Free Owned By The Alphas: Part One by Faleena Hopkins

Chapter 1
    “ W hy I chose to do this idiotic fucking thing is beyond me! Why didn’t someone stop me? Because I didn’t tell anyone where I was going, that’s why,” Ali grumbled, her breath huffing out in small angry, steam clouds. “So, now you’re lost. Well done. Way to go, nimrod.” Her hands held firmly onto her heavy backpack to keep it balanced, but it didn’t seem to help with the ache. Her back was killing her, and Yosemite Park wasn’t looking quite as pretty as it did when she arrived. Trampling loudly through overgrown grass and over rocks of all shapes, colors and sizes, she shook her head and sighed, “Go see nature! That’ll make the boredom of your stupid life go away! Idiot.”
    A loud crackle of a breaking branch sounded behind her. Ali froze, a single puff of steam suspending in the air before her slackened lips. There were wild animals out here, and while that seemed awfully romantic at the outset of this little solo-excursion, it was now a nauseatingly terrifying reality. She held her breath and didn’t move. The distant cawing of a bird she could not see pierced the silence, seemingly warning her what they both knew–that she was not alone. She ever so slowly inhaled the crisp air in a vain attempt to cool her head and summon up the courage to turn around, but the fear that had crawled underneath her coat to settle on the baby hairs of her spine was suffocating.
    Her voice cracked, “Hello?” She cleared her throat and tried again, calling out, “Hello? Anyone there?” then mumbling, “Wild animals don’t talk, Ali.”
    To her left loomed several sky-high gray boulders flanked by Whitebark pine trees, and ahead lay a fallen sequoia tree covered in yellow and green lichens. But there was no sign of anything or anyone…besides her. She took another deep, chilly breath and slowly walked toward where the sound came from. There on the pine needle-covered granite laid a branch as thick as her forearm, broken in half, the bones of it sticking out in sharp points. “That’s no squirrel’s handiwork,” she whispered, eyes darting around.
    She had the distinct impression she was being watched.
    Widened brown eyes flitted to the broken branch again as a shiver whispered over her body. A lizard scurried by her sneakers, crawling over the branch. She covered her mouth to stop herself from screaming like a child. “Get it together, Ali! God!” she whispered, the cold making her voice hoarse.
    She took one step toward the fallen tree.
    “Hello?”
    The thought that a bear might be near was immediately shoved away. She couldn’t go there. Not now. Not when she had no way of defending herself. If she allowed herself to think for one minute that a freakin’ grizzly or any other kind of bear stomped that branch, she’d lose her mind screaming, and that wouldn’t help her. With her heart pumping adrenaline into her veins, she muttered under her breath, “Just keep walking, Ali. The trail’s got to be that way.” Hooking her fingers tighter around her backpack straps, she changed directions and tromped toward the boulders and the sinking sun.
    Her sneakers picked up speed as her heart told her to run.
    “What are you doing here?”
    The man who’d stepped out from behind the boulder winced as Ali screamed in his face. He reached out but stopped just short of touching her, withdrawing his hand at her expression.
    Frozen, Ali Latham stared, and as quickly as the brain takes in an image, she soaked in the details of what could only be described as the towering god before her. His eyes were shocking; two different colors, one hazel with gold flecks, the other deep emerald. To add to the impact, he had jet-black hair that hung to his tanned shoulders. What was most surprising was his complete lack of a single piece of clothing.
    To run into a naked man in the middle of the woods would normally have freaked Ali right the fuck out, but this male specimen looming before her was truly