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They began to walk down the slope, holding up their hands to appear nonthreatening. As they came into view of the villagers, a cry of alarm rose and men rushed to grab their bows.

Vicente stopped and called out loudly in their language. “Wait. We mean no harm, but the woman has another champion.” He stepped aside so Slash could move forward. “He’s here to challenge the chief and claim his woman.”

Chapter Forty-One

Lexi

My life was over. I was destined to live the rest of my days in the rainforest without a computer or Slash. The universe had played the cruelest joke on me—shown me what I could have, and then taken it all away. Now I would suffer, realizing that for all the days of my life. The only bright side to any of this was I wouldn’t have to pick out a wedding dress.

Oh, the irony.

Obviously, no one was going to challenge the chief. Who would be dumb enough to challenge the most accomplished man in the village. Was that why he’d kidnapped me? To make me one of his wives? It didn’t make sense. Why me?

Still, I wasn’t going down without a fight. No other man would challenge him, but I would...and I intended to win by any means I could. I dashed out of the circle and grabbed a large, thick branch, brandishing it in front of me as a weapon.

To my surprise and dismay, the chief didn’t seem surprised or even worried by my action. He just calmly strode toward me.

“No,” I said firmly, holding out the stick and making him stop. “I don’t agree to this. Come closer and I’ll hurt you.”

I jabbed the stick at him to indicate I meant business, but then a commotion sounded from behind the chief. Some of the men dashed away and the chief abruptly turned away from me.

I heard some yelling, a silence, and two people stepped into view. I only had eyes for one.

Slash!

Our eyes met and my breath stopped. Without thinking, I ran toward him. The chief shot out a hand, grabbing me by the upper arm. Slash moved to confront him, when someone stopped him.

Vicente.

“You can’t have her...yet,” he said to Slash, loud enough so I could hear. “Don’t make a move toward the chief or her until you’ve been granted the right to fight for her.”

“What took you guys so long?” I whispered loudly.

“We couldn’t find first-class accommodations to the area,” Slash said in a low voice. “Are you okay,cara?”

“So far.” I couldn’t help it, my voice caught with emotion. “I’m so freaking glad you’re here. I’m kind of in a bind right now.”

“I know. Just sit tight. We’ll get you out of here.”

“Vicente, tell the chief I’m already engaged to Slash. This is some kind of marriage or mating ceremony. Once he knows I’m already spoken for, hopefully he’ll let me go.”

Vicente shook his head. “I don’t think it’s going to be that easy, Lexi. They think you’re a descendant of theAmazonastribe, a warrior woman here to assist the village. The chief is unlikely to simply surrender you.”

“Oh, no! Not that again.” I blew out a frustrated breath. “How exactly am I supposed to assist the village?”

“I have no idea. Stand by and let me see if I can figure things out.” He began speaking with the chief.

I inhaled several deep breaths to try and calm my nerves, my eyes never leaving Slash’s. His gaze was steady and assuring. No matter how dire our situation, he’d come for me. He’dalwayscome for me. But how were we going to get out of this situation?

Vicente turned to us. “The chief says the village has fallen on difficult times. Apparently a few days ago, the shaman had a vision of a woman warrior holding a snake and believed it was some kind of message. Then the chief saw you, and how you commanded the snake to fall from the tree onto a man before you jumped down to save the others. From there, he apparently extrapolated that you were that woman in the shaman’s vision. He said you could summon snakes at will, although I wasn’t exactly clear on that part.”

“Gah! IknewI saw someone right before I jumped,” I said. “But I didn’t have to summon anything. There are snakes everywhere. I pushed and prodded that snake with a stick until it fell out of the tree. The chief has everything all mixed up. I’m definitely not the warrior woman he thinks I am.”

“Regardless, that’s where we are.” He turned to Slash. “The chief says he remembers you, too, from the raid where Lexi saved you and the prisoners. He watched you from the trees. He said you cared for her after she was hurt.”

“Yes, because I love her.”

My heart tripped. It took everything I had not to run to him and throw my arms around him.