Alpha Loren novel Chapter 98

December 27th

Leo's POV

The day after Christmas I woke in my living room with three of my brothers dead to the world on my sofas and my mate on a bed of cushions on the floor.

My mouth tasted of stale wine and my eyes were groggy with a hangover. As I pulled out my phone, I let out a low groan.

Texts from Luciano informing me Connor had been found just about alive.

I knew it would tear Ella apart but some dark side of me was hoping the snowstorm that lasted most of yesterday would have gotten the best of him. I was relieved that Ella wouldn't have to go through that grief but I still felt deprived the satisfaction of his life and his threat to the pack being stopped.

"Ella," I said gently shaking her.

She groaned before she opened her pretty blue eyes and squinted at the bright morning sunlight that reflected off the white snow and into the living room.

"Luciano found Connor alive," I told her.

She breathed a sigh of relief.

"So I'm going to the Southern territory now to take him off the pack and begin his exile," I continued.

"Can I come?" she asked.

"No," I said instantly, "You stay here with my brothers and Cato. Luciano is down there and my men are rounding up the rogues on the list. It's not safe."

She nodded before resting her head back down, "Tell Connor he's an idiot but I love him."

I then kissed her on the forehead, went upstairs to change Cato's diaper and feed him the pumped milk before I settled him back down to sleep and left the house only half an hour after dawn.

"I hope I didn't frighten your Luna too much yesterday," Luciano said as we walked down the corridor of the Southern Territory prison to where Connor had been put behind iron bolts and bars.

I gave him a sarcastic smile, "Bring her up one more time and I will fuck you up, Luciano."

He laughed, "Can I bring your sisters up again now or..."

I shot him a glare.

"Because I would still fuck Maria to the other end of the world," he continued, "She is gorgeous-"

"Luciano," I snapped, "Give it a break."

"You're so damn protective over the people you 'love'," he said, "It's no fun. 'Don't use any unnecessary violence on Connor Jones'. What kind of fuckery is that? He was plotting to kill you and you want to take mercy on him just because he's the brother of some girl?!"

"Some girl?" I hissed, "What don't you understand Luciano? We aren't teenagers any more. She's not just another fling. She's my Luna, she's the mother of my child and I care about her. Torturing Connor him just for our own amusement would do nothing but upset her. We got the names. That's all we needed."

Luciano let out a frustrated breath, "And what about the other rogues we captured? Can I do what I please with them?"

"Yes," I said, "I don't give a fuck about them."

Luciano smiled, "So it really is just a show for your Luna."

"Didn't I warn you not to keep bringing her up?" I asked.

At that point, we reached a cell and Luciano unlocked the door and pushed it open all with a sarcastic smile. 

Connor was chained to the wall looking weak, exhausted and above all freezing cold. 

"Guards," I said to the two men stood on duty outside the cell, "Get him a dry coat and a glass of water. When he's got a bit of strength back, have him escorted far off the territory. He already knows the terms of his exile."

I then left Connor's cell and continued down the hall.

"Where are you going?" Luciano asked, his footsteps following me.

"Hestia's cell," I said, "Wife of the late Achilles."

"Hestia?" 

"I take it she is still here?" I asked, turning to look at him.

He seemed reluctant to speak, something Luciano wasn't accustomed too.

"She's innocent and we don't need her anymore. So I'm freeing her," I continued.

"Her husband is dead and her kids have disappeared, probably taken by human social services. She has nothing to go home to," Luciano argued.

"So we just leave her in a cold, dark cell to rot because that's much better," I replied. 

When I reached the cell, Luciano folded his arms and watched me carefully as I unbolted the door and entered.

I laid my eyes on Hestia. She was sat hugging her knees with her hair covering her face. But I could see a rip across her shirt and her legs were bare, the pair of pyjama shorts she was wearing on the other side of the room.

The light pouring into the darkroom from the hallway stimulated no response. She just kept rocking back and forth over and over again.

I clenched my jaw and turned to Luciano, "Why am I not fucking surprised?" I growled, "Why did I know you were going to disobey me again?"

I didn't give him time to explain himself before I seized him by the collar of his shirt and threw him against the wall.

"I ordered you not to lay a hand on her," I hissed in his ear, "And I am your Alpha."

"Well, I may have bent that rule slightly. But she's still alive right?" Luciano replied.

"Did you rape her?" I hissed.

He didn't reply.

"Did you fucking rape her?!" I growled. "Do not make me ask again."

"Yes," he replied bluntly. "Why do you care?"

With that, I punched him in the face. His head hit the wall with the force from my fist and his nose trickled with blood.

"You are low, Luciano," I said, "And that is something coming from me."

"You are such a hypocrite, Leonardo," he said coughing on his blood, "You would have killed her if it suited your tactics."

"If I needed to," I hissed, "If it was necessary for the protection of my pack. Why was this necessary, huh?"

"She's hot and I felt like it okay, Leonardo?! Do you need me to spell it out?!" he exclaimed scrunching his nose as his eyes still watered from my punch.

I gripped his collar tighter and snarled in his ear, "That's the difference between you and me. I do bad things because I have to. You do them because you want to."

He scoffed, "Keep telling yourself that."

"You want to know another difference between us, Luc?" I said before kneeing him hard in the ribs.

He groaned and leant over in pain.

"I am the Alpha and you will not disboey me. Do you hear me?" 

He didn't reply, still grimacing and clutching his ribs.

I clenched my jaw and shoved him back up into the wall and punched him again.

"I said do you hear me?"

"Yes," he mumbled.

"Can I get a yes Alpha?"

"Yes, Alpha," he said slowly opening his eyes to look at me.

He was in a lot of pain and every little bit of it was deserved. I felt no remorse and hearing his submission was frankly very satisfying.

"Good," I said dropping him to the floor.

I then marched back into Hestia's cell. She was in the exact same position as I entered.

She must have heard my footsteps pounding towards her because she suddenly seized up and began shuffling back.

But she had the wall behind her and nowhere to hide so I easily grabbed her and prized her off the ground. Her bare skin was cold as ice and she was certainly much bonier than when we first brought her here. She shivered and squirmed, desperately trying to escape and she didn't stop until I reached my car and forced her into the back seat and wrapped her in a thick blanket.

"Don't worry," I said to her as she pulling the blanket around her and pressed herself against the opposite door, "I'm not going to hurt you."

Having brought her here in the first place and ordered the murder of her husband, I wasn't shocked when my words had no comforting effect.

But I knew somebody who could ease her at least a little bit.

I couldn't quite put my finger on why I was so concerned about ending her distress. 

This week I'd tried to go back to my old life - how I was before Ella. Cold and heartless. Able to do anything without a second thought.

But it didn't feel right. Luciano and I used to be aligned but it was clear that somehow or another I had diverged from the path to hell we both used to walk.

I felt remorse for what we did to Hestia. For dragging an innocent woman into our violent, messy lives.

But it wasn't just guilt. Maybe Luciano's words were getting to me. I'd done some terrible things under the moral excuse of protecting my pack. But not all the suffering I'd caused was just a cost for the greater benefit of Stella.

Until Ella, I hadn't even thought about it. It never crossed my mind. I didn't care.

But now I did. It was like Ella was defrosting my heart with her warmth, slowly but surely she was changing me and now I realise the work I have cut out to make up for my actions.

So maybe by trying to help Hestia I was proving myself to her. Or maybe even to myself?

Ella had a pure heart and it's safe to say I didn't. I knew that she deserved more than me from the very day I met her but I was what she got. All I could do now was try to be better. To become the man she deserved.

So I let Hestia cower in the back seat, unable to even look at me and got into the driver's seat before heading back North in silence with the hope that somehow or another, I could fix this mess.

By the time we arrived, we rolled into the drive of my house, it was already getting late. Hestia had been asleep but the jerk of the handbrake jolted her awake and as I opened the back seat, she once again scuttled away from me. I had to grab her legs to haul her out of the car before carrying her kicking and screaming to the front door.

"Leo?" Ella asked as she stared at the desperate human in my arms.

Luca was beside her with confusion all over his face too, "Who the fuck is that?" He asked.

"It's a long story," I said, "But she's been through some shit and I didn't know what else to do. Comforting people isn't my forte so I thought I'd bring her to the expert. Her name is Hestia."

I then locked the front door before putting her onto the ground where she cowered into the corner.

Ella looked up at me with a raised eyebrow.

"You've just dragged a terrified, half naked woman into our home at quarter past ten at night and all you can tell me is it's a 'long story'?" she questioned.

I bit my lip, "I'll explain everything," I promised, "But for now, I just need you to help me help her."

Ella looked across to Hestia, her eyes already full of sorrow at another's pain, before she instantly nodded.

"Okay."