Chapter 12

LUCA

“I’m sorry, Alpha Loren,” the alpha of a large pack in the north of Mexico began as we sat around a table in his office.

“You know that I support you and would do anything to help, but I can do nothing but offer you my men, guns, and cash. We have no information on Martinez. The man is a criminal mastermind.”

“You’ve been battling him for years, and you have nothing?” Leo asked, slamming his fist onto his desk. “Nothing at all?”

This was the sixth pack we’d visited with zero success, and I could tell Leo was getting more and more frustrated.

“His signals are untraceable, his men are loyal, and he operates in top secrecy. Everything is covered. All I can do for my pack is focus on defending my own territory and people from him.

“We don’t even bother trying to defeat the Martinez cartel. It’s futile.”

“He has my luna,” Leo said, a look of desperation on his face. “I don’t have a choice but to go against him.”

“And I will do everything I can to assist,” the Mexican alpha replied, bowing his head.

Leo then stood up and straightened himself up before taking a deep breath.

“Thank you, Alpha Garcia,” he said with a nod. “I will be sure to keep you updated, and I appreciate your loyalty.”

Leo then marched out of the office, leaving me to give the slightly frightened-looking alpha a reassuring nod and smile.

When I got back out to the car, I found Leo with bleeding knuckles standing by a very shaken-looking tree surrounded by a bed of prematurely lost leaves, some of which were still floating to the ground.

These days, he mostly had his emotions under control. But when it came to Ella and her safety…that was another story.

“The men and the guns are useless without having any idea where to find him.” He growled. “And the money will lead us into what is most likely a trap and end in all three of our deaths. What the fuck are we supposed to do?!”

I sighed and leaned against the car, folding my arms in front of me.

“I have no idea.”

“Any word from Max?” he asked me.

“He’s on his way.”

“And the kids are—”

“Fine. Everything at home is fine. Blair and your parents have the pack and your family under control. Just put all your thought into Ella.”

Leo let out a short breath and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“If he lays another finger on her, I swear to every Goddess above us that I am going to crush him.” He growled with teeth clenched so hard I thought they were going to turn to dust. “Nobody messes with my girl.”

“She’ll be okay, Leo,” I tried to reassure him. “She’s made of strong stuff, remember?”

He nodded. “I know. But she’s been through a lot recently, and everybody has a breaking point. I don’t know how much more of this bullshit she can take.”

“Then we better find her,” I said. “Stop thinking about how much you want to kill him and let’s go and kill him.”

“How?!” he said, raising his voice and staring me dead in the eye. “Fucking how, Luca?! If you know, please FUCKING enlighten me!”

Just then, his phone began to ring in his pocket. He suddenly snapped out of his rage, and as he reached for his phone, his eyes returned to blue from the darkened shade they were just a few seconds ago.

I let out a breath I wasn’t really aware I had been holding and stepped back, feeling glad that I wasn’t one of his enemies.

“Hello?” he said after answering.

He shot me a confused look, telling me that he knew as little as I did about who was calling.

“Am I speaking to Alpha Leonardo Loren?” a thick-accented voice asked.

“Yes.”

There was a pause on the other side of the line for a few seconds before the man spoke again.

“I know where your luna is.”

ELLA

“Three, two, one, and…he’s late,” Andrea said, looking at his watch after what had been an agonizing twenty-four hours.

“It’s two o’clock, and Pedro hasn’t texted me to say he’s got the money. In other words, your alpha has failed you, and now you get to pay the consequences.”

“Stay away from me,” I hissed as he began to walk closer to where I was still sitting in the warehouse.

He laughed and crouched down to my level.

“How do you like it, Blanca?” he asked, holding my face in his hand with an uncomfortable degree of force.

I didn’t answer and instead glared into his eyes.

“Rough and hard? Or gentle and slow?” he asked.

“Go to hell,” I spat.

He suddenly lurched forward and grabbed my shoulders. I fought against him and managed to break a hand free and punch him in the face.

The sound of impact was loud, and he paused for a short second, his grip loosening on me as he brought one hand up to his nose.

I stared in utter terror and tried to shuffle back as his face transformed into an expression of pure murder.

“That hurt, Blanca,” he said as a drop of blood fell from his nose onto his hand. “But if you wanna play rough, I can play fucking rough.”

He then grabbed my legs and hauled me across the floor so that I was underneath him before gripping his hand around my neck and slamming my back onto the hard floor with his other.

The more I fought, the tighter he squeezed my neck, and the less I could breathe until, finally, I had no choice but to give up as the lack of oxygen was making me begin to black out.

My vision was going starry and colorful, but then he stopped, his head turning to the warehouse door.

“Get the fuck off her.” A deep voice growled.

I moved my head as much as possible to the side to see Leonardo standing tall with blackened eyes and a large duffle bag in his hand. I could see his absolute fury at what he was seeing in front of him, and he shook and growled.

I’d never seen him like this before, and he was certainly only one step away from losing the ability to control his wolf.

Since we met, he’d always been protective over me and got pissed off if another man so much as looked at me in the wrong way, so for him this? This was something else.

I then cast my eyes to Andrea. He was just as shocked as me to see him, and his hold on my windpipe had decreased so that I could breathe just enough to stay conscious. He soon composed himself, though, and turned to Leo, smiling.

“You failed to understand basic instructions, Loren,” he said with a shrug. “I said two o’clock in Hermosillo. So as the agreement goes, now she’s mine.”

He then looked Leo dead in the eye and leaned down to kiss me once more as he ran his hand down my leg. “And you can watch every second.”

Before his lips could even reach my skin, and before he had enough time to even think about withdrawing his gun, Leo had thrown him off me and across the room.

Andrea landed with a thud and a groan as Leo stood in front of me, blocking me from his sight.

I sat up and gasped for air, not only because Andrea had almost strangled me to death, but also because the fight that was so clearly on the horizon involving my mate was making my heart pound.

“Are you all right?” Leo asked quickly.

I nodded and swallowed. “Kill him, Leo,” I said with spite.

“Oh, don’t worry,” he replied. “That I will do.”

“I’m gonna make you regret that, Loren.” Andrea growled as he rolled over and got back to his feet.

Pain from his landing was evident in his voice, and the first few steps he made back in our direction were more of a stagger than a walk.

Both of their scents reeked of adrenaline and anger and testosterone, and it was the most suffocating and fear-inducing smell I’ve ever known.

“Ella, get out of here,” Leo ordered me. “Now.”

“Ella, don’t you dare,” Andrea countered as he pulled his gun from his belt.

As if it was a reflex action, Leo snapped forward before Andrea could aim, and in a matter of milliseconds, they were wrestling each other on the floor—with a gun.

I shuffled back even farther and looked around to find any resource I could to help out my mate. But I was weak, and the warehouse was barren.

There was nothing I could do but stay out of their way.