Chapter 24 - Layla

"You know I could have delivered this message on my own, right?" Darwin said as Layla and he made their way through the streets of Pine Valley, headed for the alpha's house.

"I know," Layla said, placing her hand on his shoulder affectionately. "But this feels kind of personal after everything that has happened."

She shrugged and dropped her arm, laying her hand on her stomach. It had only been a couple of days since she had been rescued from Christian's clutches, yet she felt huge. Before long, she would be welcoming her first child.

"Are you alright?" Darwin asked, pausing. He gripped hold of Layla's forearm, forcing her to stop, too. "You don't need to rest, do you?"

"No, I'm fine. I was just thinking how this will probably be the last message I deliver for a while. Maybe ever."

Darwin's eyes widened, his mouth dropping open. "Seriously?"

"I can't exactly be a messenger and a mother, can I?" Layla said, raising a brow. "Besides, I have a mate now, too, and he's beta of the pack. That's bound to come with responsibilities all its own. And I have my garden too."

"So you're finally going to do it, huh?" Darwin asked.

"Do what?" Layla asked, scowling back at him.

"Turn that garden of yours into a business like you always said you would when you finally put down your messenger bag," Darwin said, poking Layla in the shoulder. "I always told you that you should. That lavender lemonade of yours would sell like hotcakes."

"I'm sure my garden is worth more than lavender lemonade," Layla chuckled and nodded. "But yeah, Zander said I should too. And, well, I guess I'm not quite so eager to be putting myself in danger as I used to be."

"I get that," Darwin shrugged. "Besides, you know your bag will be left in good hands."

He reached out and pulled Layla's bag right off her back.

"Hey!" she protested as he undid the zip and reached inside, rummaging past her seed packets to the little false bottom where she kept the important letters. "Just because Zander told me you finally learned to stick up for yourself during the battle doesn't mean I won't still kick your ass!"

"In that state," Darwin chuckled, glancing down at her stomach. "Don't make me laugh."

At that, Layla clipped him upside his head and growled, "Don't think I can't box your ears still, little cousin."

"Hey! Alright, alright!"

He held out the letter to her and smiled. "You do the honors, then."

He gestured her to the building they had stopped next to, and it was only then she realized they'd stopped right outside the alpha's house.

Layla glanced down at the letter in her hand and then shook her head. "No, I think it"s time you made yourself known to the Pine Valley alpha. You will be taking over, after all."

She held out the letter, already knowing all it contained. The news of Christian's death and the intel they'd gotten that one of his cousins had already taken the lead of what remained of their pack would be hard for the Pine Valley pack to swallow. It had been bad enough for Layla and the Nightstar pack. Christian was ruthless, but some of the members in his family were even worse. And after the deaths that had occurred during the battle, there was no telling what might come next.

"Are you sure?" Darwin asked. Layla nodded.

"My time is at an end. It's your time now."

When she saw the spark in Darwin's eye, she knew she had done the right thing. Ever since his victory fighting alongside his pack during Christian's attack, he seemed like a whole new wolf, and she knew he was going to be just fine.

Besides, she was itching to get right back to Nightstar and Zander's waiting arms.

"Go right ahead," she said, gesturing her little cousin in for his very first audience with Pine Valley's alpha.

Darwin's pride at his first solo delivery was enough to make Layla smile all the way back to the Nightstar border, but when they got there, she stopped immediately. The sense that they weren't alone in the woods overwhelmed her almost as soon as she stepped over the scent line that marked the boundary.

"What's the matter?" Darwin asked, raising his brow.

"Do you feel that?" she asked in a whisper. "We're being watched."

Yet a sense of familiarity had already begun to take a hold of her as Darwin's face grew pale.

"What?" he asked, gulping as if he wasn't so sure he liked the idea of being out here alone with a pregnant woman after all.

Remembering a situation so similar so many months ago, Layla lifted her head and called, "Come out, we know you're there!"

And just like that, Zander peeled away from the shadows of a nearby tree, smirking as he revealed himself. "Damn, I was hoping you might try to run again."

Layla placed her hands on her hips as Darwin bowed his head to the beta.

"What are you doing all the way out here?" Layla demanded. "Sandy had better not be hiding behind that tree!"

Darwin's head whipped up then, his mouth wide open with horror.

"Darwin, if you wouldn't mind, I'd like a few minutes alone with my mate," Zander growled, leveling his eyes with Layla's. To Darwin, the look in his eye likely looked threatening, but to Layla it was a playful challenge, one she was all too happy to accept.

"I…um…" Darwin hopped from one leg to the other as if he wasn't sure how to respond.

"Don't worry, Darwin," Layla said, "I'll be fine. Zander is my mate, after all."

Darwin shook his head as if he still wasn't quite sure what was going on. To others, their teasing and tormenting might still look as it had been when first they had met, back when they'd hated each other's guts—but now, as time had gone on, Layla and Zander had come to see it for what it truly was. It was simply their way, and now that they had gotten over themselves and the trauma they had both been through, they could simply laugh about it together and find humor in making others uncomfortable.

"Okay, sure, I'll see you back in town, okay?" Darwin said, looking pointedly at Layla. It was clear he wanted her to find him and let him know she was really okay.

Layla just nodded, acknowledging her cousin's request without taking her eyes off Zander's. Desire boiled in her stomach, growing stronger and stronger as her cousin walked away.

She didn't dare to move until she heard his footsteps receding towards town.

Then, she closed the distance between her and Zander and asked, "So, tell me, Zander, was Sandy out here with you looking to finish what you started that night?"

"One, I didn't start it, she did," Zander growled low in his throat. "And two, why would I ever even consider that when I was out here waiting for you?"

Layla shrugged her shoulders and played with a button on his shirt. "Oh, I don't know, maybe you were hoping to find out what you'd missed out on before I got back from my last messenger mission."

Zander growled low again and hooked his fingers under her chin. "A little oral from the town floozy is hardly worth missing your return for."

Layla shivered at that. "So that's what she'd been offering that night," she grumbled. "How generous of her."

Zander chuckled at that. "Jealous?"

Layla gripped the front of his shirt then and leaned up on her tiptoes to kiss him hard before she said, "Why would I be jealous, when I'm the one who gets to do this?"

Quick as a flash, she popped open the buckle of his belt.

"Layla," he said warningly, "What are you doing?"

Layla smirked up at him as she dropped down onto her knees at his feet.

"I wouldn't want you to feel as if you had missed out because of me," she said, unzipping his jeans. "Besides, you have saved my life a couple of times. I do kinda owe you."

Zander glowered down at her, a look of indecision and curiosity on his face.

"I can think of a thousand ways you could repay me for that," Zander said, leaning down to grip her arms and pull her back up. "It doesn't have to be this."

"It doesn't have to be," Layla said, practically purring like a feline. "But maybe I want it to be."

And with that, she pulled his cock from his jeans, biting her lip with hunger when she found that he was already rock-hard.

"And it seems you do to," she smirked up at him even as she dabbed at the tip of his cock with her tongue. "Mmm…sweet."

She brushed her parted lips lightly against the tip of his cock and tasted the salty sweetness of him as he moaned at the touch.

"You are a naughty, naughty woman, Layla," he growled down at her. She couldn't help but smile, wrapping her fingers around his beautiful cock.

"Doesn't that make you a lucky, lucky man then?" she asked, stroking her hand up and down his shaft before she slowly slipped her lips over the tip, looking up at him all the while.

Zander stared back at her, his bottom lip pinched between his teeth.

"Fuck, it does," he growled. "Fuck, Layla!"

His words only made her feel even more naughty, and she worked harder, squeezing her grip just a little tighter as she slipped her hand and her mouth down, up, down, up, working him until she felt him trembling with the effort of holding back his climax.

There, alone in the woods, she dominated her man, hoping to give him just a little taste of what the rest of their lives might be like together while taking a taste of her own.

This return to Nightstar was perhaps one of the best she had ever known, finally taking control in a way she never had before. And Zander let her, almost as if he knew it was exactly what she needed.

Finally, she had found a man who not only dominated her, but also knew when to step back, who could give her orders but also offer her affection and love and treated her as the equal she had always desired to be, a man she knew she was safe with no matter where they were or what they were doing.

And she enjoyed every last second of what she was doing, slowing her pace when she felt him growing close to climax, not quite ready for it to be over just yet.

Her tongue lapped the underside of his cock, teasing around the head with flicking motions inside her mouth, and soon she was drooling, ready for his pleasure to come to a head.

Moaning low in her throat, she sucked ever so gently and strengthened her grip on his cock again.

"Fuck, Layla!" Zander growled, and when he gripped the back of her head, she knew exactly what was coming. In what appeared to be an involuntary gesture, he thrust himself deep into her throat and she felt him exploding, his entire body shaking until she thought he might fall.

Gagging and choking on his seed, Layla struggled to breathe for a second before he released her head.

He was brutal and shocking and erotic in equal measure, and Layla was just barely managing to recover when Zander dropped down in front of her and forced her down onto her back.

"You, Layla, are going to be the death of me," he growled in her ear as he reached under her dress and yanked off her panties. "But I'm sure as hell going to enjoy it."

Layla laughed, gripping hold of his cheeks to kiss him and nuzzle his nose with her own playfully.

"You think I'd let you get away from me that easily? Nope, a lifetime of torture is no less than what you deserve first."

She reached down between their bodies and gripped hold of his cock again, squeezing gently until she felt him hardening once more.

"Oh no! Please, no!" he gasped playfully, smirking and kissing her delicately before he growled through his teeth, "If this is torture, then I welcome it."

And with that, he urged her hand away so that he could gently slip himself deep inside her.

"Ah!" Layla moaned, his cock filling her fit to bursting.

Leaning down over her, Zander whispered into her ear, "I love you, Layla Mallox."

Layla quivered, tears pricking the corners of her eyes.

"I love you too, Zander Mallox."

They made love then as if it were the very first time, slow and steady, kissing passionately as their bodies entwined as one.

It was a head spinning, mind-blowing experience that Layla was certain she would never forget for as long as she lived, and maybe even long after that.

Never in her life had she ever imagined she would experience such a thing as fated mates, but now that she had, she knew nothing could ever compare.