Fight for Me

Over the next few days, things have become more normal. Well, for Layla at least. Compared to how awkward she thought things would be.

It seems that Nick has become more talkative, with her at least. Well, at least now he puts in more effort to use full sentences.

He filled her in about what the pack knows regarding her as his mate, how his brothers have agreed to keep whatever it is they saw at Shadow Moon pack to themselves, and what is coming with this supposed war between supernaturals and humans.

As limited as his talking efforts are, she can’t help but feel there is something he’s not telling her. Something important. Because whenever she asks more about it, especially this war, he always goes quiet and changes topics.

He obviously doesn’t want me knowing something. Or it’s just his natural limit to speaking kicking in.

But seeing his efforts in trying to build trust between them, she thought it only fair to fill him in on her own things. But also in the hopes that he really believes she had nothing to do with these attacks. She’s still so concerned in getting Nick to believe her. She doesn't really know why. Maybe because he's the only one that makes her feel safe right now.

She still remembers how quickly Blake turned on her, even when he promised he’ll always fight for her. And hearing Nick say similar words to her has her worried he may turn his back on her too the moment he hears something he doesn’t like.

She doesn’t think she can take it if he turns on her too. She has already come to trust him.

And Nick has made it easy to trust him. He hasn’t pushed her in talking about anything. He just repeats himself, saying she can tell him what she wants, when she wants. All he wants in return is for her to acknowledge their bond, to give it a chance to grow, and to let them spend time together. Though, he also requested for her to not leave his pack anytime soon, for her own safety, as more wild-rogue attacks have been reported from nearby packs. It was his last attempt at convincing her, after she kept telling him she has to leave.

Though, every time she mentions that, she notices the very obvious eye roll he isn't bothered to hide. Clearly he doesn't think she'll be going anywhere anytime soon.

It wasn’t a difficult request to stay, and she can’t deny that she’s feeling more and more comfortable with him with every passing day. A comfort she doesn’t mind reveling in for a while, before she leaves. After all, she has to. After everything that happened, she definitely can’t stay here. Her enemies will come for her, and she can’t risk Nick’s pack as well.

That’s why she took the time to tell him about that shadow, -about Alpha Jax. The alpha that Nick alone fought and killed when he helped his father take over this pack. Nick was beyond pissed-off, knowing that that dead-asshole still managed to piss him off more by laying a hand on Layla.

She realized that Nick is the only man she’s really comfortable being around with, alone. And even though she didn’t understand it at first, she knows that Nick would never do anything to her that might scare her, or really scare her.

Although, she didn’t tell him about what she is. She is too afraid about what Alpha Jax had mentioned. –About the stories among werewolves, and how their hunters would bury Celestials alive, out of fear of their ‘curses’.

She couldn’t risk the chance of him turning his back on her too. Maybe with time. But not now. Not until she learns more about herself. Maybe that time will never come. Maybe she’ll already be gone by then. Only time will tell.

And now, the two of them are on the training grounds, going for another round, with other fighters training not that far from them. She’s in her training tights and top, and he’s in nothing but a pair of shorts.

Nick wanted to continue Layla’s training, and she definitely did not refuse it. Though, he insisted that he be her training partner. All she thought at that moment was, he’s really taking this bonding thing to another level. But then again, this was an opportunity for her to improve her skills and be able to go up against an alpha, one day. Maybe. If she’s going to accept her role in this war, she has to learn how to, eventually. Another secret that's hers alone.

“Again.” Nick says as she rolls off the ground, again.

Though she doesn’t lunge at him this time. She stands ready, and just waits.

He always waits for me to make the first move. Of course he’ll see my attacks coming.

She steadies her breathing, and circles him. He smirks.

He charges and throws a punch at her, which she quickly dodges.

There is no way I can block his punches. I’ve already learned my lesson in the last five rounds.

Focusing on his weak points, she quickly kicks at his knee and punches his cheek when he lowers to the perfect height for her fist to reach.

Though, he swiftly slips his arm around her waist, and they both tumble to the ground. She quickly wraps her legs around his waist and uses his weight to roll on top of him. She raises her fist in the air, but stops as she smiles back down at him. Her blue eyes staring into his hazel ones.

“I guess that’s a win for me.” She says suggestively.

But he tightly grips her hips and rolls her under him. She yelps and he grins at her angry expression.

“It’s not over until it’s over.” He says as he fans her face with his hot breath.

She huffs out annoyed. “I had you on the ground and on your back.” She wiggles and twists out of his grip, making him release a very soft groan.

“And? You can still lose a fight if you’re on top.” He gets up and helps her up this time.

That’s one thing she noticed about him. He doesn’t baby her or treat her like some porcelain doll. If she falls to the ground, he would just look at her, as if asking if she needs help. Which she never does. She’s learned how to do everything, how to survive, all on her own for so long. And ever since Blake, she hasn’t felt the urge to depend on someone again. And she likes this about Nick. It’s like he respects her as a fighter. Like he wants her to become stronger.

But losing another round isn’t doing much for her ego.

He notices the dejected look on her face, and he raises her chin so she’d face him. “You’re a great fighter.”

“Apparently not great enough.”

“You’re just not ready to beat an alpha. Yet.” He says assuredly.

“And what if I come face-to-face with an alpha in the near future? Should I just accept my fate?”

He releases a deep growl. "Then I'll protect you." He grips her hand again and sniffs his mark, which is almost fully healed. It both calms and frustrates him.

A silent pause fills the air as they just stare at each other. But their attention is pulled away from each other when they hear Tyler’s voice.

“Nicholas. There is a call for you. It’s urgent.” He says with a brief nod assuring Nick this is a call he wouldn’t want to refuse.

With a deep sigh, he lets go of Layla’s hand and looks at her, as if asking a question she would understand. She nods at him and he leaves, following Tyler.

She has come to better understand his silent gestures. Especially when she realized he makes use of them when he doesn’t want to ask obvious questions.

Left alone, she walks towards Ben training the other fighters, hoping to join in on one of their matches.

Picking the office phone up, Nick looks over his shoulder and at Tyler, silently commanding him to close the door. When the door click, he speaks.

“Yes?”

<Well, you sure do like to take your time.>

He clenches his jaw from annoyance as he recognizes Sebastian’s voice.

“What is it?”

<Really? I’m here going out of my way to help a fellow friend out. And you can’t even pretend to be nice? That really hurts, Alpha Nicholas.>

He sighs. “Sebastian. Just cut to the chase." He clearly called for a reason.

He hears laughter on the other end. <Still as cold as ever……Well, I know who is behind these attacks.>

A brief silence fills the air.

Nick groans. “Who?”

<It’s not that simple.> He says in a low monotone.

“Explain.” Nick is getting annoyed at the vampire’s tactics of never revealing everything he knows, and rather just answering what is asked.

<It’s not just one person. It’s a whole organization of people. Powerful people.>

“Would their deaths be a problem then?”

<……..Yes.> His tone becomes more serious.

“....To whom?”

<I can’t tell you that.>

“What can you tell me?”

A long silence fills the air before he hears the vampire speak again. <You should ask your father why he’s protecting them.>

“……What?” He grunts out.

<You didn’t hear this from me. But he’s not the only one.>

“What is this?”

<Apparently something far greater than even the two of us……..Don’t forget about our deal.>

Click. Sebastian hangs up the phone, leaving the dialling tone to echo in the quiet room.

He puts the phone down and looks at his stunned Beta, his friend, someone he wouldn’t want to hide anything regarding the pack from.

As shocking as the news was to Nick, he’s not really that surprised. He always knew his father’s actions were done with some kind of hidden agenda. -A deep darkness his father only allowed Nick to get a glimpse of, though unintentional.

“How are we going about this, Nicholas? Does this mean we have to fight the Alpha King to defeat the hunters?”

Nick stares at his Beta, who seems calm and determined to follow his alpha’s orders, whatever they may be.

“No.” He answers in a deep and hoarse voice. “He will come to us.” He folds his arms as he leans to sit against his desk.

“How do you know?”

“Because we know now.”

Tyler goes quiet, trying to make sense of his alpha’s words.

But Nick breaks the silence. “You will speak of this to no one. Until I speak with my brothers.”

Tyler nods. “What about Layla? If she finds out the truth about all of this and about her parents,….she might become an enemy.”

Ggrrh! “Leave that to me.” He commands.

But suddenly a link pushes through to both Nick and Tyler.

Alpha. Come quick. They hear Ben’s very worried tone. There is trouble at the training grounds. It’s Layla.

With just the sound of her name, Nick cuts the link and rushes out of the office with Tyler following closely behind.

He sprints to the training grounds, but as he nears it, there is no activity, no fighting. Nothing what he expected.

But Ben comes into view as he’s holding what seems like a very angry Layla from behind, as she continues to yell. They’re surrounded with all the other fighters, looking terrified as they’re all kneeling or crouching with their necks exposed.

What’s even more odd, is the man on the ground by her feet seemingly struggling to crawl away from her, as she is continuing to scold him.

Pulling her from Ben’s arms and getting her attention on him, he immediately stiffens. He pulls her face into his chest and looks at his pack members, who are fearfully avoiding eye-contact with their alpha.

“Training is over. Everyone, leave.” He orders.

Just as everyone starts moving, keeping their heads lowered, Nick throws a struggling-Layla over his shoulder causing her to release a loud yelp.

“Hey! What are you doing? Put me down.” She shouts and uselessly beats his muscled back as he continues to walk her back to the pack-house.

Hearing the door to his room, -to their room close-, he puts her down as she’s still thrashing in his hold. Just as she starts to shout in his face again, he cups her face in his and demands. “Calm down.”

She goes quiet for a second. “Why should I? That fighter cheated. Is that how you wolves fight?” Her voice grows loud again.

“You need to calm down, Layla.” He says as he rubs his mark on her wrist. Something he tends to do a lot lately. Though it does send tingles through her. So, calming down isn’t that difficult.

She sighs out and pulls from his hold. “The fight was already over, but then that fighter came and attacked me from behind. And then he acted all weird, like I was the one that did something wrong. In fact, they all did. I didn’t even do anything.” She starts pacing in front of him.

“It’s fine. Just breathe.” He says in a calm tone, but his clenched jaws tell her he’s also annoyed.

It better be because of that cheater and not me.

“What do you mean it’s fine?” She looks at him suspiciously. Though, he stares back with that deep wrinkle in his brow. “What is it? Why are you looking at me like that?”

She paces to the connecting bathroom to find whatever it is that’s on her face.

She gasps when she sees a version of herself she’s never seen before. One with glowing blue irises and the whites of her eyes completely black.

“What is-, what is this?” She looks at Nick walking up next to her. “What is happening to me?” She asks worriedly.

He looks back at her with slight confusion as he steps closer. “Nothing. You’re fine.”

“What do you mean, fine? Has this happened before?”

He raises a questioning brow. “You didn’t know?”

“Didn’t know my eyes make me look like the walking dead, -no. How long? How long has this been going on?”

There’s a pregnant pause.

“Since the last rogue attack. It comes and goes. Though, those eyes do send a fearsome aura at whoever looks into them.”

“So that’s why they acted like that? They were afraid of me?”

Nick nods as he folds his arms over his naked chest.

She blinks as she looks back at him. “They don’t scare you?”

He smirks as he takes another step closer, closing the gap between them. “Let’s just say my wolf and I like a challenge.”

She can’t help but smile back. But then she starts thinking. “But how do I stop it?” She asks softly. She doesn’t want to walk around like this.

This is probably why. Even though most fighters were in their human form, I swear I could see their wolves too. Like I was looking directly at them, at their true form.

“Calming you down usually works.” He reaches down and rubs his mark again, making her understand his habit.

Is that why he keeps holding my hand?

She’s kind of disappointed at the thought. Lately, she’s been wondering if he’s even attracted to her. Yeah, sure she is his mate, but all he ever does is hold her hand. She is starting to realize that just because he doesn’t want to break the mate bond, again, doesn’t mean he wants to strip her down like his own special treat. She can't help but wonder if he'll ever crave her like the animal he is.

Fudge nuggets. I should really stop my horny brain from overthinking. I’ve already gone through about twelve scenarios while I was fighting with Nick. And yes, maybe that is a one of the major distractions that got my butt kicked. But I mean, come on. Look at the man. His entire size is like a challenge, daring me to climb him like a mountain. To try and overpower him. -Son of a biscuit! Here I go again. But I can’t alone be blamed for this. Like, I’ve seen the man in action. And, yes, maybe I very much want to be on the receiving end of that kind of attention. But the only time he even approached me like that was that chaotic night in his office. And he only did it because he thought he would never see me again.

“So, don’t be angry.” He pulls her chin up.

She closes her eyes and tries to calm down, focusing on the tingles passing through her from his touch on her wrist.

So this is probably what Alpha Jax was talking about. The eyes of a celestial. This is probably some kind of defense mechanism, getting me ready for a dangerous situation.

Opening her eyes, she sees his indifferent expression.

“And?” She asks concerned.

He just nods. And she sighs with a breath of relief.

She doesn’t want to walk around with those eyes. She doesn’t want people scared of her. But she definitely doesn’t want there to be more reasons for stories about her to be spreading, perhaps even outside of the pack. She’s desperate to keep a low profile for as long as she can. She doesn’t even know how long his brothers would keep things quiet.

"You should work on pulling your punches."

The sudden change in topic has her confused. "What, did you get hurt?" She almost smirks.

But he just grunts as he's unraveling her hand-wraps, slightly stained with her blood.

"Just because you can't feel, doesn't mean it doesn't hurt you." He says sternly.

"I know, I know." She tries pulling her hands from his. "I'll do better next time." But he grips her wrists tightly.

"You better focus next time."

She looks up surprised and guilty, but smirks. "Yes alpha." She says teasingly.

And he just gives her his recent response to all of her teasing, -an eye roll.

“I have more work to get to. You should rest for a while, and get this treated. Margret will help you with whatever you need.”

He raises her wrist to his face and inhales her scent. “Mine.” He whispers with a groan, looking straight at her before he turns and leaves.