Alpha Prince (5 page)

He carries me towards the massive pile of stones and starts climbing. “Don’t worry. I will never hurt you,” he whispers. His voice is so sincere that I feel it
everywhere
. “I will never let anything or anyone hurt you.”

I nuzzle into his chest, feel the hard, rhythmic, steady beating of his heart. It doesn’t matter that I’ve lost the ring that will send me home. It doesn’t matter that I’m in some unknown world with dragons, where everything looks like a crystal. This man.
This man
. I’ve never wanted something this badly before. Even the fears that should be swarming my mind have been silenced. Everything just feels so perfect and safe.

I mean, it’s not like my instincts have screwed me over lately…right?

Chapter 4

When he told me he had “a place around here” to take me, I wasn’t expecting it to be the exact cave I woke up in about an hour ago. After plopping me down, he announced he would go get food. Fine, I thought, until he raced out of the cave and left me all alone!

Let me tell you,
nothing
kills those stupid take-me-now-you-manly-man thoughts faster than being left alone in a cold, dark cave. At first I was a little scared, and then I was a little pissed. I wanted to go find that creepy-ass fairy ring, but daylight was no more than a sliver on the horizon. And then, it got dark.

Really dark.

So I sat there, shivering and cussing in the corner of the cave’s entrance.

It takes him thirty minutes to come back. Finally, his dark silhouette appears at the cave’s entrance. I can see his brow furrow in the pale moonlight. “You look upset. And cold.”

I hug my knees to my chest.
Yeah, no shit!

“You didn’t build a fire,” he announces.

Now it’s my turn to frown. “How the hell am I supposed to do that? There’s no lighter in this cave. You don’t even have matches!” My teeth are chattering so bad I doubt he can even make out what I’m saying.

He plops down whatever he’s carrying, grabs two rocks, and ventures to the fire pit just outside the cave’s entrance. He beats the rocks together. A few sparks fly until the pit catches fire.

“How did you do that?” I yell.

He looks over his shoulder with a grin that’s almost…cocky. I’m not sure if I like that or not. On the one hand, it was kinda sexy. On the other, it looked like he was pitying me.

And, oh boy, if there is one thing I do not like being, it is pitied.

I’m not helpless. Sure, I sometimes make mistakes, but I own those mistakes. Every mistake I’ve made has made me stronger. I’m all about being my own woman and not needing a man. I’d put myself through college, working and applying for every scholarship I qualified for. (This may surprise you, but weird crystal cults out in the middle of nowhere don’t bring in a lot of dough. They also don’t do a lot for your social skills.) Just because I couldn’t face off against a freaking dragon or strike two rocks together to make fire didn’t mean I was helpless!

His grin falls. “Rainbow, come to the fire. You’re cold.”

“I’m fine.”

His eyes narrow with concern. “You’re angry.”

Really? What tipped you off?
“No I’m not.”

“Yes you are. I can smell your anger from here.”

He could smell my anger? What the hell?!?!?!?

He frowns again. “Why did that make you angrier?”

“Look, you’re not supposed to tell a girl she looks angry when she’s angry, alright? Never a good idea. Kind of like telling a bitch she’s acting a like a bitch in heat.”

“What’s wrong with calling a bitch a bitch? Especially since bitches in heat need relief.”

OMFG was this guy for real?

He tilts his head to the side. The corner of his lip turns up with amusement. “Do you need relief, Rainbow?”

Okay dude, wrong thing to say.
Did he have a death wish? “Fuck you.”

He chuckles. Actually chuckles. Like insults are adorable. Then, he grabs the carcass next to him. “Let’s eat first.”

***

The fire crackles, casting long shadows over the rocks and logs. Meat sizzles over the flames. Fat drips off the beast, hissing when it lands in the embers. Normally, I’d find such an animistic display barbaric and creepy, but I’m trapped in the wilderness with a mountain man and hungry as hell.

The man in question breaks off another piece of meat and leans around the fire, offering it to me. “More?”

I nod. My fingers brush against his as I take the meat from him.

I haven’t forgiven him for his previous comments. I haven’t even talked to him since I moved next to the fire (only because I was cold), or accepted his food (only because I was starving and he was offering it). And when we touch, and my heart beats a little faster, and my body gets a little hotter, and my pussy gets a little achier, it only reaffirms just how much I still haven’t forgiven him. I mean, I called him a dick when I sat down on the opposite side of the fire and he told me, point blank, that if I was that interested he’d let me see it—and by the way, he wouldn’t mind if I returned the favor!
What the hell?!?!?

I glower at him. The flames make his skin glow. His mighty muscles bulge every time he moves—to spin the meat over the fire, to reach out and give it to me, even when he leans back, relaxing. And I’m not the only one looking. Mountain man has no manners. What you see is what you get with him. He looks at me like he’s memorizing my every curve…and like he can’t wait to lick each and every one.

But despite the undeniable heat in his eyes, he makes no move towards me. This hunter knows patience…and restraint. I suddenly get the uncomfortable sensation that I’m going to be the one who breaks first. I had to get out of here before that happened.

“So,” I begin.

He raises his eyes to mine. I feel his dominance as strongly as if he’d grabbed my hand and called me his.

Yeah. I definitely have to get out of here fast.

I shiver. “Um…this may be a stupid question, since we’re out in the middle of nowhere, but do you have a phone?”

He frowns. “Phone?”

“Yeah, like a cell phone or a landline or…”
Oh Lord, am I really going to say this?
“A…Crystal…Phone.”

His frown deepens. “Crystal Phone?”

I don’t know whether I should cheer that there’s no phone made of crystal or cry. “You know, a phone. What you use to call somebody.”

“Oh,” he sighs. He glances back at the fire, eyes distant. “Tomorrow, I will take you to the top of the mountain. We can try to call from there, though I can’t promise anyone will hear you.”

“From the top of the mountain? There’s a phone way up there?” That didn’t sound right!

He shakes his head. “I do not understand ‘phone,’ but when I want to call, that’s where I go.”

“Uh…how do you call without a phone?”

He gazes into the fire. Flames dance in his eyes. “I sometimes go up there to yell, but no one answers.”

“You just go up there and…yell?”

He nods.

Alright, that is so messed up. And sad. “Where are we?”

“We are on the mountain,” he replies.

“Alright, but where is this mountain? Like, what country are we in? I’ve never heard of a place made of crystals.”

He frowns. “I don’t know. I have always called it the mountain.”

The mountain? What kind of name was that? “Where do you live?”

He looks confused. “I am from the mountain.”

“Alright, but like, do you have a house on the mountain? Or…a place you like to hang out? Or something?”
Anything?!?!

“I go where I want to, though I often find myself here.” He nods at the barren cave behind us. “Something about this place feels familiar to me.”

I look over my shoulder, back at the cave, shivering. Skulls of horrific beasts line the entrance on top of sticks. I notice a few animal furs rolled up in the corner. “
This
is where you live?”

“Yes.”

“In a cave?”

“Yes. Sometimes I sleep in the ravines, by the river…the world is full of many places one may slip away and wait in.”

Oh, this was going great!
“Well, is there anyone else around?”
You know, someone who might not live in a cave without phones!

“No. No one.”

No one?!?
“You mean you live here all alone?!?”

“Yes.”

“Aren’t you lonely?” I ask.

“Honestly, I never really thought about it until now.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t remember the last time I saw someone, or the last time I wanted to see anyone. I haven’t thought about it for a long time.” His eyes soften. “Until you.”

He glances at my lips. Stands. Walks over to me and kneels in front of me.

I shiver.

“Do I frighten you?” he asks.

“No,” I whisper, breathless.

He tilts his head down so we’re closer. Long strands of his hair hitting my shoulder. “Your heart is beating so quickly.”

“It’s…not from fear.”

“What is it, then?”

Lordie, was he really gonna make me say it?

“It’s just…this new place…” I look at his body. “New feelings.”

I see him shift beneath his Tarzan flap. Oh God. Something’s shifting underneath it, and it is
huge
. I shiver again.

“You keep shivering,” he whispers.

“You noticed?”

“How can I not? Every time you look at me, you shiver.”

My cheeks are on fire. Other parts of me are on fire, too.
Oh hell. This isn’t gonna end well.

“You’re face has turned pink,” he announces.

Alright, that’s
it!
“Hey, you’re not supposed to say things like that!” I try to turn away but he captures my chin. “What the hell are you doing?” I demand.

His eyes study me. “Why am I not supposed to see this?”

“Why? WHY?!? Because it’s embarrassing.”

I try to look away, but his hand is still there, gently guiding my gaze back to his. “But I like it,” he whispers. “I like your pink face.”

I like your pink face
has got to be the shittiest line I have ever heard. Ever. That
anyone
has ever heard.
Ever
. It’s an observation, not a line. There’s no wit. No innuendo.

But lines aren’t spoken with such sincerity. I believe it—believe
him
. And, more than that, I’m kinda liking his caveman style of courtship.

I close my eyes. “Now I’m even more embarrassed.”

“Don’t be. You have nothing to be embarrassed of. You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”

Those words echo in my mind, and with each echo, my blood pressure rises just a tad. I am about to bitch-slap him senseless (I mean, any dude who says shit like that to a woman he just met should not be able to get away with it for the good of womankind). Then, I remember that he’s been stuck on a mountain for only God knows how long, and he hasn’t seen a woman in a really, really long time.

Alright, I’ll let that one slide this one time.
In fact, I better be the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen, because (going from what I know) the only other women he’s seen have probably been female dragons and boars, and that’s just too messed up to contemplate.

His knuckles brush my cheek. Slowly, he slides his hand down my neck, whispering, “Your skin is like tanned hide.”

Wait, what? Tanned hide?
WHAT?!?!?

“And your hair, the color of the sky as it turns from violet to black. The time when night calls me to hunt, and now…” his heated eyes take in my body, “…now, also the night calls me to protect. The darkness is sweet and beautiful. She can conceal you or betray you, kill you or comfort you.”

I shiver. “That description doesn’t sound too sweet or beautiful. It actually sounds scary.”

His eyes meet mine, seeming to glow. It must be the fire—its red flames catching some ruddy pigment in his, turning them to shadowed rubies. “Maybe they are afraid because they are trying to hide something, and there is nothing you can conceal from darkness. You do not conquer night, you submit to it, and through that submission, you find the strength to face anything.”

I swallow, throat suddenly tight. “I’m sorry, I thought you were talking about…my hair? I mean, I got a little confused, is all.”

“Do not be confused,” he whispers. “I am talking about your hair.”

My hair calls you to hunt and protect? It conceals you or betrays you, comforts or kills you? If you submit to my hair, you find the strength to face anything? WHAT THE FUCK?!?!?

I take a deep breath.

Alright, Rainbow. Give the guy a break. He’s been alone on a mountain. Fighting dragons. Eating wild boars. He’s going to be a little…eccentric.
“Look,” I begin, wrapping my arms around my stomach. “I’m giving you a pass because you saved my life and have had a weird life, to put it lightly, but you can’t say this to girls you just met, even if you haven’t seen one in a really long time.”

Frowning, he closes his eyes. Sharply, he inhales. “No, I wasn’t wrong,” he murmurs, opening them again. “You feel it. You like it.”

What the hell?
“Is your nose psychic?”

“You can’t hide anything from me,” he whispers as his lips curl into a wolfish grin. “I have made peace with the night. If you want to escape, you’ll have to make peace with yourself, first.”

“I’ve made plenty of peace with myself, thank you.”

“No you haven’t. You still hide your body.”

I frown. “Look, not all of us live in mountain caves, okay? Where I’m from, you’re supposed to wear these things called
clothes
. You can’t just wander around with your naughty bits flapping to and fro.”

“I’m not talking about your unnecessary cloth.” He leans forward, pressing his hand to my chest. “I’m talking about this.”

My heart is pounding so hard my entire body is throbbing. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Your heart knows. I could hear it beating with recognition when I told you how beautiful you were.”

Alright, my heart must have been making a serious racket if he could hear it!