Alpha Loren novel Chapter 55

November 12th

"Good morning. You all know why you are here," Leo began, addressing the crowd of agitated looking parents in front of us.

They were the people of invaded packs. Those that had lost their sons to the building we now stood in front of as it's gates and doors were opened wide, all the locks removed and the guards standing at ease.

"And I ask that you have patience. There are no files on the children so pairing the correct parents with the correct infant may be a complicated process. Inside the camp, we have organised the wards into different age categories. If you could please gather around the sign indicating the age of your infant, you will be escorted by one of my men to the correct area. It will then be down to you to locate your son."

Shortly after Leo's instructions, everybody flooded into the camp and divided off into the different wards. I followed Leo into the ward holding the youngest children and watched the joy on parents' faces when they looked into a crib and found their child.

Leo wrapped an arm around my waist and kissed my head.

"They smile because of you, Ells," he said, "You've got a huge fucking heart and you don't give up when it comes to something you care about. You know that right?"

I nodded, "I've been telling you right from the start that I don't stand for injustice. Now do you believe me?"

"I certainly know not to underestimate you," he said.

"Thank you Alpha," another Mother said as she headed for the door, freshly reunited with the tiny thing in her arms. "Thank you Luna."

Leo nodded and I smiled before she was on her way, quickly walking down the hallway like she didn't want her son spending a second longer in this place.

As the wards began to empty, I walked around the cribs. There was a few still occupied. But then a few mothers and fathers still lingered. All hope wasn't lost yet.

Then I came across number 734. The little baby boy I'd met weeks ago when Allison and I broke in.

I picked him up and gently stroked his dark curls, "There is hope yet, little one."

"That one is an orphan," Leo said from behind me.

"How do you know?" I asked.

"I killed his parents myself," he replied in a surprisingly cold tone.

"What?" I asked. "Why?"

"He's the son of an Alpha and his father betrayed me...so I killed him," he said with a shrug.

"And his mother?" I asked in disbelief.

"She was in the way," Leo added.

"Do you feel any remorse?" I questioned. "This child is suffering because of you."

"Maybe I would if they had been innocent. But his parents' chose to try and lie to me whilst working for one of my enemies," Leo corrected. "I don't take treachery lightly."

"Then we must find new parents for this boy," I replied.

"No," he said. "The orphans stay here and will be trained as planned."

I looked up at him, "Are you serious?"

"Yes," he replied, "But now we have significantly reduced numbers, they will have better care. It's okay."

"It's not okay," I said, "This isn't a place for any child to grow up in."

 "Unfortunately, you didn't include any conditions about orphans in your promise to the pack."

He then smiled sarcastically, "I thought we had put that behind us but you're clearly still bitter."

"It's like when you put tomato soup in Tupperware. You can clean it as much as you like but they'll always be an orange tinge to it. In the same way, I will always hold this against you."

I looked at him completely confused about where he had pulled that surprisingly clever simile from.

"You could at least give them names," I snapped.

Leo rolled his eyes, "Whatever....Jeff."

"Fuck you," I hissed. "Do you have to be so cold?"

"You're never satisfied are you?" he asked, "Shall I just give up my Alpha title and move to fucking Japan? Would you be happy then?"

"Probably," I said, "Japan looks like a lovely place with a rich culture, delicious food oh and NO FUCKING CONCENTRATION CAMPS."

"Put the kid down, we're leaving," he said deeply.

"Just when I was starting to think you were changing."

"When are you going to get it into your head that I don't have any plan to change, Ella?" he hissed, "I did this because you made me. Now put the child down."

I slowly lowered the child back into the crib and I had chance to smile at him once before Leo grabbed my hand and dragged me away.

"We should go baby shopping," he said as we walked out of the ward.

I glared up at him, "I do not want to go baby shopping right now."

"Why not?" he asked innocently.

"Because I'm mad at you for your treatment of children. The last thing I want to think about is the fact that I am pregnant with a child you father," I hissed.

"I have just send a hundred of them home to their families," Leo said with a sigh, "Give is a rest."

He did have a point. Maybe baby steps were the way to go with him here.

I wasn't going to take back my words but I knew arguing with him more was gonna do nothing to change anything. I had to be smarter than that.

So instead, I let him lead me to his car.

Editing taking place 09/06/20 00:58 am. Sorry for any confusion with the plot. BRB

"Are we going home then?" I asked as he started the ignition.

"No," he replied, "As I said, we're going shopping."

"I would prefer if we did it another day," I said calmly.

"I have free time now so we are going now," he replied, "Why let a minor disagreement get in the way ay?"

He then put his hand on my leg. I smacked it off and he placed it back on the steering wheel with an amused smile on his face.

"Why are you being such a dick today?" I asked seriously.

"sshhh, don't use such vulgar language in front of the baby!" Leo replied.

There was silence for a few moments.

"I want to go home," I said.

"We aren't going home," he replied.

"Who gave you the power to dictate what we do?"

He scoffed.

"I'm driving," he said. "...amongst other reasons..."

"Then let me drive," I replied, ignoring the secondary comment.

"Can you drive?" He asked genuinely.

"Yes," I lied. 

"Fine. If you can drive us back to the house we won't go," Leo said stopping the car. We were on a quiet forest track and so far hadn't past any other cars.

"Fine," I said. 

How hard can it be?

"Fine," Leo replied getting out of the car as I did the same. We both walked around to the opposite side and Leo tossed me the keys as we passed in a deliberately challenging manner.  I managed to catch them anyway and gave him a sarcastic smile before climbing into the driver's seat. 

Problem one: can't reach the pedals.

"How do I move the seat in?" I said looking for some kind of lever. Leo reached over me and pulled something on the side of the seat before pushing it in as far as it would go. 

Problem two: where do the keys go?

"So where do I put the keys?" I asked looking on the side of the steering wheel. "You know because every car is different and all," I said. He took the keys out of my hands and plugged them into a socket on the left of the wheel all with a bored expression on his face.

Problem three: I don't know how to drive.

What made you think this was a good idea again? I asked myself. 

I need to concentrate. But on what exactly? I don't even know how to start it. I guess I will just have to use my initiative. 

"Peddle on the right is the accelerator, the left is the clutch and the middle is the break. You know because every car is different," Leo said after a few moments.

"I knew that," I said. 

From what I could remember from when Connor was learning to drive, you have to put your foot on the clutch and your other on the accelerator and slowly lift it up or something?

I did exactly that and the car lurched forward, but the wheels didn't move.

"Hand break," Leo said monotonously.

"Easy to forget. It's been a while," I said before pulling the hand break up and trying again. This time the car slowly rolled forwards.

"If you wanna go home you should probably turn around," Leo said.

He's got a point. Turn the frickin car, Ella.

I gripped the steering wheel and twisted maybe a little too much. I panicked and tried to slam down the break, but instead hit the accelerator. The car immediately spun around and went straight off the track. Leo grabbed the wheel so that we narrowly avoided a tree before he yanked up the handbrake.

"Yeah I've never had a driving lesson in my life," I said admitting defeat.

"Shocker," he remarked. "Get out and let me drive. Before you kill us both."

I nodded still kind of in shock.

Once we were back in the correct seats I didn't speak for the rest of the journey. Yes, he just saved both of our lives, but I was still mad at him.

 Half an hour later we arrived at the mall.

"Hold my hand," Leo said as we began to make our way out of the parking lot.

"No," I said breaking the silent treatment and folding my arms so that my hands weren't even visible.

Leo grabbed my arm and easily pulled it free, before taking my hand. I resisted him and pulled it back into my body, but he was much stronger than me and he effortlessly pulled my hand back out.

"Don't make this harder than it needs to be," He hissed.

When we got into the mall we went straight to an infant clothing shop.

"Good afternoon Sir and Madame, is there anything I can help you with today?" A lady aged about 60 said in a pretty annoying tone. God everything is annoying me today. Blame it on the hormones girl.

The woman had long grey hair tied back in a low ponytail, a long skirt that reached her feet and a loose top. She looked at Leo and then down to me and I saw a slight flicker of disapproval in her eyes before Leo began to talk 

"My girlfriend is pregnant and we don't have any baby clothes," he said to the woman. She seemed to flinch slightly at the word girlfriend.

"No worries, that's what we are here for," the shop assistant said as if she was gritting her teeth whilst leading us through the shop. "Is it a boy or a girl you're expecting?" 

"We do-" I started.

"A boy," Leo interrupted. I looked up at him a confused look on my face as the shop assistant continued to walk in front of us. 

"How do you know?" I whispered almost inaudibly so that no human would hear.

"Magic," Leo replied equally quietly with a smile.

"That surprises me. Normally couples don't know this early on in the pregnancy," the woman said.

"We have a very good Doctor," Leo said.

"Here we have the 0-3 months boy's section. You will find that they grow very quickly so we suggest you buy a few different sizes so that you don't have to keep coming back," she said. "Is this your first pregnancy?" she asked looking at me.

"Yes," I said.

"You look very....young," she said looking me up and down.

I internally stabbed her in my mind

"Yes I get that a lot. My height is deceiving," I said through gritted teeth.

"And you aren't married?" She asked.

"No," I replied bluntly.

"Do you plan to before the child is born?" She asked raising an eyebrow.

"No," I said just as bluntly, this time strangling her until her eyes popped out. (still in my mind of course),

"I think we'll be fine from here thank you," Leo said deeply, saving me from the situation. 

She nodded her head and left us to stand behind the cashier desk. From the corner of my eye, I kept seeing her looking over to give us disapproving looks.

"What is her problem?" I said quietly as Leo and I wandered around the section the lady had shown us to.

"Old fashioned views about not mating before marriage," Leo replied picking up a tiny footed onsie with a hood and cute little bear ears.

"Old fashioned human views," I said. "And that's cute."

Ten minutes later, we had a basket full of onesies, little t-shirts, socks, pants and a couple of jackets, hats and gloves.

"That comes to $86 and 50 cents," the same lady said after she had beeped everything through. "How old are you guys then?" She asked as Leo got out his credit card.

"Leo is 23 and I'm 17," I answered.

"And what about high school?" She asked me.

"Oh no. I don't go to school. We live in a cult and this is actually my older brother," I said gently slapping Leo on the six-pack. "... or half brother.. or cousin... or maybe even Dad?? We aren't really sure."

Leo stifled a laugh as he finished paying and took my hand again.

"Thanks for everything. See you again some time!" Leo said waving as we walked towards the door leaving the women's mouth wide open.

"How did you know that it's a boy?" I asked.

"I can sense it," Leo replied. "Weird Alpha stuff innit?"

"So this is the future Alpha," I said placing a hand on my stomach.

"In seventeen years and two months the pack will have a new leader," Leo said squeezing my hand in affection. 

I didn't squeeze back, because I was still mad at him, remember?

"You'll only be 40," I said.

"That's older than most Alphas," Leo said as we walked through the mall. "We need diapers and all that fun stuff now," he added leading me into another shop.

Twenty minutes later we had pretty much everything a baby could ever need and were sat outside a cafe drinking a cup of coffee.

"I need to pee," I announced.

"Pee away," Lep replied and I got up and headed inside the cafe where the rest room was.

When I came out, my hands still slightly damp due to the shitness of the rickety old hand dryer, I looked up and my face dropped.

As I'd come around the corner, I'd come face to face with someone I'd hoped I'd never see again.

"Cameron," I said forcing a smile as I saw him.