CLAIMED BY THE TRIPLET BIKER ALPHAS: A STEAMY MC ROMANCE

CHAPTER 4 – THE VOTE

LAYLA’S POV

The council table is the same one from my childhood with all the elders around it – but my father’s chair is empty now, and Megan is running the meeting from the VP seat, which has been quietly repositioned closer to the head.

And I've been invited as a “guest.”

“Hello everyone. Thanks for coming.” Megan's smile makes my stomach turn. “Now that Layla is back, I'm sure you all have a lot of questions about the presidency role. Especially since I only took this position because Layla married into another MC, and when our lovely President Jack fell ill, I was next in line.”

Elder Redbone clears his throat. “She is still married into another MC, so I for one do not have any questions about the presidency. But carry on.”

Megan nods. “I only called this meeting so we'd be sure of where the club stands.” She directs her smile at me. “Would you like to say anything, Layla?”

You can do this. You know what your father would want.

“The role as heir to the presidency is my birthright, and my father groomed me for it. I’ve noticed that so many things have changed since I’ve been gone, and I would like to continue the legacy my father upheld while he was able to. I also know things others do not about this role and our history, and since I’m back, I’d like to carry on with my duties.”

Megan's smile doesn't move. “Of course, Layla. And we'd love nothing more.” She looks around. “Any objections?”

Elder Pearl raises her hand. “According to our code, I agree Layla is the rightful heir to the seat. But there are matters that would make her unfit for the role.” She opens a folder. “One, she is unmated, and despite being unmated, she swore her loyalty to another MC.”

“But we–”

“– And most importantly, under Article 7, Section 3, no wolfless member can hold a leadership position within Iron Howl MC.”

I gasp as I almost lose my footing, because I lost my wolf many months ago in a fight defending Garrett, and not a single soul other than us both knew about it – or at least that’s what I thought.

Redbone backs it loudly. “Rules are rules, and we must abide by them. Or do you object that you are wolfless?”

Megan walks up to me and places a hand on my arm. “I know it's sensitive, and I'm so sorry. But you need to answer the question.”

“I– yes. I lost my wolf.”

The vote is called immediately, and the outcome is absolute.

Denied.

“I understand.” I bow and walk out quickly because I will never give Megan the satisfaction of seeing me cry, and then I see Colt immediately I enter the hallway.

Rafe apparently had to hold his arm to stop him from barging in during the vote, and his whole body is still vibrating. And Eli is leaning against the opposite wall with his eyes closed, but when I walk past, his hand twitches toward me before he pulls it back.

I walk past them and find the nearest bathroom, and after locking the door, I let the tears fall, because my hands are shaking and my vision is going grey at the edges and my chest is tightening in waves – like my ribs are trying to crush what's inside them.

I have no wolf. No seat. No legal ground. No way out of this marriage that doesn't cost me the baby. What exactly do I have now?

Harper finds me quickly after hearing the news, and she holds me and doesn't say a word until my breathing comes back.

“What happened in there?”

“Wolfless bylaw. Article 7. They voted me out.”

Her jaw sets, but she doesn’t say anything about me being wolfless. “We are going to destroy every single one of them. But we're going to do it smart.”

***

The next morning, Brandon convinces me to meet Doc Thea – our pack healer – for a prenatal check and she clears the clinic for me to have privacy.

She listens to the heartbeat and nods. “Baby's healthy. Strong.” Then she frowns at the bloodwork for longer than I'd like. “There's a marker here I haven't seen before. Probably nothing, but I want to run a few more tests.”

I file it away and move on soon after because I have bigger problems, and the biggest one shows up that afternoon with flowers for Megan, delivered in full view of the common room. He shakes hands with council members like he's running for office, and I watch from across the room as Elder Sawyer claps him on the back.

“She's lucky to have a man who fights for his family,” Sawyer says, loud enough for me to hear.

Garrett smiles. Humble. Practiced. “I just want to be there for my wife and baby. That's all I've ever wanted.”

I want to scream, but I smile instead.

Nobody in this room saw him grab my arm. Nobody saw the beating. Nobody saw him smile up at me with blood in his teeth and talk to me like a stranger.

I get tired of the display and I’m walking to my room through a quiet hallway when Garrett appears from nowhere.

The mask drops so fast it's like watching someone remove a costume.

“You think those mutts can protect you forever?” His voice is low and nothing like the man shaking hands thirty seconds ago as he steps closer. “I'm going to take that baby, Layla. And then I'm going to take this club. And you're going to watch me do it from whatever hole you crawl into when this is over.”

He smooths his jacket and walks away from me, leaving me alone in the hallway with my heart slamming against my ribs and that metallic taste flooding my mouth again – stronger this time, like copper on my tongue.

That night he calls the main common room while everyone is there.

“Baby, please. You know how my wolf gets sometimes. Megan came onto me and I was weak and I've hated myself every day since.” His voice is sweet. Careful. “Is it true? Are we really having a baby?”

His voice breaks on “baby” in exactly the right place.

I want to believe him. That's the part that makes me sick – despite everything, the part of me that spent two years being his wife still wants there to be an explanation that makes this survivable. Because if there isn't, then I gave up my birthright and my wolf and two years of my life for nothing.

“Leave me alone, Garrett.”

I look around and see the ears of the multiple wolves in the common room peaking as he apologizes again gently, then he hangs up.

The next day his lawyer contacts Iron Howl's pack attorney with the same condition. Full custody. So I tell him no through a lawyer Brandon found, and the response comes back unchanged: he'll sign the divorce papers, if I agree to give him the baby.

Then while I’m on my way to my room, trying to breathe and avoid the stares around me, a bouquet arrives for me with a card that says: Missing my wife. And the metallic taste hits so hard I almost gag.

I'm showing the card and venting to Brandon in our private lounge area when he snaps at me for the first time in his entire life.

“She's been running things for two years. You can't just walk back in and expect to take over.”

I stare at him. “Do you really want her to be president after what she did to me? She doesn't respect our family.”

He looks around as his hand goes to the leather bracelet on his wrist – fidgeting.

“Sorry.” He looks back at me. “I don't know why I said that.”

“Its okay.” We are silent for a few moments before I speak again. “Where did you get that bracelet?”

“Megan’s mum gave it to me as a late birthday gift.” He shrugs. “It's nice, right?”

Something about it makes my skin crawl, but I can't explain why, so I let it go.

“I promise I’m on your side Layla.” He rests his hand on my shoulder. “If it was from Megan herself, I won’t be wearing it.”

We talk for a bit more time, then I go back to my room to sleep.

But as I lie in my bed, every time I close my eyes, I see Garrett's smile from the driveway, Megan in my father's chair, the council vote, and the eyes of everyone on me. And before I know it, I see tears.

The crying starts as pressure behind my eyes and a tightness in my throat, then it breaks open and I can't stop it – because my face is pressed into a pillow that doesn't smell like mine, in a room that doesn't feel like mine, in a life that doesn't look like mine.

I cry until my ribs ache and my breath comes in hiccups and I don't have anything left.

Then I hear a knock on my door.