Fight for Me
Next to me

Later that day, when Margret guided her to dinner, she noticed how everyone was bowing their heads at her and actually smiling at her. Margret made her sit next to Nick’s seat, -where Rebecca always used to sit.

She can’t help but feel a bit cringey. She never understood Rebecca’s issue with her to begin with, but it was clear that whatever Layla did, annoyed her.

Not to mention, the reminder of their nightly activities is causing an uncomfortable not in Layla's stomach.

She always felt a little jealous knot in the pit of her stomach at Rebecca, for being craved and devoured by a man such as Nick. Though, having seen them that one time all wild, did turn her on, even though she can’t explain why.

But all she knows is that, it did annoy her having to always hear them when they were going at it. It actually caused such a burn in her stomach, she thought she might throw up. But she seemed to have gotten used to it over time, as that feeling eventually got better, to a point it just felt like heart burn. Or could it have been the numbing of the bond, -or her numbing?

It’s not like I can be mad at him. His was with Rebecca before I even got here. And even if I felt I had some right to him because of the whole mate-bond thing, we did reject each other before I even knew about her. Well,…..we thought we did. But point remains. He’s a man with specific needs, and he continued with her thinking he already took care of his situation with me. I’m sure he would have been fine had I slept with another guy too, right?

She gets up and makes her way to the other chair to Nick’s left, realizing she’d prefer this view of his face.

Soon after, the dining hall filled with people and eventually their alpha joined too. The moment he sat down, he took her hand in his and brought it to his face. He deeply inhaled her wrist, where he marked her.

Why does he keep doing that?

Without a word, nor letting go of her hand he starts eating.

As much as she tries to free her hand, he just grips it tighter, giving her a challenging look. Giving up, she settled to eat with her left hand, giving him snide glances in between bites. But he just returns them with smirks. The two practically forgot about everyone else as their focus was primarily on each other. They hadn’t even noticed when it was just the two of them left at the table.

When they eventually broke free from their little bubble, Nick got up and dragged her along upstairs.

Layla didn’t bother reproaching him, because she knew he apparently already set his mind in how this night will continue, - or rather, this ‘talk’.

As they got to the hall to their rooms, she got confused when he walked past her door.

“Uhm.” She finally tries to pull back, but he continues to pull her along.

When she notices them walking to the very end of the hall, and to his room, she starts getting nervous.

“Nick?”

But he has her in his room before she can say anything else. He drags her to the couch and table in the corner of the room. He seats her down, and pours two glasses of whiskey. He downs one glass and places the other on the table in front of her.

But instead of joining her on the couch, he kneels down in front of her and takes her hands in his.

“Nick? What is-, what are you doing?”

“Layla……..I’m sorry, for all the pain I caused you, without even thinking about it.”

But she gives him a confused look.

What pain?

“What are you talking about?" She tries to free her hands, but he grips them tighter.

He clenches his jaw, and looks down as if ashamed.

“Rebecca.” -Is all he says, before a brief silence follows him. “I didn’t realize that our bond was still intact. And I still slept with her, with you just down the hall. You must have felt excruciating pain.”

“I didn’t feel any pain.”

His head shoots up as he looks up at her, perplexed.

“You didn’t feel-?”

“No.” She shakes her head. But it gets her thinking back to that heart-burn feeling she often got. “Maybe because our bond was fading, the pain also faded.”

“That’s not how it works.” He shakes his head too.

“Are you sure?” She asks with an almost smirk, reminding him of his admittance to knowing little about mate bonds.

“Yes, of this I’m sure.” He replies sternly, leaving no room for doubt, with his own personal experience as a reminder. “The moment a fated pair meet, it doesn’t matter how far apart they are, if they don’t reject each other officially”, he puts emphasis on the word as if reminding himself, “one will always feel pain if the other is being intimate with someone else.”

His words remind Layla of something else she had almost forgotten. -The reason she was so livid with Samantha.

That’s right. Samantha never rejected Cody and was still intimate with others. And he felt it. He wrote about that unbearable pain. How it was a constant reminder that his destined mate would rather hurt him than even consider being with him.

Which just acknowledges the fact that her not feeling the pain wasn’t due to the fading of the bond, but because of her own numbing.

The touch of his hand on her cheek, gets her attention to him.

“How could you not have felt it?”

But with his loosened grip, she pulls her hands from him and hurriedly stands up and steps away from him.

How much should I tell him?

“Layla.” His stern voice has her hitching her breath, as he traps her against the nearby wall, with an arm on each side of her. “Tell me.” He orders, with that glow in his eyes.

“I thought you weren’t going to push me to talk about my stuff.”

He clenches his jaw at the reminder that he would not judge or push her, and that she can tell him whatever she wants whenever she feels comfortable to.

“I just want to know, whether I hurt you.” He whispers in her face, as his gaze pierces her sky blue orbs.

“Y-you didn’t.”

“How?”

She bites her lower lip.

“How, Layla?” He takes a step forward, cutting whatever space was left between them.

“It’s just,….I-,…..lately.” She struggles with her words, slightly out of breath as she feels his fanning her cheek.

She tries pushing him away, but the mountain of a man doesn’t even budge.

Releasing a frustrated sigh, she knows this cage he has created around her will be her prison until she ‘confesses’.

“It’s been happening for a while now. It’s like I’m becoming numb. And,….ever since last night,……I can’t feel anything anymore.”

She sees that wrinkle in his brow deepening with his confusion.

“You can’t feel?” He asks so softly, his tone is almost shaky.

She lightly shakes her head.

He suddenly raises his hand and caresses her cheek as his thumb trails against her lips. “And this?”

“It feels,…..warm,…..I think, but-“ she shakes her head again.

She yelps when he suddenly pulls her into a tight hold against him, that she’s practically standing on her toes.

He breathes into her neck and talks into her ear. “And this?”

She gently shakes her head again, but realising he can’t see, she replies in a whisper. “No.”

He groans. He grabs her hand and brings her wrist to his face. Inhaling her scent only present where he marked her.

“And this?” He asks frustrated.

But her sudden gasp gets his attention as he looks at her expectantly. He sees shock and desire in her eyes as the sudden shock sent sharp tingles rushing through her body from her wrist.

Not knowing what to say, she just softly nods her head as if confirming that she can feel that.

“You can feel my mark.” He states with a relieved tone. “But,….this mark will fade.” He informs her.

She nods in confirmation as she remembers that wolves mark their mates by the necks for it to be permanent.

“Will you still not accept me as your mate?”

She sighs. “I can’t just stay here, Nick. Not only are people after me, -who by the way will have no problem coming here guns blazing, but I have to go and find out more about what I am.”

“I can do that with you.” He says matter-of-factly.

Pft. “You can’t just leave your pack, to help me look for something I don’t really know what or even where to start.”

“Why not? Our pack is more than capable of protecting themselves and running things without me for a while.”

Her breath hitches with how comfortably he referred to his pack as ‘our pack’. He probably didn’t even mean it that way.

“Don’t say that.”

“What? ….Layla, I’m not going to force this on you if you really don’t want it. But it doesn’t mean I’m going to give up easily on you.”

Pft. “It’s not the first time I heard that.” She’s reminded of Blake who made a similar promise not that long ago.

He tightens his hold on her again, making sure she sees his glowing eyes, -his wolf.

“When I set my eyes on something, I never give up.”

“And what if I decide to leave?” She asks softly, afraid to raise her voice with his close proximity.

“I’ll follow.” He smirks as he hears his wolf howling in his head.

Ever since Nick’s confession, he and his wolf have finally come on good terms again. His wolf has been far less aggravating, that Nick doesn’t need to spend the whole day focusing on shutting out his wolf’s whines anymore.

“What if I run from you?”

“I’ll chase you.”

“I’ll hide.” She raises a brow at his blatant over-confidence.

“I’ll find you.”

She rolls her eyes. “So you have an answer for everything I say?” And since when has he become so talkative?

“Of course.” He smirks as he leans in grazing her neck with his nose.

I can smell her scent. Just a hint. But it’s there. Her being with me must be making her scent stronger. Our bond is growing.

“Mine.”

She can hear the pulse of her racing heart beat in her ears, she’s sure Nick can hear it too. She pushes against his chest and to her surprise he loosens his hold as he looks down at her.

“It’s been a long day. I should probably get to bed.”

He nods and pulls her along to the bed.

“Wait.” He stops and turns to her. “You expect me to sleep with you?”

“Next to me.” He corrects her.

“I’m fine on my own.”

“What about that shadow?”

She bites her lip.

“About that,…Uhm,…..thing is, that’s not a problem anymore.”

He raises a questioning brow, beckoning her to elaborate.

“Well, last night, after Samantha-“ Her fingers find their way to her throat, reminded of the blood that gushed from a wound that’s no longer there.

But Nick pulls her hand away, and she can see him looking slightly angry.

“Let’s just say a lot happened.” She continues. “He-,…he did things, to me.” She feels no need to hide it, since Nick already knows. “but, I fought back. And I got rid of him, permanently.”

She slightly pouts her lips hoping he gets her meaning.

Though, his smirk has her confused.

“Are you laughing at me?”

“No. I’m just impressed to have a mate that can handle herself. I hope you made him suffer.

I’m already so annoyed that I can’t get my hands on whoever that things is. Because, I would have made sure he suffers so much he’ll remember it in his next life. For what he did to Layla, and what he tried to do,….He deserves hell.

Layla smiles back at him, but quite shamefully.

“Well, let’s just say his soul will burn in hell for all eternity.”

“Perfect.” He smirks, leaving Layla dumbfounded.

She was worried that her own sense of ‘morality’ has been dwindling, perhaps due to the countless times she’s been exposed to blood and corpses. She was sure people might find an outcome like that somewhat disturbing.

But then again, this is Nick.

She smiles back.

“Let’s go to bed.” He starts pulling her along again.

“But-“ She speaks, but starts wondering as curiosity gets the better of her. “Just next to you.”

He smirks as he takes off his clothes, leaving nothing but his boxers on. He then looks at her, waiting.

“I don’t have my pyjamas here.”

He retreats into his walk-in closet and brings back a t-shirt.

“Turn around.” She says as he just stands and stares at her.

But he rolls his eyes, turns and walks to the bed.

Did he just roll his eyes at me?

But she takes her chance, as she’s not in the mood to change in the bathroom. Those tiles are cold and she’s barefoot. She quickly throws off her dress and bra, and throws the shirt over, with her back facing the bed.

As she turns around, she sees him on the left side of the bed, sprawled out on his back and an arm over his eyes.

Oh. At least he’s a gentleman. But maybe he just doesn’t care.

She sighs to herself, and moves to the right side of the bed. As she tries to pull the cover up to lie under it, a hand pulls her on her arm and she falls onto the bed and against him.

He slips his hand in hers with his other arm still covering his eyes.

His grip tightens though, and she can see his jaw clenching.

With a deep sigh, he removes his arm from his face and looks at her.

“Can I hold you?” He asks sternly, as if wanting to demand it.

But Layla can’t even think about it properly as she is face-to-face with his rigid chest. She always had a weakness for a well-built physique. And the thought of him holding her, has her excited, if the sudden knot in her lower-stomach is anything to go by.

She just nods at him and he instantly pulls her against him, she’s practically on top of him. He buries his face in her long black hair, stopping himself form looking at her in his shirt. Just the smell of him on her is already getting him hard. And now is not the time for that. He focuses on keeping his breathing calm.

I need to stay close. This way, our bond will grow quicker.

But a soft moan distracts him from his thoughts, as she slightly wiggles against him. He tightens his hold on her, hoping it would keep her still.

“You smell so good, and you’re so warm.” She lazily says, fanning his chest with her breath.

“Sleep.” He can’t help but say it as an order, for his own peace of mind.

But a soft chuckle has him on the edge of groaning again.

“Yes sir.”

He can eventually hear her breathing evening out and going steady.

He finally loosens his hold on her a little as he relaxes his muscles.

Looking down at her, he brushes her hair out of her face that always seems eager to hide her face and those eyes. Those beautiful blue eyes that remind him of the sky. It has always been his favourite colour, -making him feel free and at peace. Something he feels every time he looks into those eyes.

His gaze moves lower, and when they fall on her pink lips which seem to be slightly pouting, he drops his head back into the pillow trying to focus on his breathing again.

He chuckles, finding the situation funny. Though, he is more overwhelmed with relief, as he realises that today was not a dream at all, and chances are high he will wake up with her in his arms tomorrow.

“Mine.” He says with a grin before he closes his eyes.

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