Chapter 56

ELLA

That night, I hardly slept. I couldn’t stop thinking about the ring and the letter and how it got to the doorstep.

Leo was right next to me and had promised not to fall asleep until I did.

But I felt terrible keeping him up, especially as he was so busy with being alpha at the moment, so I had closed my eyes and pretended to be asleep until I heard his gentle sleeping breaths.

Lying wide awake in bed was beginning to drive me mad, so I got up and wandered down the moonlit hall. It was a clear starry night, and I stopped by one of the long windows.

The forest was perfectly still and peaceful, but I couldn’t bring myself to look for long before I shivered and had to shift my eyes away. There was something unsettling about the darkness that the branches created.

My throat was dry, and I was craving a glass of icy water, so I went downstairs.

As I stepped across the threshold into the kitchen, I felt my stomach sink. There was a scent, and I knew it immediately.

Too afraid to even switch on the light, I stood silently, praying that at some point I had fallen asleep, and this was just another nightmare.

But then somebody else switched on the light, and everything was nothing but real.

“Don’t scream,” his accented voice said. “Not unless you want Pablo here to shoot your little kids.”

By the light switch was a burly man with a gun poised in his hand. His face was stony and harsh, but I stared straight at him, unable to turn to face the other man in the kitchen.

I heard his footsteps step around the table and slowly up to me until he rested his fingers under my chin and lifted my head so I had no choice but to look into his eyes.

“It’s good to see you again, Blanca,” he said.

He wore the same black suit as always with the same pristine white shirt. His hair was combed back in the same way it usually was, and his eyes were as menacing as ever.

He lifted my hand and inspected it.

“I’m disappointed to see you’re not wearing my ring,” he said.

“How did you get here?” I asked, pulling my hand out of his.

“Your alpha has control over the borders, the airport, the docks... but there’s a loophole,” Andrea said, wandering over to the sink.

“What?” I asked.

“Why would I tell the alpha’s bitch, huh?” he said with a wink.

He then filled a glass up with water and brought it over to me.

I looked down at it.

“What? You came down for a glass of water, I presume?”

I narrowed my eyes. “Why are you here, Andrea? It’s certainly not to bring me a glass of water,” I said.

He grinned.

“I just wanted to see my wife. It’s been months since I had the joy of setting my eyes on such a beautiful woman,” he replied, putting his hands on my waist.

“And where have you been?” I asked, pushing him off.

He shrugged. “Around.”

“I don’t understand,” was all I had to say. “You went to all of this effort just to see me?”

“Oh, Ella, don’t be naive,” he said. “Of course not. You are just a bonus.”

“Then what do you want?” I asked.

“All in good time, Blanca. All in good time,” he replied, a glint in his eye. “But I best be off. People to meet, things to plan.”

He then leaned forward and left a lingering, breathy kiss on my cheek.

“Sweet dreams,” he whispered in my ear, before he and the gunman exited through the back door, letting in a cool breeze that brushed at my bare legs.

***

The second I was sure Andrea and the gun were far enough away, I woke Leo up.

“What’s the matter, Ells?” he asked. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost. And why are you shaking?”

“A-Andrea,” I stuttered.

“You had a nightmare?”

I shook my head and swallowed. “He was in the kitchen.”

He looked at me blankly.

“I went down to get water, and he was there,” I said. “It wasn’t a dream.”

With that, he got up and left the room. The scent must have hit him halfway along the hall because it was then that he began to march.

“What did he want?” Leo demanded as I followed him into the kitchen, and he relocked the back door. “And how the fuck did he unlock the door?!”

“He said he just wanted to see me,” I replied. “And he’s a master lock picker.”

“Why didn’t you call me?” he asked.

“Because there was a man with a gun. He said he’d shoot the kids if I did.”

If this were a cartoon, this would be the part where steam would have come out of Leo’s ears.

“Who does he think he is coming into my house and threatening my family?!” He growled. “And who gave him the right to ‘just’ see my luna?!”

I felt a tear drop down my cheek. “Please don’t wake the kids up.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, running his hand through his hair.

He then sighed and held out his hand, before saying in a much gentler tone, “I’ve got to call Blair, come sit in my office with me.”

For the next twenty minutes, Leo was on the phone. I sat in the armchair in the corner as he paced backward and forward talking to Blair and then various army commanders and then his dad, Luca, and Max.

When he finally put the phone down, I had long since retired to just staring straight down at the floor, trying my best not to process what had just happened.

Leo crouched down in front of me and took my hands.

“Every man and woman in the entire fucking army is out there. The borders are locked, there is a unit on their way here to protect you and the kids, and Max will come and stay with you all night.”

“You’re leaving?” I asked, darting my eyes up.

He sighed and squeezed my hands again. “I have to, Ella. The pack needs an alpha tonight.”

“Of course,” I said, with a forced smile. “You need to go.”

He then kissed my cheek and left the office.

He soon returned in his black army uniform to find I hadn’t moved.

“You should head upstairs,” he said.

I shook my head, and with the movement, a tear broke free. Of course, Leo saw it and crouched in front of me again.

“It’s going to be okay,” he said.

“We don’t know that, Leo,” I replied. “And even if it is. Seeing him again and even the thought of…of…it’s just…”

I then broke down into floods of tears. As he pulled me into his arms to comfort me, there was a knock on the door.

Leo smelled the air before turning his head toward the door. “Max, come in!” he called.

A few seconds later, my cousin stood in the doorway to the office.

“Shit,” he cursed, noticing my tearstained cheeks.

He came forward and took my other hand as Leo hugged me tightly.

The embrace of them both instantly made me feel safer and helped immensely.

“Max isn’t gonna let anything happen to anyone in this house,” Leo said, plucking a wet strand of hair from my sodden cheek.

“And neither are the forty men surrounding the house, stationed ready to stop anyone coming within a mile radius,” Max added.

I smiled.

“But if that doesn’t suffice,” Leo began. “I can take you to a secret bunker. They aren’t the most luxurious of places, but they’re hidden, dry, and stocked with plenty of food, water, and blankets.”

I shook my head. “I don’t want to scare the kids, and passing through the woods to get to one isn’t exactly safe.”

Leo nodded. “Okay,” he said. “Can I hand you over to Max now? I’ve got to go and hunt down that bastard.”

“Be safe please,” I said as he sat me up straight back on the armchair.

He smiled and kissed me. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. I love you.”

“I love you too,” I replied, and he was gone.

“Right,” Max said, taking my hand. “Enough staring at the floor. What you need is a romcom.”

“You hate rom-coms,” I pointed out.

He sat me down on the sofa and reached for the remote control. “Tonight, I’m willing to make the sacrifice.”

“Thank you, Max,” I said. “~Notting Hill~ please.”

He turned around and raised an eyebrow. “I’m already regretting this but fine.”

“Oh, and can you pass me the baby monitor?” I said, pointing to the monitor on the coffee table he was standing by.

It was the thing connected to every single one of my children’s rooms, even the older ones, since I had returned from Mexico.

“It’s already on,” he said.

“I know, I just want it right next to me in case I don’t hear it,” I replied.

“You’re a werewolf, you will definitely hear the kids themselves from upstairs, but if it will put your mind at ease, here you are my dear,” he said, handing it to me.

I smiled, and a few minutes later, ~Notting Hill~ was playing, and everything was so calm and normal in the house. It was almost as if only an hour ago Andrea himself hadn’t been standing only a few feet away.