Alpha Loren

October 11th

As we approached the door, Leo slipped his hand into mine. I tried to retract away but he only squeezed painfully tight and pulled me closer to him.

"Behave," he hissed, a second or so later the large door opened and the warm glow of lights fell onto us

We were faced with a woman, not particularly old but not young either with a friendly expression and floral apron

She radiated warm and good energy and as she looked from Leo to me, she began frantically brushing the flour off her apron.

"Leo! Some warning would have been nice!” she exclaimed now tidying the wisps of hair that escaped her bun, "It's not every day I meet my eldest son's mate.”

She then turned to me, "You must be Ella."

I smiled nervously before she pulled me into a tight embrace, "It's so lovely to meet you."

Her eyes were soft and gentle eyes. Her skin a subtle olive colour and her smile genuine and beaming.

"I'm Leonardo's mother," she said before a steely man came from within the house and joined her at the door.

"And this is Antonio, Leonardo's father," She said.

Leo was a striking image of his father. The same incredibly tall height, well-built physique, tanned skin, distinctive, sharp eyes and honey brown thick hair. Even his presence brought the same sense of intimidation and power as Leo's.

"Hello, Ella," Antonio greeted holding his hand out to me, I shook it and felt his firm grip.

"Nice to meet you both," I said politely.

"I have to go and sort out some rogue problems and I need to leave Ella with you," Leo said.

"Oh, are you sure you can't stay, Sweetie?" Rosa replied sounding a little disheartened. "We haven't seen you much in weeks."

"I've been busy Mom," he said, "But when I've sorted out this...inconvenience, I'll come back and we can have a coffee.”

Rosa nodded, "Okay, okay," she said, "Go. Do your job or..whatever it is.”

Leo then kissed the top of my head before leaving.

I watched him leave before looking back up at Antonio and Rosa.

Antonio eyed me. He didn't bear the same friendliness as his mate and stood, his feet shoulder- width apart and his arms folded.

I smiled awkwardly before Rosa ushered me inside, past Antonio and into the hallway.

"Welcome to Stella,” she said, "How do you like it so far?"

"It's a beautiful pack...” I said with a nod.

There was a pause of silence.

"But..?" Antonio asked.

"Nothing," I said quickly, "It's nice.”

Antonio's eyes were still on me as Rosa glanced at him.

"Antonio, would you please make some tea?" She asked noticing the tension, “Ella, come through.” She placed her hand on my back and guided me through into the kitchen.

At the table sat three teenagers, eagerly staring at me with pens in their hands and school work sprawled all over the table.

"Don't worry they don't bite,” Rosa said with a wink. "This is Lia, Lisa, Bella and Lenny," she said pointing to the two girls and the boy, "Leo's youngest three siblings.”

They all waved. His three sisters were all incredibly pretty with delicate little noses and perfectly rounded cheeks. Their hair was golden blonde and their eyelashes thick and black. The brother, who seemed about fifteen, looked similar but with a wider set jaw and thicker eyebrows. He was still young and boyish but I could tell he was going to grow up and take after his father, just like his older brother had.

"Buongiorno,” Bella said in a soft quiet tone.

"Who's scent is that?" a voice said from behind us.

I turned to the doorway to see a boy, a few years older than me stood eating an apple.

His eyes landed straight on me and he said, "Oh. Yours I guess.”

"Mateo," Rosa scolded, "That is no way to greet your brother's mate.”

"Oh yeh, I heard Leo had found some unlucky soul and dragged her home," he said before taking a bite of his apple, "You poor thing."

Antonio turned around from making the tea and shot him a glare.

"Have some respect,” he ordered.

"For my brother?" Mateo scoffed.

"Your brother is Alpha,” Antonio grumbled.

"Urgh..." somebody groaned as another set of footsteps came down the hall, "Must we argue? She's been here two minutes and you're already making a bad impression.”

The owner of the voice, an older looking girl, drew up from the hallway behind Mateo and rested her hand on his shoulder as she looked at me.

"What my brother should have said is, nice to meet you, Ella. Welcome to this wonderful, functional family.”

She was taller than the other sisters with darker hair and a stronger physique. Her voice too was deeper and more affirmative as she stood sure of her self and confident.

She then shoved past Mateo and held her hand out to me, "I'm Elena.”

I smiled and shook her hand, "Hello Elena.”

I then looked around. The room suddenly felt incredibly full.

"There are so many of you," I said.

"Wait until you meet the others...” Mateo said.

"Marco, Carlos,” Antonio called, "Get down here."

"There are only three more don't worry," Elena said, "But Maria, our eldest sister, who was the only one that kept the peace around here, ditched us to live with her mate.”

Just then two more boys came into the kitchen.

They were completely identical.

"And these are our twins,” Rosa said, "They respond to either and even I get it wrong so don't worry too much."

As they passed the doorway, Mateo kicked out his foot, tripping one of them up.

"Mateo behave," Rosa said.

The twin responded by shoving him as he laughed.

"Carlos!" Rosa exclaimed, "I am so sorry for this, Ella.”

"That joke is really getting old, Mateo," Carlos said as Mateo ruffled his hair, "Do it again and I'll lace the whiskey under your bed with wolfsbane.”

With that Mateo's face dropped, "You little shit," he hissed before looking to his mother.

"You have whiskey under your bed, huh?" Rosa asked

"..No?" Mateo said, guilt written all over his face.

Rosa narrowed her eyes before turning to me, "I'm sorry about my horrible sons," she said before glaring back at Mateo, "Don’t think you've gotten away with that, young man.”

"It's okay," I said with a slight laugh, "So altogether there are ten of you?" I asked looking around. "Yes it is a tradition in the Stella pack for the Alpha and Luna to have that number of children,” Rosa explained.

My face dropped, "What?"

"You don't know?" Rosa asked.

"So Leo hasn't bored you with all the Neptune/Astrea shit yet?" Mateo asked.

"Language Mateo," Rosa said as Elena elbowed him in the ribs. "And do not disrespect the Goddesses like that.”

"He told me some things about how the pack formed and the traditions," I replied, "but he said nothing about having ten kids."

"Well pack legend says when the pack was formed, a star constellation called Lupus with ten bright stars,” Rosa explained, "Each one blesses the Alpha with a child.”

"Well..." I said.

I wasn't even planning having one kid with him to be honest.

"Good luck," Elena said with a laugh, "Can I offer you a cookie to help with the shock?"

I smiled and nodded as she reached into a tin and handed me a chocolate chip biscuit before the tin was passed around to everyone.

"Ella, come through to the lounge," Rosa said, "And sit down."

"Mateo, Marco, Carlos, finish making the tea,” Antonio said handing Mateo the carton of milk before he followed Rosa and me

"So how are you getting on with my son?" Rosa asked sitting next to me on the sofa.

"He's..well..a bit." I stuttered

"Bossy?"

"Arrogant?"

"Controlling?"

"Annoying?"

Elena, Mateo, Marco and Carlos said from the kitchen.

"Can I take all four?" I asked.

"A total dick?" Mateo added.

"Mateo!" Rosa said.

I turned to see him through the kitchen door putting his hands in the air as if he was surrendering

I could tell that Mateo was the troublemaker of the family but it made me laugh.

"Don't worry I'm sure he will settle down. He's just a little excited about meeting his mate, that's all,” Rosa said reassuringly.

"He's been waiting six years for you,” Antonio said as Elena came into the lounge, followed by Mateo with cups of tea in his hand.

"Here you go," he said handing me one, "So which pack are you from?"

"Oh," I said quietly and not sure exactly how to answer. "Well...I guess I'm a rogue.”

The room to awkward silence for a few short moments.

"But I've been living in Kellington for nearly seven years amongst the humans,” I said.

Rosa nodded and smiled, slightly taken aback.

However, Antonio just watched me once again.

"What did you say your second name was?" Antonio asked hesitantly.

"Jones," I answered and I thought for a second that I had seen him look down at Rosa with a slightly raised eyebrow.

"Well you don't have to be a rogue anymore,” she said suddenly, "You're one of us now."

Antonio didn't say much after that, he just sat in an armchair sipping from his mug as Rosa, Elena and Mateo chatted to me for hours.

But after a while, Mateo had to go out for a training session and Elena went to see Maria, the eldest sister so, except Antonio lurking creepily in the corner, it was just Rosa and me.

"So are you happy with Leo?” Rosa asked me.

I forced a smile and nodded.

Absolutely not, I thought.

"So why haven't you finished the mating process yet? You have no mark and you haven't mated,” Antonio said, speaking up for the first time in a long time.

"Antonio..." Rosa mumbled, "You don't need to answer that, Ella."

"She does," he replied, "Somethings not right.”

"We only met two days ago,” I answered.

"I think we both know that sort of stuff usually happens on the first-day mates meet," he said, scoffing at my feeble excuse. "Rosa was my Luna within hours. What's holding you two back?" Rosa took my hand, "Are you okay? You know that you can talk to me right? I am like your second mother now," she said with a reassuring smile, "So come on. Spill."

I swallowed nervously.

This wasn't exactly a conversation I was expecting to have with Leo's parents.

"I'm okay," I said.

"Leo tells me you were somewhat reluctant to go home with him," Antonio said bluntly, "Why?" "Antonio," Rosa said. "Do you minding leaving this to me? It's kind of a girl thing."

He sighed and left the room as Rosa brought her lips to my ear.

"Like father, like son," she whispered causing a smile to creep onto my lips.

I already saw Rosa as an ally here. From exchanging just a few words with Antonio, I could tell being his mate put her in a similar position as I was in.

"All I can do is I apologise for them both," she continued, “Leonardo is...Leonardo. I can see why you didn't jump at the chance to let him take you home but there was no chance he would ever let you slip away. I'm sure you'd heard of him before?"

I nodded.

"And he doesn't exactly make up for his reputation with a pleasant personality. But he's your mate,” she said, "And I promise you he can be alright.”

"He's only alright when I'm not resisting his attempts to domineer me."

Rosa sighed, "Being mated to an Alpha isn't easy. Especially if you value your independence. I know that better than anyone. Before Alpha Leonardo Loren it was Alpha Antonio Loren and despite my efforts to make him a nicer person, he has turned out just like his father.”

"That implies it's in his nature,” I replied, "But I don't believe anyone is born evil."

I suddenly bit my tongue, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say you did a bad job of bringing him up-" "It's okay, dear," she said, "I've already shed my fair share of tears over what he has become and as a mother, I do sometimes feel like I have failed. But whilst evil maybe isn't natural, it is in his blood to be an Alpha,” she said with a sigh. "It makes him stubborn, controlling, protective, short-tempered. But the ruthlessness? He learnt from his father. And his father before that and his father before that. I tried to break the cycle but I couldn't. Antonio believes that the way the Alphas of this pack have always carried out their business is what makes it so powerful and prosperous. So he wasn't willing to bring up Leo any different.”

I took her hand and squeezed, "You know...people change.”

She looked up to me and furrowed her eyebrows.

"All my life, when I see something wrong, I fight it until its put right. It's got me in a lot of trouble but I carry on. No matter the consequences,” I continued.

She smiled and placed her hand on my knee, "You're full of spirit and optimism, Ella. I hope he doesn't crush that out of you. But just know, you have a long fight ahead of you if you want to put all of Leonardo's “wrong’ right. You're taking on an almost impossible task.”

"He doesn't look like he's gonna let me go anywhere so I've got eighty good years, right?" I asked. She smiled. Just then there was a knock on the door.

"Mom," Leo's voice called, "It's me."

"Talk of the devil and he shall appear,” Rosa said in forced good humour as she quickly wiped up her tears and swallowed a sob.y