Alpha Temptation: Sanmere Shifters Romance Collection

by Lola Gabriel

  “I need to feel you inside of me,” Laila whispered.

  Cedric had to do what she wanted. He couldn’t hold himself back any longer, not after that. He plunged his cock into her warm, tight core, a pussy that could have been made just for him. He moaned as he felt her pulling him in, welcoming him. She was his. She had to be his.

  He began to move inside of her, his erection going wild as Laila’s warmth enveloped him and spurred him on. Her hands roamed over his back, pushing into his hair and then disappearing again, moving down his sides, onto his hips. Their mouths were locked together as they shared a kiss that was passionate, but was also about more than just desire. It was a sensual kiss, a kiss that told him this was more than just a fuck.

  Cedric dragged his lips from Laila’s, kissing her neck and her bare shoulders as she moved in time with his thrusts. He could already feel his climax hovering around, threatening to overwhelm him, but somehow, he forced himself to hold back, not wanting this to be over so soon.

  Laila writhed beneath him, and he felt her gasping breath warm on his shoulder and neck as she pressed her face against him, breathing in his scent. She moaned his name as her orgasm washed over her. He felt her core tighten and a rush of warm wetness cascaded over him, and he found himself moaning with her.

  He plunged into her again as her grip on him tightened and her muscles went rigid as pleasure coursed through her body. He let go then, pounding into Laila, hard and fast strokes that drew her orgasm out, making her moan his name over and over again. He felt his climax bursting from the base of his cock and up and out of him, filling Laila and filling his stomach with warmth as his body came to life, ecstasy taking over him for a moment.

  He lifted his head up, throwing it back as he called Laila’s name, his cock twitching and his whole body alive with pleasure. He relaxed as his climax began to fade. Panting for breath, he leaned down and kissed Laila one more time, and then he rolled off her, already missing the warmth of her body against his, the heat of her center wrapped around his length.

  He lay on his back beside her, trying to get his breath back. She was panting too, and he turned his head to the side, watching her chest rise and fall as she fought to get her breathing back to normal. He couldn’t help but notice her breasts, her pink nipples, the rippling flesh as her chest heaved.

  As Cedric began to feel more in control of himself, he rolled over so he was facing Laila. She sat up quickly, pulling her knees up to her chest and rocking slightly, and he thought he had seen a tear on her cheek before she sat up.

  Fuck, he thought to himself. What have I done? She didn’t really want to do that but she felt like she had to, and now she’s crying and she hates me.

  “Shit, Laila, I’m sorry,” Cedric started.

  He pushed himself up into a sitting position too, and he reached out to wrap Laila in his arms, but he stopped himself. That would surely only make this worse.

  “What for?” Laila sniffed.

  She turned her head and frowned at him, but despite her words and her frown, tears still slipped down her face.

  “For making you cry,” Cedric said helplessly. “For going too far, and…”

  “Stop,” she said with a smile. She released her knees and ran her hand over his cheek, a gentle caress that sent shivers through Cedric. “You didn’t upset me. You saved me and then you fucked me back to life.”

  “Okay,” Cedric said, a little uncertainly. “So what’s wrong?”

  “Everything else,” Laila sighed. “I just… there’s so much I don’t understand. Fabian has told me two different stories and neither of them fully match my mom’s story and I’m just confused. I feel like I don’t know who I am anymore and I’m scared that Fabian isn’t going to stop coming for me, and I don’t even know what he wants with me. He said something about me making him a lot of money. What does that even mean?”

  Her words came out of her in a rush, and this time, Cedric couldn’t stop himself from pulling her into his arms. He held her and stroked her hair as her body trembled against him. She let him hold her for a moment and then she pulled back slightly so that she could look into his eyes.

  “You know the truth, don’t you?” she whispered.

  “Yes,” Cedric admitted. “But you shouldn’t hear it from me. You should hear it from Polly. She shouldn’t be much longer now.”

  Laila shook her head.

  “I don’t want to wait any longer. Please, Cedric, if any of what you said to me is true, then help me to understand this. Help me to find a way to get Fabian off my case and tell me who the hell I am and what he wants with me,” she pleaded.

  Cedric knew he should wait for Polly and let her be the one to tell Laila the whole truth, but he also knew he couldn’t resist her plea and he felt himself nodding his head.

  “Okay, I’ll tell you,” he said. “But you need to have an open mind for this because it’s all going to sound kind of crazy.”

  He felt Laila relax in his arms and she nodded her head. He leaned back against the headboard of the bed, and Laila shifted slightly so her back was leaning against his chest. She put her hands on top of his where they lay on her stomach. She nodded again.

  “My mind is open. Just tell me,” she said.

  “You really are Fabian’s daughter. And Polly isn’t your biological mother. Your biological mother begged Polly to help her, to take you away from Greer and keep you safe from Fabian. She wanted you to be safe and she wanted you to have a normal human life. I assume Polly has given you some sort of potion that keeps your fae side at bay, and I think she’s likely taking the same thing to keep her witch side hidden or you would have become suspicious when she didn’t age.”

  “I… what?” Laila interrupted.

  “I told you that you would need an open mind. Laila, you’re a fairy. And Fabian is too, but Fabian is an evil fae, one who will do anything for his own gain. Female born immortals are rare and that makes you valuable to Fabian. My guess is he was planning on selling you to the highest bidder to be their mate.”

  Laila didn’t say anything and Cedric knew she was trying to process all of this.

  “I know it’s a lot to take in, and I think speaking to Polly will clear a lot of it up. She’ll explain everything better than I can. But I want you to really hear this part, Laila. I won’t let Fabian hurt you ever again. I will die before I let him come near you. Do you understand that much at least?”

  Laila nodded and Cedric thought he felt her relax a little bit.

  16

  I’ve either gone mad or I’ve wandered into some sort of crazy town here, Laila thought to herself as she listened to Cedric’s story. Fairies and witches and immortality. He was crazy. Or maybe she was crazy. Maybe both. But it couldn’t be real. That much she did know.

  “Cedric, I appreciate you keeping me safe from Fabian, really I do,” she said. And that much was true. She had heard the vow in Cedric’s voice. He wouldn’t let Fabian near her again. “But the rest of it? I’m not a fae, Cedric. Fairies aren’t real. I don’t know if I’m mad, or you’re mad, or if the whole damned world is mad. I feel like this is all a really elaborate joke.”

  “Like I said, I know it’s a lot to take in,” Cedric said. His voice was calm, normal. He didn’t sound crazy but Laila didn’t feel crazy, and it had to be one or the other. “I’m real, Laila. Do you feel me against you?”

  He rubbed his fingers over her stomach and she nodded.

  “Of course,” she said.

  “I’m real, Laila. I’m here, holding you, loving you. And I’m a fae,” Cedric said.

  “Right,” Laila said, a little bit sarcastically. “So we’re all fairies here, then?”

  “Not exactly,” Cedric said. “Let me ask you something. When you went up into the mountains, did you see Fabian’s castle?”

  Laila nodded her head.

  “Humans can’t see that castle. Fabian has it guarded with a strong protection charm that stops humans from seeing it,” Cedric said.
r />   Laila’s head was spinning again. Wasn’t that pretty much what Jack had said when he told his story in her classroom? Did the whole town believe this story so completely that they believed the castle was invisible? Was it some sort of mass hysteria?

  As crazy as Cedric’s story sounded, he didn’t sound crazy. He was stable, genuine, calm. And his arms felt good around Laila. She felt so safe when she was with him. Was it possible that it was all true? It didn’t sound possible, but surely there were things on earth that Laila didn’t know about or understand. What if this was one of them? But her? A fae?

  “If I’m a fairy, why don’t I have wings?” she demanded suddenly.

  “Because you’re a real fairy, not one from a children’s story,” Cedric said. Laila could hear the smile in his voice. “Real fairies can’t fly. We have heightened senses, heightened instincts, and we are immortal. We stop aging at twenty-nine and there are only certain things that can kill us—we don’t get human diseases and if we have an injury, we can heal ourselves. The only things that can kill us are decapitation, Ure, a kind of metal, or a wound so severe we bleed out before we can heal ourselves. We have magic, which we use to make potions and charms. This isn’t making any sense, is it?”

  Laila shook her head. Honestly, it wasn’t.

  “Don’t worry. I didn’t really expect you to believe this. But once Polly gets here, she can tell you the same thing as I have and if you want to know for sure, you can take the potion that will undo the potion that holds your fae side back. And then you’ll know for sure,” Cedric said. “Until then, do you trust me to keep you safe from Fabian?”

  “Yes,” Laila said without hesitation.

  She knew if none of this was real and Cedric was living in some sort of dream world, then she maybe shouldn’t trust him, but she did. There was no getting away from that. She trusted Cedric completely.

  “Imagine for a second I believe this fairy stuff. How old are you really?” she asked.

  “Well, in human terms, I stopped aging at twenty-nine, so my body is, and always will be, twenty-nine. But I have been around for just over three hundred years,” Cedric replied.

  Somehow, the matter-of-fact way he said it made Laila think there was some truth to all of this.

  “Tell me about life three hundred years ago,” she said.

  Before Cedric could begin, Laila’s cell phone rang. She pulled herself from Cedric’s arms, missing his warmth, his solidity.

  “Hold that thought. That must be my mom,” she said.

  She jumped off the bed and rummaged through their discarded clothes on the floor until she found her cell phone. It was indeed her mom, and she took the call, holding two fingers up to Cedric, telling him she would be two minutes. She slipped out of his room and into the hallway.

  “Mom?” she said.

  “Nope, it’s Dad,” Fabian’s voice said.

  Laila felt herself go cold inside. His voice was full of glee, and the implication of him calling her from her mom’s cell phone wasn’t lost on her.

  “Where’s my mom? What have you done to her? If you’ve hurt her, I swear I’ll kill you,” Laila said.

  “So dramatic. You definitely get that from your mom’s side,” Fabian replied. “In answer to your question, your mom is dead. Polly, on the other hand, is very much alive. She’s right here in my castle. It was almost too easy to take her. I was on my way to Cedric’s place—that interfering fucker is going to get it—but I stumbled across Polly instead, and well, it seemed much easier to get you back this way and then deal with Cedric later.”

  “What do you want?” Laila demanded.

  “It’s simple, Laila. I want you. Come to my castle, alone, and accept your fate, or Polly dies. And believe me when I say it will be a long and painful death. You have two hours to show up here or she’s gone.”

  He ended the call, leaving Laila standing holding her cell phone stupidly for a moment. What the hell do I do now? she thought to herself. Fabian had given her a choice. Her or her mom.

  She turned and opened the bedroom door and stepped back in. Cedric was still sitting on the bed where she had left him. He jumped up when he saw the look on Laila’s face, and in that moment, she made her choice. She chose to trust in Cedric.

  “That wasn’t my mom,” Laila said. “It was Fabian. On my mom’s cell phone. He has her, Cedric. He said I have to go to the castle alone and accept my fate. If I’m not there in two hours, he will kill my mom.”

  She could feel tears prickling at the corner of her eyes as Cedric came to her and wrapped her in his arms.

  “You’re not going anywhere near that castle, Laila. I need you to promise me you will stay right here. And I swear to you I will save your mom,” he said.

  Laila nodded, certain she had made the right decision. If someone had told her a couple of weeks ago that she would trust a man she had known for less than two weeks with something so important, she would have laughed at them and told them they were nuts. But here she was doing it, and nothing she had ever done before had ever felt so right.

  17

  Polly bit down hard on the inside of her lip. She felt like crying, but she wasn’t going to allow herself the indulgence of tears. Not in front of Fabian.

  She was in a large metal cage, the kind she imagined was originally made to keep large animals in before people decided that was inhumane and zoos started to build proper enclosures. That wasn’t why she felt like crying, though. It wasn’t even Fabian’s presence as he stalked around outside of the cage laughing and tormenting her.

  What bothered Polly more than anything was the phone call Fabian had made from her cell phone just over half an hour ago. The phone call where he had demanded Laila come to the castle alone or he would kill Polly. Polly didn’t care in that moment what happened to her. Her sadness came from knowing that Laila would come for her.

  Polly thought that even if Laila came, Fabian would kill her anyway, but even if he kept his end of the bargain and let her go, she would still lose Laila, still fail Catherine. She would rather die herself and have Laila leave Greer and go underground somewhere. Or truthfully, she would like to kill Fabian. She wished she had done it all of those years ago when she had the chance, but Fabian was powerful, and the castle had always been filled with his men. And he was no fool. If she had tried to slip something into his food or drink, he would have known it, and at the time, Polly had been afraid that if she had done it, Catherine would end up taking the rap for it.

  “The great Polly Kent,” Fabian said from outside of the cage in a mocking tone. “How the mighty have fallen. You really thought you could keep her away from me for all of these years, didn’t you?”

  Polly didn’t answer. She just looked at Fabian, hoping her disgust for him showed on her face. If it did, it didn’t faze Fabian. It didn’t even slow him down.

  “The best part of it is that you were doing a good job of it—too good—and then lo and behold, the silly girl delivers herself to me. That must have been painful for you, learning your precious little Laila was coming to Greer, and knowing you couldn’t tell her not to without explaining why,” Fabian said.

  Polly knew her face had given away the hurt she felt at his comments when he grinned wickedly at her. How could she not be hurt by what he was saying when he was so right?

  “And there you sit, finally about to pay for what you’ve done,” Fabian went on. “Do you still think taking the potion to repress your supernatural side was a good idea? A witch with no magic. You’re less than useless.”

  Fabian turned away from Polly before he could see how much that comment hurt her—another comment that hit home because of the simple truth of the matter. When Polly had left Greer with Laila and had given her the potion to repress her fairy side and give her the normal human life her mom had wanted her to have, she had known she, too, would have to take the potion, otherwise Laila would eventually question why Polly never aged. And yes, she regretted that decision more than anything in that mo
ment. Yet again, she had failed Laila. Yet again, she had failed Catherine.

  Polly turned as Fabian did, seeing a man come into the room. He ignored Polly completely, focusing only on Fabian.

  “The scouts have reported that Laila is on her way up to the castle. And that she’s alone,” the man said.

  Polly’s heart sank. She had known Laila would come, but until it was confirmed that she was on her way, she had hoped that she was wrong, that Cedric would stop her from coming somehow.

  “Thank you,” Fabian said. “Bring her straight to me when she gets to the castle.”

  The man nodded and left the room and Fabian turned back to Polly.

  “You know, as happy as I am to have Laila back, I half hoped she wouldn’t come so that I could kill you. I would have enjoyed that,” Fabian said.

  “Who are you kidding, Fabian? You’re going to kill me anyway,” Polly said with a sigh.

  “Ah, how well you know me,” he smirked.

  He fell silent, and the next time either of them spoke was when Laila was escorted into the room. The man who had announced she was coming came in with her, his hand on her arm. She kept trying to throw him off.

  “I came here of my own free will,” Laila snapped. “There’s no need to drag me around.”

  “She’s right, Carl. Let go of her,” Fabian said.

  Carl nodded and instantly took his hand from Laila’s arm.

  “Leave us,” Fabian said.

  “That’s not a good idea,” Carl said.

  “You don’t think I can overpower her if I need to?” Fabian said with a raised eyebrow.

  Carl flushed red and instantly nodded his head and scuttled out of the room.

  “Let my mom go,” Laila said. “I kept my end of the bargain, now you keep yours.”

  “Laila, no, don’t do this,” Polly said quickly. “Just…”

  “I’m sorry, Mom. My mind is made up,” Laila said. She turned back to Fabian. “I said let her go.”

  Fabian shrugged his shoulders and came over to Polly’s cage, looking amused. He smiled at Polly.