Chapter 57

LEO

I marched into my office where I knew Blair and my head army commander, Ollie, would be waiting.

“Thank you for coming so early in the morning,” I said to them.

Blair forced a smile and nodded, but Ollie just looked grave. He was a big guy, usually fearless, so to see him so concerned was very unnerving. This was the effect Andrea had.

“Any word of Martinez?” I asked.

“Nothing at all,” Blair said. “We have no idea what he’s doing, where he is, or why. The usual deal.”

“We don’t think he has left the territory, but we can’t be certain,” Ollie added.

I nodded.

“Well, how are we supposed to work with that?!” I growled, throwing myself into my chair. “Just sit and wait for him to do something terrible?”

At that, the office phone began to ring. It was Eduardo Siciliano, one of my deputy army commanders. I furrowed my eyebrows.

His mate had given birth the previous day, and as a result, he wasn’t on duty. Why would he be calling me?

I answered the call and put it on speakerphone.

“Yes, Eduardo, what is the matter?”

“Alpha?” a woman’s voice asked.

Her voice was shaky, and as she paused, I heard the heaviness of her breath.

“It’s Claudia Siciliano, his mate,” she continued. “I’m calling because Andrea Martinez just came to our house. He’s gone now, but Eduardo is in a bad way.”

I exchanged looks with Ollie and let out a low growl.

“Lock the doors and windows and stay where you are,” I ordered. “I am on my way.”

“Okay,” she replied. “Thank you, Alpha.”

Blair, Ollie, and I then marched out of the office to my car and sped toward the Siciliano household.

They lived just in Triton, but their house stood alone in the woods, so unguarded by the patrols we’d stationed to protect the villages.

In the car, we informed the nearby men that Andrea could still be close and brought in extra protection for the villages and houses around.

Fortunately, Eduardo and Claudia lived in the opposite direction of my house, where Ella and my children still were, which was the only thing giving me comfort.

“Claudia, it’s the Alpha,” I called as I knocked on their front door. “You can open the door.”

Thirty seconds later, she came to the door. In her arms was a tiny little baby, screaming and crying, and her face was pale and terrified.

“Where is he?” I asked.

“In the kitchen,” I said.

She led us through to where her mate sat slumped against the wall covered in blood and hardly conscious.

Claudia had tried to wipe away the blood and bandage him up, but he was still bleeding.

“Ollie, help me get him up onto the table,” I ordered, and we lifted his floppy body up and laid him on his back on the kitchen table as he groaned.

“Was he shot or…?” I asked.

“No. Martinez just punched him and kicked him and—” she said, before sobbing. “There was nothing any of us could do.”

She tried to stop her tears, and her baby only screamed more.

I nodded to Blair.

“Claudia, can I?” he asked, gesturing to the baby.

She nodded and handed him her daughter. After a few moments of comfort and soft whispers from Blair, she began to settle while her mother took her father’s hand.

“Ollie, get some warm water, antiseptic, and bandages,” I ordered. “The wounds are not too deep, and he will be fine, but we ought to clean him up.”

A few minutes later, we were busy tending to his cuts and bruises as he winced and mumbled.

“Can you explain what happened from start to finish?” I asked Claudia. “I’m not sure your mate has the strength.”

“Eduardo was in his office making calls and organizing his squadrons. He was technically off duty, but he couldn’t ignore what was happening in the pack.

“I woke when there was a knock at the door and heard a voice with a thick Hispanic accent. I came down to see two men, one holding a gun at my mate’s head. He was forced to let them inside, and they began trying to bargain.

“Martinez wanted Eduardo to betray his alpha in exchange for a huge amount of money and a position in his cartel. Eduardo refused, so they began to threaten us.

“Martinez said he’d kill until he complied, starting with the men in Eduardo’s squadrons and then me and then our daughter.

“Eduardo still refused to give up his loyalty for you, so Martinez beat him up and left, saying he’d give him some time to make the right decision.”

Ollie and I both stared for a few seconds before I was the first to curse him to the fiery pits of hell, shortly followed by Ollie.

“Thank you both for your loyalty. Firstly, for not giving in to his bribes and blackmail, and secondly, for having the courage to inform me,” I said once I was done.

“I know he is a terrifying man and telling me could have compromised your lives. But I will ensure you are protected.”

“Any of your people would do the same,” Claudia said.

I nodded before my phone began to ring.

“That was Luca,” I said, after hanging up. “Paulo Salvatore has suffered an identical attack.”

“So this is his plan,” Ollie said. “Convert your men to his side by targeting my commanders with bribes, presumably to weaken the army before attacking.”

“Yes. But what he’s failed to judge is the loyalty of my men,” I replied.

“But Martinez knows the reputation of your army,” Blair pointed out from the corner of the room where he had been rocking the newborn child.

“He’s tried torturing information out of them with no success before. Why would he attempt this?”

I narrowed my eyes in thought.

“Maybe he overestimated his own capabilities?” Ollie suggested.

“Martinez is an intelligent man, and this is so clearly destined to fail and poorly planned. Something doesn’t fit right,” Blair said.

“You have a point,” I said. “And it does seem a little indiscreet and obvious. Not usually his style, is it?”

“The motherfucker is sending us on a wild-goose chase,” Ollie said, thumping the table.

“Then what’s his actual plan?” I asked gravely.

I looked up at Blair, who wore a serious expression as he held the little baby close to his chest.

“I dread to think.”