Page 18 of Love in the Wild

“Thorne take to gorillas,” he promised and started to walk out of the water toward her. Just like that, her mind blanked as she got a full-frontal view of Thorne.

Holy shit.He was even more perfect than she could imagine. Eden swallowed hard and forced her eyes back up.

“Wait. Not gorillas. People.Humans.”

He paused as he bent to lift his loincloth up from the grass. “No humans,” Thorne replied with a solemn finality. “Not safe. Stay with Thorne.”

He wrapped his loincloth around his body and retrieved the gold circlet and placed it upon his head. Eden changed the subject as she touched the diamond pendant around her throat.

“Thorne, where did you find that?” She pointed at the gold leaves adorning his brow.

He removed the crown and studied it, his long fingers curling gently around the delicate band of gold leaves. “White rock.”

“White rock? Can you show me?” Maybe if she got him to trust and like her, he would change his mind about taking her to the forest guides.

Thorne’s blue eyes focused on the forest behind them with sharp intensity. Birds chattered and monkeys called out. Eden heard nothing dangerous in the sounds, but she had not lived here in the wild the way he had.

He seemed to be both man and animal, belonging fully in both worlds, yet forced to linger somewhere in the middle.

“Is it safe?” she asked.

He suddenly smiled. “Yes. Safe. Come. Meet Tembo.”

“Who’s Tembo?”

“Come see,” he answered with a smile.

Eden gasped as Thorne grasped her hand in his and led her into the forest. They followed a trail that was well worn despite the overgrowth of vegetation. Large circular tracks could be seen in the muddy path.

Thorne cupped his mouth with one hand and let out a reverberating sound that was oddly familiar, but Eden couldn’t place it. There was an answering trumpet call ahead of them, and Eden gasped. An elephant!

They quickened their pace, leaping over small rocks and ducking between hagenia trees that grew close together, until they skidded to a stop. Eden bumped into Thorne from behind, but he barely budged.

Just up ahead, seven elephants stood facing them on the path.

“Tembo.” Thorne spoke softly, his lips curling in a delighted smile as he looked between her and the elephant.

“Come, meet Tembo,” he encouraged and walked toward the elephant who led the herd.

As Thorne approached the bull elephant, he walked right up to him and gently clasped his long trunk in his hands and laid his forehead against it. For a moment, Eden couldn’t believe what she was seeing. The man had just walked up to an elephant and was leaning against it the way a person might a very tame horse. But it was a dangerous bull elephant.

Thorne closed his eyes, still smiling. Eden watched him, completely enthralled. He embraced this world with such joy and love. Who was he? How had he come to be here? Eden had to find out.

“Come.” He waved to her, and she joined him, her heart pounding as she stood close to him and the elephant.

“Tembo,” Thorne said as he patted the elephant’s trunk. The elephant lifted his trunk and gently tapped Thorne’s chest before touching Eden’s cheek and exploring her.

“Tell him name,” Thorne said.

“Eden,” she said. “I’m Eden.” She realized she hadn’t told Thorne her name until now.

“Eden,” he repeated with a reverence that sent shivers of excitement through her. She touched the elephant’s trunk and gazed deep into his dark-brown eyes. The animal had a quiet majesty unparalleled by any other animal on the planet.

“How did you become friends with an elephant?” she asked.

Thorne stroked the weathered gray trunk, and Tembo playfully lifted the end of his trunk, delicately poking around Thorne’s neck.

“He was young calf. Two female lions chased him across here.” He waved at the meadow. “I stopped them, chased them away. Took Tembo back to his family.”

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