CLAIMED BY THE TRIPLET BIKER ALPHAS: A STEAMY MC ROMANCE

CHAPTER 2 – THE BABY

LAYLA’S POV

Rafe's fist connects with Garrett's jaw before the last word leaves his mouth, and the impact snaps his head sideways and he lets go of my arm.

Garrett staggers, but he doesn't go down because he's also an alpha. He absorbs the hit and squares up fast with an expression that makes my stomach drop.

Colt comes in from the side and hits him in the ribs hard enough that I hear the crunch, but Garrett swings back immediately and catches Colt in the shoulder.

Colt barely moves. Then all three of them are on him and it stops being a fight and starts being a message.

I'm standing on my own driveway with finger marks forming on my arm and a baby inside me, and all I feel is despair as I watch keep getting back up, spitting blood, and then begin to shift.

Colt reacts quicker than I expect – with claws extending from his fingers and the ridgeline of his wolf bleeding through his shoulders. The power coming off him makes every hair on my body stand, and something deep in the part of me that lost my wolf a while ago aches watching it.

He grabs Garrett by the throat with a clawed hand and digs him into the ground with so much force that Garrett finally stays down.

I step forward because I want to end the madness, and most of me wants to just leave as soon as possible, and although my hands are shaking, my voice isn't.

“I'm pregnant.”

The triplets go still and Garrett stares up at me with his blood in his teeth and the three shadows standing over him.

“That's why I made your mother's lamb and got the candles. But then I found you sleeping with my cousin.”

He looks shocked for the first few seconds, then he gives me a smile that makes my blood go cold.

“You're not going anywhere, Layla.”

“I want a divorce.”

“You finally have a child for me, and you think you can disappear with my baby?” He laughs and the blood bubbles at the corner of his mouth. “Never gonna happen.”

“If you don’t agree, I’ll sue you for it, Garrett.” A few drops of tears fall out of my eyes as I talk.

“Fine, Layla. I’ll agree on one condition.” He grins. “I get full custody of the baby.”

“What?”

“You heard me. You want out? Sure! But the kid stays with me.”

“You know I'll never agree to that.”

“Then you will hear from my lawyer.” He tilts his head, still smiling. “Oh, and Layla? Megan's pregnant too.” He spits blood sideways. “I already have a real family coming, so I don't need you. But I still want what's mine.”

My chest tightens and the broken pieces pierce me internally.

Before anyone can say anything, Brandon's bike roars into the driveway, and he's off it before the engine dies with his eyes locked on Garrett's bloody face and then on mine.

“What did he do to you?”

“Brandon, don't–”

He's already moving. Rafe catches one arm, Colt plants himself directly in his path, and Eli grabs the back of his jacket. My brother is fighting all three of them to get to the driveway and the sound coming out of him isn't words – it's rage.

“Not now,” Colt says. “Layla wants to leave.”

Brandon stops, breathing hard, and his eyes are wet as he looks at me and says, “I'm going to kill him, Layla.”

“Not right now, Brandon. Please just help me pack.” I manage a smile and he nods.

The triplets move through the house while Garrett sits bleeding on the driveway. And I walk through the rooms collecting what's mine while I realize every room is a lie I helped decorate.

The pregnancy test is still on the bedroom floor, so I pick it up myself and put it in my pocket as I wonder where Megan went to. Then Colt is beside me in the closet when I pull out one of Garrett's shirts and stop.

“What?” he says.

“This doesn't smell like him.” I hold it up. “It smells like perfume. And I remember it was in our laundry basket last Tuesday.”

Colt takes the shirt and smells it, then his nostrils flare and something dangerous crosses his face. “I'm going to need you to stop showing me reasons to kill that man.”

I pull open the nightstand drawer and notice the second phone charger. Megan's phone model.

How long? How long has this been happening in my house, in my bed, while I was folding his laundry and learning his mother's recipes?

I'm staring at the wedding photo on the mantel – Megan grinning behind me in the bridesmaid's position – when a quiet voice comes from the doorway.

“Don't do that to yourself. Not tonight.”

I turn around and see Eli standing there with a box in his hands, looking at me with an expression that doesn't match anything I know about him. The Ashford boys used to always pull my hair and called me soft like it was a weakness. They've never once been this kind to me.

We finally finish loading my car and as I walk toward Rafe's bike, my legs give out from the adrenaline crash and I slip. But Rafe catches me quickly, with his hand closing around my waist.

The shock hits us both and runs from the point of contact through my entire body. Every nerve ending in my body lights up in a way I have never felt before, and my breath catches when his fingers press into my shirt involuntarily as his whole body goes rigid.

Neither of us breathes for a few seconds.

Then he lets go. And neither of us says a word.

It's the crush. That's all it is. The stupid crush is back and it's worse and it's the absolute last thing I need tonight.

Colt is watching us with an unreadable expression – which is wrong, because Colt broadcasts every emotion like a headline. And Eli's eyes are fixed on the spot where Rafe's hand was, and his face is doing something I can't name but my body recognizes.

Stop it. Get on the bike. Go home.

I press myself against Rafe's back and wrap my arms around his waist and the entire ride to Iron Howl is torture – because his body is warm and solid against mine and I can feel his heartbeat through his jacket and my cheek is against his shoulder blade and every second of it feels like something I've been missing without knowing it was gone.

A huge part of me feels guilty because this is the last thing I should be feeling with my husband's blood still drying on the driveway behind me, but a part of me feels safe and grateful, so I let myself feel.

Then when the compound gates open, I'm off the bike before it fully stops because I need my father. I need Jack Rowan's office and his voice and the only place in the world that has ever felt completely safe.

The President's office door is open when I get to the top floor, so I rush in.

And then I stop because my father isn’t the one smiling at me from the familiar desk.

Instead, Megan is sitting in my father's chair.