Primitive Flame

by Lakes, Lynde

  Lani shook her head, not trusting her voice. She lifted her chin, putting her mouth closer to his, wanting more than forehead kisses. To her disappointment he didn’t take the hint.

  Even though his laughter lessened the tension, she couldn’t stop trembling. He’d saved her by grabbing her wrist, but he could have just as easily been pulled down with her. Tears filled her eyes, and she tightened her hold on his waist. She didn’t want to let go. Ever.

  ****

  Following a trip to the ER, and a fast cleanup, they headed for the hotel’s beachside coffee shop. Cort went ahead of Lani to open the door. Her gaze fell on the square bandage at the back of his head. Underneath was a shaved spot and stitches. She could still hear the sickening thud as his head hit the rock and remembered all that blood matting in his hair. The doctor said there was no concussion, thank God.

  “I’m starved,” Cort said as he followed her inside.

  “Me, too.” Aromas of bacon and waffles had never smelled so good. The packages of trail mix they’d grabbed from the hospital vending machine had been only a temporary fix.

  The hostess seated them at a table for two by a window. “I can’t believe we’re really here, really safe,” Lani said.

  Cort made no comment, but his guarded look spoke volumes. He was still upset about her going to the lava flow alone. Well, he just had to get over it. He had shaved and looked fantastic considering what they’d been through. The collar of his yellow shirt lay outside the neckline of his black bush jacket, the lighter color emphasizing his tan. She studied his face. His

  eyes clear and alert.

  “We’ll both feel better with real food in us,” she said.

  Again, no comment. He frowned and looked thoughtful.

  “Something bothering you?”

  “Nothing for you to worry about.”

  Why was it when people said that, her worry grew? She decided not to push it, hoping he’d be more forthcoming after they ate.

  Service was quick and as they finished their juice, the waiter brought a plate of bananas and strawberries. He uncovered a basket of sourdough toast with melting butter and offered her some before moving away.

  Her stomach growled in anticipation. Her hand trembled as she spread the toast with jam. Trying to eat slowly, she looked out the window at the wide stretch of golden sand and gentle rolling waves. The view brought to mind that other beach not far away where the lava flowed tumultuously to the sea, near where Pele walked.

  Lani frowned. Had she been Pele’s pawn, controlled somehow by the warm, pulsating lava stone? When the chain broke and the pendant fell away, she’d instantly felt freer than she had since her birthday. Did that mean everything had been controlled, the nightmares, the visions—even her love for Cort?

  She studied his face with the fine crinkle lines around his eyes. Regardless how it all started, the love was real.

  She touched his hand. “Thanks for coming after me. I don’t know what might’ve happened if you hadn’t.”

  Angry glints lit up his eyes. “Why did you go without me?”

  “I didn’t know how long you’d be gone and was afraid if I waited, I’d lose daylight.” She traced the handle of her coffee cup. “Please understand, Cort, I couldn’t have made it through another night without answers.”

  He nailed her gaze again. “Did you get them?”

  “I made the link with Pele I needed. I have closure with her, but—”

  The waiter returned with their cheese omelets and crisp bacon. He refilled their cups with steaming coffee, then disappeared. They ate quietly until they finished.

  To break the uncomfortable silence, Lani said, “About Pele—”

  “Before we talk any more about the goddess, there’s something important we have to do.”

  “What?” Lani stacked her empty plate on his, feeling off balance.

  He stood and threw some bills on the table. “You’ll see. Come on.”

  Taking her hands in his, he brought Lani to her feet and pulled her along. Their first stop was a drug store where he bought some scissors. Next, he stopped at a gas station and asked for directions to his friend’s place. The woman who ran the station located the road he wanted on a large wall map. He used his cell phone, then asked the woman where he could find maile growing wild. Despite the complicated directions, Cort nodded his understanding.

  Once they were on their way, Lani said, “I won’t be put off any longer. What are you up to, Cort Wayne?”

  He laughed as he pulled off the narrow, sparsely traveled road into a clearing surrounded by a dense tropical forest. “It’ll be clear soon.”

  She folded her arms. “I’m not budging until you tell me.”

  Cort shrugged and left the car, smiling like a cat drunk on catnip. She didn’t know how to handle that. Angry at herself for following without an explanation, she stomped along behind him, breathlessly catching up as he reached the closest clump of maile vines. He inspected each growth.

  “What are you looking for?” Lani demanded, as she slapped at mosquitoes. The pests seemed to find their way under her knit top and even beneath her snug jeans. If she’d known she’d be tromping through underbrush, she would’ve splashed herself with bug repellent instead of White Ginger cologne.

  Cort stopped. “This is it. The greenest and best shaped leaves.” He cut about five feet of vines and placed them around his shoulders, then lifted his hair and snipped a lock from the crown.

  “What the devil are you doing?”

  He came toward her with the scissors open. “Now you.”

  She backed away. “No, Cort. What’s wrong with you?”

  “Where do you prefer I cut?”

  Her heart pounded. “Nowhere. Why are you doing this?”

  “You trust me, don’t you?”

  “Well, yes.” She trusted him, loved him, but this didn’t make sense. Towering like a giant, he stared down at her, his eyes glinting with a gleam she wasn’t at all sure about. Maybe the doctor had been wrong and Cort’s fall had done some serious brain damage.

  “Pick a strand or I’ll choose,” he said.

  Hesitantly, she lifted a strand from the underside of her hair and offered it to him. His touch was so gentle she didn’t feel it, yet the quick clip made her shiver.

  He waved a lock of flame-red hair. “You’ll never miss it.” Cort removed the vines from his shoulders and laid them very precisely on the hood of the rental car. He entwined their locks of hair, wrapped them into one of the large leaves and tied the vines around it. “There. All set. Let’s go.”

  “I’m not amused, Cort. I want answers.”

  He kissed the tip of her nose. “And you shall have them. I promise.”

  They returned to the car, and after he placed the wrapped locks of hair on the seat between them, he drove about ten miles. At a fork in the road, he turned off the main thoroughfare and followed a one-lane winding road through a jungle of acacia koa trees with majestic trunks, and ohia trees with deep salmon flowers. Going deeper into the forest his expression was tense, yet he was humming.

  “Cort, please tell me where we’re going.”

  “I’ve been to the spot before,” he said. “But it’s been a while, so I had to check a map. I called ahead. Kapana is expecting me.”

  “Who’s Kapana?”

  “He used to work for me.” Cort drove into a large clearing with an old house, a barn and a helicopter.

  A helicopter. “Cort?” She didn’t like the look of this.

  “Wait here.” He hurried to the house and knocked on the door. A Hawaiian man came out and they shook hands and patted shoulders. The man handed Cort forms to sign. Cort pulled some bills from his wallet and scribbled on the paper attached to a clipboard. When Cort returned the papers, the man handed him something. Oh, no. Cort had the keys to the helicopter.

  “No way am I getting in a chopper again,” she told him.

  “There’s a saying in construction: when you fall off a high girder clim
b back up and face the fear.”

  “You always have a handy saying to get your way, but I’m not buying it.”

  “Suit yourself. It might be a long wait. Could get lonely, way out here all alone.”

  “I’ll stay with your friend.”

  “Not a good idea. He’s been drinking…”

  Lani didn’t want to risk a boozed-up stranger—and she didn’t want to stay alone.

  Inside the craft, she said, “I’ll never forgive you.”

  “Yeah, you will. It’ll be fine, I promise.” Cort strapped on her seatbelt. The faint click made her shudder.

  When Cort circled Kilauea, her tension mounted, her gaze fixed on the erupting inferno.

  “We’re putting an end to this Pele-fixation of yours once and for all,” he shouted.

  “It’s already gone,” she said, trying to hold her voice steady. “Really.”

  He sent her a doubting glance.

  She needed a chance to prove it to him—to herself. But if they died in the process…

  Cort opened the sliding window about eight inches and tossed their vine-wrapped locks of hair into the mouth of the bubbling crater. “Here, Pele!” he called. “My peace offering to you. Release us and give us your blessing.”

  Lani smiled past her fear, understanding at last. “I don’t believe you did that.” Her heart swelled in gratitude. Cort had come a long way from the disbeliever she’d first met.

  “You’re worth feeling a little foolish for,” he said.

  “Does this mean you believe it all now?”

  “I take the fifth.” He patted the helicopter’s panel board and winked. “No instrument trouble this time. All gauges working fine.”

  “We aren’t on the ground yet.” But she wasn’t afraid. They’d made their peace with Pele.

  ****

  Cort shifted in his seat. His body ached all over from the fall, but somehow it didn’t hurt as badly as the ache in his heart. Today it had hit him. Hard. Visions or whatever, he couldn’t go on without Lani.

  His dad had been dead wrong—all men don’t cheat. Cort shook his head. It had been a mistake to believe he might be like his father. They were different in ways that count. Cort liked getting involved with kids and the people he worked with. His dad was a loner, into his own selfish needs.

  Cort wanted nothing more than to be with Lani, and only Lani, the rest of his life. He’d never been surer of anything. For the first time, he felt sorry for his father. He’d not only cheated his mother, but he’d also cheated himself out of a rich, satisfying relationship that could come only from a committed love.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Lani closed her eyes as Cort wrapped his hands around her waist and lifted her from the helicopter. As he slid her body slowly down his, she willed herself to be immune to the heat and firmness of his body, immune to the way his closeness excited her. Change was coming at her so fast she needed to keep her wits to sort it all out.

  “Before we return to the hotel,” Cort said, “there’s a special place I want you to see. It’s not far.” He swept her from her feet and into his arms. He carried her in firm strides toward a path leading into the thick tropical forest that surrounded the clearing.

  “I appreciate the ride, but I can walk, you know.”

  He relaxed his hold slightly, but didn’t put her down. He ran, taking her deeper and deeper into the forest. His breathing was labored. Leaves and twigs whispered beneath his feet.

  When they entered a clearing, he stood her on her feet. She heard crashing water. A waterfall cascaded down the mountainside into a blue-green stream that wound its way in front of them and blocked their path. The mist vaporized on her skin like soft rain. The trees and vines were slick with mist, and green moss covered fallen logs. Only a few hazy rays of light filtered through the tangled growth of ohia trees. An earthy musk hung in the air.

  Overwhelmed by the beauty, she said softly, “It’s lovely here.”

  Cort stared at her for what seemed like an eternity. She ran her palms over her hips, smoothing her jeans.

  He cleared his throat. “Kapana, the guy who owns the chopper, brought me here the first time. He swears it’s enchanted. Said his wife accepted his proposal in this very spot.”

  “What are we doing here?”

  Cort bent in front of the fallen log near the stream, took off his jacket and spread it on the ground. He drew her down next to him. “It hasn’t been easy getting to this point in my thinking,” he said huskily. “But I’m ready to talk about the mysticism, get it all out in the open and face my own demons.”

  “This should be interesting,” she said softly.

  Cort took her hands in his. “Dropping the locks of hair into the volcano is an old ritual. Supposed to release you from Pele’s spell.”

  “Do you believe Pele is my mother or not?”

  ****

  Cort brought her palm to his lips and gently kissed her cuts and scratches, trying not to be distracted by her velvety brown eyes. He had to be honest with her. “No,” he said with regret.

  “But on the ledge, you saw her too.”

  “I don’t know what I saw.” Cort slowly kissed each of Lani’s fingers, hoping he could make her understand. “I saw a glow and flames that might’ve been only a flashback from the lava flowing into the sea. Then I had nightmares—or was delirious—I don’t know.” He remembered seeing dual deities battling—goddess and demi-goddess. “Even if I saw something, it wouldn’t prove Pele’s your mother.”

  He knew how serious this was to Lani, but he found it difficult to lower that last barrier and allow himself to believe it all.

  “Why toss an offering if you don’t believe?” Lani moistened her lips with a flick of her tongue.

  His breath caught. Her dewy mouth begged him to kiss her. Tiny flames of desire swept through him. “Just in case it would work,” he said, fighting to hold his voice steady.

  “For requests to gods or goddesses to come true, you have to believe it will.”

  Cort touched the curve of her jaw. “I thought it would be enough if you did. I believe in you, in us.”

  She smiled faintly. “I believe in us, too.” She glanced down and gently traced a long blade of grass with her finger. Cort swallowed. Everything Lani did was so damned erotic.

  He felt as if there was a wad of cotton in his throat. “If it’ll make you happy, I’ll believe Pele’s your mother. After everything that happened, anything’s possible.”

  “You’re sounding more and more convinced.”

  “Why not? With the mystery surrounding your birth—hell, with what I’ve seen with my own eyes, and the stories of the many supernatural things that have gone on for centuries in the islands, I’m willing to accept that something beyond ourselves is at work here.”

  “Pele came to me on the ledge while you were sleeping, and through the hula she told me about her love affair with Pono.”

  Cort closed his eyes briefly. “I saw her. Dammit. But I thought I was caught in a nightmare. Maybe I was. Maybe we both were.”

  “What about the crown of berries and ferns still on my head the next morning?”

  “It scares the hell out of me.”

  “Yet you’re still here.”

  “Yeah. Is that such a surprise? What do I have to do to prove I’m here to stay?”

  “Can I get back to you on that?” Her voice had a sexy throatiness that made him glad to be alive.

  “I’ll be waiting.” His mouth felt dry.

  She gave a small smile. “Pele conceived a mortal baby to have a way to communicate with humans—to reach the hearts of the people. I was never supposed to leave the islands.”

  “And she brought you back?”

  “With the necklace. I never knew where it came from, but from the moment I put it on I couldn’t remove it.” Lani remembered the way everyone had looked at it and warned her to take it off.

  “You’re not wearing it now.”

  “On the cliff, the
wind tangled the chain in my hair and a strand caught in a crevice. When I pulled free, the chain broke, and the stone fell into the sea.”

  “I’m sorry. You must’ve cared a great deal for it.”

  “Before I even knew Pele sent it to me, I was sure it came from a relative—that made it precious. When the chain broke I felt sad. Then I felt a release, leaving me feeling freer than I’ve ever felt in my life.”

  He raked his hand through his hair. “The stone controlled you?”

  “Pele admitted it. Without my help she might’ve had to resort to a siege of volcanic violence and devastation to save the Hawaiian relics and ancestral bones.”

  Cort shook his head. “If this is all true, you might have saved a lot of lives.” His tone deepened, revealing a blend of awe and lingering doubt.

  “We did it together,” she said softly. “We demonstrated our love for each other as well as our respect for Pele’s wishes and the sacred land. That was all she wanted.”

  “Do you think it’s over?” Cort’s tone carried no fear.

  “I hope so. The burial ground is safe from desecration.”

  Cort went very still for a moment, then asked, “Do you really believe she’s your mother?”

  “I’ve accepted it. Can you?”

  He knew the importance of her question, yet he had to be completely honest. Honesty and faithfulness were the concrete blocks of the life he wanted to build with her. “I need time to think and adjust to the idea. Pele as my motherin-law scares the crap out of me.”

  Lani bit the corner of her lip. She’d been foolish to expect him to accept who she was. It was a miracle she was able to accept it, but for their love to last, she needed acceptance from him.

  The falls roared in the distance, filling the silence, bathing the woods in a gentle ethereal mist.

  Odd, despite the crashing waters, Cort heard a cricket. One of his men had told him crickets were good luck, and that it was an omen to hear them during daylight. Cort laughed to himself. Was he starting to seriously believe in such things? It’d be easier if he did. He wanted to tell Lani he believed what they saw was real and that Pele was her mother, but the words choked him.

  “Why are you staring at me like that?” she asked.