Warren pointed at Skoll. “This asshole thinks he’s going to --like-- marry her or something! You want me to be okay with that?”
“I want you to live.” In theory anyway. “Tell Skoll you will not seek to mate with Anniah and maybe you will survive this.”
Anniah grabbed hold of Warren’s arm, turning him to face her. “You must not fight Skoll.” She cried, shaking her head. “I could not bear to see you hurt, Warr-en. I will go with him. Please.”
Warren didn’t need a translation of that. “No!” He thundered. “I’m not just handing you over to that ‘roided up barbarian. I’ve never belonged to anybody before and I’m not giving that up! Besides, you don’t even like him! What the fuck kind of man would I be if I let this happen?”
Rhawn nodded, because the boy had a point.
Anniah dissolved into sobs, seeing that he wouldn’t back down from the challenge.
“Warren, that guy is twice your size and kills things on a daily basis.” Lucy interjected, visibly distressed. “He’s going to peel your skin off and eat it!”
“Rhawn,” Anniah put in desperately, “do not let him do this!”
“Enough with the mewling of women!” Skoll cracked his neck, preparing for battle. “The challenge begins now!”
“You back off!” Lucy warned him and moved forward, trying to shield Warren.
Rhawn sighed and moved in front of her. This would end in blood and he was going to ensure it wasn’t his mate’s. “Skoll, think about what you plan to do.” He instructed in the Clan’s language. “Warr-en is a god. He will use his powers against you and strike you down.” Rhawn gave himself credit for delivering that warning with a straight face. He doubted it would work, though.
Skoll certainly wasn’t buying it. “A woman beat him in combat!” He scoffed, waving at hand at Lucy. “You think I fear a god that pathetic?”
“Let’s all just take a breath here, okay?” Lucy glanced back at Warren. “Just sit down.” She hissed. “You know you can’t possibly win this fight, so stop acting crazy.”
“Lucy’s right.” Taffi called in a bored tone. “You’ve been a loser your whole life. It’s like your fate or something.”
“I’m not a loser. Lucy!” Craig screamed. The man did not seem to be working with all his facilities, blaming Lucy for Taffi’s comments and somehow assuming they were about him. “Take it back. Take it back!” He lunged at Lucy, coming in from the side. His fingers clawed out, trying to catching hold of throat.
Lucy jerked back in surprise.
Craig’s grasping hands missed her neck and tangled in her necklace. Once of the strands snapped, sending several shiny beads falling to the floor. Taffi absently scooped one up and examined it between her fingers, unconcerned about all the animosity swirling around her.
“Damn it, now look what you did, Craig!” Lucy started to shove him back, but Rhawn was already turning to grab him.
He lifted Craig right off the ground and threw him backwards into the cave wall. Craig impacted the rock with a sickening “crack” and crumpled to the floor in an unconscious heap. Rhawn made a frustrated face. The man passed out a lot. No doubt that was one of the reasons he was such a piss-poor fighter.
Lucy gave an exaggerated wince. “I think you just fractured his skull, sweetie.”
“We can hope.” Intent on finishing the bastard off once and for all, Rhawn stalked over to drag Craig to his feet again. At least, that was his intention. He’d only gotten to the “stalking” part when Skoll interrupted the plan by punching Warren.
Lucy and Anniah gave panicked cries.
The Clan cheered.
Why did these things always happen to Rhawn? He let out an irritated sigh. He should just kill all of the idiots in his life and be done with it.
Warren staggered and nearly fell, his hand on his bleeding nose. “Shit, man! Doesn’t anybody around here give some warning before the fighting starts?”
“I will crush you like a byggo bug!” Skoll slapped his hands to illustrate his point, rubbing and twisting his palms together as if he was squashing Warren between them. “No one will take Anniah from me! Especially not a flaccid god like you.”
Warren didn’t need to know all those words to understand the universal message of “fuck you.” His blue eyes narrowed. “Anniah, is not yours.” He said in a more serious voice than Rhawn had ever heard him use. “She will never be yours. You want to challenge me for her? Fine. Bring it on, asshole.” He spread his arms wide. “I will kick your blond ass right into the ocean.”
“Warren…” Lucy began in a worried voice.
“No.” He shot her a quick frown. “I’m fucking doing this.” He looked over at Rhawn. “Just let me do it, alright? I don’t think they’ll let me keep her, if I can’t do this. And I know I can do this, ya know?”
Rhawn nodded, understanding the need to defend your woman. “I know.” Warren would lose, but he would fight anyway. It made him respect the scrawny man. “The first one to fall forfeits the challenge. That is how you must win. Do everything you can to knock Skoll down.” He stepped back to give the combatants room.
Anniah and Lucy gaped at Rhawn like he was crazy for encouraging this. “Are you crazy?” They demanded in two different languages.
Rhawn gave an expansive shrug. “He wishes to prove himself to you.” He told Anniah and then glanced at Lucy. “Do not worry. I will stop the fight before he gets hurt. Just allow him an opportunity to save face and to show Anniah that he is not completely useless…”
Rhawn didn’t get a chance to finish that thought.
Warren swung his leg up in some kind of complicated kick. The blow caught Skoll right in the midsection and he stumbled backwards. His face wore an expression of pure astonishment as Warren delivered a strangely graceful punch to his jaw and then followed up with an impossible flipping maneuver that had Skoll landing on his back.
It was the fastest challenge win in the history of the Clan.
Warren stood over the Clan’s greatest warrior, not even winded from his victory. For a long moment, the spectators were too amazed to even cheer. They just stood there, trying to process what they’d seen. Even Rhawn found himself blinking in confusion.
Maybe Warren actually did have supernatural powers. There just didn’t seem to be another explanation.
“Oh for God’s sake…” Taffi sounded disgusted. “That’s it? That’s the big showdown?”
Anniah’s lips parted in wonder, her eyes going from Warren to Skoll and back again. A huge smile spread across her face. “Warr-en wins!” She cried in delight. “Warr-en wins the challenge!”
“How in the hell did he do that?” Rhawn demanded, still trying to process the impossible.
“Karate.” Lucy gave a delighted laugh. “Warren has a green belt. Damn, that was awesome. High-five.” She held up a palm and Warren turned to slap it in an odd celebration ritual. “Forget all those times I said I hated your guts. You just became my favorite classmate ever.”
Warren grinned at her, looking proud of himself. “Yeah, I’m much better at martial arts than I was a football.” His attention was already shifting to Anniah. Moving away from Lucy, he held a hand out to her. “And the cheerleaders are way hotter.”
Anniah grabbed hold of his wrist and tugged him forward. “I knew there was greatness in you, Warr-en.” She breathed and then her lips found his, trying her best to kiss him the way she’d seen Lucy kiss Rhawn.
Clearly, she was doing a good job. Warren lifted her off the ground, his mouth sealed over hers. The Clan started cheering again and chanting Warren’s name. Rhawn found himself smiling.
“This is unfair!” Skoll finally regained his wits and scrambled to his feet. “Warr-en cheated! He used magic to defeat me! It was not a true victory!”
“Warr-en followed the rules of a challenge.” Notan shook his head. “We all saw. Accept your defeat as the will of the gods.”
“I will never accept this!” Skoll spat. “The rest of you might
have been fooled by these outsiders, but I know better. They are not gods. They are not special. They are nothing. I will never follow them!”
“You will damn yourself with such blasphemy, Skoll.” Tammoh warned and the rest of the Clan nodded in agreement.
“I am next in line for leader!” Skoll insisted, not relenting. “I have waited long enough for my turn as head of our Clan. I demand Notan stand down and allow me to rule, before his blind ways lead us all to ruin. Before she ruins us all!” He jabbed another finger at Lucy.
Dead silence filled the cave. No one seconded the idea of a change in leadership. No one moved to support Skoll. No one would side against Lucy. It was a crushing defeat for the old ways.
Rhawn felt his mouth curve.
Maybe he wouldn’t need to kill Skoll, after all. It seemed as if the man no longer held any sway over the Clan. They had switched their allegiance to Lucy and all her new ideas.
“You have made your choice!” Skoll shouted, seeing he was alone. “None of you are worthy of my leadership, anyway! I abandon this Clan. I make my own path in this world and it does not lead across the sea!” He went striding out of the cave and into the night.
Taffi hesitated for a beat and then moved to sit next to Craig’s unconscious body, switching to a new team.
Warren snorted at Skoll’s retreating back. “Dude, that guy is such a sore loser.”
Chapter Thirteen
The woman sits astride him, fumbling to remove her strange garments.
Rhawn watches her struggle, amused when she gets tangled in the stretchy chest covering she wears. She curses in frustration and he laughs. Only she can create such feelings inside of him. It is a gift. She is a gift.
“Do not leave me.” The stark demand comes straight from Rhawn’s heart. If he can just remain here with her --keep her with him-- everything will be alright. For the first time in his life, he would be welcomed. He knows that.
She is where he belongs.
She finally frees herself from her bizarre clothing and arches a brow. “Believe me, caveman, I hate waking up way more than you do.”
How can she wake up? He is the one dreaming. It makes no sense, but he doesn’t have time to figure it out. He knows that she will slip away in a matter of seconds. Maybe one day, he’ll just stay asleep forever and he can finally stay with her. Rhawn hopes so. Oh gods, please, let him just stay here with her…
Rhawn and Lucy’s Dream- Three Years Ago.
“I’m not the Savior.”
Rhawn glanced up from his lobster to arch a brow at her. The two of them were back in his cave, eating dinner and arguing. Or rather she’d been arguing, while he sat there in calm and quiet certainty. The jackass was so sure he was right he wasn’t even bothering to debate it.
It drove her crazy.
“I mean, do I look like a Savior to you?” For over an hour, they’d been going back and forth and he refused to see reason. Once Rhawn decided something, he wouldn’t change his mind. Lucy wasn’t sure how to get through to him. “Think about it! You’re a genius, for God’s sake!”
“I am smart enough to know the truth when I see it.” Rhawn said simply. “Can we be done with this soon? I still need to go kill Craig.”
Lucy made an aggravated sound, plowing both hands through her hair. “I told you, we’re not killing Craig. He’s locked up in that bamboo cell and I’ve hidden the gun under a really big rock, so he’s no longer a threat.”
“The man is still alive, Lucy. He therefore remains a threat.”
“Can you just concentrate on what’s important, please? I’m trying to tell you something here and you just won’t listen. I’m. Not. The. Savior.” She spaced out each word for maximum effect. “Got it?”
Lucy had rarely been so on edge. The real problem wasn’t even her new role as the Good Witch in the Clan’s little Wizard of Oz fantasy. Now that she’d been cast as a White Hat, the others were all much happier. Even Notan was smiling. Getting the idiots on the boats would be breeze. They couldn’t wait to follow her to Shangri-La.
No, the problem was Rhawn.
The connection Lucy felt to the guy got deeper all the time and this “goddess” story was weighing on her conscious. She couldn’t keep lying to him. Not if anything was ever going to be real between them.
She had to tell him the truth.
Lucy just hoped that he didn’t hate her afterwards. God, what would she do without Rhawn? She woke up every day, wanting to talk to him and spend all day admiring his incredible body and genius-y way, and went to bed feeling safe, because he was watching over her. Even the thought of returning home depressed her. Without Rhawn, her life would be so empty. This couldn’t be the end. Somehow, she had to come clean and make him forgive her.
Maybe it would okay. Pretending to be a deity wasn’t so big a lie, right?
Shit.
Lucy cleared her throat. “Look…. I’ve been wanting to talk to you about something,” she began, searching for the right words, “and I don’t think you’re going to like it. Just hear me out before you freak, okay?”
Rhawn glanced at her through his lashes. “Okay.” He said warily.
“Um… I haven’t been completely honest with you.” Lucy tried to find the right words, but there really weren’t any. “I didn’t really start out lying, it just sorta happened. When Skoll and the others found me, they made assumptions and I didn’t correct them. It all just kinda snowballed, from there. I didn’t…”
Rhawn cut her off. “Do you desire another?” He asked in a tense voice.
“What?” She frowned. “No. This has nothing to do with another man. Jesus, how can you even ask me that? There’s nobody but you, Rhawn.”
His big shoulders relaxed. “Then it does not matter to me what you’ve done.” He decided with a relieved sigh. “Do not worry over it.”
“Just remember you said that, because it’s bad.”
He gave a humoring nod. “I imagine it is. You are a difficult woman. But, I have accepted this. But, whatever troubles you, we can fix it.”
“I don’t think even you can fix this one.” Lucy took a deep breath and finally said the words. “See… I’m not really a god.”
Rhawn stared at her.
“I’m just an average person.” Lucy insisted, when he didn’t say anything. “Really, I don’t know any magic spells or supernatural tricks. I’m not immortal or all-seeing. I have no idea what I’m even doing half the time. I’m not anything except Lucy Meadowcroft from New York.”
Rhawn kept staring.
“And New York isn’t divine, either.” She pointed to the cave paintings. Some of them had been damaged in the quake, but most of the images were still visible. The blue whirlpool picture even seemed glowy-er somehow. “My homeland is just another island. We have more space and technology, but it’s just like here. It’s an average place and I’m an average girl and I am definitely --definitely-- not the Savior of your people.”
The words hung in the air for a beat.
Lucy braced herself for Rhawn’s betrayed response. She deserved it. Not only had she lied to him, but she was screwing up his whole theology. He was going to be pissed. He might never forgive her or never want to see her again or…
“You are the Savior.” He said quietly, interrupting her growing panic.
Lucy blinked. Hang on… That was his reply to her jaw-dropping, world-changing confession? Was he in some kind of denial? “Did you just hear what I said?” She sputtered.
“Of course.”
“I’m just an average person.” She reiterated, because he still wasn’t getting it. “No Batmobile or utility belt or superpowers whatsoever.”
“I knew you had no powers.”
“Are you’re not fucking mad about it?!”
“It is probably for the best. If you could smite those who annoyed you, I suspect many of the Clan would’ve been subject to your terrible wrath by now. You have a temper, goddess, and many people here are irritating.”
/> The man was unbelievable. “I’m not a goddess, Rhawn.”
He shrugged, colossally blasé in the truth. “You do not think you are. You are wrong. Who can say what a goddess is or is not?”
“I can! I’m telling you, I’m not the person you’ve been waiting for.”
Finally, she had his attention. Fathomless brown eyes locked onto hers. They were so deep and beautiful that she couldn’t have looked away, even if she’d wanted to. “You are the person I’ve been waiting for, Lucy.” He corrected softly. “Even if you weren’t the Savior, it would still be you.”
Lucy couldn’t think of anything to say to that. Rhawn was the only one who’d ever been able to render her speechless. He said such beautiful things and she didn’t deserve them. Didn’t deserve him. “You’re really not angry at me?” She finally got out.
“No.”
“Why not? I lied to you.”
“I think you lie to yourself.”
Lucy swallowed hard, her mind racing. There was only one reason in the world why a brilliant man would be so blind to the truth. “Does ‘vando’ mean ‘I love you’?” She blurted out.
Rhawn smiled at the question, like it amused him. “No.”
“No?” Lucy scowled at Rhawn, hurt and annoyed. It had been stupid to get her hopes up based on stupid Taffi and her stupid translation skills. When had that girl ever been right about anything? “What the hell does it mean, then?”
“Lungs.”
“Lungs? You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. All this time, you’ve been saying ‘lungs’ to me and not ‘I love you’?!”
“The words ‘I love you’ do not have a direct translation in the Clan’s language. It is too… ephemeral for our culture. We are people of action.”
Lucy stared at him for beat. “Fine.” She muttered, even though it wasn’t fine, at all. “You shouldn’t love me, because I’m a mess! That was my whole point here. I’m not at all like you think I am, so…” She trailed off, growing more and more upset. “You really don’t love me?” She demanded. “What the hell is wrong with you, huh? How can you not love me? We’ve been together for fifteen years!”
Once Upon a Caveman Page 20
