Fight for Me

One week later

It’s the day before the harvest moon, and Nicholas is getting nervous for the rest of his family’s arrival. He just wants this dinner to be over and hoping their stay will be short, very short.

And he’s been getting more annoyed with how close Anthony has been getting with Layla. They already have all these inside jokes and Layla seems to already know how to handle him and his manipulative charm.

Well, they are closer of age. It’s just another sign that she’s probably better off with someone like him.

Nicholas has also noticed how her training has been improving with Cody in such a short time. She doesn’t seem to be a stranger to pain. Which has him thinking back a lot lately about the night he found her after the rogue attack. He still doesn’t know what happened that night, but it’s clear she’s hiding something.

He knows this might mean that she does in fact have something to do with whomever the shifter-trackers are looking for.

Nicholas is at a crossroads now, where he doesn’t know if he should get involved in this, because he may just bring trouble to his pack if he does. Not to mention, Layla did tell him to basically stay out of her business. But for some reason he still wants to help her, with whatever trouble she could be in.

Nicholas has never cared for anything other than his pack and his family, but now he can’t help but consider the risks to help Layla. This isn’t good. She’s nothing but trouble. He uses this argument to continuously convince himself that she’s bad for him, just like he is for her.

Nicholas gets distracted from his thoughts with a knock on the door.

“Yes.”

“Alpha.” Margret pokes her head through the open door. “Alpha Maxim and his mate have arrived onto the property. Their car will be here in about three minutes.”

“Thank you, Margret. I’ll meet them downstairs.”

She nods and leaves.

On his way downstairs he can already hear the car approaching. But Anthony is far louder.

“Are they here yet?” Anthony asks with a huge smile as he pats Nicholas on the back.

Nicholas grunts. “Yes.”

Just as the car comes to a standstill as they waited on the front porch, Anthony rushes to his brother’s side and grips him in a tight hug.

“Ooph. I swear Anthony, you act like we didn’t see each other just last month.” Maxim says as he pulls himself from Maxim’s hug.

“Oh, come on Maxim. Can’t a guy get excited to see his big brother?”

Maxim laughs as he reaches his hand out for his mate to stand next to him.

“And how is my dear sister-in-law? Still as big I see.” Anthony jokingly points to her very pregnant belly.

Gggrh. “Watch yourself Anthony. You won’t be able to hold me accountable for what my mix of hormones may make me do to you.” She warns as she smiles back.

“Still as feisty as ever I see, Abby. Good. That means you’re still keeping Maxim in check.” Anthony giggles.

Maxim pulls Abby along towards the pack-house and to Nicholas on the front porch.

Nicholas gives them both a firm nod as he says his greetings. But Maxim just gives him a sly smile as he pulls Nicholas in for a hug. It takes about three seconds before Nicholas gives in and returns the hug.

“Good to see you little brother.” Maxim pats him on the back.

Nicholas huffs with a curt smile. “You too.”

That’s when he notices another figure still standing by the car. Following his eyes, Maxim speaks.

“Oh, this is Samantha. She’s Abby’s little sister. She’ll be joining us this weekend. I hope you don’t mind.”

Nicholas can’t help but stare at the uninvited guest annoyingly. One, because she keeps looking at Anthony like she has something up her sleeve, and two, because he realized Maxim say they’ll be here for the whole ‘weekend’. In his family’s translation, that means longer than a weekend.

Samantha gives an innocent little wave to everyone staring at her. And Nicholas can’t help but notice the cautious look on Abby’s face.

Nicholas leads them into the house where Margret takes lead, showing them to their rooms and discussing meal times.

Just before dinner, another knock came to the front door. Margret led the guests to the living room where everyone else was.

“Alpha Nicholas,……Alpha Tristan and his mate have arrived.” She announces their arrival and leaves.

Anthony practically attacks Tristan in a hug, but he’s quick to counter with a headlock.

“You’re gonna have to be faster than that Anthony. What would you’re pack say if they saw you now?” Tristan chuckles as he releases Anthony.

“Wow. Last I checked, I’m currently off from Alpha duties.”

“One doesn’t just take breaks from being an Alpha, Anthony.” Maxim intervenes as he greets Tristan.

Anthony rolls his eyes. “So tell us about your beautiful mate. I hear she’s a witch.” Anthony slowly says as he reaches to give her hand a kiss.

But she quickly pulls it away. “Yes, she is, and able to speak for herself as well.” She looks at Tristan annoyed.

“Oh come on, babe. Now, that is not my fault. Anthony grew up talking out of his ass.”

“Hey?!” Anthony shouts.

Tristan gives him a knowing look.

“Well, I guess I can’t judge and assume all your brothers are womanizers like you.” She says to Tristan.

But before Tristan could defend himself, she continues.

“In any case. Hi everyone. My name is Melinda. And yes, I am a witch.”

“So nice to meet you Melinda.” Abby greets her. “And trust me, not all of them are womanizers.”

They all greet the new arrivals and make their way to the dining hall for dinner.

Halfway through dinner, Layla and Cody finally join from a late night of practice.

Anthony got so excited seeing her, he went to go sit next to her.

“Hey Layla. Has Cody been too hard on you?” He points to her disheveled and sweaty look.

“Oh please. If anything, I think I was the one that gave him a hard time at practice.”

“You caught me off guard. And it was just once.” Cody tries to defend himself as he eats. “By the way. I see Alpha Nicholas’ brothers have already arrived. I’m assuming the official welcome by the pack was already done.”

“Yeah. Right before dinner actually. But I can introduce you-“

“Oh, no thank you Alpha Anthony. I’m not much of a spotlight guy anyway.”

“Brothers? You guys don’t really look that alike.” Layla says as she stares at the other end of the long table.

For once those hazel eyes aren’t staring back at her. He’s too engrossed in whatever his brothers are discussing.

“Well, I’m glad to hear that. Wouldn’t want to be like any of them. You see, I’m the charismatic one. I’m the youngest, but I’m also handsome, funny and just lovable. Whereas Tristan there, is the typical bad-boy and heart-breaker. Or I guess I should say ‘was’ now that he has a mate. Her name’s Melinda. She’s a witch and apparently scares Tristan shitless. She’s the first and only mate in our family that’s not a wolf.”

Layla can’t help but smirk at that comment. If they only knew that their family would have had a human mate too.

Anthony continues. “Tristan is just a year older than me, but he likes to think that he is like my role model or something. But he forgets that Maxim is basically a role model for all of us. He’s the oldest and was practically raised to take over as Alpha from my father, before he decided to split it all up. So big bro over there is kinda like a second father to us, - always making sure we take our Alpha duties seriously and taking care of our packs properly. The woman next to him is his mate, Abby. Her little sister is here too, but she went to bed early. Abby's family is from a strong warrior wolf-pack. So, their mate bond basically allied us with a pack of soldiers, strengthening our family name even more. Father was more than happy to welcome her with open arms. Something about strengthening our defences against our ‘ever-growing’ enemy, whoever that is.”

Layla is so captivated with Anthony’s words, she can’t help but feel a bit dejected by herself. She couldn’t bring anything but trouble to this family. She’s just a human with her own set of problems, like that darn shadow standing in the near corner again.

It’s settled. She knows, in the next couple of weeks she’ll have to leave Nicholas, forever. They’re both better off without each other. Besides, he has Rebecca.