Healing Hearts

C H A P T E R | 13

"Woah," Marley mumbled, throwing her leg off of Layla's back. She took a couple small steps towards the lake, watching as the water sparkles under the sun's rays.

The sound of bones cracking caused Marley to turn around. Her eyes went wide as she yelped and turn to face the lake once again. Her hands collapsed over her eyes as she quickly apologized.

Layla chuckled, "It's alright, Marley." The doctor quickly pulled her pants over her legs and threw on her shirt before walking over to her flustered mate. She carefully wrapped her arms around her torso, smiling into Marley's hair. "Pretty, huh?"

Marley nodded her head, "Yeah."

The Doctor took a big sniff into Marley's neck, breathing in the scent of heaven before pressing her lips against her mate's flush skin. Her arms tightened around the young she-wolf as Marley jumped in surprise. "Do you want to go swimming?"

"I...I don't have... um... anything to wear."

Layla started to chuckle, her smirked lips pressed against her mate's neck. In a teasing voice, she whispered, "Skinny dipping." She kissed her mate's check before backing up, raising her eyebrows seductively.

Marley gulped. She glanced at her feet, remembering the horrible unhealed scars across her body. Wolfsbane had markings in every injury, and anyone could tell Marley was infective with it before. Her eyes widen when she realized her pack mark would be on display, a small tattoo on her chest, covering over the spot on her heart.

The young she-wolf remembered when she watched her mother's chest being clawed at, scratching the mark and leaving a nasty scar.

A lot of unfaithful things happened that night, and Marley wished she could forget the horrors forced upon her and her pack.

She shook her head, tears forming in her eyes. Layla noticed her mate's distress, "Hey, if you don't want to, that's ok." She put her hands on her mate's shoulders, rubbing them softly. The scent of her mate filled her nose.

With Marley's wolf gone, she couldn't smell her salty tears.

More importantly, they couldn't seem to sense the rouges creeping closer. Their eyes zoned onto Marley, stalking closer to their unprepared prey. They only had one mission, one object:

Bring back Marley, at all and any cost.

Even if it meant killing the woman next to her.

"There's a nice little area with food storage a little over there," Layla nodded away from the rouges, keeping her attention towards her mate.

Marley glanced up, her nose red, "Can... can we go there instead of... of skinny dipping?"

Layla nodded her head, "Of course, anything for you." Noticing that she never button up pants, she quickly adjusted before securing her jeans around her waist. She smiled at Marley, holding her hand out for her mate to take.

Marley quickly jumped at the opportunity, her fingers closing around her mate's hand. Deep within inside of her, her wolf started to awake.

Layla glanced at her mate, smiling softly, "I'm so happy I found you."

Marley nodded her head, "I'm happy too. Ok just sorry we had to meet like this." Marley paused for a moment, "Is it safe to be out here?"

Layla nodded her head, "It should be. We are still really close to town." She pointed over the tree tops, where the tip of the human town building was visible. "All wolves follow the laws of staying hidden. The last thing anyone wants is humans being involved."

Marley smiled, "Are you going to be busy more?" She already knew the answer, but she couldn't help smirking knowing that Layla was making time for her now, even if later she wouldn't be able to. Even when war was brewing, she was here spending every precious second with her.

The Head Doctor frowned. "I'm sorry," she started, "I truly wished I could stay with you more, but I need to my duties too."

That's when a rogue bared it's teeth, and both of the women turned around. Layla growled back, putting forth her body in front of Marley's. She could feel her young mate's form shaking slightly at the sight of the rogues. Layla felt terrible, after explaining how they would be safe.

Marley noticed the blood dripping from their snouts, no doubt killing some patrols before finding them here.

She just couldn't figure how three rogues broke through pack territory without wolfsbane. Something deep within her senses told her that the man who took over her home wouldn't waste wolfsbane sneaking in some rogues into a pack territory— not that he would allow the poison to get into the right hands to create an antidote.

In the distance, the alarms started to go off.

Marley finally noticed the Beta, stepping from the shadows in his human form. He snarled, "This pack won't protect you forever, Marley."

Marley growled softly, "Why can't you leave me and my pack alone?"

"You belong to the Alpha, and he will not be merciful about you little adventure."

After he harshly spoke, spit flying to the ground, the other three rogues attacked. Layla wasted no time shifted, clamping her jaw around a neck before she got attacked from each of her sides. Even with the training she got, she was no warrior and the Doctor was struggling to defend herself and her mate.

The Beta wolf started to walk forward. He raised his hands, and the Head Doctor was pinned to the ground, bleeding and injured.

Something started to stir within Marley at the sight of her mate hurt.

"Let's make a deal, Marley," the Beta wolf taunted. The young she-wolf bristled at the sound of her name passing through his lips. He was mocking her, taking advantage of her, but most importantly, he was going to kill her mate no matter the outcome, no matter if she agreed or disagreed.

There was only one thing Marley could do, and she begged the Moon Goddess for success.

———— A U T H O R N O T E | 15 ————

Any guess to what Marley is going to do?

Anyways, this is definitely different to the old version, so hopefully, I started getting my old readers surprised and shocked at the outcome.

No more spoilers for you!

QQ(#17):Who do you see playing as Layla?
QQ(#18): Who do you see playing as Marley?