Apollo grabs some gear before we leave the cabin, saying he has plans to teach me how to fish. His enjoyment in the simplicity of life up here is contagious. As he leads me to the river, I daydream about staying up here with him forever.
I’ve never really thought about what I want to do with my life, aside from learning more about my biological family (and look at how well that turned out!). I certainly haven’t considered what traits I would want in a husband, or where I would want to live with him. Now, I find myself thinking about those very things. Try as I might, I just can’t imagine anyone but Apollo in that role in my life.
We make it to the river. “Oh! You’ve been holding out on me!” I exclaim when I see that there’s not just the promised river, but a picturesque waterfall.
Apollo throws his head back as he laughs at my reaction. “Yeah? So, I take it this is a good surprise?”
“The best,” I say. I don’t waste any time, kicking off my sandals and dipping my toes in the water as he gets the fishing gear ready. I was all ready to dive into the water headfirst, but Apollo explained to me that I wouldn’t want to scare our dinner off. He told me that he had learned that lesson from experience during his first few months of living up here.
As we fish for our dinner, we talk. Apollo tells me more about what motivated him to move away from civilization. I’m moved by his story, especially when he answers my more personal questions about why he started to fight professionally in the first place. He tells me about his family, joking that it’s only fair, since he got my whole family history just yesterday.
That’s one of the things that I love about Apollo: His sense of humor. Wait a minute… love? I can’t be falling in love with him, can I?
But as I think about it, I realize that I already have. This handsome and kind man saved me, and I love him. I’m not sure if I can tell him just yet, though. It feels far too soon. Well, with that realization, there’s only one thing to do now: Distract myself. Once we’ve caught enough fish for dinner, I propose that we go swimming, and Apollo is only too happy to oblige, so we strip off our clothes and dive into the water.
The water is surprisingly warm, so I float, watching as Apollo swims in circles around me, muscles rippling beneath the water. He’s so beautiful, I want to put my hands on him again. When he comes close, I reach out to him, dragging my fingertips along his damp shoulders.
Apollo smiles, water droplets dripping from his hair and onto my forehead as he bends down to kiss me. He nibbles gently at the spot on my lower lip that makes me shudder. I feel weightless in the water as I shift to wrap my bare legs around his waist. Just as I feel Apollo’s erection pressing against my belly, he pulls his mouth from mine with a start.
Chapter 13- Apollo
I wish I could stay in the water with Freya forever. Here, at the waterfall, it feels like time is suspended, we don’t have to worry about anything but each other. Unfortunately, it can’t last forever as I smell something in the air.
There’s a storm brewing.
A quick glance up at the sky confirms my suspicions. “Quick, we have to get out of the water,” I tell Freya. Gripping her hips, I lift her out of the water.
“Why? What’s wrong?” Freya asks as I hurriedly pass along her clothes.
“There’s a thunderstorm coming, we shouldn’t be in the water when it hits.” Where’s my shirt? Oh, forget it. I’ve got my jeans and tennis shoes on and Freya is dressed in the clothes I gave her, that’s good enough.
“What’s wrong with that?” Freya asks as she jogs after me.
“Electricity and water don’t mix. Plus, this might be the first big storm of the season, there hasn’t been any rain for awhile. The forest is too dry, if lightning strikes, we’ll have a fire on our hands.” I explain.
We run through the forest, dodging trees and rocks as we go. Even as we do, rain drops start to fall from the sky and I can hear thunder and lightning cutting through the air. Suddenly, it happens: I smell smoke.
“Damn it! Lightning just hit.” I spit and increase my pace. I can hear Freya right behind me, she’s keeping up with me without a problem. I’m damn impressed with her.
“Wait, this isn’t the way back to your cabin! We’re close to the village?” She shouts.
“I know, that’s the closest shelter, we don’t have much choice!”
We stop at the edge of the trees and watch from afar as the cultists stand out in the rain, staring back at the sky, faces rapt with worship. Damn fools. Don’t they know how dangerous this storm is going to be?
Chapter 14- Freya
Over the tree line, I see tendrils of smoke drifting up to the stormy sky. Apollo sees it too. “Damn it!”
“What do we do? Should we warn them?” I hesitantly ask. Despite my offer, I really don’t want to go down there and face these people again. They tried to kill me, just yesterday! But that doesn’t mean that I want them to burn to death or be electrocuted.
Next to me, Apollo’s brow is drawn in concentration, and the fire is getting closer. “I have an idea,” he says. “It might not work, but it’s our best shot at getting them to clear out of here without us having to associate with them. Given yesterday, they may just tie us both to a tree and wait around for it to be struck by divine lightning or something. That’s a chance that I’m sure as hell not willing to take with you!”
While Apollo started at a quiet tone, by the time he had finished his explanation, he sounded agitated… but in defense of me. Even with the scary incoming storm that’s hit and the cultists so close, I still feel safe with him.
“What’s your plan?” I ask him.
“Those speakers I told you about? They’re all around this area. They’re not afraid of the storm, but they are afraid of their “beast” that stalks these trees. I’ve got the remote with me, I’ll ramp up the volume, blast the fake animal and beast noises… it should be enough to scare them out of the way.”
“God, you’re brilliant!” I exclaim and lean forward to give him a quick kiss. Apollo winks at me and whips out the small black remote that was tucked into his jeans pocket. He taps out a sequence on the buttons, and the sound of the thunder and lightning is drowned out by roars. They’re the same sounds that I heard yesterday, but this time I know what they are.
The cultists in front of us don’t. They scatter into the trees, fleeing the sounds of a “beast”. Even though she tried to have me sacrificed, I still try to see Sage in the crowd. I can’t though—with everyone dressed so similarly, it’s too difficult to separate my biological mother from the rest of the cult members. I keep one eye on them and one on the sky, waiting for the fire to get close enough that Apollo and I will have to run.
It happens quickly, the flames leaping and dancing through the trees towards the rudimentary structures the cultists call home.
“Run!” Apollo shouts and pulls me deeper into the trees. He crouches behind a large pile of rocks, pulling me close against him. “We should be safe enough back here.”
I don’t know how long we huddle together behind those rocks. It could be minutes or it could be hours. All I know is the warmth of Apollo’s skin as I press my cheek to his bare chest. He strokes my hair, whispering soothing nonsense in my ear.
“The coast should be clear now,” Apollo whispers, as though he’s afraid to draw nature’s attention to our position by speaking too loudly.
We creep out from behind the trees, hand in hand. I gasp at the sight before us.
The fire caused by the lightening has practically eradicated the town. There’s nothing left but smoking rubble and remnants of building frameworks. If I hadn’t just seen it, I would never have guessed that there was a town here once.
Apollo is silent next to me as we overlook the destruction. When he does speak, he sounds… well, stunned. “Huh… maybe there’s something to be said for their beliefs and suspicions about these woods. I don’t think that they’ll be coming back here.”
Neither do I.
Chapt
er 15- Apollo
The storm has passed, and Freya and I walk sedately back to my cabin. We don’t talk about what we just saw. This has got to be so hard for Freya. Just yesterday, she met her biological mother… the same woman who tried to kill her not hours later. Now, she’s watched as the town that they resided in burned to the ground in a freak of nature storm.
When we reach the cabin, take a seat on the couch together. I speak up. “I like having you here,” I tell Freya.
“That’s good… I like being here.” Wait, did she really just say that? I turn to look at Freya and she keeps talking. “I like you. It certainly wasn’t my intention to fall in love when I came up here. All I wanted to do was find out where I came from, but I think… I think I found where I’m going. If… if that’s something that you would want?”
Freya trails off after her impassioned speech, glancing down at her lap. Her fingers twist together and I realize that she’s nervous to hear my response.
“Stay.” It’s all I can think of to say.
“What?” She asks.
“I want that too. You should stay here with me.” Saying the words out loud feel better than I ever thought it would.
Freya’s face lights up at my words and she flings herself at me. She’s smiling so hard when she kisses me that our teeth clang together. I pull back with a laugh and stroke her cheek with my thumb. She’s always beautiful, but when she smiles… she’s unbelievable.
“Slow down, we’ve got forever,” I whisper against her ear and twine my fingers through her long hair. I stroke the seam of her soft lips with my tongue and press her down against the couch cushions with my weight. It doesn’t take long for the both of us to be gasping for breath against each other’s lips.
I shove her shirt up and off, leaning down to lick at the skin of her breasts. Freya digs her nails into my bare shoulders when I apply my teeth to her nipple. In the morning, I’ll still have scratch marks there.
Almost in unison, Freya and I peel off our pants. I drape myself over her and grind myself against the soft curves of her stomach. I want to make love to her again, but last night was her first time—I don’t want to hurt her. So instead, I use my fingers, dipping them between her folds in quick thrusts. She comes apart under me with a groan of my name. Burying my face in the light spill of her hair, I follow her over the edge.
We lay together on the couch and I trace random patterns across the skin of her arms, listening as her breathing evens out and she drifts off to sleep.
Chapter 16- Epilogue- Freya
Who would have thought that some of the most terrifying moments of my life would lead me to the most wonderful? Certainly not me. If someone had told me six years ago that looking into the story of my biological mother would lead me to the life that I have now, I would have laughed in their face!
After meeting Apollo, I stayed with him for the full time that I had told my parents I would be on that “girl’s trip”. I flew back home to meet them, with promises to Apollo that I would be back before he could miss me.
I told my parents the truth about what had happened to me in the woods. They were understandably upset… but not with me. They were angry at what I had been through but grateful that I was safe. Before I left to move in with Apollo in his cabin in the forest, I made sure to communicate to them how much I appreciated how they had kept me safe and raised me with so much love. I still talk to them on the phone, with the occasional visit for the holidays. Our relationship is as strong as it ever was.
I learned about my birth father, too. I had went into this thinking that he was a bad person, that he had kidnapped me from my poor victim of a biological mother. How wrong was I? As it turns out, the roles in that story are reversed. According to police records, my biological father died while hiking less than a year after he took me to the safety of the orphanage. The autopsy report said that he had a broken neck. I have my suspicions though, and they match those of the campers that found his body: Somebody killed him. I just know that it was Sage and her cult. That’s what upsets me more than what I went through with Sage. I would have liked the opportunity to thank him for saving me, for taking me away from those awful people when I was too young to protect myself.
Both he and my adoptive parents have been a huge influence on how I raise my and Apollo’s two children. A couple of years ago, we adopted twin boys! Their names are Ryan and Aaron. I hadn’t been sure if the adoption agency would be okay with Apollo and I caring for them: We do live in a cabin in the woods, after all. Thankfully, the social worker saw how quickly I fell in love with the two toddlers and we were granted custody.
The one thing that I did differently with my kids than my parents did with me is find out as much as I could about their roots. If Ryan and Aaron ever have questions about their biological family members when they grow up, they can come to me. I have a manila folder with the information that the adoption agency gave me, and information that I found all on my own. I never want them to be in the situation that I was in: Searching for something and trusting someone who should have protected you, only to be betrayed by them.
After that fateful storm, I never saw Sage or any of her cult members again. I’m very thankful for that. Apollo thinks that the cult took the storm that destroyed their village as a sign from the spirits in the mountain and sought to live and worship elsewhere. I’m sure that they’re still out there somewhere, making offerings to trees and the wild animals around them. Without them living nearby, the woods are a much safer place. Even if the cult was still nearby, I know that my sons and I would be safe here. Apollo is very protective of us, and so are the wolf dogs.
Boss and Joe are nothing like what I expected them to be. My first impression of them was snarling beasts, running out from the dark of the night to potentially eat me as I was helplessly tied to a tree. They’re nothing like that, not at all. Sure, they’re far from domesticated but they’re good boys. They keep me company when Apollo is off in the woods, and one of them is always nearby when the boys are playing outside. I like to think that they’ve accepted me, Ryan, and Aaron into the little pack that they had formed with Apollo years ago. He agrees, saying that they seem happy to have “pack members” to look out for.
The boys love it up here in the woods, and so do I. As it happens, I’m much more suited for the simple life of relying on nature than I am for living in a big, busy California city. Apollo and I head into Hood River when we need supplies that we can’t get from the forest around us, but that isn’t very often. We grow a lot of food up here, so we take that down to trade and sell as well. While we’re friendly with the other vendors at the markets and such, Apollo and I mostly keep to ourselves, which is how we both like it.
As it is, Ryan and Aaron have made friends with the children of the couple who run a bakery in town. We supply them with fresh fruits and berries for their jams, tarts, and pies. They were kind enough to volunteer to take the twins for a couple of days so that Apollo and I could have some alone time. That’s the only downside to living in a cabin with your husband and children: There isn’t a whole lot of privacy for the adults!
But right now, Apollo and I are taking full advantage of our alone time. We’re back at the waterfall that Apollo showed me years ago. This time, we aren’t interrupted by a freak lightning storm.
I can’t help the giggles that burst from my mouth as Apollo runs his mouth against the side of my neck. He’s letting his stubble grow into a beard, and it’s been an enjoyable experience for me. I’ve found that I like the little patches of sensitivity I find on my skin hours after we make love. They’re little tangible reminders of how much he cares for me.
My laughter turns into a moan as Apollo stops teasing me and lightly sucks on my earlobe. We don’t speak as he lifts me out of the water and onto the ledge of stone next to the waterfall. Apollo communicates how much he loves me with the smooth rub of his hands as he scoops my thighs up and across his shoulders.
Without warning, he yanks my core f
lush against his mouth and laves his tongue against my clit. I’m almost vibrating with pleasure by the time he works me into an orgasm. All I can do is moan his name in response and relax back against the rock face behind me. As he encourages me to come with his mouth again, I lean my head back and look up at the sky, reveling in the total freedom that I feel out here in the forest, with the love of my life.
Suddenly, Apollo pops up and yanks me flush against him driving his throbbing erection deep inside me. We’ve been making love for hours in the privacy of the forest but the feeling that I get whenever I am with him never gets old. I don’t think it ever will.
“I love you,” he whispers into my hair, as he continues to thrust harder and faster into me.
All I can do is moan his name in response and wrap my arms tighter around his shoulders. I love him with all that I am and I know it will never change.
~The End~
More Books By Scarlett Winters:
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Beast Of the Mountain Page 3
