Wolf's Curse

Chapter Forty-eight

Chapter Forty-eight

"Jared said you worked hard today." Leon had his arms crossed over his chest. I watched his eyes trail over my barely covered body.

"Could you pass me my clothes?" I said, pointing towards the clothes on the bed. Leon passes them over to me silently. I quickly change into them and head back into the room to find Leon in the same position as I had left him.

"My parents are being held, hostage."

"By Sarim?"

"Yes." Leon cleared his throat and looked me in the eyes, "I'm going to meet Sarim. I'll try to bargain with her."

"What? No! It's too dangerous! Isn't there another way?" I exclaimed throwing my hands in the air.

"My parents are being kept as a high-security werewolf prison that is now controlled by Sarim. Getting my parents out from there will not be easy. I'd most likely get killed and I will also be endangering the secrecy of supernatural creatures. The only way is to bargain with her. Make a deal of some sorts. She clearly wants something or else she wouldn't have taken my parents and placed them in a high-security werewolf prison."

"I want to come with you."

"You can't. I'll have guards all around me. I'll be safe. With you around, I'll be more worried about your safety than mine and I'll need to take more guards with me, and I can't sacrifice any more people."

"You really do think of all the options, don't you?" I gave him a small smile and sat on the bed beside him.

"It's my job. I need to think of all the options- not only for me but for my people as well." Leon took my hands in his and started drawing small circles on them.

"What can I do to help? There must be something I could do?"

I wanted to help Leon our as much as I could. After all the things he had done for me, this was the least I could do. I glanced at Leon, his forehead was starting to fill with stress lines. There were dark circles underneath his eyes and I wondered when was the last time he had a proper and sufficient amount of sleep.

"You could continue training with Jared," Leon paused for a second before continuing, "Just talk to the people here. Most of them are scared and they just need something to distract them but also motivate them. Be that person. Go out and talk to them. Be the distraction that they need. Trust me, there are some people here whose families or members of families are in danger and all they think about the whole is if that family member made it through the day."

"Okay." As I said those words, I not only agreed to be the distraction Leon wanted me to be and but I also realised that this was happening. I had a job. And this job didn't only affect me but it affected the people around me as well. I drew in a short breathe,  trying to calm my wildly beating heart. Leon must have sensed my nervousness as he gave my hands a squeeze.

"When are you leaving?"

"Now. I just wanted to talk to you first."

"When are you going to come back?"

"It shouldn't take more than a couple of days," Leon said quietly. With saying anything else, he turned my face so that it was mere centimeters away from his. He leaned in slowly and I closed my eyes. Unlike last time, this kiss had a sense of urgency to it almost as if we were scared of letting go because that meant that there was a chance we wouldn't see each other again. Leon pulled my head to deepen the kiss. Finally, we had to pull apart, both of us panting for air. He leaned his head against mine and just glanced at me. After a few seconds, he stood up and kissed my forehead.

"This isn't goodbye." He said.

"I know." But the reality was that we both knew there was a chance that this would be the last goodbye that either of us says to each other. But for this second, we forgot about the war appending upon us and we allowed ourselves to get lost in the fantasy world of ours where we would always be safe and live for eternity. Leon reluctantly released his grasp around me and walked over to the door, he gave me a sad smile and was out of the door.

***

A few days had passed, and I didn't hear any word from Leon. I would go to Rawer each day and still, there was nothing. I tried not to show people how worried I was, but each day it was getting harder and harder to keep all my worries- all my emotions in face bottled up. I had done what Leon had asked me to do, and went out and met people. I helped in the kitchen where I met two other students that went to Oakwood University.

Rosie and Gage. That was their names. They both were first-year medical students. Rosie had moved from Alaska while Gage had moved from Virginia. Even though I had made friends, I knew that I wouldn't be able to talk to them about all the things that Leon had told me and all the information I learned during the meetings I attended with Rawer. I knew the noble thing to say would be that I trust them- but I didn't. I didn't know them well enough to trust them with the secrets I kept. And even if they were trustworthy, me telling them all these secrets would only put them in danger. One thing I had promised myself I would do after the Defesta was gone was that I would try my best to prevent people around me from getting hurt- especially if I was the cause.

"Ashley, remember to block yourself properly!" Jarod shouted, snapping me out of my thoughts. As promised, I continued with my training. It was the best part of the day and I looked forward to it. The fighting allowed me to let go of all the pent up emotions that I was keeping bottled up and it was the one hour of the day where I wasn't thinking about Leon or the war. The fighting shifted my train of thought from the war to blocking myself properly and to throwing good punches.

"Jared."

"Sir." Jared nodded his head in respect of Jared.

"Ashley, walk with me." There was a sense of urgency in his tone. I quickly grabbed my things, wished Jared goodbye and followed after Rawer.

"What happened?" When Rawer kept quiet I knew something was wrong.

"It's about Leon." He said.

*________________________*