Alpha Loren novel Chapter 212

I battled my way through the jungle for hours. I could hear his voice. Leo's voice. He shouted my name over and over again but my senses were so overwhelmed by adrenaline and exhaustion I couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from. It echoed all around my mind as my head spun and my heart thudded. I let out a desperate frustrated cry before stopping between two large trees to catch my breath.

"Why'd you stop?" A voice asked. "He's so close."

I jumped and snapped my head around. Luciano slowly emerged from the shadows, sporting once of his most malicious grins.

"How long have you been following me?" I asked.

"Eh, hours," he said with a shrug as he examined the gun in his hand, polishing a smudge away with his sleeve. "Kinda boring how you just go around and around in circles though."

"Is this a game to you?" I questioned.

"It was until you just stopped and gave up," he said. "You make it top easy for me."

I could still hear Leo's calls. Perhaps if I couldn't find him, he couldn't find me.

"Leo!" I shouted. "Leonardo!"

Before I could call for a third time, Luciano had grabbed me and slapped a hand over my mouth.

"Shut up," he growled. "Or one of these bullets might end up in your Alpha's skull."

"Fuck you," I hissed shoving him away from me.

At that, he wrapped his arm around my neck, pulling me into his chest and held the gun to my head.

"Don't underestimate what I will do, Ella," he said deeply.

"Ella!" Leo's voice called again.

He was half a kilometre away now at the very most.

I didn't doubt Luciano's words for a second. He was perfectly capable of killing me but I was more concerned about him killing Leo. I stood silently, praying that he wouldn't find us. It was the only way he'd stay safe.

Unfortunately, I was not so lucky. A few minutes later, we were listening to a set of close footsteps battling through the dense vegetation and a few seconds after that, the light of the moon, filtering through the canopy, cast onto Leonardo's face.

He was exhausted. And not just from running through the jungle tonight. The sort of long term exhaustion from weeks and months of sleepless nights and stress. The twinkle in his eye had diminished and his usual sturdiness of his presence had wilted into desperation.

But the second we made eye contact, he seemed to revive.