Finding Forgiveness

I then turned on my heel, feeling a tear fighting to escape. All I could think to do was march out to the garden but Andrea met me in the corridor and grabbed my shoulders.

“Where are you going?” he asked. “What’s up?”

“Nothing,” I said. “Just let me go.”

“And how’s the patient?” he added.

“Fine,” I replied trying to get out of his grip. “You need to employ a doctor or set up a hospital or something.”

He furrowed his eyebrows, “Why?” he asked turning my face to look at me. “I have you.”

“I’m not doing it again,” I said firmly. “What happened last night isn’t happening again.”

“Oh, sweetheart,” he said. “Just because I let you be in charge last night doesn’t mean you get to decide what happens now. You will do everything for me that I ask. So if I ever bring another man in need of help like that again, you won’t hesitate to provide it, got it?”

“Your men are fighting against Leonardo, aren’t they?” I replied quietly. “If I help them, I am also fighting against him and I can’t do that.”

Andrea shrugged, “Sounds like a personal problem to me. Deal with it.”

I scowled and pushed him off me, “He needs at least three days of rest,” I said quietly.

“Gracias,” he replied before kissing me hand and strolling away. “And put that fucking ring back on!”

I stood in the hallway for a few moments, watching him walk away. His gun, as always, was tucked into the back of his belt and the intolerable confidence in his stride.

I felt the anger inside me begin to boil so before it bubbled over and I did something stupid, I rushed downstairs and out into the garden, as far away from Andrea as possible.

That feeling of powerlessness flooded back in and as I stood out in the middle of the lawn, absolutely lost for what to do. Because there was nothing I could do. My entire life I’d lived for my independence and freedom so helpless filled me with so much despair, it made me shake with anger until I dropped to my knees in a trembling, heavy breathing mess.

The worst part?

Now I was being forced to work against my only hope: Leo.

The thought of Jaime now being alive to kill or even hurt a Stella soldier, let alone Leo, added guilt to my evergrowing pot of sorrow and I let out a high pitched whimper.

In my head, I damned Andrea fucking Martinez to the fiery pits of hell. It’s not like I could even blame him for messing up a perfect life; things were rough already and I wanted a break away from Leo. That’s how I got into this nightmare. But now all I wanted was him back, Andrea to be out of my life and all this to be over.

Max’s POV

After leaving Blair and Luca searching in Caracas and keeping his men out all over South America, the Alpha recruited me on his hunt for Gustavo Escobar. After a long, torturous car journey to Colombia in a car with a frustrated and angry Alpha, we finally arrived at the house on the coordinates given to us by the Caracas head of police.

“I was joking when I said we should just ring the doorbell and ask politely, you know?” I said as we stood on the doorstep of the house.

“Got a better idea?” Leo snapped. “And I don’t think anyone’s in.”

“Either that or we’re about to get shot,” he mumbled.

He ignored me and we stood there for a few minutes with no sound or movement coming from within the house.

“Fucking hell,” I cursed. “Now what-?”

Before I could finish, he’d kicked down the door.

“Exactly what Ella would have done,” I said. “Do you two have some kind of breaking and entering kink?”

“No, we have a get shit done kink,” he replied, stepping into the house.

It seemed empty, totally quiet and still, but the faint smell of freshly cooked food lingered in the air.

He stepped cautiously into the house, towards the kitchen where the smell was coming from.

“They can’t have been gone long-” I began looking at the freshly chopped vegetables on the side and pot on the hob.

Leo held his finger up to silence me and we stood in total quiet for a few moments.

“Do you hear that?” he asked.

“Hear what?” I replied.

He suddenly marched forward and around the kitchen counter before reaching down.

I heard a high pitched whimper and a few seconds later, he pulled a young girl up from behind the kitchen surfaces.

She looked from him to me and then back to him, her lip shaking and a terrified expression on her face as Leo kept a tight grip on her arm.

“Do you work for Gustavo Escobar?” he asked.

She nodded quickly, “but he’s not here.”

“When will he be back?” I asked.

“Tonight,” she said. “Please, I am just the maid-”

“I’m not going to hurt you,” Leo told her, finally releasing her arm. “I just need to speak to your boss.”

She nodded and stepped back, clutching her self.

He leant his elbows on the worktop for a few moments before taking a particularly red apple out of the fruit bowl and looking back up to her,? “Mind if we wait here?” he asked taking a big bite from the apple.

She nervously shook her head, “There’s a table on the patio. I will make you some coffee.”Please check at N/ôvel(D)rama.Org.

Leo nodded and headed for the doors that lead out into the garden, “Max, help her with the coffee.”

Once he was gone, she turned to a cupboard and opened it, her hands still shaking.

“Don’t worry about him,” I said reaching over her getting the mugs out for her. “He’s just a man that cares for his mate.”

“Who are you people?” she asked.

“He’s Alpha Loren and I’m his Luna’s cousin,” I replied.

“… A-Alpha Loren? Leonardo Loren?” she questioned her voice turning hoarse.

“Again, don’t worry about him,” I reassured. “He won’t hurt you and we’re just here to speak to Gustavo. Where do you keep coffee?”

“Top shelf on the right,” she replied and I got it out.

When I’d made the coffee, I began taking it outside, “When he arrives, tell him we’re out here, okay?”