Lonely Alpha

Lonely Alpha

Ranae Rose

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transferable. This book may not be sold, copied or given away.
Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This book is a work of fiction. All
characters, names and events are products of the author’s
imagination and are in no way real. Any resemblance to real events
or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Lonely Alpha

Smashwords edition

Copyright © 2012 Ranae Rose

Cover Design by Ranae Rose

All rights reserved. No part of this book may
be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission of
the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in
critical articles and reviews.

Chapter 1

Mandy’s butt had fused to the driver’s seat
of her Honda. She was sure of it.

She guided the car around what seemed like
the millionth hair-pin turn of the day, sighing as she shifted,
trying to work some feeling into her numbed cheeks. Only five more
minutes to go. Or at least, that was her best guess. Her traitorous
GPS had given up on the journey half an hour ago, leaving her to
navigate the Tennessee wilderness on her own. Her road trip from
Nashville to the Great Smoky Mountains had already proven to be
even longer than the time quoted on the directions she’d printed
out as back-up – the sun was creeping lower and lower, and would
set before long. The drive had eaten up most of the first day of
her vacation, but the evening should be salvageable…if she could
find her cabin.

“Ah,” she sighed, cracking a window and
letting the brisk spring air rush in. It had been too long since
she’d breathed such unabashedly fresh air. She loved the outdoors
and always had; there was just something about disappearing into
the peaks and valleys of the mountains that made her feel alive.
She didn’t get to do it often, so she fully intended to make the
most of this week.

Tendrils of her blond hair escaped the loose
knot she’d twisted them into, but who cared? She’d be alone with
nature this week. Gloriously alone; free to let her hair go to crap
if she felt like it. She had a brand new pair of hiking boots, a
dozen unread books and a year’s supply of loose-leaf tea packed
somewhere in her trunk. She didn’t need anything or anyone else.
This vacation was a reward for her hard work, and she’d promised it
to herself ages ago. She’d put it off for over a year, convinced
she was too busy to escape city life for even a week, until one day
she’d realized that she’d never take the trip unless she buckled
down and forced herself to take a break. Now, here she was, lost in
the seemingly endless Smoky Mountains. It felt good.

“Whoa!” A doe bounded across the road, her
white tail held high.

Mandy hit the brakes, glancing reflexively at
her rearview mirror. Fortunately, she seemed to be the only one
traveling the desolate road. She started forward again, slower this
time. It was a good thing too, because if she’d been going any
faster, she might have missed the small cabin that was just barely
visible through a thick screen of pines. “Finally.” She smiled,
turning into the narrow dirt driveway.

The cabin looked about the same as it had in
the pictures online. It was modestly sized and cute in a rustic
sort of way – perfect for a vacationer seeking some time alone in
the mountains – and even more secluded than she’d realized. As she
pulled her keys from the ignition and exited her vehicle, it was
like stepping into a new world; a quiet green one, lost deep in the
foliage and namesake fog of the Smokies. Everything was
perfect.

“What the hell?” The cabin’s screen door
banged open, and a man stepped out, swearing loudly.

Mandy jumped, tripping backward into her car
and rolling across the hood like a spy in an action movie, only not
nearly as graceful. She barely managed to catch herself before she
hit the ground and dirtied her new khaki hiking shorts.

“What the hell,” she muttered under her
breath, echoing the stranger’s words as she braced herself with a
hand against the bumper, narrowing her eyes at the man who’d nearly
caused her to have a heart attack. He was tall with a shock of
unruly, almost-black hair and a strong jaw shadowed by matching
stubble. By the looks of him, he hadn’t shaved for days. It was as
if he’d given in to the solitude of the mountains, foregoing things
like razors...and shirts. The open flannel he wore hung loose at
his sides, revealing a tight, toned torso striped with dark hair
that formed a diamond in the center of his chest and narrowed to a
thin trail that disappeared beneath the waistband of his well-worn
jeans. He definitely didn’t look as if he’d been expecting anyone
to drop by, and as Mandy stood staring, waiting for her adrenaline
surge to ebb, he glared right back at her from the cabin’s front
porch.

“This ain’t a turnaround,” he said, crossing
his arms over his chest, “it’s private property.”

He was about as refined and charming as he
looked. Mandy scowled. “I’ve rented this place from today ‘till
next Thursday. What are you doing here?”

He mumbled something under his breath that
sounded suspiciously like ‘the hell you did’, and shifted his
stance, causing his shirt to gape even wider, shamelessly revealing
a well-muscled hip. “I told you, this is private property.”

Mandy rolled her eyes. Maybe he was some sort
of deranged mountain man squatting in her rented vacation home,
hoping to scare her off with his bad manners. He seemed a little
young for that – he looked about her age, and couldn’t have been
older than thirty – but in any case, it wasn’t going to work. She
straightened and marched right up to the porch, jutting her chin
out to match his defiant expression. When she stopped within a
couple feet of him, his scent hit her like a freight train. It was
all fresh pine and masculine, woodsy musk. She took one deep,
gluttonous breath before forcing herself to breathe shallowly,
refusing to appreciate his smell. “Is this 113 Whippoorwill
Road?”

His full lips curved slowly, showing her just
a hint of a cocky smile. “Sure ain’t.”

She scrutinized his face, trying to determine
whether he was telling the truth. It was a challenge not to take a
step backward when she met his eyes. They were hazel – the
brightest hazel she’d ever seen. Almost gold. His stare
was…penetrating. And irksome, when paired with that condescending
half-smile. “Then just where might I be,” she asked, managing to
keep her voice mostly steady, “if this isn’t 113 Whippoorwill
Road?”

“Pine Ridge,” he said, drawing out each
syllable with his thick Southern accent like she was too stupid to
understand if he spoke at a normal pace.

What a smug ass. And yet… “Pine Ridge Road…”
It
did
sound vaguely familiar. “Hold on. I’m getting my
map.”

He stood motionlessly as she turned on her
heel and marched for her car. His stare burnt into her back, making
her want to shrug. She resisted the urge, retrieving the map and
directions she’d printed and striding to the porch with them in
hand. Her stomach tied itself into a series of uneasy knots as she
scanned the papers. “Pine Ridge isn’t anywhere near
Whippoorwill.”

He shrugged. “Might not seem close to a city
girl like you, but it’s only a few miles away. Just around the
other side of the mountain.”

City girl
? Was he serious? She barely
managed to suppress a snort as she met those strange almost-golden
eyes again. “So you’re not just trying to get rid of me – I really
am in the wrong place?”

He nodded, and a little heat crept into her
cheeks. She’d been so sure…this cabin was the only building she’d
seen for miles. Who actually
lived
out here, so cut off from
civilization? But as she glanced around, she noticed things she’d
overlooked in her excitement, such as the old pick-up truck parked
around the side of the cabin. With its rust-eaten body, it blended
almost seamlessly with the forest behind it. Its wheels were sunken
into well-established ruts in the ground, and it looked as if it
probably hadn’t been driven in ages. People didn’t leave crappy old
trucks in the yards of vacation cabins. This was a home. She
swallowed. “I thought for sure that this was my rental cabin.”

He arched an eyebrow at her, clearly
nonplussed.

“My GPS crapped out on me and…” She trailed
off. He obviously didn’t care what had led her to make the mistake.
She made a conscious effort to smooth her features as a wave of
irritation rolled over her. “Do you think you could give me
directions to Whippoorwill?”

He rattled off a string of directions, as if
he knew the mountain like the back of his own hand. For being ‘just
around the other side of the mountain’, the journey there was
pretty damn complicated. She jotted down his instructions on the
back of her useless internet directions. “Thanks,” she said when he
finished. “I appreciate you directing me, and uh…”

God, apologizing to him rankled. There was
just something about his arrogant expression that made saying the
words feel more like swallowing acid. “I’m sorry about the
misunderstanding. It was my mistake.” She finished anyway. Maybe
he’d take a hint and get some manners of his own.

He tilted his head ever so slightly in her
direction. “Enjoy your vacation.”

She chose to ignore what might have been a
hint of sarcasm in his voice as she turned and headed for her car.
A minute later, she was back on the road, breathing freely again
now that she wasn’t within sniffing range of his rich scent. She
left the windows cracked and inhaled the fresh air, hoping it would
help her forget about the stranger and his odd eyes. So far, it
hadn’t exactly been the solitary, hassle-free escape she’d
imagined. But there was still plenty of time for that. All she had
to do was make it to her cabin, her own little retreat nestled deep
in the wilderness…

“Crap!” She pounded a fist on the dashboard
as she hit the brakes, squealing to a stop in the middle of the
mountain road. It wasn’t a deer that had stopped her this time, but
a tree. A gigantic one that looked as if it had been growing for
decades…and had chosen this very day to fall squarely over the
road, blocking it completely.

There had to be another way. Mandy put on her
hazard lights, on the off chance that someone would pull up behind
her, and picked up her map. She studied it for a good ten minutes,
searching for any possible route that would lead her to
Whippoorwill. As time stretched on, she became more and more
exasperated. Apparently, there was no other way. At least, not on
the map. An idea struck her, and she shied away from it, balling up
the map in her fist as her stomach lurched. No way did she want to
go back to Mr. Mountain Man and beg for directions again. She
crossed her arms over her chest and stared defiantly at her
reflection in the window.

A bird called out – not a whippoorwill, but
something with an annoying chirp that sounded almost like laughter.
Mandy sighed, tossing the crumpled map aside and putting the car
into reverse. Unless she wanted to drive all the way back to the
nearest town and bunker down in a motel room, it didn’t look like
she had much of a choice – she’d just have to bite the bullet and
ask the hazel-eyed stranger for alternative directions.

Her second foray onto ‘private property’ went
much like her first. She pulled into his driveway, and as soon as
her boots touched dirt, the screen door banged open. He didn’t
swear this time, just stood there glaring with his shirt hanging
wide open, affording a vista of smooth muscle and dark hair. She
kept her spine rigid as she marched forward. “I’m back.”

He was silent, but the look in his eyes said
‘obviously’.

“I used the directions you gave me, but there
was a tree that had fallen across the road. Is there another route
I can take to get to my cabin?”

He shook his head. “That road’s the only one
that’ll take you to Whippoorwill. You won’t be able to get there,
unless you wanna go on foot.”

Now it was her turn to look at him like he
was being stupid. “On foot? Over an entire mountain?”

He shrugged. “I was just sayin’.” A glimmer
of amusement flashed through his eyes as he lowered his gaze to her
pristine hiking boots. “I didn’t really think you’d be interested
in taking that route.”

She frowned, resisting the urge to cross her
arms. “Even if I felt like taking an epic hike, I’ve got a whole
car full of stuff I need to get to the cabin, not to mention the
car itself.”

He shrugged again. “Looks like you’re out of
luck. Nearest town is about twenty minutes from here.”

“I know that,” she said, more snappishly than
she’d intended. “I drove through it on my way here.”

“Well, then, you know exactly where to go.”
He turned without so much as a goodbye, and the screen door swung
shut behind him, squeaking on its hinges.