Alpha Loren

October 20th

The next day, Leo had almost completely healed which meant Haden couldn't be far behind. We went to the Loren household only to find that Lia was desperate to see him. She begged Leo until he gave in to go and get him from the hospital where he was being held in and bring him back to the house.

"Are you sure honey?" Rosa asked after Leo had left. "It wouldn't hurt to wait a couple of days.” "Mum, don't forget about the mate bond," Maria said. "They have met now there's no going back.” "Don't worry. I'll be fine. I want to see him," Lia reassured as she squeezed her mother's hand

"He will want you to go back with him today Lia,” Antonio warned. "But remember that your brother made it so that you have the option.”

"And when you do decide leave you can come back all the time. Whenever you want," Lisa added. "But what if he doesn't let me?" Lia said looking back at Rosa.

"Then I'm sure Leo will let us come to you," She reassured.

"And Leo totally showed him who's boss!" Elena said excitedly, making everyone laugh.

"Don't worry about it, Lia. Mum's right. We can all come and visit you in Ayas whenever we want.” A few minutes later, the front door opened and Leo came in shortly followed by Haden. Unsurprisingly, he was in a worse state than Leo. His cut lip was still visible and swollen and his black eye was an array of nasty shades of purple and blue.

His gaze immediately found Lia in the crowd of people staring right at him and he let out a long exhale.

"Lia," he said gently.

She smiled meekly and looked at him in the eye for a split second before looking away again.

"You two go in the front room," Rosa said ushering Lia towards him. "We'll be in the kitchen.” Haden outstretched his hand to Lia and she took it gladly. He didn't pull her or squeeze her or anything, just gently led her towards the front room.

Everybody else backed into the kitchen, except for Leo who stood staring at Haden in the hallway. "Leo," Rosa said and he snapped out of his stare and reluctantly followed us.

"Are you okay?" I asked slipping my hand into his.

He nodded and lifted my hand up to his mouth and gently kissed it, "I just can't trust him."

"My brother would probably say the same about you," I told him. "But you would never hurt me, would you?"

"Haden and I are not the same," he said putting his hands either side of my face. "Remember that.” I nodded and looked into his eyes. I could instantly tell that he was deadly serious and he didn't look away until I nodded.

"Leo, come and sit down," Rosa said. "You're gonna give yourself a heart attack soon if you don't stop worrying."

He nodded and without letting go of my hand, sat down at the table with me beside him. It was weird to see him so dreadfully concerned about someone else but also sort of comforting to see that his emotions could function fairly normally.

A few moments later, Rosa brought us two steaming cups of coffee which we drank in silence as both Leo and Antonio listening intently into Lia and Haden's conversation.

About an hour later, Lia and Haden came out of the living room.

"We're going to go for a walk," Lia said after a deep breath.

"Why?" Leo asked.

"So that we can talk without people listening,” she said.

Obviously, by “people’ she meant Leo who was glaring at Haden. I nudged him and he tried his best to soften his expression.

"Be back before dark, honey," Rosa said. "And take care of her Haden.”

"No," Leo interjected.

"What?" Lia asked.

"You're not going out alone with him,” Leo said. "I'm sorry but it's for your own safety. I don't trust him."

"I do and you have no right to stop me, Leo," she said.

"I'm your Alpha," Leo snapped. "I have every right.”

"Leo-" Rosa began.

"It's not happening,” he interrupted.

"Alpha Loren," Haden began in the utmost respectful tone. "I'm not going to harm your sister in any way. You won the challenge, remember? It is what you say goes. I don't want to start a war between our packs and I am well aware that doing anything that would cause Lia the slightest bit of harm, mentally or physically, would do that quite easily. You have my word."

There was a tense pause whilst Leo eyed Haden and then Lia before letting out a sigh.

"You can go for a walk but I will not be far behind,” Leo said. "Ella, you are coming too because-" "Because all the men have gone to training and you don't trust us to protect your mate. Yeah, yeah. We get it," Elena said making Lia, Bella, Lisa and Maria laugh.

"Precisely," Leo said getting my coat and handing it to me. "And if you try anything, Haden I can tell you right now that I will end you and your pack,” Leo warned before we promptly left. Unsurprisingly after Leo's threats, Haden didn't try anything. He just walked hand and hand with Lia around one of the pack’s huge lakes having a normal conversation whilst Leo and I stalked creepily a couple of hundred metres behind.

When we arrived home it was 12:00 am and Leo informed me that the pack doctor was coming soon.

"Why?" I asked

"You are my Luna and one day you will carry my child,” he said. "I want to ensure that you are 100% healthy. Just a few checks that's all. My IT technician could find no medical records for you on Kellington hospital's system and I just have to be sure. I can't allow anything to happen to you." "You have a hacker?!" I asked although slightly impressed.

"Of course I do. How else would I know everything about everybody? On your school record, I was impressed by the 100% in your math mid-term but you have a shocking amount of late marks and detentions. You must have been a bad girl."

"No I just couldn't keep my mouth shut and my life together,” I replied frankly. "And what do you need my school record for anyway?"

"Just curiosity and to check there isn't anything I should know."

"Such as?"

"They put all sorts of stuff on school files. Like were you ever going to tell me that you are allergic to peanuts? I could have killed you," he replied.

"Not really the sort of thing that comes up in conversation, is it? "Hey, how are you?" "I'm okay, fucking allergic to peanuts though"."

"Language, young lady," he said with an amused smile before kissing me on the lips.

I snuggled into his chest, embracing the warmth. A few moments later the doorbell rang.

"That will be the doctor,” He said going to answer it.

"Hello Alpha, Hi Luna,” a slim silver-haired woman said.

"Ella this is Doctor Amanda,” Leo introduced.

"Hi," I said.

"Shall we get started then?" She said bringing in a huge suitcase behind her.

"Urgh s...sure,” I stuttered.

"Don't worry about it. We just need to take a few quick tests, it won't take a minute,” She said kindly. "Just lie down on your back on the sofa while I get the equipment sorted.”

She took a sample of my saliva and blood and listen to my heart and recorded my blood pressure and looked in my ears and mouth and nose and checked that my mark was healing how it should me and measured and weighed me and pretty much did everything else you could possibly imagine.

"Just a few checks, Leo?" I asked as she shone a torch into my eye.

"Better safe than sorry," he said.

"Okay, that's everything," she said. "All that is left to give you is this,” she added handing me a box. "A pregnancy test?" I asked.

"Take it," she said. "There's no reason why you couldn't already be pregnant so it would be good to know but if you're not, don't worry. It is normal for it to take a few tries.”

I nodded and she soon left.

"Go on then," Leo urged. "Take the test."

"Right now?" I asked,

"Why not?" he questioned.

I looked down at the packet. There was a picture of a baby crawling and a happy smiling mother. But I couldn't help but feel a sense of dread

I went into the bathroom, followed the instructions on the box. Never did I think that I'd find myself doing this anytime soon but here I was. The three minutes you had to wait for it to develop were agonising. Leo was getting impatient on the other side of the door but the timer still had 30 seconds to go.

When it buzzed, I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and looked down.

Negative.

I sighed a huge sigh of relief and smiled to myself.

"It's negative,” I told Leo trying not to sound to happy.

"Show me," he said and I unlocked the door and held it out to him.

His reaction was the stark opposite to mine. He took a sharp inhale before turning around and punching the wall. Four photos fell off and a massive crater was left.

"Hey! What did the wall ever do to you!?" I asked.

"You know that you mean more to me than this but," he said before taking a deep breath, "I'm just disappointed.”

"Leo," I said taking his hands. "You heard what she said. This is normal and there is nothing wrong. We can just keep trying."

He nodded and rested his head in the crook of my neck.

"When you have calmed down though. You just punched a hole in the fucking wall.”

"You seem relieved,” he said.

I didn't reply.

"You didn't want to be pregnant, did you?" he asked. "You can tell me the truth."

"No," I said quietly. "It would have been far too soon.”

I held my breath, waiting on his response.

He nodded and pulled me into a hug, "It's okay. You can't control how you feel and I understand. A lot has happened in a week."

I wrapped my arms around him and nodded.

"Do you want to go for a run?" he asked.

"I'd love to."

We agreed to run to the base because Leo had to be there for work but we went a scenic route along a river to a small waterfall.

Leo pushed me in, it was cold, I splashed him, he splashed me back harder, I ended up dripping head to toe and drowning in Leo's ginormous but very warm jacket.

"Looking a little damp, Luna," a voice said from behind us when we reached the base.

I recognised Luca's voice immediately and span round to meet his friendly face.

"Leo pushed me in a river," I told him.

"How very romantic, Alpha. Has no one ever told you how to treat a lady?" He asked.

Leo gave him a sarcastic smile.

"The manager of the junior institute wants to see you. Something about how today would be better than tomorrow for the surveillance," he explained.

The junior institute. The one where Leo keeps the little baby boys.

"Oh, okay," Leo replied. "Can you watch Ella?"

"So now you trust me for babysitting duty?" Luca asked raising an eyebrow. "Now that I'm your only option?”

"Luca," Leo said sternly.

"I'd love to but I can't. I have a meeting to be in. You know...the one you said you'd murder me if I missed. The one about..my vacation to...Mexico," he replied.

"Oh fuck," Leo said, "You better go. You're already late."

Luca smiled before patting my head, going to pat Leo's head, deciding better of it and leaving.

"I can come in with you?" I suggested remembering what Rosa had said to me about how I should try and help the little boys.

"You are absolutely catergorically not coming with me," he said. "No way."

I narrowed my eyes, dissaprovingly.

He raised his eyebrow.

"You're gonna throw a hissy fit because I said no?" he asked, "I am your Alpha.”

"And I still don't see you that way," I muttered.

"I thought we were over all that," he replied.

I scoffed.

"You mean you thought that because I slept with you, I've accepted all your bullshit?" I asked.

"I was under the assumption that you were refusing to get between my sheets as a stand of protest,” he said, "When you let me fuck you, I thought you had given in."

"You thought I was just going to turn a blind eye to all the evil you do?" I questioned. "You are a terrible man, Leo. And I'm not okay with that."

"Then why the fuck did you have sex with me, huh?" he asked.

"Because in a brief moment of lust and mutual hatred over Haden and a peaceful day, it didn't seem like such a terrible idea,” I snapped, "And you comforted me and seduced me and made me believe that you weren't as bad as I first thought too. Now I am beginning to realise that I was wrong."

He tightened his jaw and looked out into the trees over my head, like he was wishing I would just vanish into thin air.

He then took his phone out of his pocket and dialled a number.

"Mateo," he said, "Where are you?"

"At the base, why?" Mateo's voice replied.

"Perfect. I need you to watch Ella.”

"I can't. I'm with a friend,” Mateo protested.

"It wasn't an offer. Where abouts are you? I'll bring her to you.”

Mateo sighed, "The cafe.”

Leo then hung up the phone, grabbed my arm and dragged me towards the base.