The Unmarked Mate

Chapter 10

Dahlia

It was three in the morning. I had to wake up for patrol to relieve the night shift. The ceremony was getting closer, so we had to be on our guards. I got up, quickly changed, ate something and drank a lot of coffee before leaving. We were all meeting outside the village. We met with Beta Oliver, and a few warriors and some pack members who were all very happy to go to sleep. We were several covering in pairs the terrain: Lucia and Kanan, a young wolf who was about seventeen, would go north, Andrew and Damian would go south, two warriors already went west but it was easier for them to go directly without meeting us first, we were still waiting for Jackson who was supposed to go with me east. As we were waiting for him, we heard Beta Oliver who was already back in the village mindlinking us.

"Guys, Jackson hurt his knee at training earlier. He won't be coming tonight. I didn't know, sorry. Dahlia, do you want me to come back to patrol with you?"

"Don't sweat it Beta. You've just finished your shift, get to bed. I'll manage!" I answered to him, and to the others.

"Thank you!" he cut off the mindlink.

"Well, we should go. As usual, call for help if there is anything suspicious. Mindlink every fifteen minutes to tell us where you are." Ordered Damian.

As I began to leave, Damian yelled at me from far away.

"Hey D, sure you can manage?"

"I can manage right on my own, thank you" I answered with a sarcastic tone.

"I know you think you can." He snapped back jokingly.

"Dickhead!" I shouted

"Jerk!" he shouted back. "Seriously, call us if you need" he mindlinked me this time.

"I will."

I started to walk east, watching around the perimeter. I was used to patrol alone, as I would often volunteer for the one-person shift. If anything happened, I could shift without anyone seeing it. Every fifteen minutes we would all tell each other via mindlink where we were. The sun had started rising. The sky was now pink. It was peeking through the leaves of the forest surrounding the village. It was pretty.

I let my mind wander as I was trying to hear anything. There was no noise. No birds, no squirrels, just a slight wind. How long had it been since anybody mindlinked me? I looked at my watch, twenty-five minutes since the last check-in. It wasn't much but it wasn't Damian's style, he was always very specific about respecting the check-ins to avoid scares or troubles. I tried mindlinking them, Damian, Kanan, Andrew, Lucia, Mark and Zara. No one responded. Something was up. I tried to hear something. I concentrated to focus and use my Lycan hearing. I heard shuffling in the leaves very far away. It could be anything. I heard some voices. I closed my eyes and tried distinguishing the voices.

"Kanan I can't mindlink anyone! Can you?" it was Lucia's voice, but far. I started walking toward her voice. I thought to shift to be faster but I remembered none of them had seen my wolf. And if they could not mindlink I could not tell them it was me. I started running. I could hear more voices, they were close. As I was running, the wind was blowing a bit harder. I stopped because something irritating went in my nose. I took a deep breath to smell it, wolfsbane! It wasn't much, it was far, but that was the reason I could not talk to any of them. The smell was slightly burnt, candles or incense stick. It was a trap. I ran faster toward their voice. I saw Kanan and Lucia, looking all around them trying to figure out what was happening.

"Kanan, Lucia, are you okay?" I said out of breath, after running in human form for so long.

"Dahlia! Thank god!" answered Lucia in relief. "What's happening? I can't mindlink any of the others? How did you find us? You were far when you last checked in. Can you mindlink Andrew?" the questions were gushing out of her mouth. She was scared. Rightfully so.