Page 2 of Her Fated Alpha Prince
But screw it.
If she was going to be alone on this damn island, she could at least look dangerous. Sexy. Unbothered.
Hot and alone was still better than forgotten and invisible.
She lifted her chin, squared her shoulders, and walked out the door like she didn’t have a single thing to prove.
She headed down toward the beach where her friends were waiting. Three of them had flown in from L.A., full of wine and wisdom and enough pushiness to keep her from sulking in her room.
“God, finally!” Mia waved her arms from a cluster of sunbeds. “We thought you were going to ghost us and spend the whole day doom scrolling Dylan’s socials.”
“I considered it,” Ariana said as she kicked off her sandals and collapsed onto a lounger. “But then I figured, why stalk a man who’s already ghosted me?”
The girls cackled.
“That’s the spirit,” said Jess, passing her a tall glass of something with pineapple and too much rum. “You get five hours to cry over that walking haircut, and then we’re moving on to healing through hot locals and salty water.”
“You really think there are hot locals?” Ariana asked, sipping the drink. It hit her instantly—syrupy, strong, and way too easy to swallow.
Jess smirked. “You’re on a private island, babe. Someone has to deliver room service.”
Ariana laughed, for real this time. The ocean breeze tugged playfully at her hair, and the sun warmed every inch of her skin. There was something about this place—wild, a little untouched—that felt… different. Not like the overdeveloped beaches she’d seen before. Something quieter pulsed here beneath the surface. Alive.
“Tomorrow,” Mia declared, sliding her sunglasses up, “we’re doing the paddleboarding thing. You in?”
“Do I have a choice?”
“Not if you want to keep your best friend status.”
Ariana raised her glass in mock surrender. “Fine. But if I fall off and get eaten by a shark, I’m haunting you.”
They spent the next hour lounging, gossiping, dipping into the warm waves. For the first time since her breakup, Ariana forgot to check her phone. She even started to believe maybe this island really was magic. Not in the glitter-and-fairies way, but in the ancient, whisper-through-the-trees,watch-your-stepkind of way.
When the sun started to dip low, painting the sky with soft amber and gold, she wandered off alone, walking barefoot down a sandbar that curved out like a pale finger into the sea.
The water was warm, the wind salt-sweet. Her thoughts softened, a strange calm rising inside her—until something flashed in the distance, snapping her back to alertness.
Something shimmered beneath the surface—just for a second and then it was gone. She blinked, squinting out over the waves. “Probably a fish,” she muttered, but her gut said otherwise. That eerie prickle crept along her spine—the kind that said someone was watching. Except... no one was there.
The wind started blowing faster.
She turned, one hand shielding her eyes as she glanced back toward the resort. The resort was farther than she remembered—too far. She hadn’t meant to walk this far out on the sandbar, and now the tide was crawling in, rising with an almost sentient determination.
She spun back around—and gasped.
The shimmer was there again. But this time, it wasn’t beneath the water. It wasinthe water. A ripple that didn’t move like the rest of the waves. A smooth rise and fall. Dark. Long. Intentional.
She took a step back. The sand beneath her toes squelched, water sucking at her heels.
Then one more flash but closer this time and she couldn’t look away.
Suddenly, the ocean roared—louder than it had all day—and a wave surged from nowhere, slamming into her knees with a force that knocked her off balance. She stumbled, arms pinwheeling, as the weight of water yanked her sideways. She hit the surf with a gasp, her head dipping under before she could breathe in.
The sea wascoldbeneath the surface, not warm like before. And it moved strangely. Like it wasn’t just water anymore.
Something brushed her ankle.
Her lungs seized. She kicked out wildly, trying to find the sand—but it was gone. She had stepped too far, and the drop-off was steeper than she realized. The current tugged at her legs, not like waves butarms—like something wanted her deeper.
