Page 47 of Cruel Mate

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!”

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