Finding Forgiveness

“Max, be the bigger man,” I said as Leo’s phone began to ring.

“Hello,” he said. “Luca?”

“Yeh, it’s me. Basically, do you still need those guns? Because I got ambushed by Guillermo, someone fucking shot me and my car has broken down so I might be a while,” he replied.

“Firstly, no because I’ve already got Ella. Secondly, thanks for nothing and finally, you probably deserved to get shot,” Leo said.

“Yeh, guess I probably did. Any chance of a lift? Guillermo took my wallet.”

“Fucking hell,” Leo grumbled. “Where are you?”

“Just outside of Hermosillo,”

“How the fuck did you end up there. And where did you get shot?”

“Just outside tacobell-”

“I meant where on your body dipshit,” Leo said rolling his eyes.

“Oh, the shoulder.”

“Am I going to have to take you to the hospital?”

“Maybe. It happened two hours ago, it isn’t healing and it hurts like shit. Knowing Guillermo, it was probably a bullet laced with wolfsbane,” he explained.

“For fuck’s sake, Luca,” Leo grumbled.

“Sorry, Alpha,” he replied.

“Stay where you are. We’ll come and get you.”

Leo then hung up.

“Don’t blame him for all this,” I said nuzzling my head into his chest a

“I don’t. I blame myself almost entirely and I understand that he was trying to be a good friend to you but you can always rely on Luca to find trouble and fuck something up,” Leo replied.

I pushed my fingers between his and squeezed his hand before resting my head on his shoulder.

I desperately wanted to find it in me to forgive him for what he didn’t to Connor because more than anything I just wanted to go back to what it was like before.? To move on and go back to normal.

But I couldn’t. The wound was still too fresh and I couldn’t just bottle up the pain and pretend like it never happened.

“I don’t want to forget what happened with Connor but when we get home, we have to try to make as life as normal as possible. For the kids mostly but also for the pack,” I said.

He nodded but didn’t speak.

“I love you,? Leo,” I said putting my hand up to his face and forcing him to look at me. “And I understand why you did what you did. He was a threat to you, our family and our pack and that threat was only ever going to die with him. But I can’t forgive you yet.”

“I don’t want you to,” He said. “This is the worst thing and I have ever done by far and if you were to forgive me, it would be letting me off too easily. I deserve to live with the guilt.”

“We’ll get there one day,” I promised.

We found Luca an hour or so later, close to falling unconscious.

“Oh Jesus Christ,” Leo cursed as we looked upon the paled, weak man in the front seat of his broken down car with blood still oozing out of his shoulder.

“Ella,” he croaked, looking up with dozy eyes. “You’re okay.”

“Yeh and you’re not,” I replied as Leo lifted him like a huge baby out of the car. “You need to go to the hospital.”

“We have to get out of Mexico,” he mumbled. “Guillermo wants to kill me.”

“He’s right Alpha,” Max said looking cautiously around. “And when Andrea’s men find out their boss is dead, they’ll do one of two things: piss straight off or come after us.”

“Luca, do you think you can manage to stay alive for two hours whilst we drive to the border?” Leo asked carrying him to the functioning one of the two cars.

“Sure thing dude,” he said throwing a peace sign up before his head lolled back.

Leo rolled his eyes and lay him down in the back the seat.

“I’ll take care of him,” I said getting into the car beside him. “You two just focus on getting us back to the US.”

Leo and Max then got into the front seat and the began driving the car fast whilst I ripped Luca’s shirt off him and used it as a bandage in an attempt to stop the bleeding on his shoulder. It seemed to be working as he came around a little and a bit of colour returned to his face but it was still a huge relief when we arrived in the hospital of the closest pack to the border we could find.

When he regained consciousness he was very apologetic about this entire thing but all the same, Leo looked like he could have murdered him for what he got me into.

“Out of all the places you could have taken her!” I heard him say to Luca as he still lay in the hospital bed. Max and I had gone to get coffee and left the too alone. “To pick up the drug export from Mexico from a gang of fucking thugs! Are you insane? She’s not even supposed to know about that? And what did you think they were going to do? Turn a blind eye to the attractive young woman that you brought with you?”

Max and I exchanged looks and decided it would be better to leave them to it and wait outside the room.

“I thought we’d already done this days ago, Alpha?” he asked. “And if she was ugly, would you be less mad?”

I rolled my eyes. He really is incapable of taking anything seriously.

“Sometimes I wish, for her own safety, that she was. Every man seems to want her for her beauty which puts her in so much danger. Which is why from now on, she’s staying on pack territory unless she is accompanied by me. In fact, I don’t want her even going to Halimede or anywhere else like that on her own. This CAN’T happen again. Do you understand?” Leo said deeply.

I raised my? eyebrow at Max and he knew exactly what I was thinking.

“Alpha, you’re overreacting. She won’t like that and besides, she’s usually safe with me.”

“USUALLY is not good enough,” he growled. “You know that he almost raped her, right? Do you not see how bad that would have been. She’d be traumatised forever.”

“Okay, okay,” Luca replied. “I understand, Alpha. I won’t take any more risks with her. I promise.”

“Good,” he said shortly.

When Luca had recovered enough for the journey, we drove home with me sat beside him, closely monitoring as Leo and Max took it in turns to drive.

Things were tense in the car for a number of reasons. Here they are:Content bel0ngs to Nôvel(D)r/a/ma.Org.

1. Leo killed my brother

2. Max and I trapped in a small car together for a long time could never not lead to arguments

3. Leo was still fuming with Luca

4. Everybody was tired and groggy