December 2nd

Back to Ella's POV:

"Luca!" I called as we entered the back yard.

Luca turned around from where he was stood, picking the sprinkles off a chocolate donate on the food table. As he saw me, he smiled widely and bounded over.

"Am I allowed to talk to my bestfriend, Alpha, or...?" he asked.

Leo rolled his eyes, "Keep her away from Haden. Do you think you can keep that order?"

Luca nodded.

"I'll be over there, speaking with my Grandfather," he said.

He then left us and I turned back to Luca, "Nice eye," I said referring to the black bruise still on Luca's face from when Leo punched him a week and a half ago. "I'm surprised that hasn't healed yet."

"Did you not see how hard he hit me?" Luca questioned. "If he wasn't tightly gripping my throat at the time of impact I'd still be walking back from Alaska," he added and I giggled. "I also have a bruise on my ribs too if you want to see-" he added reaching for the hem of his shirt.

"Yeah okay, we believe you, honey. You don't need to show us," I interjected.

"Oh, I've missed you and your sarcasm, Ells," Luca exclaimed suddenly bear hugging me.

Slightly overwhelmed I stumbled back a bit but he was squeezing me so tightly I would struggle to fall over without pulling him down with me.

"Your Alpha is giving you a look," I whispered in his ear having caught sight of Leo watching the situation. "But I missed you too, Luca."

"Is it a good look or a bad look?" Luca asked sounding slightly concerned.

"If I had to guess I'd say bad...it's kind of a look that says: get the fuck off my mate or I'll give you another black eye to match," I replied and he finally let go of me.

"Sorry Alpha," Luca said, knowing that Leo could hear. "I'm currently trying to persuade him to put me back on babysitting duty. He's a tough nut to crack but I'll get there eventually."

"If he's desperate..." Mateo's voice said from behind us.

"Mateo, hey," I said, "How are you?"

He shrugged and sat himself on top of the garden table just by us, "I saw Allison this morning. She's still distraught."

"Well...one of her closest friends was murdered right in front of her," Luca said, "It's going to take more than a week to heal from that."

Mateo nodded and rubbed his eyes with his hands, "Oh shit," he mumbled.

"What?" I asked.

"I think I care about her more than I ever planned to," he said, "We were just friends that fucked sometimes. Now I see her cry and it makes me feel hurt too. And I'm sitting here at this party with loads of hot girls around and I don't even want to go and talk to any of them. All I can think about is Allison."

I rested my hand on his shoulder, "You Loren boys don't know much about emotion, huh?"

He smiled, "I've never liked a girl for her personality before. I know that makes me a massive dick but I always knew I have a mate out there somewhere so I didn't plan on getting involved with anyone else. Now I have and it really sucks."

"Why does it suck?" I asked, "She may not be your mate but just because you are a wolf doesn't mean you can't be a normal teenager too. You can date."

He sighed, "I don't even know if she feels the same way."

"Then in a few weeks when she has had time to grieve Amber, you should talk to her."

"Why wouldn't she feel the same way?" Luca asked, "I mean this in the least homosexual way possible but you're funny, charming and a fuck ton kinder than your brother. And she clearly finds you attractive."

Mateo shrugged, "I don't know. What we've got is good. I don't want to risk ruining it. Plus...there's the small matter of Marco and Carlos actually obliterating me from existence if they find out."

I rolled my eyes, "You're scared of your little brothers?" I asked, "Those two goofy dumbasses?"

"That's coming from someone that's never been punched by either of them," he replied with a laugh, "They hit hard."

Just then Lia and Haden came out of the backyard.copy right hot novel pub