Fight for Me

Third POV

The past couple of days, Layla has noticed that Nicholas is giving her the cold shoulder.

Even though she knows he’s a quiet guy, she still knows that he’s avoiding her. It’s even more annoying, because now she’s getting more attention from Rebecca. And Layla doesn’t like it. She’s had plenty of experience to sense when someone has bad intentions.

Even the shadow is making its presence more prominent around her. She’s never seen it so often. She has a feeling that something very bad is coming.

Layla was busy tidying up, dusting the curtain rails. Margret told her she'll apparently be better with a feather duster. Not that Layla gets why there needs to be a technique for using one.

She didn’t want to get the chair dirty, so she had no problem taking her shoes off to climb on it as she reached out for the railings.

She was so in tuned with the song she was humming, she didn’t even notice that someone was behind her.

“Isn’t this a sight to see?”

Layla jumps at the sudden deep voice behind her as she loses balance. She was ready to feel the cold marble floor on her back, but it never came.

She opened her eyes, feeling the warmth of strong arms under her as she stares into warm hazel eyes.

The man gave her a smirk as he continued to hold onto her.

They both get distracted when they hear someone clear their throat. Chuckling, the man puts Layla gently down.

“You should have let us know of your arrival, Alpha Anthony.” Margret steps forward giving the man a curt bow.

“Well, I wanted it to be a surprise. Can a man not check up on his big brother every now and then?” He says with a handsome smile.

Layla can’t help but stare. She figured this is Nicholas’ brother. They share the same hazel eyes. Almost look alike in features. He also has brown hair, but it’s a bit longer, almost shoulder length. He has a bit of a tan and with the slight wrinkles around his mouth, he definitely smiles more often. And he’s a bit shorter than Nicholas.

“You know Alpha Nicholas doesn’t like surprises. But I’ll let him know you’re here.” She nods and smoothly backs away.

The Alpha looks back at Layla still staring at him.

“So human,” he looks back down at her bare feet, “how did someone like you wind up here?”

“Huh?......Oh, well Nick hired me as his maid. So I guess, here I am.”

He raises a brow with the name she used.

“I see.” He smiles mischievously. “So just how close are you two?” He takes a step forward, towering over her.

“Not at all.” She says looking him straight in the eye, getting a smirk from him.

“Why do I doubt that?”

They get distracted once again, by someone clearing their throat. They both look at a stern look on Margret’s face, but behind them is an annoyed looking Alpha.

“Nicholas.” Anthony says as he spread his arms and goes for a hug. “So good to see you. How’s my big brother been?”

Nicholas raises a brow. “Why are you here Anthony?”

He snickers back. “I’m here for the family gathering of course. Did you forget?”

“You’re a week early.”

“And not a second too late. Come on bro. It’s been ages. Let’s do some catching up.” He throws his arm over his shoulder making Nicholas growl.

Nicholas leads his brother to his office and immediately starts pouring himself a drink. But Anthony is quick to grab the glass and down it before he could take it. Nicholas grumbles under his breath as he pours himself another drink.

“So who’s the beauty downstairs?” Anthony asks as he plops down onto one of the couches.

So much for catching up. Nicholas thinks to himself as he sits on the opposite couch.

“I’m sure you didn’t come all this way to talk about her.”

“Certainly not. But she is a fun surprise.” He smirks as he sits up. “So, tell me. Does this mean you finally took Tristan’s advice?”

“What advice?”

“You know. To get yourself a little something, to get rid of all that pent up anger.”

Gggrrhhh!!!!

But Anthony ignores Nicholas’ growl.

“Though I never thought you would go for a human. She’s so small compared to you, though-,…….she does seem to have all the right curves in the right places.”

Anthony’s gets pulled from his daydream when he hears a glass shatter.

“Well with this display, I guess you didn’t take Tristan’s advice. Speaking of which, did you hear he finally found his mate.”

“Yeah. I heard.”

“Well I bet he didn’t tell you that she’s a witch.”

Nicholas raises a brow. “A witch?”

“Yip. And a powerful one too. And you would think that he would be the one running away from her, but it was the other way round. When she found out she was mated to him, she literally ran away.” He laughs out loud thinking back. “Not because he was a wolf, but because she heard about his reputation with the ladies. Tristan literally begged her to give him a chance………Poor girl.” He sighs.

“So how about you Nicholas? Still no luck in finding your mate? I saw Rebecca’s car out front. So I guess she’s still here.”

Nicholas takes a deep breath wondering how to go about this. He’s hesitant to admit it, but he isn’t one to lie either.

“Actually, I did find my mate. But I rejected her, and she accepted.”

Anthony is silent. Probably the longest he usually is. He can’t believe what he just heard. He knew Nicholas wasn’t the romantic type, and sure, Rebecca knew how to handle him. But Anthony had always hoped Nicholas would find his mate, the one that would be just perfect for him. – Someone to show him how to love.

Nicholas gets up to pour himself another glass.

“You did what?!” Anthony stands up, looking shocked and angry.

Nicholas just takes a sip. He knows Anthony heard him.

“Nicholas,…h-..how could you do that. She’s your mate dammit.” He starts pacing the room.

“We just weren’t compatible.”

“How would you know what is compatible with you? You’re gonna regret it. You have no idea wh-.”

Anthony stops seeing the look on Nicholas’ face.

“You already do, don’t you? Regret rejecting her?”

Nicholas sighs. “I do sometimes wonder why I was paired with someone like her. And often, I do think ‘what if’.”

“And you’re going to wonder ‘what if’ for the rest of your life. Wonder what it’s like to be happy.”

But Nicholas just gives him an annoyed look.

“And what makes you think I’m not happy? I’m content with where I am now. Rebecca and I are fine. We don’t get in each other’s space and we definitely don’t argue. We have an understanding.”

“It wouldn’t even help I try to explain this to you.” He chuckles. “Oh, damn. I wonder how father will react to this.”

Nicholas’ tenses. He knows their father is traditional and a firm believer of mates. He never even took another mate after their mother, his true mate, died. But surely he can convince his father of his reasons.

“That would be for me to tell him.” Nicholas warns, shutting Anthony up.

“Yeah, yeah. ……..Oh by the way. Have you heard of this new company called BioTech Corp? It has gotten my pack members quite riled up. They just popped out of nowhere and already going on about expanding modern medicine to help the supernatural community as well. It sounds crazy and apparently run by humans too. But people are eating it up. It seems they’re trying to revive the Michaelson’s legacy, to bring peace among all our kind again.”

“Let’s see how long that lasts. What the Michaelsons did, was amazing. Helping the supernaturals out on a legal and medical standpoint. But, look how far it got them.”

“It was a shame that they died. They still had so much planned to do.”

“Exactly. And they just happened to get into an ’accident’ at that time.”

“Oh come on Nicholas. The details surrounding their accident did appear suspicious. But the cops did still rule it as an accident.”

“Yeah, yeah. So-, has Abby given birth yet?”

“Nope. Our little nephew is only due next month.”

Nicholas sighs. Great. Now I have to deal with a pregnant woman’s hormones as well. He thinks to himself.

They spent the next hour in his office just catching up.