Sold AS The alpha King's Breeder

Chapter 75 : It Will Do

Jared rested his head on my breast. He breathed heavily, our legs still entwined.

Gently, I stroked my fingers through his hair, watching the sun make its last descent below the horizon.

Just before we lost the light, my eyes caught something strange off in the distance.

“Jared."

I nudged him and he lifted his head.

Sitting up, I threw the bathing suit cover back on and went to the rail of the boat.

There was a long, thin, black line stretching across the horizon.

“Do you see that?" I pointed.

Jared joined me at the rail. He had his swim trunks on again. His eyes darkened as he looked where I pointed. Something ominous passed over his face.

“It is just a sea storm. It's still a few days out. We'll have plenty of time to find shelter before it gets here."

I nodded slowly and gripped the rail of the boat. Dread stuck in my veins like glue, making my blood feel like sludge.

That wasn't just the darkness of a sea storm.

I could feel my own curse shadow shifting, squirming restlessly.

That darkness out there had something to do with the curse that inhabited both of us, a curse that bound us together just as surely as it meant to tear us apart.

I glanced at Jared.

He still watched the storm, too.

It was easy to tell what he was thinking because I was thinking the same thing.

We couldn't outrun the darkness forever. No matter how much we both wished we could.

Sighing, I pushed those thoughts as deep down as I could, right into my toes. I grabbed Jared's hand and led him to the cabin below deck.

“We should rest. There's a whole village out there for us to explore tomorrow."

The storm would catch up to us eventually, no matter what we did. So why worry?

Jared and I could spend the next few days hunkering down, planning for the worst, obsessing over a storm we couldn't stop… or we could focus on each other and enjoy our time together.

***

There were several small coastal villages on the Saboreef coast. They all had marinas, so it was easy to dock and go into town for lunch. And it was a good thing too, because I couldn't live off of that propane-fried fish.

“Check this out," Jared said on our first stop. He pointed to a small gathering in the village square.

There was a woman wearing a skirt made of palm fronds. She had a fresh flower necklace around her neck and no top. The flowers barely covered her breasts.

She was dancing, and she was so balanced and skilled that the flowers never wavered and kept her covered the whole time.

“Wow… she's really good," I said.

“All these little villages have their own cultures and histories."

I grinned at Jared. “You know you just recited the archeologist's magic words for endless entertainment, right?"

“Of course!"

We stopped at a small café for lunch. The tables were all outside with little grass umbrellas to shade us from the warm sun. Stray dogs ran through the village with young kids running after them and playing.

It was so quaint and simple.

For lunch, I had fresh oysters over salad and a delicious tropical fruit juice that was squeezed right at the table when I ordered it.

The next day, we went to another small coastal town. There was a museum there that documented some of the ancient temples in the area.

I spent hours squinting at the pictures of old temples and the carvings on them.

“I wonder if we can visit any of these," I murmured as Jared stayed close beside me.

For all I knew, he was bored out of his mind as I nerded out over pictures of ancient temples and hieroglyphs, but he didn't show it.

“I think they used to have tours of some of the more intact temples, but I didn't see anything about the tours at the front desk. That's usually where they advertise that stuff," he said.

I bowed my head. “Too bad. I would love to see some of these hieroglyphs up close."

That second day, we stopped at a local restaurant that had tables right out in the sand. When the tide came in, the cool water gurgled around my feet.

I ordered pan-seared shrimp with a spicy seasoning served with grilled vegetables and some rice.

“Where are we going tomorrow?" I asked Jared as we got back on the boat to sleep.

We'd always sleep where we were anchored and then sail to the next village early in the morning. We'd be there in time for lunch and have the rest of the day to explore.

“Well, I heard of this place a little further up the coast. Supposedly, it's the hidden gem of Saboreef and not a lot of tourists know about it."

“That sounds promising."

Instead of sticking close to the coast the next day, Jared sailed us further out to sea. We sailed around a rocky point with large coastal rocks that cast dangerous, looming shadows over us as waves crashed ravenously around the rocks.

On the other side of the point, the harsh sea calmed and there was a little island. As we got closer, I could see that it was densely covered in a tropical jungle forest. There weren't any other boats around.

Jared got as close as possible and dropped the anchor. We got in the little dinghy boat and he rowed us to shore.

Tropical birds sang out to each other and the loud hoot calls of monkeys echoed through the trees.

Jared grabbed our daypacks from the dinghy and we headed into the jungle.

“How do you know where we're going?" I asked, pushing a large, damp leaf out of my face.

“The island isn't that big. It takes two hours to get from one side to the other. And we can still see the ocean, so it's not like we're going to get lost," he assured.

We hiked deeper into the dense jungle. The sounds of animals and insects got louder and closer the further we went.

“Eliza, come here, come here," Jared whisper-shouted to me, motioning for me to come to his side.

He crouched down. I did the same and I crawled up behind him.

He pointed over a small ridge. “Look at that."

I followed his finger and gasped.

There was a whole troop of monkeys. Some of them hung lazily on tree branches like they were sunbathing. Others were cracking nuts and picking insects up off the ground, eating whatever they found. Little baby monkeys screamed at each other, running around and playing.

Every now and then, one of the mother monkeys would get fed up with the noise and let out a loud bellow, and the babies fell silent.

I covered my mouth and laughed. “Wow. What a great sight."

A little further into the jungle, I heard a new sound. After our past few adventures, it was a sound I knew very well.

“We're almost there," Jared said, picking up his pace. He headed directly toward the sound of rushing, gushing water.

We broke into a clearing, where a massive waterfall cascaded down from a high, rocky peak. The sun caught it just right through the trees, and the mist from the waterfall created a perfect rainbow.

There was a large, rough pool at the base of the waterfall. They water was crystal clear. There were a few large rocks around the pool and several plants that hung over the edge, their leaves and petals dipping into the water.

Jared and I ditched our bags and clothes. We dove into the clear water.

“Holy s**t! This is freezing!" I cried. My teeth chattered.

Jared laughed. “Give it a few minutes. It will warm up."