The Guardian (A Wounded Warrior Novel)

by Anna del Mar

  Kumbuyo’s leer widened, as if I were talking about his way.

  One moment Jade was sitting on the ground, the next moment the thermal blanket was out of the way and she held my gun, aiming at Kumbuyo. Instinctively, Kumbuyo’s AK-47 swiveled to Jade, my brave, beautiful lioness.

  In that instant, I snatched my knife from my boot, shifted my weight from one leg to another, and swung my forearm at the elbow. I followed through with a straight arm and released my perfectly balanced knife. My Ka-Bar flew across the air, hit Kumbuyo, and sank into his chest with a muted thud.

  His mouth dropped in surprise. He fired his AK-47 as I leaped across the air and tackled him, weapon and all. If only one of us was gonna live, it was gonna be Jade. And if I had to die today, I was gonna take Kumbuyo to hell with me.

  Jade

  Shots rang. Kumbuyo’s bullets plinked everywhere. My hands quaked, my strength was zapped, and I couldn’t shoot, not unless I risked hitting Matthias. And then it was done. Both men lay intertwined on the ground, inert like the dead. Blood pooled around their bodies, a macabre little lake growing on the dirt.

  “Matthias?” I whispered hoarsely. “Matthias!”

  The gun fell out of my trembling hands. My own breaths came ragged and hard. Whatever little strength I’d been able to gather ebbed, until I could no longer brace myself. My back hit the ground with a defeated thump. I closed my eyes, all too aware of the total silence that surrendered me. I was out of strength and out of courage. If Matthias was dead, so was I.

  I clung to my consciousness by sheer willpower, fighting the pain jarring my body for what seemed like an eternity, not just the physical pain but the anguish of knowing that Matthias hadn’t survived. When I forced my eyes to open, I saw only Africa’s blue sky. Tic toc. Each second that passed shoved me closer to agony.

  And then Matthias’s face broke into my frame of vision and my heart jerked in my chest, because he was alive and that’s all that mattered.

  “Babe?” He knelt next to me. “You okay?”

  “I am now.” I reached out for him and clung to his hand. “You?”

  “Close call.” He wiped the blood from his arm, where a bullet had grazed his bicep. “But it’s done.”

  “Kumbuyo might be done,” I said, filling my lungs with new breath. “But we’re only just beginning.”

  “I like the sound of that.” He kissed me ever so softly, and yet the hint of his passion persuaded my body to forget fatigue, exhaustion, and pain in favor of craving much more than his lips.

  “I should tell you,” I murmured against his mouth. “I’ve decided that I do want to take a shot at that survival of the species, passing on the genes thing.”

  The intensity in his eyes ramped up. “Jade Romo, is this your roundabout way of asking me to marry you?”

  My heart fluttered. “I didn’t exactly say those words.”

  “Your answer is yes,” he said. “It’s only a matter of when, babe. Your call.”

  And then he flashed his sexy smile, the one that warmed me all the way to the heart, my very own forever man, the game warden who’d captured my heart, the guardian who watched over my soul.

  Epilogue

  Jade

  We got married on a bluff not far from the station, overlooking the Serengeti at dawn. Thanks to some very fine doctors, my wound was pretty much healed, although I still had to fly into the city for therapy once a week.

  Mom and Dad had flown in the week before. As soon as Mom hit the ground in Africa, she’d taken charge of the arrangements, commanding Claudette and my bridesmaids into organizing a fine affair. Hannah, Sarah, and Lara. I had to laugh. What were the odds?

  Matthias’s parents and his four brothers also made the journey all the way from Montana. I loved them the instant I met them. They were warm and welcoming and they jived with my family as if we had all been fast friends for years.

  I wore my elephant jade earrings and the same dress Mom wore on her wedding day, a short-sleeved ivory Chantilly lace gown embroidered with tiny flowers. Tailored for me, the gown had clean, simple lines and a trumpet godet skirt. It’d been meant for Amber Romo first. When I put it on, I winked at her up in heaven and thanked her for sharing her kickass parents with me. I was living for the two of us, and these days? I was okay with that.

  Framed by the Serengeti’s endless plains, Matthias waited for me, scrumptious in his tux. The sight of him dazzled my eyes. He was flanked by his best men, Rem and Zeke, by his brothers, and all thirty-seven of his rangers. The director officiated. I gave Matthias a green wedding ring to match mine. And yes, his ring had a GPS in it, just like mine. We were never going to lose track of each other again. As the sun rose to illuminate a glorious day on the savanna, we spoke the vows we’d already pledged to each other with our actions.

  Just as we kissed and the drums began to play the melodious notes of an African wedding dance, the elephants came. The herd marched into view, ponderous, deliberate, magnificent. The elephants ambled to the base of the bluff, where they lingered. Some of the animals scratched the cliff walls with their tusks. Others got lost in the caves beneath the bluff. Bibi stood guard just below us, gaze shifting between the herd and the wedding party.

  “What are they doing?” I asked.

  “Those are ancient salt caves down there,” Matthias said. “Looks like they’re getting their sodium dose. But personally, I think she came to see you. She thinks you’re part of her herd.”

  “We are part of this herd all right.” I motioned around us, to the humans and animals that surrounded us.

  “And what a herd it is.” Matthias’s face broke into a grin.

  “Photobomb!” Hannah threw her arms around our shoulders, intruding between the two us. “For the website.” She smiled as her husband Ian took several pictures of the three of us.

  “Missing the kiddos?” I flashed my teeth in Ian’s direction.

  “Horribly missing the kiddos,” Hannah admitted, “although very much enjoying a second honeymoon and loving Africa.”

  “There she is!” Kanoni ran to Hannah, followed by Adisa and the other girls from the orphanage, brandishing one of her colorful bracelets in her hand. “For you, iron lady.”

  “Aw.” Hannah stretched out her prosthetic arm and let Kanoni tie on the bracelet. “It’s beautiful. Thank you.”

  “Is that myoelectric carbon construction?” Lara asked, dragging her Goth boyfriend along, joining the girls clustered around my beautiful Hannah.

  “Brand new prototype,” Hannah said. “From a company called Dynamics in Motion, designed by a genius called Josh Lane. Have you heard about his work?”

  “I’ve heard about his pioneering research,” Lara said before she and Hannah launched into an in-depth discussion on the radical advances of myoelectric technology.

  “Now we’ve lost them.” I smiled up at Matthias.

  He planted a sweet kiss on my lips, a kiss that stirred my need and drew me into our private world deeper with every second that passed.

  “Whoa.” I had to break it off or risk having to leave the party early. “More on that later?”

  The promise burned in his eyes. “You bet, but my patience is only temporary. After all, I plan to make the most out my good fortune every day of my life.”

  Oh, yeah, I’d hit the jackpot and I was going to treasure my hot, smart, smooth operator for the rest of my life.

  “So.” I ran my fingertips along his lapel’s silky edges. “Did you make a decision about renewing your contract here?”

  “It’s not my decision.” Matthias adjusted the white orchid I wore behind my ear, draped his hand over my shoulder, and drew me against him. “It’s our decision. If you wanna go find the Siberian snow leopard, I’m game.”

  I burst out laughing. He was calling my bluff big time, but I was also sure he’d trample all over frozen Siberia with me if I’d decided to shed light on the mysterious creature.

  “I think I could use a little more time in Africa,�
� I said. “Lots to see, do, share. Years of work, really. Plus, Rem and Zeke would really love it if you’d stay.”

  “They’d love it if you stayed too,” Matthias pointed out. “They’ve got some ambitious plans ahead.”

  “So…” I wiggled my brows. “What do you want to do?”

  “I’d like to stay,” he said, “but only if you’re game.”

  “Of course I’m game,” I said. “Wherever you are, that’s where I want to be.”

  He kissed me again and the whole of the Serengeti ignited with the joy, hope and peace he brought to my life.

  “Rem’s gonna be a happy camper with the news.”

  “Not if he keeps irking Sarah like that,” I said, noting my friend’s glare beaming on Rem.

  “Those two…” Matthias shook his head.

  “They’re smitten, aren’t they?”

  Matthias’s lips twitched. “Judging by their dislike for each other, it looks inevitable.”

  I laughed. “So are we staying?”

  “We’re staying.”

  “You heard that?” I called out softly to the elephant below us. “We’re sticking around. Our best adventures are yet to come.”

  The End

  Acknowledgments

  I want to thank you, the reader, for choosing to read The Guardian. I absolutely love writing for you. Your read is my reward.

  The Guardian would’ve never seen the light of day without the work and guidance of my amazing editor, Nancy Cassidy, who worked through several versions of this manuscript with saintly patience and devilish determination. Immense gratitude goes to Nancy for sticking with me when I was hopeless and for nudging me forward. Every author should be as lucky as I am to have an editor that cares, not just for the story, but for the soul of the writer as well.

  As always, my thanks to my family who put up with my writer’s idiosyncrasies with impeccable poise and only a slight roll of the eyes when I tell them that I’m editing that book…again. Special thanks to my hubby, who is a great sport as I drag him all over the world. For the sake of my research for The Guardian, he got bit by tsetse fly. And that scene where Jade wakes up drenched from a leak in the thatched roof? Wink, wink. It’s not invented. It happened…to him!

  In writing The Guardian, I’m indebted to the every Tanzanian who went out of his or her way to welcome me to their magnificent country. Huge thanks to Grant Nel, who patiently answered my millions of questions and taught me about African wildlife and elephant social structure. He inspired many of the details in this story. A massive shout out to Malley Simon, who gave me my first, luminous glimpse of Africa’s phenomenal depths. For Grant and Malley’s valuable insights, I’ll always be grateful.

  In this fictional story, I tried to show the complex reality on the ground as I understood it. When in doubt, I relied on research to develop the plot. But this is still a story about an outsider looking in. I was a guest in Africa and so were Matthias and Jade. So having lived all my life as a brown Latina, it’d be disingenuous on my part not to admit to the possibility that, despite my best efforts, some of my own biases may have inadvertently slipped into my story. All I can say is that no offense to any group is ever intended.

  The challenges of conservation in Africa comprise a complicated reality—controversial, and often heart wrenching. But hope lies with the diverse, dynamic people of Africa, for whom I have the utmost respect, admiration, and love. I have a lot more to learn from them. I can’t wait to go back.

  About the Author

  Amazon Bestselling author Anna del Mar writes hot, smart romances that soothe the soul, challenge the mind, and satisfy the heart. Her stories focus on strong heroines struggling to find their place in the world and the brave, sexy, kickass heroes who defy their limits to protect the women they love. A Georgetown University graduate, Anna enjoys traveling, hiking, skiing, and the sea. Writing is her addiction, her drug of choice, and what she wants to do all the time. The extraordinary men and women she met during her years as a Navy wife inspire the fabulous heroes and heroines at the center of her stories. When she stays put—which doesn’t happen very often—she lives in Florida with her indulgent husband and a very opinionated cat.

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