Alpha Loren

October 20th

Leo dragged me through the base until we reached a cute little cafe. Mateo stood outside with his arms folded and an unimpressed expression on his face as a girl stood next to him eating a panini. "I'll be back in an hour," Leo grumbled before marching away again.

"Hey," I said awkwardly.

"Did you two just have a row or something?" he asked, a smile creeping onto his lips.

"What?" I asked.

"You know what. He was clearly pissed off,” Mateo said with a laugh.

"And naturally you assume it's something to do with me?" I asked.

He put his hand on my head and ruffled my hair, "Of course it's something to do with you. You get under his skin like loiasis."

"Loiasis?" I questioned.

"It's a parasite worm that lives under the skin and itches like hell,” he said with a wide smile. "That's you. You are the worm."

"Ew, Mateo I'm tryna eat,” the girl complained as she lifted her panini up.

"Gee thanks," I muttered. "Do I look like a parasitic worm to you?"

"Oh this is my Allison," Mateo said gesturing to the girl, "Allison this is Ella.”

She quickly chewed the bite of panini in her mouth, "Nice to meet you Luna.”

She was a tall athletic girl with strong arms and legs and a bright smile.

I looked from her to Mateo before suddenly feeling very uncomfortable, "Oh God. I hope I'm not interupting anything.”

"Relax," she said with a light laugh, "We're just friends. I was in the same class as Marco and Carlos at school so we're best friends and I've known them for decades.”

"So..why are you-" I began looking at Mateo.

"Because we fuck sometimes,” he interupted.

"Mateo!" she explain, "That isn't public knowledge!"

"We can trust Ella not to tell Marco and Carlos....right Ella?" he said looking a little nervous.

"Of course," I replied, "My lips are sealed.”

Mateo smiled before pulling out a chair from one of the outdoor cafe tables.

"So come on then," he said gesturing for me to sit down, "Spill the tea sis. What happened with Leo?"

I rolled my eyes, “I hardly said anything. He's just fragile.”

"I want details,” he demanded.

I sighed, "Well we were on a walk and he suddenly had to go to the junior institute. I suggested that I just went with him and he said no. I protested because I wanted to see whatever shit he has going on there but he told me I should just accept his answer because he's Alpha. Anyway, it escalated and I ended up saying I regretted mating with him which apparently really pissed him off. Maybe partly because he's already in a bad mood because I took a pregnancy test earlier which was negative.”

Mateo raised both eyebrows, "Well shit," he muttered.

"Yeh..." I said, "Such a healthy relationship.”

"You realise that he will never in his right mind let you inside that institute though, right?" Mateo asked.

"Why not?" I asked.

"He doesn't let anyone in," Mateo said, "Only him, Blair and the few that work there have ever been inside.”

"Do you know why?" I questioned.

"Nope. But my guess is there is some shady shit going on," he replied, "He's taken those little boys to train as ruthless warriors. Do you think he's baking them cookies and letting them play with teddy bears?"

I swallowed.

"I dread to think what is happening in there,” Mateo added

"We have to find out,” I announced.

"How are you going to do that?" Mateo asked.

"I don't know. Break-in?"

Mateo laughed before his face dropped, "Oh... you're not joking."

"Let's do it," Allison chipped in.

Mateo turned to her, "Do you have a death wish?"

She shrugged, "He won't kill me," she said, "Your family is friends with mine. He's known me since I was a baby."

Mateo raised an eyebrow, "And you think that's enough to protect you?"

She smiled, "Okay maybe you have a point.”

She then looked at me and winked.

Mateo then looked down at his watch, "Oh fuck,” he cursed.

"What?" I asked.

"Leo recently gave me a leadership role in his army,” Mateo said, "And I'm supposed to be meeting my new squadron right now."

He then quickly glanced around, "I'll be half an hour," he said, "Stay here and I'll be back before Leo is. Allison knows how to kick ass if there's any trouble okay?" he said to me.

I nodded, "Fine by me.”

He then shoved a dollar my way, "Buy an ice cream or something," he said before jogging off.

"I don't really want an ice cream...” I said to Allison, a grin creeping onto my lips, “I'd rather go trespassing and expose the inhumane treatment of kids."

Allison grinned, "I couldn't agree more."

"Can we do that...?" I asked through gritted teeth.

"Should we do that..?"

"Will we do that...?"

I looked at her and she looked back before we both just got to our feet.

“Let's do it."

"Let's break into a high-security prison.”

I already loved Allison. She was tough and brave and although she had the advantage of her family being affiliated with Leo's, there weren't many wolves in this pack that would dare do this even so. Allison showed me to the building. It was crawling with guards but there'd have to be more than a burly men armed with knives to deter us.

So we crept through the forest to get to the back where we slowly sidled up to the back wall. "Now what?" I asked.

"I'll give you a leg up," she whispered, "There's a gap in the barbed wire there," she added pointed up.

"And when the guards see me three metres off ground, scrambling over their fence?"

She gritted her teeth, "We need a distraction.”

I looked around, trying to think of anything.

But before I could, Allison grabbed me and pulled me behind a tree.

"There's a truck coming,” she said. "They'll open the gates and that's our chance.”

I nodded and we stood waiting for the truck to roll down the track up to the back gate.

As he stopped and the driver got out to unlock the gates, we raced up to it and climbed under the canvas sheet that covered the cargo before lying silently and still, waiting for the truck to move again.

Miraculously, we weren't seen and soon enough, we heard the gates close behind us.

We could hear the voices of soldiers outside. They spoke in Italian but Allison mouthed what they were saying to me in English.

This truck is destined for the warehouse to be unloaded later.

We were driven a hundred or so yards more before the beep of reversing filled the air and the sunlight that shone through the canvas was obsecuring. The reversing stopped, the driver climbed out and then just silence.

"Do you think it's clear?” Allison asked me.

I nodded, "How the fuck did we get away with that."

Allison lifted up something next to her to show me.

It was an onion.

"We got incredibly lucky," she said picking up more and more onions, "The smell of onion can mask almost any scent and this truck just so happens to be full of them.”

I smiled and we fell about silently laughing.

"Come on," she said rolling off the bed of onions, "Let's work out what to do next."

The truck was in a dark warehouse. The only light came from a door with a small window leading out to a dim-lit hallway.

"It's open,” she whispered, "We must have gone through the security on the way into this warehouse."

I smiled again and we slipped into the hallway.

I followed Allison as we ran along it. She was so light on her feet and I tried to have the same elegance but I'm sure I could ever be as smooth as her.

When we first heard the sound of a guard's footsteps, we both froze.

But Allison was first to do something in order to stop us from being caught blatantly red handed in the middle of a corridor.

She grabbed my arm and yanked me towards a staircase off the hallway which we then both ran up. At the top of the stair case was a single door. Worried our scents would still be detectable from the hall below, we had no choice but to go through it.

"Luna?" a voice said.

I looked up to see a woman stood infront of us, she held a crying baby in her arms and when I glanced around the room I noticed two dozen other young children in cribs, half of them screaming and crying.

"What the fuck...” I whispered.

"Luna, you can be here," the woman said, "Does the Alpha know?"

I shook my head, "I'm sorry. I just had to see what's going on in this place.”

She looked incredibly nervous, "I have to sound the alarm.”

"No," Allison said quickly, "We'll go...but do you work here?"

She nodded, “I'm a nurse. I feed and care for the kids in this ward."

"And it's just you..with about 24 young children?"

"I shouldn't be telling you," she said in a hoarse voice.

"Please," I said, "I need to know so that I can try to do something.”

"I'm the only one. There is one nurse per ward."

Allison exchanged looks with me, "..and how many wards are there?"

"Thirty," she said.

I felt my heart sink. Hundreds of children being raised like this? With one nurse trying to care and provide affection to them all?

I couldn't help myself but to go over to one of the cribs where a little baby cried.

He was three months old at most. He had beautiful dark black skin, long black eyelashes and a tag on his right ankle reading “number 763". Next to him lay another child. He had the most stunning fire red hair and a freckled complexion. His ankle read "Number 764"

As soon as I picked the first child up, his crying ceased

"That's all you needed number 763. Just a little cuddle.” I whispered softly. "Something you should be getting from your Mom. She misses you. Did you know that?" I continued. "I don't know her but she misses you, that's because she loves you. She loves you far far far more than you will ever know," I said tears escaping my eyes.

I looked back at the label expecting to find a real name or at least a pack on the back. But nothing. Just a number.

"I'm sorry," I sobbed as I continued to hold him

How can such innocence be turned into a monster? That was his fate. To become a ruthless, brutal warrior. It was hard to imagine.

"Ella we should go," Allison urged. "We've seen enough now."

I glanced to the terrified looking nurse and nodded. It was hard to put the child back down after such a short while but Leo finding us in here make everything so much worse.

"Thank you,” I said to the nurse after planting a kiss on the babies forehead. "Thank you for letting us see the suffering my mate is inflicting. I will not give up until he has amended it. That is a promise.”

She gave me a small smile before Allison and I made a quick exit out of the room.

As we came down the stairs I turned to Allison, "What do we do now?"

But she had suddenly frozen mid-stride,

I followed her gaze down to the bottom of the stairs.

"I have an idea,” a deep, cold voice said. "Explain to me what the fuck you are doing down here.” Leo. He was stood at the bottom of the stairs with a guard. I stared at him my mouth wide open in shock.

"What you really think we don't have CCTV?" Leo said a dark angry expression on his face as he held one of the onions up in his hand."

"Leo, I-" I stuttered, "We were just..um-"

He rolled his eyes, "If you can not explain yourself, I will just assume that you have broken into my facility for the sheer joy of disobeying me. But I'm sure there's a perfectly valid reason for this, huh? Come on Ella, I'm dying to hear it.”

"I had to see what is happening here," I said, "And now I have and I am appalled.”

He clenched his jaw, "Get down here now.”

Allison obliged and I slowly followed her, keeping as far away from Leo as possible.

"Where the hell is Mateo?" he hissed.

"At a meeting with his squadron,” I replied.

Leo then turned to the guard, "Take Allison to my office. Call Mateo and tell him to come here immediately. I'll deal with her later,” Leo ordered.

The guard came forward and gently took Allison's arm in an attempt to calmly guide her out of the room.

She flinched at his touch and immediately pulled her arm out of his hold, "You don't need to touch me," she told him.

If she felt the same anger as me at what we had just witnessed, her reaction was fairly reasonable considering.

"Watch your tongue, Allison,” Leo warned. "You have already shown enough disrespect.”

"Yes Alpha,” she said with a nod before she let the guard seized her roughly around the waist and carry her down the hall, I watched helplessly as they left and as Leo came ever closer to me.

"Leo I swear to God don't come any nearer to me," I snapped.

"Or what?" Leo asked, still stepping closer.

"Do you really think you have the right to be angry?" I snapped. "I have just seen twenty for small babies crying and screaming as one single nurse runs around desperately trying to tend to them all."

There was already a tear in my eye.

"They cry because they need their mothers. They need love." I said starting to cry again. "You have enough people in the pack. Enough money. Why can't you employ more workers? And why do you have to have this whole thing in the first place? You know that maternal deprivation can have horrible consequences right?”

"This is exactly why I didn't want to bring you in here,” he growled. “This is the way it is and this is the way it will stay.”

"It doesn't have to be! You could easily change this in a click of your fingers!" I sobbed. "You're the Alpha!"

"But I'm not going to," he stated bluntly.

I clenched my teeth together.

"Fuck you," I growled, "I am so glad that pregnancy test was negative. Had it not been, I would be pregnant with the child of a monster.”

He suddenly froze.

Shit, you've really done it this time, Ella.

He then turned around and pulled me hard into his chest making me whimper.

"I was incredibly close to slapping you just then,” he growled in my ear. Something about the way he said it and the spite in his voice made me believe he was not kidding. "And that's nothing in my sane mind I would ever do to you. Do not make me lose my shit.”

He then closed his dark piercing eyes and took a few deep breaths before looking back to me, his eyes having restored to normal

He then grabbed my hand and dragged me in the same Allison had been taken.

"Do you not feel any empathy for those kids?" I sobbed as he dragged me, "You've robbed them from the joys of childhood. Do you feel nothing?!"

"Right now all I can feel is an extreme level of anger," he said

"We wouldn't have to have problems like this if you just stopped being a shit fucking person,” I growled, trying to prize my wrist out of his grip.

Leo only held my wrist tighter, "You don't get to tell me what to do, sweetheart.”

When we got to an office at the end of the hallway, Allison was already there.

"Mateo will be here in five minutes,” The guard said to Leo before exiting the room.

Leo put me down on the ground before he stood in silence for a minute or two his face stone cold and livid.

He stood behind the desk and rested his hands on it as he flexed his shoulds up and stared down at the floor, breathing heavily.

"You wonder why I don't give you any freedom Ella," Leo said eventually. "Mateo let you go for what three seconds? And this is what you do?"

He then looked to Allison.

"And you Allison. Why are you here? For the fun of going against your Alpha's orders? Because this is not the first rebellion you've staged,” Leo said his voice low. "Do you want me to move you to another faction? Or if you really want, I can kick you out the pack. The only reason you are still alive is because you are a family friend.”

"You can't hold her to blame. This was entirely my idea,” I declared.

Leo's eyes snapped to me and glared before he turned back to Allison, "This will not go unpunished. I will not let trespassing on a high security, access restricted area slide, whether it was your “idea’ or not," Leo said in an intimidating tone.

"And 1 will not let child abuse 'slide’," I said banging my fists down on the desk. "You are the one in the wrong here,” I added, firmly crossing my arms in front of my chest, and glaring at him.

"Unfold your arms. I don't need any more of your disrespect,” Leo replied.

"That's funny, because I thought to show disrespect there has to be something of respectable value to exhibit your lack of respect towards," I said not moving my arms.

Leo inhaled deeply, before sharply seizing my wrists in his big hands and pulling my arms out of their fold.

"If you think I will tolerate this you can think again Ella,” he growled staring into my eyes as I intently stared back determined not to look away first.

A few moments later Mateo came through the door with the guard.

"I came straight away," he said only slightly out of breath.

Leo didn't take his eyes off me and I didn't take my eyes off him. Even so, I could tell Mateo was looking at Allison not with an angry expression, but a confused one.

"Take your Allison home," Leo ordered still not looking away.

Mateo nodded his head and opened the door holding it for Allison. Allison and Mateo were clearly close. He wasn't angry with her and he definitely wasn't going to manhandle her like Leo did to me. Even when Mateo and Allison had left, the staring match continued.

"Go and inform the nurse in ward 21 that they are fired," Leo said to the guard who still waited in the office.

He nodded and left.

"What the fuck did she do wrong?" I asked.

"She failed to activate the intruder alarm system," he said, "She would have let you go in and out unnoticed without informing her Alpha.”

"Again..fuck you," I hissed.

"You better watch who you are cursing at Ella," he growled. "Now, are you going to walk nicely to my car or am I going to have to drag you?"

"What do you fucking think?" I asked.

"You aren't making things any better," Leo replied.

"At least I'm not the only one,” I said, referring to his blatant refusal to do anything about this hellhole.

"We are leaving now," He said his voice deepening even more as he broke the glare by roughly pulling me towards him.

He then dragged me down the hallway once again and out of the front entrance.

I waved at all the guards casually as I was dragged past them. Leo noticed almost immediately and grabbed the hand I was waving with and used it as an anchor to throw me over his shoulder.

As soon as we had arrived back at Leo's house after a tense car journey, I stormed up the stairs and into a random room. It had a lock and I immediately bolted it. Leo took his time to follow me up the stairs. I guess there was no rush.

"Ella," He said in a bored tone.

"Go away," I spat. "l want to be alone.”

I heard him lean against the door and sigh, "Open the door. I just want to talk about this.”

"What is there to say?" I snapped. "The fact is that you're a horrible man and you don't plan to change. Until you do, I want nothing to do with you.”

"You have no right to be mad at me," he said.

I laughed.

"Did I break into your maximum security building?" he asked

"No," I snapped. "I don't have a maximum-security building because I'm not a psychopath.”

"Open the door," he said in a deeper tone.

"No."

"Are we really doing this? Ella, come on. Things were going well between us."

"Because I was beginning to think that you aren't as bad as they say you are!" I sobbed. "I was wrong CLEARLY."

"Ella, open this fucking door right now or I'm going to break it down," he demanded.

"Just leave me alone. Please,” I begged.

A few seconds later the door was lying flat on the floor and Leo was stood steaming in the room that was previously locked.

"What don't you understand? I don't want to be with you right now," I said.

"And I want to talk to you," he replied slightly calmer than before.

"Unless you are going to do something about that fucking concentration camp you call a “training institution’, I don't want to hear it,” I hissed. "How could you be so cruel to the innocence of a baby? He sat down on the toilet beside where I was sat on the floor and turned to face me.

"You're a heartless monster, Leonardo. Anyone can see that," I continued.

"Ella," he began. "You have no choice but to accept that I am not the angel you want me to be. The sooner you realise that, the easier it will be for the both of us because we are mates and we are stuck with each other.”

"But why do you have to be like this?" I asked. "Why can't you at least try to be better?”

"Look around you, Ells. My pack is thriving because of my nature. Nobody dares challenge my rule and they follow my orders which always have the pack’s interest in mind,” he said simply. "Why would I change that?"

"Because your people are miserable,” I said. "How many broken families are there because of that place?"

"It is for the long term benefit of the pack. Those kids will grow up to be strong warriors trained to protect Stella from its many enemies.”

"That doesn't make it right,” I replied. "You should find another way to defend the pack.”

"No," he said coldly.

I looked up into his eyes that stared down at me.

"I hope to never have the misfortune conceiving your child,” I said folding my arms in front of my chest. "In fact, I want to be associated with you in no way at all.”

He slowly stood up and crouched down to my level until he was unnervingly close to me. His hand reached out and gripped around my face. His face was like stone yet I still dared to look him in the darkening eyes.

"Not long ago you were perfectly happy to sleep with me. Now you say that because you've seen the other side of me, you won't do it again,” he said. "But the truth is, you knew who I am and why every wolf knows my name. You knew the moment you met me and you knew the moment you gave yourself up to me. You may have tried to lie to yourself about it but deep down, the truth was there. So you will be in my bed again because this changes nothing. No matter what I do and no matter what you say, I am still your mate and you don't have a choice but to be with me."

I looked away from his eyes and down to the floor, “So you don't mind that I am miserable with you?" I asked quietly.

"Being my Luna will take some adjusting to but you'll be happy here eventually," he replied.

"So I have to make adjustments to you but not vice versa?" I asked.

"You're finally understanding,” he said kissing my forehead

"Can you just leave me alone?" I asked realising I couldn't win this.

"We still have to talk about the events of earlier. The next time you do something like this there will be consequences. Do you understand me?" He said gripping my face a tighter

"Don't do anything questionable and we won't have that problem,” I said trying to maintain a strong voice.

With that he gripped my face even tighter and pulled me right up close to him.

"I am your Alpha. You do not get to tell me what to do," he said his other hand coming to my throat "You just need to shut up and learn to do as you are told.”

"Let me go, Leo," I said. "I can't live like this.”

"You wouldn't fare well out there sweetheart. I'd give you 12 hours at most off this territory alone,” he snarled.

"I'd rather have 12 hours of freedom than a lifetime of captivity,” I replied.

His hand tightened around my throat.

"Are you sure about that?" he asked.

I swallowed and brought my hands to his fingers, trying to stop him from tightening any further and cutting off my airway.

I couldn't reply say yes. My wolf wouldn't let me. She felt too threatened by his action.

"Not so confident anymore, huh,” Leo said, "We will never mention this again. I don't want to hear another word about the junior camp from you, understand?

His hand then pulled away and he left me in a gasping, panting mess sinking slowly further onto the floor.

A few hours later, the smell of food drifted into my nose.

I sat up and noticed how I still lay on the bathroom floor. My eyes felt groggy with sleep and puffy with tears. My neck was stiff and my entire body ached.

It was now dark outside. I must have cried myself to sleep but now my stomach growled and whatever was cooking was incredibly appealing.

I made my way downstairs and into the kitchen.

"Come and eat," Leo said to me, putting two plates on the table.

When I didn't respond and just stood in the doorway of the kitchen he said, "I don't care whether you eat it on your own accord or if I have to force it down your throat, you are eating it."

I reluctantly sat down and glared up at him.

He opened his mouth to speak but then the doorbell rang.

"Eat," he ordered before going to open it.

It was Leo's father, Antonio.

I groaned. The last thing I needed.

"I heard there was a security breach at the Junior institute today,” Antonio said from the doorstep, "Something to do with your mate?"

Leo sighed, "Yes. There was."

"You are letting this get out of hand, Leonardo,” Antonio said, "What's next? Total anarchy?"

"I'm dealing with her," Leo said deeply.

"How?" he questioned.

"None of your business,” Leo snapped.

"And is she your Luna yet?" he asked.

"Yes," Leo replied.

"Well that's something at least, "Now you have to do is keep breaking her in."

I raised my eyebrows and there was a silent pause.

"I'm not breaking her, Dad," he replied. "She's not my enemy. I just respected her choices and rights and stopped pressuring her and she stopped pushing me away.”

"So you got all soft and nice with her and in exchange she broke into a high-security building? You are too easy on her, Leo,” Antonio hissed, "And until that changes, she is going to keep taking the piss. Do you want me to talk some sense into her?” Antonio asked.

"You will not go anywhere near her,” Leo replied in his Alpha tone.

"As an Alpha of thousands, you can not have your 17-year-old mate disrespecting you like this. What kind of example does that set? How does that make you look?"

"I know, Dad," he said, "You don't understand. She is not like Mom but I am dealing with it."

"You aren't being firm enough with her."

There was another pause before Antonio spoke again, "Sort it out before it's too late.”

His footsteps then headed back down the drive and Leo slammed the door.

"Just to be clear," I began, "I am not giving in until you have put and end to the torture you are inflicting on those kids."

I held my eye contact for a few seconds but said nothing before he just turned and left me alone with my spaghetti.

I considered that a victory.

He was gone for hours and I just watched the TV, bored as a rock but unable to bring myself to move. We all know the feeling.

"What the hell are you watching? Keeping up with the Kardashians?" Leo asked sitting down next to me after finally reappearing. I looked up at him and then returned my eyes to the screen.

"I don't want to talk to you."

"What was that?" Leo tested.

"I said I don't want to talk to you,” I repeated with a little more sass than I intended.

"Fine we don't have to talk," He said pulling me into his arms and laying back on the sofa, "We only ever argue when we talk anyway.”

"Because you're a dick," I said.

"You've made it clear that you are not giving in. I've made it clear that I am not giving in," he replied, "So do you want to live in a constant war for seventy-odd years or do you want to just shut up and let me cuddle you?"

It didn't really seem like a choice. He held me too tight to move so I just had to lie on top of him and let him stroke my hair as we watched "keeping up with the Kardashians back to back for hours more in total silence.

At around midnight the front door just burst open.

"Oh yeah sure. Walk right in Luca. Don't worry about it," Leo called as the distinct prance of Luca's footsteps sounded in the hall.

"You're not having sex are you?" Luca's voice called.

"No," Leo said as I laughed.

Shortly after, Luca came bouncing into the room and jumped over the back of the sofa so that he was sat by our feet.

"Morning Alpha,” He said cheerfully.

"What the fuck do you want at midnight?" Leo grumbled.

"Well I was just having a little night time snack and as I was pouring my cereal this came out," He explained thrusting a shimmery piece of paper in our faces.

"You won a 2 person trip to some private Greek island. Great. Why did you feel the need to tell us?" Leo said reading the ticket then handing it back to him.

His face lit up and he held it back out to Leo, "Because...as the kind and thoughtful friend I am, I thought since I don't have a mate you could have it."

"I'm the Alpha. I can't just leave for 10 days or however long it is," Leo said.

"Sure you can. Blair can take care of the pack for just over a week," he replied.

"When is it?" I asked.

"Leaving tomorrow morning." Luca.

"Tomorrow morning!?” I said.

"Yeah the cereal box was like 6 months expired so you would normally have more warning,” Luca explained shrugging his shoulders.

"That's disgusting,” I stated.

"Well anyway, take the ticket and at least think about it,” Luca finished jumping back over the sofa and slapping Leo on the shoulder. "Bye Ella!" He called before slamming the door.

Leo sat up and looked closer at the ticket.

"We should go," he said.

"I'm not going on vacation with you right now," I said

"Wherever we are, we are going to spend all week arguing. Why wouldn't you want to do it on a nice warm Greek island?"

I narrowed my eyes.

"Time away from the pack may do us good," he said.

"Hmm, maybe stepping back for a few days and reflecting will allow you to see how evil you are..." I said, "And when we return you'll sort it out.”

"And maybe..when you see me taking a break from being Alpha...you'll realise that everything I do is for the benefit of my pack and this so called evil’ is not for no reason,” he said.

"Then its settled,” I said sharply, "We're going.”