Fight for Me

Melinda lies wrapped in Tristan’s muscular arms covered in his sleeve-tattoos.

She found comfort in tracing the ink lines on his arms, trying to calm all her thoughts.

Tristan groans slightly as he tightens his hold on her.

“Am I the only one that got tired after last night?” He whispers before laying a long gentle kiss on her forehead.

She gives a pleased sigh and looks up at him with a small but guilty smile.

He lifts an annoyed brow. “That actually hurts my pride.” He starts tracing his hands down her body, past her thighs, wrapping her leg over his. Making her feel his ever-present desire for her, he talks again. “I can’t have my mate getting bored of me already. Seems I’ll have to work harder. Not that I’m complaining.” He smiles slyly as he rolls her over and onto her back.

“Woah, big guy.” She tries pushing him back as he is already smearing her neck with hungry kisses and grinding against her core. “Tristan.” She pleads in almost a moan as she stops his hand from moving further up her thigh.

He stops his kisses and looks up at her questioningly, when he can undoubtedly smell her lust for him.

She places her hand on his stubbled cheek. “I’ll never get bored of you. My body is still exhausted from everything you did to me last night. It’s more my mind that’s keeping me from sleeping.”

“What’s bothering you.” He looks at her concerned, brushing his hand down her cheek and into her wavy light brown hair.

“I’m just,…….. trying to make sense of everything.”

He sighs as he rolls onto his back dragging her along to lie over him.

“There’s a lot going on here. But I don’t think we should get ourselves involved in it.”

“I think we should.”

He looks down at her confused. “Since when are you the type to get mixed up in other people’s business?”

“I’m not. But I think we might regret it later, if we don’t.”

He sighs deeply as he traces patterns on her back. “So what’s on your mind that’s bothering you?”

“Layla.” She says almost hesitantly.

“First you tell me to avoid her at all cost. Then you get all friendly with her. And now your concerned about her to the point of staying awake all night. Why all the curiosity with her?”

“I think Tyler might be on to something,…….what he said the other night,…….about her being Nicholas’ second chance mate.”

He looks at her shocked. “You can’t be serious. I told you, second chance mates are just a myth.”

“I know, I know. But,…….”

“What is it Melinda? You clearly already thought all this through. What’s your conclusion with this ridiculous idea?”

He knows Melinda always reacts on her gut feeling. But she always makes time to think things through afterwards to get the bigger picture. And nine out of ten times her conclusions tend to be right.

“I think she is Nicholas’ mate. ........As in his first and only mate.”

“What?........No. He rejected his mate. Why would sh-….” Tristan is at a loss for words. “Why would you think that?”

“That sinister aura I told you about, the one that keeps following Layla. It disappears from her every time Nicholas comes near her. It’s not because he’s an alpha or because of some blood relation to this curse, -or whatever it is. Because it only happens with him. That means there must be some sort of a link between him and Layla. And the only thing I can think of that’s more powerful than ancient magic or curses, or whatever that thing is, is-"

“The mate bond?” He finishes her sentence and she just gently nods. He trails his hand over his face. “But,…..if she’s his mate, and he rejected her, why is she here? Why are they acting like nothing happened? And why is everyone saying she's a maid?”

“My guess is, the rejection must have been mutual.”

Everything is slowly and strangely starting to make sense to Tristan. The reason Nicholas’ wolf acted out like that the other night, like he wanted to mark her.

There was a long moment of silence before Tristan gave an exasperated sigh. “If that’s the case, then they both made their decision. We should just,….respect that.”

“But I don’t think that’s what they wanted.”

He looks at her daringly.

She continues. “If a shifter has the guts to reject their mate, their perfect other half, their blessing in life, - it would be in exchange for something better, right? I don’t know about Layla’s love life, but the relationship between your brother and Rebecca has no affection. Sure they seem to understand each other to some extent, but they just seem like they’re just satisfied with each other. They definitely don’t make each other happy. But with everyone convinced Rebecca will make a great Luna, and that Nicholas could never have a human mate, he must have eventually believed it. And thinking back to the whole money-bag fiasco, it seems Layla is running from her own demons. So…., what if they rejected each other because they didn’t want to burden each other with their own problems?”

“Even if that’s the case, it doesn’t change the fact that they made their choice.”

Melinda sat up on her elbow to look directly at Tristan. “Did you forget how close I was to officially rejecting you as my mate?”

Seeing him clench his jaws, she knows he’s angry for the reminder. But she needs him to see how serious she is about this.

She never liked Tristan’s Casanova-reputation, which she knew about before she even met him, before she knew he was her mate. In fact, it somewhat disgusted her. It was difficult for her to accept that she was fated to be with such a man-whore.

She had already heard all the stories from countless women of his bedroom skills, which hardly ever took place in or near a bedroom. She thought nothing the two of them could do would ever be special or at least meaningful. And it was just weird that he slept with so many women that she knew, and one was actually her cousin. She didn’t think she could ever get over it. That’s why she tried to run away from him.

“You were the one that didn’t let me go. Didn’t matter what I said or did, you still fought for me, for us. You told me that the mate bond wasn’t something we could fight. That it was our destiny. That we were already two halves of a whole. You begged me to believe in it, to believe in you. And as terrifying as it was, I did. Because of you. Because you fought for us. Is it too much to ask that you share that courage with your brother?”

Tristan sighs deeply and regretfully. “I don’t think you understand my brother. He isn’t the type to be bothered by,….feelings. To be honest, I don’t think he even cares about any of this. Ever since our mother died, he distanced himself from all of us, from everyone. It’s been so long, I think he’s gotten used to being alone. And I think he prefers it that way.”

“But he does care for Layla. If he really wanted to reject her and have her out of his life, he wouldn’t have her staying here as his so-called maid. He wouldn’t have made it so obvious that she’s under his personal protection here. And as terrifyingly cold as your brother may be, the only person I’ve seen that is daring enough to work on his nerves and get away with it, is Layla.”

“So you want us to be playing matchmaker?”

“Don’t you want to see your brother happy?” She smiles back mischievously.

“But isn’t Layla leaving soon?”

“So what? I’m sure your brother can use a vacation for a few weeks.” She cunningly suggests.

“And what makes you so sure she’d want this too? The way I see it, that alpha Blake already has his eye on her.”

“No one said this was going to be easy. Besides, what woman wants a man that doesn’t want to fight for her?”

“I’ve never seen my brother fight for a woman before.” He laughs under his breath. “This should be interesting.”

“So we’re doing this?” She asks excitedly, not noticing the duvet sliding off her.

“Oh definitely.” He smiles eagerly as he pulls the cover completely off of her naked body and rolls her under him. “But there’s something else we should be doing now.” He goes back to leaving trails of kisses down her neck as she fills the room with her giggles.

In a room on the other side of the mansion, Abby and Maxim also lay awake, watching the light of the rising sun lighten up their room.

Abby can’t help but smile as she watches Maxim, lying lower on the bed, head hovering over her swollen stomach and chatting away as if having a full-on conversation with their unborn child.

He does it every morning, but the sight doesn’t get boring to her.

She softly giggles, as she feels their boy move again.

Maxim looks up at her smilingly with his hands still on her stomach.

“I think you’re going to turn him into a restless pup when he’s born. He only moves this much when you start talking to him.”

“I think he just likes hearing my voice.” He lays a quick kiss on her belly, slightly tickling her with his stubble.

She sighs heavily, almost annoyed. “He’s going to be such a daddy’s boy.”

“Well I do give him more attention.” He says with a mischievous glint.

“Excuse me? You do realize I’m basically growing him,……. inside my body.” Now she is annoyed.

He chuckles and finally moves up to give her his full attention and starts coaxing. “I know, babe. I know. I was just playing with you.” He says as he gently pulls her into his arms. “To be honest, I’m worried I’ll be losing you to him.”

“Really?” She looks at him questioningly. He nods back. “It doesn’t seem like it.”

“What do you think I talk to him about?” He rakes his hand through her flowy blonde hair, with an almost silver gleam.

“I wouldn’t know. You whisper and mumble like it’s some secret I’m not allowed to know. I already feel like the third wheel.”

Pfft. “Let’s just say I’m still negotiating the terms with him.”

“Terms?”

“Mmhhmm. The terms of getting your attention. Though, I’m still not sure if him moving around so much is him agreeing or disagreeing with my terms.”

Abby starts giggling and Maxim can’t help but give her a kiss fused with a smile of his own.

He hesitantly pulls back and just looks at her happy face, as he does whenever he can. He feels utter joy and pride seeing his mate safe and happy in his arms.

“Maxim?” She almost whispers his name.

“Mhm?” He focuses on tracing her soft cheek with his thumb.

“Are you going to talk to your brothers today?”

His hand stops its motion, and he looks at her almost uncertain.

“There’s just too much going on here. And it seems like they’re keeping stuff hidden, and on purpose. .....We don’t need to know every secret of each other, but it just seems like we don’t know anything of what’s going on in each other’s lives. I already know Nicholas grew up keeping things to himself, but he’s been acting more suspicious than usual. Tristan sucks at keeping secrets, so the fact that he goes silent around me, means he’s trying to stop himself from spilling something. And Anthony……?”

He sighs deeply.

“Come on Maxim. You can’t hold it against him that his mate is a male.”

“I know, I know.” He trails his hand through his own chocolate brown hair. Something he often does when he’s stressed.

“Then why are you still avoiding him?”

“It’s just,…….it’s weird.” He says awkwardly.

“Weird?” Abby knows Maxim is uncomfortable about it, but she also knows it’s not of his choosing.

“Please don’t get me wrong.” He looks at her almost pleadingly and guilty. “I have no problem with men being,…..gay. I just didn’t think one of us would be-…..”

“Gay?” She finishes for him, noticing the shy blush taking over his complexion. Which he quickly tries to hide as he buries his face in her neck.

He huffs out a breath. “Yes. We just weren’t raised that way. Besides, I’ve only ever seen Anthony with women before. So, I’m……a little confused.”

“You know it’s not necessarily something you can choose. The fact that this occurs even through mated pairs should be testament to that.”

He looks up at her. “But this hasn’t always happened among mates. Father always said that we steer the fate of the future, so we should stick to tradition and do what is right. I just,……..I was taught from infancy that being gay is not natural, and shouldn’t be a normal and accepted thing. I didn’t care much for preaching that dogma, because it never affected me. But-…..”

“But now it does.”

“Yeah.”

“So what? Your brother’s mate is a man. Rather than feeling awkward about it, shouldn’t you be happy that he found his mate? And he looks really happy with him.”

He sighs. “I know. I am happy that he is happy. Anthony is always the joker in the family. Always making others laugh and lightening up the mood. And now, I really am happy that he has someone to do that for him too.”

“You are?”

“Of course I am.”

“Then you should say that to him.”

“How? I don’t know how to handle this in a not so awkward way. Is there like a protocol to follow or something? What if I say something that might be rude? What if-“

“Oh my goodness. Just breathe.” She giggles at Maxim. “Don’t overthink things. Anthony is still the brother you’ve known all your life. Just talk to him like you always do, and let him meet you halfway with his side if things. It might not be all that comfortable or in the least easy, - for you or him. But just be there for him,….all of you. The brothers always prevail. Isn’t that what you always tell me?”

After a long silence, Maxim smiles brightly at her and gives her a quick peck on the lips.

“This is why you make such a great Luna. My beautiful and smart mate.”

“As long as you know what you have.” She gives him a soft peck in return.

After a few more seconds of silence, he starts rubbing his hand up and down her arm, turning the mood a bit more serious.

“What is it?” She asks concerned.

“We have to talk about Samantha.”

Abby sighs regretfully. “I know.”

“I let her join our pack because you asked me to, and because she’s your sister. But it wasn’t long before she started causing problems there. That’s why we brought her along this trip, hoping she’ll maybe find her mate here during the harvest festival. But she already ended up in a rather vicious fight with that human, which left her face scarred. Probably for life. And she still refuses to show her superiors respect, especially alphas. It’s only a matter of time before she gets herself into trouble again, and undoubtedly drag our pack into it as well.”

“I know.” Is all Abby can say. Because she knows everything he’s saying is the truth.

She knows what he’s trying to say, and sadly she knows she will agree with him. Abby is not just the warrior wolf from her previous pack anymore. She’s a Luna now. As much as she wants to help Samantha, she needs to think about her pack as well now. Though, she also knows that with a permanent scar on Samantha’s face, chances for other packs to accept her are next to nil. They’ll just take her for a marked traitor.

“We’ll have to cast her out of our pack.” He says with finality.

Abby can’t argue with him about it. She knows he’s right. And when Maxim makes up his mind about something, there’s no point arguing, especially in relation to his pack’s safety.

“When?” She asks boldly. Knowing she’ll stand by her mate’s choice. To protect the pack.

“As soon as we get back. I already informed Nicholas we’ll be leaving soon. We can go either this afternoon or early tomorrow morning.”

Abby bights her bottom lip slightly, thinking of her answer.

“Let’s go tomorrow morning. I don’t want us going on the road too late in the day. It could be dangerous. Especially with everything going on right now. One day shouldn’t make that big a difference, right?”

“Alright.” He nods at her with an apologetic look, and pulls her tighter into his warm hold. He continued talking softly into her ear. “I know she’s your sister and you took responsibility for her when she wanted to join our pack. But she doesn’t even hold herself responsible for her own actions. I don’t want you lying under that. I cannot allow it anymore. You are my Luna, my mate, and soon to be the mother of my pup. I won’t have you upset or put in danger for someone else, even if you want to help.”

“I’m sorry.” She says in a guilty whisper.

“It’s not your fault, Abby. Nothing is. You are compassionate, strong and fair. You are perfection. Anyone is lucky to just know you. And I’m the luckiest to have you. So don’t feel guilty, and just let me protect you.”

She nods in his hold, still feeling a bit sad for her sister. But feeling a slow calm sweeping through her from his warmth.

Maxim always showers her with compliments, but she knows she’s actually the lucky one. He’s always so selfless, thinking about everyone else before himself. Whenever there’s a full moon, she always takes the time to thank the moon goddess for blessing her with such a wonderful and caring mate.

“I love you.” The words come out instinctively. But not out of habit, rather just awareness of who and what he is to her.

I love you too, Abby. He says through their mind link, filling her mind with his warmth as well.