Chapter 12
Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya
Apollo sat forward, homing in on the driver. “What’s wrong?”
Heart in her throat, Leighton peered through the windows, the incredible moment of taking in the herd of wildebeest near the small water source gone. Her heart, which had felt light a second ago, anchored with worry.
Bakari tried starting the truck a few more times and gave a huff. “Old truck,” he said with a mirthless laugh. “You go out. See animals. I will fix.”
“Out?” Leighton balked, ducking to again search the moonlit terrain. The soft but coarse hair of the lion’s thick mane brushing her fingers was still quite fresh in her mind. “Is that safe?”
“Yes, yes,” Bakari assured as he tugged out the keys, reached under the dash, and whatever he did unleashed a resounding clunk.
Owen glanced at something between the two front seats and pointed to it. “Can you use the radio to call for help?”
“No, it break long time.” Bakari lifted the hand receiver, showing it wasn’t working. “Go, go. Have fun.” He flung open his door and got out, then he went to the front of the Cruiser and hefted up the hood.
“Is he serious?” Leighton asked, uncertainty all but choking her.
“Yeah, I think he is.” Apollo motioned to her. “Let me double-check. Don’t exactly want us becoming second breakfast.” Door open, he hopped out. He stood there, facing her, glancing in both directions, then held up a staying hand. “Hang tight.”
Hovering on the edge of the seat he’d occupied a moment ago, she watched him head to the front, where the driver bent over the engine. “Think you can fix it?” came his distant question.
“Yes.” Bakari patted Apollo’s shoulder and turned him back in her direction. “You go with your girl. See elephants.”
Your girl?
Leighton’s heart tripped and fell all over that small phrase. It was such a small thing to say but held a world of implications.
Bakari handed over the flashlight, grinning. Said something that earned a perturbed look, then pushed Apollo back to her.
When he didn’t climb in, she took that as her signal to join him. She left the safety of the truck, boots crunching on the hard-packed road. A warm wind tossed her hair in her face, so she tucked it back. “Any idea what’s wrong…?”
“No, but we should be underway soon.”
She hoped so—what a forced-but-great opportunity to walk out here with the wild animals.
Well, not exactly walk. More like watch from a distance.
A very great distance, thankyouverymuch.
While the wildlife here was probably used to humans tromping through their territory, they were still wild animals. “And it’s…safe?”
Uncertainty scratched at Apollo’s blue eyes.
“We shouldn’t go far.” His gaze raked the surrounding area before he jutted that stubbled jaw away from the broken-down Cruiser.
“There’s a small rise over there. We might be able to see something.
” Though he angled aside and held out a hand for her to go ahead, he glanced at the driver again with a furrowed brow.
Something inside her wanted to ease that tightness around his mouth and eyes. She searched for something cool to draw his focus to. Spotted zebras, the whites of their stripes all but glowing beneath the full moon. “Look,” she reached to him, and their hands smacked.
Apollo caught her fingers before she could yank away, and squeezed.
Her heart spasmed. Unintended, unexpected…wonderful. Afraid her expression might betray her feelings, she drew her hand back. Hugged herself, as if that might control how his touch made her nerves bounce.
“Zebras…?” he asked, taking in the view.
“Yeah,” she said, recovering her ability to breathe and talk.
This trip—never could she have dreamed of it or imagined it’d happen. Being hostage to House al-Zahrani wasn’t the ideal way in which to safari, but the splendor and majesty of the up-close wildlife was unparalleled.
Standing with him on the ridge, she held her hands together just beneath her chin, smiling, then a gliding movement caught her attention off to the side. She pointed there. “More giraffes.”
“There’s three,” Owen noted. “I think they’re the same ones we saw at the first stop.”
“Ah, I think you’re right,” she said with a tinge of disappointment. “It’s still amazing, isn’t it?”
“It’s fire,” he agreed. A banging from the driver and the Cruiser drew Owen’s stern gaze in that direction as the clanging echoed. He shook his head. “He should’ve had the radio replaced. Or the Cruiser.”
“I might not be a mechanic, but I’m pretty sure assaulting the engine with a tool isn’t the way to fix it,” she said with a snicker.
“Def not.”
Leighton watched the giraffes gliding along the park.
“I saw a documentary one time about a giraffe in a wildlife refuge that was pretty sick. The veterinarians were working so hard to save her.” She batted her hair aside again.
“Silly me, I was so positive they were going to succeed—why else would they be showing it? But the next thing I know, the giraffe’s neck just collapses.
Like a wet noodle.” She shuddered, the memory still painful.
“I cried out. It was the most horrific thing I’ve ever witnessed.
Absolutely traumatized me. Never imagined when they died that their necks did that. ”
Apollo watched the wildlife. “They truly are some of the most elegant beasts on earth. I’m glad those are healthy.”
“Sorry.” She sniffed a laugh. “A little too macabre for a special night like this, huh?” Her heart jarred at calling the night special—but it was. She felt so at peace, happy with the animals. With Apollo.
Silently, she thanked God for this small reprieve in the chaos.
“It’s poignant,” he said softly, as he stared out over the plains. “A good reminder that this”—he bobbed his head to the animals—“deserves due respect. Because even though it’s amazing and cool, we are trespassing on their domain.”
“True,” she whispered, then noticing that just over his shoulder, the area beyond the reach of the spotlight, shadows of gray and darkness morphed. Fluttered, swayed. She stilled, only then feeling a rumbling beneath her feet.
“What…?” She looked down and turned a circle. “What is that?”
“Keep still,” he rasped as heavy, thunderous vibrations closed in on them.
A concoction of disbelief, dread, and awe paralyzed her as the ground shook with violence. She heard rocks falling—including from beneath her own feet. She flung out her hands. “What—?”
“Back, back, back,” he shouted, hand catching her waist as he stumbled backwards.
With a yelp, Leighton slipped, the ground giving way. She caught his sleeve and held on.
Apollo swung around to steady her, their feet sinking on shifting dirt and rocks that carried them down…down a dozen feet. The small avalanche steadied, and she looked at him, latched on to his arms, and gave a tremulous, disbelieving laugh.
“You good?” he asked, holding her firmly.
“Yeah. What was that?” When she looked up, expecting to see his blue eyes, she found him looking past her.
“Holy wow…”
She glanced over her shoulder and her breath backed into her throat—a baby elephant stood close, considering them with its dark eyes, fluttering its large ears at them.
Leighton drew in a long, stunned breath.
The calf was adorable.
“Aww.” She started forward, but a hand on her waist held her firm.
“Wait,” Apollo murmured near her ear, sending warm shivers down her spine, but also a cold dread at his warning that resonated as vibrations came again. These were somehow bigger. Harder. Jarring.
That thundering coalesced into the calf’s mother. Or father. Hard to tell.
And Leighton was not going to try to find out lest she anger the very large elephant.
More thudding came as the shadows and night surrendered—as did her heart—to another mammoth form of a tusked elephant.
The right tusk was longer than the left, but both were quite capable of running her through if this adult felt threatened or sought to protect its calf.
Strangling a cry that was both excitement and terror, Leighton gripped Apollo’s sleeve, amazed they were this close to two elephants. “Hoooooly—”
“No sudden moves,” he said.
“Ya think?”
Apparently surprised at her playful-but-mocking tone, he turned his gaze to her and their eyes met.
With the glow of the moon and the shadows of night, there was something godlike in the way moonlight glowed on his bleached hair and crystalline eyes.
Despite her many denials, he was gorgeous.
And sharing this moment with him felt like a solidifying force. He looked as much in awe as she was.
A rough nudge to her elbow startled Leighton.
She gasped and found the baby probing her with its trunk.
A disbelieving laugh coiled through her.
“Dead,” she breathed as the calf plopped its trunk on her chest. “I. Am. Dead…” She drew in a breath and stepped back, her shoulder blades bumping against Owen’s chest.
His hands framed her hips. “Easy,” he murmured against her ear, making her stomach contract involuntarily as they shuffled a step away. “Nice and easy…”
The adult stomped nearer, swinging its mammoth head to lock a considering eye on Leighton as its calf butted in closer. Ears fanning, the adult sent a subtle warning to the humans messing with its baby.
Leighton tentatively reached out. Let her palm touch the rough hide of the calf’s head.
“Careful,” Apollo warned, shifting in front of her protectively. “Mama’s swatting her ears harder.”
Flicking her gaze up to the much larger elephant, Leighton noticed the adult lumber closer, a proximity that made her heart stutter.
Mama lifted her trunk to him, nostrils flexing as it dragged over his head and face.
“Just…don’t…sneeze on me,” Owen pleaded.