Untamed: The Savage: The Complete Series (5 page)

I
never knew
anything could feel so good.

Her tongue sliding along my neck, her hair falling through my fingers, even the way her nails scraped down my back. Everything about this woman was something straight out of my dreams.

Her hands traced down my stomach. “You can’t be real,” Chloe said, saying my thoughts aloud.

I kept my eyes on the stone ceiling for another second, basking in the soft melody of Chloe’s voice. I’d read the line “like music to my ears” once in a book, never really understanding what it meant until the first moment I heard her speak. The sound of her voice, even when it was tinged with fear, had done something to me, like a small electric shock that made the hair on my body stand on end.

I turned to my side and faced Chloe: her big green eyes, her tiny nose that turned up a little at the end, and the two shallow dimples that appeared on her cheeks whenever she smiled. How was it possible I spent thirty years of my life without seeing that face? And how could I go another thirty without seeing it again?

“Why do you look at me like that?” She pressed her thumb to the space between my eyebrows, smoothing the wrinkled skin there. “You look angry and baffled at the same time.”

I smiled and kissed her again for the thousandth time today. I couldn’t help it. I needed to touch her in some way or I would go crazy.

I finally broke away when my lungs burned for air. “Because you hurt my eyes.” I knew I’d said the wrong thing when she pulled away. I ran a hand down my face and leaned up on my elbow. “I mean you’re beautiful like the sun. And looking at you directly is nearly impossible.”

She smiled, her cheeks red and the skin around her mouth rubbed raw. “Tell me about yourself, Alaric.”

I pressed my face into the curve of her neck and inhaled. Her scent was like nothing I’d ever known, and one whiff made my body do strange things. I’d read about pheromones in a book once, how it’s nature’s way of encouraging reproduction, but my feelings for Chloe was more than just a primal mating call. I had wanted her on a base level from the first moment I’d laid eyes on her, but it was her scent that convinced me she had to be mine.

And now here she was in my bed, in my cave. The sight of her naked and smiling almost had me beating my chest with pride.

Her fingers slid through my hair and grabbed on. She laughed when I nuzzled her with my beard. “That tickles.” She pulled back so we were face to face. “Now stop hiding and just please answer the question.”

“I’m not hiding. What do you want to know?”

“Um, how about something easy: What is your favorite color?”

I tucked some of her chocolate brown hair behind her ears to see more of her face. “Green, like your eyes. Like the forest.”

She blinked up at me with a dazed look on her face, the same look she wore whenever I admitted something. Maybe where she came from, men didn’t speak so openly about their thoughts and feelings. Hell, maybe I would have been the same if I’d stayed in that world. But I left everything behind fifteen years ago, and I never intended to go back.

Chloe hooked a hand behind my neck and pulled me down for another kiss. My blood boiled again, my body coming back to life. I rained kisses down her chest, her stomach, and lower. She arched her back and sighed when I reached my destination.

I slid a finger inside her and rubbed the spot that made her squirm.

“Alaric,” she sighed. If that was the only sound I could hear for the rest of my life, I would die a happy man. “Yes…”

It didn’t take long until her whole body tightened and she came with a long groan. I held her hips down as she bucked, my tongue still going until the shaking in her legs stopped.

“How do you know how to do that?” she asked a minute later, trying to catch her breath. “I thought you were a virgin.”

I sat up and swiped a hand over my mouth. “Instinct.”

“Some men have years and years of experience, but still don’t know how to do that what you just did.”

“I pay attention to what makes you react and if it’s a good reaction, I do that.” I added, “And I was fifteen when I left.”

She laughed, the most wonderful sound in the world. “I forgot that fifteen year old boys are experts on sex.”

“Plenty of time for research.”

“Let me guess, you read your dad’s Playboy magazines?” she asked, wagging her eyebrows.

My good humor died at the mention of the man I’d avoided thinking about for half of my life. I slid my hand down Chloe’s thigh, trying to draw her attention away.

But her eyes were still sharp and curious. “What’s your full name?”

“Just call me Alaric,” I said, hoping she’d leave it at that. I continued my diversionary tactics, tickling her sides.

She grabbed my wrist. “Surely you have a last name? Middle name?”

I let out a breath. Were all women like this? I looked at her for a long time, weighing how much to tell, if it was even worth the breath. “Just Alaric.”

My father’s words sliced through my brain in that moment:
You’re nothing, you piece of shit. You’re nobody.

“What about—”

“Enough, Chloe.” I rolled away and off the bed, slamming shut that door to my former life. I’d kept it sealed shut all these years and here she was, prying it open with her innocent questions.

“Is that why you’re here alone?” she asked, trying a different tactic. “Because you’re hiding from your past?”

I spun to face her, my heart pounding like I’d been sprinting through the forest. “I’m not hiding.”

“What are you running away from, Alaric?”

I tugged on my pants, keeping my back to her. When I turned around, she was standing in front of me with her hands on her waist, her expression set in stone. If she wasn’t so small, I might have been scared.

I picked up her sweater and dropped it on her head. “Put this on. Let’s get something to eat.”

I took her to the room in the back, the coldest and darkest area of the cave. She was a little tense as we entered, her arms wrapped around herself as she looked around. The room was no bigger than a two-man tent, my head barely clearing the ceiling, but it was sufficient for my needs.

“Would you like an apple?” I asked, choosing the least bruised from the wood bowl.

“No.” Her voice was chillier than the air in this room.

I went to the blue cooler in the back. “Meat?”

She shook her head.

“A carrot?”

Nothing.

I blew hair away from my face. “Is this what’s called the
cold shoulder
?”

Chloe spun to face me, her expression still hard. After some time, the lines bracketing her mouth softened. “Yeah, I guess it is,” she said with a sigh.

I walked over to her with offerings in hand. I bent down and dropped a kiss on her shoulder. “What can I do to warm it up again?”

She picked up the apple and took a small bite. “Food is a good start, I guess.” She looked around the room while she chewed. “Where did you get all of this?”

“There’s an orchard nearby. I take the ones on the ground.”

“And the vegetables?”

“Same thing. From farms around this area.” Sometimes I had to travel several miles, usually in cold weather, in order to find any food. Sometimes in the winter I’d go without for a week or two.

“Do you feel bad for stealing?”

“No.”

She glanced up at me in surprise. “Not even a little?”

I shrugged. “The guilt is not as important as the need to survive.”

“Do you see yourself living here, stealing, for the rest of your life?”

“I don’t see why not.”

Her cheeks colored while I looked at her until she finally turned away. It was probably for the best. I couldn’t stand the judgment in her eyes one second longer.

“Where do you live?” I asked.

“Atlanta.”

My muscles seized at the mention of the place.

Chloe’s eyes got wide. “Is that where you’re from?”

My throat closed up. I couldn’t swallow, couldn’t breathe. I shook my head. Technically it was the truth.

Chloe nodded. She was willful but she was also patient. “Okay. No more prying.”

“
D
o
you have any clothes I can borrow?” Chloe asked some time later, looking down at her sweater. “This thing could use a wash.”

I went to the small niche I’d carved into the wall, looking through the small pile of clothes I had collected over the years. I found a red, long-sleeved plaid shirt and handed it to her. “Will this fit?”

She took off her sweater and slipped into the shirt. She laughed as she pushed up the sleeves and buttoned up the front. When she was done, she held out her arms, the shirt engulfing her tiny frame. “Does this make me look fat?” she asked with a teasing smile.

I sat the edge of the bed. “Yes.”

She laughed and pushed at my shoulder. “Hey!”

“What did I say?”

“The truth, I guess,” she said then came to stand between my legs. She brushed hair away from my face, a gesture that I’d come to love. “Although I find your honesty refreshing. Most men would just learn to say whatever it takes to appease their woman.”

I held her by the waist and grinned. “I would never lie to you,” I said, squeezing possessively. “
My
woman.”

“Oh, am I?” she asked with a smile.

“Yes. You’re in my forest, you belong to me.”

“You
are
a caveman.” She smirked and turned to go, but I grabbed her hand and tugged her back to me.

I wrapped my arms around her waist, trapping her in place. I tilted my head back to look at this vision in my arms, my heart beating fast. “And I belong to you.”

Her expression softened and she bent down to kiss me. Without warning, I spun her around and dropped her on the bed, hanging over her. She was a beautiful mystery, one that I intended to figure out.

“Are all women like you?” I asked, my hands seeking her soft flesh under the shirt.

Her eyebrows knotted. “Not all.”

“Tell me about yourself,” I said, pinching a nipple between my fingers.

“Well, I’m an only child,” she said with a soft laugh. “My parents divorced when I was young. I grew up in a mansion with my father.”

I touched my nose to her neck. “More.”

“My father was strict,” she said, gasping as my tongue touched her skin. “For as long as I can remember, I had rules, things I needed to do in order to be the perfect daughter. And I followed them and took them to heart. I lived my life in the confines of an invisible box, never really testing the boundaries.”

“And now?” I whispered against her ear.

“Now I’m living from one moment to the next. I’m way out of my comfort zone.”

I pulled away, smiled. “There are no straight lines and no boxes around here. You can do whatever you want.”

She put her hands on my chest, her fingers fanned out. “Sounds like a place I never want to leave.”

“Then… stay?”

I
stared up at Alaric
, feeling his heart thundering under my hand. The sincerity in his face almost broke my heart. “I can’t,” I said as gently as I could.

As soon as the words were out, he climbed off me and onto the floor. He set his hands on the back of his neck and paced the room, lost in thought.

I sat up, unnerved by the sudden change in his mood. “I told you I only had five days. I have to go back to work. I have consultations and projects that need to be finished.”

He stopped and looked at me, the skin between his eyebrows once again wrinkled. “I’m just thinking.”

“Of?”

“How to make your time here memorable.”

“Oh.”

“What can I do to make sure you’ll never forget me?”

I shuffled on my knees until I reached the end of the bed. I hooked a finger into the waistband of his jeans and pulled him closer. “Believe me, I’ll never forget you for as long as I live.”

He held my face in his large hands and leaned his forehead against mine, letting out a long sigh through his nose. “It’s not enough time.”

“Then let’s make the best of it,” I said, pulling him down onto the bed with me.

“
C
ome
.” Alaric stood over me with a hand held out.

“Where?” I sat up and ran a finger through my mussed hair. Without product or even a brush, no doubt it looked like I’d been dancing through a tornado.

“I want you to see something.”

“Is it a shower?” I asked, putting on his shirt and jeans. The rest of my clothes lay in a pile at the corner of the room, waiting to be washed.

He stood at the doorway, hands hooked on the top of the arched doorway while he waited. “Just come.”

He led the way out past the overlapping walls and out towards the mouth of the cave. I let out a sigh when we stepped out onto the rock plateau overlooking the forest. Even at this time of night the forest was visible, as if someone had simply forgotten to turn off a lamp.

Alaric took hold of my shoulders and turned me around. I gasped at the sight of the perfect glowing orb hanging so low in the sky, it looked almost possible to touch.

“Wow.” It was all I could come up with when faced with such grandeur. As I stared up into the sky, a shiver racked my body.

Alaric wrapped his arms around me from behind, his body a furnace.

“Aren’t you cold? You’re not even wearing a shirt,” I said. “Or shoes.”

He shook his head, nuzzling his face into my neck. “No. You set me on fire.”

I snorted. “That’s a good pickup line.”

“What’s a pickup line?”

“Um, it’s a thing—usually cheesy—that people say when trying to flirt with someone. Mostly lies a guy tells a girl at a bar so she’ll sleep with him.”

He lifted his head. “I haven’t said a word that’s not true.”

I wove my fingers through his and pulled his arms tighter around me. “I know. That’s why I’m here.”

We were quiet for a moment as we gazed at the shadowy world around us. “Do you come out here a lot?” I asked.

“Sometimes. Not always,” he said, his voice rough and low. “Being out here makes me feel too small, like I’m nothing in this great big universe.”

I turned around to face him, trying to sift through the textures of emotion in his voice. “Do you really believe that?”

“Sometimes.” His face was hidden in shadows but I didn’t need to see in order to feel the waves of melancholy rolling off him.

Again I wondered about his past, but Alaric was like the forest itself, revealing his secrets in seasons. I simply needed to be patient. “Well, I hate to break it to you but you’re wrong,” I said, running my fingers up his bare chest. “To me you’re bigger than life.”

T
he next morning
Alaric handed me a pair of brown hiking boots that were a few sizes too big for my feet.

“Um?”

“It was all I could find,” he said.

I stared down at the scuffs on the boots’ leather surface, wondering about their travels and their owner. “You know you don’t have to steal for me. I have shoes back at the cabin.”

He stood up and picked up a large plastic bucket. “Come on. Let’s go.”

My feet swam around in the shoes, but I was grateful for them anyway as we made our way down the rusty metal stairs that climbed down the rock plateau, abandoned since the caves closed to tourists. The metal structure creaked and wobbled with each step but Alaric’s touch steadied my nerves.

We walked along a forest path covered in fallen leaves, holding hands. “In the summer, this place is lit up with fireflies at sundown,” he said, gesturing around. “Little lights twinkling in the darkness. Like a Christmas tree.”

“Sounds beautiful. I’ll have to come back to see it.”

Alaric’s head swung around to me. “You’re coming back?”

I squeezed his hand. “I said I couldn’t stay. I never said I wasn’t coming back.”

We were quiet as we walked, but the forest played a symphony around us, the sounds of the leaves rustling, the birds singing in the trees. It was early yet, and out here it felt as if we were the only two people in the world.

After a half mile of walking, I heard the telltale sound of rushing water. We stopped when we came upon a narrow river fed by a waterfall. The scene was straight out of a postcard, the early morning light bathing the trees in golds and reds, moss-covered rocks framing the waterfall.

I broke away from Alaric and hurried to the bank, kicking off the boots along the way. The breath rushed out of me when my feet hit the water. “Oh my God, it’s so cold!” I turned back to Alaric, who was standing at the banks with a grin. “You could have warned me.”

He chuckled and shrugged.

I started to fold up the hem of my pants but decided to just pull them off altogether. Alaric watched me with a raised eyebrow, a bemused smile still on his lips.

Sucking in deep breaths, I waded deeper in the water to get closer to the waterfall.

“Crazy,” he said, shaking his head.

“I haven’t had a shower in a few days. I
need
this.” I scooped up a handful of water, took a deep breath, and splashed water on my face. It was incredibly cold but refreshing.

Before I could lose my nerve, I pulled off my shirt and threw it onto the bank. Naked and knee-deep in water, I threw my arms out to the sides and lifted my face to the sun. In that moment, I had no insecurities, no worries about manners and modesty.

Here, in this paradise, I was free.

Alaric’s gravelly voice raked up my spine. “You are beautiful.”

I looked over my shoulder and found him watching me with a dark gaze. I shivered, imagining his thoughts. A second later, he dropped the bucket and his pants and waded into the water after me, seemingly unaffected by the temperature.

“You’re not affected by shrinkage?” I asked, pointedly looking down at his sizable erection.

“Not when you’re naked.” He scooped me up into his arms and threw me over his shoulder then waded deeper into the water. He reached behind me and ran the edge of his hand along the soft wet crease between my legs. Just when I began to moan, he dropped me.

I came sputtering back to the surface, irritated, cold, and still inexplicably turned on. The cold water was like a thousand little whips lashing at my skin, painful and delicious all at once. I stood up, the water sluicing down my skin.

Alaric stood over me, hands on his waist, a smile playing along his lips. “Do you feel clean yet?” he asked with a dangerous glint in his eyes.

I held his gaze. “No.”

With his free hand, he scooped some water and swashed it against my heated mound. When I gasped he did it again, and then again, his eyes never leaving my face. His cold fingers parted my folds and filled me, pleasured me until I was nothing but a helpless, trembling creature.

Without warning he lifted me and carried me to the bank, laying me gently onto a patch of grass. He loomed over me, face partially hidden by his long hair as he lowered his body to mine. His arms framed my face, elbows sinking into the wet ground. His shaft settled on my mound, a heavy, pulsating length of steel.

Before he could react I spun us both so that he was on his back and I was on top. He tried to sit up but I held him down. In his eyes I could see the struggle against the instinct to take control.

“Just lay back,” I said, pushing at his chest until he finally relented. His eyes grew wide as I lifted up and positioned his shaft at my cleft. “You’ve never felt a woman on top, have you?”

A muscle in his jaw ticked. “No.”

His lips parted when I started the slow slide down, taking him in inch by inch, squeezing the entire way. He gripped my waist, trying to urge me down faster, but I pulled his hands away. “Nuh-uh. I’m the boss now.”

A smile played along his lips as his hands landed on me again, this time cupping my ass. “You think you can tame me?” he asked with a devilish grin.

I bent and moved to kiss him, only to take his lips between my teeth. “I know I can,” I said and proceeded to bite his nose. When he started to struggle, I lifted my hips and slammed down.

He gasped, his eyes wide. “Do that again.”

I leaned down and held his wrists above his head. With our faces a hair’s breadth away, I said, “Only if you surrender.”

He grinned. “I surrender.”

I slammed back down on him.

“I surrender,” he gasped.

And again.

“I surrend—”

I covered his mouth with mine, kissing him hard, absorbing his words into me. I sat up and set my hands on his chest, setting an aggressive rhythm that had him clutching at me, begging me to keep going.

Alaric couldn’t form words. His body was one taut muscle screaming for release. To see this powerful man reduced to a panting, desperate creature turned me on, driving me even as my legs threatened to give out.

I let out a shout as the tightly coiled muscle in me released, sending shockwaves of pleasure through my limbs. My cries echoed around us, as much a part of nature as the trees and birds around us.

A few seconds later Alaric followed me over the edge. He sat up, arms tight around my back, and thrust up into me over and over until he was spent.

We lay back on the grass, trying to catch our breath as we looked up at the cyan sky. There were probably bugs crawling in my hair and dirt all over my backside, but I didn’t get up. All that mattered, all that existed, was the cool earth underneath, the warm sun above, and the fiery man beside me.

I reached over and took hold of his hand, tethering myself to this moment.

Alaric turned his head to look at me. Then he burst out laughing, a deep, rich sound that echoed around us.

“What’s so funny?” I couldn’t help but laugh along.

He reached over and rubbed my chin with his thumb. “You need another bath.”

I swiped my finger on the dirt and wiped it along the bridge of his nose. “So do you.”

He growled and reached for me, but I rolled away from his reach and ran back into the water. He was right behind me, grabbing me around the waist and carrying me until we were right under the waterfall.

I gasped when the cold water hit my head. I flattened myself against his chest, stealing his warmth.
You keep me safe, I keep you wild,
I found myself thinking.

He threaded his fingers through my hair, starting from the scalp and sliding down, releasing the tangles.

I looked up at him as he washed me, studying his angular face, sure that I was in a dream. This man, this forest, couldn’t possibly be real.

I reached up and ran the back of my fingers to the scruff on his jaw. “How do you shave?”

“A knife.”

“Cut your hair?”

“Knife.”

“Brush your teeth?” Then quickly added, “And if you say a knife, I’ll be very worried.”

He raised an eyebrow. “With a toothbrush. Like normal people.”

I laughed and he continued working his fingers through my hair.

“Why are you staring?” he asked after some time.

I tilted my face up, water dotting my skin. “You have everyone fooled.”

He frowned. “Why?”

“Everyone thinks you’re a savage, a wild man. And here you are, taking care of me like I’m the most fragile thing in the world.”

He gathered my hair and wrapped it around his hand twice. “No, not fragile. Precious,” he said, bending down and capturing my lips with his. “And I take care of what is precious to me.”

T
hat night Alaric
made a fire in a section of the caves where part of the ceiling opened up to the dark sky.

“So the police don’t see the fire,” he explained as he added more kindling. He set down a metal grate over the flames and laid out two long skewers of meat.

“Deer?” I asked.

“Elk. The one I hunted a few days ago.”

My mind went back to the machete covered in blood and my face flamed. How could I have thought that this gentle, playful man was dangerous, let alone a murderer? I’ve watched too much CSI, that much was clear. There was not a violent bone in his body.

I leaned back on my hands, looking up at the stars visible through the opening. If we couldn’t have a bonfire outside, then this was as close to it as we were going to get.

“Here.”

I accepted the stick and took a tentative bite of the meat. The flavor was similar to beef with a slightly coarser texture. I might as well have been eating leather. I took another bite regardless, knowing this was my only meal until tomorrow.

“Has it gone bad?” Alaric asked. He sniffed his food before taking a bite.

I swallowed the food with some effort. “No, it’s fine. Really. It’s good.” Hell, I was out here in the wilderness, staying with a wild man who hunted and foraged for his food. Who was I to be so picky?

“You don’t like it,” he said, his eyes still on me, reading my every thought.

I bit my lips together, wishing more than anything that I was no longer that same girl who refused to eat steak or even hamburgers because it tasted gamey. I guess that meant my transformation to this new, carefree Chloe was not yet complete. I took another, larger bite of the meat to prove something, but whatever it was got lost when I gagged.