Alpha Loren novel Chapter 118

"Guess who's arriving in half an hour," Luciano said as I slowly regained consciousness. I opened my eyes to see Luciano's feet. I then lifted my head to see his tall body towering over me. His arms were crossed and his face wore a harsh expression. 

I noticed a plate with a piece of bread and glass of water beside me. 

"Eat," he ordered.

"No."

"Eat or I will force you to, sweetheart," he growled in a serious tone as he crouched down to my level and placed a finger under my chin.

I scowled at him before picking up the piece of bread and taking a hungry bite of it not doubting his threat at all. It felt good to have something in my stomach again. I could practically feel my gut beginning to digest itself.

"Good girl," he said taking the empty plate and glass when I was done. "And now you are coming with me little wolf," he announced hauling me off the floor.

"I'd rather not."

"Wasn't a choice," he said.

Luciano held my upper arm tightly and opened the cell door before roughly dragging me down the corridor as I fought against him.

"Stop fucking struggling," he growled forcefully pulling me closer to him and looking down at me with an angry expression.

"Or what?" I asked daringly. 

What's he gonna do? Leo will be here soon. He doesn't have the guts to cross him.

"Or your dear big cousin will find himself in a coffin," he retorted holding my arm even tighter.

I took a deep breath, hesitated for a moment before failing to withhold my anger and instead launching my free fist towards his face. His lightning-fast reactions meant that he caught it a couple of inches from his face and practically crushed my hand in his iron grip.

"Nice try," he said before forcing my arms behind my back and pushing me forwards. "I'll be sure to make Maxy baby pay for that."

"There is a special place reserved for you in the fiercest, most excruciating corner of hell, Luciano," I spat. 

He chuckled in an amused tone before we reached a wooden door. He opened the door and shoved me inside before finally releasing me. 

It was quite a comfortable looking, well furnished and ornate bedroom with a large king-sized bed and a huge window where the mid-afternoon sun was pouring in.

"There's a bathroom through there. Clean yourself up, brush your hair and change out of those filthy clothes," he ordered pointing to a pile of folded fabric on the bed.

"No. I'm not cleaning myself up to make it look like you've been treating me better than you have, Luciano," I said folding my arms over his chest.

He clenched his jaw before marching forward, grabbing my wrist and coercing me towards the door of the bathroom as I resisted him.

"We can't have the Alpha seeing you in this state, can we?"

"He already has," a deep voice said. 

I froze as emotion flooded me as the powerful sound of his voice emanated through the room, bouncing off every wall vibrating every ornament. Luciano paused and slowly turned around.

"Let go of my mate, Luciano," it said. "I can take it from here."

Luciano nodded immediately and let go of my wrist before leaving the room entirely. I couldn't bring myself to turn around for the entire time that we stood silently listening to Luciano's footsteps fade away.

"Face me, Ella," Leonardo ordered.

I slowly shuffled my feet to face my mate. He looked as handsome as ever but I shivered at the cold expression he wore.

It was a look of anger, fury, betrayal, hurt, stress...relief.

He stepped forward and I instinctively backed away from him. I wanted more than anything to embrace him and never let go but his expression was warning me away. 

There was something off and it was scaring me.

He paused for a moment before lunging forward and pinning me against the wall. For the first time in months, I felt totally and utterly powerless against his immense strength. How could someone so easily have my entire body immobilised?

It was suffocating but at the same time, our skin to skin contact sent a wave of electrical tingles throughout my entire body. We were so close that I could feel the warm moisture of his breath on my face. It was intense.

After a couple of seconds of silence, I felt a searing sensation across my cheek that brought tears to my eyes. I whimpered at both the physical and emotional pain.

He hit me. He said that he would never hit me.

But then again I said I'd never run away yet here we are seeing each other for the first time in three months.

I looked into his cold eyes that were still a whirlpool of swirling anger. His eyes then flickered down to my lips before returning to my eyes again seconds before I felt a warmth spread from my mouth. 

The taste of his lips was like breathing again after months of drowning. It felt as though a tension had been released that I didn't even realise I was holding. He eventually released my wrists and moved his hands to my waist as I ran a hand through his soft hair and continued to kiss him.

"I'm sorry, Leo," I sobbed quietly as he hugged me tightly like he was worried that if he didn't, I'd disappear again. "I'm so so sorry."

I clasped his shirt in my hands and inhaled his beautiful, husky scent. I'd missed him and I'd missed him a lot. There was no doubt about that.

"You've cut your hair," he observed in a soft tone as he ran his fingers through my hardly shoulder length, sun-bleached hair.

"Yeah," I replied now crying tears of happiness. "I did."

"I like it," he said gently brushing it away from my face and softly kissing my cheek where he struck me.

I smiled and nestled my head on his chest.

"Never run away from me again. Not even for an hour, not even for a second, understand? I don't care what the reason is. It can never be as important as your life." 

I nodded and he kissed the top of my head and held me tightly like he too never wanted to let go. 

"I guess I have a lot of explaining to do," I sighed.

" 'a lot' is an understatement. You can begin by telling me why on earth you've been hanging out with Maximus Megestanis. Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

"He's a changed man, Leo. He is no longer the cousin that kidnapped me to hand me over to your archenemy."

"Then who is he?"

"The cousin that has been helping me. I'd almost certainly be dead by now without him,"  I replied.

"Helping you do what exactly?" he asked a hint of anger rising in his tone and expression. "The single letter you left me wasn't exactly informative."

I sighed and sat on the squishy bed.

"Come on. Spit it out. What was so important that you were willing to leave your mate, children and home to travel halfway across the world and risk your life?"

"Do you know who Milly Megestanis is?"

"No."

"That doesn't surprise me. You're not supposed to."

"Then who is she?"

"My cousin, Max's sister. Or not really my cousin and only Max's half-sister. After Milo Megestanis died, his mate had an affair with a man named Roberto Benedetta-"

"Roberto Benedetta...he works for the mafia. I'm sure of it," Leo interjected.

"I'll get onto that in a minute," I said. "Anyway, the reason you don't know of this girl is that Max and his brothers have been keeping her a secret her entire life. And he's done a good job. Well, that was until during the war when all four brothers were out of the house and a ten-year-old Milly slipped into the forest to look for them. I stumbled across her lost and alone when I had been separated from you. I was being followed by Ayas warriors and they were sure to have killed the two of us if we didn't run. So that is what we did. Long story short, we ended up bumping into Max, who had recently been liberated by Ayas soldiers along with all the other convicts in the Northern prison. He thanked me for saving his sister and took her back to his house. He then later returned, after spotting Ayas soldiers coming in my direction, and saved my life. I asked him what was different about Milly and he told me that one day he would tell me. Then he disappeared into exile and I didn't see him at all until three months ago when I came here, to Italy, searching for him."

"Why did you come searching for Max of all people?"

"I needed help and I knew he'd care."