CHAPTER 5

Tears wet Heather's cheeks as she huddled in the small cave she'd found, if you could call it that. It was more like a really large burrow, dug into a small hillside at the base of a giant tree. She swiped them away angrily. She was cold, she was sore, she was hungry, she was thirsty, and she needed a freaking toothbrush.

She pulled out her phone for the hundredth time. Duck walking to the entrance of the cave, she held it up in the air, trying to find a signal. Nothing. And to make matters worse, if that was even possible, the battery was about to die.

Frustrated beyond reason, she threw it up against the rocks at the back of her hideout, then immediately burst into tears at the depth of stupidity she'd just fallen to by smashing her only possible connection to the outside world.

She sat there until she was all cried out, then with a loud sniff, she wiped off her face. It was getting lighter out, which meant morning was finally here, and unless she planned on dying in this cave, she needed to get herself together and take some action.

Thing was, she wasn't used to taking action. Not for her own survival anyway. At the risk of sounding like a spoiled brat, which she supposed she kind of was, she had to admit that her parents had always taken care of everything for her, ever since she was a kid. They'd even found the apartment she currently lived in, and helped her get the job she wanted so she could work with Gracie. She'd never wanted for anything, and she was very grateful to them for that.

However, as a result, her survival skills were practically non-existent. And she'd been living as a human for so long, her other skills were unused and long forgotten. Even her accelerated healing had taken her by surprise after she'd landed here in a heap of broken bones and lacerations. She’d passed out, sure she was going to die a horrible and painful death all alone in the middle of this haunted forest. But when she’d regained consciousness, many of her cuts and abrasions had already healed, and though she’d still had some broken bones, she’d been able to drag herself over to this little cave.

Her stomach growled loudly. Right. Food. Water would be good too. She peered into the gloomy morning. If this fog got any heavier, she'd be able to just stick her tongue out to quench her thirst, but until then, she'd need to find another source.

Stepping out of the cave for the first time since she'd found it two days ago, she brushed the dirt off of her yoga pants and tee shirt and zipped up her running jacket. She ran her shaky fingers through her long, brown hair and tried to get out the worst of the tangles. Another tear snuck down her cheek as she thought about her shower at home.

Stop it, she chided herself. Crying has done nothing at all for you so far except make your eyes hurt and give you a headache.

She stared out at the never-ending fog and her mind wandered, as it often had over the past hours, to Brock. Was he here too? Somewhere? Wandering around lost and alone?

She wondered if he was looking for her. Would he even know to look for her? Well, in any case, she couldn't just sit around here and wait for a man to save her. She needed to save herself.

She looked around with a forlorn expression. Dammit. That had sounded so good in her head.

Come on, Heather, you're a strong, independent woman. Stop whining and go find yourself some food and water.

In spite of her strong self-conviction, questions continued to swirl around in her head until it began to ache anew. All of this had been caused by something as insignificant as a coin toss. Of course, the other option had been immediate death for her werewolf. And possibly for her. But what was the point?

The Fae were freaking strange creatures. And the prince was the strangest of them all. Her parents had warned her. They believed his age was making him a bit mad, and when his decisions for their people had become more and more dubious to them, they’d taken Heather and run away. They’d said they’d rather live their lives amongst the humans than with an unpredictable monarch leading them. But she'd had no idea what to expect if she ever ran across him. Not truly.

She supposed after living such a long life, it was hard to find things to amuse yourself, but she sincerely hoped she wouldn't stoop to messing with people's lives like this when she got to his age, if she managed to live that long.

Her thoughts circled back around to Brock, as they were wont to do. If she ever saw him again, she owed him a huge apology.

The mist suddenly stirred in front of her and as if she’d conjured him up with her wishful thinking, he stepped through the fog not five feet away from her. She noticed he was wearing different clothes. Maybe she was still unconscious and only dreaming of him after all.

Heather stared, then squeezed her eyes shut, counted to five, and opened them again. She even pinched her arm, just to be sure.

He was still there.

Fresh tears pooled in her eyes as he gave her a relieved smile and held out his big arms to her.

She wasted no more time standing there by herself. Running over to him, she let him enfold her in his warm embrace, wrapping her arms around his lean waist and hanging on tight. She shoved her face into his chest as fresh sobs racked her body. "I'm so-so-sor-sorry."

"Shhhh," he said. One large hand smoothed her tangled hair down her back as the other held her tight. "It's all right, sunshine. I'm here."

Heather cried herself out for the second time since she'd woken up. To his credit, he didn’t try to stop her, but just let her get it all out. When she could breathe normally again, she leaned back just far enough to scowl up at him. "What the hell took you so long?"

He barked out a laugh and pulled her close again. "Sorry. Next time we're sucked out of our time and thrown into a new dimension or whatever the hell this is, I'll endeavor to find you sooner."

She sniffed and wiped her face on his shirt. "You don't happen to have any water, do you? Or food?"

It was his turn to scowl down at her. "Food is scarce, but there's water.

You haven't had any?"

She shook her head against his hard chest. "I was just about to go look."

One arm still draped around her shoulders, he stepped back and pointed in the direction he'd come from. "There's a fresh stream about a hundred yards that way. Can't you hear it?"

She sniffed, listened, and then shook her head again. Had she really been licking the moisture off of the rocks all this time when water was so close?

Oh my God, I really am a loser. Of course, it would've taken her an entire day to crawl over to it and back in the condition she'd been in.

Grabbing her by the hand, he started off in that direction, pulling her along behind him. As they walked, he asked, "Have you been here the whole time? In this cave?"

She bristled at his tone. "I told you. I was just about to go start exploring when you showed up."

"But you've been here for nearly two days? Without trying to find water? Or food? Not in all that time?"

She changed the subject. "How did you find me?" "I smelled you."

They arrived at the stream and Heather fell gratefully to her knees to drink. The water was like ice, and her hands were blue by the time she'd gotten her fill. While she was down there, she gave her underarm a discreet sniff. She didn't smell that bad yet, did she? "It's not my fault there are no showers here."

He laughed again. "No, sunshine. You smell like heather." "Um…yeah?"

"Like the foliage, not your name." "Like the flowers? In Scotland?"

"Yes. The blossoms don't have a strong smell, but it's there."

Is that why her parents had given her that name? They couldn't come up with something more original?

"By the way, I love the smell of heather," he said with a wink. "Reminds me of home."

She wasn't sure what to say to that, so she stood up again and bent over to brush off her knees. "What do we do now?"

He remained silent for so long that she finally looked up at him in question. The heat in his blue eyes as he stared at her chest took her by surprise, and warmth flooded through her to pool in her lower belly. Her large breasts never failed to get attention from the men she ran across,whether they were attracted to the rest of her or not, but the fact that they got his attention made a warm feeling unfold in her belly. She cleared her throat, breaking the spell.

He blinked and looked up, grinning at her and shrugging without shame when he realized that she'd caught him staring.