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.
Leighton choked on a laugh, drawing Mama’s attention, who repeated the gesture over Leighton’s face and head. With thumps of curiosity, the trunk plopped on her arm, up…up…curled over her shoulder as the baby bumped Leighton’s leg. Mama drew Leighton closer.
Giggles wiggled through Leighton, demanding freedom as she ran a hand up the adult’s broad shoulder as she gave it a hug. Heart stirred, soul moved by this incredible experience, she felt like it was a kiss from God. So incredible. So beautiful.
“I think she likes you,” Owen said.
“I have always loved pachyderms,” she said, smiling up at the great animal, feeling tears prick her eyes—and for the first time in many months, they weren’t out of sorrow or fear. “They’re so majestic. Powerful yet docile.”
“Unless you mess with its baby or herd.”
“Did you know when there’s a threat, the adults will circle up around the calves, then turn to face the threat?” She sighed, a deep ache yawning in her to be protected like that. To not have to be the one protecting. Running her hand along the trunk and face of the mama, she felt as if her world had finally righted.
She grinned at Apollo and thrilled at the smile he returned. It stirred something deep in her. No, he stirred something deep. An ache she’d long ignored—to be content. To not have to hide her way through life.
“You look happy,” he said.
Leighton held his gaze, realizing that he was much the reason she felt that way. “I am.”
“Goo—”
The rumble of the engine came from the other side of the ridge.
Mama released her and moved past her to catch the calf, who circled back to its mama.
“Aw, shoot,” she whispered in disappointment as mama and calf started away. She did not want to leave.
