Finding Forgiveness

Leo's POV

I arrived in Mexico less than 12 hours after Luca called me and it had been one of the worst half days in my life. I'd been away from Ella before not knowing where she is but the difference this time was that there was no question or doubt about it. Her life was in danger. Nobody knew much about Andrea Martinez. He was a master at hiding and secrecy which only made him more dangerous and this situation more difficult. How do you find rescue your mate when she’s with a man that can't be found?

Most of his men only knew him as the boss and had never actually seen his face. Everything we knew about him in the Stella pack was through what Luca had learnt from Guillermo (one of his most trusted, yet surprisingly easily paid off employees) and even his knowledge of who he was working for was incredibly limited. And just to tick it all off, Mexico was a huge country and we didn't even know where to start.

I stepped out of the airport into the bitter dry air and scanned for Luca's car. The sun was beating down onto the dusty road and radiating back up the most unpleasant way. Besides the odd limp whisp of weed or scuttling beetle, there was hardly any life and when you looked out beyond the runways of the airport, there was only sand and desert for miles.

"I fucking hate the south,” I said to myself as I thought back to the deep green forests and glistening blue lakes of my pack lands in the North. A few moments later, a dusty grey car pulled up in front of me. "Morning, Alpha,” Luca's voice said as he rolled down the window.

I blocked the sun from my eyes with my hand and looked in at him, instantly noticed the dark circles under his eyes and his unbrushed hair. "You look like shit," I told him.

"And you look hot and sweaty. Get in, I have the AC on," he replied. Luckily for him and his vital organs, since he informed me that he had got my mate involved in a drug gang, I had had a long flight to cool off. But that didn't mean he was safe to test me.

"Shut the fuck up,” I snapped before getting into his car.

It was cool but there was a suffocating smell of musty corn and unchanged socks.

"I'm so sorry, Alpha," he said. "For all of this.”

"Apology not accepted,” I said bluntly rolling down the window as he began to drive, letting a breeze of fresh air in. "Have you got anywhere with this Pedro Hernandez guy?"

"No, the guys either untraceable or that man lied to you," he replied. "He wasn't lying," I said confidently. "This man exists and he will know where Martinez is keeping Ella.”

"I contacted the IT guys in the pack and all there's nothing on the database and they can't find anything about him on the internet. Nobody around here seems to recognise the name either. You've got to give it to them, Alpha. They've got everything covered.”

"Out of all the people you could have gotten my mate involved with?!" I growled. "Andrea Martinez: the one man that I don't know how to defeat.”

"I'm sorry, Alpha,” He said again. "I really am because I care about her too. But we can defeat him. All we have to do is find him."

"And therein lies the problem.”

We sat for a moment in silence before the first idea in twelve hours harbouring any chance of success came to me.

"What if we don't need to find him? Martinez has made a living out of destroying other Alphas,” I began. "What better way to lure him out of hiding than with the chance of taking down Alpha Leonardo Loren? Then we can capture him and get him to tell us where Ella is and then kill him."

"Alpha, that's too risky,” Luca said. "What if he kills you instead? How is that going to help get Ella back?"

"I'm not gonna let him kill me," I replied.

"They have guns.”

"And I noticed you do too," I said picking up the metal item I had spotted in the mug rack of his car.

"Alpha..." he said with a concerned look on his face. "That thing only has one round in it and we're not exactly experienced with guns.”

"I am willing to risk it for my mate,” I replied. "This isn't to say that I'm letting you off the hook but I blame myself for this too. She wouldn't have left at all if I didn't kill her brother.”

Luca sighed, "What if we lure the rat out, don't let him find the bate and then just watch where he scurries back to? No one risks dying that way but we still find out where he's keeping Ella. Then we can bring the army down here and get her out of there."

"Nice analogy."

"So?" Luca asked. "Do you agree that is the safer option?"

I leant back and sighed. Luca was right and his plan was more feasible and I couldn't let my anger for Martinez get in the way of what was important here: saving Ella.

"Fine," I agreed. "But he's messed with my mate, the one I love the most, and I am going to kill him when this is over. Mark my words."