Alpha Enzo (and Alaria) novel Chapter 95

Enzo:

I walked inside the house, surprised to see that most of the pack was still awake despite the long night.

“Enzo?” Alaria asked, and I smiled at her. She caught the smell and sight of blood on my shirt, she was always one to notice details, and I watched as her eyes widened in surprise. “How…?”

“It is not my blood. You don’t need to worry,” I said, stopping her from asking a question. “It is Katherine’s. The two of us encountered one another, but I didn’t kill her. Alonso can’t lose two parents on the same day, and it is not something that I would be allowing right now.”

“Are you okay?” Alaria asked, lowering her voice to above a whisper. I knew that she was being genuine with her question, and though I couldn’t help but find myself being thankful for it, I didn’t know how to answer her.

To say the least, I didn’t want to hurt her, and I knew that my response might.

“I’m fine,” I said, choosing to be calm with my answer. She kept her eyes on me, but she didn’t say another word to press on the subject. “Where is Ashton?”

“Asleep. Yasmin as well. Everyone is settled, and I ordered that the pack is guarded. Every child and elder has two maids in the room for their safety and one gamma or delta by the door. This would ensure that the weaker ones aren’t taken off guard over the night.” Alaria explained, and I nodded.

I looked at Leonardo for a moment, and the man nodded, knowing that the night has been long for all of us. This was one of those nights where I just wanted things to end. I didn’t know how they would or where they would be going, but I knew that it just needed to end.

“Do you want to get something to eat? You’ve been out…”

“I’m going to shower. I’ll eat in the morning,” I said, stopping Alaria. She didn’t say a word, but she nodded as she took a step back, giving me my space.

“You go and talk to him. He would listen to the two of you more than he would me.” I heard Alaria say as she spoke to Viktor. She walked toward the living room, and I knew that this eerie night was yet to end.

Our enemies were not going to rest and if Jacob was dead, I was going to have to deal with not only Katherine, but also Damon. And if I wasn’t lucky, even Yaroslav would be on his son’s side at this point. It would be the one way to explain his disappearance.

“Alpha…”

“We are going to need to end this war. There are so many thing that are in stake at this point, and I don’t aim to wait until we’ve lost our pack members and family before I’ve acted.” I said, stopping Leonardo.

Jacob’s words played in my head. Something was going on with Alaria’s family. At least, it was what he implied.

“Ezio passed by, Alpha.” Viktor said, and I took a deep breath. “Alaria is doubting him. Something about the man was off, it was something that I could give her. Neither one of us understood the reason behind his behavior, but he seemed to want Alaria to follow him, to come with him somewhere where I wasn’t. When he saw that I didn’t comply, he grew furious.”

“Did he say what he wanted?”

“He threatened and challenged, but it was as far as he went.” Viktor explained, and I nodded. I looked away from the man for a moment as I got lost in thought. The man couldn’t have gone as low as to side against his sister too. Not when I knew that he stood by her side for a long time.

“If he approaches the pack grounds, I want to know.” I said, and Viktor nodded. “The tunnels?”

“All have been filled with traps. Anyone who enters is not going to be able to get out. And those who do enter are going to be burning alive, some of them have an oxygen blockage. If the door opens and closes, they would suffocate inside before they could make a second move.” Leonardo said, and I nodded. It was something that I was thankful for, the progress that we were making.

I opened the door to Ashton’s room, and the two maids who were assigned to keep him safe stood. One by the window, the second beside the closet. They nodded at me, and I nodded back before walking inside to check on my son. Both my betas stayed by the door.

I looked at my child’s peaceful body as his chest rose and fell, and I couldn’t help but smile before putting a hand on his cheek, feeling his warmth. I got into his head, giving him a dream that I knew that he would love. A dream that even I wished would come true.

Dream beginning:

“Daddy…” he said, making me chuckle as I lifted him in my arms, twirling him around before hugging him tightly. I kissed his cheek before pulling away to look at him.

“Your mom is going to be waiting, and you are have been tiring her today.” I said, playfully scolding my boy.

“No, I haven’t. It is Mia. She doesn’t sleep and just cries a lot. Mama stays with her all the time.” He said, and I chuckled.

“Mia is your little sister, son. You, as her big brother, should keep her safe. She looks up at you and she would know that you are her big brother. But you know, for her to know, you have to be her back. And that also means that you need to help your mom.” I said, walking toward the house as I held him in my arms.

I looked at Alaria who smiled when she saw us before leaning in and pecking her lips. She smiled into the kiss before I pulled away and put Ashton down to kiss our daughter’s forehead.

“And I never said that it was. I can’t blame him for the way that he feels, but I am blaming myself for the feelings that I have.” I said, and he took a deep breath. “I know that loving him is breaking me, especially when I don’t know whether or not they are mutual. I know he might say that it is, you might even say it, but eyes speak louder. And at this point, I can’t see him. I can’t see him. It is like the man that I knew is no longer there.”

“Of course, he is not.” He said, and I looked away from Leonardo. “And neither are you.”

I looked at the man for a moment and he smiled. He put his hand on my knee, squeezing it gently.

“You know, when I first saw you and dealt with you, I never did expect that you were the same woman that I knew before.” He said, looking me in the eye. “I saw someone different, a woman who is strong, and a woman who would not be standing for anyone shit; and I have to admit, even I questioned, are you the same woman that we knew before? I asked myself, would I be dealing with you the same way that I used to deal with you before? Would the two of us be friends? But look at us, here we are, friends, talking, like we used to before.”

He put his hand on my shoulder, squeezing it gently, and I smiled. “I learned, after a while, that we all change depending on the circumstances that we live through. And we learn to either value it or choose not to accept it.”

“You are going to need to learn to accept him just as he accepts you, because trust me, he has accepted you the way that you are. And he has chosen to give into you. It is something that he hasn’t done in a long time, and you know that he wouldn’t be doing so, Alaria.” Leonardo said, and I took a deep breath. “You are the good in him, you are the last good in you, and you are the one thing that will keep his sanity right now.”

“The fact that you are saying that I am a ‘thing’ is something that I find amusing.” I said, and he laughed. “But I don’t know if I can do this, Leonardo. I don’t know if I can just let go of everything that happened. It is not easy to let go of the fact that I was cheated on, that he had a mistress, and then that he divorced me to marry her. I can’t get over the fact that I am always in second place, Leo.”

“And you know that you are not the only one who is scared of taking risks, Alaria.” Enzo said, taking me off guard as he walked toward us. Leonardo stood, looking at his Alpha, and both men nodded before Leonardo smiled at me. He put his hand on my shoulder, and I took a deep breath before the man walked inside, leaving me alone with Enzo.

His eyes met mine and I crossed my arms over my chest. “While I understand that are hurt, and I understand that I broke you; I was stupid. I was young, foolish, and what I did, Katherine, she was everything that I ever wanted once upon a time. I was stupid enough to think or believe that it was what I wanted. Because the older I grew, the more that I understood that I was wrong. The peace that I had, it was you who gave it to me. I didn’t find it elsewhere, and though I might have been a little too late to get to know it…”

“You saw me as your second option, Enzo. It is what I am trying to explain to you. You looked at me as if I were nothing, and no matter how much I am going to try to explain it, Enzo, you are not going to understand me right now.” I said, shaking my head at the man.

“Then explain it to me.” He said, taking both my hands in his. “Because you are the ONE person that I want to be with, and you are the one person who would make me feel like my world would stop if you weren’t around.”

“Would it?” I asked, and he took a deep breath.

“Sometimes you don’t understand the value of what you’ve had until you’ve lost it.” He said, giving me a gentle smile. “And I know for fact that I have lost you. And the idea of not managing to explain that to you is something that I find painful.”

“Anyhow, you can have a good night. I’ll go and get some rest.” He said, leaning in. He kissed my cheek, letting his lips linger there for a moment before pulling away. “And I suggest that you do that too…”