Fight for Me

The next day

Third POV

It’s almost midday and Cody decided to offer up his Sunday to show Layla around the pack-grounds.

They’re walking along the lake, when she decides to climb one of the trees for a better view of it.

“What are you doing?”

“What? I just want to see how far it stretches.” She says as she climbs higher.

But he just chuckles. “You are one wild woman.”

“Oh, wow. Cody, it looks beautiful from up here. Come and see.”

“Oh no.” He says raising his hands in surrender. “I prefer the ground. Besides, I’ve seen this lake a thousand times already.”

“But not from up here I bet.” She teases.

“I still prefer the ground.” He retorts.

“Fine. Catch me.”

“What?” He looks up wondering what she means, when he sees her falling.

His reflexes kick in as he holds out his arms to catch her.

“Are you crazy?! You could have gotten hurt.” He scolds her, but with such a worried face.

“Not if you catch me. Which you did.” She giggles.

“You’re a handful, you know that?” They both laugh as he still holds her bridal style. “No pun intended.”

“Yeah, yeah. So I keep hearing.” She says as he puts her down on her feet.

“Come on. Let’s head back and get a snack.”

“What is it with you wolves and always being hungry? I mean, you guys have buffets every day.”

“We gotta store up on energy. It’s what helps us build these gorgeous muscles.” He flexes his arms trying to show off.

“Show off.”

“Well how can I not? You’re the one that told me my muscles are gorgeous in the first place. Now I’m gonna use it against you as much as I can.” He chuckles.

“Last I checked, I have a right to admire beautiful things when I see them. I’m just not a fan of the cocky attitudes that come with it.” She raises a brow and gives him a side glance.

“Oh come on. You can’t be mad at me. Not when I give you full view of this every day, for free.” He waves his hands in front of his body as if displaying it.

She eyes him up and down. “Fine.” She snaps.

As they walk to the house giggling, they see Nicholas and Ben sparring outside, and both very shirtless.

Cody chuckles seeing the drooling look on Layla’s face. They both actually stopped to watch the fight.

“Did you see that right there, what Ben did? That’s how you avoid a direct hit.” Cody points to the fighting men.

“But they’re so fast.”

“That’s because they’re not thinking about their next move. They attack whenever they see a chance and react to whatever their opponent is doing.”

As they keep watching for the next five minutes, a car pulls up near the house. A very beautiful and tall blonde climbs out of the car and walks towards the fighting pair. When they see her approach, they stop their fight.

She walks straight up to Nicholas and plants a long and sensual kiss on his lips, gripping his neck.

Oddly, this is making Layla feel a bit annoyed.

“Really? They stopped a fight for a kiss?” Layla says under her breath.

“That’s Rebecca.” Cody leans in and says. “His girlfriend and soon to be mate.”

Layla raises a brow at this. Why didn’t he bring up the whole girlfriend thing during his ‘rejection’?

“Have they been together for long?” She’s getting curious, seeing Nicholas lead her into the house.

“Almost half a year. But they sort of grew up together. So they know each other well, and luckily the pack knows her well too.”

“Why do you say luckily?”

“Well, if she is going to become our Luna, it’s going to work in her favour that everyone already knows her, and a lot like her too.”

But this is making Layla think back to that night, and the words he said to her.

“What happens if a pack doesn’t like their Luna, or she’s not what they would expect her to be?”

Cody sighs. “If a pack doesn’t accept their Luna, then they become resistant towards their Alpha. And a pack that doesn’t fully stand together is a weak pack.”

‘I can’t have a human mate. It will not do well for my pack’. She thinks back to his words to her. A pack is an Alpha’s pride after all. Besides, why should it even bother her anyway? She’s just here temporarily and then she’ll move on to find him.

“What would you do if you find out that your mate isn’t a wolf?” Layla asks.

He tilts his head up as if thinking it over. “Mixed matings is not unheard of, but it is very rare. But that wouldn’t bother me, actually. If she’s my destined mate, it shouldn’t matter what she is. She can be a feline-shifter for all I care. But the moment I find my mate, is the day that I live my life for her.”

Layla whines. “Why can’t all men be like you? Your mate is one lucky girl.”

She stands on her tip-toes to ruffle his hair. He chuckles at her attempt to make him feel small.

“Come on let’s head in.” He grabs her wrist, stopping her hair play and pulls her along to the house.

Nicholas didn’t realize Rebecca would be back today.

She knows he doesn’t like surprises, but complaining now isn’t going to do much now.

“Why are you back so early from your trip?” He asks as he wraps a towel around his neck to wipe the sweat off.

“Because I missed you.” She pulls on the towel ends to kiss him again.

“You should have let me know. I have a busy schedule today.” He pulls back and puts his shirt back on. “I’ll see you at dinner.” He walks out of the room.

Nicholas walks into the underground cells where his men have the cougar-shifter tied up.

He’s already bruised and bleeding.

“Why did you have your men attack me? I didn’t do anything and last I checked, the town isn’t part of your pack territory.” The cougar grunts out.

“All you had to do was come willingly.” Nicholas sits in a chair in front of him.

“I didn’t do anything.”

“I never said you did. Now, let’s start with you telling me who it is you work for, who you’re looking for and why.”

The cougar is quiet, but silence doesn’t bother Nicholas. After a minute of silence, Nicholas nods to Ben, who then punches the cougar across the face.

“I-…I-….I can’t t-tell you who I’m working for. You should know that. It’s a contract agreement.”

Nicholas leans forward. “Then who are you looking for. I might just help you.” The cougar looks at him suspiciously. “So you can leave this town sooner.”

The cougar takes deep breaths contemplating Nicholas’ words.

“Are you saying that if I don’t give you what you want, you’re going to help hide the killer?”

“Killer? So a revenge plot. So, are you hired to kill them or to take them back to who hired you?”

The cougar looks at him daringly. “Trust me, I would love to have them killed. But I was promised a lot of money for a simple extraction.”

With that attitude, Nicholas already knows this is personal for him.

“The dead tracker, - a friend of yours?”

The shifter hisses. “He was my brother. And she killed him!”

Nicholas raises his brow.

“She?”

The cougar sighs. “Yes, she. I don’t have much to go on. I don’t know what she is. All I know is that it’s a woman, she has a lot of resources, knows how to cover her tracks and is obviously a skilled fighter if she knows how to kill a shifter in his cougar form. The only reason I’m here is because I got news that a woman drifter was spotted in this town. I was just supposed to check if it’s her.”

Nicholas starts to wonder whether this man is talking about the same woman he is thinking of. Yes, Layla is a drifter, but that’s about the only description she fits. She obviously doesn’t have resources considering she blackmailed him into staying here. She’s definitely not a skilled fighter from what Cody’s reports say. And the thought that a human could do all of this is ridiculous, especially with her size.

“Any leads then?” Nicholas asks.

“No. I barely got started.”

“Then I suggest you leave and never come back to this town.” He stands up getting ready to leave.

“What? I told you what you asked. Why would you do this? She’s a killer.”

“The way I see it, the only people she’s killing are those chasing her. So me sending you away is more for your sake. That way I don’t need to worry about a murder happening in this town, and you get to keep your life. Sounds like a fair deal to me.”

Nicholas nods to Ben and he starts uncuffing him from the wall.

“But,…… I can’t just leave.”

Nicholas can see the worried look on his face. He already knows that whoever hired him is obviously dangerous and busy with illegal business.

“That,…..is your problem to figure out.” But before he turns to leave, he says, “and remember, I don’t give warnings twice.”

Nicholas walks out filled with frustration all over again.

He hates having to talk so much and explain things which should be obvious. It annoys him because that just angers his wolf, seeing he’s the type to just spill blood to get his point across. Nicholas may be known as a beast, but his wolf is far worse. It’s one of the reasons he constantly tries to keep calm, - it’s to contain his wolf.