Page 20 of Love in the Wild

“Thorne take you. Then talk mates.”

“Okay, sure.” She would agree to that if she could get some answers.

Thorne led her through the forest for almost an hour before they paused at the edge of a small clearing. Eden peered over his shoulder as he pointed to a shape covered in undergrowth but still visibly white. Her lips parted, and she covered her mouth with her hands.

A wrecked plane lay on the forest floor like the skeleton of some great beast. Thick vines hung over it. Rust rimmed the edges of the open door and windows.

“My God ...” Eden stared at the wreck. It answered so many of her questions—or at least hinted toward the answers. She touched Thorne’s shoulder. “How long has this been here?”

He tensed beneath her hand. “Always.”

That single word made Eden think. Was the plane connected to Thorne? He acted as though he hadn’t spoken English in ... well, years. Was it because he hadn’t? Eden walked toward the plane, even more desperate for answers, but when she realized that he wasn’t coming with her, she turned back to him. A wave of apprehension rolled through her, and she saw the stark pain in Thorne’s eyes.

“Thorne, are you okay?”

He squared his shoulders and moved with resolute steps toward her and the plane. A tense silence surrounded them as he reached her.

“Is it safe to go inside?” she asked.

He didn’t say anything at first. His gaze seemed to go straight through her and into a place where she could not follow.

“Safe,” he finally said.

Eden ventured inside first, stepping into the darkness of the plane. It felt like she was entering another world. The humid jungle air left a sickly sweet scent inside the cabin. Eden flinched as she glimpsed two human skeletons, rags of clothing hanging off them. They were slumped in their chairs as though they had fallen asleep a century ago and had left nothing but their bones behind.

“Gods.” Thorne nodded at the bones with solemn respect.

“No, those are human,” she whispered. “Like you and me.”

Eden moved down the aisle toward the bodies and studied them. One had a large, elegant signet ring on its index finger. The other wore a necklace with a ginkgo leaf pendant. She guessed based on what was left of the clothing that one was a man and the other a woman. She knelt by one empty seat and saw a pile of moss-covered cardboard children’s books. She lifted one up.

The Jungle Alphabet.

Thorne’s eyes focused on the book. His face drained of color, and his eyes widened in apparent shock.

“G is ... for gorilla,” he uttered in broken syllables, as though in great pain.

“Thorne?” Eden stepped toward him, but he fled the plane and vanished into the trees.

“Thorne!” She ran after him but froze as something fell out of the book and onto the grass between her boots. She bent and picked it up.

Her heart shattered. It was a photo of a beautiful young couple holding a small boy between them. There was only one conclusion that made any sense to her. There was no mistaking the truth that came to her in a blinding rush.

The child was Thorne.

5

Thorne couldn’t breathe. He leapt over fallen trees and dug his fingers into the bark of the hagenias as he tried to claw his way to freedom from the ghosts that now chased him.

“I’ll be back soon.”A deep voice came out of the past and into Thorne’s heart and mind. Strong arms held him tight, and he was safe. Safealwaysin this man’s arms.

“Be careful,”the woman said. She smelled like flowers, and her laughter made him smile.

Screams. A black beast with silver on its back. Red mist ...

“Please ... Please leave us alone. We won’t tell anyone anything.”

Thorne came to a stop. His chest heaved as he leaned against a tree that was four times his body width. The ancient wood gave him support, but it could not stop the weight of the past.

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