Fight for Me

Tristan hurriedly runs out of the office with Layla in his arms. He takes her into her room and gently places her on her bed.

Straightening up, he finally takes a look at her. His eyes widen at her dishevelled and confused look. She has slight bruising that look like claw and grip marks all over her, there’s a small trail of blood along her neck already staining her dress, which is torn at the top revealing her bra.

What the fuck did Nicholas do to her? He thinks to himself.

“I’ll be right back.” He says calmly as he rushes into the bathroom to get the first-aid kit.

He hurries back, leans in front of her and starts dabbing a cotton ball on the blood-trail.

Layla is still confused with everything that just happened. She doesn’t know why Nick acted that way and she definitely doesn’t know why Tristan is here now either, - treating her wounds. She thought he didn’t even like her.

Tristan doesn’t know how to handle this situation either. From just the sight of what he walked in on, anyone could guess what was happening. But he doesn’t want to even think of his brother in that way.

She must be in shock. He thinks as he rubs some alcohol on her wound. She’s not even flinching.

“Did he hurt you anywhere else?” He asks hesitantly.

“What?” She finally looks at him, kneeling in front of her in his sweatpants and a black vest revealing his sleeve tattoo. “No,….N-Nick didn’t hurt me. He just,…..I-I don’t know what happened, but,…..he-he just got angry.” She tries to find her words as she’s still trying to make sense of it all.

But seeing the wary look on Tristan’s face has her suddenly continuing. “He told me to leave. ……But I didn’t understand why he would just say it all of a sudden.” She slows down as she thinks back to it, -especially in the ‘position’ they were in.

That’s when it hit her, just what state she’s actually in. She’s sitting in front of Tristan, with no panties on and a ripped dress exposing her bra. She looks down and starts trying to cover herself as much as she can with the ripped dress.

Tristan notices the obvious discomfort in her. But he needs to get to the bottom of this, before this can become a situation. He tries to distract her with more questions.

“What happened before that? Did you do or say something that could have provoked him?”

Layla doesn’t want to talk about that. She-herself can’t believe what almost happened in there. But that still doesn’t explain Nick’s sudden change in mood.

“Everything was fine. But,…..it was like a switch just went off.”

She sees Tristan furrow his brows as he sniffs the air.

“Layla? Were you two……? No, it can’t be.” He says more to himself, doubting the mixed scent of arousal on her.

But Tristan knows he can smell Nicholas all over her, but more than that, he can get the slight scent of her arousal too. He knows he’s probably just reaching for straws, but he’s desperate to make sense of this.

“Layla. I know this might sound weird, but can I come closer to you? I want to check something.”

She furrows her brows, but she can see the caution and sincerity in his eyes. She curtly nods.

Tristan leans in closer to Layla and sniffs her neck.

“Well, isn’t this a sight.”

Tristan snaps his head back and looks at Samantha with her bandaged face standing in the doorway.

Dammit. I forgot to close the door.

“He’s over here.” Samantha leans back as she chants down the hallway. Looking back at them, Tristan hurriedly stands up and blocks Layla’s view from Samantha. He knows that if he needs to keep this quiet, Samantha is the last person to know about it.

“Hmmm? So she’s using her little princess act to manipulate and seduce all the brothers. And all under one roof. She really is greedy.”

“What are you doing here Samantha?” He asks firmly.

She looks at him annoyed, not even bothering to try and hide it like she always did. “Your mate is scouring the house, looking for you. I was just trying to help. But am I really the one that needs to explain myself right now.” She tries to peek at Layla, but Tristan growls as he steps in the way.

In that second Melinda comes and stands next to Samantha and sees her mate.

“It seems your mate hasn’t fully moved on from his old ways.” Samantha says to Melinda with a snide smirk.

Gggrrhh!! Tristan growls as he clenches his fists. “Leave!” He roars through his Alpha command.

Samantha’s smirk instantly disappears and she turns and quickly leaves. They can all hear her quick footsteps down the hall.

Looking back at his mate, his features soften. “Babe. It’s not like tha-“

“I know.” She interrupts as she walks into the room. “I know you, Tristan. I trust you. But you just left running out of our room without a word. I was worried.” She notices him still trying to hide, who she guesses is Layla, behind him. “What’s going on?”

He sighs and stands aside.

Melinda gasps seeing Layla’s state. “What the hell. What happened?” She rushes forward and stands next to her mate as she looks at Layla.

“I think I know what happened.”

Layla’s head snaps up at him. He knows? He knows that Nick and I were basically fornicating in his office? ……But this is probably better than having them think Nick tried to sexually assault me. Right?

“She’s in heat.”

“What?” Melinda and Layla say in unison.

“Heat? Isn’t that a shifter thing?” Layla asks.

“Yeah.” Melinda adds.

Tristan folds his arms. “No. It’s actually a female thing. It’s very intense in female-shifters, but even humans can have it. It basically just means the body is ovulating, and it sends out all these pheromones to attract males. It’s very weak in humans though, they don’t even know when it’s happening to themselves. But I can get a slight hint of it on Layla. My guess is, Nicholas was probably affected by it. Though, I’m not sure why it got to him to this extent.”

“Wait. You’re telling me your brother did this!?” Melinda whisper-yells. She suddenly sits next to Layla and holds her hand. “Layla are you fine? Where are you hurt?”

What’s going on with her? I thought she didn’t like me either. Layla gives her an awkward look as she gently pulls her hand out of her hold.

“I’m fine. Like I told Tristan, Nick didn’t hurt me.” She tries to sound assuring.

Knock. Knock.

They all look back and see Tyler standing in the doorway, knocking on the open door.

Dammit. The door. Tristan runs his hand through his hair.

“How is she?” Tyler worriedly asks looking at Layla sitting on the bed.

“I’m fine. Really.” Layla speaks up for herself.

“Where is he?” Tristan asks.

“He went for a run.”

“So, ….I’m guessing he mind-linked you?”

“Yeah.” Tyler gives Tristan a questioning look. “He just told me to restrain him immediately. That his wolf was out of control. It sounded very serious. I came as quickly as I could…….He called you too?”

“Well. He just told me to come to his office and take Layla out immediately. He sounded very desperate. I didn’t know what I would walk in on.” He looks down at Layla as he sighs.

“Well, I’m sure you boys can carry this conversation on outside or something. I think Layla would like to get some rest now.” Melinda stands up, giving the guys a nodding hint towards the door.

“Yes.” , “Of course.” They both reply at the same time.

“Wait.” They all look back at Layla, suddenly feeling awkward with all their attention on her, as she’s still trying to cover her chest. “Can you please not tell anyone about this? I just don’t want this to become something that it’s not.”

They all look at her somewhat amazed.

“Of course. It’s better that way anyways.” Melinda answers matter-of-factly.

Tristan gives her a reprimanding look and she just rolls her eyes at him.

Layla sighs with relief.

“You try to get some rest then.” Melinda smiles at her.

Melinda follows Tristan and Tyler out of the room, before giving a worried look back to Layla. She just nods with a quick smile before Melinda closes the door behind her.