Fight for Me

But sudden loud banging on the door pulls their attention away from each other.

“Nicholas. Open this door! We need to sort this out right now.” Maxim shouts from the other side.

Nicholas huffs out annoyed. He walks to open the door and Maxim practically pushes through. He gives both Nicholas and Layla an angry look.

“Come down stairs. We need to sort this out.” Maxim says giving a final look at Nicholas.

Gggrrhh!! But Nicholas growls at him.

“You may be older, brother, but don’t forget that this is still my pack.” Both stare at each other.

“She may be your ‘guest’, but she still hurt someone from my pack.”

“Do you forget, that none of you even bothered trying to stop the fight. But now you want to have a say in it?” Maxim clenches his jaw not knowing what to say. “But since you’re so eager, let’s go down and ‘discuss’ this. But be sure Samantha is there too.”

Nicholas walks past him and stands by the door, holding it open.

But just as Maxim takes a step to go out of the room, he stops, hearing Nicholas growl.

Ggrrh.

Looking up at Nicholas, he sees him giving him an angry snarl before looking at Layla. Maxim hesitantly takes a step back, annoyed at the situation and his brother.

Layla doesn’t need to ask to know what Nicholas actually means.

She finally moves as she walks out of the room, with the two Alphas following.

As they make their way down, Maxim mind-links Abby to bring Samantha to the hall too.

They finally reach the large hall with a massive chandelier hanging from the middle of the high roof.

Layla stops in the middle of the hall, seeing the others near the end of the hall. – Tristan, Melinda, Anthony, Rebecca, Abby and Samantha.

As the other two Alphas walk past her, she notices Nicholas walking up a few stairs to a huge chair at the end of the hall. Almost like a throne. Maxim stands next to his mate.

Layla feels like she’s going to receive a punishment sentencing now. Especially with so many wary and angry glares coming her way. She clenches her fists from annoyance. She doesn’t regret what she did.

Nicholas huffs out annoyed as he sits in the chair. “You have called for this hearing. What is it you would like to be addressed?” He says looking at Maxim.

Maxim takes a step forward. “A guest of your pack attacked a member of mine, out of the blue and for no reason, on your pack grounds. She needs to be punished.”

Nicholas sits calmly, tapping his finger tips on the arm rest.

“Are you sure there was no reason?”

Maxim clenches his jaw. “Even if there was. It still doesn’t excuse her from what she did to Samantha.” He points to a whimpering Samantha trying to hide her bandaged face with her hands.

Nicholas leans back in the chair. “But maybe if we hear the reason behind the fight, we will understand the situation better.”

Maxim balls his fists from his growing anger. But he eventually turns and looks between Layla and Samantha, wanting either to start talking.

With Samantha still whimpering, they each turn to Layla one by one.

But Layla is certainly not going to tell them anything. It is not her story to tell.

“She knows what she did.” She nods towards Samantha. “Ask her.”

As they all start looking at Samantha, she starts breaking down and falling to her knees.

“I-….I-I didn’t mean to.” But hearing Layla huff out annoyed she changes her answer as she sniffles. “It wa-,…it was an ac-accident.”

Abby’s concerned look turn to suspicion as she asks. “What did you do?”

Samantha cries even louder as she shakes her head, not wanting to continue.

“Samantha! What did you do?” Abby raises her voice as her wolf tries to push her authority through.

Slowly, everyone else’s angry and wary expressions change into curiosity, seeing Samantha’s behaviour.

“H-he wasn’t sup-posed to,…” She breaks down further in a loud cry clenching her chest.

“Samantha? What’s wrong?” Rebecca kneels down in front of her.

“H-hurt. It hurts.” She cries out as she crunches over.

“Are you in pain? Where?” Rebecca looks worried seeing her friend in this state.

“E-every-where.”

Annoyed at not being able to help her friend, Rebecca gives a glare towards Layla, who doesn’t seem to be fazed by any of this.

“You! What did you do to her?”

Layla releases a calm sigh. “I’m not the one who’s hurting her.” She says as she looks directly at Samantha.

Layla knows Samantha’s wolf is letting her finally feel the pain of losing a mate. She’s punishing her. Though, Layla is a bit surprised that her wolf listened to her, especially because she was just speaking out of pure rage during their fight.

The moment Samantha meets Layla’s eyes, she whimpers in fear as she tries to crawl backwards.

Everyone standing near Samantha are just staring at her, eager for more answers. But Rebecca is getting pissed off. She doesn’t like seeing her friend so pathetic, and towards a human no less.

She smacks her tongue against her teeth and tries to get up, but not before Samantha desperately grabs onto her.

“No! No, don’t. She’ll punish you too.”

Rebecca furrows her brow in confusion.

“She’s dangerous.” Samantha mumbles more to herself.

“She’s a human.” Rebecca snarls out.

But Samantha is paying her no mind as she continues to mumble random and incoherent words like a deranged person. “M-monster.” She hovers her hand over her scarred face and starts crying again. “Ac-accident.” She starts shaking as she’s sitting on the ground. “Black eyes.” She whimpers and tries to crawl back some more. “Pain.” She clenches her chest again. “P-please, make it stop. I’m sorry.” She hits her chest repeatedly. “I’m sorry.”

Abby can’t stand seeing her sister in this state either. She’s never seen her so broken. She places her one hand on Samantha’s shoulder trying to distract her from her mumbling.

But Samantha hurriedly grabs Abby’s hand. “I’m sorry. I really am. You were right. I’m mean and selfish. I’m a horrible person.” She says through sniffles and teary eyes.

“Oh Samantha.” Abby says in a whisper, wanting to help her sister. But she holds her huge belly knowing she can’t bend down.

Sensing the need in his mate, Maxim leans down and helps pick Samantha up.

Samantha looks at him. “It’s my fault. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. It’s my fault.”

Maxim can’t help but stare at her. He’s never heard a single apology from her mouth, yet tonight she’s spouting them non-stop.

“I guess this means the situation is handled then.”

They all look up at Nicholas, still looking unmoved by this situation. But he never needed to know the details to understand it. Though, Samantha’s behaviour is making him more curious, but he knows it’s time to end his curiosity in Layla.

Maxim clenches his jaw from frustration. Anthony is looking at Layla with a sad but curious look. Tristan is still holding onto his mate, giving her all his attention.

But Melinda is staring at Layla, with what she can only describe as consolation. She also heard the anger and pain in Layla’s words during the fight. She remembers her scream, carrying such deep pain. And here Layla is, not spouting a single bad thing against Samantha or trying to justify herself. From the little time she’s spent with Layla, she has come to understand that she’s a caring and selfless person. This though, is just solidifying her new theory of Layla, - of what her fear surrounding Layla actually meant.

“The hearing is over then.” Nicholas says as he gets up from his chair.

“So you’re not going to punish her?” Rebecca steps forth pointing at Layla.

Nicholas sighs, not wanting to elaborate the obvious.

Anthony takes a step forward and says to her, “It was a personal fight between two people. And neither of them seem to want to speak much about it.”

Rebecca gives him a disbelieved expression before she turns back to Nicholas.

“So, you’re just going to let her stay here to attack other pack members for whatever personal reasons she may have?”

Nicholas clenches his jaw with how defiant Rebecca has become recently, trying to continuously stand up against him.

But Layla speaks up. “I will be leaving soon.”

Everybody looks back at Layla. Though, she is looking straight into those hazel eyes, giving him a questioning look she hopes he will understand. Nicholas gives her a curt nod, and she turns around and leaves the hall.

As they all turn to look at Nicholas, they see him too making his way to the door, leaving the rest of them in the hall.

Eventually they all start to leave too. Maxim walks out holding Samantha, with Abby and Rebecca on each side of him. Anthony walks off still wondering what he could have done to make Layla look at him like that. She even avoided looking at him this entire time in the hall.

Still holding her close, Tristan leads Melinda out the hall. She gently squeezes his arm, trying to hold him tighter. Knowing what she thinks she knows, she’s not sure whether it’s her place to intervene.