Once Upon a Caveman

by Cassandra Gannon

  Chapter Three

  Within two seconds of spotting her, the caveman’s hand is already finding its way under the hem of Lucy’s nightshirt. He touches places no one else has touched and she’s super-duper fine with that. Considering what his fingers are doing in those places, she’s sure not going to object.

  Lucy arches against him, sending him a grin. “Hi, caveman.” She says teasingly.

  His gaze roams over her face, as his hands roam over her body. She can see him working through her words, trying to figure them out. Intelligence and desire battle in his incredible brown eyes.

  “Hi.” He whispers back.

  The caveman might not understand English, but he’s smart enough to piece together her familiar greeting and return it. That is amazing. Way better than she could do with his language. Lucy beams, impressed with how bright he is.

  He smiles back at her like she’s the most special girl in the world.

  Rhawn and Lucy’s Dream- Thirteen Years Ago

  For generations, this day had been prophesized. For generations, people had been both fearful that they would live to see it come and inspired by the thought of witnessing it for themselves.

  Yet, this generation was chosen.

  All their legends had been leading to this. All their hopes were pinned to it, especially as the shaking grew worse and the island sank deeper into the sea. This was the moment of their destiny.

  The final battle between good and evil.

  The Clan gathered in reverent excitement, their eyes bright as they gazed at the gods. Finally seeing them was all the Clan hoped for and all that they dreaded. It showed them that the myths were true. Here at the end of time, this man and woman would battle for the souls of all.

  For better or worse, the Ardin had arrived.

  “They are here!” Skoll called, leading the group of men who’d found the gods. He held his spear above his head, the massive tooth pendant at his throat glinting in the sun. “We are saved!”

  Rhawn barely heard his shouting. Skoll was an ass, so it was second nature to ignore him even on days when the world wasn’t ending. Really, though, it wouldn’t have mattered who was talking. From the second he saw the female, Rhawn wasn’t able to process anyone or anything else.

  Blaming Rhawn for the latest shaking, the Clan had confined him in one of the smaller caves while they debated whether or not to execute him. Skoll argued it would be safer to remove Rhawn from their midst, once and for all. Many agreed. Meanwhile, Anniah, daughter of the chief, argued that the gods would be angered if they harmed him. After all, Rhawn was the one who received their visions. Perhaps they had plans for him, beyond the Clan’s understanding. Many people agreed with that, too. Sometimes the same people agreed with both ideas.

  There was so much fear in the Clan these days, most of them would agree with anything.

  Unsure of their correct course, they’d finally compromised on locking Rhawn up. The Clan had fashioned bars from thick bamboo and fastened them over the entrance, trapping him inside. It was pointless and stupid, like much of what they did. He went along with it, because he had nothing else to do. Until now. Until her.

  Rhawn staggered to his feet, gripping the bars as he gazed out at the woman.

  The Destroyer.

  Lucy.

  Her hair fell in enchanted dark waves, her body so much lusher than the thin and muscular women of the clan. She was dressed in the clothing of her magical world, her nails still tipped with the nearly-black paint. Around her neck, there was a necklace of sparkling green beads that must have been more costly than anything else in creation.

  Only someone with the brainpower of a rock could look at her and not see she was made to lure men to their doom. But, Rhawn had never been a man of much intelligence.

  To him she looked… perfect.

  The punch of desire nearly sent him to his knees. His mind was whirling, trying to process what shouldn’t be. How could she be standing right in front of him? It was impossible. His body didn’t give a shit about ‘possible,’ thought. It just wanted to get closer to her. Every instinct in him clambered at him to grab her. To throw her over his shoulder and carry her back to his cave. To Choose her before another man could steal her away.

  She was real.

  The backs of his eyes burned and he squeezed them shut, whispering a prayer of thanks. This wasn’t a dream or a fantasy. Whatever happened next didn’t matter. His mate was standing ten feet from him, beautiful and alive.

  She was real.

  “Holy goddamn frigging hell on a go-cart.” The Savior said in the language of the gods. None of the Clan could understand his words, except for Rhawn, and even he wasn’t sure what they meant. It might have been a prayer, but who did gods pray to? “These freaks are living in caves, Lucy. No wonder they smell so bad, ya know?”

  “Shut up and try to look divine.” The Destroyer hissed back, but she wasn’t really paying attention to the Savior. Her eyes traveled up and down the small valley, cataloguing the caves carved into the stone walls. “This isn’t right.” She whispered. “Where are we?”

  “We’re in a National Geographic special.” The Savior told her. “Like one of those tropical islands where the natives worship Coke bottles.”

  “No, it’s not that.” The Destroyer shook her head, something like fear on her face. “No way.”

  Perhaps she knew her time was drawing to a close. If the stories were true, and thus far they had been completely accurate, the Destroyer and her followers were doomed to die on this island. She must sense that. No wonder she was afraid.

  Rhawn wished he could move closer to her and ease her terrified expression. She hadn’t spotted him yet. Despite his size, Rhawn was good at not being seen, especially locked in his cell. He gazed at her, wondering if she would know him. Gods, but he knew her. The woman was even more gorgeous than she’d been in his dreams. Looking at her, he remembered every inch of her body. The soft glow of her eyes meeting his. The radiance of her smile.

  The feel of her lips.

  His soul was truly damned, because all Rhawn could do was stare at her and want. Many things fascinated him, but sex was right at the top of the list. He rarely got a chance to experiment with it, but now he could think of a thousand different ideas he wanted to try out with Lucy. He knew her arrival signaled the end of the world and he still wanted to roar with triumph.

  Several people edged away from his cell, uneasy at the sight of Rhawn’s predatory grin. Even with the bars separating them, he tended to scare people.

  “Why ‘no way’?” The Savior asked Lucy. “What else could these freaks be except a primitive, lost tribe of Aruba or some shit?”

  “There are no primitive, lost tribes of Aruba.” Lucy snapped. “Are you really that stupid?”

  “Well, you explain it then!”

  “I can’t explain it. That’s the problem. No way does any regular island have an erupting volcano, living sabretooth cats, and a whole village of cavemen, but not anthropologist, biologist, geologist, zoologist, or paleontologist in sight. No way.” Her words came out so fast that Rhawn had a hard time differentiating one from another.

  “Maybe this place is undiscovered.” The Savior tried, but not even he seemed to believe it. “Like Robinson Crusoe or something.”

  “Undiscovered?! It had to be close enough to the path of our cruise that you and I swam to it. How could it possibly be undiscovered?”

  “So it’s gotta be Aruba then. Just like I said.”

  “No, it’s not fucking Aruba.” Lucy leaned closer to him and lowered her voice. “Something is wrong, Warren.”

  His eyebrows drew together. “Like more ‘wrong’ than us sinking and getting kidnapped by refugees from Quest for Fire? Because how much more ‘wrong’ can…?”

  She cut him off, sounding almost frantic. “Like these plants,” she pointed to the um’nah trees, “they don’t exist. That kind of wrong.”

  “You’re goddamn crazy, you know that?”
/>   “I hope I am crazy, because the alternative leaves us in even deeper trouble.”

  “Hey, at least I’m out of the tar pit, so…” The Savior trailed off as he spotted Notan. “Super. Who’s this Yoda guy now?”

  The chief came down from his cave, leaning heavily on his cane. There was no mistaking he was in charge. The rest of the Clan moved aside so he could pass.

  Notan gave the gods the traditional blessings and praises of Clan, liberally sprinkled with beseeching calls for mercy and benevolence. It went on for a while. Even Rhawn was impressed with the eloquence of the oration. He could only imagine how long it had taken Notan to compose and memorize it. He must have been working on it for ages, anticipating this moment and how it would be remembered for all time.

  The gods responded to the carefully worded speech with blank stares.

  Notan deflated in frustration. “Rhawn, the Accursed.” He wheezed, seeing that they had no idea what he’d just said to them. “You understand their sacred language. Translate my words.”

  Rhawn braced himself as everyone turned to look at his cell.

  Instantly, he felt the Destroyer’s attention fall on him. She drew in a sharp breath, like she was the one amazed. Her green gaze met his and he lost all ability to think. No one else ever stared into his eyes. It was like a physical touch.

  How could she be so evil and so… perfect?

  “Hi.” He said quietly. It was the way she always greeted him in the dreams and he saw her lips part in recognition.

  The Savior didn’t seem to hear the greeting. He glanced at Lucy, then over at Rhawn, and then back again. “You know this shirtless giant, Moose-y?”

  “I dreamed of him.” Her lips barely moved, all her attention on Rhawn.

  The Savior didn’t like that. “You dream of half-naked criminals? He’s all locked-up in caveman jail! Jesus, even you could do better.” He sent Rhawn a glare, his body shifting so it was closer to the Destroyer. He placed a hand on her arm, like he was trying to protect her.

  Rhawn’s gaze narrowed in response. Did the Savior want Lucy for himself? Rhawn’s fingers tightened on the bars, wanting to drag the Savior away from her small body. This woman was his.

  …Even if she was evil.

  For her part, Lucy didn’t even seem to notice the other man. Instead, she gazed at Rhawn like he was a ghost. Had she not known he really existed? Wasn’t it her who sent the dreams?

  The Savior glowered between them, as if he sensed Rhawn’s resolve and Lucy’s confusion. At a loss as to what to do, the other man settled for pointing a finger at Rhawn. “Dude, you leave her alone.” He ordered.

  Rhawn’s jaw ticked. He would not surrender Lucy to this man or any other. Not without a fight that left him victorious or dead. It didn’t matter that the Savior was a god, Lucy belonged to Rhawn and he would not give her up.

  Ever.

  “Rhawn, have you done something to anger the Savior?” Notan demanded, seeing the male deity’s scowl.

  “He believes the Destroyer favors me.” Rhawn answered, his eyes on the dark-haired male god. He disliked the Savior on sight, which just went to prove that his soul really was lost. Seeing the man’s hand on Lucy’s arm caused Rhawn’s jaw to clench. “He is… displeased.”

  The Clan began murmuring amongst themselves. No one seemed very surprised that the Destroyer would single him out or that the Savior would despise him for it. Rhawn did have “Accursed” after his name, after all.

  “Now, what are they jabbering about?” The Savior demanded.

  “Say something to fix this, you fool.” Notan snapped at Rhawn. “The Savior is the only one who can help us and you’ve already angered him! Repeat each word of my speech, so he knows of our humble thanks and obedience.”

  Rhawn barely glanced his way, his attention on Lucy. “You’ve locked me in this cage because you think I’m cursed. What makes you think I will help any of you?”

  “You’ll help us or we’ll kill you right now!” Skoll bellowed back.

  Rhawn snorted. “If you planned to kill me, you would have done it long ago. You’re too afraid of what you might unleash. What if I am in league with the darkness?”

  Skoll’s jaw ticked. He looked over at Notan. “We do not need Rhawn. If we kill the Destroyer now, all this will end.”

  “Kill the Destroyer?” Notan scowled. “We can’t. She is all-powerful. Only the Savior can strike her down.”

  “She is smaller than we thought she’d be. Weaker. If we can stop this before he even has to slay her, wouldn’t that be better? We can at least try to…”

  “I will speak to the woman.” Rhawn interjected, before anyone started buying into Skoll’s line of reasoning. “Attempting to harm her will do nothing, except trigger our destruction. Gods may look weak, but it is all part of their ruse.” He glanced at Notan. “You may hate me, but you know I do not wish to see the island sink. I will translate your speech and we will follow the rules of the Ardin. It is the only way we will survive.”

  “Father, let Rhawn try.” Anniah urged.

  The old man wasn’t completely convinced, but he relented. “Use my exact words. It must be precise.”

  “Of course.” Rhawn lied and switched to the language of the gods. “Welcome.” He said shortly. The leader had said a lot more, but that was close enough.

  The Savior and the Destroyer both stared at him.

  “Holy shit! The big one can talk.” The Savior blurted out and looked at the woman. “Did you know these Co-Mags could talk?”

  The Destroyer ignored him, still gazing at Rhawn. “Who are you?” She asked quietly.

  His eyebrows drew together. She didn’t know who he was? How could she not know, given their history? It was… annoying. Hurtful. “I am Rhawn. I told you this, remember?”

  “Oh, I remember.” She gave a high-pitched laugh that sounded close to tears. “I just wanted to double-check when I was --ya know-- conscious.” She ran a hand through her hair, looking on the verge of collapse. “Jesus, I never should have RSVPed for the stupid reunion. That’s what started all this. I’m losing my mind, because I wouldn’t just walk away from the damn cruise ticket. What was I thinking?”

  She was a being of unimaginable power and cruelty, but Rhawn’s heart flipped over as he saw her fighting back tears. He moved as close as he could to the bars, instinctively wanting to shield her. By nature, he always wanted to protect, although no one ever desired his help. “It will be alright.” He soothed. “I promise you, Lou-cee.”

  The Savior slanted him another glower and pulled the woman closer, blaming Rhawn for her upset. “Stay calm and let me handle this, alright, Luce? I can talk to people. Even the primitive ones.” He refocused on Rhawn and squinted in deep concentration. “Me. Warr-en.” He put a palm flat on his chest, speaking veeeerrryyyy sllllooooowllllyyyy. “Me friend.” He gave an exaggerated nod.

  Rhawn bit back a snarl. Gods, had he really spent his life praying to this moron? “I understand your language.” He said flatly. “You can speak in a normal way.”

  “Ask him if he’s come to save us.” Tammoh, one of the Clan’s best hunters, called.

  “How will he bring us to our new lands?” Someone else demanded. It sounded like Ctindel’s mate, Jenda.

  “When will he fight the Destroyer?” The final question came from Skoll and everyone grew quiet again, waiting for an answer.

  Rhawn’s eyes flicked to the woman, again. She was in no condition to fight. Skoll was right; they could probably kill her right now. For whatever reason, she looked to be in a state of shock. Her body shivered so badly, he was surprised she was still on her feet.

  Obviously, this was the perfect time for the Savior to strike her down.

  Warr-en could easily end the Ardin, right now. It was the best strategy. All Rhawn had to do was point that out and this would all be over. Everyone would be safe. His gaze met the Destroyer’s, again. Her eyes were damp with tears and confusion. She looked up at him like she was lost. Like
she needed protection and he was someone worthy to give it.

  Rhawn’s mind raced for a beat. “We cannot have the battle, yet.” He heard himself tell the Clan, once again proving his mental weakness. “The Savior tells me we must first,” he hesitated. Shit. What would stall them? “…have a feast.”

  Notan’s bushy gray eyebrows compressed. “A feast?”

  “Yes.” Rhawn raised his voice so everyone could hear and gave into his worst impulses. Siding with evil shouldn’t fill him with so much satisfaction, but he could not allow Lucy to be harmed. She didn’t seem capable of defending herself, so he would do it for her. “He is Warr-en, the Mighty!” Rhawn gestured towards Warren with an expansive hand. “He has come to save us!”

  Anniah, Notan’s daughter, gave a happy cry, clapping her hands together. As the Clan’s healer, she was an intelligent woman. Still, she gazed at Warren with the delight and wonder of a child presented with a magic trick. She wasn’t alone. Everyone was excited to have the Savior presented to them, at last.

  It made Rhawn’s plan easier.

  “Warren is gladdened by our welcome and by Notan’s great words.” Notan preened at that and Rhawn marveled at how simple this was. He should try lying more often. Perhaps he had a talent for it. “The god wishes to see us celebrate his arrival. The festivities will give him the strength he needs for his coming victory.”

  This time the whole Clan cheered.

  The Savior frowned in confusion as dozens of people rushed forward to genuflect at him. “What the hell…?”

  “They wish to honor you.” Rhawn told him and saw the man grow more arrogant.

  “They do, huh?” Warr-en smirked over at the woman. “You hear that, Moose-y? They wish to honor me.” He tugged on her sleeve when she didn’t respond. “Lucy, did you hear that? Finally, I’m getting some recognition, ya know?”

  She batted him aside.

  Rhawn suppressed his pleased smirk. “We have food and offerings for you, Warr-en. The Clan has long awaited your arrival. You must go with them and rejoice.”