Beauty and the Beast

Chapter 22

I couldn't help but stare at Kieran and Ezra as they conversed over lunch, speaking of old times and fond memories. It's been almost two weeks of silence. Things were just plain and normal and honestly, it weirded me out to be so relaxed.

Most of what Ezra told us, we had already known, but he did confirm that most people outside the pack had no knowledge of my pregnancy, but he had heard the rumors describing me as the female shifter. Ezra believed Kieran and his family dead, his captors keeping him isolated from the outside world except when it came to questioning him.

He would have died if it weren't for one of his captors daughters who cared for him in secret, she had started  by being under strict orders to just bring him enough to keep him alive, but their relationship grew quickly as Ezra realized she was sweet and gentle unlike his captors. They had forced a decoy and mangled him unrecognizable, but he wore Ezra's clothes that night and they had smeared him in his blood to cover his scent. He told us how he slowly began to fall in love with her and he wished for them to be mates, but feared for her safety if anyone would see his mark on her or his scent too strong. But he doesn't know why or how he got here.

Seeing Kieran happy made me happy, but all of this was so odd and we all knew it.

I turned when I heard a feminine voice shouting.

Ezra shot up at the sight of a beautiful brown-skinned woman approaching , her hair choppy with deep brown curls and styled in what you would call a pixie cut, but it looked unintentional as if her head once held a mane of curls.

"Leah?!" Ezra yelled in disbelief.

Ezra bounded down the porch as the exhausted woman fell in his arms, trying to catch her breath.

I winced at the bruise I saw on her cheek and dried blood on the corner of her mouth.

"Oh love, what did they do to you?" Ezra said as he scooped her up into his arms.

"They told me you were dead. I knew it couldn't be true, so I ran. I followed your scent. I tried to think of where you would go." She said as she caressed Ezra's cheek.

"I'm so sorr-

She silenced him with her lips pulling back after a few seconds after to catch her breath before she kissed him a second time and it was longer and he held her closely as he pulled from him to speak.

"I love you, and there is not a thing to be sorry for. I will always stand up for the man I love." She spoke strongly.

Ezra smiled at her words.

He placed her on the ground and I watched as she turned toward me, eyes widening in realization.

"You're the one they're looking for." She whispered . I watched as she pulled a scraggly envelope from her pocket, handing it to me with shaking hands.

I opened it to reveal a few photos and I looked at the photos of me smiling as I stood with Kieran, the photos zoomed in as if the camera were focusing through our bedroom window. The first was of Kieran and I laughing, the next of us kissing, the last two were close ups of our faces with captions below our headshots.

The snipers must have taken it and sent the photo before we could get to them.

I dropped the photos as I read the words written below Kieran and I's figures.

Under my figure read "Capture Alive and Unharmed", under Kieran's read "Kill on site, bring me his head" and not only was there a dollar amount by my photo, but also under Kieran's.