The Code Of The Alpha

The soft tracing of fingertips down my arm is what pulled me from sleep the next morning. I stirred for a moment, stopping when I realized where I was as

my eyes opened to the high ceilings of Luca’s bedroom.

Rolling over on my side, I felt Luca’s hard body fill the space behind me, spooning me. His arm wrapped around my waist and tucked itself under me.

“Buongiorno, amore,” he whispered, his breath fanning against the nook of my shoulder.

I hummed in response, closing my eyes again.

He kissed the spot just under my ear. My hand reached up to find his face, gently pushing his lips away from my neck.

“It’s too early,” I muttered, still half-asleep.

I heard Luca chuckle as he pulled me into him closer.

“I don’t mind laying here until it’s not,” he said.

I jolted up, suddenly wide awake.

“Oh my God, what time is it?” I said, throwing the covers back. He groaned as he rolled over to look at his phone.

“Quarter till eight.”

“Shit, shit, shit,” I muttered running across the room.

“Do you have a hot date?” He asked me, watching as I opened the bedroom door.

“Your sister,” I explained shortly, running out of the room and through the living room, to the staircase and up to the loft.

I changed quickly, brushing my teeth and washing my face before swiping mascara over my lashes.

Luca was opening the front door for Norah when I came back down the stairs.

“So you’re the reason I got cockblocked this morning,” he said to her.

Norah scowled.

“No, I’m sure you did that on your own,” she retorted

She turned to me and smiled.

“Ready? I figured we could stop for coffee on the way.”

I nodded, knowing I would desperately need the caffeine hit.

“Where are you going?” Luca asked, stopping me.

“To Missoula,” I answered, putting my purse on my shoulder.

“We’re going shopping.”

His eyebrows furrowed and he turned to Norah.

“I’m not sure I’m okay with that.”

I let out an incredulous laugh, earning his attention once more.

“Would you have preferred I asked permission?” I asked sarcastically.

Luca pursed his lips.

“It’s not that,” he said.

“It’s just… you’re not marked yet.”

Norah shook her head, closing her eyes.

“Oh my God,” she muttered.

“Not this.”

“I’m serious,” Luca said defensively.

“Marked?” I asked.

“You mean ‘bitten’? Who still does that?”

“This is a traditional pack,” Norah told me, “even if it’s to our detriment.”

She looked back at Luca.

“I’m not taking her to Skid Row,” she said.

“But don’t worry, I’ll be sure to tell the creep at Lululemon that she’s taken.”

His face told me he didn’t appreciate her sarcasm.

“I don’t know that that’s good enough,” Luca said.

“So buy her a diamond ring, it will say the same thing,” she said through a fake smile and gritted teeth.

Norah turned to leave and I followed her.

“Wait,” Luca said, using an exasperated tone.

I stopped and turned around, expecting another argument. Luca sighed and walked over to where his backpack still sat on the barstool. He pulled out his wallet and grabbed a black metal card.

He tried to hand it to me.

“What am I doing with that?” I asked him, confusedly staring at the card in his hand.

“You said you were going shopping.”

“Not with your bank card,” I retorted.

He pulled my purse towards him and unzipped it, putting his card in there next to mine before zipping it back up.

“You’ve cost me about forty grand already this week. An extra one or two won’t throw a wrench in things.”

My eyebrows furrowed.

“What?”

He smiled.

“I paid off your student loans. Now, go shopping and celebrate.”

I stood there in shock, my jaw slack.

“Luca…”

He held up a hand, stopping the rest of my sentence.

“It’s already been done. No need in arguing with me about it.”

I stood there, just staring at him. I couldn’t even formulate a proper sentence to thank him.

“Well, look at you, Daddy Warbucks,” Norah said, laughing. Luca rolled his eyes.

“Thanks for ruining the moment,” he told her.

“Not the first time this morning I’ve done that, apparently.”

Luca turned me around and smacked my butt, prodding me towards the door.

“Go on, l’Il see you later,” he told me.

I couldn’t do anything but walk slowly to the door, still stunned.

“We’ll be back by dinner,” Norah told him, closing the door behind us.

We walked out to her car, my head spinning with the new information.. I felt like I was going to pass out.

“You okay?” Norah asked me.

I stared at her incredulously.

“Who does that? Who just drops forty thousand dollars to be nice?”

She shrugged.

“Luca, apparently. Like Torrey said, he’s a simp when you get to know him.

I was still dumbfounded as I got into the car and began to buckle up.

“Don’t worry about it,” she said earnestly. “He bought the McLaren on a drunken dare. I wouldn’t say he’s struggling financially.”

I shook my head in disbelief as she started the car and began to back down the driveway.

“Hold on,” I said, unbuckling.

She slammed on brakes as I threw open the car door and jogged back up the driveway to the front porch.

Swinging open the front door, I saw Luca standing in the kitchen making his coffee.

I ran over to him and hugged him as tight as I could. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders, pulling me into his chest.

“Thank you,” I whispered, my voice muffled by his t-shirt.

“You’re welcome,” he said earnestly.

“I figured if you couldn’t use your degree anymore, you shouldn’t be stuck paying for it.”

“I still plan on finding a way to use it,” I said, lifting my head to look at him.

Luca thought about this for a moment.

“Well, with your new position as Luna, we’ll just consider student debt relief an employment benefit.”

I smiled.

“You should know, however,” he said, “that I paid for it before the hand job situation the other night.”

I blushed and hid my face in his chest, feeling him chuckle.

“Didn’t want you to think this was a benefits-for-favors type of relationship,” he clarified, laughing.

I shook my head.

Hearing the car honk from the driveway, where Norah was waiting impatiently, I backed away from Luca.

“Bring back something cute,” Luca told me as I walked towards the door.

My eyebrows furrowed as I turned back to him.

“Have something specific in mind?” I asked.

“You can use your imagination.”

He picked up his coffee cup and took a sip, giving me a knowing look over the top of the mug. Feeling my blush return, I walked quickly through the front door

and back outside.

“You did not just do my brother while I was outside in the car waiting…” Norah said as I got back into the car.

I laughed aloud as I buckled back in.

“I didn’t,” I assured her.

“I just gave him a hug and told him ‘thank you!”

“Then why are you blushing?” She asked me.

“I’m definitely not.”

She just shook her head before backing down the driveway. As soon as we were beyond the pack borders, we stopped for coffee and headed off towards Missoula.

I learned a lot about Norah on the drive there. She was a nurse in Dr. Witt’s clinic. Her mate, Ben, worked on Lincoln’s team as an engineer. They wanted a big family, but didn’t have any intention of trying to have kids for the next few years. She also

told me she was extremely happy Luca wasn’t alone in his house anymore, she said it was too big to be empty.

I also learned it was her and her mom who designed the home Luca built and they had picked out all of the furniture. She said Luca was a typical male in that, if he liked two things, he thought they went together. She said he wouldn’t be able to match a

pillow sham to a comforter, even if they came in the same set.

This made me smile.

When we finally got to Missoula, we stopped for lunch before we drove to the mall.

“I should probably find a few things that I can train in,” I said aloud as I walked around the expensive athletic store.

I pulled a pair of leggings off of the shelf.

“Not sure I want to spend a hundred dollars on leggings though, I muttered, looking at the price tag.

“Pop off, girlfriend,” Norah assured me.

“Luca wouldn’t have offered to pay for everything if he didn’t want to. Besides, these leggings will make your ass look great.”

“They are very flattering,” the sales associate assured me enthusiastically.

“So you need them in at least three different colors, then,” Norah said, grabbing the other leggings in my size and handing them to me.

I looked at her apprehensively before sighing.

“Might as well check out the tank tops and shorts while you’re here,” she added, smiling.

I rolled my eyes before allowing myself to be guided over to the tank tops.

After an hour of trying things on and pushing away unnecessary items like headbands and yoga mats, I had several hundreds of dollars worth of merchandise in hand as I headed to the checkout line.

“I’m not making Luca pay for this,” I told Norah.

“I can buy it for myself.”

She rolled her eyes.

“You’re being unnecessarily stubborn,” she told me, following me with her own purchases.

“Don’t make me call him.”

“Don’t make me call him,” I mocked, walking up to the register.

When we had checked out and were on our way to the door with our red, reusable bags full of new-buys in hand, Norah turned to me.

“Did you use his card?” She asked.

‘You’ll never know,” I commented, walking past her.

We walked around for a few more hours. I bought a new pair of running shoes and a pair of training shoes. I also stocked up on new haircare and skincare. We both bought dresses for the twins’ birthday party coming up at the end of the

month.

As we walked out of a trendy boutique, Norah hooked her arm around mine.

“You’re a lot of fun to shop with,” she told me.

“We should do this again.”

I smiled.

“After I get a job.”

She guided me towards the other end of the mall.

“One last store to go to,” she said as we approached the familiar pink and black-themed lingerie store.

“Oh my God,” I muttered under my breath, trying to pull my arm from her grip.

“Nope,” she stated, dragging me towards the entrance. “I need your opinion on what is cute.”

“Sure you do,” I said sarcastically.

We walked in and she pulled me over to the boxes of panties that sat on a countertop in the middle of the store.

“This would compliment your skin tone well,” she said, pulling out a baby pink satin thong.

“Luca is your brother,” I said pointedly. “Is this not weird for you?”

“Halfbrother,” she corrected, handing them to me.

“And no, not really. I’m just so glad he finally found you. I’m also really happy to finally have a friend to do things like this with… A lot of people in the pack only want to be friends with me because of Luca and

what they think he can do for them.”

“Ben doesn’t like to do much shopping?” I asked her.

She threw her head back and laughed.

“He doesn’t even like to walk around the grocery store. We go in with a list and we’re out in less than thirty. I can’t imagine making him walk around an outlet mall for five hours. But, that’s not to say he doesn’t appreciate my shopping,” she said, holding up a pair of black lace, cheeky cut panties.

I smiled.

Sorting through the boxes, I found a few pair of panties that weren’t too flashy before wandering off to where the bras hung on the other wall.

As I passed a mannequin adorned in a strappy, bright red teddy, I heard Luca’s voice in my head:

Bring back something cute.

I scowled as my gaze on the teddy lingered.

I would look like a ham wrapped in red netting in that thing, thought.

“Something catch your eye?” Norah asked me, walking over.Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

“Certainly not that.” I said laughing.

“What about this?”

I turned to see her pointing at a three piece set that was a deep purple satin with lace details along the garter belt and shoulder straps.

I shrugged.

“This would make your boobs look great,” she told me, much to the chagrin of the middle-aged woman who had been standing next to us.

She scowled and walked away.

“Prude,” Norah muttered, causing me to laugh.

“It is really pretty….” I said, still staring at the set.

“You should get it,” she urged me.

I shook my head, causing her to groan.

“C’mon, it’s so sexy and Luca will love it.”

“It doesn’t matter if Luca loves it.” I told her.

“We haven’t exactly… ya know.”

Her eyebrows furrowed.

“Had sex,” I clarified, lowering my voice.

“We can’t until I’ve been inducted into the pack.”

Norah’s jaw dropped.

“They’re making you do that?!” She exclaimed, earning the attention of everyone around us.

I grimaced.

“Why would they do that?” She asked.

“It’s a traditional pack, even if it’s to it’s detriment,” I said, repeating her earlier words.

“Damn,” she sighed.

“I hadn’t even considered they would make you guys wait. I guess it makes sense though.”

I shook my head.

“It’s makes no sense to me.” I said.

“How much longer do you have?”

“About three weeks, maybe a little less,” I told her.

“That’s not too bad.”

I gave her a hard stare.

“It still sucks though,” she admitted.

“I can’t imagine having waited longer than a day with Ben.”

I couldn’t help but be jealous. I wondered briefly what Luca and I’s relationship would be like if we wouldn’t have had to suffer through the strain of abstinence.

We fell silent as a sales woman approached us.

“Can I help you ladies with anything?” She asked.

“Yeah, she wants this whole set,” Norah said, pointing at the mannequin.

My eyes widened.

“Norah,” I said slowly.

She looked at me and nodded.

“You do.” she assured me.

The saleswoman took my measurements and went to wrap the lingerie and box it up.

“This is a bad idea.” I told Norah as soon as the woman had walked away.

She shrugged.

“You can save it for a rainy day or three weeks from now.”

I walked over to pay for the lingerie and the underwear l’d picked up. Norah also made me buy a sheer balconette bra that matched the black panties I found.

We walked out with massive pink striped bags that I was embarrassed to even walk to the car with.

“We’ve got to hide all of this when we get back,” I said, loading everything into the trunk.

Norah laughed as I tried to shove my pink bag into other one.

“Good luck getting that past Luca.”