November 4th

"How are you still alive?!" Leo said picking me up by the waist and pulling me into his chest, after scanning my body for injury.

"You have the Praesidium Deae Astra to thank for that," I said.

"You protected yourself?" Leo asked and I nodded.

"Don't sound so surprised," I said hugging him again.

"Okay, celebration over, these people need leading," Leo said to the chaos that had evolved around us.

"Hey, Christiano!" Leo called beckoning a man over. "Inform the base of our victory and deploy the paramedics. There are a lot of casualties scattered throughout the territories."

The man nodded and scurried off.

"Alessandro," Leo said to another man. "Order your squadron to take Alpha Haden to the base prison. Ensure there is a doctor there to administer wolfsbane hourly. He must be kept weak."

"Alpha what should we do with the children?" The man asked that had helped save the kids. "They have no other family members."

"The convoy trucks will be here shortly, Angelo," Leo said. "For now, ensure that they are kept warm and out of the way. I suppose we'll see if anyone's willing to take them on when the situation has settled a little."

The soldier nodded before pausing, "Actually, Alpha. I'd take them on."

Leo looked at him, "For real? All three?"

He nodded.

"Do you have you have a mate?" Leo asked.

"Yes."

"Does she not want her own kids?"

"He and I can't have our own children...for obvious reasons."

"Oh," Leo said with a smile, "I see. Then you and your mate are dismissed from duty for today. Get those kids home. They don't need to see all this."

I looked around.

To the left of us was the body of their mother being loaded onto a stretcher. All around the rest of the clearing there was injured soldiers, weapons, bodies and a whole lot of blood.

The soldier nodded, "Thank you, Alpha."

He then approached the three children, huddled together and guided them away.

"Ella, your brother is stood creepily at the edge of the forest," Leo said.

I looked around to see him watching us.

"He knows he's not welcome on your territory."

"Go," he said.

I looked up, in surprise.

"Go and talk to your brother," he repeated as if he was having to swallow his pride. "Then he can get the fuck off my land."

I smiled and left before he could change his mind.

"I thought you had gone?" I said hugging him.

"I had but then I realised I couldn't leave things between us like this. I'm sorry for reacting so badly to your pregnancy," he replied.

"I understand," I said.copy right hot novel pub