Alpha Temptation: Sanmere Shifters Romance Collection

by Lola Gabriel

  It took everything Cedric had not to jump off his stool and go over there and kiss this woman, but he held himself back. He didn’t want to scare her away, and although she smiled when he did, he saw something flicker through her eyes for a second. Something that looked like fear.

  She looked away from him and he felt lost for a moment, like losing eye contact with her took a little part of him away. He watched her, a little bit more subtly now, but unable to take his eyes off her all the same. He couldn’t help but notice the curve of her breasts, of her hips. She wasn’t very tall, but her legs still seemed to go on for miles, and the parts he could see beneath the hem of her dress were a beautiful tanned color.

  He ached to touch her, to kiss her, to fuck her. She had to be his. She just had to be.

  She moved to a table that was blocked from his view by a wall and he sighed and turned back to the bar. He was already missing the sight of her, craving her beauty. There was nothing at all wrong with his instincts. They had brought him here to meet her.

  Josh elbowed Cedric and grinned.

  “Smitten much?” he said.

  Cedric nodded. There was no point in denying it. Josh had seen the way he had looked at the woman, how his eyes had followed her across the room.

  “So, go ask her out. What have you got to lose?” Josh said.

  “Oh, I don’t know. My dignity,” Cedric said.

  “Bullshit,” Josh said. “I saw the way she looked at you, man. She’s into you. Go talk to her.”

  Cedric shook his head, remembering the flicker of fear in her eyes as she looked at him. He didn’t know why she might fear him, or maybe Josh was right and she felt this connection too and that was what scared her. Either way, he didn’t want to come on too strong and scare her off.

  “Maybe another time,” Cedric said. He didn’t want to tell Josh about the fear he had seen in the woman’s eyes. Not until he could at least explain it. “I don’t want her to think I’m in the habit of picking up every pretty girl who steps into a bar. It’s not like Greer is exactly massive, is it? I’m sure I’ll see her around again.”

  “And what if, by then, someone with some actual balls has beaten you to it?” Josh asked.

  “Then it was never meant to be,” Cedric replied.

  Josh shook his head.

  “God, you really are smitten, aren’t you?” he laughed. “You never would have let me get away with implying you had no balls on any other day.”

  “Well, I don’t want her first impression of me to be of someone who punches their friend in a bar, do I?” Cedric laughed.

  “Fair enough,” Josh grinned. He lifted his almost empty glass. “Another one?”

  “No, thanks,” Cedric said, making a point of looking at his watch. “I have to get going. I have a meeting with Cassie at one.”

  “Okay, catch you later,” Josh said. He winked at Cedric. “Hey, while you’re gone, maybe I’ll introduce myself to your future wife.”

  “You’ll do no such thing. I don’t want her being put off me before I even speak to her,” Cedric said.

  He was laughing, but he knew Josh knew he meant it. Josh laughed with him.

  “I’m just messing with you. Now, get out of here before you’re late for the meeting and Cassie blames me for leading you astray,” Josh said.

  Cedric left the pub. As he stepped through the door, he risked one more glance at the woman now that he could see her again. She was sitting sipping a glass of wine, an open book in her hand. God, she’s gorgeous, Cedric thought to himself. He let the door close before she could catch him watching her.

  He had lied to Josh about having a meeting with Cassie. He just knew if he stayed, he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from approaching the woman. He didn’t want to freak her out by coming on too strong, and if he just marched over there and asked her out and she said no, he would have missed his chance. He wanted to find a way to run into her again, hopefully talk to her and let her see she had nothing to fear from him. And then he would ask her out. Because whatever happened, he knew with a certainty that she was meant to be his.

  Cedric headed toward Cassie’s place anyway. He wanted to tell her he had found his mate. As the pack’s beta, he knew it would relieve her to know he was finally taking an interest in finding a mate and giving the pack an heir, but he also knew that as his sister, she would be happy for him on a personal level too. She had found her mate centuries ago, before they had even reached twenty-nine and stopped aging.

  Now that he had seen the woman, he knew he would never be happy alone again—he would never be happy until she was his for all of eternity. But even when he had been happy to be alone and wasn’t overly worried about finding a mate, he had envied Stuart, Cassie’s mate, a little. He had been lucky finding a female fairy to mate with. Long ago, a witch had cursed the immortals, stopping them from having female children. Only humans who had been turned could produce female children now, and female immortals were like gold dust. Stuart and Cassie had fallen in love and Stuart had never had to worry about all of the things Cedric had to worry about.

  Even if the woman agreed to date him, at some point, he would have to come clean about who he was, what he was. If she didn’t run screaming for the hills, then the only way she could become his mate was if she carried a special protein in her blood called Sanmere, a protein that was rare. Without it, she wouldn’t be able to become a fairy and that would mean they could never have children and that she would age and die.

  Cedric felt so strongly about her that he already decided that didn’t matter to him. It would be better to have half a century, maybe longer, with the woman than no time at all, but the thought of her not being by his side for all eternity hurt his heart.

  He told himself he was getting way ahead of himself. He hadn’t even spoken to the woman and he was already planning their future together. It felt right, though. He knew she would be his. His instincts told him so, and his instincts were fae instincts, much sharper than human instincts. If they spoke to him, then they spoke the truth.

  He reached Cassie’s place and rang the bell. She yelled for him to come in and he entered. She was in the living room with Stuart. She took one look at his face and frowned.

  “You look happy,” she said.

  “You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Cedric laughed.

  “I’m not saying it’s bad; I’m saying it’s unlike you,” Cassie teased him.

  “Yeah, I’m just a walking ball of misery,” he joked.

  “Spill the beans, then. What’s got you all riled up like this?” Cassie said.

  Cedric clammed up a little. Telling Cassie about the woman was one thing, but he didn’t want to be the talk of the pack. Josh was his best friend—he would keep his secret, but Stuart was likely to talk. Stuart seemed to get the hint and he stood up.

  “I’ve got some work to be getting on with. I’ll let you two talk,” he said.

  “You don’t have to…” Cedric started.

  “I know,” Stuart interrupted. “But if it’s pack business, it’s really not my place to hear it before the others.”

  Cedric smiled and clapped him on the shoulder as he left the room. Was it technically pack business? It would be if the woman had Sanmere in her blood and was willing to become a fae. She would be the mother of his children, the mother of the heir to the pack.

  He sat down beside Cassie.

  “I’ve met my mate,” he announced. “Or at least I’ve seen her.”

  Cassie squealed with excitement and hugged Cedric. He laughed and let her hug him. She pulled back.

  “Tell me everything. Who is she? Where did you meet her?”

  “Relax, Cassie. There isn’t much to tell right now. I haven’t even spoken to her yet. But the minute I saw her, I knew she was meant to be mine.”

  “I’m so pleased for you,” Cassie grinned. “And for the pack. I was starting to think we’d never get an heir.”

  “Me too, to be honest. I mean, in all of the y
ears I’ve been on earth, I’ve never felt anything like this before. I’ve been attracted to women before, obviously, but this was different. It felt like we connected on so many levels with just a look.”

  “It’s the best feeling in the world, isn’t it?” Cassie grinned. Cedric nodded. “So why didn’t you talk to her?”

  “I don’t know. For a second, it was like time stood still and we were frozen in time, and we just stood and looked at each other. I smiled at her and she smiled back and it was perfect, but then, I don’t know. For just a second, I saw a flicker of something like fear in her eyes. I think she felt the connection between us and it scared her a little bit. I mean, it’s pretty intense, isn’t it, and if you’re not an immortal, not expecting to feel that sort of thing, it must be quite overwhelming. I figured I didn’t want to scare her more by coming on too strong. And I’m bound to run into her again. Greer is small enough, so seeing her again is inevitable,” Cedric said.

  “She’s from Greer? Who is she?” Cassie asked.

  “I don’t know. I’ve never seen her before in my life. But it’s not like this town is exactly a tourist magnet, is it? So, I figure she’s here for a while.”

  “Does she have long, blonde hair, curly?” Cassie asked.

  Cedric nodded and Cassie beamed.

  “Oh, what a small world. If I’m not mistaken, that’s Laila Kent. She’ll be working for me at the school starting tomorrow.”

  Laila. The name suited her, Cedric thought to himself.

  “Oh, this is perfect. I can introduce the two of you and there’s no way Laila is going to think you’re scary once she finds out you’re my brother,” Cassie said.

  “Unless you’re the boss from hell,” Cedric joked.

  “I’m a great boss,” Cassie said. “And soon enough, you’ll think I’m the best sister in the world. Okay, let me think for a second. She starts work tomorrow. I need to give her a few days to settle in, and then I’ll invite her over for dinner and you can come too. Oh, this is going to be so much fun!”

  Cedric laughed and shook his head.

  “You seem almost more excited about this than I am,” he said.

  5

  Laila was starting to feel like she was finding her feet with her new job. She had met Cassie as arranged and been given the grand tour, which in truth, wasn’t very grand. The school building consisted of two classrooms, hers and Cassie’s, a tiny kitchen where the cooks made lunch for the children and Cassie and now Laila, a toilet block, and two small supply closets.

  Rather than the class of thirty children Laila had been expecting, her class consisted of a grand total of six children—two five-year-olds, two six-year-olds, and two seven-year-olds. Cassie’s class was slightly bigger with a total of nine children. When the children of the town turned five, they would join Laila’s class. When they turned eight, they would leave her and go to Cassie’s class, and when they turned eleven, they would have to go into the city to go to high school. Cassie told her about one time when Miss Leve, Laila’s predecessor, only had one child in her class for a full year.

  It definitely wasn’t what Laila had pictured when she thought of being a teacher, but still, Laila was making the best of it and she was getting to know the children and learning where they were at academically. They were all excited to meet her and seemed enthusiastic, which was good.

  Cassie had told her they had an after-school club from five until seven three nights a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and she had asked Laila to take the Wednesday slot. Laila had instantly agreed. Tonight would be her first night running the club.

  Laila checked her watch. There was just half an hour to go before three o’clock, the end of the school day. She clapped her hands to get the children’s attention. They all turned to her and she smiled warmly at them.

  “Who wants a story before going home?” she asked.

  “Me,” six little voices chorused happily.

  “Come on and sit down on the carpet, then,” Laila said. She waited until her little class gathered on the carpet, their legs crossed, all looking up at her. “Who wants to choose a book?”

  A hand shot up. It was Jack, the oldest member of her class at seven and three quarters.

  “I know a story I could tell, Miss Kent,” he said. “One about Greer.”

  “Well, then, why don’t you come on up here and tell it and I’ll sit and listen with the rest of you?” Laila said.

  Jack took her place and she took his. Jack was a confident child and Laila had no doubt he would be able to tell his story and keep the other children engrossed in it.

  “Once upon a time,” Jack began, “there was a little town called Greer and it was at the bottom of some mountains.”

  The rest of the class clapped their hands in joy, laughing and cheering when they heard the start of the story. Laila figured the story had to be some sort of local legend that all of the children would have already heard at some point. She smiled at their enthusiasm. Jack beamed at them all and then he continued with his story.

  “In the mountains was a castle, and in the castle lived a bad fae. The people in the town couldn’t see the castle—only the fairies could, because it was a magic castle,” Jack went on.

  Laila smiled to herself as she looked around at the children. They were all focused completely on Jack, drinking in the story.

  “The fae was a bad fairy and he sneaked down into the town and stole all of the women. He kept them locked away in his castle as his prisoners and made them have lots of babies. The end,” Jack said.

  Laila thought the story had taken a rather dark turn. Abduction and imprisonment and implied rape weren’t exactly things she would want in a children’s story, and it made her a little uncomfortable, but the children were all clapping and cheering and she figured they all already knew this story, and if it was a local legend, who was she to tell the local parents not to tell it to their children? Clearly they didn’t understand the implications of the story. To them it was no different from hearing about the big, bad wolf who blew down the houses of the three little pigs, or the wicked queen with her poisoned apple.

  Laila told the class another story, one from a book that she felt was more appropriate, and then she dismissed them for the day, walking them to the door and seeing them run off to join their parents. She debated talking to Jack’s parents, but again, she decided against it. It wasn’t her place to start judging the locals on their customs and none of the children seemed in the least bit disturbed by the story.

  By the time she had returned to her classroom, gathered up her things, and popped her head into Cassie’s classroom to say goodbye to her, she had pretty much forgotten about the story.

  Instead of dwelling on it, she started trying to think up some activities for the children to do at the after-school club. It was hard to come up with something that could amuse children from the ages of five right through to eleven, and she made a mental note to have a chat with Cassie about it before her next session and try to get some inspiration from her. For that evening’s session, she thought she would likely have to resort to some sort of craft activity or painting.

  She was halfway home when a car pulled up beside her. She glanced at the car and kept walking, assuming the driver lived in one of the houses on the street she was walking down. She was so shocked when arms wrapped around her, a hand clasped over her mouth, and she was dragged to the car. After being thrown into the back seat, she couldn’t even fight back.

  The man who threw her into the car held her face down on the back seat while he bound her wrists, and then he rolled her over and sat her up. What the hell? she thought to herself, panic swirling inside of her.

  “Who the hell are you? Where are you taking me?” Laila demanded, trying and failing to loosen the cord tied around her wrists.

  The man had gotten back into the driver’s seat of the car and turned it around, and was now driving toward the edge of the town. When she spoke up, he ignored her. Laila kicked the
back of his seat.

  “Hey! I’m talking to you,” she said.

  The man lifted his hand and Laila saw that he held a gun.

  “Kick the seat again and I won’t hesitate to shoot you,” the man growled.

  Laila swallowed down her rising panic, trying to work out what the hell was going on. She took a deep breath.

  “Where are you taking me?” she asked again, trying not to sound so demanding now that she had seen the gun.

  “You’ll see,” the man replied.

  Laila watched out of the window as the car headed toward the mountains. It began to climb up a narrow, winding road. Laila looked all around her, searching for some indication of who this man was and what he might want with her. She didn’t dare ask again. It was clear he wasn’t going to tell her, and the gun worried her greatly.

  She looked out of the front window and looming up in the distance, she saw a castle. She felt herself relax. It all made sense now. The townspeople were hazing the newcomer. It must be a thing they did to all of the new residents. First the spooky story about the bad fae in the mountains, and then this. A part of her knew this idea was absurd. As if a whole town would be in on something like this, and even if it was just Cassie doing this, no one would take a joke this far. Laila ignored the rational voice that tried to tell her this. It was much easier to believe she was the victim of a practical joke than it was to believe she had been snatched off the streets by a strange man.

  “I know what you’re doing,” Laila said, needing to say something to fill the ominous silence that had settled over the car. “I know this is some elaborate joke and I want you to know that I don’t find it funny. So why don’t you just pull over and let me out?”

  The man threw his head back and laughed but he made no comment and he certainly made no effort to pull over. He just kept driving, and after a few minutes, he drove through the gate in the castle’s wall and then he pulled up in the castle’s grounds outside of the front door.

  As they pulled up, two other men came down the steps that led to the castle’s door. They opened the car door and dragged Laila from the car. She kicked and swung her body around, but the men were far too strong for her to throw off and they marched her toward the castle, one on either side of her.