Leyla’s entire body was still shaking uncontrollably. She was obviously in shock, and Jon gently guided her back towards the house, up the stairs and back into her room. He tucked her into the bed and pulled up the duvet, making sure it covered her entire body, as she was still shaking. He stood by the bed, studying her, before he lay down behind her. Pulling her into an embrace, practically spooning her. A few moments later, Leyla suddenly erupted into full on sobs, and Jon hugged her tight. What felt like an eternity later, Leyla fell asleep. Exhausted by the events of the day, and the toll it took on her body.

When he was sure that Leyla was sound asleep, Jon carefully left the bed to join Zack, Batch and Ben downstairs. They had to discuss this.

As he entered the office, the others were already in a heated discussion. Ben’s face was red with anger, when he turned towards Jon to fill him in.

“These two asshats want to give Leyla up,” he said, his voice loud with anger and frustration.

Jon could feel the heat of his anger spread through his body at his words. “Is this true?” his low voice sounded venomous.

Zack sighed. “No, Jon. That’s not decided, but we have to consider the number of lives, we might lose to protect just one.”

A growl erupted from Jon’s chest, but this time he didn’t try to contain it. His entire body shook with the vibrations and his muscled popped, as he flexed, ready for a fight.

Zack responded with narrowed eyes and a twitching lip, as he growled just as loud.

Batch’s eyes went wide, and he put up both of his hands, one for each alpha. “Hey now! Calm down.” None of the alpha’s backed down immediately. Zack was the first to calm himself, but Jon had difficulty controlling his rage. It was his girl, they were talking about giving up to the enemy. How could he relax?

“It’s not going to happen,” Jon said, gritting his teeth. Ben was standing next to him, nodding in agreement.

Zack snorted. “That’s easy for you to say. It’s my men, who ends up flayed and parted to protect your beta.”

Jon moved his fingers, wanting to strangle someone, but Ben decided that it would be better not to engage a fight, and stepped in front of him, facing Zack and Batch.

“I think, we all need to think this through. Would you give in to the enemy, if you were in our shoes?” Ben said, hazing at both Zack and Batch with his hands on his hips and a stern look on his face.

Zack and Batch both averted their eyes. They didn’t know, how to answer that. They didn’t even know the answer themselves. Or at least – Zack didn’t. Batch knew that he would never give up his mate. Not in a million years.

Jon sighed, finally getting some control over his body. His alpha instincts were messing with him these days. He had never felt so much out of control, though sometimes he wasn’t sure, he wanted to control himself.

Ben huffed, as he crossed his arms. “Good. So… Let’s all calm down and meet up when we’ve thought this through.”

He and Jon left the room, leaving Zack and Batch behind in the office.

“How is she?” Ben asked Jon with a low voice full of concern.

Jon sighed deeply. “She’s asleep now, but she’s afraid, of course.”

Ben nodded. “Would be weird, if she wasn’t.”

They both kept on in silence. There wasn’t much for them to talk about. They were not giving up Leyla, no matter the cost. If Zack and Batch disagreed, they would just have to find Caleb and his pack, so they could kill him, before he killed too many of Zack’s men.

_-..-_

Leyla woke up with a hardcore headache. Her entire face was swollen from crying herself to sleep. She stood up and went to get a glass of water in an attempt to ease her nausea.

Caleb’s actions still made her body shiver in horror. How far would he go? Would he really make a reality of his threat? She shook her head in disbelief of her naïve heart. It was Caleb. Of course, he would. He practically demonstrated, how serious he was about it, when he left a body with the note.

As the days went by, new bodies were found every day and each day the number doubled. It was horrible, and the guilt began to eat Leyla up from the inside. She felt her body growing weaker with each passing day. Jon and Ben kept reminding her that they wouldn’t let him take her. That it didn’t matter, why he killed all these men, they would never give into such a monster.

Zack and Batch on the other hand went increasingly silent with each day passing by. They all wanted to find Caleb and his pack to avoid too many losses, but Jon had refused to let Leyla scout out the camp for them. He wouldn’t let her anywhere near Caleb. Without her, they didn’t find a thing though.

One day, when the guilt just became too much, Leyla found Zack and Batch by herself. The guys looked at her with surprise, when she entered the room and closed the door behind her. Zack looked at her with narrowed eyes.

“Does Jon know that you’re here?”

Leyla snorted with annoyance. “For real? I’m a grown ass woman. He doesn’t have to know my every move.”

Zack couldn’t help but smile a little. He was secretly relieved to see her in such spirits, the situation taken into account. He had seen her walking around the house, consumed by her thoughts and obviously feeling very guilty about the situation. He had also watched, as her health diminished. However, he hadn’t talked to her, since Jon was being very aggressive about them talking to her about it. But here she was.

Batch’s voice was gentle, when he spoke to Leyla. “Can we help you, Leyla?”

Leyla nodded, her eyes glinting with determination, as she straightened her back. “I want to help you sniff out Caleb. Whether Jon wants me to or not.”

Zack’s face lit up in a smirk. He had kind of anticipated this. Either she would volunteer to search the enemy camp out, without Jon’s knowledge, or she was going to sneak out in the middle of the night, giving herself up to Caleb. He was just glad that she decided for the former option.

Batch smiled at her, still very gentle. He didn’t want her to do anything that she would regret. That she hadn’t thought through.

“Are you sure, Leyla? Both Jon and Ben are gonna be pissed.”

Leyla scowled at Batch. “I don’t really care. I’ve thought about this a lot, Batch. I can’t just stay here like a good girl, when so many men are being killed each day. It has only been four days, since they left the note, and 15 men have already died for me. Tomorrow that number will more than double. I have to do something.”

Her voice became increasingly frustrated and desperate. Zack felt the same despair regarding the situation. He gave her a stern nod. “All right. We will gather the entire search team and the rest of our warriors. We move our tonight, just after dark.”

Batch looked to Zack. “What about Ben and Jon?”

Zack smirked. “Let me handle them.”

Leyla felt her body relax a little. Sure, she was now worried about the upcoming battle, but she could handle that feeling. The guilt was much more difficult for her. Now she just had to stay away from Jon and Ben for the rest of the day, or she would most definitely reveal everything to them.

_-..-_

Somehow, Leyla managed to keep her distance to both Jon and Ben. She had been busy, writing a letter to each of the boys, in case she didn’t make it back home. She trusted Zack to keep the both of them at bay, though she wondered, how he was going to manage that.

When the time came, she met up with Zack and Batch, just outside the front door of the house. She looked to Zack. “Did you take care of my two boys?”

Zack smirked heavily, before he nodded. “I got that covered.”

Leyla just nodded. She didn’t need to know why, and right now her thoughts were somewhere else.

Zack went to the car and opened up the door for her. “Shall we get going?”

Leyla smiled, before she took a seat in the back of the car. Zack and Batch in the front. She looked back at the house, while Zack drove the car out of the driveway. At least, she knew that both Jon and Ben were going to be safe.

When they arrived at the camp, Jonas was ready to greet them.  The entire search team was ready for takeoff, and so was the rest of Zack’s warriors. Zack nodded in approvement, when he saw the team ready for combat.

“Well done Jonas. Is everything ready?”

Jonas stood up straight with a cocky smirk. “Everything’s ready, Zack. We’re just waiting for you guys.”

Leyla smiled. She had come to like Jonas. He was a great guy. Very disciplined.

Zack looked down at Leyla. “We’re ready, when you are.”

Leyla nodded once, before she took off her clothes and shifted.

As all four of her paws hit the ground, she inhaled deeply. The magical effect of being a wolf hit her – everything seemed simpler, and she felt much lighter, though she still felt sick and weak, which confused her. Zack and the rest of his pack shifted too, as all of their senses were sharpened, and their walk much lighter, when in wolf form.

Leyla took the front, as she was the only one, who could lead them to Caleb. She trotted along, following the pull in her chest. When she neared the clearing, in which the fight had taken place, the memories came flushing, but she focused on her assignment, pushing the memories away.

Hours into the search, when the pull increased significantly, she stopped dead in her tracks, gazing towards Zack and Batch. Since she wasn’t a part of their pack, she couldn’t mind link them, so she had to convey the message otherwise.

They seemed to understand, what she was trying to say. They mind-linked their pack to take a break, before they trotted to Leyla. All three of them shifted in order to talk to each other. None of them bothered by the fact that they were naked.

“Is he close by?” Batch asked her.

Leyla shook her head. “I’m not sure. I just felt the pull increase.”

Batch nodded. “Okay. He’s not that far off then. We should take a breather, before we move onwards.” Zack nodded in agreement.

Batch glanced towards Leyla. “Leyla, you should go back to the spot right before, you could feel the pull increase in your chest, and then go a little bit longer. Remember, if you feel the pull strengthen, so does he. No need to draw him right to us.”

Leyla nodded, before she once again shifted into her wolf form. At this time of night, it was just too cold to stand there without clothes.

Zack put a steadying hand on her back. “I’ll come for you, when it’s time to move forward.”

Leyla huffed to make him know that she understood, before she went back. She walked right beside the column of the pack. Every one of them stared at her. They all knew by now that she was mated to Caleb. Some of them looked insecure, some almost fearful, which made her stomach turn in discomfort. They hadn’t looked at her with anything but respect, back when they were still searching. Now… She shrugged it off. It was no use thinking about it.

She went past the point, where the pull in her chest strengthened and immediately felt even worse. However, she kept going and finally found a spot to lie down. She lay down on her stomach, resting her head on her front legs, staring into the woods.

 _-..-_

Caleb bolted upright in his worn-out throne, by regards of his late father, as he felt the pull in his chest strengthen. His face turned into one huge grin.

She’s coming.

He looked around, admiring his pack, as they all sat around tables, feasting on a grand meal, which he had hoisted in the event of his birthday. This year, he was going to receive the greatest gift of all. His mate.

“Jocky!” he yelled, by which a wolf sitting at the table to his right turned his head in attention. When he realized, it was Caleb who was addressing him, he hurried up to him.

Caleb smiled at him. “You and the rest of the guys, who was with me, when we encountered my mate, must form a team and go search for her. She’s westward of here.”

The werewolf called Jocky turned into a huge grin. This was going to be fun.

“If someone’s with her, make sure they don’t follow. Use the shaman if need be. Oh, and you should bring a silver collar and a chain, or you might lose her.” Caleb said with a wink and a proud smirk, while he slammed Jocky’s back in a cheerful manner.

Jocky was still grinning from ear to ear. “’Aight sir. We’ll bring you your lady.”

Just before Jocky left, Caleb grabbed his collar and pulled him close enough for them to stand chest to chest. “If any of you touch her or harm her in any way. I will kill you. You got that?” The menace in Caleb’s eyes were impossible to overlook. Jocky gulped, before he very enthusiastically nodded in agreement.

Caleb’s face once again turned bright with a huge smile on his face, and he let go of Jocky’s collar, which made him stumble to the ground. He hurried along to complete the task thrust upon him.

Caleb sat back down with a wine glass in his hand, slowly turning it, making the wine swoop around the edges of the wineglass.  A creepy smile appeared on his lips. Now, he just had to wait.