Alpha Loren novel Chapter 84

December 3rd

When Marco and Carlos pulled up in front of Leo's house, he was stood waiting on the doorstep.

As I hurried up to him, he pulled me into a tight hug.

"What the fuck is going on?" I asked.

"Come in," he said, "Marco and Carlos you might as well come too. I'll explain."

As we entered the hall, I began freeing my foot from the incredibly uncomfortable high heel. Leo watched smiling before he approached me and pushed escaped strands of hair back behind my ear.

"What are you looking at young man?" I asked.

"You," he said before kissing me, "You look beautiful and I wish it was me that took you out."

I blushed and pecked him on the lips again.

"Whilst this is lovely," Carlos began, "Can you just tell us why we were just chased from a restaurant before you start fucking?"

Leo rolled his eyes before opening the door to his office, "In. All of you."

We piled into the office where Leo reached into his drawer and pulled out a pile of photos.

"Ella, I should have talked to you about this weeks ago," he said, "I agreed to share pack business with you so here we go. Marco and Carlos, I can't really avoid telling you now but this is not public news so keep your mouths shut, okay?"

I glanced down at the photos. They were of men, clearly taken discretely and without their knowledge. Most of them were young and scruffy looking, with dirty torn clothes and unbrushed hair.

"There is a new organisation of rogues," he said, "Rogues usually attack alone or in small groups. They're a nuisance but hardly ever a large scale threat. But this is different. This is an alliance of at least hundreds, probably more. The recent attacks and fires on the territory, the plot Amber was involved in, the danger you encountered today, they are all linked to the same group."

"And these pictures are members?" Carlos asked looking through the photos.

Leo nodded, "I've been trying to gather information through...questioning... rogues we've captured," he said glancing at me.

By 'questioning' I knew what he really meant. And it certainly wasn't sitting down to have a nice chit-chat.

I swallowed and tucked my hair behind my ear. Despite knowing these rogues had attacked our pack and harmed our people, they thought of torturing them until they spoke made me uncomfortable. Especially when it was Leo carrying out the violence with the same hands he touched me with.

Leo then looked back to his brothers and his face straightened again.

"We've got the identities of other members, like these men in the photos and I have soldiers out hunting down as we speak. But the ones sent out to fight and attack aren't in the trusted circle of the organisation. They don't know anything of much use. They tell me they are part of an organisation and they speak of a leader but they don't know who he or she is. No name, no description, no location. Nothing. Orders are just passed along to them and they carry them out. They don't know the future plans or strategies either."

"This man," Carlos said pointing to one of the photos, "He was in the restaurant."

I looked at it and immediately recognised him too.

"And him," I added pointing to another photo.

"So you were in a restaurant with these men, Marco and Carlos left you unattended and somehow you made it out alive?" Leo asked me.

I nodded, "Somehow."

Leo furrowed his eyebrows and dropped himself down into his swivel chair before resting his fingers on his chin.

"Maybe we were lucky?" Marco suggested.

Leo looked up at his brother and let out a deep scoff.

"You fucking were," he growled, "If she was hurt because of your incompetence and stupidity, you'd be dead. Brother or not."

Marco gave a nervous smile as he looked down, "I'm sorry, Leo."

"But how were we supposed to know?" Carlos asked.

"If you had asked me before you took my mate off territory, I would have made it very clear," he replied, "Kellington has been seized by this army of rogues. You literally took her onto their territory."

"Kellington?" I asked stepping forward, "What about the Cerridwen pack? Kellington was their territory."

"Last I knew, they been forced to surrender," he replied, "I know your brother has left so he is not a concern but as for your friends, there have been no reports of them medalling with the human population. Blair has also taken Abi out of there for obvious reasons. She is a target too."

"Well it appears maybe I'm not a target," I pointed out, "They watched me walk away from Marco and Carlos and did nothing."

He shook his head, "And I don't know why. But I'm not taking any chances. You stay on territory until this is dealt with."

I nodded.

It's easy to agree to his orders when he explains his legitimate reasons behind them. We should have started doing this talking business at the very beginning.

"So what's your plan, Leo?" Carlos asked.

He leant back in his chair and took a deep breath.

"Track down as many members as possible hoping at least someone will lead us to whoever is responsible for all this. Or at least to someone who can," he replied, "If not, we'll just keep killing them off until there's none left."

"And what if they just keep recruiting more?" Marco asked, "There are thousands of rogues out there that would happily help target you and the Stella pack."

Leo sighed, "I know. I need to find the leader and end it once and for all but that may take time. So in the meantime, you two can go back to Kellington and help track down the men you saw in the restaurant. I want at least one of them alive."

They both nodded before heading out of the house.

"So this is what's been going on?" I asked staring at the photos.

"It's gruesome, violent business, Ells," he said, "Do you see why I didn't want to tell you?"

I sighed and got up before walking around to his side of the desk.

I rested my hands on his shoulders and kissed his cheek.

"I'm glad you told me," I said, "I would hate for you to be burdened with this alone. And I don't like knowing that you torture and kill people but it's the truth and to some extend I can justify it. They are a threat and you have to do everything you can to stop them.

He rested his hand on top of mine and nodded.

"And I know you don't have the best track record with the Cerridwen pack...from terrorising their people to murdering their Alpha...but we have to help them," I said, "We can't leave them to the rogues."

"I know," he said, "I've sent men to crush the fleets of rogues all around the Cerridwen pack. Then we'll claim the land as Stella territory so we can extend the borders to protect the Cerridwen settlements."

"Wait, what?" I asked, "You're taking Cerridwen territory?"

He nodded, "They have no army or soldiers so they are defenceless. They need our protection."

"But once the rogues are gone, they can live peacefully again," he replied, "Why do you have to claim their land?"

"They can continue to live peacefully. Just under Stella jurisdiction."

I took my hands off his shoulders and stepped around to look him in the face.

"But why is that necessary?" I asked, "Have you spoken to Alpha Wilson?"

"Not yet," he replied, "But I will and he is in no position to refuse. He has no heir and without Stella help, he will have no people either. That pack is doomed. I'm doing them a favour."

I sighed. He had a point. Cerridwen was already a weak pack, then they lost their heir and now this.

"Just promise me you'll do it peacefully whether Alpha Wilson agrees or not," I said brushing his waves out of his eyes.

He put his hands on my waist and nodded, "Of course."

"And you won't force them to integrate into the factions? Their ancestors have lived on the site of their settlement for centuries," I said, "They won't want to move."

"I will assign them all the same faction, just so they have a Megestanis in charge of them but they may stay where they are," he said, "Are you happy now?"

I nodded, "You know that means that when Connor comes home, he'll kinda be a Stella pack member again," I said, "Right?"

Leo let out a short laugh, "He won't like that..."

"Maybe not but you two are going to be best friends soon, remember?" 

He smiled, "Yeh sure."

I ruffled his hair and kissed him again. 

"I'm sorry for interrupting your dinner at the Duchess. Will some homemade Pizza be a suitable replacement?" he asked.

I nodded and grinned, "Always."

Half an hour later, I walked into the kitchen and slammed a leaflet onto the kitchen worktop where Leo was kneading some pizza dough.

"I thought I heard the printer. What's this?" he said picking up the slip of paper. "Couples pregnancy yoga?"

"It's too late to say no. I already signed us up," I said with a mischievous grin.

For the last half an hour, I'd been using his computer to fill in our details and book ten sessions with a woman named Katrine.

"I think it will be good for us. It's on the territory so it's safe. But we'll get to spend quality time together and kinda away from pack life. It's a chance to just be normal. No Alphaship, no army, no wars. Just us, some bat-shit crazy instructor and a load of poor human women that have already been pregnant for at least five months longer than me. And in case you need another reason: it is meant to be really helpful for the baby."

"Yoga? Helpful for an unborn baby? How?" he questioned in a doubtful tone.

"I quote directly from the leaflet I found on their website 'During pregnancy, a mother's physical and mental state experiences extreme stress which if allowed to build up can damage the baby's health. Taking part in yoga will reduce this stress through relaxation and endorphin release. Your mental and physical health is sure to be boosted by our sessions and always remember: happy you = happy baby.' "

"So what part of that means that the definitely not pregnant partner needs to be there too?"

"Because it's done it pairs. That's why its 'couples yoga'. You are coming or I'm taking Luca," I replied.

"Fine. I'll come," he gave in.

"Yay! Tomorrow at seven, you better be free," I said.

"How convenient would it be if something would just pop up," he said with a pearly smile as he leant forward to kiss me.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and enjoyed the taste of his lips. Shortly after I noticed that his hands were awkwardly floating in the air.

"I don't want to get floury pizza dough on you," he said and I giggle as his phone started ringing. "Can you answer that. It's in my pocket."

I delved my hand into his pocket in search of his phone.

"That is definitely not it," he said with a smirk as my hands brushed along a large object deep inside his pocket.

"Oh shit sorry," I said realising what I had touched before finding the ringing object I was looking for. "Found it."

It was Marco calling so I put it on speakerphone as Leo washed his hands.

"Hey, Leo. So we found the men from the restaurant. The human one, the one that was our waiter, is still alive. We think he might know something," Marco said.

"Take him to the base," Leo ordered, "I'll be there immediately."

He then hung up the phone and turned to me.

"I'm sorry, Ells," he said, "Pizza is gonna have to wait. Who do you want me to call to come here?"

"...Luca?" I asked hopefully.

"I would but he's in Mexico," Leo said, "Who is your second choice?"

"Wait, can we go back to the part where you just said Luca is in Mexico...again?" I questioned. "Why?"

"There is always a why with Luca. I have no idea."

I narrowed my eyes, "Whatever...Mateo?"

"Sure."

Fifteen minutes later, Mateo and I were in the kitchen picking up where Leo left the pizza making.

"So..." I said, "Any further developments with Allison?"

"I saw her this morning," he said, "I didn't say anything because she still needs more time to grieve first but...damn it I like her, Ella."

I smiled, "Stop acting like it's such a terrible thing."

"It's a complicated thing, you can't deny that."

"Yeh but good things don't come easily, right?" I asked.

He rolled his eyes, "Whatever. Before I do anything, I've got to think about how to tell Marco and Carlos that I've been hooking up with her, let alone fucking caught feelings."

"Definitely do it either over the phone or one at a time," I said, "Minimise the chance of murder."

"Hmm and I'll break it to them slowly," he replied, "I'll tell them I kissed her and see how many black eyes I have after that..."

"So you are gonna do it?" I asked hopefully, "You're gonna give you and her a try."

He sighed, "Maybe. I need to get her feelings first."

I grinned, "I'm proud of you."

After that, we made the pizza to perfection before tucking in, leaving plenty for Leo when he got home.

It was hours before there was any sign of him though. I had to wrap the pizza up and put it in the fridge to keep it fresh for him.

But just as the clock struck ten, I heard his footsteps coming down the drive.

"At last," I said, "Do you want me to heat your pizza up?"

He smiled and nodded before approaching me from behind as I reached into the fridge and put his hand on my ass.

"Okay, little brother is leaving now," Mateo said standing up and loudly scraping back her chair. "You two enjoy each other."

"Thanks for coming, Mateo," Leo said, turning back to him.

Once the door had shut and I'd got the pizza out the fridge, I turned to face Leo.

"I have exciting news: the baby kicked for the first time this morning," I said.

"Ella that's amazing. I'm sorry that I missed it," he said placing a hand on the baby bump. "Let me know as soon as it happens again okay?"

I nodded and he placed his hand behind my neck and pulled my lips to his.

"You have a habit of coming home horny," I said turning back to the pizza and opening the microwave.

"I have the stress of the day to release and I really want you right now," he said, kissing the side of my head as I tried to concentrate on programming the microwave.

"Yes, but do you want to eat this pizza first? You must be starving," I asked.

"You are such a mother. The pizza can wait," he replied before lifting me over his shoulder and heading towards the stairs.

Okay. Suits me I guess.