Untamed: The Savage: The Complete Series (4 page)

“
Y
ou live in a cave
?”

He nodded and sat on the edge of the bed, the mattress sagging from his weight. “Tourists used to come here, but the cave was closed after a few rock slides,” he said, his eyes bright. “I made my home here.”

I looked through the doorway, wondering what else lay beyond. “How is it that nobody’s found you? Surely the park rangers would have looked in here.”

A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. “It’s hidden behind a gap in the walls. You can’t see the entrance, you can only feel it.”

I took another sip of tea, thoughts bouncing around in my head. Alaric swung his legs onto the mattress and settled in beside me, his large frame taking up nearly the entire twin-size bed. He took the mug from my hands and set it on a rock ledge on his side, then urged me down. “Go back to sleep,” he said, his arm draped across my chest.

I rolled to my side and faced him, my muscles wound tight.

“I make you nervous,” he said, brushing hair away from my face.

I stifled a snicker. Well wasn’t that the understatement of the century? “No, no you don’t,” I lied.

He brushed the back of his fingers against my temple, looking at me with unbearable tenderness. “Don’t be afraid…” He paused. “What’s your name?”

“Chloe.”

“I’d never hurt you, Chloe,” he said, my name sounding so foreign on his tongue.

I averted my eyes to keep from falling further into the warm depths of his gaze because, despite logic and reason, I
wanted
to believe him.

His fingers continued to sweep through my hair and eventually, my muscles began to relax, my heart rate slowing. And no matter how hard I tried to stay awake and remain vigilant, my vision eventually dimmed until the shadows on the walls bled onto Alaric’s face.

And then everything was awash in black.

F
rom a faraway place
I felt a tug, then the slide of fabric against my skin, the cool air a welcome respite for my overheating body. Even after I surfaced to consciousness, I kept my eyes shut and reveled in the delicious slide of warm hands on my thighs, spreading me wide open.

When I couldn’t take it anymore, I opened my eyes and found Alaric kneeling between my legs, one hand wrapped around his engorged shaft as he stared down at my wet heat.

His eyes flicked upward and, realizing he’d been caught, flashed a wry grin.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

He huffed through his nose, his gaze once again drawn to my throbbing core. “It doesn’t look like I imagined.”

I stretched my arms over my head and arched my back, a smile playing along my lips. “What did you think it would look like?”

His nostrils flared, his eyes fixed down. “I thought it would be hairy.”

I bit my lips together to keep from laughing. “Some people like to have it waxed.”

“And I thought it would be… bigger.”

“Bigger?”

He glanced down at the hard length in his palm. “To fit.”

I opened my legs further, still drunk on sleep and desire. “It adjusts to accommodate your size.”

His dark eyes fixed on mine as he nodded. “It’s so tight and so good it’s almost too much. Like I might die and go to heaven.”

I chuckled—I couldn’t help it—but the laughter died in my throat when he asked, “What do you taste like?”

I blinked up at Alaric, at a loss for what to say. I’d never really enjoyed receiving oral sex, had always felt too self-conscious to enjoy the act. Needless to say, I’d never, in all my twenty-seven years of existence, tasted myself.

Before I could respond, Alaric reached out and drew two fingers down my slit, spreading my wetness around as he explored my folds. He dipped two fingers inside me then brought them up to his lips. I held my breath as he sucked his fingers into his mouth and let out a rumbling groan that I felt deep in my gut.

He leaned over and did it again, maintaining eye contact while delving deep into my heat. A moment later, he brought his fingers up to my lips. His gaze unnerved me, made me feel laid open and vulnerable, drove me to push past my discomfort.

Finally, my tongue darted out and I tasted myself for the first time. It was a strange flavor, like nothing I’d ever tasted before, but it wasn’t altogether unpleasant. His nostrils flared when I opened up and sucked on his fingers. Then he was on me, his mouth ravaging mine, hands roaming over my heated skin. Just as quickly, he pulled away and flipped me onto my stomach.

I looked over my shoulder, finding him gazing down at my backside with naked wonder. But he held back, even as every muscle in his body strained against his skin. He wet his lips and said, “I want inside you.”

I nodded, understanding what he needed. I set my head on the pillow and lifted my hips, opening myself up like I’d never done before. The old me would have had a heart attack at the idea of doing something so indecent and crude, but this woman, trapped in a cave with a wild man, heartily approved. She even swayed her hips to further entice.

My back arched when Alaric thrust into me in one powerful motion, a gasp escaping my lips. He filled me, stretched me, reached me in a place I didn’t know even existed.

He let out a breath when I squeezed around him, his fingers digging into my hips. “Do that again,” he said on a breath.

I did as he asked, continuing to pulse around him, even after he withdrew and slammed back in. It took two strokes before I was coming, liquid pleasure rushing through my veins and turning my limbs to jelly.

Alaric flattened his body against mine, pressing me down into the mattress. He rocked into me relentlessly, brushing my hair aside and pressing kisses all over my shoulders. He was taking and giving, dominating and supplicating all at once.

I knew he was close when his movements became jerky and his hold on my arms tightened. With his face pressed to my back, he clamped his teeth on my skin, gently biting down on my shoulder as he continued driving into me through his climax.

I loved it all—the slight sting from his teeth, the hard length pulsing inside me, the heady feeling of abandoning everything that made sense in my life. Here, in this moment, I was reborn.

After he had recovered, he nipped along my shoulder and up to my earlobe. “It’s like you were made to fit around me,” he said, his beard tickling the shell of my ear. He rolled off me and immediately tugged me into his chest.

I turned my head and grabbed his hair, bringing our lips together. “Or maybe
you
were made to fit
me
?” I said with a smile. I reached between my legs for his semi-erect shaft and drew it back inside me.

He let out a rumbly, satisfied groan and wrapped his arms tighter around my chest. “I’m going to keep you, Chloe.”

I stilled and held my breath, wondering if this was the time he’d let on his real intentions, when I was too exhausted and trapped to fight back. “Oh? What would you do to me?” I asked through the lump in my throat.

He gave my neck a gentle bite. “I would make love to you all day, every day. Find out all the ways to make you come and do that over and over.” He nuzzled me with his nose and breathed me in. “I would figure out what makes you happy.”

I let out a ragged breath, tears stinging my eyes. I snuggled into his chest, feeling his cock swelling back to life, and tried to get a hold of my tangled emotions.

A
fiercely beautiful
face crowded my vision when I opened my eyes some time later. I let out a sigh while I watched Alaric sleeping, the surly lines between his eyebrows smooth for the time being.

I took the opportunity to study him in this unguarded state. I ran my gaze along the sharp ridge of his nose to his lips and down the strong column of his neck. Before I could help it, my gaze traveled down his muscled torso and even lower still, past his belly button.

I sucked in a breath when I saw the thick, hard length lying heavy against his leg. My core clenched, reminded of how it felt to have him inside me, stretching me, driving in and out. I bit my lip, using all of my willpower to keep from reaching out and wrapping my fingers around him.

I slid out of bed instead, taking one of the blankets and wrapping it around my shoulders. The floor was warm on my bare feet and was surprisingly dirt-free, as if someone had spent considerable time sweeping until only the stone surface remained.

I tiptoed out of the room and emerged into an area three times the size of the bedroom. On one side was a brown couch facing a large white bookcase overflowing with books. I couldn’t even fathom how he could have moved those things in here without being seen. Surely someone would have caught him stealing a bookcase?

It was then I remembered that everything in this cave—the bed, the mug,
everything
—had been stolen. Alaric, for all his unrefined charisma, was still a criminal being hunted down for breaking and entering, theft, and murder.

I turned in place in search of a way out when my eyes came across a deep, rectangular niche carved into the side of the cave about chest-height. I should have been looking for the exit, but curiosity got the best of me and I crept closer to see what the hole contained.

Inside were various tools—sets of screwdrivers, a hammer, chisels—you’d find in any old garage. I walked along the wall as I inspected everything and came upon a flat slab of rock about waist-height. I froze, my stomach dropping to my feet.

On the stone table lay a machete covered in dry blood.

I
sensed
Alaric’s presence before I heard him.

“There you are,” he said in a sleep-roughened voice.

I spun around and accidentally rammed into the corner of the stone slab. I doubled over as pain bloomed over my hip.

Alaric ran to my side, brushing hair away from my face and peering at me in concern. “Show me,” he said.

“I’m fine,” I said, trying to edge away, wrapping the blanket tighter around my shoulder. I needed to get away from him, to escape this cave before I too ended up in the morgue. I took a gamble. “I think it could use some ice,” I said in my most pained voice.

He gave a short nod and disappeared down a dark hallway.

My heart raced. I didn’t think he’d actually have a refrigerator in this place!

I spun around, searching again for the elusive gap in the wall. I ran around the perimeter of the room, finding only solid rock. I ended up at a darkened corner, sliding my palms along the wall, jittery and desperate to find that blasted gap.

“What are you doing?”

I spun around, instinctively flattening my back against the wall. “I was trying to find a bathroom,” I said in a shaky voice.

He approached me with a large rock in his hands, his face hidden in shadows.

This is it. This is how I’m going to die.

I shook my head, silencing the whimpering voice. No matter what, I wasn’t going down without a fight. So I let him approach me, let him lift the blanket away while a flimsy plan formed in my head. I jumped when the rock’s smooth, frigid surface touched my skin.

“Oh my God, it’s cold as ice,” I said, the reason for my trembling now twofold.

His dark brown eyes watched me. “There’s a section of the cave that is always cold. That’s where I keep my food.”

“Can I hold it?” I held out my palm and he placed the rock on it. “Does it look like it’s helped?” I asked, looking down at my hip.

When he crouched down to look, I lifted my arm and swung the rock down on the side of his head. He crumpled to the ground.

I dropped the blanket and ran out of the room, tumbling headlong into the shadowy halls. I turned into the first archway I encountered and quickly backtracked when I realized I’d ended up in the bedroom. I ran around in a near panic until I found myself faced with yet another solid wall, another dead end. I took in big gulps of air, starting to feel the terror rising up from my stomach.

Suddenly I was grabbed around the waist and jerked back into a body as hard and unforgiving as the walls. “Why?” he demanded, his voice edged with anger.

I struggled and screamed, my legs and arms flailing. I tried to hit him with the rock but my blows seemed to have no effect on him.

He held one arm tight around my middle and the other wrapped around my arms and waited. I fought and fought, but it wasn’t too long before I was completely sapped of energy.

“Why?” he gritted through this teeth. His hold was like a vice, never easing up.

I shook my head as tears leaked out my eyes. I kept my lips shut, not trusting myself to speak.

“Are you trying to run away?” he asked, a question and a plea.

“I don’t want to die,” I said as a sob bubbled up from my throat.

He stiffened and all of a sudden his arms fell away, releasing me. “What?” He took hold of my shoulders and turned me to him, his face cloudy with confusion.

“I know what you are. I know what you did to those campers,” I said, refusing to meet his eyes.

His forehead wrinkled as he folded his arms across his chest. “What?”

“You killed them then stole their belongings.”

His features smoothed as understanding dawned on him. But he didn’t deny the accusation. He only blinked at me with an impassive expression on his face.

“I wanted to be wrong about you,” I said, backing away until my back hit the uneven wall. I reached behind me, still hoping to find that elusive gap.

Long minutes passed. He stared at me while I tried to find my way out, but it was a fruitless endeavor. I was trapped.

Finally, he broke the silence. “You think I’m a killer?” he asked, taking an angry step closer.

I held up the rock, reminded of the first night we met and how utterly out of my depth I had been even then. “I know you are. I saw the machete caked in blood.”

He held out his hands, palms up. “You think my hands are capable of murdering a human being?” He reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind my ears. “You think I would hurt you?”

My lips quivered as it took everything in me to look into his eyes. “I know what blood looks like and that was definitely blood on your knife.”

“You’re right,” he said. “It
was
blood.”

I sucked in a breath.

“Elk blood.” The anger slid off his face as he nodded at me. “I hunt to eat.”

Still, my chest was tight, disbelief tangling with hope.

“Do you really think I would kill anyone?” he asked gruffly.

“I don’t know.” I shook my head as the severity of the past few days came down on me. “I don’t even know you.”

He ran a gentle thumb along my lower lip. “Then stay,” he said in a soft, raspy voice. “And get to know me.”

“Stay with you? Here?”

“Yes.”

I pulled away, my heart thundering. I swallowed. “Show me the way out first. Please,” I said. “If you want me to stay, you first need to give me the option of leaving.”

His nose flared but then he gave a short nod. He took hold of my hand and led me back down the hall towards the main room where I’d first started my search. He picked up the blanket from the floor and dusted it off before laying it over my shoulders.

Then he led the way directly to the solid-looking wall behind the bookcase and disappeared into it. Only when he pulled me along did I realize that the walls overlapped, with a sizeable gap in between.

We emerged into an immense cavern, the size of which took my breath away. The ceiling was over a hundred feet high with impressive stalactite formations reaching down. Stalagmites rose up from the ground over twelve feet high, giving the room a jagged, otherworldly appearance.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” I said and looked up to find Alaric smiling at me. “It’s like being on another planet.”

He grinned and tugged on my hand, leading me through the uneven terrain. We walked in silence for a time, where only my heavy breathing and the steady drip of water could be heard.

“This is the only way out?” I asked.

“This is the way I take,” he said and all of a sudden, we were outside. He led me out onto a large plateau high above the red and yellow tinted forest still partially veiled in darkness. He held a finger out to a point in the distance. “There. Your cabin is that way.”

I took a few steps towards the edge, squinting, but all I could make out in the early dawn were trees rolling up and down the mountains. “How far?”

“About five miles.”

I twisted around to look at him. “You carried me for five miles? In the dark?”

One corner of his mouth lifted. “I did.”

“Did Morcillo see you leaving the cabin?”

He shook his head then winced.

“I’m sorry about your head.”

He reached up and rubbed his scalp. “It will heal.”

I turned back to the mountains, my emotions still at war. I could feel him looming behind me, could feel the wall of heat his immense body was emanating. I turned around to face him. “I came here to the mountains to run away from my life. I wanted to be someone else for a week, someone spontaneous, adventurous,” I said. “Then I met you.”

He blinked down at me, waiting.

“I don’t know who you are or what you’re doing here by yourself. I’m not even entirely sure you’re not the serial killer the police are talking about.”

His jaw hardened and his eyebrows drew together.

“To tell you the truth,” I whispered, “I don’t know what to believe anymore.”

He slid a hand around behind my neck and pulled me closer, resting his forehead on mine. “You can go if you still think that about me,” he said, his eyes burning into mine. “I won’t keep you here against your will.”

I closed my eyes and breathed in the same air, focusing on what I knew for sure—the tender way he held me in his arms, the warmth of his eyes when he looked at me, the uninhibited honesty in his words. Despite what everyone else thought, deep down I knew firsthand that inside this wild man was a gentle soul.

With my heart in my throat, I said, “I’ll stay. For the next five days I’m yours.”

He was impassive for a few seconds and then, slowly, a smile lit up his face and crinkled the skin around his eyes. He grabbed hold of my face and kissed me, rough and needy, a promise of things to come.

“Mine,” he said, his breath whispering across my lips.

He turned me back to face the forest and, with his arms wound around my waist, we watched the sky change colors as the sun began its daily rise. And there, enfolded in the warm circle of Alaric’s arms, I greeted the new day.