King Alejandro: The Return Of Her Cold-Hearted Alpha

Chapter 78 Chapter 78 Was It Too Late ALEJANDRO | shut the door to my office behind me, Leo was already sitting in one of the chairs, his long legs sprawled out in front of him, hands in his pockets and his face set in a cold frown. Rayhan walked over to the window, leaning against the wall, and crossed his arms. As much as | didn’t want to do this right after that hell of a battle, knowing there were families who were mourning their losses... knowing that | had a shitload to do in the morning and so much fucking more, | also couldn't let this chance slip away. | knew Leo would be gone before morning came; | knew him enough to know that. The fact he and Rayhan worked together gaveshope, and the fact he stayed in the splace as Rayhan without causing issues for a few hours. “I ain't got all night.” Leo said as | dropped into my office chair, damn my body was fucking exhausted. “Yeah well, I'll get to it. You both know why I’ve called you here. | want you both to say exactly what you feel, but | want you both to listen whilst the other talks, alright? No fucking interrupting.” | commanded, my alpha command weighing down on them. | saw Leo’s eyes flash with irritation. “Fine.” Rayhan said quietly. “I'm not forcing you to agree. Just give each other a chance.” | added quietly, knowing Leo hated any form of command.

| sat back, taking out a cigarette from a packet, about to put the box away when instead | offered it to my younger nephew. After a moment's hesitation, he took one, and I lit his before lighting my own. “Want one?” | asked Rayhan, who simply raised an eyebrow. “No thanks.” He said before opening the window next to him. Leo scoffed as he sat back, and | ran my hand through my hair. Well here goes... “We all know what Delsanra went through at the hands of Endora, I've had this conversation with you, Leo.

Do you wantto go over it?” “Na, | know, | was there remember? | witnessed all the shit that went on there.” He said coldly, his eyes becoming ice. | frowned and nodded. “Very well, so you know that she was beaten to within an inch of her life on a daily basis, made to do Endora’s biddings, and if she refused, she was simply beaten further?” | asked quietly. There were the fucking hunters who had done worse to Delsanra, but Rayhan had hunted and killed them all... We had lost Raf because of that fight, there were also corrupt witches who had helped the hunters... | know Rayhan hated the hunters with even more vengeance than he had the Sangue Pack, but he had killed all those involved. | sighed heavily.

“There were many who hurt her willingly, many who were commanded to hurt her, blackmailed or out of fear of being beaten themselves, for survival... and those who were brave enough to refuse were then compelled under magic to hurt her. These rogues were all gathered by Endora, and she built her army by fear and control.” | looked between both of them, both were quiet until now. “Rayhan did what he felt was right, seeing what his mate had gone through would fucking affect anyone; we would destroy the world for our mates. The need to protect our mates is so fucking intense that until you have a mate you won't understand that. I'm not saying that it was completely right, I'm just saying when your mate his hurt you don’t see anything but to make it better.” | said quietly. | could feel Leo’s anger rising, but he didn’t speak, although | knew even with my command he could if he wanted. “Rayhan, do you want to put your points forward, do you want to tell Leo exactly what happened when you went to the Sangue pack long ago?” He gave a curt nod before slipping his hands into his pockets. “I first took the files from you after promising that | wouldn't show them to anyone. You were reluctant to give them to me. | then asked Delsanra which ones had hurt her, she pointed out those that she remembered and then we went to the Sangue pack, | had told Marcel which men it was and so they were already gathered.” He sighed, turning to look out at the moon.

The pain in his eyes was clear, no matter how much fucking tpassed, it was obvious it didn’t go away entirely. | glanced at Leo, who was smoking away indifferently, tapping his foot silently as if bored. “Delsanra toldthat there were those who had been forced to hurt her and to not do this.” “But you didn’t listen.” Leo said.

Rayhan frowned. “They couldn't just get away with it. | first separated those who were forced and had felt guilt to step forward, deciding they would get one beating and be let off.

| only beat a few of these because Delsanra pleaded atto let them go, and I did.” As | had thought and heard, but still, Leo didn’t seem to look surprised, almost as if he knew that. | frowned as Rayhan sighed. “I let them go, that group felt remorse and had been under spells. There was an older man who even talked about sshe-wolf who hung with Delsanra when she was mid-mutating to a wendigo or something.” He continued.

“Then | sent Delsanra with Liam. After that, the group who were compelled and felt no remorse were-" “Beaten and bound in silver for a month.” Leo cut in. “Yeahi, and the rest who hurt her willingly, | killed.” Leo smirked and nodded. “Yeah.... Anything else?” He asked, Rayhan frowned but looked down.

“Maybe | was too harsh, but there were guards in your pack who had hurt her too, those in the upper ranks of the Sangue pack. Should people like that be given a second chance? Rogues are exiled wolves, either they commit crimes or weren't worthy of staying in a pack because of disobedience, to begin with. Having ranked wolves who had committed that many crimes? That isn’t something that should ever be allowed.” 1 “And then there are those who were born rogues. Does a child need to suffer for their parent’s sins?” Leo asked, now sitting forward as he turned and looked at Rayhan. “The thing is, this is the last tI'm going to talk about this because it’s obvious you both will never fucking get it. Dad was born a rogue, he knew nothing but what Endora taught him. Most of those men were born to rogues that Endora gathered. That's the only life we knew. Obey or be killed. Survival, it’s the basic instinct all living things have.” He licked his lips, exhaling sharply as he stood up. “You mentioning where we cfrom, that was the fucking last straw and it shows that you'll never get it. We will always be beneath the elite: You folk.” He raised his hands in a mock surrendering gesture.

“Leo-" | began when he shook his head. “I'm not fucking done.” He said quietly, his eyes flashing. There was something different in the way he was talking, and deep down | worried that if | didn’t get through to him tonight, my chance would be gone... | nodded, motioning for him to carry on “You know those men that you killed? The ones that hurt her willingly? Do you know they were told to beat a witch, which if you forget was the common enemy for us werewolves? Or did you all forget that little detail when you changed your opinion the moment a Rossi had a witch mate and a witch daughter? When it affected the Lycan Kings family, of course, he was going to suddenly change sides or consider acceptance.” | frowned, as did Rayhan, my stomach twisting. He had a fucking point. “But that’s because we saw the good in them, Del and Ri showed us that not all witches were bad. We were wrong to judge them all as one.” | said quietly. He nodded. “Yeah... but how do you explain that to a man whose own mate was threatened to be killed off if he didn’t beat a witch? A monster as we were taught? Obviously, he’ll choose to attack a monster who was helping Endora, who was as fucking psychotic bitch.” “And that is why the rogues were given a chance at a fresh start, because | don’t agree with Rayhan there. They deserved a chance at a new life-” | began. “Sure, but you took that promise right fucking back when you gave him access to those files! You gave us so much fucking hope, thatand the other kids were so fucking excited to live a life like we heard others had. We'd get to go to school, train, watch movies, listen to music, have proper homes, and have fucking fun like normal kids, but everything was taken away the moment you let another Alpha walk into our pack and forced our Alpha to submit.” The pain in his voice was thick, yet his tone remained hard and angry as he glared at me. His eyes held a haunted look that | had seen on the faces of many back in those caves...

“Leo-" “I'm not done... Dad never mentioned it but years after the effect of that massacre, and what Rayhan did was a fucking massacre, it haunted us. When you killed all those men, you killed their mates. You made so many children orphans. Dad is at fault, you are at fault, and above all. Ravlian is at fault. | don’t care about the reasons, the way that was handled was wrong. | watched those killings, those beatings through a fucking vent. | watched how Dad sat in an adjoining room, head in hands, as his pack members were beaten! You did it all for your mate, vet you took away the mates of many!” Leo continued, his eyes going fromto Rayhan, blazing a steely blue, | could tell it was hard for him to talk about it, and | got it... | had fucked up.

“And you know, from those who were compelled, who had been brave enough to refuse to beat her? Letgive you an example, you know one of them: He had refused to beat her, and Endora ended up killing his daughter.

His mate also struggled to carry a fucking pup due to being beaten, because he tried to do the right fucking thing. So, when you asked him if he felt remorse, why would he? She was just a witch to him. He was still mourning the loss of his daughter! What did you want him to say? Yeah, | fucking felt bad? And to top it off, his mate, who had suffered beatings, was pregnant when you showed up, was classed as high risk and she almost died when he was bound in silver for a fucking month by you.

You hurt a pregnant woman, almost killed their miracle child.” 1 Rayhan was looking down, and | saw the guilt in his eyes. “Dad could do fucking nothing because he’s a fucking coward, one who had just found his family and feared losing you all, but if he was half the fucking man he should have been... He should have protected his pack, not appeased his so-called family, because his real family was meant to be his pack. Blood does not make you family.” Leo shook his head and smirked coldly.

“And that’s why, | will never consider you all my real family, because my fucking duty is to my pack, to make sure no one ever abuses them the way you all did. Yeah you too, Alpha King Alejandro. You created fucking files on us like we were fucking criminals! Given a chance, sure that’s what it was... but we had thought we were given the chance to a fresh start. Fresh start yet criminal files? Doesn't fucking sound like a clean, fresh fucking start to me.” 5 “That was for the safety of all packs, Leo.” | said quietly.

“Oh yeah? Then tell me, did you have a file onand Dad?” | frowned. No. | know where he was going with this, and | knew he was fucking making fair points. “No? Surely the rogue king had an entire fucking list of crimes on his back. He should have been on the records. Shit, | forgot, he’s a Rossi. You get an entire fucking pass, right? Let’s be honest, it’s the only reason | can behave like a dick and none of you do shit, right?” His words were bitter and full of resentfulness. “I get it, | made a mistake... | didn’t think it through. I'm sorry Leo. I'll admit to it, if | can make up for it, then tellwhat you want.” Rayhan said quietly, to my surprise, and he. meant it, | could see it in his eyes. But even before Leo replied, | realised it wasn’t going to be enough...

it was too late, and Leo’s hatred wasn’t going to go away... “You're sorry... Your sorry won't bring back all those lives you destroyed. The Sangue pack has so many people who suffer from PTSD due to everything we witnessed and suffered, but the mate of an elite was far more important than all those other lives, right? Well carry on. No fucking sorry, no fucking regret will bring that back, and what fucking gets tothe most is you all are so far up your own asses that you neededto fucking lay it out to you, years later, for you to even consider that you lot fucked up?” He tossed the cigarette he had crushed in his hand onto the ashtray, looking at us both with unmasked hatred.

“You're right, and I'll work on this. I'll try to fix things, | get that we-" | tried again. “It's too late... Six fucking years too late. We're doing ok without your help, thanks.” He replied coldly. “But | promise you here and now, the moment | becAlpha, the Sangue Pack will not be under this council. Oh, and don’t try to treatlike your family, because | don’t consider you mine. Touch my pack... and | will fucking destroy you all.” Not waiting for a reply, he turned and walked out. “Leo! Listen!” | stopped the moment the front door opened.

He pulled his jacket off, shifted, picked up his jacket in his mouth and ran off into the night, Rayhan sighed. “1 messed up, | didn’t think of it like that... Even Delsanra wasn’t happy with what happened.” “It’s not only your fault, you were what? Twenty-one? | should have thought... Marcel didn’t say anything either... It had been two years... didn’t he think he could speak up?” | said quietly. “I'm sorry, | felt it was atonement for the crimes | had committed under her control.” Marcel said quietly. “This is ontoo; | wasn’t a good Alpha or father.” “Marcel, this has happened now, but when Raf and | fucking accepted you, it meant we accepted you, not for you to just try to keep us happy. None of us are fucking perfect, but that’s how shit is. We talk, we discuss, we advise, and we fucking disagree.” | said, He nodded, and for a moment he looked older and tired, “I know... With t| realised that...” “Then promisefrom here on you'll fucking use that brain and speak your damn mind.” | said. He gavea small smile and nodded. But the mood was heavy as we all stared at the open door, | didn’t say anything. Right now | felt like | had fucking failed, Leo had been suffering more than he let on. You could tell he cared for his pack, for those that had suffered, to the point he used to defy Endora’s commands and sneak Delsanra food. He had a heart that cared, yet he felt inferior... 2 His remark about leaving the council remained, and | wondered if he truly would follow up on it...

1 A/N - | managed to stay up late and get this chapter done and edited this morning. As a birthday present, you can leavespretty gems if you have any to spare XD and a review on the main page if you have liked the story so far! | also want to say a huge thank you to all the gems | got yesterday! We are getting closer and closer to the end of this book, but until you see the words “The End’ this book is not over 5