To Come Together

Chapter 12

Nick's POV

I watch Layla leave, grinning.

"You keep smiling like that, your face will get stuck,"Ashley jokes, not even trying to keep the bitterness out of her voice. "Why are you happy? She hurt you. She's obviously is dragging you along and will eventually break your heart. She did once and she'll do it again."

"She might do that, but I have to at least give her a chance to explain. I have to spend the rest of my life with her and I would rather not hate her." Ashley slaps me across the face.

"She'll hurt you Nick. Just like Harper did." I growl at the mention of Harper. Harper is an old girlfriend of mine and I thought that she loved me. Turns out she was cheating on me the whole year that we were together. She still comes over and tries to get me back, but I make it clear that we're done.

"She's nothing like Harper. Layla is my mate and will soon be my wife. Nothing will change that. I know that she hurt you too, but let's give her another chance. She deserves that much at least." Ashley starts sobbing and I walk with her back to the house. I hope that Layla has a good reason and that Ashley can forgive her. I hope that I can forgive her too.

A few hours later, I meet Layla at the clearing so that we can talk. Alone.

"Hey,"she says shyly. I nod and we sit on the ground facing each other. "I'm guessing you want an explanation?"

"Yes,"I admit. "But not just for me. Ashley needs one too." She nods and takes a deep breath, tears forming in her eyes. I want to pull her to me, but I can't. She needs to explain.

"My father is not a good man. I was afraid that he would hurt you. I figured that it would be better if I stayed away and it hurt me so much to do it. I know this won't make up for what I did, but I'm so sorry." Tears start streaming down her face and I have no idea what to do. I want to comfort her, but I need the whole truth.

"I need more than that, Layla."

"I can't,"she says shaking her head. "I'm not ready. I'll tell you, but I can't right now." She starts full out sobbing now and pull her into a hug, not able to resist her any longer.

"It's okay,"I soothe. "You don't have to right now. I believe that you will tell me when you're ready." She nods her head and I kiss her. I lower her to the ground, letting my hands roam. I grip her waist, when she suddenly jerks away, hissing in pain.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing,"she tells me, standing up. "I'm fine. I was just shocked. I better get back to the house. Thank you for listening to me." We kiss and once again, I watch her leave. What just happened?

Layla's POV

I rush to the house, feeling bile rise up in my throat. I don't make it to the house, getting sick in the bushes. I wipe blood off of my mouth and head into the house. My mom is in the kitchen when I get in and I try to sneak past her, but don't succeed.

"Hey,"she says in a cheerful voice. "Do you want to help make dinner?"

"Um. I think I'll pass. I have a little stomach ache." She turns toward me, worry lighting up her face. "I'm fine. I just need some rest."

She nods and goes back to her cooking. I painfully rush upstairs and shut my door, locking it. I turn up my music and then let my cough that's been slowly building up, out. I cough for like five minutes straight before it lets up. It felt like my throat was getting ripped out.

I wipe the blood splatter off of my arm and go over to my mirror. Lifting up my shirt, I grit my teeth against the pain. I gasp when I see my stomach. My ribs literally look black and it's really swollen. I probably should get it looked at, but then I'll have to explain it and tell them about Derek. I'll just be more of a burden and I'm sure it'll heal on its own.

I hear a branch snap by my window and I go to check it out. Finding nothing, I dismiss it as an animal and go to bed.

Unknown POV

I watch her through her window, pleased that the job might me done for me. I jump down from her balcony onto a tree, breaking a branch. Damn. I climb down and run as fast as I can to the woods. I wait a few seconds, then call Derek.

"What?"Derek snaps.

"You better be nice to me or I won't tell you the good news." I can practically see Derek perk up.

"Is it done?"

"No. I have something even better. I was about to go into her room to kill her when she started coughing up blood. Then she lifted her shirt and it looked horrible."

"So you haven't killed her yet? How's that good news?" Derek sighs and I laugh.

"Because she probably has some internal bleeding. So instead of the quick death that I was going to give her, she's going to die a slow and painful death caused by you." Derek starts cracking up at this.

"What if she doesn't die from it? She could get help."

"It's not likely that she'll get help since she hasn't already. If she does though, I'll just kill her using the original plan."

"Perfect,"Derek laughs. "For your work, I'll give you double what I was going to. Also because you haven't been found out. It's impressive."

"Well, since I'm part of the pack, they don't suspect a thing." We laugh for a while before hanging up. I look towards the Alpha's house. This is going to be fun.