by Emma Castle
Thorne sipped the soda again. “It is not easy. I only remember when I see things that bring memories back.”
“That makes sense.” Eden hoped that in time more of his memories would become clear, but being left in the jungle at three years old, it was amazing he could remember anything at all. She then remembered his tree houses and the strange symbols in them.
“Thorne, how did you build those tree houses in the jungle? Is that something you remember seeing as a child?”
“Bwanbale asked me the same thing.” He paused in eating, a strange look coming over his face. “I discovered a cave—one deep in the mountains—which had the gold and diamonds I showed you. When I found it, I was overwhelmed by voices.”
“Voices? Whose voices?”
“Voices of the old gods, deep in the cave. They do not speak as you or I, but I understand their meaning. They spoke of homes among the birds, high in the trees.”
“The old gods spoke to you?” Eden’s skin prickled at the thought.
He frowned slightly and played with his fork. “When I sleep, I sometimes see pictures in my head.”
“Do you mean dreams?”
Thorne nodded. “I could see the cave, only long ago. The trees were not there as they are now. People used to live near it, in homes on the ground, only they live there no longer. But the cave remains.”
Thorne reached across the table and covered her hand with his. “Perhaps they are not gods—perhaps they are the spirits of those who hid their gold. I know so little, but I trust whatever it was in the cave.”
“Did you tell Bwanbale about that?” Eden leaned forward.
“I did. He said that long ago, an ancient people lived in the forests. They vanished, and the forest reclaimed all that they had once built. I did not understand all that he said. I know only of one cave. I offered to take him there, but he refused. He said they should be left in peace. I believe the men who killed your friends, they are searching for this cave.”
“Thorne, how many are there? How many caves?”
He shrugged. “Only one, but it runs deep inside the mountain.”
“And it’s full of gold and diamonds?”
Thorne nodded.
“No wonder men are hunting for it. The kind of money they can get from gold and diamonds . . .” She didn’t finish, but he seemed to understand what she hadn’t said.
“More bad men will come to the jungle.” His tone was soft, but a dark edge was there beneath the words.
“Yes, and when they come, they will destroy anything that gets in their way. They might even try to burn the jungle down to make the cave easier to find.” Eden felt a deep need to protect Thorne from the greed of men, but she wasn’t sure she could.
A strange unnatural blackness burned furiously in Thorne’s eyes, clouding the beloved blue, and his voice seemed to deepen even further. “Then I will stop them.”
“Thorne,” Eden whispered, a little afraid. The blackness in his eyes cleared, and he gave his head a small shake.
“I went away,” he whispered softly. “I was back in the cave.” He seemed puzzled by that, and Eden shivered.
Even if Eden hadn’t seen him kill those men a few days ago, she would’ve seen the promise of death in his eyes and heard it in his voice and knew he meant it. If she believed what Bwanbale and Thorne had told her about the cave and the spirits of the lost civilization and their old gods, she might believe that Thorne really had been chosen to defend the jungle and all things within it. Could she believe that? The evidence was growing by the day, and she would be a fool not to at least consider it. She focused back on Thorne.
“Your uncle may be able to help us protect the jungle and the cave.”
Thorne looked doubtful but didn’t argue.
They spent the rest of the flight resting quietly, her head on his shoulder. They didn’t speak much. Thorne was naturally quiet, but she sensed he still carried a great many worries. She rubbed a hand on his chest, hoping she could soothe him. They spent the remainder of the flight in the quiet comfort of each other’s presence.
They landed at Heathrow, and a private car took them to a hotel in London, where they would spend the night. The next day she was going to take him shopping. Cameron had texted her a list of stores that had his card on file and told her to equip Thorne with some decent outfits. Then, around midday, a private car would pick them up and take them to the Somerset estate, somewhere on the outskirts of London.
The car stopped in front of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Hyde Park. It was like a white stone castle lit up by gold light. When Cameron had said he’d booked rooms for them here, Eden had nearly fainted. The Mandarin was one of London’s most expensive hotels, with rooms starting at $700 a night.
As she and Thorne walked into the glittering lobby, his eyes widened and his lips parted. She could only imagine what he thought of a place like this. From the towering bamboo and the canopies of hagenia trees to a veritable palace of stone. The Mandarin was decorated in a style reminiscent of the golden age of travel in the early twentieth century. It gleamed with a mix of contemporary London styles and timeless British elegance. Thorne stayed close to her, dragging her suitcase behind him, which he’d found highly amusing when he’d discovered he could spin it in circles.
Eden stopped in front of the check-in desk. A woman in a crisp white uniform and a black vest with a heavy gold nameplate that read Linda looked over the tall check-in counter at them. “Name, please?”
“Eden Matthews and Thorne Haywood. Cameron Haywood made a reservation for us.”
Linda gasped. “Yes, of course. We’ve been expecting you.” She pulled up their reservation on her computer, then made a couple of key cards and summoned the bellboy to take their luggage. The young man reached for the rolling suitcase, but Thorne jerked it out of reach and glared at the poor man.
Eden’s face flushed as she pulled on Thorne’s arm. “Thorne, it’s okay. It’s his job to take it.” Thorne stared the other man down, forcing the bellboy to avert his gaze. Only then did Thorne release the luggage to him with a satisfied snort.
Eden nearly groaned. She would have to tip the poor man extra and have a little talk with Thorne about appropriate behavior. He couldn’t act like a silverback gorilla whenever someone came near him.
Thorne looked puzzled as Eden led him into the elevator. With one wary look at Thorne, the bellboy chose to follow them up on a second elevator.
“This is our room?”
Eden realized that this was his first time in an elevator. Back at the hotel in Uganda they had taken the stairs down, since they were only on the second floor.
“It is too small. I do not like it.”
“No, it’s . . . it’s going to carry us up to our room.”
Thorne frowned and looked around nervously as the elevator shuddered slightly. He stared hard at the ceiling where a small speaker played music. He looked like he planned to climb the elevator wall to investigate. Eden held him back.
“It’s just music. There’s a speaker in there, like on a phone.”
He frowned but calmed down. “There’s so much I feel . . . unsettled by,” he admitted. “How can I protect you if I do not understand this world?”
Eden moved to stand in front of him in the elevator and held both of his hands.
“You protected me in the jungle, and now it’s my turn to protect you, okay? You’ll get used to everything soon and feel safe again.” She stood up on tiptoes and pulled his head down to hers for a kiss.
His hands cupped her bottom, and he suddenly moved her back against the elevator wall, pinning her against the wall as he kissed her with ruthless perfection. He rocked his hips into her, and she moaned as her body flared to life with that wild hunger that only he seemed to ignite in her. She curled her arms around his neck, getting lost in him and the kiss that threatened to sweep her away.
At the musical chime of the doors parting, their mouths broke apart only inches, but it was enough. He turne
d to look out the door, and he looked very confused not to see the lobby.
“It did carry us,” he said.
Eden bit her lip, trying not to laugh, and gently pushed at his chest. “We should get off.”
He backed away and let her leave the elevator first, leading him down the hall. She stopped at the Imperial Suite, which she discovered had two master bedrooms, two bathrooms, and two spacious sitting rooms. The girlish side of her wanted to spin around in a circle. This was ridiculously expensive, and she planned to enjoy every moment of it. She owed Cameron a huge thank-you for booking a place like this. It went a long way to saying that he believed her.
“This is . . . big,” Thorne said as he closed the door behind them.
“It’s huge,” she agreed. “Most hotel rooms are small, like the one you found me in. This is really special, Thorne. Your uncle is treating us very well. Be sure to thank him tomorrow when you meet him.”
Thorne went into one of the spacious sitting rooms and ran his fingers over the back of a blue velvet sectional couch. He lifted the cover of one of the heavy coffee-table books, then moved to the tall windows and the balcony doors. He played with the handle until it opened, and he stepped outside, only to stagger back.
“What’s wrong?” Eden asked.
Thorne leaned forward toward the balcony and gripped the wrought-iron railing, looking down.
“We are so high up.”
Eden smiled to herself. He didn’t realize just how high the elevator had taken them. He was quick to adjust, leaning over and looking out as far as he could in every direction. It made her a little nervous for him to lean so far out, and she called out to him to be careful.
“I fell once—from the great rocks on the mountain.” He gave a casual shrug. “I was hurt for many days and could not move.”
Eden stared at him in horror. “All the more reason to be careful, right?” she asked quietly. If he fell from this hotel, he’d die, but she wasn’t sure he understood that.
“I will be careful, for you,” he promised.
“Thank you.”
The bellboy knocked and delivered Eden’s suitcase. She made sure to slip the man an extra tip for his troubles. After the bellboy left, she rolled her suitcase into one of the huge bedrooms. When she came back, she found Thorne still standing outside on the balcony. She joined him, and they shared the view of Hyde Park at midnight together.
“It’s almost like home,” Thorne mused. “So many trees, but yet not the same.” He released a slow breath, not quite a sigh, but somewhere in between.
“It’s a park. It’s like a forest, but we’ll see lots of people here tomorrow during the day. Maybe even some people will be riding on horseback.”
Thorne suddenly looked at her. “Horses?”
“Yes.”
Thorne’s face transformed with excitement. “I remember horses. My father . . . he liked to ride. I would sit in front of him.”
“I bet he did.” Eden smiled and leaned closer to him, and they both went back to studying the dark park. “Hey, are you hungry?”
Thorne touched his stomach with a mild frown. “Yes.”
“Then allow me to show you one of the great wonders of the modern world.” She looped a finger in one of the belt loops of his cargo shorts and pulled him back inside the room.
“What wonder?” he asked.
“Room service.”
Two hours later, Thorne set the food trays outside their suite as Eden instructed him to, then stepped back inside. Eden had told him there were two bedrooms, and one was his. That made no sense. There was no way he was going to let his mate sleep alone. He listened to her perform her confusing yet adorable cleansing rituals, such as washing her face.
It seemed that females did many complicated things before they slept. Things that Eden hadn’t been able to do until now. He enjoyed watching her do the small, puzzling things, trying to understand their purpose. At first it had bothered Eden to bear his scrutiny, but now she simply smiled and tossed tiny towels at his face whenever she caught him doing it. He liked it when she was playful. It meant she felt happy and safe.
Thorne was patient, waiting for Eden to crawl into bed. Once the light in her room was off, he stripped down and crept into Eden’s bedroom. The city of London was bright at night, with thousands of electric lights that left a tangible glow in the air that even now illuminated the dark room more clearly than moonlight. While Thorne missed the quiet dark of the jungle, he liked the fact that his vision was clearer at night here.
Thorne pulled back the covers of the bed and slid in beside her, pulling her against him. Whenever he feared he had made a mistake by leaving the jungle, taking his mate in his arms reminded him that he had done the right thing.
Eden settled back against him, her thin pajamas a delicate barrier between his bare skin and hers, but he didn’t mind. Clothing made her comfortable, just as he was more comfortable without them. At least at night, he didn’t have to worry about the suffocating grip of clothing.
“Thorne.” Eden whispered his name, but her eyes were closed and her breathing was steady and slow.
She’s dreaming of me.
The thought pleased him. He had dreamed of Eden even that first night he held her, dreamed of a lifetime of nights with her, to cherish and protect her. A life and a future. He longed for an infant of his own someday, and with a mate he had that chance. Eden was the true maker of his dreams.
He wanted to tell her how he felt, that he carried his love for her deep in his heart, but perhaps she wasn’t ready to hear it yet. Bwanbale had warned him that he must take things slow with Eden, that women from the outside world would not trust a man who declared his love too early. Eden had tried to tell him the same thing, when she’d explained dating. It would take time, and he would need to be patient.
Thorne kept the words inside him, waiting for the right moment. He hoped he would know when the time was right. Thorne nuzzled her neck and closed his eyes.
Sleep came on swift wings, but soon dreams began to flutter wildly within his mind. He was back in the jungle . . .
The cave was calling to him.
The cave was dark and deep as always, with soft whispers luring him in. The dreams always started this way. He would enter the cave with the land around him exactly as he knew it, and later he would leave the cave to see the world as it once was. But something was different this time.
Thorne moved into the mouth of the cave. He could feel the cold moisture of the craggy rock floor on his feet. The whispers grew louder the deeper he walked into the cave. He could feel the presence of ancient souls all around him, speaking with voices he could not understand. Thousands of voices lived here, or had once. They were but echoes now, and he felt a strong sense of loss tied to them. He wanted to help, but he didn’t know how.
In the shadows he heard laughter that made Thorne’s blood run cold. He saw a man, obscured by the darkness, pick up a large brilliant stone that seemed to glow from within, casting dim shadows upon his face. The cave wailed as the man took the stone.
The images changed. He was outside the cave, but it was still his jungle. He was at the white rock, the wrecked plane before the jungle had claimed it. He saw his parents there, a small child in his mother’s arms. His father now carried the stone, but unlike the other man, he wished to save it, protect it. He saw his parents carrying him and fleeing the other man, but he knew they wouldn’t make it.
He was witnessing the final moments of his parents’ lives from a distance, like an outsider. Yet his heart remembered this all too clearly.
The vision jumped again. The sound of a gunshot as his father fell. His mother, pleading for Thorne’s safety, only to be shot as well. The men responsible now taking the stone from his father’s body and handing it to the man with the cold eyes and hard laugh.
Thorne opened his mouth to howl in rage, but he couldn’t make a sound. He strained to see the face of the man responsible, but he couldn’t get close enough
.
The voices from the cave grew louder and more excited. This murderer was the one they wanted. The one they cried out against. The one who had disturbed the forgotten kingdom.
They wanted Thorne to find him.
No. They were warning Thorne. Warning him that the man was coming for him.
Thorne bolted upright, his heart beating so fast it felt as though he might die. He wiped his face and gasped for breath. For a moment he didn’t quite remember where he was, but Eden’s sweet scent came to him, and he soon relaxed. He lay back in bed, holding her close and shutting his eyes tight. Yet he couldn’t chase away the words of worry, or the warning of the voices from the cave.
He is coming.
14
“Just try this one,” Eden begged as she handed Thorne a soft blue button-up shirt. He sighed and accepted the shirt, carrying it into the dressing room of the upscale boutique that had been on Cameron’s list of clothing stores. When they’d first come into the shop and Eden had handed Thorne a pair of pants, he’d tried to disrobe right in the middle of the displays. She’d had to rush him to the dressing rooms, explaining that he couldn’t take off his clothes like that. He’d given her a long-suffering look before walking into the dressing room and shutting the door.
“That will be a lovely color on him,” the young man who’d been assisting them said as he stood next to Eden. They had been making Thorne try on both casual and formal clothes for the last hour, but Eden could tell her jungle man had reached his last bit of patience with this shopping. Earlier that morning they had bought the basics, like boxers, socks, boots, and dress shoes. And now that they were done with jeans and trousers, they were finishing up with shirts.
Thorne stepped out of the dressing room, the shirt only partially buttoned. The top three buttons were undone, revealing his golden-skinned throat and pectoral muscles. Both Eden and the store clerk drew in a breath.
“Help me, please.” Thorne lifted his wrists to show the tiny white buttons on the cuffs, which were still undone.
“No problem.” Eden stepped toward him, gently threading the buttons through their slits so the cuffs were secure. Thorne gazed down at her, and she blushed wildly. She always got flustered whenever he focused on her like that.