Waiting For Eden (Eden Series) (27 page)

Waiting for Eden

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Chapter 24

Alexandra lifted her torso up
off of the stallion’s sweaty neck and unclenched the fingers that were wrapped in the tough fibers of his mane.  With dismay, she realized that he was blowing hard with exertion, with nostrils distended.  She could vaguely detect a trembling in his limbs. 

Bold Venture had read her fear.  She had willingly submitted to her own terror,
and had relinquished her control. Alex had allowed the sturdy animal to find his way up the back of the steep and hazardous mountain trail, trusting his inner instincts and agility.  She was asking too much of him.

And now the light had fled.  Shadows lingered threateningly, as the dense canopy sucked the last vestiges of the golden sunset from the forest’s interior.  Now she could barely discern the trail beneath her stallion’s hooves.  And the gnarled path grew only steeper a
nd thicker with rocks and logs at every step.

Soon darkness would fall, and what then?  The whine of an engine from below still rose incessantly, droning with threatening intent.  Its growl seemed to echo
around them from several directions within the forest, causing her fear to steadily build and tumesce. 

When night overtook them completely, the forest would fall black as pitch.  She had no light source.  But the four-wheeler certainly did.  And she was positive that fear of the deepening night was no deterrent to the kind of man who stalked her.  He was more than competent, and thoroughly evil in his intent.

She shivered, even though the air was warm.  Drops of sweat and condensing dew had formed on her arms and in her cleavage.  They were nearing the summit.  The trail ended there… at the very point where she initially fell over the rocky precipice after losing her way and hiking cross-county for miles. 

So what then??  The stallion couldn’t maneuver in the darkened forest over trees and hummocks of ground.  He would break a leg.  Marcus would catch them.  And kill them, among other things
on which she didn’t want to even dwell.

Alex debated dismounting and crawling off into the undergrowth in a desperate bid to hide in the dark, without the tell-tale noise of the stallion to give her away.  But Marcus had all night to search.  No one knew where she was – she was in the middle of thousands of acres of wild land
and she wasn’t aware of any road access. 

And how could she leave Bold alone in the midst of these mountains after all he had done for her, and meant to her?  He would be the first target Marcus went for.

The purring growl of a diesel engine was growing louder, as their steps slowed in the lengthening shadows.  The stallion went down on one knee for a moment, and Alexandra nearly pitched off his back.  She heard pebbles scatter in the gloom.

“Whoa,” Alex whispered after they had regained their footing, drawing the animal to a halt.  She dismounted and took the reins in her hand.  The stallion danced and shivered beside her in uncertainty, wanting only to be back in the safety of his barn, with his mares around him. He was a herd animal, and not some wild creature of the night.

They had reached the summit.  The monstrous trees loomed above, somehow managing to move and creak in the thickness of the still night air.  The understory of verdant ferns sighed and whispered from all around.  She could still hear the approach of an engine, but it had definitely been slowed by the falling darkness and the stones and branches strewn across the trail over which the stallion had lightly stepped.

If only a massive tree had fallen across the trail over the past few weeks!  But the path had remained relatively clear throughout their whole
upward journey.  Now she stood, surrounded by her giant trees, with nowhere left to run.  Trembling, she picked up a long pointed stick, and stood her ground, as the motor grew ever closer.  She could feel Bold Venture’s warm breath on her back and neck.

Alex brought to mind the picture of Jamie’s face,
then Diana, Ezra, and of Mouse’s sweet visage, so dear to her now.  She thought of Eden, the lands, the trees, the garden, the house, and her horses.  She thought of Marta, dead and gone, but still trying so hard to hold everything together.

She straightened her back and raised her chin.

Finally, the cold glare of headlights blinded her.

~
~~~~~

Mouse made a rash decision.  Instead of following the main trail, he had swerved off to the right, and onto a narrow path known mostly by the deer herds that frequented this part of the forest.  It was a faster, yet much steeper way to the top.  The lady told him he might beat the bad man this way.  Mouse wasn’t sure about the trail, but he trusted the lady. 

It might have been a mistake though.  He’d been caught up on roots twice.  Then his rear tire had gotten wedged between two stubborn rocks.  It took dismounting and shoving the bike wheels up over the impediments to get going again.  He was losing precious time.

Tree boughs and plants that he didn’t even know swept at his arms and legs as he passed by in the gloom.  Crickets chirped in steady rhythm like the heartbeat of the night.  How could such tiny creatures chirp so loud?   The dirt-bike engine was a
low, deep gurgle, he was going so very slowly, and the wheels dug hard into the earth, trying to grab purchase.

All
of the night sounds filled him with wonder.  Even the air was different – wet and thick in his chest, yet energizing in a strange and heady way.  He had never been alone so deeply in the mountains at night.

The lady never stopped talking to him now.  Her voice was smooth and encouraging.  It gave him what he needed to keep going.  It reminded him of when his Mum would tickle his back until he would sigh with contented pleasure.  Her voice was like being touched again.

~~~~~~

The four-wheeler slowed, and then finally drifted to a stop about twenty feet from Alex’s position.  Th
e headlights didn’t dim, however.  She remained unable to see clearly, even when she shaded her eyes. 

Her heart thudded audibly in her chest. The shape of a man emerged from the gloom, walking slowly toward her.  The stallion continued to dance, but she held onto the reins firmly, sucking in pulls of moist night air.

Could it be
Jamie?
  She trembled with her stupid, clinging hope.  If only Jamie
could
save her. 
Impossible.

“What do you want from me, Michael?” she shuddered out the words in breathy little gasps.

“It’s Marcus,” he returned, his voice all too familiar, and all too frightening.  Her heart bleated in her chest like a lamb on the block. “Did you forget already? And all I want right now is you, Alex. All of you.”

She gripped the branch tighter and steadied herself.  “Don’t come any closer.  You still have a chance to just go away. Disappear.”

He snorted at her.  “Oh for fuck’s sake.  Are you serious?”

“Yes,” her voice trembled dismayingly on the single syllable. 

“You’re a dumber cunt than I thought,” he returned, his voice like shards of ice.  “What a disappointment.  Maybe you
are
just like Andrea.”

“I don’t know who Andrea is,” she returned resolutely.  “But this is my land.  These are my people
, now. I’m wanted here, and there is no way I will give it up.  These trees will stay.”

“You’re a fool,” he countered, stepping ever closer.  “You
still don’t even get it.  I don’t want this land.  These trees.  These filthy bugs, and this damp, rancid dirt.  And, by the way, I hate horses.”

She balanced herself and gripped the branch. Silently, she allowed the reins to drop in a pool at her feet.  Bold didn’t run.  She felt his breath on her back in warm puffs.  It steadied her
. In a single heartbeat, she swung the wood at the outline of Marcus, swiftly and smoothly. 

Alexandra felt the jarring impact before the sound of the wood snapping reached her ears. 
A momentary confusion assailed her until she realized that the branch had simply broken on impact.  Low laughter followed and Bold backed away, twigs and branches crackling under his hooves.

“Well
, that was quite intelligent,” Marcus mocked. 

He was on her
then. His hands gripped her shoulders, drawing her in, tight against the stark hardness of his body. He felt like a marble statue.  Alexandra was frozen, her limbs heavy and cumbersome against the strength of his grip.

“I hope it hurt,” she whispered brokenly. When Marcus lowered his mouth over hers, the hot sting of unshed tears swept the backs of her eyelids.  His insistent lips were warm and moist, and covered hers possessively.  His tongue probed heatedly into her mouth, forcing her lips open and delving
inside. 

It felt like she was being eaten by some mythological creature.  Like his mouth was working to dissolve her soul, and digest it slowly.  She couldn’t stem her helpless quivering.  The wind picked up, swirling leaves around them as the storm front approached, but still the kiss went on.

Finally he withdrew the searing heat of his lips from hers.  “Yes,” he sighed against her flushed cheek, nuzzling it.  “I just wanted to taste you.”  An odd note of regret rang in the timbre of his words.  “And so sweet too. Why did it have to be this way, Alexandra?”

“What way?” she managed to return breathlessly.  If only he would reason.

“You refused me. You lied to me.  You ran from me.”

“Yo
u frighten me,” she returned. The threatening rumble of thunder accentuated her words like a cheap movie. 

“I was at the top of my game
, Alexandra.  But still, you chose him.”

“Jamie?” She was confused, why was Marcus acting like a jilted lover? They’d gone out only once…

“Jamie,” he scoffed.  “A hick. A local. You are so above that.”

His fingers were in her tousled hair now, stroking gently, then knuckling across her cheek ever so softly. When he found
a wetness there, Alex heard him gasp.  “You’re crying,” he murmured with a tinge of surprise.

“How could I pick you, Marcu
s,” she managed to choke out, “when you were hired by Ridgeway to kill me? Why don’t you just get it over with?”

His fingers found her neck and gently stroked it, his thumbs teasing her jawbone.  She whimpered, feeling as breakable as a china doll in his grip.  Her neck would snap with the first twist by those iron fingers.

“After our date, I knew I couldn’t allow things to play out the way Ridgeway intended.  He was nothing but a land tycoon with dirty tactics.  He inherited that logging business too, and all his money.  There was nothing….
special
about him. He was not self-made.

But you, Alexandra, are special. Born out of nothing, the lowest of the low, but destined for greatness.  Like me.  I feel it, I sense it.”  He paused, and dipped his head to suckle on her trembling lower lip.  “I taste it.”

Her mind whirled.  “Me?” she whispered. 
Think, think, think
.  “Special too?” 

Alex forced her hands to unclench and she slid her arms around his waist slowly and tentatively.  She bolstered her courage and allowed her mouth to tilt upward, and her lips to connect again with Marcus’s moist, hot mouth. 

He drew her in eagerly, even tighter, against the startling granite of his body.  She could feel his thick erection.  There would be no breaking free of this man. He was the most dominantly male creature she had ever encountered.

Her roaming fingers soon found the knife
for which she’d been searching. She hesitated a moment, then deepened her kiss, allowing her tongue to play back against his own now.  Her fingers sought the hilt, and grasped it carefully.

Marcus sighed against her mouth.  “Not a good move, Alexandra.”

The grip around her neck tightened like bands of steel.  Fat heavy droplets of rain began to splatter across her cheeks as the heavens released their weight, washing the saline of her tears clean away. His thumbs dug into her trachea, cutting off any ounce of air to her lungs and causing her eyes to bulge. There was precious little time for fear before the darkest night of all drew her in. 

~~~~~

Marcus rocked back on his heels and watched his exquisite angel as she slept.  Three times he had choked her into unconsciousness, and three times she had come back, opening those hazel eyes to stare at him with a mixture of confusion and hope.

The rain started and stopped in short cold spurts, as if the storm could not make up
its mind whether to stay watch him commit his deeds or not.  This time though, Alexandra had not awakened, even when he slapped her cheek roughly.  Could she have died so easily?

The massive trees croaked and groaned in the gusts of wind that ripped through the understory from above, bent on cruel penetration, and actually caused a ripple of chills across his back and neck.  Marcus bent forward, his knees growing colder and wetter from the dampened soil beneath him, and laid his cheek next to Alexandra’s softly parted lips.  He could not sense a breath there.