The Unmated Love

CHAPTER 9

The next day, Ben and Jon were ready to see her off – or as ready, as they would ever be. Leyla had picked two of the guys to join her on the trip to the south. They had been told to stay at her side at all times. To protect their beta with their life. One of them sat in the passenger seat, the other in the back.

Ben grabbed Leyla in a big bear hug, almost crushing her in his arms and lifting her off the ground. “Take care, sis. Don’t fight, just run.”

Leyla hugged him back and laughed at his words. “I will be careful.”

Jon was next. Her lips curled op in a soft loving smile, as she walked into his arms. He held her tight, burrowed his nose in her hair and took in her scent.

“I’m on Ben’s side here,” he whispered in her ear. “Take care of yourself, love. Don’t hesitate to call us, if you find yourself in a spot.”

She inhaled his scent, before she pulled back, so she could see his face, but not enough to break the embrace just yet. “I promise,” she said. She cupped his face and rose to her toes to plant a gentle kiss on his lips. Jon closed his eyes, resting his hands just above her hips, as he moved his lips in sync with hers.

She broke off the contact, gave both him and Ben a huge smile, before she turned towards the car with an “Adios.” She got into the front seat of the car, started the engine and drove off without glancing back.

When the car disappeared in the distance, Jon and Ben turned back towards the packhouse.

“You two are kinda gross,” Ben said, as he mockingly pretended to gag.

Jon hit the back of his head, which made both of them laugh.  

_-..-_

Three days later, Leyla and the two warriors arrived at the official mansion of alpha Zack’s pack. When they stepped out of the car, Zack and his beta came out to greet them.

“We are happy to see you. We really need your help,” Zack said, as he grabbed Leyla into a hug. She returned the embrace, before she stepped back to watch Zack’s face.

“What’s the situation?”

Zack’s gaze averted to the pack members around them. “Let’s go inside. I’ll give you a briefing in my office.”

Leyla followed Zack and his beta, Batch, into the mansion, continuing until they reached Zack’s office. The desk was covered in papers and maps of Zack’s and the neighboring pack’s territories, as well as a map of the country, Alleria, just south of their own.

Zack and Batch gave her a briefing of the current situation.

“We have made zero contact with the enemy pack, and we haven’t discovered any lead to guide us towards their location. We have thoroughly searched the southern part of all the territories in this area,” he said, as he circled the entire southern area, which bordered to Alleria. “So… Their pack has to be located somewhere in Alleria. Probably in the Northern part.”

Leyla nodded in agreement. They had searched a huge area already, and the fact that they hadn’t found any clues, were quite worrisome.

“Have you contacted the packs in Alleria?” she asked.

“We have, and we have gotten permission to enter their territory to search for Caleb. As long as we don’t search their towns.” Batch replied. “We have set up camps at the border. Everyone leaves at first light and has to return, before it turns dark. Unless, of course, a clue has been found, in which case they have to report back immediately.”

“Who’s in charge?” Leyla asked.

This time, Zack answered her. “My gamma, Jonas, is in charge at the camp. He reports to us every night. You and Jonas will be in charge of the camp, though we hope that you will join in on the search in the field.”

Leyla nodded once more. She had heard enough. She was ready to leave.

“Ok. I think, I’ve got all that I need for now. We should leave for the camp.”

Zack and Batch both nodded in agreement.

“We’ll escort you to the camp. It’s about time, we made a visit anyway.” Zack said.

A few moments later, they were back in their cars, on their way to the camp at the border to Alleria. The drive took a few hours, but they managed to arrive a few hours before sunset.

As they just completed the search in their country, the search team had a day off, before the search continued in Alleria the next day. The camp was full of life, though the exhaustion was evident on their faces. They had searched relentlessly for weeks, which was starting to take a toll on them. The visit of an alpha and two betas however seemed to make them straighten up.

Zack made sure to mingle with his men, to thank them for their hard work and to hear, what they had to say, if they had any ideas on how to improve the search.

Leyla and Batch went straight to Jonas’ tent, which was the center of the search camp.

“Oh God, Leyla, it’s so nice to see you!” Jonas exclaimed, as he saw her. Jonas too was obviously exhausted. He didn’t go into the field, as he needed to stay in the camp, in the event of any accidents or encounters with the enemy. “We could really need some help from an expert.”

Leyla smiled at his compliment. It sure was a nice welcome. “It’s nice to see you too, Jonas. I hear, you’ve been working hard.”

Jonas sighed, as he pushed back his hair with his hand. “With no results to show, unfortunately.”

“Well… It’s to be expected with an enemy like Caleb.” She added with an encouraging smile, which Jonas returned gratefully.

“I’ll mingle with the team tonight. Tomorrow, I will join the search.”

Jonas nodded and followed Leyla and Batch outside. They found Zack, talking to a group of Leyla’s pack members, who erupted in cheers, when they saw Leyla.

“Ey, Leyla! It’s about time you join the search.” They teased, which made Leyla raise an eyebrow, but she was secretly happy to see them in such high spirits.

“Well, I hoped you guys had found something by now, but I should’ve known that you guys were useless in a search team.”

The guys erupted in laughter at her sassy remark. They had always liked a bit of banter. Leyla allowed it and even joined in herself, as long as they didn’t step over the line, in which case, she would make it perfectly clear, who they were talking to.

Zack chuckled, as he rose to his feed. “We should get back to the pack, Batch.” He turned towards Leyla with a hopeful glint in his eyes. “I thank you once again, Leyla.”

She nodded once with a smile on her lips, but she began to feel the weight of their hope and expectations on her shoulders. She knew, she was a good tracker, but success wasn’t guaranteed with skills alone.

She saw Zack and Batch off, before Jonas showed her and the two warriors where to put up their tents. Afterwards, they ate dinner with another group around the fire, before they went to sleep for the night.

_-..-_

Before the sun rose in the east, Leyla was standing in the official’s tent with Jonas, distributing search areas to each search team respectively. The search teams consisted of 3-5 men each, depending on strength and size of the appointed area.

All search teams stood ready outside the tent, when the first rays of sunlight touched the sky. Before long, every team had been dispatched.

It was time for Leyla’s team to go. She and the two warriors, which escorted her from their pack house, Simon and Mack, shifted into their wolf forms, before they too ran to their appointed area.

The distributed areas were quite large, and it was in no way possible to search the entire area in a matter of hours. Days were necessary, but seven days into their search and nothing had come up on their radar. Absolutely nothing… And it was frustrating as hell.

The search teams had a day off on the 8th day since Leyla’s arrival. She and Jonas, however, had to distribute new areas to each team, which they spent the entire day doing. On the 9th day, all teams were dispatched once again.

From the early rays of sunshine, Leyla, Simon and Mack had been walking around with their noses in the ground, searching for werewolf scents, and their eyes wandering the woods, in the hopes of finding tracks or any other signs of a werewolf running by, i.e. a broken branch, a scratch on the bark of a tree or a killed deer. They had found nothing of such.

Leyla sighed.

Let’s go back.

She used the pack’s mind link to convey the message. Both the guys turned around with her, and they began trotting back towards the camp.

Suddenly, Leyla felt a pull in her chest. She stopped dead in her tracks, which made both the guys tense up in less than a second, their hackles raising on their backs, just like their top lips curled up, revealing their deadly teeth.

What’s wrong?

Leyla was completely silent. Listening and breathing in through her nose, using all her senses, to tune in to any possible threat around them. She didn’t find anything, but the pull was still there.

I’m not sure. Something’s off… Stay with me.

She had always been one to follow her instincts, and this time was no exception. She continued forward, but this time in a slow careful walk, stepping carefully as not to make a sound. All three of them were moving close to the ground with Leyla slightly in front, flanked by Simon and Mack.

She didn’t think, she just followed the pull in her chest.

Suddenly, a grey wolf with a huge scar across its eye, came charging from their right. Leyla didn’t hesitate, she waited for it to come close enough, then stepped aside and snatched it at the neck with her teeth. She crunched down and slammed it into the ground, breaking its neck in an instant.

She heard a howl close by and felt her hackles raise in alarm.

Simon! Go back to camp immediately. We’ll hold them off.

Simon whined for a second, hesitant to leave them behind, but he turned around and dashed off, following his orders. Mack went to her flank and snarled loudly, just as several wolves appeared in front of them.

One of the wolves to her right tried to chase after Simon, but she threw herself at it, dicking her teeth into its flank. It howled in pain, but she planted her feet on the ground and threw it back towards its fellow pack members.

A low warning growl rumbled all the way down from her chest, as she watched the wolves in front of her creep closer to them. One of them made a move, and all hell broke loose, as Leyla met him head on.

The wolf tried to bite at her neck, but she dashed his head away with her front paw, leaving scratches across his cheek. Another wolf came from the opposite side of her, and she turned around to meet it.

As she turned, she caught a glimpse of Mack fighting off his own group of wolves. The odds were against them, as a total of 6 wolves joined the fight against the two of them. Mack howled in pain, as a wolf caught his flank with its teeth, which made Leyla run into one of her attackers like a bulldozer, going straight for the wolf, who had a hold of Mack.

The wolf let go, when she threw herself at it, but not without ripping a chunk of flesh along with it, dealing some serious damage to Mack, whose blood ran down his leg, on which he couldn’t stand. Leyla felt her stomach turn at the sight of it, but there was no time, as one of her attackers took advantage of the distraction and ramped her straight to the ground.

The next few minutes went by in a blur of teeth, fur and claws. Even though Mack and Leyla managed to take down 4 of them, more of the enemy pack appeared. Four had been taken down, but 4 more had joined the fight, by which the total number still counted 6 vs 2.

A huge black wolf with sky-blue eyes, standing close to the fight without joining in, caught Leyla’s attention. He watched the fight with curiosity, ears peeked and eyes flashing with amusement. Just as she was about to throw herself at another wolf to her left, his eyes connected with hers and her entire body froze, as she felt the pull increase in magnitude. Pulling her towards the black wolf.

That second of hesitation proved to be a vital mistake. Suddenly, she was rammed to the ground by several snarling werewolves. She momentarily forgot about the black wolf, as she desperately tried to fight back, but to no avail. She was pinned to the ground by 4 big werewolves. One of which were entirely up in her face with its teeth barred, drool dripping down on her, but a huff from the black wolf made the wolf close its mouth, though it stayed in her face. She lay still, searching for Mack and found him lying on the ground, barely conscious and the blood oozing from his flank and back. Her stomach filled with dread at the sight of him, and she began stirring below the other werewolves, which provoked loud snarls from all four of them.

“Now now, boys… There’s no need to be rude to the fine lady.”

A human voice cut through the air, making everyone’s heads snap towards the source of it, including Leyla’s.

Leyla’s hackles raised and panic spread through her veins, as she recognized the man in front of her. He was the spitting image of his father, Lucifer. There was no doubt about it – it was Caleb. A loud snarl broke through her gritted teeth, but she didn’t move – she couldn’t move.

A huge grin spread across Caleb’s face at the sound of her resistance.

“You’re a feisty one,” he said, still with that amused look on his face, and an excited tone in his voice.

He stared at her with a glint of wonder in his eyes, which made her greatly uncomfortable. Still, she felt that inexplainable pull towards him.

Despite his reputation, he was a handsome looking man. Shiny black hair as dark as coal, messed up at just the right amount. In his human form, his eyes were sky-blue, and his jawline was sharp enough to cut. Just like most werewolf males, he was very muscular built, making him a sight to look upon. He was naked, of course, as he had just shifted back to his human form, and he definitely had no need to be shy about it.

Leyla huffed in defiance but wasn’t sure what to do next. She glanced at Mack, who wasn’t moving.

Mack? … Mack, talk to me.

He didn’t answer, and he didn’t have to. Caleb did that for him, as he followed her gaze towards Mack. “He’s dead, you know.”

Her eyes widened at his words, but she wouldn’t take his words for good. The adrenaline and thought of losing a friend made her body forget how tired and wounded it was. With a loud growl and a strength which surprised even herself, she managed to get out from beneath the four wolves pinning her down and went straight to Mack’s side.

Caleb, who was watching her with growing interest, told his men to stand down. They looked at him curiously, as he wasn’t a man to take mercy on anyone. He watched, as she gently nudged her friend with her nose, but her friend didn’t react at all. He had told her the truth. He was dead.

A moment of silence went by, as she processed the death of her friend. Suddenly, she turned to face Caleb head on. He just tilted his head and smiled. Her attention made his entire body shiver with anticipation, and he could feel the mating bond pull at his insides.

Her eyes flashed red, as she moved towards him, ready to pounce. He didn’t move an inch, and his smile didn’t fade at all, which made Leyla lose the final sliver of control, she had left. She placed all of her weight on her hindlegs and charged straight at him with all her might. Less than a second later, she was lying on her side with his right hand on her neck, pushing her into the ground. He had been too fast for her. She hadn’t even seen him move.

The smile he had worn, as she charged for him, hadn’t left his face. He was still wearing that bemused and wondering look in his eyes. It made her royally pissed, though the pull at her chest had suddenly vanished at his touch.

“Shift,” was all he said, obviously using his alpha voice, as the command made her body tense.

She averted his gaze, swallowing hard. She refused to bow down. She was a beta, a strong beta, which answered to one alpha only.

The otherwise very impatient Caleb surprised his pack members by showing an immense amount of patience with this particular female. His face became a little stern, and he grabbed her lower jaw, pulling up her face, so she had no choice but to meet his stern and commanding gaze.

“Shift,” he said with so much force behind his words that her body trembled at the sheer effort of going against his command. Still, she didn’t shift.

She was saved by the sound of a loud howl from the direction of their camp, which caught the attention of all the present wolves. Caleb didn’t release his grip on her jaw though, and he merely just increased his hold, when she tried to use the diversion to her advantage.

She growled in response, which made his eyes flash with red.

“We’ll have none of that,” he said with a menacing voice, before he let go of her jaw and stepped back. She lay perfectly still. Very much aware that she was still outnumbered, vulnerable, and the uncomfortable pull at her chest was back, making it difficult to run.  

Caleb looked at her with an intense and longing look in his eyes. It confused Leyla. From where Caleb was standing, the confusion was obvious in her eyes. She didn’t understand the force pulling her towards him, that much was clear, but he would make her understand that she was his. However, the howl from her allies hadn’t been far off, and as they were right now, he and his pack members didn’t stand much of a chance. They had to go back to their main forces.

The wolves around them looked to Caleb for orders, and they began tripping nervously, as the silence stretched.

“I’ll come back for you, mate.” He said with a surprisingly gentle voice.

The eyes of all his men widened in disbelief, and all their gazes turned towards Leyla, whose heart had just dropped to the ground in pure terror at the one word that had caught her attention: Mate… The word made her entire body shiver, both in fear but to her great dismay, also with pleasure at the mention of their connection on his lips.

Then, with an effort, Caleb pulled his gaze from Leyla and turned to his men.  “Let’s go back.” he said, just before he shifted into his magnificent black wolf and ran off into the woods with his pack members tailing along.