Rescued By An Alpha, Complete Set (24 page)

Rescued By An Alpha - Part Four

In Part 4, Philippe is in mortal danger. Terrified tourists end up on the wrong side of an attack. Chan and his pride find a young woman lost in the jungle. Back in Europe, Tom and Serena face trials of their own, as Carlos Fontana's shadow lingers over them both. Can she rise above it? Or will her dreams of becoming a leading fashion designer fall apart under the pressure?

It is 21.000 words and the fourth entry in the serial of four. It is not a stand alone book. It contains strong sexual theme, romance. Intended for readers 18 +.

CHAPTER ONE

Candela got up early to get ready for the day trip on the tourist boat. It was taking a small group of tourists up the river into the jungle. She checked her camera, made sure everything worked, and hung it around her neck, then slipped her phone in her pocket. Photography had made her a lot of money over the years. On her travels around the world, she had captured pictures of unique people, buildings, and extraordinary places. At twenty-four, she still enjoyed being a freelance photographer; she liked the free lifestyle that came with her work, and had no plans to do anything else. Several people were already boarding the boat when Candela arrived at the dock.

"Hello, what's your name?" The tourist guide asked.

"Candela. I've already booked my trip."

"I'm Marcus, and I'm going to be your tour guide for the day. Welcome on board; find yourself a seat." Marcus waved her past.

After saying a quick "Hello" to the other tourists, about fifteen of them, Candela found a seat right behind Marcus. She had put on a big hat and shades; it was a hot day, and the humidity was high. Candela sensed from the atmosphere on the boat that the other tourists were equally as excited as her.

"This is going to be a great trip," she said to herself. One of the tourists, a young woman, came and sat next to Candela.

"Do you mind if I sit next to you? You seem to be on your own too, like me."

"No, not at all, please do. My name is Candela."

"Hi, pleased to meet you. I'm Patricia. I'm traveling around, going sightseeing alone."

"It should be an interesting trip. I'm a photographer," Candela said.

After sailing for several hours, Marcus stopped the boat, opened a fridge, and pulled out some trays with sandwiches. A young woman came up to help him share them around. Each one of the tourists also got a bottle of juice. A big container with cold water chugged away in the middle of the deck, keeping the tourists supplied with chilly drinks in spite of the Amazon heat.

They continued sailing peacefully along down the river. The tourist boat seldom ventured this deep into the jungle. Candela was standing with her camera ready to take a picture when she spotted another boat out on the river, coming towards them. As the boat came closer, they could see there were some thugs approaching them.

"What are we going to do? They don't look very friendly. I don't like it," Candela said as she looked towards the boat worriedly.

"Just act friendly, everyone," Marcus advised them.

They were all frightened, but did their best to be friendly when the men climbed on board and started to poke them. One of the men with long black hair and several teeth missing smiled and said, "I take," As he tried to pull the bag away from one of the passengers.

"No, you can't have that," the man said, and pulled his bag towards himself.

The muscular man demanded, "You give it to me." He grabbed his huge knife, and in a swift, cruel swing he cut the man's throat and took his bag. The man fell over, slowly dying as the blood poured out of him.

Some of the women started to scream, and the men began to fight back. They were no match for the brutal men. They handled the tourists viciously. Once they'd killed every man on board, they threw them into the river. The water surrounding the boat turned red with the blood from the dead bodies. The piranhas got busy picking the bodies to pieces, and soon only the skeletons were left.

The women were terrified, but the cruel men didn't care. They tied them all up and sailed the tour boat into the river bank. They made the six women walk in a long row through a small track in the heavily overgrown jungle. The vegetation scratched their legs and left open painful cuts. They walked for what seemed an eternity, until they came to a group of small huts.

Some women in colorful loose dresses sat around a big fire, cooking and preparing food. They pushed the six women into one of the huts. "You sit here," a tall, broad man towering over the women commanded. He left.

"I hope they don't find my camera. We have to think of a way to escape from here," Candela said, but the terrified women couldn't think straight.

"Gosh, they're scary. I don't hope they rape us. I'm shaking inside with fear," Patricia said. "I'm willing to come with you, Candela, if we can find a way to escape from those brutes."

The other women began to come around. Even though they were shaking with fear, they all decided to help each other to get away from their captors. One of the women--Anne, who was a bit older than Candela and Patricia--said, "We should wait until it gets dark, because they may sit around the fire and get drunk. That might be our chance to get away."

"Let's try to untie each other, so when the opportunity comes, we're free to run," Candela said.

It was a hard task, but they all got busy helping each other. It gave them something to do. It distracted their thoughts away from their fears. Once everyone had been untied, it felt like a small victory. Now all they wanted to do was to fight for their lives.

Later that night, they could hear the people getting loud and very noisy. The women assumed they were drinking and now just waited for an opportunity to escape.

"It will be safer to leave one by one and sneak out around the trees without anyone seeing us," Anne suggested.

One of the women said, "But we haven't got a chance escaping from those brutes!"

"We can't give up and let them win. We can't just sit here like insects caught in a spider's web."

"I'll go first. I'm pretty fit; I work out and go for a jog every day. I have also done a lot of training with martial arts, so if I should be attacked, I can defend myself," Candela offered. She had to muster up all her courage and try not to pay attention to the way her body was shaking.

"Okay. As soon as you are a good distance away from the camp, you run as fast as you can and only stop if you should need to catch your breath," Anne said.

They peeped out of the opening in the tent carefully and saw the men lying around. Some seemed doped out, and others were getting high on something.

"Go, Candela, go," Anne whispered.

She crawled out of the tent on all fours and hid behind it. She sat quiet as a mouse for a while, but no one had seen her. She ran over behind a tree and stood, listening. She let out a relieved breath, but her leg muscles were tightening, her body ready to run. She looked around before she continued running from tree to tree. When far enough away, she ran as fast as she could in the dark. She had a hard time moving through the bushes of the dense jungle. The branches cut her arms and tearing at her jeans, but she kept pushing herself. She just wanted to get as far away from the natives' camp as possible.

"Maybe it's my imagination, but I have a feeling I'm being followed," she said to herself. She heard noises and thought it might be wild animals.

Then, suddenly, a native appeared right in front of her with a spear pointing at her. He wasn't a big fellow and didn't look intimidating. He poked the spear to her chest and started to talk to her in a language she didn't understand.

She stared at him
. Now it's time to put my skills into action!
She swiftly kicked the spear out of his hand, grabbed his arm, and twisted it around. Before the native had time to react, she had him on the ground and punched him in the head a few times, until she had knocked him unconscious. Cold fear ran down her spine, but she couldn't stop to nurse her feelings. She had to keep going. She moved forward as fast as it was possible here in this thick jungle.

"I'm so glad I'm so physically fit, or I would never have been able to cope," she said aloud to herself.

All she could think of was to save her own life. Her eyes had adapted to the dark, but after a while, the clouds that had covered the moon drifted away and made it easier for her to see. She walked and ran until the early morning. She had been lucky; after the incident with the native, she had only been attacked by mosquitoes and stinging ants. When she came to an opening where some trees had fallen, she was covered in scratches, cuts and dirt.

"Oh, God, I'm exhausted, I have to rest." She sat down on a tree stump and started to pray. "Oh God, thank you for helping me get away from those brutes. And if you help me to get out of this jungle, I will be so grateful." Candela's emotions got the better of her, and she started to cry. Pain tore through her chest as she cried and cried, realizing how hopeless her situation was.

CHAPTER TWO

Chan and his pack had just said goodbye to Tom. They watched the helicopter take off into the air. They could see it over the bushes and trees as they walked back towards their den. A loud scream drowned the noise from the helicopter,

"H...E...L...P..." Chan turned around. It was coming from down the river.

"Philippe is in trouble! Come quickly! We have to help him." Chan rushed back to the river, with the others following him.

Out in the river, they saw Philippe fighting for his life. A huge anaconda had wrapped its body around him. Water splashed everywhere as Philippe tried to free himself. It took every ounce of effort to keep himself above the water. They could hear him swearing at the beast.

"You bastard...son of a fucking bitch! Get the fuck off me or I'll kill you." The situation seemed pretty hopeless. His arms were pinned.

"Don't worry, Philippe, we'll get the bitch!" Chan yelled. He pulled his knife out from his belt. The rest of the pride followed him.

The anaconda was completely wrapped around Philippe, getting ready to swallow him. Chan started to cut into the anaconda and so did the others. It didn't take long before the anaconda loosened its grip on Philippe. They cut it to pieces.

"Thanks, Philippe, now we have dinner to cook over the fire tonight," Chan joked.

"Oh, thank you, guys," Philippe gasped. "I'm so glad you're here. I thought my last hour had come. The motherfucker nearly made me lunch." Philippe looked pale, still trying to catch his breath. They helped him into the riverbank, where he lay down to rest.

"Welcome to the jungle. This was only a small one, and maybe its mother will come looking for it soon," Chan said. He helped carry all the pieces of the anaconda on to the river bank.

Philippe quietly laughed to himself.
Chan has a way of always looking at the positive side of things. I can understand why Tom thought of Chan as a hero. I will probably do that too, before long
, Philippe thought to himself.

While Philippe rested, they all got busy cutting some palm leaves off the trees and made several baskets to carry the anaconda back to the den. Philippe watched them working, amazed by how simple and bare-bones they lived. They had different values, much less stressful than his lifestyle had been. He looked forward to learning more from Chan and his pride.

Back in the den, they all helped to collect wood for the fire, and before long they had a roaring blaze going. They cut the anaconda up into small neat pieces so everyone could help themselves to put the meat on a stick and cook it in the fire. They all thanked Philippe, delighted by the nice dinner.

"You are welcome," he said, and shook his head, still a bit shaken after his earlier near-death experience.

"We start training first thing in the morning, Philippe. We will soon get you into the shape you need to be in to survive here in the jungle," Chan said.

Philippe turned pale, but nodded munching on his anaconda chunks.

The next morning, Philippe got up early and decided he wanted to go for a little run before he started his morning exercises with Chan.

"Don't go too far away from the den on your own. It is not safe. I'll take you for a spin later," Chan warned Philippe.

"I'll be careful," Philippe said. He was anxious to get out of the den and explore the territory surrounding the den. He was spending most of his time in his jaguar form and enjoyed a good run in the jungle. He trotted around the area close by and climbed one of the big trees. The view over the top of the trees provided a fantastic view of Golden Valley.

A feeling of gratitude ran through Philippe.
I feel so free. It's so wonderful to be out here in the jungle. I think this place is going to be life-changing for me.

When Philippe came back to the den, he saw Chan and a few of the jaguars in their human form already waiting to get started on the morning exercises. Chan had planned a couple of hours' hard physical training. Philippe often worked out in the gym at the club, so he wasn't doing too badly in the beginning, but as they progressed he struggled, and was pretty sore by the time the lesson finished.

"Okay, let's go for a run!" Chan said.

"What now? I'm worn out, I need to sit down and rest for a while," Philippe said, sitting down on a tree stump.

"Okay, later," Chan said with a smile, and the rest of them went for a jog.

As the days went on and Philippe got used to the morning rituals, his fitness improved rapidly. He wanted to learn as much as he could from Chan, who was obviously a master of the jungle. They had started the martial arts training in the afternoon. This was new to Philippe, but he rather enjoyed it and was willing to train hard. Chan loved that about Philippe; he was easy to train.

"I think it's time I taught you to use a bow and arrow. Let's go for a little walk and find some suitable wood," Chan said.

"That sounds exciting, something I have been looking forward to learning," Philippe said.