The Alpha King’s Virgin by Charmeleon (Raine & Amari)

Chapter 80 

RAINE 

Amaris insisted his driver take us to where Joanna wanted to go. At first Joanna wasn’t keen on the idea, but Amaris wouldn’t budge, and eventually she relented. 

The SUV bumped across the rocky path up the mountain side, and we had to hold on to keep from colliding into one another. I had a hard time holding onto my breakfast being bounced around like a ball. 

Soon the narrow path became nothing more than an overgrown footpath and the driver had to stop to my relief. 

“We’ll have to leave the car here,” Joanna said. “There is no other way than on foot. You may leave us.” She ordered the driver. 

He opened the door and helped me alight from the car. “The king will be displeased with me if I leave you alone. Let me at least accompany you to your destination, Your Majesty.” He slung my bag over his shoulder. The young man could prove useful at least and knowing Amaris, he would punish him if he let us go on alone. 

Joanna shrugged when I looked at her for guidance. “If you feel it is necessary.” 

“Alright then, but you have to leave us as soon as we arrive.” Not that I knew where we were heading to and what Joanna expected of me. But safe to say, I would rather not have any more onlookers than necessary. 

The pathway, if you could call it that, was steep and overgrown with brambles. and thickets. It would have been easy going for Tasha though if it wasn’t risky for my pregnancy. 

We followed Joanna as she made her way through the overgrowth and the rocks. She was nimble for her age, moving with ease like a deer through the obstacles. The surroundings reminded me of my refuge, the cave I used to go when my life got too much for me to bear. 

The crisp mountain air brought the smell of pine and moss to my nose, filling me with nostalgia. Not for my old life, not for the hurt and the humiliation 

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but for the sweet memories when I was just me, Raine Grey, an ordinary Omega. 

Now I was no longer that innocent girl but something else, I had yet to find. out exactly who and what this new woman was. 

“Just a short way further,” Joanna held out a hand to help me over a boulder, but the young male was faster. He lifted me over the boulder and set me on my feet as if I weighed nothing. I thanked him and he gave me a shy, dimpled smile. 

“He could come in handy.” Rhona chuckled, “Especially if we need firewood.” I saw the way she looked at him with a twinkle in her eyes. He was attractive in a boyish kind of way, even features with a spattering of freckles over his nose, startling blue eyes. Strong. He was the whole package. I wondered what happened to Gareth but said nothing. 

We reached the summit at last, and the view was picturesque. It felt like I was looking at the edge of the world. Far below, like tiny ships between the waves of green lay the villages of the surrounding packs. 

When I turned to my left, I saw the castle turrets peaking out between the treetops and I longed for Amaris. It was like a constant pull drawing me towards him and without him it felt as if half of me was missing. Tasha missed her mate even more intensely. I tried soothing her, telling her we would return soon. She wasn’t speaking to me, blaming me for leaving as if I had a choice. 

Joanna went down on her knees next to a large outcrop of rock and started scraping dead bushes overgrowth out of her way. She revealed the entrance to a cave. It was a small opening in the rock wall, covered in spiderweb and who knows what else lived in there. 

“Is this where we’re supposed to be?” 

“Looks can be deceiving. It’s much bigger on the inside.” Joanna noticed the expression on my face. “We’ll make it as comfortable as possible.” 

I failed to see how all three of us would fit in that small crevice. “It’s not like I haven’t slept in a cave or out in the forest before.” I said, not intending to 

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sound defensive. 

Joanna had a hint of a smile on her face. “Indeed. We are not here for comfort, Your Majesty. You are here to train.” 

Rhona and the young male whom I later learned was named Bartholomew- or Bart, as he preferred to be called – disappeared into the woods leaving Joanna and me alone. 

“I want you to close your eyes and tell me what you sense.” Joanna placed a crystal necklace around my neck. The pale blue crystal nestled between my breasts and felt strangely warm and heavy. I touched it briefly and pulled my hand back. It seemed to be throbbing lightly. 

“Breathe nice and evenly. Let the power flow through you.” I heard Joanna’s voice droning in my head. “What do you see? What do you feel?” 

I felt nothing. There was no weird feeling of power low in my gut. I opened my eyes. “Joanna, I don’t sense anything. What am I supposed to be doing?” I felt like an idiot. 

“You’re being impatient. Draw on the nature around you. Feel the earth beneath your feet, taste the wind. I cannot explain it to you, Raine. Open yourself up to it.” She came to stand next to me. “Give me your hand. What do you want to achieve?” 

“I don’t know!” I was getting agitated. “How am I supposed to know what I want to achieve when I don’t even know what this is?” My voice rose in intensity the more frustrated I became. 

“Look.” Joanna pointed at the dust beginning to swirl around our feet, growing and getting darker as it picked up more dirt and loose stones. 

“Am I doing this?” I whispered in awe. 

“Yes, the question is what are you going to do with it? What do you want to happen?” 

“I want it to go away!” My hands shot out towards the whirlwind, and it flew 

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apart showering us with stones and dirt but disappeared into the breeze. 

Rhona and Bart found us spluttering and coughing and covered in dust. 

“What on earth happened to you?” Rhona laughed at us. They had been hunting by the looks of it. Batholomew dropped an armful of wood he arrived. with and dusted his hands off his dark pants. Rhona held two dead rabbits in each hand which she laid on a flat stone in the vicinity of the cave. “We brought dinner.” She declared, smiling broadly, pleased with herself. 

Joanna went to her to pick leaves out of her daughter’s hair. “Was that all you two were up to?” she asked, grinning. 

Before Rhona could answer, Bart uttered a deep growl. “Rogues!” 

The mountains echoed with the howling and snarling of wolves. We were surrounded. 

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