HAWK: MC ROMANCE (Forsaken Riders MC Romance Book 5) (15 page)

8.

The embers burned low on the fire, and when Melissa woke, Saber was already up, stoking it and adding more wood.

She approached him from behind, wrapped her arms around him and kissed his neck. She had never felt more like a woman around him. She had never felt sexier.

“A kiss,” she whispered as he turned to her and her lips met his. He ran his hand through her hair and slipped his tongue against hers.

It was all so perfect. She wished it never had to end.

But she knew she couldn’t stay there.

When they broke apart, his eyes looked sad, as if he knew it was all over, too.

“I need to go,” she said. “Can you take me back to the cave?”

Saber looked out at the fire and ignored her for a moment. She could tell he didn’t want her to leave.

Her heart ached as she was torn between her decision and the man in front of her… Could she leave him now they had met? Their connection was so pure and fierce. Could she walk away from him?

Tears stung her eyes and she wiped them away. Saber shook his head and held onto her chin. He looked at her deep in the eyes and said, “No.”

Melissa smiled and nodded.

“Come with me?” she said as a stroke of genius flooded through her. “You don’t have to stay here… Come back with me?”

She knew it was a crazy concept, but she also knew it was the only answer. She didn’t want to leave him; there was no life for him there. But she didn’t think he would let her go. If she managed to get him back to the cave and they found a way to reopen the vortex, maybe they could be back in 2015 and live happily ever after.

Saber was looking at her as if he didn’t understand anything she was saying. It was the first time he had looked confused since he found her. Melissa took his hand and smiled.

“Trust me,” she said.

He smiled back and nodded.

***

The journey back to the Neanderthals’ cave was short and frightening. Saber threw her up over his shoulder and ran with her back down the incline, past the rocks and cliff face and over a small rise. The opening was there and Saber sniffed the air. He nodded and moved forward, happy that the coast was clear.

Inside the cave, the carcass of the tiger was lying limply on the floor and the Neanderthals had already removed its tusks. Melissa shivered as she opened her mind to suggestion and hoped the rocks would call to her again.

Saber watched her as she held onto his hand and looked around. Her heart was pounding and she was about to panic when suddenly a light shone on the corner of the room and two points from two rocks, one above and one below, were almost touching.

“That’s it,” she smiled as she led him over to them.

Saber held her hand and with their other hands, they both took hold of the rock points. Just as before, Melissa felt a surge of power run through her and Saber roared like a lion as the pain hit them and the earth began to move.

The world went black, but she could still feel his hand.

And then… nothing.

***

A big arm cradled her, and as she opened her eyes, they met his.

“Melissa,” he said with a smile as he brushed the hair out of her face and kissed her gently on the lips.

She sat up and looked around in panic.

Were they back? Had she brought him back to the present?

They were in the cave and it looked similar to when she had been there with Quattro, but there was still something different.

She looked down and they were both still wearing the fur pelts and their skin was dirty.

“Dr. Quattro?” she called out, but her voice echoed around the cave. She knew there was no one there.

“If this were 2015, this cave would be crawling with archaeologists after yesterday,” she said. “Something’s changed.”

She could see the shaft they needed to climb in order to get back to the surface, and Saber led the way. He put her on his back and climbed it with his bare hands and feet with such incredible strength Melissa couldn’t believe he was actually capable of doing it.

He had lived a long time in a savage land with only himself to rely on, but now he had found her and he wanted to protect her. When he reached the top of the small cave opening, he heaved himself up and out with Melissa still clinging to him. As they rolled back onto the grass in the French field, Melissa looked around and was surprised that there was still no one there.

“Looks like we’ll have to walk,” she said.

Saber put her over his shoulder again and headed east.

They reached a road after about two hours and the first car that pulled over held an old couple who looked intrigued and confused by what they were seeing. Saber’s eyes were like saucers as he watched the car as if it were a predator. Melissa assured him it was all fine, and as they made their way back to Bordeaux, she asked the couple in basic French what the date was.

“April 10
th
, 1973,” the woman said as she turned to smile at her.

Melissa’s heart pounded and she didn’t know where to look. Saber wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close.

She wasn’t even born until 1990… She couldn’t help but laugh.

She thought back to her life in 2015 and of all she was lacking. She may have had a great career, but she could still do that in 1973. Her family were long gone and she didn’t have a boyfriend or husband to speak of. The explorer in her wanted to stay where she was, to never tell anyone what had happened to her and to integrate Saber into society without anyone being any wiser.

She looked at him, and when he looked back at her with his beautiful and innocent eyes, she knew they could make it work. They could stay in France and build a life. Now that they had each other, anything was possible.

Neither of them were from that time and that made it all the more real. It made it so much more exciting for them to be experiencing the journey together.

“Let’s do this,” she smiled and she squeezed Saber’s hand.

The archaeologist had her very own caveman, and they were about to embark on the wildest ride either of them would ever have thought possible.

“Time doesn’t exist when you’ve got love,” she whispered to him. And even though he was still learning, she was pretty sure he understood.

THE END

You can find out what happens next in Mated to the Caveman, available now from Amazon

Samantha Leal

Copyright ©2015 by Samantha Leal. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic of mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Thank you so much for your interest in my work!

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter One

Victoria tapped her foot against the leg of her desk as she watched the clock. She was sure the second hand was ticking slower than it had been an hour ago. It was only one p.m. but already her eyes were starting to droop. She was waiting for four thirty so she could get the hell out of there and go home to rest.

She was drowsy and tired, but she only had herself to blame. She had been up until the early hours of the morning drinking and dancing, not giving a shit that she had to be back in the office at eight thirty precisely for a day of boredom and dealing with idiots on the other end of the phone. As long as her station stayed relatively quiet, she should be okay. She rubbed her eyes and almost lowered her head onto the desk.

As if whoever was calling could telepathically read her mind, her station started to flash and she rolled her eyes.
Great
, she thought,
what will I get blasted with this time
...
?

She reached her arms up high over her head and stretched, and as she did so, she shot a quick look behind her at the other teleoperators. Surely another one of them was free and could field the call. She waited for another few seconds before reluctantly reaching down to the red button, and just as she was about to hit it and break into her unenthusiastic spiel, she was saved the hassle by one of the new kids behind her.

Thank Christ
, she thought.

She poured herself another glass of water from the jug beside her and pretended to be flicking through some work-related notes and the manual that lay limply in front of her. But really she was trying to piece together the events of the night before and remember if she had acted out of character or not.

She knew that she and Helen had started in Ocean Bar and done several shooters before moving on to a new, modern place she couldn’t even remember the name of. It had been sleek and clinical and she hadn’t liked it in the slightest. They only served expensive mineral water in fancy glass bottles and frowned at her when she asked for tap. When they’d ordered two vodkas, the tab had been over fifty dollars and Victoria glared at them as if they’d just punched her pet cat.

She worked in telesales and marketing and barely cut minimum wage. She couldn’t afford to go to places like that and resented Helen for dragging her to them. Helen worked as an exotic dancer and regularly made hundreds of dollars for just a few hours of work. Even though Victoria was glad she didn’t have to get naked in front of strangers to pay the bills, she was still kind of jealous of her friend’s exciting and carefree life. But they had still had fun, even with the bar costing a fortune and the knowledge of her early start nagging at the back of her mind. They’d sat up at the bar and had knocked them back one after the other, Victoria managing to excuse herself eight times out of ten when it came turns to buy the next round. She was sure Helen knew what she was up to, but she no longer cared. If her friend wanted to rub it in her face that she had more money that her, then she could pick up the bill.

They’d met some guys, she could remember that much. And she thought there had been discussion of joining them in a club. Helen had been really up for it, grinding up against one of them in the last bar, but Victoria had gotten the feeling that they were a bit creepy and weird. They’d both been tall and slender with slick white blonde hair and an icy air about them that she couldn’t place. It had kind of freaked her out because she had the feeling they’d been planning it… It was if they had waited until they had been good and drunk and then moved in. They even admitted to watching them the entire night.

“We saw you in Ocean Bar,” one of them said.

Victoria ignored him and sipped her drink.

“We wanted to come over but you looked so deep in conversation.” He smiled at her, and when she looked up at him she noticed how black his eyes were. There wasn’t a single hint of color in his irises. Victoria shivered.

“Helen,” she had said, “These guys are giving me the creeps, can we go?”

“But I kind of like this one,” she hissed into her ear while the two men chatted. “We could get some free drinks out of them at the club and then bail.”

“I’m not going,” Victoria said defiantly, “But if you want to…”

Helen rolled her eyes. “Okay,” she said, “I’m done anyway, and you’re right, they could be anybody.”

Victoria linked Helen’s arm and smiled.

The two guys were still chatting as the girls backed away quietly and made their way to the door. It was as Victoria opened it and the cool night air blew in after her that the guys both turned and glared at them, looking completely pissed that they’d been ditched.

“Hey!” the one who had been speaking to Victoria called as he held out his hands in disbelief.

“Sorry, guys!” Helen called back.

They had ran down the street laughing and hailed a cab. It was October and the leaves were falling, blowing around them in an orange and gold cloud.

“Taxi!” Victoria shouted as she held out her arm. A white cab zipped up next to them and the girls both clambered in. As the driver started the engine, Victoria looked back towards the bar and felt a tingle of terror roll over her as she realized the two men stood outside, completely still and side by side, just staring at them without moving a muscle.

“Creeps,” Victoria whispered before slumping down in her seat and snoozing as she let Helen direct the cab driver back to her apartment.

Chapter Two

The feeling when she could finally switch off her computer and pull on her coat was the best thing in the world. She was hungover to hell and just wanted to crawl into her apartment and veg out on the couch. She knew she was going home to an empty place, and there were times when the disappointment of how her life had turned out would catch her off guard and drag her under, but Victoria was determined that this wasn’t going to be one of those days.

She hadn’t always been alone. She had had a serious relationship once. Rob… she had loved him very much. When it hadn’t worked out and she had been forced to leave their lovely little house in a much nicer neighborhood than where she was now, she tried to console herself with the theory that this was her time to make a fresh start and discover the life she was meant to have.

Two years passed and it was becoming apparent that the life she was meant to have was spending her days hating her job and earning basically nothing, going home alone and watching rom-com’s on Netflix, and maybe looking forward to the occasional night out with Helen, who would generally make her feel worse about the situation. Helen’s life always looked so glamorous. She was stick thin with big fake boobs and pumped up lips, and men lusted after her everywhere she went. She had a long line of sugar daddies willing to pay her bills and shower her with gifts. She danced at one of the best strip clubs in town three nights a week and seemed to earn more than Victoria did in an entire month. She was kind hearted, but she seemed to miss the fact that her best friend didn’t have a disposable income like she did, and Victoria regularly found herself feeling like she just couldn’t keep up.

“The men would go wild for you at the club. You should consider it, you know,” Helen had told her one day.

“Oh please, no chance,” Victoria laughed.

“They would,” Helen protested, “Especially with your beautiful curves. You’d make more money than me!”

Victoria shook her head and dismissed the idea immediately. Even if she believed Helen, she would never have the confidence to do something like that. It had been a full two years since a man had seen her naked, and she wasn’t about to change that by taking her clothes off for a room full of strangers!

“Your loss,” Helen had pouted.

***

As she left her office and made the short walk home, the cold bit her skin. She pulled her coat and scarf tightly around her. At least she was being woken up after a day of feeling half asleep. She stopped by her usual take-out place and debated going inside to save her the chore of cooking once she got back to her apartment. She couldn’t even remember what she had in the refrigerator, but when she saw a group of rowdy men inside, she decided it was a sign that she should just go home.

It was dark already by the time she got to the steps at the foot of her building, and as she checked her mail, an eerie feeling suddenly washed over her.

She turned on the spot and looked down the street. She seemed alone, except for the old lady at the building opposite who was walking her dog, but she had the strong feeling that someone was watching her.

She turned back around and looked down the other end of the street. Cars flashed by on the main road and the wind rustled the tree next to her, blowing a plume of leaves in her direction.

“Stop being stupid,” she said to herself. “There’s no one there.”

She collected her mail and started up the steps. Even though she had just looked everywhere, she could feel eyes on her back and her skin prickled. She fumbled for her keys in her pocket, but her hands were so cold it was as if they had been frozen.

“Come on,” she hissed to herself.

She finally grabbed them and jabbed the key into the lock, turning it quickly and shoving the door open with her body. She slammed it behind her and looked out onto the street. It was as empty as it had been before.

“You’re cracking up,” she said to herself. “You need to get yourself to bed.”

***

Her apartment was small and cozy. When she had moved out of the home she shared with Rob, she had barely taken anything with her, knowing full well that she wouldn’t be able to afford a big place.

Her apartment consisted of a small front room with a tiny adjoining kitchen, one bedroom in which she managed to fit a full-sized bed, chest of drawers and arm chair, and a bathroom. The hallway was small and she had decorated it with a selection of mirrors of all shapes and sizes to try and make it feel more open and welcoming. It wasn’t so bad, but she wished she could have gotten somewhere bigger so that she could actually enjoy the space. Victoria had a secret passion for interior design, and she spent most of her lonely nights in looking at design apps and home and garden magazines, dreaming up her ideal home and choosing exactly how she would decorate it. She always told herself that one day, it
would
happen.

She turned on the TV and sat on a stool next to the small bar in her kitchen. She flicked through her mail that was nothing but junk and financial demands and then crossed the room to the refrigerator. Inside was a sorry sight… eggs, milk and an old packet of ham. She rolled her eyes and slammed it shut. Toast would do.

After making it and slathering it in butter, she crawled onto the couch with a cup of coffee and pulled a blanket around her. It was only six p.m. and she had a whole night stretching out ahead. She felt the tears welling up in her eyes and scolded herself for being so weak and pathetic.

It’s just the hangover
, she thought.
Tomorrow you’ll be fine
.

She didn’t know when it happened, but at some point she fell to sleep on the couch, cradling the plate of half-eaten toast and her empty cup of coffee. She woke with a start when the commercials blasted throughout the room. She jumped up with a start and glared at the television, which quickly buzzed off and then flicked to white noise as if the signal had gone down. She picked up the remote and bashed it with her thumb.

“Oh, come on,” she said.

When her attempts failed, she chucked the remote across the room, gathered up a few of her interior design magazines, and made her way to her bedroom.

Even though she had closed the blinds all the way through the apartment she still had the feeling she was being watched. It seemed to follow her from room to room and she even found herself checking under the bed before she climbed into it. She just couldn’t shake the feeling and after spending only five minutes flipping through the magazines she put them down, switched out the light and pulled the covers up to her chin. She lay on her back watching the darkness around her. She knew no one was there… but she still felt like someone, somewhere was lurking.

She lay in bed with her eyes wide open and the hairs on her arms standing on end. Her heart pounded quickly until she finally succumbed to sleep.