The Last Oracle Read online

  “Love the outfit,” he murmured into her neck, as his arms went around her waist.

  Suddenly, she was pleased with the decision.

  They were interrupted by a knock and a woman’s voice, “Dinner, mum, sir.”

  She briefly wondered why Toma hadn’t knocked, but at the moment, she was entirely too distracted to care.

  “Let’s stay here,” she whispered into his chest.

  Alex pulled her in tighter and then released a tense laugh. “You know it’s Caleb’s friend’s last dinner with us.”

  “Caleb is 2,000 years old. He doesn’t really need us watching him 24/7.” She kissed his neck and brushed her hands down his chest.

  Alex stepped away from her, but the glow was still in his eyes.

  “So, no game drive tonight, huh?” she asked, keeping the flirtation in her voice as a bulwark against any possible upset.

  Alex grabbed the open edges of her shirt for a moment, eyeing the uncovered skin across her stomach hungrily; biting his lip, he began to button it as he cocked an eyebrow. “It seems that my presence is required if you are to attend the game drives.”

  “Toma! I knew it! I told him that there was no need to trouble you with it.”

  She was fully aware that her lapse in his “rules” had very nearly cost them her life. In fact, if she hadn’t been so thrilled, she would have been terrified.

  “Oh, Toma was only once source. It seems you are the talk of the camp,” he said, as his eyes focused with amusement on the buttons; finally, he hooked the one above her breasts to cover the temptation. He brushed the side of her face and then shook his head, pushing aside his thoughts of her and their closeness. His eyes became suddenly serious. “Beautiful, you do know that there is a lot of danger here…and not just from the council.”

  “Yes, I’m sorry, Alex, but nothing happened and I wanted Caleb to have a chance to spend more time with Amy. She is such a sweet girl.”

  “And, his interest in Amy keeps him from falling too far for you.” The single corner of his mouth turned up.

  Yes, Valeria had thought of that. She was the only person in the world that Caleb could touch without wearing his gloves. Mani believed that because Caleb had revived her with his electrical force, something happened so that she was no longer affected by it. Since then, Caleb had developed a major crush on her.

  “By the way, where is Toma?” Valeria asked as she slid on her jeans. Alex continued to watch her as he leaned against the bed.

  “Toma is fine,” he said, distracted by her. “He wanted to go back home to his family in the South.”

  Valeria’s jaw dropped. “Alex, you fired him!”

  Shaking his head, Alex glanced back to her. “No. He quit. Well, actually, it was by mutual agreement whereby Toma accused the guide of placing you in danger and the guide and tracker accused Toma of almost shooting them. I decided it was best if Toma left, and the camp managers agreed…and so did Toma.”

  “I’m sorry,” she said, feeling incredibly guilty and suddenly understanding the closed doors at the main lodge.

  “Don’t worry, I gave him a year’s wages. He left happy…and told me never to call him again.” Alex picked up a cracker from a tray and bit down. “I think you seriously took ten years off the man’s life.”

  Valeria laughed as they walked to the door. But she wondered how Alex could pay all that money to Toma when they were obviously in financial straits.

  The bonfire in the near distance lit the outdoor dining area. Caleb was already there with Amy and the Smythes. She also noticed a new couple who was sitting at their table.

  Alex stopped, suddenly wary. “Beautiful, why don’t we sit at a different table tonight? I thought we would give Caleb a bit of privacy with Amy on their last night together.”

  “Okay.” She shrugged, and he led her to a table near the entrance of the dining area. They feasted on wonderful South African wines, delicious wild game, and fantastically seasoned vegetables prepared al dente.

  One of the guides told a story in front of the campfire about a pregnant woman’s harrowing escape from her neighboring country and giving birth in a tree while the lions prowled below. As soon as the guide uttered the last syllable of the story, Alex stood.

  “Would you mind terribly if we called it a night? I still have quite a lot of work to do. But I’d like to make certain you get back to the room in one piece,” he said and hooked her arm. Just then, Valeria saw that the new couple, who had been sitting with Caleb and the Smythes, were walking toward them. Alex picked up his step and Valeria sensed the other couple picking up theirs as well.

  “Professor Morgan, so this must be your lovely fiancée,” the man said, loudly enough so that Alex couldn’t pretend that he hadn’t heard.

  Instead of stopping, Alex increased his pace even more, while turning his head slightly. He said over his shoulder, “Yes, Tom, I apologize but we are in a bit of a hurry.”

  Glancing at Alex, Valeria wondered what had come over him. So as to not be rude, she stopped and turned. Alex’s face fell slightly.

  “Hello. I guess you know, Alex. I’m Valeria.” She held out her hand to the man.

  “Yeah, I’m Tom and this is my wife, Liv.”

  Valeria glanced at Alex again. There was something odd about his reaction. She was certain the couple felt it, too.

  “You’re from the states,” she said, feeling the necessity to overcompensate for what seemed like rude behavior from her typically gracious fiancé.

  “Yes, Wheaton, Illinois, near Chicago,” Tom said.

  “Nice to meet you!” Liv gushed. “We’re so excited. This is our first safari.”

  “Wonderful. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it here,” Valeria said.

  “We never thought we would be coming to Africa. Then our daughter decided to marry our former youth pastor. He’s just taken a position in an orphanage here is South Africa and asked my husband to perform the ceremony in the wilderness.”

  “Tom, you…you’re a pastor?” Valeria’s eyes lit with excitement. She squeezed Alex’s hand, but she sensed him tense even more.

  “Valeria, Alex told us that you would be busy tomorrow, but I do hope you change your mind and join us. I’m certain Dave and Donna would love to have you there,” Liv said.

  With this discovery, Valeria’s heart sank as Alex’s jaw tightened. Opportunity had knocked and Alex had not only backed down, he was avoiding it. She noticed his frozen expression as the words sprang from his lips lacking his typical cordiality, “Thank you.”

  Liv went on, unaware of Alex and Valeria’s internal battles.

  “I’m certain you both have planned something better than getting married here in the wilderness, but for Donna, it is the wedding of her dreams.”

  “Yes. Thanks for the offer, Liv, Tom. I’m certain we will see you around the camp. Now, if you don’t mind, we really must be going,” Alex said as he grabbed Valeria’s hand and tugged her toward their hut.

  “Goodnight,” Valeria mumbled, still stunned. Although it was dark, she could now sense that she was being watched by several guards.

  The discovery that Alex was actually trying to keep her from meeting the pastor hurt. But she needed to put her hurt feelings aside and just ask Alex what was going on. It was a given that they would be married far away from their friends and family. Truly, she could do that. Even the previous year, when the plan had been to marry at the beautiful home in Greece, all she wanted was her family and friends from Morgana.

  But she was prepared—and totally accepted—that they would be married in front of a herd of wildebeest at sunset, instead of her family and friends; wearing jeans, instead of the beautiful gown that they had selected. She accepted the idea that they would spend their wedding night in this luxury hut, instead of the comfort of their beautiful cottage where she had always imagined their first night of intimacy would take place…exactly as Alex had envisioned it 3,000 years before.

  The troubling part was that she might n
ever see her friends who, over the course of only a few months, had become the only family she had ever known. Now Valeria, Alex, and Caleb were fugitives from a council who believed in removing heads before discovering facts. And seeing their family again was a risk they couldn’t take.

  Still, their previous wedding plans—the dreams they had of that ceremony and of their wedding night—were merely extravagances. The only thing she really wanted, and desperately needed in life, was Alex.

  As they entered the hut, Valeria took his hand.

  “Does your reluctance to marry have to do with Kristiana?”

  “Kristiana?” Alex was taken back. “No. Is she an issue for you?”

  “No, not really. I guess I wonder if the reason you’ve been hesitant to marry me has anything to do with the fact that the council still considers you married to her. Please tell me the truth. Or is there something else?”

  Alex switched on the light in their hut. It was already cool in the room. He brushed his fingers through his hair.

  “Val, it isn’t an issue for me. I guess the question is, is it an issue for you?”

  She was aware that he had once again turned the discussion around to focus on her needs. “I’ve accepted that it isn’t going to be resolved.”

  “You do understand that my marriage to Kristiana was ended, as it was begun, by verbal consent, a very long time ago.”

  “Yes, I do understand. But I know that something is going on with you. I think we need to talk.”

  “Yes, you are right. We should talk.” Her eyes filled with dread, and seeing this, he took her face in his hands. “You are my dream. You are my happily ever after. And that, my love, will never change!” He kissed her gently. She realized that all there has been since arriving to Africa were gentle kisses. Alex lowered his brow and said, “Unfortunately, right now, I really do have to go. I have an emergency conference call on the other side of the world.” He started out of the room. “I love you!” he said again, with emphasis and left.

  ∞

  Valeria sat in the bed in her tank top and pajama bottoms. It was a bit chilly except for the down comforter and the hot water bottle near her feet that they always left in the evenings. She didn’t seem to notice. She was wide-awake with her Kindle in front of her, but there was no book that could hold her attention right now. Alex opened the door and smiled softly at her, sensing her serious mood. She glanced at the clock. It was two in the morning.

  “That was some conference call.”

  “Yes. Yes, it was.” He went into the bathroom and came out in a T-shirt and pajama bottoms, and crawled onto the bed next to her. He pulled the Kindle from her and closed it. “I hope you understand, I just didn’t feel that Tom was the right person to perform the ceremony.”

  “Will anyone be right? Alex, we’ve been here for a month. Are you certain there isn’t something else?”

  “There is nothing else, I promise you. I just want it to be right.”

  “And is there anything that needs to be right…with us?”

  Alex looked up and laughed, and then seeing the hurt in her eyes, his expression softened. “You and I are,” he pulled her into his arms and kissed her tenderly for the first time since they had arrived in Africa, “perfect,” he whispered seductively. “Well, except for the marriage part.”

  “Please, let’s ask Tom to marry us. Let’s wake him up. He’s a romantic, I could tell. He would do it! It wouldn’t be…maybe what we imagined, but we would have each other.”

  Alex drew a deep breath. “Val, we can’t wake them up. It’s the middle of the night.”

  She bit his lip playfully and kissed his chin. Then, in her sexiest voice, she said, “Make love to me tonight.”

  Wrapping himself around her, he secretly glanced toward Caleb’s room. Pulling his T-shirt up, she pressed her chest closely against his. “You’ll see…everything will be all right.” She brushed her lips against his neck and Alex shot another, more intense, glance toward the wall that divided their room from Caleb’s.

  “I know you want to,” she said, as she ran her hands down his chest. He sucked in a deep breath as her fingers skimmed the top of his pajama bottoms, snapping them playfully.

  Then Valeria heard a movement in Caleb’s room and a knock at their door.

  “Can I come in?” Caleb opened the connecting door and stepped in, wearing his pajamas and looking much younger than his twelve years. He looked like he had been sleeping hard.

  “Sure, Caleb,” Alex said as he moved Valeria off his lap and pulled down his T-shirt.

  Covering her chest with the sheet, Valeria said, “Uh, Caleb…it’s just that, Alex and I were…well…”

  “Caleb, you must have had a nightmare?” Alex said, with a hint of suggestion.

  “Nightmare?” Caleb laughed his loud, boyish laugh and then, seeing Alex’s insistent expression, he sighed in irritation. “Yeah, something like that. It was more like…” Caleb looked up at the ceiling as if thinking, and then glanced woefully at Valeria. “It was like there was a voice inside my head.” Alex shook his head, but Caleb ignored him and continued speaking. “It was this angry voice that kept saying, ‘Get up! Now!’ It was a nagging, annoying kind of voice. And there was something—I don’t know—just, so familiar about it. It gave me the shivers.” Caleb now glared at Alex, who rolled his eyes.

  Valeria looked back and forth between Caleb and Alex wondering what was going on with them. They seemed at odds with each other and it was rare for either of them to be ill-tempered with the other.

  “What’s going on between you two?” she asked.

  Caleb looked down at the floor, unwilling to respond. Alex drew a deep breath. “Val, I think what Caleb doesn’t want to say is that he’s scared.” Alex narrowed his eyes for a fraction of a second as he stared at Caleb. “Isn’t that what happened?” Then, in a near-whisper, Alex admitted to Valeria, “Boys don’t like to admit it when they’re afraid.”

  “Ah, buddy, is that it?” she asked sympathetically. “It’s okay to be afraid. We’re all afraid sometimes.” She held out her arms to him. “Come here.”

  It was definitely not Caleb’s idea of fun to be woken up by Alex yelling in his head to get up and leave the comfort of his own bed to sleep on their couch. He had complied several times with various excuses since they had arrived in Africa. But tonight, Caleb was tired of the game. He was pretty sure it had something to do with grown-up stuff…sex and all.

  Suddenly, Caleb had an idea to end the late night wake-up calls once and for all. He glanced with mock shyness toward Valeria. “Yeah, I guess I am afraid. But guys like me, we don’t like to admit it. I mean…I don’t have a mom, like other kids. I guess I just…” Walking to the bed, Caleb’s eyes lit with mischief. Alex rose from the bed and went to the closet to get a pillow and blanket, knowing that Caleb would play his role.

  “No problem, I’ll make up the couch for you,” Alex said, relaxing.

  Caleb climbed onto the bed and snuggled his head against Valeria’s chest as Alex went to the couch with the pillow and blanket.

  “Umm…well, it’s just...” Caleb glanced up at Valeria and gave her his saddest expression.

  “What Caleb?” She had never seen him like this.

  “After that…scary dream, I just kinda feel safer right here. I guess I just need some time…like this.” Valeria wrapped her arms around him tighter and Caleb glanced toward Alex with a sly smile.

  Shaking his head, Alex said, “Caleb, I am certain you will be just fine here on the couch.” As long as Caleb was in the bed, Alex couldn’t be there.

  Caleb continued to glare at Alex. “Val, I don’t want to make Alex sleep on the couch. But ever since I saved your lives and all, I have been having nightmares.”

  “Oh, Caleb,” Valeria brushed his hair back. Caleb gave her his most pitiful look. “Alex, he can stay here for just a little while, can’t he?” Alex’s jaw tightened before he nodded. “I mean, Caleb did save our lives, after all!”
/>   Nodding unsympathetically, Alex punched the pillow a bit heavily and then sighed as he threw himself down on the couch.

  CHAPTER 3

  A monkey worked his way onto the breakfast table on the patio by the main lodge. Valeria watched as Caleb held out his hand with a piece of apple.

  “Caleb, they’re wild animals.” Caleb was wearing his thin rubber prosthesis so that he wouldn’t shock others…or the monkey. Still, Valeria felt like she needed to warn the boy, even though, in reality, he was 2,000 years older than she was—his exact age was unknown since he had no memory except for his search for Alex.

  “Val, am I ever going to get to be the best man?”

  Glancing into the distance, she said flatly, “Sure, buddy.”

  He laid out a pattern of apple pieces on the table to lure the monkey to him. “Well, when?”

  Glancing down into her Kindle, she clenched her jaw and then shrugged as if it were unimportant.

  “You guys are sure taking long enough!” he said with an exasperated sigh.

  “Caleb, what was that name that Amy called you?” she said in an attempt to change the subject.

  “Oh, uh, Raiden. Some kids call me that.”

  Valeria shook her head. “Raiden? I thought I heard her call you Lord Raiden. You didn’t tell her that was your name did you?”

  Pushing a piece of apple toward the monkey, Caleb answered with his attention still on the monkey. “No. She figured it out.” The monkey grabbed the piece of apple and ran to the rail to eat it.

  “Figured it out?”

  “Yeah.” Caleb grabbed another slice of apple to lure the monkey back. “That’s the name I use—you know, kind of like a pretend name—when I’m playing on-line games against other kids.”

  “Why Lord Raiden?”

  “Oh, he’s a dude in another game. He’s immortal and he can throw cool thunderbolts and stuff.”

  “I see. Yes, that does seem appropriate. So, why did Amy call you that?”

  “She was watching me play and figured it out.”

  Hearing footsteps, she turned to see Alex walking toward them from the main lodge. There seemed to be more of a bounce in his step than in days earlier. Something must have gone well. Suddenly, Valeria heard a zap, and the monkey screeched loudly and ran away. Valeria looked at Caleb accusatorily and shook her head.