Page 80 of Love in the Wild

“I’m coming!” Thorne called out to her, but Holt raised his gun again, aiming at Eden. When he fired, Thorne roared as Eden stumbled back over the edge of the falls.

“Even if she survived the shot, she won’t survive the fall.” Holt’s tone was as cold as his eyes. “You think I’m going to let you waltz me into some kind of mystic ambush? You don’t think I know that this stone holds power? More power than you can even imagine.”

Thorne faced Holt, every bit of strength in him exploded outward as he tore the rope binding his wrists clean apart.

Holt cursed and slipped in the river as he tried to retreat. “Would one of you guys shoot him already? What am I bloody paying you for?”

Rifle shots exploded from the trees, but they weren’t coming from Holt’s men, who were falling to the ground or trying to find cover. Thorne looked to the shore. His friends had arrived, half-hidden in the foliage, firing upon Holt’s men and pinning them down.

Thorne looked back at Holt, and a grim satisfaction began to fill him as the battle raged along the shore. He advanced on Holt, ignoring the pain in his side.

“Get back!” Holt aimed his gun at Thorne’s chest, but when he pulled the trigger, nothing happened. He tried to clear the jam, but the slide wouldn’t budge.

“Shit!” With a growl, Holt threw the gun into the water and held up his long knife, still stained crimson with Thorne’s blood.

“I should have killed you myself all those years ago. I made a mistake, thinking the jungle would take you.”

Thorne felt the voices from the cave escaping his lips in a low growl. “The jungledidtake me. I am its child, and I will not die here, not by your hand.” He could barely feel the deep wound in his side, nor the blood trailing down his body, soaking his clothes and bleeding into the river.

Holt’s eyes were wide, fear penetrating the icy-blue depths. “You won’t survive. I knew where to stab you. I ...” His eyes dropped to Thorne’s wound, but Thorne kept coming at him.

The spirits of the jungle cave were filling him with strength now. It was time to end this.

Thorne leapt at Holt. Holt tried to stab him, but Thorne gripped his wrist, holding the knife, and they both hit the water. He twisted at Holt’s arm until he felt the bones snap. Holt cried out, and Thorne, gripping him, dragged him toward the waterfall.

He couldn’t register any pain anymore. Even the gunshots along the bank grew dim in his ears. More and more he could hear only the chant of the cave inside his head, urging him to do what must be done.

“What are you doing? We’ll both die!” Holt kicked his legs, trying to slow down Thorne’s determined steps forward. When they reached the edge, Thorne grabbed Holt by the vest, gripping the stone tucked inside it and dragging Holt’s body around to the waterfall’s edge. The chant inside his head was so loud that he could no longer hear Holt’s words.

“I trust the jungle. But you took the jungle’s heart. And you took awaymine. And we will both have our revenge,” Thorne promised.

He leapt off the falls, taking Holt with him down into the roaring white mists far below.

The impact jarred Thorne’s bones. He lost his grip on Holt and struggled through the foaming water, disoriented. It became harder to swim, his limbs exhausted and his lungs burning like fire. When he caught sight of Eden drifting on the surface, he fought with all his might to get to her.

He sucked in a lungful of air as he breached the surface next to Eden. She lay face-up in the water, her body still. Thorne wrapped an arm around her waist and swam to the shore.

He crawled up the muddy bank with her in his arms and laid her flat on her back, staring down at her. Death hadn’t trespassed over her face, yet he feared the worst as he pressed his ear against her chest. A faint beating echoed against his cheek.

“Please,” he begged the jungle. “Please, I would give my life for her.”

The pain that had been so easily ignored before began to crawl through his body in a slow-burning fire until he collapsed on the bank beside her. As he closed his eyes, he heard the voices of the cave murmuring inside his head, and he swore that his mother and father were among them just before he let go.

* * *

Eden jolted awake,wincing at the pain she felt all over. She pressed a hand to her shoulder, and warm sticky blood coated her fingertips. She looked down and saw more blood from her side. Both times Holt had shot at her, she’d twisted her body just in time and had managed to only get grazed. It was a small miracle. Cool water lapped at her ankles, and she blinked at the view of the massive waterfall in front of them. It was twice the height of the small waterfall where she and Thorne had first made love.

“Eden! Thorne!” Distant shouts, familiar voices, brought her back to the present, and she glanced around. Thorne lay beside her on the ground, blood pooling beneath his side from the knife wound.

“Oh God, no. Thorne!” She frantically checked his pulse. It was too weak, more an echo than a true beat.

“No! Please don’t go. Thorne ...,” Eden whispered as she lay against him. They were too far away from anyone who could help him. The forest rippled, a rare breeze rustling the leaves and vines of the dark jungle around them.

“Eden!” The familiar voice cried out again, and she recognized it now. Cameron was here, and so was Isabelle. Lofty followed behind, and they were all carrying rifles. Cameron tried to help her up, but she wouldn’t move from Thorne’s side. Another hand gently rested on her shoulder, trying to pull her back. She cried out in protest.

“Honey, don’t,” Isabelle whispered. “I think he’s gone.”

“He can’t be. Not after ... Not ...” The words fell from her lips as if they were bleeding out of her, leaving her a hollow shell.

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