The one thing I could hear with my head against his chest was his fast heartbeat. Soon I felt my eyes drooping from how sleepy I seemed to be in this moment. Perhaps it was his hand that was rubbing my back in a soothing manner. Maybe even the other hand that messaged my scalp before combing through my thick hair with his fingers. My breaths were getting shallower as I clutched his shirt tightly starting to fall into a deep sleep.

At least I thought until a loud sound grumbled throughout the room. I had thought he growled for some reason but, realized it was just my own stomach. It was yelling at me from not eating that whole two days. Well this was embarrassing, my chin was suddenly turned and faced up to meet the eyes of my mate. My eyes were barely open from having almost fell asleep.

"When was the last time you ate?" he asked, his thumb caressing the corner of my mouth as he held my chin.

Should I lie?

Was my first thought but, then I really thought about it. Where's the trust in that, in my heart it didn't feel right. Only in my head was a different story, I was hesitant, scared.

Moving my head out of his grasp I quickly hid my face back in his chest, "Two days ago." I replied softly, another sound grumbled throughout the room, now that was a growl.

"Why?" he asked, I could just hear the anger in his voice, it was definitely alarming me but, I tried to stay calm.

"I was scared." I whispered, realizing how I was clutching his shirt again.

My chin was lifted again to meet his now charcoal eyes, "Why were you scared." his voice was deeper and surprisingly made butterflies in my stomach.

His stare made me want to tell him anything he wanted, "I just didn't want to run into Donna." I managed to say.

Donna was a terrible person, she ruined my self esteem more than the boys did. She never punched me but, she did slap me a couple times. I was scared that if I ran into Donna she would blame me for Brad being taken. Which is partially my fault but, mostly Brad's right?

Yet again he asked why which left me nervous, "I didn't want her too blame me for Brad being taken." I said quietly, while I looked at the wall behind his head, I felt like a child telling my mom about a school bully.

Why did I have to be so weak?

"I'm going to tell you something and you need to listen to me understand?" he stated, caressing my chin with his thumb leaving sparks behind.

I nodded my head and he went on, "Everything that happened to you wasn't okay, you never deserved that or anything that happened to you." he made sure to maintain eye contact with me as he continued, "It wasn't your fault, you did nothing wrong." he finished firmly, his gaze seeming to grow darker by the second when his eyes flickered to my lips.

At this I sucked in a breathe and out of nervousness bit my bottom lip. It also made my face heat up more than I'd like. His words on the other hand were everything I didn't know I needed to hear. While caressing my chin he moved up and pulled my bottom lip from my grip causing me to blush further.

"Okay." I said breathlessly, not at all believing this is happening and to all people, me.

Those obsidian eyes then washed over to a nice umber as he pulled away slowly from me, Landon. I knew Jake took control for a second, I knew this because, of the black eyes. There was also the fact that his wolf seemed to like to touch me more than Landon did. This was because, he wanted to go slow though his wolf seemed to know his boundaries with me but, he wasn't scared to test them.

"Now let's go get you something to eat." Landon's voice pulled me from my thoughts as he got up bringing me with him.

Once we stood up he set me down and grabbed my hand. My nerves grew fast when we headed out of his double doors. He must of sensed them because, I was jolted forward by his grip on my hand, pulling me to his side. While he held my hand he rubbed soothing circles into it. This definitely made me feel protected yet nervous as people started to stare.

Just like they did when I came in here, no doubt they were all gossiping and talking about the runt with their alpha. Since his office was in the pack house there was lots of people causing my anxiety to shoot up. Inhaling his scent I tried to calm myself which was surprisingly helping. I gripped his sleeve to his shirt with my free hand as we turned into an empty hall, he looked back at me, locking eyes with my worried ones.

His grip on my hand tightened, "It's okay." he spoke softly, "Breathe baby." he stated, making me realize how tense I actually was, and my rapid breathing.

Without thinking I let go of his hand and wrapped my arms around his torso, inhaling his scent deeply. It always calmed me since the very beginning, so I needed it at the moment. Landon stepped back obviously in shock at my action but, didn't push me away instead brought me closer to him. By wrapping me into a strong hold that had me sighing in content as I had managed to get my breathing under control.

For a minute we stood like this until he asked me if I was okay, to which I nodded my head. We walked down the hall and finally into the kitchen. There wasn't many people but, didn't mean they wouldn't stare.

"Hey alpha." Sara, donna's friend came walking up to him just as we arrived.

Once I met her eyes they seemed to narrow for a second before a smile graced her face, "Layla." she greeted, with the nicest voice I've ever heard coming from her.

"H-hi." I managed to get out completely confused by her behavior, my gaze falling down.

This is obviously a role she was playing for Landon but, the question was, would he fall for it?

"Sara." he greeted back, tugging on my hand to pull me away and I seen her footsteps follow behind us.

Landon lead me to the stools behind the kitchen counter, I sat down at. Just like that his touch was gone from my hand and I looked up to see he was only rounding to the other side of the counter. What I also seen was Sara sitting right next to me.

With this my nerves came back, she smiled at me almost as if too taunt me. My gaze slowly drifted back to Landon who's back was turned towards me while he faced the fridge. This wasn't going to end well for me, I really hope you notice something Landon, anything! He suddenly turned around locking eyes with me as if he heard my pleas to him. Only that's impossible we couldn't mind link until he marked me.

Slowly his eyebrows furrowed before a confused expression crossed his features and he turned back around. Did he really hear me, Mia isn't even here how could he. Choosing to ignore the weird event I fiddled with my fingers while Sara was burning holes into my head.

"So Layla where have you been?" she asked, in a suspicious tone but, masked it with friendliness.

Sara was very easy too read, she also loved to make me feel bad about myself and always laughed when the guys hit me.

"Um, I-" before I could answer a deep, demanding voice cut me off while a plate was pushed my way.

"With me." Landon stated, crossing his arms over his chest, as my gaze fell on the sandwich he made for me.

I know he made it since I was hungry I just couldn't stop my heart from swelling knowing he made it for me.

His eyes met mine then he gestured to the sandwich, I felt a little sick about the whole situation which made me iffy about eating. Then again I didn't want to alert Landon so I slowly reached for the sandwich and took a bite. After swallowing Landon seemed to smile which made me smile on instinct, my nerves seemed to wash away while he stared at me. It was like no one else was there just us as he comforted me without knowing.

Only nothing in this world could prepare me for what happened next.

~~~~~~~~~~~~