Alpha Bear Princes Box Set

by Lily Cahill

  Then he delved down and licked her most intimate spot. He suckled the sensitive nub, thoroughly showing his appreciation for her attentions. Then he probed a long, strong finger into her and she nearly lost it again. She was close, and she didn't want their time to end without feeling him deep inside her. She needed it.

  She tugged him back up. "I need you to fuck me now," she said.

  "Not as much as I need to fuck you," he grinned cockily.

  Then he hooked one of her legs over his shoulder and pressed himself into her. Stars exploded in front of her eyes. She could feel herself open for him, could feel him stretching her to her limits, reaching parts of her that she hadn't known existed before his touch.

  He drove into her again and again and again--hard and urgent--each thrust taking them both higher. She had never felt so good, had never felt linked so closely to another human being.

  A tiny voice inside told her that this was more than sex. You couldn't feel this way from just sex. She felt something more for this man--this strong, sensitive man who cared enough about her to make real changes in his life, who had grown so much in the short time they'd known each other. And hadn't she too? How long had it been since she'd allowed a man to get so close to her? Since she'd trusted someone enough to let them in? Looking back, she wasn't sure she ever had. Not like this.

  Her feelings mixed with her desire as her body climbed to its peak. The last word she thought before she stopped thinking at all was "love." It wasn't a word she was ready to say, but it was there, settling itself into her heart without permission.

  But as soon as she thought it, she felt her body break apart. Her consciousness shattered and all the little parts of her expanded and rocketed up to the heavens before crashing down again. When she landed, she was in his arms, staring at the deepest, darkest blue eyes she had ever seen.

  "I love you, Laila," he said. "I know you're not ready to say it back yet. And I don't want you to until you're sure. But I know what I feel. You're mine, baby, and I love you."

  Chapter Eleven

  Elliott

  "Nigel, I'd like you to meet my girlfriend, Laila." As Elliott said it, he realized he hadn't officially asked her to be his girlfriend. But it was the way he thought about her. In truth, he thought about her as much more.

  "Nice to meet you," Laila smiled, extending her hand. "Your house is unbelievably beautiful."

  Elliott never remembered that to most people, the NYC townhouse that bordered Central Park was considered luxurious. To him, it was just home. It's polished wood banisters were those he'd slid down as a child. It's marble floors were what he'd spread out his coloring books on.

  "Thank you," Nigel said with a wide, warm grin. "But it's not my house, it's Elliott's."

  "It's yours as long as you want to live here," Elliott said. "And you know it."

  "Let's not fight in front of a lady, my boy." Nigel was a small man, and looked very much like a miniature version of Sean Connery. Elliott supposed anyone was a small man in comparison to him. But Nigel was particularly so. He was nearing seventy and had a full head of salt and pepper hair. Today he was dressed in a very typical Nigel outfit: corduroy trousers, button-down shirt, and a brown sweater with leather patches at the elbows.

  "Fair enough," Elliott said. "But it is yours."

  Nigel turned to Laila with an exasperated smile. "He's a stubborn one. But I'm sure you know that already."

  "I'm well aware, yes," Laila laughed.

  "I must say, I've been extremely excited to meet you. Elliott has never brought home a girl before."

  "Really?" Laila asked. "I find that hard to believe."

  "It's true. So you, my dear, must be very special."

  Elliott beamed at her, "She is."

  Elliott led Laila to her room, and then settled back into his own. It was good to be home.

  #

  They settled into an easy routine at the NYC house. In the mornings, he and Laila would have breakfast with Nigel, then drive together to the post-production studio to review the new scenes that Jeremy, the editor, had put together the previous afternoon. Laila would give him her notes, Elliott at her side. Then they would all discuss the focus of the next scenes on the docket.

  By lunchtime, Jeremy was usually ready to get on with his work without them, so Elliott took Laila out to explore the city. He loved showing Laila his hometown: the botanic bardens, the Brooklyn Zoo, the Guggenheim, and all the amazing restaurants. Elliott had grown up here, and he was pretty sure you could eat all your meals at a new restaurant in NYC for a year and never run out of incredible places. New York had some of the best dining in the country.

  Their nights were usually spent with Nigel. He was a tremendous cook in his own right, and always had something waiting for them when they arrived home. Elliott adored seeing Nigel and Laila get to know each other. It was as though his past and his future were beginning to fuse into one life. It was a life he couldn't help but want to make permanent.

  The days passed too quickly for Elliott. He wasn't sure what Laila's plans were after they locked picture--which was what it was called when the edit was complete and the movie went on to get the final polishing details like color and sound enhancements. Likely, Laila would go back to Michigan to be with her family, whom she hadn't seen in months. But where did that leave him? It felt to him like their bond had only gotten stronger in the past few weeks. And he thought Laila felt the same. She seemed happier, more carefree, than he'd ever seen her.

  But he still didn't feel like he had all of her. He still felt like there was some part of herself that she was holding back from him. And he wasn't sure why.

  Now they were in the last stages of the editing process, and time was running out. Elliott knew the best chance for the film was to release first to the festival circuit, and the submission deadline for Sundance was only days away. Today, they were watching the full cut of the film with a basic sound mix. Sound was such a huge part of the film experience. Everyone was eager to see how the movie would be transformed.

  Just as Elliott and Laila settled into the comfortable chairs in the viewing room, there was a knock on the door. Jeremy answered it. Then Elliott heard a familiar voice.

  "Is Elliott Regan in this room? The receptionist said I could find him back here."

  It was Zara. Elliott felt his bear roar in his chest. What the hell was she doing here? He hadn't spoken to her since she'd shown up unannounced in Kentucky. And now she was doing it again?

  "What do you want, Zara?" Elliott asked.

  Zara stepped into the room, and her eyes landed immediately on Laila. "Oh," she said, clearly shocked. "I didn't realize you weren't alone. Can I speak to you privately for a moment?"

  He knew what Zara was up to, knew she was surprised he hadn't contacted her in nearly two months and wanted to make amends. Or snoop. She must have tracked him down through the studio. She was very determined when she put her mind to something. But he had some things to say to her too, some things he wanted to be very clear about.

  Elliott looked at Jeremy. "Would you mind giving us some privacy?" he asked. When Laila stood to exit, he immediately put a hand on her arm to stop her. "Not you. You stay."

  "Are you sure?" she asked.

  "Positive."

  "I really didn't mean to interrupt," Zara said as Jeremy left. "Why don't I track you down later? Call me when you're done here?"

  "Now is as good a time as any," Elliott said, then he turned to Laila so she would understand that his next words were just as much for her. "Whatever you want to talk about you can talk about with Laila here. I have nothing to hide from her."

  "I'm sure there are one or two things you wouldn't want to discuss," Zara said with a light laugh. It wasn't exactly a threat, more of a hint, and Elliott guessed from her tone that she was insinuating that Laila didn't know about his ability to shift into a bear. But just as he was about to correct her inaccurate assumption, Laila spoke up.

  "I know you're a bear shifte
r," Laila said to Zara. "I smelled it on you the first time we met."

  "She knows everything important about me, Zara. Like I said, I have nothing to hide."

  "Well, well, well," Zara said. "That sounds serious."

  "It is serious," Elliott said. "There's something you need to know. I've bonded with Laila. She's my mate."

  "You what?" Zara said. If it was possible, her face had grown even paler than normal.

  "It's true. You know how much I doubted that bonding even existed, but it does. I love Laila. And for the rest of my life I will love no one but her. I hope one day she'll let me make her my wife. But regardless, I'm hers forever."

  "That's not--it's not possible," Zara said, sitting on the edge of one of the chairs.

  "I assure you it is," Elliott said. "And I'm sure you understand what that means. I was serious about what I said to you before. The little games we used to play are finished for good."

  "This wasn't supposed to happen," Zara said. She seemed genuinely upset, more upset than he expected. Zara had always been such a strong person. It was odd to see her this shaken. Perhaps she'd had stronger feelings for him than he realized. He tried to make his next words kinder.

  "We've been friends for a long time, Zara, but that's all I want from you. Your friendship. If you can't offer that, I'll understand. But if you can't accept that Laila is everything to me from now on, then I can't speak to you again. I'm sorry."

  Zara stood, seeming to regain her composure.

  "Congratulations then, El. I hope you'll be very happy." Then she turned and left in a hurry.

  Elliott turned back to Laila. "I'm so sorry about that. I haven't spoken to her since kicking her out of my cabin two months ago."

  "I know you haven't," Laila said.

  "I don't have any feelings for her whatsoever. The only woman I care about is you. I promise you, Zara--"

  "Shut up, Yogi," Laila said. But she was smiling. "I know all this. So you need to shut up and kiss me while we still have the room to ourselves."

  Elliott was happy to oblige. As his lips met hers, he realized that he finally had Laila's trust. Perhaps he'd had it for longer than he thought. He'd believed this whole time that she'd been hesitant about committing to him because she didn't think he was trustworthy. But if that was the case before, it wasn't now. So what was holding her back?

  Laila pulled away from him. "Look, Elliott. These past few weeks in New York have been some of the best in my life. But I need a little space. I need some time to think about us on my own."

  "Okay ...?" Elliott hesitated. Space. That didn't sound good at all.

  "When the film is done, I'm moving back to my hometown until the premiere."

  "Laila--" Elliott hated the idea of being apart from her for an hour, much less months. Even if they got in to Sundance, that meant he wouldn't see her until January, and it wasn't quite October. "Please don't do this."

  "It's not--I'm not saying no, okay? I just ... I can't think straight when we spend every moment together. I need to know if this thing--these feelings--hold up outside the whirlwind of this film."

  Did she really think that? That she was only swept up in the magic of making her movie? Something about it didn't seem right. But he knew if he pressed her he might risk losing her forever.

  The words he knew he had to say fought every instinct in his soul. He wanted to fight for her, he wanted to roar that she was his--that they were each other's--and that being apart made no sense whatsoever. It would be torture. But somehow, he fought down the bear in his chest long enough to speak.

  "If that's what you want," he said.

  "It is."

  Chapter Twelve

  Laila

  Laila felt the absence of him immediately. The plane ride home just felt wrong. She was so used to looking over and seeing Elliott by her side. She was so used to him just being there. Now, all she saw was a snoring businessman.

  But as much as it pained her to do it, she knew she had to. Elliott was talking marriage and family and forever. And it just ... it just wasn't fair to him to make him believe she was capable of that. Not without being sure.

  And she wasn't sure. Not at all. She had always promised herself that she wouldn't marry a shifter. She had promised herself, in fact, that she wouldn't marry at all. Of course, when she'd made those promises, she'd had no idea that Elliott was in the world. He made her consider possibilities she never had before. It was disorienting. Could she really change her stance on so much in so little time? It seemed unwise. And yet ... Elliott.

  She spent the next few weeks sleeping late and moping around her parent's house as the Michigan winter started up in full force. She'd packed up her apartment into storage before the production, and her parents had been kind enough to offer her a place to stay until she decided on her next steps. But she didn't know what her next steps would be yet.

  She'd always assumed that she may have to move back to LA after her movie came out. That was actually the best-case scenario. If her movie did well, she'd have to move to capitalize on all the new projects that might come her way. But LA also meant Elliott, didn't it? She couldn't imagine living in a city where he lived without being with him.

  As she thought and brooded and moped--watching the snow outside her windows grow deeper--a part of her honestly thought that her feelings for Elliott might pass. But they didn't. If anything, they were growing stronger. Ten times a day she had to stop herself from calling him. Fifty times a day, she had to remind herself not to think of him. And every night, it seemed she could never get warm enough. Without him beside her, her bed felt incredibly cold.

  This morning, she was eating cereal at the kitchen table when her mother, Sheila, walked in. "That's it, Laila. I can't take you sulking around the house one more day. What's going on?"

  "Nothing," Laila said.

  "Nothing my rear end," Sheila said. She was tall like Laila, dark-skinned too, though her face was softer. And even though she had a demanding job as a neurologist, she was always immaculately put together. Today she looked particularly striking in a tailored white suit and elegant diamond studs in her ears.

  "I really don't want to talk about it, Mom."

  "Well, I'm afraid you're going to have to. Because a dark cloud has been settled over our house ever since you got back, and I can't take it anymore. You're sucking all the joy out of this home, Laila, and I demand to know why. Did something go wrong with your movie?"

  "No. The movie is fine." Laila tried to rally a smile, tried to change the subject. "It's great, actually. The trailer was released online last week and it's already generating a lot of buzz. Test audiences are loving it. And we should find out about festivals soon."

  "So what's the matter? This is what you've always dreamed of."

  "I just need to do some thinking about some things."

  "This is about a man, isn't it?"

  Laila rolled her eyes, trying to send a signal that the very idea was ridiculous.

  "I'm no idiot, Laila. And I fell in love once too. Spill."

  "Fine," Laila spit. "It is about a man."

  "Now we're getting somewhere." Sheila set her briefcase on the kitchen counter and sat next to Laila. "You'll feel better if you talk about it. You always do."

  Laila sighed. Maybe her mom was right. "I don't know ... I guess I feel pulled in two different directions. On one side, it's my career. On the other, it's him. I never thought I'd be that girl who was making a choice like this."

  Sheila scoffed. "Get real, baby girl. You're not making that choice. You don't have to. No man in his right mind would come between you and your movies. And you know as well as I do that career and family are not mutually exclusive. Haven't I proved that to you with my own career? It takes sacrifices, yes. But you don't have to choose."

  "I guess."

  "So what's this really about, then?"

  "It's ...." Laila didn't want to say, but her mom had a nose for lies the way she had a nose for shifters. "He's ... he's
a shifter. A bear."

  "I see," Sheila said. "And you're afraid."

  Laila felt the tears start to choke her. "Yes," she said. "I'm terrified."

  "Because of Thomas?" Sheila asked.

  Laila could only nod.

  Sheila reached out and took Laila's hand in her own. "I'm not going to say it's an easy life, baby. When your brother ... well, it almost killed me. I thought I wouldn't get through it. But I did. We all did."

  The tears were coming fast now. Laila knew that words were impossible. She'd loved Thomas so much. And he had changed so completely when he'd become a shifter.

  "No sister should have to lose her brother like that. No mother should have to lose her child. But what he did ... it was him, Laila. It was his choice. It wasn't just that he was a shifter. It was his nature--who he chose to become. It doesn't mean the same would happen to you."

  "But the risk of it would always be there. If we had children, I'd always be afraid that they'd turn out like that too."

  "Let me tell you a little secret. All parents fear for their babies. My fear for you was no less than it was for Thomas. With him, I worried that his selfishness would overtake him. With you, I worry about how the world is going to treat my brilliant, bold baby girl. I worry about whether doing what you do will break your strong spirit. I worry constantly. But you learn to manage it. You learn to temper that fear with hope. Life isn't simple or easy. But all I want for you is to be able to hope a little bit more than you fear."

  "I want that too," Laila choked out. And she realized she did. She'd been afraid for so long. That's what had been holding her back from truly giving her heart to Elliot. Her mother was right. Everything else--the drama with Zara, needing to focus on the movie, blaming her career--it had all been an excuse. But could she risk it now? Could she risk the possibility that Elliott was worth hoping for?