Alpha Loren novel Chapter 55

November 12th

"Good morning. You all know why you are here," Leo began, addressing the crowd of agitated looking parents in front of us.

They were the people of invaded packs. Those that had lost their sons to the building we now stood in front of as it's gates and doors were opened wide, all the locks removed and the guards standing at ease.

"And I ask that you have patience. There are no files on the children so pairing the correct parents with the correct infant may be a complicated process. Inside the camp, we have organised the wards into different age categories. If you could please gather around the sign indicating the age of your infant, you will be escorted by one of my men to the correct area. It will then be down to you to locate your son."

Shortly after Leo's instructions, everybody flooded into the camp and divided off into the different wards. I followed Leo into the ward holding the youngest children and watched the joy on parents' faces when they looked into a crib and found their child.

Leo wrapped an arm around my waist and kissed my head.

"They smile because of you, Ells," he said, "You've got a huge fucking heart and you don't give up when it comes to something you care about. You know that right?"

I nodded, "I've been telling you right from the start that I don't stand for injustice. Now do you believe me?"

"I certainly know not to underestimate you," he said.

"Thank you Alpha," another Mother said as she headed for the door, freshly reunited with the tiny thing in her arms. "Thank you Luna."

Leo nodded and I smiled before she was on her way, quickly walking down the hallway like she didn't want her son spending a second longer in this place.

As the wards began to empty, I walked around the cribs. There was a few still occupied. But then a few mothers and fathers still lingered. All hope wasn't lost yet.

Then I came across number 734. The little baby boy I'd met weeks ago when Allison and I broke in.

I picked him up and gently stroked his dark curls, "There is hope yet, little one."

"That one is an orphan," Leo said from behind me.

"How do you know?" I asked.

"I killed his parents myself," he replied in a surprisingly cold tone.

"What?" I asked. "Why?"

"He's the son of an Alpha and his father betrayed me...so I killed him," he said with a shrug.

"And his mother?" I asked in disbelief.

"She was in the way," Leo added.

"Do you feel any remorse?" I questioned. "This child is suffering because of you."

"Maybe I would if they had been innocent. But his parents' chose to try and lie to me whilst working for one of my enemies," Leo corrected. "I don't take treachery lightly."

"Then we must find new parents for this boy," I replied.

"No," he said. "The orphans stay here and will be trained as planned."

I looked up at him, "Are you serious?"

"Yes," he replied, "But now we have significantly reduced numbers, they will have better care. It's okay."

"It's not okay," I said, "This isn't a place for any child to grow up in."

 "Unfortunately, you didn't include any conditions about orphans in your promise to the pack."

He then smiled sarcastically, "I thought we had put that behind us but you're clearly still bitter."

"It's like when you put tomato soup in Tupperware. You can clean it as much as you like but they'll always be an orange tinge to it. In the same way, I will always hold this against you."

I looked at him completely confused about where he had pulled that surprisingly clever simile from.

"You could at least give them names," I snapped.

Leo rolled his eyes, "Whatever....Jeff."

"Fuck you," I hissed. "Do you have to be so cold?"

"You're never satisfied are you?" he asked, "Shall I just give up my Alpha title and move to fucking Japan? Would you be happy then?"

"Probably," I said, "Japan looks like a lovely place with a rich culture, delicious food oh and NO FUCKING CONCENTRATION CAMPS."

"Put the kid down, we're leaving," he said deeply.

"Just when I was starting to think you were changing."

"When are you going to get it into your head that I don't have any plan to change, Ella?" he hissed, "I did this because you made me. Now put the child down."

I slowly lowered the child back into the crib and I had chance to smile at him once before Leo grabbed my hand and dragged me away.

"We should go baby shopping," he said as we walked out of the ward.

I glared up at him, "I do not want to go baby shopping right now."

"Why not?" he asked innocently.

"Because I'm mad at you for your treatment of children. The last thing I want to think about is the fact that I am pregnant with a child you father," I hissed.

"I have just send a hundred of them home to their families," Leo said with a sigh, "Give is a rest."

He did have a point. Maybe baby steps were the way to go with him here.

I wasn't going to take back my words but I knew arguing with him more was gonna do nothing to change anything. I had to be smarter than that.

So instead, I let him lead me to his car.

Editing taking place 09/06/20 00:58 am. Sorry for any confusion with the plot. BRB

"Are we going home then?" I asked as he started the ignition.

"No," he replied, "As I said, we're going shopping."

"I would prefer if we did it another day," I said calmly.

"I have free time now so we are going now," he replied, "Why let a minor disagreement get in the way ay?"

He then put his hand on my leg. I smacked it off and he placed it back on the steering wheel with an amused smile on his face.

"Why are you being such a dick today?" I asked seriously.

"sshhh, don't use such vulgar language in front of the baby!" Leo replied.

There was silence for a few moments.

"I want to go home," I said.

"We aren't going home," he replied.

"Who gave you the power to dictate what we do?"

He scoffed.

"I'm driving," he said. "...amongst other reasons..."

"Then let me drive," I replied, ignoring the secondary comment.

"Can you drive?" He asked genuinely.

"Yes," I lied. 

"Fine. If you can drive us back to the house we won't go," Leo said stopping the car. We were on a quiet forest track and so far hadn't past any other cars.

"Fine," I said. 

How hard can it be?

"Fine," Leo replied getting out of the car as I did the same. We both walked around to the opposite side and Leo tossed me the keys as we passed in a deliberately challenging manner.  I managed to catch them anyway and gave him a sarcastic smile before climbing into the driver's seat. 

Problem one: can't reach the pedals.

"How do I move the seat in?" I said looking for some kind of lever. Leo reached over me and pulled something on the side of the seat before pushing it in as far as it would go. 

Problem two: where do the keys go?

"So where do I put the keys?" I asked looking on the side of the steering wheel. "You know because every car is different and all," I said. He took the keys out of my hands and plugged them into a socket on the left of the wheel all with a bored expression on his face.

Problem three: I don't know how to drive.

What made you think this was a good idea again? I asked myself. 

I need to concentrate. But on what exactly? I don't even know how to start it. I guess I will just have to use my initiative. 

"Peddle on the right is the accelerator, the left is the clutch and the middle is the break. You know because every car is different," Leo said after a few moments.

"I knew that," I said. 

From what I could remember from when Connor was learning to drive, you have to put your foot on the clutch and your other on the accelerator and slowly lift it up or something?

I did exactly that and the car lurched forward, but the wheels didn't move.

"Hand break," Leo said monotonously.

"Easy to forget. It's been a while," I said before pulling the hand break up and trying again. This time the car slowly rolled forwards.

"If you wanna go home you should probably turn around," Leo said.

He's got a point. Turn the frickin car, Ella.

I gripped the steering wheel and twisted maybe a little too much. I panicked and tried to slam down the break, but instead hit the accelerator. The car immediately spun around and went straight off the track. Leo grabbed the wheel so that we narrowly avoided a tree before he yanked up the handbrake.

"Yeah I've never had a driving lesson in my life," I said admitting defeat.

"Shocker," he remarked. "Get out and let me drive. Before you kill us both."

I nodded still kind of in shock.

Once we were back in the correct seats I didn't speak for the rest of the journey. Yes, he just saved both of our lives, but I was still mad at him.

 Half an hour later we arrived at the mall.

"Hold my hand," Leo said as we began to make our way out of the parking lot.

"No," I said breaking the silent treatment and folding my arms so that my hands weren't even visible.

Leo grabbed my arm and easily pulled it free, before taking my hand. I resisted him and pulled it back into my body, but he was much stronger than me and he effortlessly pulled my hand back out.

"Don't make this harder than it needs to be," He hissed.

When we got into the mall we went straight to an infant clothing shop.

"Good afternoon Sir and Madame, is there anything I can help you with today?" A lady aged about 60 said in a pretty annoying tone. God everything is annoying me today. Blame it on the hormones girl.

The woman had long grey hair tied back in a low ponytail, a long skirt that reached her feet and a loose top. She looked at Leo and then down to me and I saw a slight flicker of disapproval in her eyes before Leo began to talk 

"My girlfriend is pregnant and we don't have any baby clothes," he said to the woman. She seemed to flinch slightly at the word girlfriend.

"No worries, that's what we are here for," the shop assistant said as if she was gritting her teeth whilst leading us through the shop. "Is it a boy or a girl you're expecting?" 

"We do-" I started.

"A boy," Leo interrupted. I looked up at him a confused look on my face as the shop assistant continued to walk in front of us. 

"How do you know?" I whispered almost inaudibly so that no human would hear.

"Magic," Leo replied equally quietly with a smile.

"That surprises me. Normally couples don't know this early on in the pregnancy," the woman said.

"We have a very good Doctor," Leo said.

"Here we have the 0-3 months boy's section. You will find that they grow very quickly so we suggest you buy a few different sizes so that you don't have to keep coming back," she said. "Is this your first pregnancy?" she asked looking at me.

"Yes," I said.

"You look very....young," she said looking me up and down.

I internally stabbed her in my mind

"Yes I get that a lot. My height is deceiving," I said through gritted teeth.

"And you aren't married?" She asked.

"No," I replied bluntly.

"Do you plan to before the child is born?" She asked raising an eyebrow.

"No," I said just as bluntly, this time strangling her until her eyes popped out. (still in my mind of course),

"I think we'll be fine from here thank you," Leo said deeply, saving me from the situation. 

She nodded her head and left us to stand behind the cashier desk. From the corner of my eye, I kept seeing her looking over to give us disapproving looks.

"What is her problem?" I said quietly as Leo and I wandered around the section the lady had shown us to.

"Old fashioned views about not mating before marriage," Leo replied picking up a tiny footed onsie with a hood and cute little bear ears.

"Old fashioned human views," I said. "And that's cute."

Ten minutes later, we had a basket full of onesies, little t-shirts, socks, pants and a couple of jackets, hats and gloves.

"That comes to $86 and 50 cents," the same lady said after she had beeped everything through. "How old are you guys then?" She asked as Leo got out his credit card.

"Leo is 23 and I'm 17," I answered.

"And what about high school?" She asked me.

"Oh no. I don't go to school. We live in a cult and this is actually my older brother," I said gently slapping Leo on the six-pack. "... or half brother.. or cousin... or maybe even Dad?? We aren't really sure."

Leo stifled a laugh as he finished paying and took my hand again.

"Thanks for everything. See you again some time!" Leo said waving as we walked towards the door leaving the women's mouth wide open.

"How did you know that it's a boy?" I asked.

"I can sense it," Leo replied. "Weird Alpha stuff innit?"

"So this is the future Alpha," I said placing a hand on my stomach.

"In seventeen years and two months the pack will have a new leader," Leo said squeezing my hand in affection. 

I didn't squeeze back, because I was still mad at him, remember?

"You'll only be 40," I said.

"That's older than most Alphas," Leo said as we walked through the mall. "We need diapers and all that fun stuff now," he added leading me into another shop.

Twenty minutes later we had pretty much everything a baby could ever need and were sat outside a cafe drinking a cup of coffee.

"I need to pee," I announced.

"Pee away," Lep replied and I got up and headed inside the cafe where the rest room was.

When I came out, my hands still slightly damp due to the shitness of the rickety old hand dryer, I looked up and my face dropped.

As I'd come around the corner, I'd come face to face with someone I'd hoped I'd never see again.

"Cameron," I said forcing a smile as I saw him.

My ex-boyfriend.

"Ella?" he asked, "It's so good to see you. Where've you been?"

"Things at Kellington High weren't working out," I said. "I moved school."

"Oh," he said, "Okay. You just...disappeared one day and no one knew where you went."

"I'm at North Valley high now," I said with the most convincing smile I could muster, "Anyway, I better be off."

I then began to walk past him.

But then he reached out for my hand.

"Ella, wait," he said.

I turned around and looked down at his hand. 

His scent. That was enough to get it on me.

"I have to go," I said pulling my hand out of his.

"I'm sorry, okay?" he said as I turned again, "How many times do I have to tell you? I was drunk."

"You tried to rape me, Cameron," I replied, "Excuse me for not jumping at the chance to make up with you."

"I miss what we had and you can't tell me that you don't," Cameron said stepping closer with a pleading expression.

"I don't," I told him as he got uncomfortably close, "And we really must go."

"I don't believe you Ella. No one can move on from such a long relationship that quickly."

"It's been weeks and I have a new boyfriend," I said.

His eyes flickered with hurt and for a second I felt guilty.

"A new boyfriend?" he questioned.

I looked into his hurt eyes, remembering the time when I used to love them. "Do you remember that time, when we'd have those 'study sleepovers' where we just stayed up in my room all night and watch cheesy romantic movies and kiss and eat pizza and didn't study one little bit because we were too madly in love. And when we'd go on picnics and movie theatre trips and late night drives and when I walked you home every day even though it was the completely wrong direction just because I wanted to make sure you were safe in our zero crime rate town. Do you not remember what we had back then?"

"I do, but time has moved on and so have I," I said, swallowing the discomfort in my throat.

With Leo now in my life, I could barely bare to think about myself with another guy.

"Does he make you as happy as I did?" he asked reaching for my hand again, "The new guy."

"It's different with him," was all I could say. "And I don't plan to leave him. So give up on the idea that we are ever getting back together, Cameron."

 I then turned on my heel and out back to Leo.

I nervously pulled my sweater over my wrist, hoping my scent and the washing powder smell on it would mask the smell of Cameron.

"What's wrong?" Leo asked looking down at me as I approached awkwardly, my hands in my sleeves.

"Nothing," I answered.

"Oh right that would explain that human scent on you then," he said putting his coffee down, "Who's is it?"

Curse his amazing sense of smell. Cameron hardly touched me.

"Someone must have just brushed up against me," I replied.

He raised his eyebrow, "I'm not stupid, Ella."

He then reached forward, grabbed my wrist and pulled my sweater up before bringing his nose to my wrist.

Just a normal human man doing normal human things.

His face hardened and his jaw clenched as he stared at it for a few seconds.

"What did he look like?" he asked unsettlingly quietly after a few moments of silence. "I need to know what this man looked like."

"Why?" I asked. 

"Did he come onto you or what?" he questioned, "Or just grab you or what?"

"Leo," I said with a nervous laugh, "You're being a psycho."

It felt like the calmness of his tone was one big false facade for the boiling anger underneath that bubbled and spat, escaping through his stony face.

"What did he look like?" he repeated.

"I don't even know, I didn't get a good look," I answered quickly as I straightened my back and took a deep breath. "He could be anyone."

"Ella," he said deeply. "Tell me."

"So you can kill him like you killed Logan?"

Leo's face faltered for a moment, "You know about that?"

"Of course I do," I hissed. "It was wrong but I could see where you were coming from with him...but this was a human. It's not the same."

"You want me to just leave him out there to grope other girls, huh?" he asked.

He had a point.

"If you are concerned, call the police and let them deal with it," I said, "I will not have a mate that kills or beats up every man that ever touches me."

He appeared to be biting his tongue before he swallowed and sat back down.

"Fucking humans," he mumbled, taking a sip of his coffee.

Crisis averted.

Well...

Until ten minutes later when Cameron came out of the cafe.

"Oh fuck," I said quietly as he set eyes on us.

"What?" Leo said having not noticed.

I looked away from my ex-boyfriend but in the corner of my eye I could see him heading towards us.

"Promise me you won't freak out," I said.

Leo stood up straighter and tenser and looked around. 

"Ella what?" Leo said in a deeper more serious tone.

"You see that boy, the one with the hair," I said panicking.

"The one with the hair...yep I know exactly who you mean," Leo said sarcastically. 

"The one coming towards us," I said.

"Yeah, do you know him?" Leo said eyeing him. 

"He's my...um... ex-boyfriend," I said scratching the back of my neck nervously.

"Your ex-boyfriend..." Leo said still processing my words before his face creased into anger. "You had a boyfriend?!"

"Yes get over it," I said trying to pull Leo by the hand away from him.

"Ella why the fuck didn't you tell me?!" he asked, "And is he the owner of that scent on you?!"

"I'll explain everything later, but can we please go!" I said pulling his arm.

"No I want to talk to him," Leo said not budging.

"No you don't," I said. "Please, can we-" 

"Ella, I still have more to say to you," Cameron said having reached us. Leo stepped forward, in between me and him and folded his arms.

So here we have the worst situation possible. My ex-boyfriend who can't seem to let go, my overprotective mate who happens to be an Alpha, two bags full of baby supplies and of course: me right in the middle of it all.

"Hey, Cameron..." I said awkwardly. "Now is really not a good time-"

Just then Leo took a deep inhalation and narrowed his eyes. He's detected and matched the scent.

"Why not? You don't look busy?" he replied.

"She doesn't want to talk to you," Leo said, stepping slowly closer.

"Sorry who are you and what the fuck are you doing with my girl?" Cameron asked.

My eyes widened.

Oh god, oh god.

I prayed for hell not to break loose but I heard Leo take a deep breath as every muscle in his body tensed. 

"She is not your girl," he said. "But you seem to think otherwise huh? You think you can still touch her?"

"Cameron maybe it would be best if you left-" I said coming out from behind Leo.

"Public space, Ella," Cameron snapped. 

"Then we will go, won't we Leo?" I said as him and Cameron stared each other down.

"No we will not," Leo said, "I'm not done here yet."

Cameron looked up at Leo, he suddenly seemed incredibly threatened.

Leo was only a foot from Cameron, a murderous glare on his face.

I had no choice, I had to get between them.

I slipped around Leo and stood in front of him.

"Leo," I begged, "Let's go."

His eyes flickered from Cameron to me in a brief second but then they hardened and he refused to budge.

"Don't fucking touch her ever again," Leo growled turning all the heads outside the cafe.

"Leo, calm down," I said quietly whilst placing my hand on his arm. He continued to stare fiercely at Cameron who's eyes kept flickering between Leo for a split second and then the floor for a few more.

"I can handle this," I whispered.

I then turned to Cameron.

"Cameron this is Leo," I said, "I don't want to talk about us because I've moved on. All I can say is, I suggest you do too."

"How am I meant to move on from such a long relationship in such a small amount of time?!" Cameron asked loudly enough for everyone around watching to hear.

"Long relationship?" Leo questioned, the corner of his lip twitching up.

"We were in love, Ella."

By now a small crowd had gathered.

Leo's took my wrist, "In love?" he growled.

"Cameron-" I began.

"And that love means nothing to you? Just because of one mistake? I was drunk and I wouldn't have-"

"Cameron stop," I warned as Leo raised an eyebrow. "You don't wanna bring that up-"

"I wouldn't have tried to force you otherwise. You know that," he said. "I wouldn't have even touched you."

I bit my lip as my stomach sunk.

Big mistake Cameron. BIG mistake.

"What?" Leo growled his voice echoing throughout the whole mall as he seized my hand and pushed me behind him, "You did what?!"

Cameron looked up at him and he seemed to cower back a little.

"You tried to force her?" he added.

"I was drunk and out of control," Cameron replied. "She knows that."

"You should thank God that this is a public space," Leo growled pushing his chest with enough force to make him stumble back a few steps into one of the tables of the cafe, sending a potted cactus and a cluster of cutlery onto the floor.

At that point, a man in a security jacket appeared.

"Excuse me, Sir, we have to ask that you leave the premises," he said, stepping between him and Cameron. "You're disturbing the peace."

"I'm disturbing the peace?" Leo questioned with a laugh. "What about Mr Molester over here?"

"Leo, come on, let's just leave," I said. "There's no point in any of this."

He shot Cameron one more glare before letting the security guard lead him away. Meanwhile, Cameron took his distraction as an opportunity to grab my hand.

"Stay and talk to me without him," Cameron urged.

"No," I snapped, easily freeing my hand. 

But by that point, Leo had already broken through the security guard. I gasped as he raised his fist and punch Cameron in the face. Hard. Very hard. Maybe not as hard as he could have though, because Cameron was still alive and standing afterwards. Well kinda...

I stared in shock as Cameron fell to the floor now knocking the table and surrounding chairs completely over as he clutched his bloody nose. It wasn't until then that I noticed the pools of water that had at some point formed around my eyes.

"Stay away from her," Leo growled before pulling me into his chest and walking us out of the mall leaving the security guard in shock.

When we got to the car, Leo opened the passenger door seat and sat me down before crouching down to my level and wiping my tears with his thumb.

"Why are you crying?" He said softly.

"It's just it reminded me of everything," I replied. "And it was scary."

He shuffled closer and took my hands.

"He's just a human," Leo replied.

"I wasn't scared of him," I said almost in a whisper. "I was scared of you."

"Ella," Leo said wrapping his arms around me as more tears came.

"You looked like you could have killed him," I sobbed.

"I know my own strength and even though it probably didn't look like it, I was in control of my wolf," Leo said in a comforting tone.

"It definitely didn't look like it," I said. "And you don't always have control do you?"

He said nothing and only wiped more of the tears from my cheeks.

"Why didn't you tell me you had a boyfriend?" he asked.

"Because of the exact reaction I just got and it's not particularly something I like to talk about," I said.

"Why? What did he do to you?" Leo asked.

"I'll tell you when we are driving so that I know you won't go back and kill him," I said.

"No promises," he replied getting up and walking round to the driver's seat. He then rolled out of the parking lot with no security guards or cops in sight. 

A miracle really.