6 Book 1 : Chapter 6 Where Do You Keep The Washing Powder!?

October 11th

I woke the next morning with the blazing sun shining through the window, flooding the room with bright light.

A gentle breeze blew outside, rustling the branches of the trees but the room was perfectly still. In daylight, I took a moment to examine it.

Everything was neat and tidy -sort of like being in a hotel. And that's exactly how it felt. Like I was just here for a vacation. But then I remembered the arm wrapped around my waist, holding me tightly against a steel machine of a man. I wasn't going to simply check out of here, that's for sure.

I glanced over at the alarm clock by the bed.

10:30 am.

Leonardo was still asleep. This could be my chance.

"Don't even think about it," he grumbled, the second I placed my hand on his, to prize myself free.

I sighed, "but I need a wee."

"For sure," he murmured.

He then let out a low grumble before pulling me closer into his chest, his hand ending up on my thigh.

"Keep your hands to yourself," I hissed, moving his hand back up.

He immediately moved it back.

"I'm just touching what's mine."

His handed rested lightly but I could feel every single finger on my bare skin and I bit my lip.

He let out a chuckle, shortly followed by a sigh as he nuzzled his head into the crook of my neck.

My wolf was in hysterics. She hadn't been this happy in years. Adoring his warmth and the way he held us so safely and securely, she contently purred and jumped around in excitement.

But the human side of me couldn't be less aligned. I knew who this man really was, the mate bond aside.

"The only thing my leg belongs to is me, I don't see you using it to walk every single day!"

With that, I shoved his chest hard, wriggled out of his arms and sat up, being sure to give him my best scowl.

"What the fuck is wrong with you, Ella?" He asked.

"Wrong with me?" I questioned, "we've already had this conversation."

"Yet I still don't know the answer," he replied, "why the hell don't you listen to your wolf?"

"I can make my own decisions," I said, "I don't need her input."

He scoffed, "you talk like she isn't part of you. Half of you."

"I don't see it that way," I replied, "she's weak and pathetic. I am not."

He paused for a second.

"Do you want to know what I think, Ella?"

I said nothing.

"Your wolf only wants to follow her instinct to be with me and your human side is too stubborn and spiteful to let her," he said.

"I know what is best for us. I know who you are and what you have done and how you have treated us in the last eight hours and how much I want nothing to do with you. She is just a horny wolf controlled by nothing but instinct. I'd be better off without her and I'd certainly be better off without you."

A grin tugged at his lips.

"So there is something in there, even if you don't believe it's part of you, that's horny for me?" He asked.

I shook my head in disbelief. Totally missed the point.

His arms wrap around my waist again and he rested his head on my shoulder.

"Just kiss me," he whispered in my ear, "maybe then you'll realize how right your wolf is."

I swallowed, "I don't even know you, Leonardo."

He let out a short laugh, "so?"

My eyes widened as his lips drew closer. All I could think to do was grab the pillow from beside me and force it between us, creating a safe blockade.

"No," I snapped. "Don't you dare."

He laughed to himself before untangling me from his arms and rolling onto his back.

"I thought you needed to go to the bathroom?" He asked with a handsome smirk after I hadn't moved.

With that, I quickly slithered off the bed and into the bathroom, where I slunk to the floor.

His advancements were unwelcome, there was no doubt about that. But then why was I so flustered at the concept of nearly kissing him? Why did I wish he hadn't let me stop him?

After a few minutes, I concluded that it was unfair of him to put me in this situation and therefore it wasn't my fault.

I allowed myself to have one more cringe at my life before getting up, putting on my 'I'm a mature adult' face and opening the door.

The first view I saw was Leonardo- shirtless Leonardo by the window where the morning sun shone its golden rays across his abs.

I slammed the bathroom door again and took my designated seat for the day.

"You can't stay in there forever, Ella," he said through the door after twenty minutes.

"I can. There's water, a toilet... I can eat the toothpaste if it comes to it," I replied.

"You're fighting a pointless battle."

"If I come out, will you try to kiss me again?" I asked.

"Struggling to ignore your wolf isn't so easy now, is it?"

"Leonardo, will you try to kiss me again?" I repeated.

There was a pause.

"No," he said in the most unconvincing tone possible.

"At least try to sound believable," I replied. "I'm staying in here."

"I will break this door down if you don't come out in the next thirty seconds."

Okay, that I can believe. I stood up and unlocked the door, refusing to make eye contact.

"Don't even look at me," I said, walking past him and towards the door. "And don't come closer than a metre."

"So we're just going to coexist today?" He asked.

"Precisely. Glad you're finally understanding," I said, nearly reaching the door handle.

But then he took my hand and pulled me back, "I'm not satisfied with that, sweetheart. I want more than just a lodger in this house."

I leant back away from him as he wound his hands around my waist. But there was no escaping him. He could do anything right now and I'd have no way of stopping it.

"Let me be honest with you, Ella," he began, his voice mellow, "I will not make you do anything you don't want. But I am not afraid to make you want it."

He then brought his thumb to my lips once again. Even that was enough to radiate warmth through me. Just imagine how blissful his lips on mine would be.

"But there's plenty of time for this later," he said, taking his hands off me, leaving my mouth watering, "for now, we will just have breakfast... unless you want to just cut the chase and fuck this second?"

I swallowed and paused, "breakfast."

He smiled and pinched my cheek, "I'll see you down there."

When I got downstairs, a man sat in the kitchen.

And I know what you're thinking.

Not a male stripper. Just an ordinary man. Or actually... maybe those pants could have been velcroed, and perhaps that was the faint outline of a mankini under his shirt. But no. For the purpose of this story, he was just a man.

"Leonardo, who's the guy?" I asked as he appeared in the kitchen behind me.

He looked up at me and gave me what could have been a smile but it was hard to tell. His eyes were green and bright and his hair a chocolate brown but that's about all there was to say. He gave very little away.

"Ella, this is Blair, my beta," Leonardo said, putting a hand on my shoulder. "Blair, this is Ella. My mate."

Blair stood up, revealing his incredible height and approached me. I leant back a little, out of his shadow, feeling slightly intimidated but he just held his hand out.

Oh.

I shook it.

His features were much softer than they first appeared and much softer than Leonardo's by a long shot. He smiled, this time in a more convincing way.

"Buongiorno, Ella," he said.

"I don't know what that means..." I whispered to Leonardo.

"She doesn't speak Italian," Leonardo told him.

"Why would I-"

"Apologies," he said, examining me. "You look like you're from this pack."

I opened my mouth, realizing no one was going to have the courtesy to explain what the fuck they were talking about but Leonardo beat me to it.

"Where's Luca?" He asked.

Blair looked at his watch, "I don't know. He should be here. I told him to come at 9:00 am to ensure he was here by 11:00 am but here we are."

I smiled to myself. I had no idea who 'Luca' was but he seemed like my sort of person.

A few moments later, the front door opened.

"You're late," Leonardo stated in a deep tone.

A tall, boyish man entered the kitchen. He was flustered, his ash-blonde pointing in every direction as he peeled his sweater off him and leant against the door frame, dramatically panting and wiping his brow with the back of his hand like a shocked 50s film star.

"I'm sorry Alpha I just lost my car keys and I couldn't find them anywhere until I looked in the fridge and they were on the shelf which come to think of it, explains why there was hot sauce in my jacket pocket and then I spilled milk on my-"

He abruptly stopped when he set his blue eyes on me, stood up straight and simply stared.

"I don't give a shit why you're late. Make sure it doesn't happen again," Leonardo said.

"Yeah, yeah, sure," he said, dismissively waving his hand. "Who's the pretty Lady?"

"Ella," Leonardo said, wrapping an arm around my waist. "My mate."

"Oh, I'm sorry Alpha. She's not pretty. I mean she is but it's just an observation I'm not saying that I'd ever even dream of acting on it and I-"

"Luca," Leonardo snapped.

"Yes, Alpha?"

"Just shut up."

I smiled and Luca held out a hand to me.

"It's nice to meet you, Ella," he said.

He was far friendlier than Blair and didn't have an ounce of intimidation about him. I smiled and he smiled back.

"What's it like having to have Leo as a mate?" He asked.

"Watch it, Luca," Leonardo said.

He flashed his eyes at me and rolled them as Leonardo looked away so that only I could see.

I giggled which only caused his lips to curl into a wide smile.

"Ella, this is Luca, my Gamma," Leonardo said.

"Hi," I said.

"Has our Alpha not gotten you any clothes yet?!" He teased.

I looked down at my bare legs. Oh, right I forgot to put pants on.

I gritted my teeth and slowly looked back up... Well, this is awkward.

Leonardo shot him a deathly glare, but it didn't seem to have any effect on Luca.

"Borrow anything of mine," Leonardo said to me, "I want you to cover up."

I looked up.

The t-shirt was long and reached my mid-thigh. Yes, I only had panties on underneath but it didn't seem like a tremendous problem.

'I want you to cover up'

There are so many ways he could have phrased it that wouldn't have made him sound like an ass and trigger the part of me that wanted to fight against every single little thing he said.

But as I looked up at him as he towered over me with Blair and Luca at his side, I said nothing.

"We will go shopping when I have the time but for now, Blair and I have to go out and... do something, and Luca will stay with you."

Luca's face lit up into a mischievous grin.

"Whilst they fuck," he whispered to me. "Alpha Loren's biggest secret," he added with a wink.

I let out an abrupt laugh before covering my mouth and trying to control myself.

"Luca," Leonardo scolded, smacking him over the ear.

He then turned to me.

"You'll be safe with him, but if he annoys you too much you have your Alpha's full permission to slap him."

I raised my eyebrows, "you aren't my Alpha."

Silence descended on the hallway.

Both Luca and Blair nervously glanced up at Leonardo, waiting for him to react.

"Blair, let's go," he said, his eyes fixated on me, "Luca don't fuck up. I'm in a bad mood now."

With that, he turned and left, Blair following him and closing the door behind them.

"Well..." Luca said, "that was interesting."

"Interesting?"

"No one talks back to the Alpha like that," he said, "I've never seen anyone disrespect him and get away with it."

"As I said, he's not my Alpha. I'm not following his rules," I replied.

"So does that mean you won't cover up those scandalous legs up, you whore?" Luca said, "How could you even consider showing me your knees?!"

I smiled and rolled my eyes, "I will but only because I want to. This house is cold and bare legs are not a vibe. I'll be right back."

Nothing in Leonardo's closet that would even consider fitting me. His jeans were all as long as my entire body, his shorts drowned me and his sweatpants just bunched around my ankles in masses of thick fabric.

I sighed before glancing around the room for another option. A drawer lay slightly open. I slowly approached it and pulled the handle, revealing his boxers.

I paused for a moment, wide-eyed before taking a pair out.

Elasticated waist? Check. Comfy fabric? Check.

And compared to him, I was tiny. These boxers would be like shorts on me.

Perfect.

I changed and headed back downstairs in my new fit.

Luca had to contain his laughter as I did a little catwalk. Most of my legs were still uncovered but I could sit sprawled out on the sofa without revealing my ass, so that's was good enough for me.

"So what do you wanna do?" Luca asked me.

"Go home," I replied without hesitation.

"I'm not suicidal," Luca said, "we could just sit and watch the stock market?" He asked with a shrug.

I tucked my chin into my neck and looked at him with concern. He wasn't joking.

"Why would we-"

"Or we could play on the x-box," he interrupted.

"Yeah, let's do that..."

"GTA or Call of Duty?" He asked, assuming I would know what either of those were.

"Um..." I mumbled, cluelessly trying to remember what Connor and his friends are always playing.

"GTA it is," he laughed.

We played for at least three hours and Luca won every time. What a surprise.

"I think you are possibly the worst person I've ever played against in the history of my life," he laughed.

"I'm just waiting for the right moment to pounce, then you won't be laughing," I threatened.

"When will that moment come little miss feisty pants?" He asked.

"When you are least expecting it."

Just as Luca was performing his victory dance for the seventeenth time, my stomach erupted with the ghastliest impression of a whale.

"Does the Alpha not feed you either?" Luca asked.

"Um... he hasn't yet actually," I replied.

"He has no idea how to treat a lady," he stated, opening the fridge. "Oooh, but he has sushi."

A few minutes later, Luca and I sat at the table eating the sushi we had stolen from Leonardo's fridge.

I watched as Luca picked up his chopsticks, expecting him to put one in each hand.

But he didn't.

Instead, with one in his left and one in his right, he slowly and shakily picked up a piece of sushi.

"That's not how you use chopsticks," I pointed out.

He looked up, "huh?"

"You're doing it wrong."

"There's a way?" He asked.

"Yeah, and that's not it," I replied, taking them out of his hands. "Hold it like this."

I demonstrated and he watched in wonder as if I had just revealed the secret to the universe.

"Try it."

He picked up another piece of sushi, this time with marginally less struggle.

"You'll get there," I reassured. "... one day."

Just then the doorbell rang. Luca and I both glanced over before Luca stood up.

"It's probably best if you stay here," he said, flicking a grain of rice off his shirt, "Leo hasn't claimed you yet and he wouldn't want you answering the door."

I frowned, "claimed me?"

"You know... marked and mated," he said.

"And when is he going to do that?" I asked.

Luca shrugged, "surprised he hasn't already to be honest."

My eyes were on the floor, my stomach sinking.

I didn't want anyone to 'claim' me, especially not him.

"Ella, are you okay?" Luca asked, waving his hand in front of my face.

"What? yeah, I'm fine," I answered, trying to act casual by leaning against the table and scratching my head. "Why?"

As he gave me a cheeky grin, he mimicked my 'natural' leaning on the door frame of the kitchen.

"Luca, get the door," I snapped.

Whoever was there had been waiting quite a while.

"Oh yeah, I'll do that," he said, standing upright and rummaging around in his pocket.

A few moments later he withdrew a key. My eyes glistened at the shiny object and Luca opened the door.

It was Connor.

I raced down the hall and around Luca, straight into my brother's arms.

"How did you find me?" I asked but before he could answer I had been dragged back into the house and Luca was guarding the door.

"Who the fuck are you?" Luca asked.

"Who the fuck are you?" Connor countered.

"Luca it's fine, he's my brother," I said, attempting to wiggle around him.

But he grabbed my arm and pulled me back once again.

"Do you have the Alpha's permission to be on this territory?" Luca asked.

"I don't need permission to see my little sister," Connor snapped, "and I'm not here to cause trouble. But shockingly, when she didn't come home last night, I was a little worried, especially when one of Alpha Leonardo Loren's men showed up telling me she was with him. So I had to check on her."

"Well, there you go. You've checked. She's fine. Now you can leave," Luca said, "trust me, you do not want the Alpha to find you here."

"Can I not even speak with my sister for five fucking minutes?" Connor asked.

"You have 'five fucking' seconds," Luca replied, stepping aside slightly.

I gave my brother a small smile before he sighed, "Ella, what the fuck? You're his mate? Please tell me this is a dream."

"Unfortunately not. He found me in the woods last night and he brought me here. I wanted to call but..."

His face sunk about three miles, "he wouldn't let you?"

I shook my head, "he won't let me do much. I can't live like this, Connor."

"Has he... hurt you?"

"Not really."

"What do you mean 'not really'?" Connor asked, stepping forward, "are you in danger?"

I swallowed and shrugged, "I don't know. I haven't even known him twelve hours yet."

Connor balled his fists, "and when will he be back here? I'm staying to speak to him."

"No," I said, "that's not a good idea. He's a dangerous man. You know that."

"I don't give a shit, Ella," he replied, "I'm not just leaving you here with these random men. Anything could happen."

"Okay, time to go," Luca announced, placing his hand on Connor's shoulder and shoving him off the porch.

Connor refused to budge.

"I said I'm not leaving her here."

"She's in safe hands," Luca reassured before pushing him further down the drive.

Luca was far bigger than my brother and easily dragged him despite Connor's protest.

"Ella, I promise you I will not give up," Connor said, "I will find a way to get you home."

"You will find a way to get yourself killed," Luca hissed, "she is Alpha Loren's mate now. And you do not want to fuck with him."

Connor sighed.

"At least let me ask her how to turn the oven on."

That at least put a smile on my face. Typical Connor.

"I'm sure you can use your initiative and work it out," Luca Grumbled, his sense of humour creeping back into his voice.

"Abi and Charlotte will show you!" I shouted.

"And where do you keep the washing powder?!" He shouted back at me, still being manhandled by Luca.

"UNDER THE SINK!" I screamed as he got further away.

When they reached the woods they quickly got out of sight, Connor was now co-operating but Luca probably still wanted to escort him to the borderline. It then dawned on me I was free. Luca had left the door wide open and no one was in the house to stop me. Without a second thought, I legged it down the drive and in the opposite direction to Luca and Connor. I had no shoes on and the twig littered forest ground was prickling my feet, but that wasn't going to stop me using possibly my only real chance to escape. After a mere two minutes of sprinting, footsteps pounded behind me.

I turned my head to see Leonardo running towards me. His legs were impossibly long and he could run faster than I'd ever seen anyone run before. Trying to out sprint him was futile so I turned and put my hands up in front of my chest, hoping to stop him before he could seize me with his powerful arms.

But we just collided hard and he knocked me to the floor, pinning me down to the ground.

I looked into his eyes and instantly regretted ever leaving the house. They were dark and piercing as he stared down at me, squeezing my wrists tight.

Oopsies.