by Evi Asher
He kissed the top of her head and sighed.
Angelica suspected it was due to contentment. That or this was one well-sated male.
He kissed her shoulder in an absent manner, and murmured in a husky voice, "We are going to do this all night, Geli."
Angelica was on board with that idea. As soon as she caught her breath, she was going to make sure it happened again, but first, she had to know.
“So, now you believe me right?” Angelica knew there was no way he could have missed the fact that she was a virgin when they’d had sex, and it was reasonable to know if she was a virgin, she couldn’t be the woman who had raped him.
“What are you talking about, Geli?” He sounded sexy and content.
“You know I’m not the one who raped you.”
Colt stiffened at her back, making Angelica tense, too.
“You had to remind me of that, right? It's not good enough that I let it go and made love to you anyway. You just had to bring up my time at your hands.”
“What?” Angelica sat up, pulling the quilt up to cover her breasts. “How can you say that, I’m am… I mean was a virgin before you—you…took me now.”
He snorted. He actually snorted. Fury started to burn in her veins. What a complete jerk he was. He didn’t believe he’d just had a virgin. Was the man ten kinds of stupid. Seriously? Angelica was beyond livid.
“Geli, I’ve had a virgin or two in my time, and you were no virgin. So don’t try and bullshit me, okay? I didn't feel any hymen, and no virgin would act so brazen. I’ve tried to let what happened go and you need to do the same so we can move on.”
“There. Will. Be. No. Moving. On.” She bit out each word. “Not until you realize that I’m not the one who raped you, and if you are too dumb to know you just fucked a virgin. then there is no hope of that, is there?” She got off the bed pulling the quilt around her and stomped around the room picking up her clothes.
“Yeah, virgins go around saying Fucked all the time.” He leaned back against the wall behind the bed and folded his arms behind his head. “Let it go, Geli, and come back to bed.”
“Never. You are going to believe that I did that to you for the rest of our lives, and I can’t live like that, so forget this whole damn thing, Colt, because it’s not going to work,” she spat out and stormed out the room, still wrapped in his quilt. He could damn well sleep without it, since she didn’t have her bearskin, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to be sharing his bed so he could share the quilt. She stomped into her room and slammed the door.
“It’s going to work, Angelica.”
She could hear him through the closed door, as tears streamed down her face.
“Because I said it would work,” he finished and Angelica kicked the door for good measure.
Chapter Eleven
Cursing, Angelica grabbed her sore foot. She should have gone and kicked the jerk. At least, then, the sore foot would be worth the pain. The quilt tripped her up and she landed on her butt on the floor with her sore foot still in her hand. Hot tears streamed down her face. How could he do this too her?
It’s a good thing that he’s forgiven you, even if you are innocent.
Angelica snorted and cried harder. She hadn’t done anything, so forgiving her for something she hadn’t done didn’t count to her. He needed to see she was innocent in the first place, and now her only chance was gone.
She hadn’t realized that giving him her virginity would be a way to prove her innocence, but now that she had, the stupid moron hadn’t even noticed.
How could she prove she was innocent? Did she want to anymore?
Damn, how could that male hurt her this much every time she turned around.
Because you care what he thinks. You care a lot about what he thinks.
Her inner voice was right. Angelica pulled her knees up and banged her forehead against her knees. She was falling for Colt. As stubborn and demanding as he could be, he couldn’t seem to hate her, and that meant something to her. She’d seen him with those children and wondered what he’d look like with their children.
She was falling hard, and that wouldn’t do. She had to get away before it was too late, before she spent her life tied to a proud alpha male who thought she’d raped him. That, she couldn’t live with, and she knew that in the end, he’d grow to hate her, too. It wasn’t something they could get past.
She had to get away, and she knew how she was going to do it. She was going to take Kate up on her offer, because she didn’t think her friends would help her out of this situation.
Ath was too much of a romantic to deny Colt a chance to make it work, and Geli couldn’t let that happen. She was scared he might get it right, and she didn’t want to live with his anger over her head.
Angelica got up and wiped the tears from her face. She would wait until Colt was asleep, then sneak out of the cabin and go find Kate. She’d heard Jericho telling Archer which was his cabin.
“Are we going back to the mine?” Michael’s voice was a whisper in the darkened room. She could feel his presence and how, when he spoke, he sucked the heat out of her body. The least she could do was take the ghost back to where he came from. She was sure he didn’t want to spend his after-life tied to her, and she now knew why he was haunting her. The signet ring.
She’d return the ring to where she’d found it, leave the ghost behind and make her way, with Kate’s help, to another town and then to the city, getting lost in the people of this realm so Colt could never find her. She knew enough about the place to get by, so she was sure she could make it. Until she could leave, she’d have to be quiet. Geli curled up on her bedding, drawing Colt’s quilt around her. She buried her head in the material and smelled him all over it. Fresh tears fell down her face and she dashed them away with the back of her hand.
No, she would not cry about that male. She didn’t need his presence to be complete. She was a phoenix, and they’d lived without men for centuries.
You keep telling yourself that, Geli. Her inner voice taunted her.
She must have fallen asleep, because the fire had burned down low and something icy was touching her, making her shiver in the warmth of the quilt.
“Wake up, Angelica.” It was Michael’s familiar whisper in her ear.
“Why?”
She was sleep-mussed and confused.
“We have to leave before the dawn, or we won’t be able to.”
Pain and heartache caused her stomach to form a hard lump as she remembered her decision to leave Colt.
She nodded, sat up, and rubbed her eyes so they would focus better.
“You’d better get dressed,” Michael told her and Angelica felt heat in her cheeks. She’d gone to sleep naked in the quilt, not even thinking to put her clothes back on again.
“Turn around.” She couldn’t see him, but she hoped he’d listen as she scrambled to put on the clothes she’d tossed on the floor when she’d had her tantrum the night before.
She picked up the quilt, intending to take it with for warmth, but Michael spoke. “No, it’s too cumbersome. Leave it here. You can take Colt’s coat instead.”
She nodded and dumped the quilt on the floor. He was right. It was too big to carry around with her. She made sure she had the signet ring and moved quietly out her door. The cabin was quiet—no sound from Colt’s room. She tiptoed to the door and took his coat down off the peg, slipping her arms into it. It was nearly as awkward as the quilt would have been. She drowned in the large garment. At least it would keep her warm.
You mean—At least it smells like Colt.
Angelica shut down her mental inner voice and opened the door. She froze when it creaked. Why had she never noticed that creak before?
The cabin remained quiet, not a sound out of place, so she pulled the door open and walked out into the night.
Now she had to find Jericho’s cabin and get Kate to take her out of here.
She found the place, and it was made easier by the disassemble
d dirt bike on the front porch. She thought only someone like Jericho would leave a half-worked-on machine on the porch over winter.
Angelica had one big problem, though. How was she going to get Kate’s attention?
A curtain by the front window twitched and the door opened. Kate stood in the doorway with a steaming cup of coffee in her hand and Angelica’s stomach growled as she realized she hadn’t had much to eat in the last while.
“Well, well, what do we have here?” Kate said in her throaty voice. “Come on in, Angelica.”
“What about Jericho?” Angelica asked. She didn’t want to have to explain why she was here this time of night.
“He isn’t here. He’s gone off on a hunting trip.”
Okay…Angelica wasn’t sure she wanted to know what that was all about. She had a feeling she wouldn’t like it.
She walked up the steps, and Kate pushed the porch door open for her. She stepped into the warm cabin, and the first thing that hit her was the masculinity of the place. It was a man-cave in every respect. She pitied the poor female who would have to tame Jericho. He even had a jukebox in one corner of the living room.
“Coffee?” Kate offered
“Yes, please. Sweet, if you don’t mind.”
A moment later, Kate handed Angelica a steaming mug of coffee. It smelled like heaven, and Angelica wrapped her hands around the mug, then blew across it to cool it a bit so she could sip it.
“I’m assuming you are here so I can help you escape?” Kate sat down on the chair across from Angelica and pulled her legs up, cupping her coffee mug close to her.
“Yes.” Angelica took a sip of coffee so she wouldn’t have to say any more.
“Things not working out between you and Colt?”
“Look, you offered to get me out of here, and I’m taking you up on that offer, but we don’t have to pretend to like each other.” Angelica regretted the words the minute they left her mouth. It wasn’t like her to be spiteful or mean.
Kate didn’t seem fazed. She shrugged. “Fair enough. So we don’t like each other, and we don’t have to do the girl talk thing.”
“Why are you helping me?” Angelica asked.
Kate leveled a stare at her. “Isn’t it obvious? I want Colt, and you are in the way.”
Angelica swallowed a surge of anger and hate. She wanted nothing more than to get up and beat Kate until the other woman was bloody. Tightening her grip on her coffee cup, she fought the urge.
“He wants nothing to do with you.”
“I don’t know…He kissed me back with enough passion.”
Bile rose in Angelica’s throat, jealousy ripping her insides to shreds.
“Leave him alone.”
Kate laughed, “Who’s going to stop me? You won’t be here. He’ll be ripe for the…fucking.”
The cup flew through the air as Angelica launched herself at Kate, wrapping her hands—hot with flame—around the other woman’s throat.
Kate shoved her hands in between Angelica’s arms and forced them open, and then shoved Angelica back.
“How the hell do you expect to get out of here if you kill me? And gods, do you have to be so jealous? It’s not like you want him. Why not let him be happy with someone else?”
Angelica was thrown back onto her chair and she poised with her teeth clenched, fury boiling in her veins.
Then she noticed that Kate was fine…
“Why aren’t you burned?”
“What?” Kate raised her hands to her throat as if to hide the area.
“Why didn’t my flames burn you, Kate?”
“I don’t know.” The female shrugged it off. “Maybe your power is on the fritz or something.” Kate got up and dusted herself off. “If we are going to leave, we need to leave now. I have provisions already set up and some extra warm clothing for you.”
Angelica stood up from the chair. “You are just going to ignore what happened?”
“Yes, and you’d better ignore it, too if you want to get out of here before Colt wakes up and comes looking for you.”
For a moment, Angelica wasn’t sure she wanted to leave. The time she’d spent with Colt last night had been heavenly until the idiot didn’t notice he took her virginity. The reminder of that hardened her resolve.
She couldn’t stay. She’d made her choice—now she had to have the guts to follow through with it. Heartbreak was inevitable, and the only choice was when. She’d rather suffer now before, her feelings for Colt intensified.
She heard the nearly inaudible whisper in her ear. “Miss Angelica, let’s go now.”
Angelica nodded her head. “Fine, let’s get going. I need you to take me to the haunted town first. Can you?”
“Which haunted town?”
“Radcliff.”
Kate looked perplexed for a moment, then smiled, and once again, it never reached her eyes. “Sure, Radcliff first, then where ever you want to go.”
Kate walked over to some packed bags and handed Angelica the warmer clothes that were on the top. It included a jacket, but Geli couldn’t bear taking off Colt’s coat, so she left the jacket on the chair.
Soon they were ready.
“How are we leaving, on foot?” Geli asked as Kate led them to the back door of the cabin.
“No, I’ve got a snowmobile. I didn’t think you’d be able to drive one, so we’ll take mine.” She opened the door, and icy wind entered the cabin.
They stepped out, and Geli shivered even with all her new warm layers on.
Out back was a snowmobile with a sled attached to the back. It was packed full of what Angelica assumed were the supplies Kate had spoken of.
Next to the sled, though, was a dog. Geli squinted at the dog in the feint light and recognized it.
“Disco? What are you doing here?”
“It’s not like he’s going to answer you,” Kate said as if Angelica was stupid.
The dog chuffed low and came to rub himself against Angelica’s legs.
“Go home, boy. Go to Colt.”
The dog chuffed again and sat down on the snow next to Geli.
“Ignore the dog.” Kate swung her leg over the snowmobile. “Get on.”
Angelica nibbled her lip and looked down at Disco. “Go, shoo.” The dog stared up at her with big blue eyes that looked black in the darkness. Angelica got on behind Kate and the other woman started the machine and pulled off with a flurry of snow.
Angelica flinched at the roar of the machine and held on tighter as they made their way up hill and out the village. At the top of the slope Kate stopped, and looked back at the village.
Angelica noticed that Disco had run with them. “Go home, dog!”
He ignored her and hopped into the sled behind the snowmobile.
Kate laughed. “That dog has decided he’s going to follow you. You won’t get rid of him now.”
Geli sighed and realized Kate was right. She had company whether she wanted it or not.
“Fine, Disco, you can stay, but don’t blame me when Colt gets mad at you for running off.”
The dog chuffed again, his tongue lolling out of his mouth as he gave her a very doggy grin.
“This is your last chance to turn back, Angelica,” Kate said still looking down at the village.
Geli thought about it. She thought about how much she would miss Colt, and those instances when he couldn’t help but come to her, and kiss her till her senses reeled. She thought about how he could be angry but caring at the same time, and she thought about how he’d forgiven her for raping him.
It took a lot for a man to do that. Just a pity that he never realized she hadn’t done the crime in the first place.
She took in a deep breath and faced forward again. “My mind is made up.”
She couldn’t risk falling any more in love with Colt. It would end in more heartache than she could take.
She looked back one last time and mouthed a silent goodbye.
“Let’s go.”
To be Continu
ed…
About the Author
Evi is a die-hard romantic who firmly believes in happy endings and loves all things paranormal. She lives in South Africa, with her (very patient) husband, two children, and too many pets.
Table of Contents
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
About the Author