Chapter 11 #3
It would be one lifetime too soon if Owen had to deal with another royal.
Never had he met such self-serving, self-absorbed people.
Which felt a bit whack, since he knew the North and South Kingdoms were light-years different—kind, friends of the West. The Central Kingdom’s disregard for life and common decency appalled, especially since the royals on this trip were the ones who would rule, be leaders among nations.
Spoiled, rich fools.
Owen had almost believed Rayan had a thread of honor in him, but that had unraveled in the last twenty-four hours as the prince started crossing lines and treating Leighton like a subservient.
As if she were a thing to be owned and controlled instead of a valuable ally and partner, an intelligent woman with a killer sense of humor.
Seeing that piece of slime touching her, ordering her around, had nearly made him a murderer.
They made it to the vehicles, and a driver materialized from the shadows of a nearby tent. “You want spot-lit drive with Bakari?”
“Please,” Leighton said calmly.
“In, in,” he said with a toothy grin as he circled around and climbed in behind the wheel.
They both sat in the second passenger row as the vehicle rumbled to life and pulled away.
“We will drive out long way, then I use spotlight.” The guide tapped the open-top roof. “Show you wildlife.”
About twenty minutes later, Bakari slowed to a stop, grabbed a large flashlight, and aimed it out the sunroof toward the left of the Cruiser.
He angled the beam over a series of three levels that had bricked walls and planters with directional signs pointing to various locations.
The large arrangement seemed ornamental—kind of like a centerpiece to welcome guests. And there in the middle—
“See? See it?” Bakari prodded.
“What?” Leighton craned and squinted, shifting to see. “What is it?”
“Cheetah,” the guide said, bobbing the light beam, which struck reflective eyes.
Leighton sucked in a breath. “Wow!”
The large cat darted off, clearly annoyed by the intrusion of people and light into its domain.
“Cats like this area,” Bakari explained as he tossed aside the flashlight and pulled away from the spot. “It is elevated and the sign is high. Looks out over the plain.” He gave a laugh and pointed ahead of them. “Ah, your friends are on the way back.”
“Friends,” Leighton sniffed quietly beside him as they both looked and spotted headlamps in the distance.
Yeah, his friends might refer to Omen, but never the royals. Which reminded Owen of Rawlins’s warning that the extraction would happen here on this reserve. Which was great…but where? When? How was he to ready himself and Leighton if he didn’t know the logistics?
Bakari went a little further before again easing to the side of the road.
This time, he hiked up from his seat and onto the floorboard, where he straightened to his full height and angled a spotlight over the scraggly plain.
There he traced an undulating area that almost seemed like an ebony sea where dark forms slowly took shape.
“Wildebeest!” Leighton said, pushing in front of him to look through the window.
Owen shifted back, appreciating a little too much her nearness.
“I can’t see them.”
“Here.” Owen shifted, putting a knee in the seat, and drew her next to himself. The open window allowed them to lean out a bit.
“Oh, perfect.” Expression alive, she edged forward, tucking loose strands of hair behind her ears as she visually traced the terrain. Her eyes widened. “I see them!”
Owen joined her, bracing and focusing on the teeming herd. Not on her sweet fragrance that was a bit soapy, a bit rose-smelling, or her effervescent excitement.
The guide’s bright beam skidded across the darkness and found two giraffes gliding toward a glistening water source.
“This is amazing,” Leighton said, her smile bright and wide. “I’m so glad we came out.” She gave him a smile. “Thank you.”
His heart jammed into his throat. He coughed a laugh. “Why’re you thanking me? All I did was say there was another vehicle.”
She shrugged, suddenly shy.
The soft crunch of sticks and brush to his left made his nerves buzz. A soft brush against his fingers, which were dangling down out of the Cruiser, made him jerk back. His mind took two seconds too long to awaken. Alert him to the lion stalking dangerously close.
Leighton let out a yelp and jerked back, pulling her hands and arms back inside as she retreated. “Lions!”
“It’s good,” Bakari reassured. “It’s good.”
A lioness loped into view and leapt at the Cruiser in threat.
Owen shoved from the window, falling into Leighton. “Sorry!” he apologized even as they felt the vehicle rock beneath the impact.
With a loud laugh, Bakari cut the light. “She is temperamental.”
“Sorry,” Owen repeated and scrambled off Leighton, turning to help her off the floorboard. “You okay?”
“I’m fantastic,” she breathed with more than a little exuberance. Expression alight, she surged back in the seat, brushed her hair from her face, and released another, airier laugh. “Did that really just happen—it touched my hand!”
“Mine too,” he said with a chuckle.
“Much excitement,” Bakari said as he hustled back into the driver’s seat. And with that they were underway. “She gone. All good.”
“Will she come after us?”
“No, we go. All good. Just keep moving.”
Headlamps glared straight in through the windshield as the other Cruiser came upon them, then passed their vehicle in an unsettling moment that felt as if the entire world had dropped into a painfully slow-mo reel.
While Leighton shifted, putting her back to the windows and other vehicles, clearly not wanting to face the royals, literally or figuratively, Owen wasn’t going to cower.
He saw Aliyah waving happily, Rayan glowering, but the others feigned as much indifference as Leighton offered.
Once clear, it seemed he could breathe. As if the intense humidity in the air had cleared.
Spine rigid, eyes locked straight ahead, Leighton remained unmoving.
“They’re gone,” he said.
She shifted her gaze to him. “Was I that obvious?”
“No more than I was while shooting daggers at Rayan.”
Leighton held his gaze for a long moment, then a slow smile worked into her expression. “I saw you doing that on the plane.”
Man, he liked that amusement in her face.
The light in her eyes while they were enjoying the wildlife.
And while he wasn’t sure how to read her expression right now, he knew he’d do whatever it took to get it done.
Make sure it happened, free her of the fear that made her rigid and shoved her gaze to the ground.
He watched her leaning on the window again as they bounced along.
Wind whipped her hair and she laughed. “The moon is amazing! If it weren’t so bright, we wouldn’t see hardly anything.”
Please, God. I have to get her out of here. He looked out over the plains to the left. How did he convince her to let him do this? To go with him? Could he ever?
The Cruiser jerked and surged, then gave a death-rattling shudder before falling silent. Dead.