Alpha Temptation: Sanmere Shifters Romance Collection

by Lola Gabriel

  “Yes. Yes, of course,” Polly said quickly. “Thank you so much. You have no idea how much this means to me. Laila is so special to me.”

  “To you and me both,” Cedric said.

  “Oh,” Polly said. “You and Laila are…”

  “No, but I’d like us to be,” Cedric said. “I’m going to get her back, Polly, don’t worry. Don’t forget to text me your number.”

  He hung up and instantly pulled out his cell phone, sending an SOS text message to his most trusted pack members, asking them to meet him at the foot of the mountain. He left his house, running toward the meeting spot, his mind already working overtime. If Laila was a prisoner, she was likely being kept in the small building behind the castle where Fabian kept his prisoners rather than inside the castle itself. That would make retrieving her a little bit easier. Right now, he was only interested in that. He would return later to have it out with Fabian once and for all.

  He reached the bottom of the mountain. Josh and Harley were there waiting for him.

  “What’s going on, Cedric?” Josh asked as he jogged up to them.

  “We’re just waiting for Cassie and Stuart and then I’ll explain,” Cedric said. “I don’t want to have to go through it all twice.”

  As he spoke, he saw Cassie and Stuart coming toward them.

  “Looks like we won’t have long to wait,” Josh said.

  “What’s happened?” Cassie asked the second they drew level with the others.

  “Fabian took Laila,” Cedric started.

  “Are you sure?” Cassie asked. “Because we thought that before and then she turned up.”

  “I’m sure,” Cedric said. “I’ve just had a call from a witch who knew my father. Long story short, Fabian is Laila’s father. She just found out because her real mom begged Polly to take her away from here and keep her safe from Fabian. Now he knows who she is, and she’s missing.”

  “Shit,” Cassie breathed.

  “Yeah, exactly,” Cedric said. “On the plus side, Fabian only takes people when he can make money off them, so I think we can assume he won’t be trying to kill or hurt her. And I think she’ll be in that little building he uses as storage for his prisoners before he has a buyer for them so we won’t need to go into the main castle.”

  “Let’s go, then,” Stuart said.

  The four of them made their way up the mountainside, being careful to stay in the trees lining the road so they wouldn’t be seen approaching the castle. When they drew level with the castle, they began to make their way around the perimeter of the wall until they got to the back of it.

  They climbed over the wall and crept to the little outbuilding. Cedric kicked the door and the lock popped, the door slamming back against the wall. That was the one good thing about Fabian—he was so cocky that his security measures were pretty lax. Cedric ran into the building and immediately saw Laila. She was unconscious, lying on a dirty-looking bench. He ran forward and scooped her up into his arms. She didn’t stir, not even when he picked her up.

  He wasn’t overly worried about that. His own pack sometimes used the same potion. It rendered a person completely unconscious for a couple of hours, but there was no lasting damage.

  He turned back to the others and nodded to them and they began making their way back to the wall. As they reached it, a voice called out, breaking through the stillness of the evening.

  “Hey! What do you think you’re doing?” the voice demanded.

  “Taking back what’s mine,” Cedric responded. “And if you know what’s good for you, you won’t try to stop me or get in my way.”

  “You can’t just come in here and take Fabian’s prisoners,” the man snapped.

  “Really? Because I think you’ll find we just did,” Cassie said sarcastically.

  “Someone deal with him before he starts shouting his mouth off and has half of the castle out here,” Cedric said.

  Josh and Harley stepped forward. The man saw the attack coming and started to open his mouth to shout, but before he could, Harley smashed his fist into the man’s face and his cry became a pained squawk. Josh and Harley quickly finished the man off, knocking him unconscious. Josh bent down and stuck a needle in the man’s arm, injecting him with the same potion that had been used on Laila.

  “That should buy us a couple of hours, but when he comes around, he’s going to talk,” Harley said.

  Cedric thought for a moment.

  “Bring him with us,” he said. “We’ll keep him locked away until this is done with. For now, I just want to get Laila home safely and I intend to come back tomorrow and finish Fabian off.”

  “What if he discovers Laila is missing before then?” Stuart asked.

  “Then he’ll know where to find me,” Cedric shrugged. “And I’ll make the fucker sorry he ever met me.”

  Josh and Harley began dragging the man between them. Cedric saw instantly that they were going to have real problems getting him over the wall, and he needed to get the hell out of there with Laila.

  “On second thought, chuck him in the building and find something to jam the door shut with,” Cedric commanded. “If anyone hears anything, they’ll just assume it’s Laila.”

  They did as he said as Cedric, Cassie, and Stuart made their way to the wall. Cassie and Stuart climbed up first and reached down for Laila. Between them, they held her on top of the wall while Cedric climbed up and over it, and then they lowered her back down into his waiting arms.

  They waited a few moments for Josh and Harley to finish up their part of the rescue mission and come and join them, and then they ran back down the mountainside. When they reached the town, Cedric told the others to go home.

  “But what if Fabian comes looking for you?” Josh said.

  “I believe I’ve already told you what will happen if he does,” Cedric said.

  “Yeah, but he’s not likely to come alone, is he?”

  “It’ll be fine,” Cedric said. “I know a little bit more about security than he does. I’ll know long before he gets inside if he’s hanging around my place. And if he isn’t alone, I’ll call you guys, okay?”

  “I don’t like it,” Cassie said.

  “Well, that’s okay, because I’m not asking for you to like it,” Cedric said with a reassuring smile. “I’ll be fine, Cass. Go home.”

  Reluctantly, Cassie turned away and she and Stuart began heading home. Josh and Harley followed them, and Cedric made his way toward his house. As he walked, he vowed that once he knew Laila was definitely safe, he would end Fabian once and for all. And he knew just how to do it.

  He reached home and let himself in, and then paused for a moment, wondering what to do with Laila. Obviously, he planned on keeping her at his place until she awoke so he could keep an eye on her, but he didn’t know where exactly to put her. The couch didn’t seem comfortable enough. His own bed seemed a little presumptuous, and the spare rooms weren’t made up. Finally, he decided on his bed. He wasn’t going to have Laila be uncomfortable, and it wasn’t like he planned on getting into the bed with her.

  He went up the stairs and laid Laila down on his bed. He pulled the duvet over her and looked down at her. She looked so peaceful, like she was just sleeping, and even in the midst of all of this, Cedric couldn’t help but imagine himself slipping into bed beside her, and then Laila waking up and kissing him.

  He shook the image away. He was having a hard enough time controlling himself when Laila was nowhere near him, and now that she was so close, he couldn’t afford to start letting himself think of what might happen between them.

  He moved to the chair in the corner of the room and pulled his cell phone out. He wrote out a text to Polly.

  Polly, it’s Cedric. Laila is with me and she’s safe.

  The reply came back almost instantly.

  Thank you so much. Thank God she’s safe. I’m leaving now to come and see her.

  Cedric texted Polly his address, telling her Laila was at his place and that was where she would
stay until Polly arrived.

  14

  Laila began to wake up slowly, coming up through the layers of sleep in a leisurely way, aware she was warm and comfortable. As she yawned and stretched, she remembered what had happened to her earlier. She was a prisoner, snatched away by Fabian as she had tried to leave the town. Her mom had warned her she was in danger and now she knew that much, if nothing else, was true. Fabian had her and he planned to do… something to her. Something that would make him money. The memory brought her fully awake much quicker than she usually awoke.

  For a moment, she wondered if she had dreamt the whole thing. This place didn’t feel like a prison. She was lying on a soft mattress, a warm duvet over her. But as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw it wasn’t her bedroom. She wasn’t in her little house in Greer and she wasn’t back at her mom’s place either.

  She looked around, fear gnawing at her stomach. The fear became more of a slamming sensation when she realized Fabian was in the room with her. He was sitting on a chair in the corner of the room, and for a moment, she froze, sure he was watching her. As she listened to his deep, even breaths, she thought he was asleep, but she was also aware it could be a trick. His face was bathed in shadow and she couldn’t even tell whether his eyes were open or closed.

  She thought it probably was a trick, that he would get his kicks by lulling her into a false sense of security and then pouncing on her at the last second when she tried to make her escape, letting her taste freedom and then snatching it cruelly back from her. He had already tricked her once. In his original story, her mom had been the bad guy, killing her biological mother and stealing her away from her home, her family. In the second version of his story, her mom had still snatched her away, but at her biological mom’s request, essentially saving her from Fabian.

  She didn’t know for sure which version was true, but if she had to bet on it, she would always bet on her mom. She hated that Fabian had made her doubt her mom, even if only for a few short days. Her mom was no murderer, no monster. Maybe Fabian had made up both versions of the story. The DNA test could have been a fake, although she didn’t believe that. The letter had looked genuine, and her mom hadn’t claimed Fabian wasn’t her father. The part she had trouble believing was the part where her mom wasn’t her mom. She was starting to think her suspicions before she had gone to see Fabian the second time were most likely true. Her mom was her mom, and she had taken her away from Fabian, telling her that her father was dead as a way to save her from his depravity. The photograph of the woman Fabian had claimed was her mom could easily have been Photoshopped to make Laila believe Fabian’s story.

  Whatever the case, she knew she had to try and get out of here. Even if it turned out to be a trick, she knew she had to try. She couldn’t just lie here and play the victim. Apart from all of the personal reasons she refused to do that, she knew that when she didn’t turn up at home, her mom would come here and try to find her, and she didn’t want to put her mom’s life at risk. She had no idea how much time had passed, but she didn’t feel overly groggy and her mouth didn’t feel dry, so she figured it wasn’t more than a couple of hours.

  Laila sat up, being careful to move slowly and quietly so if Fabian wasn’t faking sleep, she didn’t wake him. She pushed the duvet back, got to her feet, and began tiptoeing across the floor. She had barely gone two or three steps when the floorboard beneath her foot gave a loud, ominous creak that cut through the silence like a bulldozer.

  She froze, but she knew she had been caught. Fabian’s breathing changed and she heard him getting to his feet. She started to run, but he covered the distance between them quicker than she could reach the door. He didn’t grab her, didn’t throw her roughly to the ground like she had expected him to. Instead, he positioned himself in front of her.

  “Laila, it’s okay. It’s me. You’re safe now,” he said.

  That was when Laila realized it wasn’t Fabian in the room with her. It was Cedric. A hundred thoughts went through her mind, the clearest one a warning not to be taken in by Cedric’s good looks, by the body she wanted to reach out and touch. If he was working with Fabian, he was bad news, despite what her body was telling her.

  “What are you doing here?” she demanded.

  “Well, it is my house,” he smiled.

  That stopped Laila in her tracks and she frowned at him. He reached out and put his hand on her shoulder, a comforting hand that sent sparks flying through her body.

  “Polly called me, and…”

  “Wait. How do you know Polly?” Laila said, so confused that for a moment, she thought she must be dreaming.

  “I don’t. She knew my father and she called the house hoping to get him, but instead she got me. She told me she thought Fabian had taken you. She was right, but I rescued you and you’re safe now,” Cedric said gently.

  Laila wanted so badly to believe him, but it didn’t make any sense. Why would her mom try to call his father instead of the police? And why would he risk his life to come and rescue her from Fabian, who was clearly unhinged?

  Cedric put his hand on Laila’s elbow and gently propelled her toward the window. He lifted the curtain up, holding it back so that Laila could see out.

  “Look,” he said. “You’re not in the mountains anymore, you’re back in the town.”

  Laila nodded mutely. She wasn’t in her house. She was in Cedric’s house, just like he had told her she was. She was still so confused, had so many questions, but right now, the main message got through. Cedric had saved her from Fabian. He had risked his life to save hers.

  “Your mom is on her way here,” Cedric said.

  “Why?” Laila asked.

  “Well, because she’s worried about you and she wants to see you,” Cedric said with a frown.

  Laila smiled and shook her head.

  “No. I mean why did you save me?” she asked.

  Her heart raced as she looked deep into Cedric’s gorgeous eyes, losing herself in their color, their depth. When he spoke, she could see them soften and she knew that he was telling her the truth.

  “I had no choice, Laila, because as crazy as it sounds considering I hardly know you, I feel like I have known you forever, and I know we’re meant for each other,” he said.

  Despite herself, she nodded her head. She didn’t want to lead him on and she still couldn’t be with him, but how could she do anything except nod her head in agreement right now? How could she deny that she felt exactly the same way as he did when he was being so open, so vulnerable?

  “Laila, I… I’m in love with you. And I know that might scare you, but I don’t care, you need to know it. And I know you say you’re not ready for a relationship and I respect that, but I’m willing to wait until you are ready. I’ll wait as long as it takes,” Cedric added.

  Laila’s head spun at his words, but it was a good spin, the kind that made her want to join in, twirling around with her arms out, her head thrown back, giggling and feeling the moment. Cedric was still looking her in the eye and her body was screaming for his touch, his kiss. Laila knew she should resist him, should resist her own desire, but in that moment, she couldn’t do it.

  She stepped forward and pressed her lips against Cedric’s, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him close against her. She felt sparks flying from her lips and around her body, and she knew Cedric was right—they were meant to be together.

  15

  Cedric felt his cock spring to life, hardening instantly as Laila stepped forward and pressed her lips against his. He didn’t hesitate. He wrapped her in his arms and kissed her back, hoping his kiss could tell her that his words were the truth, that he loved her and would wait forever for her.

  Part of him was screaming, begging him not to do this, telling him it was a mistake. Laila walking away from him once had broken him in some ways, leaving him feeling empty and bereft, and he didn’t think he could bear to go through that again. But even as he thought it, he knew he would bear it if it meant he go
t to spend one more night with Laila, the woman of his dreams. He would sooner bear the heartache of losing her all over again than push her away. Because he knew he didn’t have the strength of mind to keep her at arm’s length, not now that she had made it clear she wanted him. And the only thing he could think of that was worse than Laila letting him love her and then walking away from him, was him not getting the chance to love her before she left him.

  Despite that, Cedric knew he couldn’t do this without making sure it was really what Laila wanted. He didn’t want to get caught up in the moment and miss a sign that said she wasn’t really into this. He didn’t want her to think she owed him this much just because he had saved her. He had saved her because she was his, even if she didn’t know it yet, and he had no intention of treating her as anything less than a queen. He gently pulled his lips back from hers.

  “Laila, are you sure you want to do this?” he asked.

  He looked down at Laila as she stood in his arms, pressed against his chest, against his stomach, against his cock. She smiled up at him.

  “I’m certain,” she said. “And you can’t tell me you don’t want it.”

  She smiled as she said the last part, a flirty smile on her face and her hand rubbing over his hard cock, making him suck in a breath as desire flooded him. He didn’t bother to reply to her. His hungry kiss was all of the answer she needed.

  Their mouths locked together and they began to make their way back toward the bed. Their hands were all over each other, ripping at each other’s clothes, and by the time Cedric laid Laila down on his bed, their clothes were just a distant memory, something that littered Cedric’s bedroom floor.

  Cedric wanted to savor the moment, to make Laila’s body sing before he claimed her pussy, but she was already grasping at his ass, her nails sinking deliciously into his flesh. She had her legs wrapped around him, and she was pushing him toward her center. He thought of pushing her legs away, of sliding down the bed and tasting her sweetness.