Finding Forgiveness

“Have you got her?” Leo’s voice asked down the phone line.

“Kind of,” Alessio replied a sense of nervousness in his tone as he looked down on me as I struggled against him.

“What do you mean kind of? There’s two of you AND you are supposed to be some of my best soldiers! How can you only ‘kind of’ have a woman that hardly weighs a hundred pounds?” Leo questioned in a deep tone. “She should be easy.”

“I’m glad to hear that you appreciate me, Leo,” I hissed

True, since having eight children I had relaxed a little on the training malarkey, but I’m not weak.

“I’m sorry, Alpha but she is causing us some issues,” Alessio replied. “There have been humans around us the whole time and she won’t go quietly.”

“Where are you now?”

“The men’s bathroom in Seattle airport,” Alessio said quietly.

“For fuck’s sake,” Leo growled. “Give the phone to her,” he ordered.

Alessio then held the phone to my ear as he continued to hold me against the grimy wall.

“Could you tell your men to politely stop manhandling me so that I can go and save our son from certain death?” I hissed.

“I am currently unbelievably furious with you but I am willing to put that aside if you just cooperate with them and let me focus on getting our son back,” he said in a deep tone.Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.

“No.”

“No?” he growled.

“Cato will be? halfway to Mexico by now and we both know the only way to get him back alive. This is my decision so let me make it,” I replied. “I may suffer for the rest of my life if I make it, but at least Cato will be okay and that is all that matters to me.”

“It is not your decision because, as you clearly have forgotten at some point in the last couple of days, I am your Alpha and I choose what you do and don’t do. It is not that difficult to understand,” he growled.

I didn’t reply, not exactly sure what to say.

“Now stop this blatant disobedience and humiliation, do as you are told and get back in your place. I have better things to worry about than an insubordinate Luna,” he added in his Alpha tone.

I remained speechless. The way he spoke reminded me of how he was when we first met. It was like he had suddenly snapped and seven years of progress was gone with one defiant ‘no’.

Alessio then brought the phone back to his ear.

“We’ll have her back before midnight,” he said looking at his watch that read about 9:00 pm.

“If she still doesn’t cooperate, drug her,” Leo added bluntly.

“Drug me?! Leo you better hope they don’t bring me home because when I see you we are gonna have a serious talk about my human rights-” I began before he hung up.

“Okay, Luna,” he said to me ushering me towards the door of the cubicle where Xanthus stood. “Let’s go.”

He placed his hand gently on my back and lead me out of the cubicle into the sink area.

I let him urge forward, trying not to allow Leo’s words to impact me as much as they were. For some reason, I felt compelled to follow his orders.

Just as we reached the door the speaker’s of the tannoy crackled and squeaked before a voice came through again.

“This is a security announcement. Two suspicious looking men, mid-twenties, dressed in all black and both over six feet tall have been spotted by our CCTV with a young girl around the same age with blonde hair and a blue rucksack. Please report any sightings of these people to the security desk along with any suspicious behaviour or unattended baggage. Thank you,” the voice said.

“Oh fuck,” Xanthus cursed.

I let out a short laugh before covering my mouth. I felt bad for them because they were only trying to follow Leo’s orders but it certainly wasn’t their day.

“We have to change our clothes,” Alessio stated. “Do you have any spare T-shirts in your bag, Luna?”

“None that will fit you. That’s for sure,” I replied looking up about a foot and a half to his face.

At that point, the bathroom door opened and a green T-shirted, middle-aged man walked in. He looked from Xanthus to Alessio and then to me and his face paled.

Like the rest of the airport, he had obviously heard the announcement and had now found himself in the unfortunate position of being located directly between the ‘suspicious looking men’.

Xanthus and Alessio exchanged looks before they both shrugged and nodded as if they were having some kind of psychic conversation.

I mouthed a ‘run’ to the man and with a panicked look on his face, he turned back to the restroom door.

But it was too late for that. I caught a glimpse of Xanthus seizing the poor man and throwing him against the wall before Alessio bundled me back into the cubical.

A few moments later, I saw him through the crack in the door, being dragged along the floor, placed and locked in another cubicle before Xanthus returned in a green T-shirt. The man was not particularly tall, but he was rather large so the t-shirt was a good fit on Xanthus despite his height.

“There is no need for that kind of violence!” I protested. “Is he dead?”

“Nah, he’ll be fine,” Xanthus replied dismissively.

“And where exactly did this get you?” I asked looking at Alessio who was still in the all black Stella army uniform and then to my still bright blue rucksack.

“Tie your sweater around your rucksack. I will escort you out and Alessio, you join us a few minutes later. If nobody makes a scene, there is no reason anybody will suspect a thing,” he said obviously directing his speech to me.

Suddenly, I remembered what I was doing here in the first place and an image of Cato all alone with only the Mexican thugs for company? flashed across my mind.

“I’m not coming with you,” I stated.

“You heard what the Alpha said,” Xanthus replied. “He didn’t give you a choice.”

“I don’t care what he said. He’s not here, is he? And he can murder me when my son is safe,” I replied folding my arms.

“Luna, we don’t want to have to resort to plan B,” Alessio said. “Come on. Just give up now and don’t make us do it the hard way.”

“Fine,” I answered after a moment of thought before standing up and walking to the door of the cubicle.

Xanthus narrowed his eyes. He could see right through me.

My plan was to get out into the busy terminal and start screaming or something. Then they wouldn’t stand a chance of stopping me.

“Xanthus, I’m not risking it,” Alessio said pulling me back. “Get the drugs.”

He nodded before leaving the restroom altogether.

“Where exactly do you get drugs from in an airport?” I questioned.

“You’d be surprised what you can learn to do with a few packets of drugstore, everyday pills,” Alessio replied locking the cubicle door after Xanthus.

I sighed and stood up on the toilet seat before sitting on the back ledge.