Alpha Temptation: Sanmere Shifters Romance Collection

by Lola Gabriel

  Raina nodded her agreement. She didn’t want to push him too hard and have him close down on her altogether. She still had nothing she could use to track Chester.

  Logan took Raina’s hand in his. It took all of her will power not to pull away, instead slipping her fingers between his and letting him lead her along the street. She hated to admit it, but where their hands touched, she felt sparks flying up her arm, and her skin tingled against his.

  Why did he have to be okay with Matchmaking? Matchmakers kidnapped unwilling women and sold them. Nothing was okay about that. Why couldn’t he just have been here on business like he’d said?

  It didn’t matter, though. Raina still couldn’t have let herself fall for Logan, although resisting him was proving a lot harder than she had thought it would. She allowed him to lead her through the crowd, and she soon found herself watching a procession of dancers, bands, and colorful floats moving along the street. She got caught up in the party atmosphere in the square, and by the time a juggler passed them by, juggling three lit torches, Raina was laughing with delight and squealing like an excited child.

  “You haven’t even seen the best part yet.” Logan smiled.

  “What?” she shouted, unable to hear him over the clapping and cheering from the crowd.

  He bent closer to her and repeated himself, his breath tickling her neck and sending a rush of goosebumps through her body, which she tried to ignore.

  “Wait for it,” Logan said, nodding towards the street.

  Raina turned her focus back to the parade, and she gasped when she saw what was coming next. A float with a tall pole in the center of it drove slowly by. From the pole hung a swing, and two trapeze artists performed what Raina could only think of as death-defying acrobatics. They swung back and forth and flipped themselves into the air, their fingers barely grazing the swing. Her breath caught in her throat when one of them made a particularly impressive double twist and landed with her hands on the feet of her partner. She was quite disappointed when the last of the parade passed them by, but Logan didn’t let her dwell on it for long.

  “Come on,” he said, pulling on her hand. “Madame Tussaud’s is just up here. Do you fancy it?”

  Raina smiled and nodded her head eagerly, still caught up in the party-like atmosphere of the streets around her. She fell into step beside Logan.

  “How do you get any work done coming to a city like this?” she asked. “There’s so much to see and do.”

  “Oh, believe me, it’s hard,” Logan laughed. “But I always add an extra couple of days onto my trips so I can spend a bit of time seeing the sights.”

  “I don’t blame you,” Raina said, looking around her. Tall buildings lined the streets on both sides, giant skyscrapers adorned with neon lights and digital posters which changed every few moments. “It makes you realize how small we are, being in a place like this, doesn’t it?” she commented.

  “I like to think of it more as it shows how big it’s possible to become.”

  “I like that way of looking at things.”

  “Oh. Wait here a second,” Logan said. He dropped Raina’s hand and disappeared into the crowd. For a moment, she missed the feeling of his palm against hers, but with him gone, she was able to center herself again. She realized that she had been getting sucked into Logan’s charm and easygoing nature once more, and she promised herself no more. She had work to do, and he was merely the start of it.

  Logan returned with two large sticks, each wrapped with pink and blue cotton candy.

  “It’s the best cotton candy in the city, maybe even the world. You have to taste it,” he enthused as he held one out to her.

  “Thanks,” she said coolly, taking the offered treat.

  Logan looked at her strangely, but he didn’t comment on her sudden change from excited schoolgirl to cool, calm, and collected hunter. Raina bit into the cotton candy, and she had to admit it was good. Sweet and sticky and crunchy, with just the right amount of flavor.

  “You like it?” Logan asked.

  “It’s amazing,” she replied. “You don’t often associate hedge fund managers with cotton candy,” she added as they started walking again.

  “True,” he said. “But then, most hedge fund managers are so far up their own asses they don’t know what color the sky is. Life is for living, Raina, for embracing the good things we find. If they don’t see that, then I pity them.”

  Raina relaxed again. Logan made a good point. He seemed to have his head screwed on with everything except one thing, and it was a big thing—too big for Raina to ignore. Even if he called off his deal with Chester now, it was too late. The damage had been done the moment he made the deal in the first place, and it confirmed that he thought Matchmakers weren’t a problem to be dealt with.

  “Here we are.” Logan grinned as they approached the entrance to Madame Tussaud’s.

  “It’s huge,” Raina commented while looking up.

  “Everything in New York is huge,” Logan agreed. “But it’s not all Madame Tussaud’s. There are offices and conferences rooms above it, and then right at the top are a few apartments.”

  “It would be an amazing place to live.” Raina smiled. She finished her cotton candy and looked around for a trash can. She spotted one and held her hand out for Logan’s stick. He gave it to her, and she put them in the trash and turned back to him. “Let’s do it.”

  Logan’s smile turned into a soft laugh, and he reached out and wiped Raina’s chin.

  “Pink fluff left behind,” he said as he wiped.

  She felt herself blush slightly, more at the way his thumb rubbing over her skin made her pussy clench than out of embarrassment at having cotton candy stuck to her face. Logan’s thumb lingered long after Raina knew the offending piece of cotton candy was gone. He moved his thumb upwards slightly, running it over Raina’s lower lip. She was pulled into his gaze, held in place by the golden flecks in his eyes. She could barely breathe as his touch woke up her senses, bringing her bear to life.

  It took everything she had to move backwards a step when Logan started to lean towards her. She wanted so badly to remain in place, to let him kiss her, to just forget what he had told her earlier, but she couldn’t do it.

  “I’m sorry,” Logan said, flustered when Raina moved away from his kiss.

  “It’s fine. I can’t believe I got cotton candy on my chin,” she chuckled. She plucked Logan’s hand out of the air and held it in hers again. “Come on, let’s go.”

  He looked placated when she took his hand. She had hoped he would think she hadn’t realized he was about to kiss her, that she was just excited to get inside of Madame Tussaud’s. His reaction told her it had worked, or at the very least had allowed him to save face enough so that he could pretend he bought it and that it wasn’t going to get very awkward very quickly between them.

  Raina was annoyed at herself to realize she was disappointed for moving away from Logan’s kiss. She had wanted so badly to feel his lips on hers, to feel his hands on her body. She shook her head slightly, trying to shake the image out of her head, but her bear wasn’t ready to let go just yet. It confused Raina. Was her bear still trying to convince her Logan was her mate after everything she had heard? Surely, it was just trying to remind her to keep him sweet until she had the information she needed.

  They stepped into the foyer of Madame Tussaud’s, and Logan led her towards the counter. They were almost there when Raina’s cell phone rang. She pulled it out and looked at the screen. She felt her pulse speed up when she saw Keeley’s name.

  “I’m sorry. I have to take this,” she said to Logan.

  “No worries. I’ll get us our tickets,” he said.

  She hurried back out onto the street and took the call.

  “Hey, Keeley. What’s up?” she said.

  “Raina, why did you want to know about Chester?” Keeley asked. She had never been one for beating around the bush, and if Raina wanted Keeley to help her, it was time to be honest with her
.

  “You know what Harvey does, right? Hunts for Matchmakers?”

  “Yeah,” Keeley replied.

  “Well, I’m doing the same now, and—”

  “Good,” Keeley interrupted. “Because I have something, and I didn’t know what to do with it. It’s not directly about locating Chester, but I have news of a potential snatch from a pair of new Matchmakers. Can you help? I would go down there myself, but I’m in the middle of brewing a new potion, and I’m afraid if I leave now, I might end up blowing up my whole apartment.”

  “I’m in,” Raina said. “Tell me everything.”

  Keeley told her about two wolves who had left their pack, claiming they wanted to travel. Their alpha became suspicious, as they had been acting strangely, disappearing for days on end with no good explanation, and he sent one of his members to follow them. He soon discovered they weren’t traveling at all; they were working for Chester. The alpha knew if he interfered, it would cause havoc in the district, and so he bit his tongue. Word was that the two guys had decided to cut their ties with Chester and go their own way. Chester paid them handsomely for delivering girls with the Sanmere protein to him, but they worked out they could make a load more money selling the girls themselves. They had a target located.

  The girl worked in a warehouse, and to get back to the city, she had to walk down a remote street, and they planned to snatch her from there. Keeley gave Raina a location. She told her the girl was due to finish work within half an hour, so she had to hurry. Raina promised to save the girl.

  She hung up the call, wondering how the hell Keeley had found out so much so easily. She would have to ask her later. Time was of the essence now. She had to make it back to the hotel, get the Ure sword, and get to the location Keeley had given her. She typed the location into the GPS app on her cell phone.

  It was a good twenty minutes from where she was now, and she would be pushing it to get there in time to make sure the new Matchmakers couldn’t take the girl, even without going back to the hotel. She would have to just get there and come up with a plan that didn’t involve the sword. It would be risky, since she’d be outnumbered, but this might be her only chance to save the girl. If they were betraying Chester, they’d have to go underground as soon as they made the grab.

  Raina started walking and then remembered Logan was still inside Madame Tussaud’s, waiting for her. Even without wanting to keep him sweet to get information out of him, Raina couldn’t just leave him there until he worked out for himself she wasn’t coming back. Dammit. She turned back and rushed into Madame Tussaud’s. She spotted Logan looking at a floor plan of the building and hurried over to him.

  “Logan,” she said.

  “Are you alright, Raina? You’ve gone awfully white,” Logan said. “Come and sit down, and I’ll get you some water.”

  She waved away his concern. “I’m fine. Look, I’m sorry to do this to you, but I’ll have to take a raincheck on this place. I have to go.”

  “Go? Where? Raina, you really don’t look well,” Logan said.

  “I told you, I’m fine,” Raina insisted, backing away as Logan tried to take her elbow and lead her to a row of chairs against the back wall of the foyer. “I just… I have to go.”

  She turned and sprinted away before Logan could stop her. She could hear him calling her name and running after her, and she sped up quickly, dodging between tourists who jumped aside as she barreled through them, cursing her. The tourists slowed her down somewhat. She didn’t want to send anyone sprawling, but they helped in a way, too. She ducked between them, using them to hide from Logan.

  She saw her chance to really put some distance between them when she caught another parade winding its way along the street. She pushed her way through the crowd lining the street, ignoring the angry cries as she elbowed people aside. She dashed across the street just in time, getting an angry look from the parade leader, which she ignored. This was more important than some damned tourist attraction. It could literally be life and death for the girl—certainly the end of any sort of life she was choosing for herself.

  Raina relaxed her pace to a fast walk now that she knew Logan wouldn’t be able to get across the street. She pulled her cell phone out and followed the directions on her screen. She reached the location she had been directed to. It was indeed a deserted street. In fact, it was more of a dirt road than a street. There were no houses, no shops, nothing much of anything. One side of the dirt track was lined by trees, and along the other side ran a chain link fence, protecting what looked to Raina like a closed down used car lot.

  Raina heard voices; two men. She knew they were likely her targets, and she frantically looked around for somewhere to hide. With no other real options, she darted into the trees and behind a fat trunk, staying as still and as silent as she could. She felt her heart slamming in her chest, and her bear, sensing the danger she was in, tried frantically to burst free. Raina resisted the pull. She might have to turn if things got ugly, but for now, she wanted her wits about her. She wanted to see if she could learn anything from the two men before she confronted them.

  “Let’s just wait here,” Raina heard one of them say. “It’s not like it’s exactly a busy street. The girl isn’t going to be able to outrun us even if she panics when she sees us.”

  Raina heard their footsteps stop, and she risked moving slightly so she could peer around the tree trunk. The men stood a few feet down the road from her. They faced away from the main streets, waiting for their target. One of the men was pretty big, and Raina knew if it came to it, he could probably beat her in a fight. The other man was smaller, and she wasn’t particularly worried about him.

  “I still think this is a bad idea,” the larger man said. “Going up against Chester, I mean. It’s suicide, isn’t it?”

  “Not if he doesn’t find out,” the smaller man replied. “Seriously, Joe, you have to get it together. You know we’re being used by Chester. He gives us a few dollars and gets rich off our work.”

  “It’s hardly a few dollars, Mike. It’s thousands of dollars.”

  “But it’s nothing compared to what he makes off our hard work, is it?”

  They continued to debate whether or not this was a good idea. Raina listened closely. She wasn’t getting anything she could use to find Chester like she’d hoped she would, but it was still something. Something that gave her the spark of an idea of how to end this without it getting too ugly.

  While her animal instincts told her to fight the men and take them down, the logical side of her saw a better way. She remembered what Harvey had said to her about new Matchmakers: a stern warning was usually enough. And these two were very new to it all. They’d said it themselves; this was their first attempt at going at it alone. They’d snatched women for Chester before, though, and Raina thought they’d be good at that part. She was worried that if she waited until they were ready to make the grab, they would get away before she could stop them.

  She heard an excited gasp from one of the men, and she turned her attention to where they stared at as they nudged each other. A lone woman who looked to be in her early twenties was walking along the dirt road. She didn’t seem in the least bit concerned about the two men. She hummed to herself, concentrating on her cell phone in her hand.

  Raina knew she had to act right now or miss her chance to do this without a fight. She stepped out from behind the trees. The men instantly turned in her direction. She saw their eyes flash for a second, but she didn’t let that scare her. Instead, she approached the men calmly.

  “So you’re the traitors then, huh?” she said, glad that the larger of the two men was the one with the most doubts about this. It made an attack that little bit less likely if she could use his fear against him.

  “Excuse me?” the smaller man said.

  “Oh, you’re deaf as well as disloyal?” Raina shook her head. “Make sure you listen carefully. Chester is not in the least bit impressed with you two trying to take his leads and muscle i
n on his territory. Consider this a friendly warning. Mind you, it could just as easily get unfriendly if I have to call the others out.”

  The two men looked around them nervously, as though they expected a full army to appear out of the trees. While they glanced around, Raina resisted the urge to smile. The mention of betraying Chester had made them paranoid enough, and now that they thought she had back up, they were almost comical in their fear.

  “No. Wait. You don’t understand. It’s not like that,” the larger man stuttered out.

  “It’s exactly like that,” Raina snorted. She watched as the girl passed the three of them by and went on her way. Whatever happened here, Raina had at the very least bought her some time. “I’m not here to listen to your pathetic excuses. I’m here to give you a message from Chester,” she said.

  “Look, we’re sorry, okay?” the larger man said. “We’ll hand her over.”

  Raina gave out a laugh that wasn’t in the least bit humorous.

  “Chester isn’t interested in getting a lead from traitors. Nor is he interested in dealing with either of you two again. Here’s the deal. Leave the city. Today. And don’t come back. And Chester will let you live. If he or any of his people see you in the city again after today…” She trailed off and motioned a slit throat.

  “Oh, and just so you know, Chester has people everywhere, and if he so much as hears a whisper that you guys are still working against him wherever you end up? Well, I think you know what will happen.”

  The two men were in a state of near panic now. The larger man had tears in his eyes, and his face was ghost white. The smaller man hid his fear slightly better, but Raina could smell it coming off him in waves. It disgusted her. How did they think the women they abducted felt, if they were this scared?

  It took a lot of willpower for Raina to keep her bear at bay and not hurt the men. That wouldn’t get her any closer to her real mission. She knew these two would never dare try Matchmaking again with the threat of Chester hanging over their heads. And she had done some good today and saved a woman from a terrible fate. That had to be enough. At least for now.