Chapter 18 - Layla

It all happened so quickly that Layla didn't even have time to get up from the swing before Zander had pounced over the railing at Christian.

Horror filled Layla immediately. Zander was strong, well trained and powerful, but so was Christian. And in the split second before Zander had attacked him, he'd seemed different—not in a good way, just different, as if he were even more powerful than he had been before.

"Are you going to allow this?" one of the men with Christian, one Layla recognized all too well from the night of her attack, demanded of Jack. "Your beta attacking another alpha on your territory could be seen as a—"

Before he could finish, Jack yelled, "Zander! Enough!"

But it didn't matter what Zander tried to do now, because, in the blink of an eye, Christian overpowered him, the two rolling end over end on the lawn before Layla's ex pinned her husband to the ground, snarling mercilessly in his face.

"Help me!" Jack ordered, gesturing his men down the porch steps after him. Christian's men followed, too, but they were all too late. The fighting started anew as Zander managed to get out from under Christian.

They clawed and bit at each other as Layla watched, terrified of what might happen, her hands covering her mouth.

It was only when she realized that Christian's new status as supposed alpha had made him much stronger than Zander that Layla screamed, "No! Stop!" right in the second before Christian sank his fangs into Zander's throat.

The flurry of hands that proceeded to pull the two men apart was Layla's only relief. She laid her hands on her stomach, cramping a little with the anxiety of what she had just been forced to watch.

"Enough, Zander!" Jack snarled at his beta as Kane and Eddie were forced to hold him back. Christian's men held him back, too. It appeared they at least had some sense.

Smelling the scent of blood, Layla rushed down the porch steps and onto the lawn. Christian smirked as she approached and bile rose in Layla's throat. He couldn't possibly think she meant to go to him.

She averted her gaze from him and hurried to Zander, taking Jack's place in front of him.

"Zander, please, calm down," Layla insisted, holding his face in both her hands. Blood trickled from a claw mark across his forehead, but Layla was relieved to see it was already healing.

Zander stared right over her head at Christian, a low growl rumbling in his throat. "Don't look at her! Don't even breathe in her direction!"

"Zander!" Jack warned, but he barely seemed to hear his alpha. Layla could see from his gaze alone that he was focused on one thing and one thing only, tearing Christian apart. She might have let him if not for the fact Christian was clearly far stronger than he ever had been before.

Squeezing his face in her hands, she pushed up on her tiptoes and kissed him, hoping it would be enough to distract him.

At first, it didn't seem to work. He remained unresponsive. She deepened the kiss, and finally, he moaned, kissing her in return.

Her lips still brushing his, she whispered, "Please, Zander, come back to me. Be calm."

She opened her eyes just in time to see him blinking away the red mist that had taken over him. He relaxed a little, and when Layla nodded to the others, Kane and Eddie released him, remaining close just in case.

"I think you and your men had best retire to the B and B for the hospitality that was offered, Christian, before anything else goes wrong," Jack suggested, looking at the other alpha with a warning in his eye.

"We'll go and keep to our promise to leave by sunset, if Layla will speak with me privately," Christian said, his tone a sneer, and Layla shivered.

"Like hell she will!" Zander snarled, almost barging right past her to get to him. Luckily, Kane and Eddie were faster, and they grabbed his arms again.

Layla cringed. The very last thing in the world she wanted was to be alone with her ex, but if it prevented what might become a damned war between two packs, it was a sacrifice she had to make. Besides, they were surrounded by her packmates, not his.

"Don't go with him, Layla," Zander ordered her, but his tone was pleading. Layla smiled sadly at him and shook her head.

"I have to," she whispered. Then, standing up on her tiptoes again, she whispered in his ear, "Do you trust me?"

Zander's body tensed so hard that it seemed to stiffen the air all around them. Layla thought he was about to tell her no.

But his response warmed her heart. "With my life."

"Then trust me now," Layla said, looking him in the eye as she added, "I'll be okay."

Zander growled through gritted teeth, "If you put so much as a claw on her, I'll make you wish your mother never pupped you!"

The way Christian smirked was way too confident, and Layla felt sick as she allowed him to guide her away across the lawn.

"Zander, go sit on the porch and cool down," she heard Jack order as they walked away, but it was clear from the shuffling that ensued afterwards that Zander needed some roughhousing to listen to the alpha.

She glanced over her shoulder to see Kane and Eddie practically dragging her mate to the swing where she'd been waiting for him.

Whatever Christian wanted, she wanted it over quickly, not least of all because he made her skin crawl.

"What do you want, Christian?" she snapped when she thought they were far enough away from the others.

She turned to the dark haired, scar-faced wolf and glowered at him, her arms crossed over her chest.

"How are you, Lay?" Christian asked, his smile pleasant. It only made Layla more nervous.

"Fine," she barked back at him. "What do you want, Christian?"

She hated having to repeat herself.

Christian closed the distance between them, raising a hand as if to reach for her. Layla stepped back and growled a warning. "Don't touch me."

"I just needed to know you're safe," Christian said, and Layla almost believed him—almost.

"I am, no thanks to your fuckwit packmates! Did they tell you they almost killed me?"

Christian glanced at his feet, a look of embarrassment on his face. "They told me they'd attacked a messenger. When I realized it was you, I had them—"

Layla didn't need to hear it. She didn't want to hear it, either. She snapped at him, "They shouldn't have been attacking anyone! But we both know that's not why you're really here, Christian. You didn't come to apologize, so what do you really want?"

"You."

The word caught Layla off guard. She should have known. Christian had always had an unhealthy obsession with her. It was likely because she was so much weaker than him, because she allowed him to walk all over her. And once, she might have actually been flattered. Now, she just felt sick. "Excuse me?"

"I'm alpha of my own pack now. I have everything I could ever want or need, except one thing," Christian said, and this time he did grab hold of her hand. "I need you, Layla. Be mine. Be an alpha's wife."

Layla snatched her hand away, nausea bubbling up in her throat. "No."

"No? I'm offering you the most powerful position in the pack next to my own, and you say no?" Christian snarled, and there were his true colors, the anger and violence blazing in his dark eyes.

Layla was toeing a dangerous line, even more dangerous now that he was an alpha, but she could sense Zander close by and knew he would never let any real harm come to her.

"I can't," Layla said.

"Is it because of that blunder headed beta?" Christian snarled back at her, his claws starting to elongate.

"That beta is my husband, and you would do well to respect him!" Layla growled back at him, astonished by the fury she heard in her own voice. "I am carrying his child."

She laid her hand on her stomach, protecting that child when Christian glanced down.

He sneered at her, baring his teeth. "I knew you smelled different. I didn't realize it was because you've been whoring yourself!"

Layla's own fury was upon her then. She lashed out without thinking and struck Christian clean across the cheek. "I am his wife! I am no whore! You tried to make me into one, but you didn't succeed! He made me a mate, and I…" I love him, she realized, her heart skipping a beat. She didn't say the words aloud. Christian could never understand such a thing as love.

"You stupid bitch," Christian said, glaring at her with his hand on his cheek where she had struck him. "You could have been an alpha's wife."

"I would rather be an omega's wife than yours!" Layla spat back at him.

Christian grabbed her by the upper arms then, drawing so close she could smell his rancid breath. "You'll never be anything in this pack. I'd be doing you a favor."

Layla laughed in his face. She had never been strong enough to deny him anything before. The only reason she had gotten away from him in the first place was because he had run from Nightstar without her.

She had almost expected him to come back for her one day, but she had never expected she would be strong enough to reject him.

"I am mated," Layla said, loud and clear. "I am wed. I am with child. I cannot be yours. I do not want it."

She felt Christian's hands tightening on her arms and knew this was the point when ordinarily she might have given in, fearful of what came next, terrified he would beat her or worse. But not today. Today, she was not alone. She had her child and her mate. He was not with her, but she could sense him. She knew he was practically a breath away if she called him.

Looking Christian directly in the eye, she said, "I will never be yours, Christian. Go and keep your promise to Jack to leave by sunset, or I will tell him everything."

She barely dared to breathe as he released her arms and stepped away. The look of defeat on his face was almost laughable, but Layla bit her tongue.

"You wouldn't dare," Christian said, his eyes widening a little as if he wasn't as sure as he sounded.

"Is that really a risk you want to take?" Layla demanded, her hands tightening to fists.

"You'll regret this," he vowed, but Layla bit back a smile. The only thing she regretted was not having done it sooner.