Finding Forgiveness

“So if he succeeded in killing him, he knew that he’d be sentencing his own sister to a lifetime of misery?”

“That’s what I don’t understand,” I replied with a sigh as I looked at the window into the dry desert. “I don’t get how he could have even considered doing that to me. Maybe he was considering all the others that Leo has hurt and all the others Leo will hurt but it still doesn’t add up. He saw Leo as the evil, ruthless, murderous, merciless monster that tried to kill our father and ruined our childhood but never the good side. Not the side that is father to his eight nieces and nephews. Not the man that does everything he can to help and protect the people in his pack- including me. Not even as the man that no longer invade other packs and takes their people and lands but sends relief and aid when another pack has attacked them. Maybe he killed Connor out of fury but maybe it was because he was willing to give up the stability of our relationship to protect his pack from Connor’s threat. Because Connor wasn’t innocent in this. I love my brother but what he was doing was wrong and was going to harm a lot of people.”

There was a brief moment of quiet with just the sound of the engine and the wheels rolling on the road before Luca sighed.

“You aren’t going to like this but it sounds to me like you need to talk to your mate.”

“No, no, no. Not yet,” I replied quickly.

“I should take you home. This is too dangerous anyway and you need to talk this out with Leo,” he said. “As Gamma of the pack, I shouldn’t be taken the Luna to get involved with such a life-threatening thing.”

“No, no, no. Don’t you dare turn the car around,” I said as he began to slow. “Luca no. I want to do this and I know how to survive. I’m like a cockroach!”

“You’re a cockroach and this is cockroach poison. I’m sorry, Els. I should never have got you involved in this.”

“Leo let me go. You have no obligation to take me home!”

“I have an obligation to do what is best for the pack.”

“Then go find the boss!”

“I will once I know that you are safe.”

Luca’s face was rarely as stern as it was then and it unsettled me. His tone too was harsher and he held the steering wheel firmly, not showing any sign of changing his mind.

“Please, don’t make me go back to him yet. He killed my brother. My fucking brother! I loved him and he killed him. He wasn’t innocent but he was my brother!” I shouted. “Luca, please.”

“Then I’ll take you to the airport and put you on a plane to Paris,” he replied.

“I’m not going to Paris.”

“Fine, Berlin, Barcelona, Rome, London. I don’t care just somewhere away from this.”

“Nowhere is safe for me. Especially not in Italy or anywhere in Europe even because of the fact that I am at the top of the Mafia’s wanted list.” I said. “And no. I’m staying here. With you. I’ll keep you company and you can keep me company. The last thing I want is to be alone.”

“No. The last thing you want is to be dead,” he replied. “This business isn’t safe. Especially for a woman. These aren’t good men-”

“I can protect myself, Luca,” I said. “Guillermo was shaking.”

“Guillermo is an angel compared to the boss,” Luca replied. “I’m not taking you and that is final. I don’t want a dead or harmed Luna to present to my Alpha who just so happens to be Leonardo fucking Loren. We’ll both end up dead. Oh yeh and you’re also my best friend and I love you more than I love cheese on toast and can’t bear the thought of anything happening to you.”

“I thought you were more fun than this,” I said shaking my head. “Max would let me-”

“Then maybe you should call Max,” he snapped.

By this point, the car was at a complete standstill.

“Luca please-”

He shook his head and turned to me, “No.”

“You can’t say no to me, I’m your Luna. You only have authority over me if you’re following the Alphas orders,” I pointed out.

“Do you want me to call the Alpha and ask him if he wants me to take his Luna to a violent gang of criminals?” Luca asked. “Because I’m pretty sure I know what the answer will be!”

“You need to calm down, untwist your panties and think rational thoughts,” I began.

He scowled at me.

“I have survived the Italian mafia, a self-proclaimed king and his little army of people that hate me, a snowstorm on the side of a mountain in Russia, Luciano and hundreds of others trying to kill me. I am tough and incredibly good at persuading and talking. Frankly, I am offended that you aren’t considering me as a valuable attribute to this task.”

He looked at me and sighed.

“You’re tempted, I can tell,” I said. “You know I’d help AND keep you company?”Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g

He sighed again, mumbled something under his breath along the lines of ‘I can’t believe I’m fucking doing this’ and then started the car again.

“Leo is going to fucking kill me for dragging you into this,” he said as I let out a victorious squeal. “You aren’t even supposed to know.”

“Love ya, Luca,” I said pressing my head against his shoulder as he drove. “Or should I say Romano. And I can deal with Leonardo Loren.”

“Not if you’re dead you can’t.”

“Don’t be so pessimistic.”

Luca’s POV

“Okay so quite obviously you don’t want to get on the bad side of these people,” I said a day later as we sat across from each other at a freeway diner somewhere in Texas on our way to Miami. “Hopefully they will just see you as my sidekick or whatever but if they start to show a little too much interest like Guillermo did, you’ve gotta learn to play the game.”

“I don’t even know what the game is,” Ella replied taking a big slurp of some strange brightly coloured iced drink.

“Don’t tell them you have a mate. Play along with their messed-up, twisted flirting but don’t let them get too close. If they think they have a chance of getting somewhere with you they won’t force it and you have the control,” I explained.

“So you want me to flirt with them? Tease them? Kinda like playing hard to get?” she questioned with a grimace.

I laughed at her expression and nodded.

“Just smile, hold your head high and use your wonderful Jones wit- within reason of course. The last thing you want to do is look weak because they will attack you like the vultures they are. Oh and go for the boss. If you have him in your purse, none of the others can lay a finger on you.”

“Got it,” she said. “Look confident and flirt… but not too much. One little problem though Luca.”

“What?”

“I have a huge fucking mark on my neck and some of them already know I have a mate,” I said.

I looked at the inch long mark Leo had left there years ago and sighed. She was right, that was gonna be an issue.

“Just say that he won’t be a problem or he’s dead or it’s a battle scar. I don’t know, think of something.”

“Do they know who Alpha Loren is?” she asked.

“Of course they do.”

“Then surely they’ll work out who I am? I have both his scent and his mark,” she said. “It’s pretty obvious, isn’t it?”

Before I could answer, the door to the diner swung open. Three masked men ran in, all pointing guns. The guy at the front desk instantly put his hands up but it wasn’t him they were after. Upon scanning the diner, they spotted us and the guns were turned in our direction.

“Shit,” I cursed.