I just survived falling down a mountain.I’m a freaking superhero. There is no other way I could have survived that.
Slowly, I roll to my back and look up at the path I just made. I’ve fallen so far I can’t even see Brax or Ryker at the top. I hope they don’t try to follow me down, I have a feeling that I got lucky and wouldn’t want to see them injured. I take a few more deep breaths as I listen and wait. When I don’t hear anything, I decide I need to figure out where I am and how to get back to them.
I put my hand on the ground to push myself up and hiss at the pain. I look at my palms and see they are totally shredded andcovered in blood.
“Ew,” I grimace as I stare at them. Well,damn, this isn’t good. And now that I’ve seen them, it feels like they are a hundred times more painful.
I wonder if there’s water around here to try to clean them off. I know I have some clothing in my bag I can wrap it with. But they are most definitely full of dirt and gravel that I need to get out first.
Dropping my hands to my sides, I take a look at my surroundings. It seems I’ve landed in that valley I glimpsed from above. I know that if I walk straight through the valley, there’s a section of forest and then the village. I think my best bet is to head in that direction and hope that Ryker and Braxton meet me there, as I have no idea how to climb back up the mountain I just fell down.
As I walk across the field, I start to take in all the sights around me. This might not have been the world I grew up in, but it was very similar. But the more I looked, the more differences I noticed. I probably wouldn’t notice at all if I wasn’t really looking for them. Like how the grass here was a slightly brighter shade of green. Or how the trees seem to have more sway to them, like they have a rubber element to their trunks and branches. Or how their bulls had a single horn instead of two curved ones.
Wait, whatisthat thing? I stop in my tracks and tilt my head at the large animal in front of me. He’s at the edge of the valley. Only thirty feet or so away. And he looks just like a bull, except he has a giant horn on his head that… sparkles?
It’s smooth and white and looks like what I imagine a unicorn horn would look like. What is this creature? A bullicorn?
“Hey there, big fella,” I say softly as I slowly creep towards him. If he’s some sort of magical beast, maybe he’d let me ride him? It would definitely get me to the village faster if he’d give me a lift.
“What do you think, huh buddy? Want to give me a ride?” AsI take another step closer, I see his nostrils flare and he turns his head sharply to me, freezing me in my tracks.
He exhales sharply through his nose and I swear he narrows his eyes at me before he starts rubbing his hoof on the ground.Uh-oh.He looks like he’s about to charge. Am I wearing red or something? I look down at my outfit but nope, just my regular black clothes.
I take a slow small step backwards, and that’s all it takes to set the bullicorn off. He charges me and I scream as I turn and run.
CHAPTERTHIRTEEN
PENNY
“Ididn’t mean it! You don’t really have to give me a ride!” I yell in my retreat, just in case this was a super smart bullicorn that speaks human.
Holy moly, am I in trouble. That thing is about to stab me through my chest. I’ll never get married or have children or live out my days having hot sex with my hot husbands.
I can hear his hooves pounding the ground right behind me and know my time is almost up.
And just as I’m sure this is the end for me, something wraps around my waist right before I’m yanked into the air, instantly silencing my scream as the wind is knocked out of me.
What just happened?I tilt my head and realize I’m staring at the back of a horse’s head, and we’re galloping through the forest now.Did this horse just save my life?Is he a magic horse?
Realizing I still feel something from around my waist, I glance down to see it’s an arm. A very solid, muscular arm. I tilt my head up and see a chiseled jaw and a pair of frowning lips. I don’t exactly have the best angle from where I’m sitting.
He doesn’t make eye contact with me, and when he glances over his own shoulder to look behind us, he turns back and presses into me as he commands, “Hold tight, we’ll lose him in the forest.”
I turn back and grip the front of the saddle as the mystery man presses into me from behind. Within seconds, we’re whipping and winding through the trees. If he wasn’t keeping me pressed between his body and the horse, I’m sure I would have slid off by now.
About ten minutes later, he slows the horse down and sits up. We trot slowly for a couple minutes until he pulls us to a stop near a stream. He jumps off the horse and reaches up and grabs me by the waist, pulling me down and placing me gently on the ground in front of him.
When he doesn’t release me, I finally get a chance to look up into his face.
He has gorgeous hazel eyes that stare at me with such intensity that it has me biting my lip. His light brown hair sits a little long as it peeks out from under his hat. But my favorite part? Are the small patches of silver in his hair.Damn.This guy had silver fox written all over him. I wouldn’t guess him to be over forty, but something about him really spoke to me.
I mean, I’m twenty eight and if he’s forty, it’s only a twelve year difference. He has such a dominating presence about him. I can’t help but wonder if he likes to be called sir in the bedroom.
Damn it.I’m an engaged woman now, twice over. I’m not allowed to think about other men anymore. What was I, some sort of hussy? I’m almost glad Ryker and Braxton aren’t here to witness my reaction to this stranger.
He wears a dark brown brimmed hat, a cross between a cowboy and Tilley hat, and a green tunic with a deep v, showing off some tantalizing brown and silver chest hair beneath.
“—If you were my woman, I’d spank your ass pink for pulling a stunt like that. Hey, are you even listening to me?”
