by Lola Gabriel
“I…” Laila started.
“Laila, listen to me. I’ll tell you everything, I swear, but right now, you need to get out of there. Come home. Leave right now. I know you have no reason to trust me after you’ve found out I have lied to you for all of these years, but there’s a damned good reason for it. Fabian is dangerous. More dangerous than you could ever imagine. And now that he knows who you are, you’re in so much danger. Please, Laila, promise me you’ll leave that place, even if you won’t come home. I’ll meet you anywhere you want me to,” her mom said.
Laila could hear the outright terror in her mom’s voice, and she didn’t doubt the truth of her words for even a second. She felt shame flooding her. How had she even considered believing Fabian’s story?
“I’ll grab my things and leave right away,” Laila said. “I’ll be home as soon as I can.”
“I’ll see you soon,” Laila’s mom said, the relief in her voice as clear as the fear had been.
Laila ended the call and swallowed down a bit of the wine and then she jumped to her feet and ran to the stairs. She went to her bedroom and began throwing her things into a bag. She debated calling Cassie, but it would take too long to explain and she knew how worried her mom would be if she was later than she was expecting her to be. She would call Cassie once she was home. Maybe after hearing the truth from her mom, she would even know what to tell her, hopefully something that didn’t make her sound too crazy.
Within half an hour, she had everything packed. She began to drag her bags down to the car. On the second trip, she put two boxes into the trunk. She turned to go back to the house for more stuff, when she froze in her tracks. Fabian stood not a foot away from her. She hadn’t even heard him approaching. He shook his head, looking disappointed.
“I didn’t want to have to do this, Laila, but you’ve left me no choice,” he said.
His hand darted out as he said it, and Laila didn’t have a chance to move or even to scream for help. She felt a sharp sting in her arm and then cold liquid squirting into her muscle. She felt her body relax, her knees buckling beneath her. Fabian caught her before she hit the ground. She tried to cry out, but she couldn’t speak. She couldn’t move any of her limbs. It was like being paralyzed. Nothing worked except her mind. In her mind, she was screaming bloody murder, but it made no difference. She couldn’t even get a whisper to come out of her mouth.
Fabian carried her around to the side of her house where a car waited. He opened the back door and pushed Laila into the car. He got her into a reasonable imitation of a seated position and then he slammed the door shut. He disappeared from sight for a moment and then he came back into view and got into the driver’s seat.
“I was just locking your car and your front door. We don’t want it to look like you were snatched off the streets, do we?” Fabian said as he pulled away.
Laila could hear the amusement in his voice and it made her mad, but her anger was no match for the terror in her stomach.
“I suppose you want to know what’s going on?” Fabian said.
He looked at her through the rearview mirror. She couldn’t reply, couldn’t even change her facial expression. He still looked amused and the anger began to burn her fear away a little bit. It made no difference, though. Even with a clear mind, she had no plan. How could she escape when she couldn’t even move?
“I should have known better than to trust you, but I really thought we could do this the easy way. I guess you spoke to Polly, huh? What did she tell you? Probably not much—it would take way too long for her to explain it all over the phone and get you to believe it. So my guess is she told you I was dangerous and to run,” Fabian said. He glanced at her in the rearview mirror again. “What, no reply? Cat got your tongue?”
He laughed at his own joke and Laila seethed some more. He shook his head.
“Sorry. Bad joke,” he said. “So, let me tell you what Polly would likely have told you if you’d made it back to her. You are my daughter and she did steal you away from me when you were just minutes old, that much is true. But she didn’t kill your real mom. She took you because your real mom begged her to. To take you and keep you safe from me. I guess it’s fair to say she failed on that point, but I have to give her some credit. I never expected her to be this good at it, to keep you safe from me for so long. It’s ironic, really, because if you hadn’t have come back here, I probably never would have found you.”
Laila kicked herself inside. Her mom—well, no, maybe not her mom, but Polly would always be her mom in her eyes—hadn’t wanted her to come here. But Laila had insisted on it. This was all her own fault for being so damned stubborn and not even considering another option.
Laila’s head was starting to spin and she could feel her eyelids getting heavy. Whatever Fabian had injected her with was starting to knock her out. She had so many questions, questions she wouldn’t be able to ask because she was still mute, but as her head spun, she began to lose the thread of them all anyway.
Fabian glanced at her in the rearview mirror once more, a self-satisfied grin on his face.
“But none of that matters now, Laila. All that matters now is that I have you and I’m going to sell you to the highest bidder. I am going to make a lot of money out of you,” Fabian said, his eyes sparkling with delight.
Make money out of me? What does he mean by that? Laila thought to herself.
She didn’t have time to ponder the answer as the sedative kicked right in and she fell into black oblivion.
13
Cedric frowned when the landline in the dining room began to ring. No one ever called him on that number. As far as he had been aware, no one even knew the number. Hell, he didn’t even know the number himself. He only kept the line because it was easier than getting it disconnected. He considered ignoring it altogether, but something told him to take the call.
“Hello?” he said, picking up the phone.
“Cedric Waters?” a woman’s voice he didn’t recognize asked.
“Yes. Who is this?” he said.
Instead of answering the question, the woman burst into tears.
“Oh, thank God,” she said. “I was afraid you would have moved on by now or changed your number or something. I’m sorry for calling like this, but I need your help and I didn’t know where else to turn. Please say you’ll help me.”
Cedric caught perhaps one word in three. The woman was crying so hard it was almost impossible to understand her words.
“Calm down,” he said, his voice gentle. “I can barely understand you.”
He waited while the woman took a deep breath and began to compose herself. Her voice was shaky, and her breath still hitched a little when she began over again, but she managed to make herself understood this time.
“My name is Polly Kent. I am a witch. I knew your father a long time ago, and when I learned my daughter was coming to Greer, I looked him up to ask him to keep an eye out for her. I found out he had moved on and you were the alpha now. I found a listing for a phone number and I just prayed it was the right one. Fabian, the dark fae in the mountains, has taken my daughter, and I know this is a big favor from a complete stranger, but I really need your help,” Polly said.
“How do you know Fabian has her?” Cedric asked.
None of this was his problem, but he had wanted to get rid of Fabian anyway, so maybe they could kill two birds with one stone this way. It would maybe help him to stop thinking about Laila, although he doubted that would work. He didn’t think anything could get Laila out of his head.
“Fabian is her father. I call her my daughter because I raised her, but the truth is, her mother was one of Fabian’s prisoners. We tricked him into thinking I was a midwife and I was able to sneak Laila away.”
“Wait,” Cedric interrupted. “Your daughter is Laila Kent?”
His heart was hammering as he waited for the reply.
“Yes. Do you know her?” Polly asked.
“Yeah. Go on,” Cedric said, not wan
ting to go into details about how he knew Laila.
One thing was for sure now, though. Whatever story Polly told him, however dangerous it was going to be, he was getting Laila back from Fabian.
“She called me earlier, asking about her father. I had always told her he died before she was born. Fabian had seen her and worked out who she was. He even had her take a DNA test to prove he was her father,” Polly said.
Cedric felt his heart skip a beat. If Laila really was Fabian’s daughter, it meant she was a fae, the same as he was. It meant that she wouldn’t have to make the decision to be turned. She was already a fae, already immortal.
It also explained something to Cedric. It explained what had happened last week. Fabian had taken her and done the test. He had let her go then because he had no reason to think she would try to flee before she got the results. And Laila hadn’t lied to them as such. She didn’t know Fabian or what he was like. He would have used a memory potion on her to make her forget she had been dragged into the car, and as far as she was concerned, she didn’t think she had been abducted. She was just keeping the real reason for her visit to the castle quiet until she knew for sure whether or not Fabian was her father.
“She called me a few hours ago and I told her to get out of there. She should have been home by now. She’s not answering her cell phone. He has to have her, doesn’t he?” Polly said.
She was crying again now. Cedric knew how she felt. The thought of Fabian having Laila made his stomach turn.
“Okay, listen. I want you to stay where you are, okay? Just in case Laila turns up. She could have been held up in traffic or something, and if she’s driving, she likely wouldn’t answer her cell phone. Don’t worry about Fabian. I’m going to take care of it,” he said.
“You’re willing to help me?” Polly asked.
Cedric could hear the doubt in her tone, like she hardly dared to believe he was telling her the truth.
“Of course I am,” Cedric said. “Do you have a pen? I’ll give you my cell phone number.”
He listened as Polly rustled about on her end of the line.
“Okay, go ahead,” she said after a few seconds.
Cedric gave her the number.
“Text me so I have your number,” he said. “I will call you as soon as I have Laila safely back here. And if she does turn up at your place in the meantime, please do let me know.”
“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 th
e 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.
