Chapter Twenty-Four
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VICTORIA FELT FAR MORE refreshed when she woke up.
The fire had burned out, but her room was still warm.
The cabin had been built to last and was devoid of gaps in the walls.
Yawning widely, she sat up and stretched.
Her bullet wound had healed perfectly and she didn’t even feel a twinge of pain in her side.
“That’s because I’m a werewolf-alien crossbreed,” she said, scratching her itchy scalp as she stood up. “I need to wash my fudging hair,” she complained.
Her clothes were kind of rank by now and she didn’t have enough bottled water to wash them, or her hair.
Lighting a fire in the main room, she ate a quick breakfast, then went in search of water.
She found a track that hadn’t been made by animals right in front of the cabin.
Following it, the trees opened up to a stunning view of the mountains and a huge lake.
“Perfect,” Victoria grinned in delight. “I can wash my clothes and take a bath at the same time.” The water would be freezing, but she’d survive.
It was handy having a lake so close to her cabin.
She hurried to grab her backpack and stuffed it full of everything she needed, then returned to the lake.
Her first order of business was to wash some underwear.
Her clothes became soaked, so she shrugged them off and pulled on clean, yet dripping underwear.
Next, she washed her hair and body, instantly feeling much better.
She took her time to wash her gear, making sure the clothes were thoroughly clean, while complaining bitterly about the lack of a washing machine or dryer.
Singing in an effort to distract herself from how cold she was, she stood up and wrung out her trousers.
She shoved them into her backpack and picked up the last jacket.
Something had been niggling at her for the past few minutes. Seeing ripples in the water, she finally realized what was wrong. She could sense the hot blond guy. He’d somehow found her and was swimming underwater towards her right now.
Victoria pulled the jacket on over her wet underwear, wishing she’d brought a weapon with her. All thoughts of stabbing the guy were paused when he surfaced. She stood there, poised to flee, yet held captive by the sight that was emerging from the water.
His sky-blue eyes were locked on her and his hair was slicked back.
His shoulders were massive, just like his chest and biceps.
A tattoo of intricate wings flaring to either side of a sword adorned one shoulder.
Her eyes slid down his perfect body, noting his sculpted abdominals.
“Stop right there!” she ordered, holding her hand up.
He halted and held his hands up peacefully. “I’m not going to hurt you,” he said in a soothing voice.
“Tell that to the fudging boa constrictor that’s poking out of the water,” Victoria said, desperately trying not to look at his dong, yet unable to look away. The dude was built like no other man she’d ever seen before. Perfect wasn’t a good enough word to describe him.
He looked down as if just realizing he had a raging hardon. “Oops,” he said and cupped his hands over himself. “That wasn’t supposed to happen,” he said sheepishly.
“You’re going to need another fudging hand to cover that thing, guy,” she said, dragging her gaze up to his face. He backed up a bit and she motioned for him to keep going until his dong was fully submerged.
“What does fudging mean?” he asked in confusion. “I don’t understand half of what you’re saying.”
“I used to have a foul mouth, but I trained myself to use other words instead of cursing,” she explained, unable to believe they were having this conversation. “Anyway, what the hell are you doing here?” she demanded. “How did you find me?”
“You found me,” he said smugly, supremely sure of himself and of his appeal. “Zoe said you would and here you are.”
“Who’s Zoe?” she asked suspiciously. “You’re not thinking of trying to add me to your mother fudging harem, are you? I’ll tear your guts open with my bare hands if you try anything funny with me.”
Instead of being intimidated like most men, he grinned as if he was proud of her. “You’re definitely my cambion,” he told her. “My name is Camriel and I don’t have a harem. Zoe is another cambion. She’s bonded to my commander, Amaros.”
Victoria shook her head in bewilderment.
“I know you’re an alien,” she said accusingly.
“Try speaking fudging English so I have a chance to figure out what you’re talking about.
” He took a deep breath, causing his dong to pop up into the air again.
“Dude,” she said chidingly. “Did you take a bottle of Viagra or something?”
“Being so close to you is doing this to me,” he said, gesturing at his now hidden erection. “It’s natural for a Knight of Order to react to their fated mate in this manner.”
She rolled her eyes in disbelief. “Holy shiz, he thinks he’s a knight.” She refused to acknowledge she’d joked to herself that he was a knight in shining armor who would sweep her off her feet. The guy was naked, for pities sake.
“This isn’t going how I planned it,” Camriel said plaintively.
“What the fudge did you think was going to happen?” Victoria asked, backing away and grabbing her backpack.
Instead of answering her, he strode forward, then astonished her by dropping to his knees in the shallows. “Bond with me,” he said, placing a hand over his heart. “Become mine and I’ll cherish you forever.”
“Um, no,” Victoria replied, eyes riveted to his straining dong again. “I don’t fudging know you and you didn’t deny that you’re an alien. You swam up on me without any warning and you’re naked. Not to mention sporting wood.”
He looked down and realized his erection was on full display this time. Again, he tried and failed to cover himself. “I’ve screwed this up,” he said mournfully. “You were supposed to fall for me and I was going to take you home to meet the others.”
“Yeah, you fudging failed big time, cork sucker,” she said in fake commiseration, backing away and abandoning her detergent, shampoo, conditioner and soap. At least she’d put her sneakers on to wash her clothes, since some of the rocks in the lake were sharp.
“Wait!” Camriel called out when she turned to flee. “What’s your name?” he called after her.
It was stupid, but she decided to answer him.
“Victoria Tudor!” she called back, then ran down the path.
She dodged behind a tree and peeked out to see he was still kneeling in the water.
His huge shoulders were slumped and his head was hanging dejectedly.
His dong was still standing at attention, which was both impressive and slightly disturbing.
“I hope Zoe can fix this,” she heard him mutter as he rose to his feet. He cast a wistful look over his shoulder, then waded back into the lake.
“Look at that azz,” Victoria said in a bare whisper.
It was deliciously round and muscular. His thighs were just as amazing.
She bit her knuckle to stop herself from calling him back.
“He’s a cork sucking alien, Vic,” she reminded herself as he rapidly swam away.
“He’s also not alone,” she added. He had a leader called Amaros and a female slave called Zoe.
Or that’s what she figured a cambion was in his alien language.
She waited until she couldn’t sense or see him, then returned to the lake long enough to wash her jacket. Gathering the rest of her gear, she hurried back to the cabin. She had a feeling he wasn’t going to give up easily. He would be back soon, possibly with reinforcements.
“You had to wash everything, didn’t you, you fudging idiot,” she scolded herself.
She hung everything up from the hooks on the walls, draping some items over the table and chairs.
Pulling on wet trousers and a t-shirt, Victoria grabbed her sickle, a knife and her bow.
She stood in front of the fire, trying to dry her clothes as fast as she could.
“They’ll be coming soon,” she predicted, expecting both male aliens to arrive. She didn’t care how hot Camriel was, she wasn’t about to let him turn her into his slave without a fight.