November 12th

The next morning was a good one. We awoke to the beautiful smell of pancakes- homemade by Rosa of course. Even Xander seemed happy as he came into the kitchen with Bella at his side.

A few hours later, Leo got a call and had to leave suddenly without offering any of us an explanation which was surprising since he had plenty of time to give Xander a graphic warning of what would happen if he tried anything whilst he was gone.

Xander and Bella were sat on the sofa when I came downstairs to get a glass of water, Xander with his arm around her.

"Hey, Bella," I said shortly.

"Hey, Ells," Bella replied.

"Hi Alpha Xander," I added through gritted teeth but he said nothing for a few minutes

Eventually, he spoke up, "Good morning, Luna."

Bella then nudged him and he took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry for beating up your mate," he added. "And for any grief it caused you."

I smiled at how much pain it brought him to say it.

"That's okay, Alpha Xander," I replied. "I can see that he gave as good as he got."

He smiled shortly before turning away.

"But if you ever lay a finger on him again, you better sleep with one eye open," I added with a wink as Bella laughed.

Half an hour later, Luca came over.

"Good morning Lunarooni," Luca greeted as he made his entrance into the house.

"Thanks for knocking," I said sarcastically from the kitchen table.

"Anytime," he replied. "Now get your shoes and jacket kind Lady. Your escort has arrived."

I giggled, "Where are we going?"

"On a road trip," he said. "I have Leo's permission...on the off chance you are concerned about that."

"Come on dumbass," I said already halfway out the door, "Let's go."

As I sat in Luca's car with my feet on the dash, he kept turning on the seat warmer as discretely as possible

"Stop it!" I exclaimed as I unexpectedly felt my ass heat up for the third time.

I hated seat warmers.

You wanna know why?

Heat + ass = ass sweat.

And I hate ass sweat.

"Don't reveal your weaknesses to me, Ella," he said, "Did you learn nothing from growing up with a brother."

"Awwee," I said, my heart touched, "Do you see me as a sister?"

He smiled, "Of course I do," he said pinching my cheek.

"Well in that case, you should tell me Leo went earlier?" I asked.

"Not strictly supposed to tell you the exact details," Luca replied.

"I'll punch you in the balls again," I stated.

"Okay I'll tell you," he said putting his hands up sarcastically. "There was a rogue attack. Quite a few of them by the sounds of things. Probably thinking they'd strike whilst the pack is weak from the war. But it was stopped before too much damage was done."

"Too much?" he asked.

"Some civilians were killed," he said, "One woman was raped."

I light mood from earlier instantly vanished.

"That's awful," I said, "Is the woman alright?"

"Actually...that's why Leo wanted me to take you on a road trip. His soldiers are around her home now, clearing the bodies and ensuring it is safe but she has no family and she needs someone to comfort her. Leo thinks you'd do a far better job than his men."

Luca drove for some time before he pulled up infront of a small home within the trees.

There were half a dozen soldiers around outside. One of them was boarding up a window on the house, another carrying a large man-shaped object wrapped in rag and others looked as though they were on guard.

Leo was stood waiting and opened the car door when Luca arrived.

"So you like to have purpose, I know that," Leo said, "You used to go to work and school and it's my fault that you are no longer doing those things so I found you something else to do that puts that big heart of yours to use."

I smiled, "You're giving me a job?"

"My people like you Ella," he said, "I can't deny that. I keep them in check and the pack running smoothly but you make them happy. And I want to use that to improve the pack without weakening it. It's the perfect compromise."

"So I take care of things you don't have the empathy to do?" I asked, "I comfort people?"

He nodded, "Yes and this woman needs you more than anything. She won't speak to me or any of my men. But I thought you stand a better chance?"

I nodded.copy right hot novel pub