Fight for Me

There is only one person that fills that description.

There is only a hand full of people who arrived here that day. There are only two of them who are blonde. And one of them is already mated and pregnant.

Layla thinks to herself as she storms into the living room of the pack-house looking for her.

Looking through the house, she sees a lot of faces, but not hers.

The dining room table is already being set up. The sun is already setting, and she knows dinner will be had soon, but she doesn’t care.

Reaching the back of the house, she hears something, a giggle. And it sounds a lot like her.

Making her way to the back-porch, she sees a small bonfire outside with some people sitting around it. She sees Melinda, Samantha and Anthony sitting around the fire, talking about who knows what.

But apparently Samantha finds whatever Anthony is telling them to be very funny.

Of course she would.

She’s still trying to scooch closer to Anthony, when Layla moves towards the small crowd and pushes Samantha off her chair.

She can see the shocked but angry look on Samantha’s face as she looks up at Layla.

“Woah.” Anthony jumps in. “Layla. What are you doing?” He stands, like everybody else, and looks at her confused.

But she pushes past him, towards Samantha, pulling her up by the neckline of her shirt. Too shocked, Samantha doesn’t know what to do. Pushing her backwards, Layla pushes her against a tree with a loud thud.

“What the-“ Anthony tries to get between the two.

But Layla is quick to shove him away.

“Don’t!” She shouts, shocking Anthony to stand frozen in his place.

She knows she shouldn’t be mad at Anthony. He always wants to help. He’s always too friendly. But knowing that he’s the one Samantha kissed that night, the one that played a part in causing Cody so much pain, has her tearing up with tears of hatred, sadness and disappointment.

With Anthony not moving, Layla turns her attention back to Samantha, who has a longing focus on Anthony to step in and help her.

But that look quickly changes as Layla slaps her loudly across her face, causing her to almost fall to the ground again. Before she can even look up again, Layla slaps her again, this time landing her on the ground.

“Stop it. You’re hurting her.” Melinda finally speaks, shocked at what’s happening in front of her.

Seeing Anthony not doing anything to help the situation, she mind-links Tristan, telling him to hurry and help.

Just as Samantha tries to get up, Layla kicks her hard in her stomach.

Still gasping for air, Layla picks her up again, shoving her head hard against the tree. Layla wraps her hands around her neck and squeezes, wanting her to struggle more in finding air.

Samantha tries to grip Layla’s hands around her neck, but she’s already out of breath and dizzy from the knock on her head. She knows she’ll pass out any second now. Desperately trying to survive, Samantha’s wolf pushes forward, morphing her hands into long claws, clawing at Layla’s hands.

But Layla isn’t bothered with the bloody scratches on her hands, as she squeezes tighter. She may be smaller, but she knows how to use her strengths.

“You’re killing her!” Melinda shouts.

Tristan is coming but he might come too late. Melinda knows she needs to do something.

She lifts her hands and chants a quick spell as she casts it towards Layla. The wind is quick to rise, carrying the spell towards Layla. But just as the spell reaches Layla’s back, a sudden and faint wall of black smoke deflects it.

Melinda’s eyes widen from panic.

Layla shoves Samantha against the tree again and releases her grip around her neck, unaware of what just happened behind her.

Just then, Tristan rushes outside.

“What’s going on?” Tristan asks in a panic, seeing Samantha leaning against the tree and gasping for air, Anthony standing like a statue not that far from her, and Melinda with a panicked look on her face.

With no one answering, Tristan tries to step in, only to be stopped by Melinda.

“No, don’t!” He looks back at her, and notices her grip on him shaking.

“Weak.” Layla says in Samantha’s face.

Samantha’s eyes start glowing as her wolf takes Layla’s words as an insult she needs to prove false.

“Finally.” Layla huffs out as she pulls her closer. “Tell me, are you angry?”

Samantha’s wolf growls as she shoves Layla off of her.

Just then, Nicholas makes his way onto the porch with Rebecca, Maxim and Abby following him shortly after.

Seeing the possible fight between Layla and Samantha, Nicholas tries to step in. But Tristan stops him with a serious look on his face.

Before Nicholas can even give a questioning look, they hear Layla’s next words.

“You will pay for what you did.” Layla says right before she lunges at Samantha.

The two attack and fight each other. Samantha may have her claws out, but Layla is handling herself pretty well against her. The only thing she can think of is to use the very skill Cody taught her, to hurt the one person who dared to hurt him, - his mate, Samantha.

Blocking Samantha’s reaching claw, Layla knees her in the stomach. Layla gives her a strong right hook to the face, forcing her to the ground. Samantha knocks Layla’s legs from under her and the two roll around in the dirt.

Samantha still doesn’t know why Layla is doing all this. But she’s not going to let her get away with this. But she can’t help but notice how her wolf is pulling her punches.

Samantha forcefully pushes her wolf forward to take over the fight, as she gets up from the ground. Though, still refusing to morph into her wolf form, her wolf continues to fight in human form.

But seeing the glowing golden eyes, Layla knows she’s facing her wolf now.

But Layla is beyond pissed right now. She uses her tiny frame to shove Samantha against another tree trunk.

Samantha’s wolf raises her hand, trying to claw at Layla. But she is quick to block it, as she grips Samantha’s half-morphed hand.

“You dare try to protect her.” Layla says in a shaky but angry voice. “You should be ashamed of yourself, of her.”

Layla knows she is speaking to Samantha’s wolf, - the one who is supposed to carry and feel the bond the most.

Everyone else is just watching the two with interest and curiosity.

“You are supposed to give her what she deserves, - a lonely life of sadness,…… pain …….and regret.” Layla’s voice breaks at the last few words, as she nears the wolf more. “She gave you no purpose, took away what was rightfully yours. She must suffer the consequences. She must know what it feels like to be betrayed.” She raises her voice as she shoves the wolf again. “But you never fought back. You are the one that didn’t deserve him.”

The wolf whimpers, as she slowly steps back from Layla’s approaching form. But seeing the glowing eyes fade away, Layla knows the wolf retreated. But she’s not done yet, especially with Samantha. Layla roughly grabs a confused Samantha by her shirt and whispers in her face. “He is dead because of you.”

Seeing her furrowed brows change to a wide-eye expression, she knows Samantha realized that Layla knows the truth.

But still not seeing a glimpse of guilt on her face, Layla grabs Samantha's face with her bloodied hand and shoves her against a tree again. She wants her to feel pain, any form of it. Something a selfish narcissist like her would feel.

Before she even has time to think about it, she tightens her grip on Samantha’s face, carving her nails in. Layla can feel something dark in her growing. A sinister side, she would never consider. But given the situation, she is more than willing to open up to it.

Samantha tries to call on her wolf again, but she’s silent. There is nothing, she can’t even feel her. She doesn’t know what to do. She’s still trying to figure out how much exactly Layla could know about her and Cody.

Layla smirks at the helpless look on her face. And just for a split second, Layla could see terror in her eyes right before she clawed her nails across Samantha’s face.

Samantha falls to the ground, screaming from pain as she grips the side of her bleeding face.

Her loud screams finally has everyone else waking up and moving.

Abby and Rebecca rush past Layla and try to help a crying Samantha.

Annoyed with the spectacle, Layla steps back and walks into the forest, away from everyone else. She just wants to be alone now.

Melinda is still gripping onto Tristan, not wanting him to move away from her. And he too is holding onto her, trying to calm her down.

Anthony is looking at the women in front of him, who are trying to help stop the bleeding. But something is stopping him from going and helping them. He glimpses at Layla’s disappearing form into the darkening woods, and remembers the look on her face when she looked at him. It was disappointment and heartache. Why would she look at me like that? Did I hurt her somehow? He doesn’t know what he did, but something is telling him he might never know.

He doesn’t know why this is hurting him so much. He knew he cared for Layla, but he never knew he cared this much. That he cared what she thought of him.

Nicholas isn’t bothered at all with the scene in front of him. All he knows, is that there was a fight between two people that no one wanted to interrupt. The situation seemed serious too, so he stayed back, trying to respect the fight. And as expected, there was a winner and a loser.

But he is bothered by Layla walking away. He could hear the anger in her voice. He could feel the pain in it. And now he can sense her trying to hide her tears. His wolf is angry for her being in more pain. Just when he thought she was finally calming down from Cody’s death, something else happened.

He doesn’t spare a second as he walks after her into the dark woods.

She barely walks a few feet into the woods when she drops to her knees and lets out a shrilling scream.

AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The birds fly off and the forest is filled with momentary silence.

Layla breathes shakily trying to calm her breathing. She uses her scratched and bleeding hands to try and wipe off her tears.

Looking up, she sees she shadow a few feet away from her. But at this moment she isn’t bothered by it. Right now, the pain in her is numbing her from feeling anything else.

Hearing snapping twigs next to her, she looks and sees Nicholas standing to the side and looking at her with a longing expression. With those eyes, she can practically hear his wolf whimper.

Looking back in front of her, she sees the shadow slowly approaching her.

Nicholas sees her focusing on something in front of her. But looking ahead he can’t see anything.

He already knows this world is filled with many unknown and unexplained things. His mother always told him that. And with everything that happened so far, he knows he still needs a lot of answers from Layla. Even thinking back to one of Cody’s last words, he knows that Layla can see something. He’s just not sure what exactly.

But just looking at the look on her face, he can’t make out what she’s feeling. She’s just sitting there, on the ground, waiting.

But Nicholas doesn’t like this. He knows she’s clearly in pain. But she’s just sitting there, like she doesn’t care what happens next. He doesn’t like it. He’s never seen her like this. She’s many things, but she never gives up. She always finds the silver lining in things, always finds a way through a tough situation, she always tries to make the best of any situation.

He slowly approaches her, afraid she might chase him away. Right now, he knows he just wants to be close to her, he needs to be. He promised to protect her, to make her feel safe. He can’t break his promise.

Layla stares at the nearing shadow, wondering if it can perhaps take the pain away. Isn’t that what death is anyway, - an end to things, to pain.

It breaks her heart knowing that none of these people will ever comprehend the pain Cody went through. Because they will never know. She’s not even sure if they would care. Maybe Cody thought the same. But he wanted it kept a secret, and she will respect his wishes.

But suddenly the shadow retreats away from her and fades away. Still trying to figure out what happened, she feels something warm wrapping itself around her.

Turning her head slightly, she finds herself looking into Nicholas’ neck, as he has his arms tightly wrapped around her from her side.

Being completely engulfed in his scent of pine and cinnamon, she notices the warmth spreading all over her body, replacing the numbing ache in her. The warmth feels like gentle sparks, making her giddy and calm at the same time.

That’s when she starts coming back to her senses.

How could I look for relief and comfort from that insidious shadow??!

Hating herself for being so foolish, she grabs onto the one thing that's keeping her sane right now. She wraps her arms around Nicholas’ neck, pulling herself into his lap.

Nicholas slips an arm under her legs and another around her back as he picks her up, letting her long black hair flow over his shoulder and along his arm.

Walking back to the pack-house in the moonlight he comes across his brothers waiting at the backdoor. The women have already left.

But he can feel Layla’s unease as she tries to dig her face deeper into his neck. He tightens his grip on her as surety of his promise to her.

He can see the look on their faces. Each different. Anthony looks worried but almost scared as he stares at the small bundle in Nicholas’ arms. Tristan looks wary, whereas Maxim looks angrily at her though suspiciously at Nicholas.

Just as Nicholas approaches the door, Maxim takes a step wanting to speak, but Nicholas just walks past him.

Nicholas can hear him huff out with annoyance, before he shouts at his back.

“You can’t keep protecting her like this!”

He continues to walk away as he pulls her even closer to his body, inhaling her scent from her hair to calm him down.

Whatever Samantha did, she hurt Layla. And she paid for it. The way I see it, the situation is already handled.