by Debbie Behan
Jett shook his hand and invited them to join their table. ‘Your friend has us wanting more of her impressive good humour. I hope we are not intruding on your plans for tonight.’
Axon was all for the development of communications with other Rulers and knew by the hum of their magic that these were powerful and influential individuals worthy of breaking into his alone time with Cait. It would be beneficial for her to start forming friendships with those she may one day have dealings with.
Axon smiled. ‘Maybe just for a drink,’ he said, turned back to his table, and picked up their two goblets and the jewelled carafe. Caitlin held on tightly to his arm as they moved across to join the group next to them.
‘Everyone, this is Wolf and Glow Girl.’ Jett grabbed the rest of the family’s attention. ‘Oh, and my alias is Jett.’ He grinned as he pulled out a chair for Caitlin.
One of the men laughed heartily at his pet name. Caitlin was almost sure he was a brother. Even though they had different hair and eye colour, the features and build were similar.
The brother stood and his blond hair fell forward as he reached over to shake Axon’s hand. ‘Hi, I’m Calyx, pleased to meet you both.’ He smiled and spoke to Caitlin.
She was so absorbed in Calyx’s baby blues that she blushed when not catching a word he said. ‘Sorry.’ She giggled. ‘Can’t hear anything over the music,’ she fibbed.
‘I said, this is my wife, Zuri,’ he shouted a bit louder.
‘We also use code-names.’ Zuri shook Caitlin’s hand. The leggy blonde with the stunning looks tossed her hair back and lowered herself delicately back in her seat.
Next to be introduced was Jett’s wife, Melita, who looked quite amused. ‘I think I like Melita better than my own name.’ She took Caitlin’s hand gently. Her personality radiated sweetness, and the pitch-black hair and eyes gave her more of a cultured mystic appearance.
On the other side of the table, yet another sibling looked nothing like his two strikingly handsome brothers. He had long blond hair and a beard that she wondered if he had ever shaved. Caitlin laughed with him. His personality was loud, yet he was easy to get along with and during the night, Caitlin changed his alias to Razor, because he needed one. His wife, who never got a word in edgeways around him, he called Angel, and Caitlin thought she looked just like one.
The last man at the table was the brothers’ father. They called him Ted and their mother was Honey. During the evening he kept giving Caitlin bear hugs and grunted a lot, so she amended his title to Ted Bear. He scowled every time she called him that, but didn’t ask it to be changed. His wife then became Honey Bear. She was sweet and snorted lightly when she chuckled, which made them all laugh even more. If she got Ted started, his big belly laugh shook the table. Caitlin took to him and sitting at one stage between Ted and Razor, spent the time to get to know them better. She found they had big personalities and were very similar. Even more amusing to her, they both had beards. These she pulled and teased them. ‘Even these things are the same. You both need a good shave.’
They laughed, their eyes telling her they enjoyed every minute of her playfulness. It surprised Caitlin as she never usually made friends this quickly. Yet this table of fun-loving individuals made her feel comfortable and at ease as if she’d known them forever. She was having a delightful time with them too.
During the night, Jett enticed Caitlin to dance, and it was the only time she saw jealousy in Axon’s eyes.
‘If he wasn’t married I’d worry about my competition,’ he whispered to her when she came back to the table.
It made her night that much better to have him show her how he felt. He’s mine. Her heart leapt.
He calmed when she finally sat beside him. ‘Enjoying your night?’
‘I’ve had a blast, A— I mean Wolf,’ she said, and leant into him.
‘I think it’s time we left. You’re worn out.’
‘It’s all the dancing. Can we stay if I sit here and catch my breath?’
‘Of course we can.’ He stroked her hair.
She was getting drained, and he was beginning to agree with Rory that her perfume was a power and something or someone was draining her. Yet he felt she had not yet done what she wanted to do. His magic worked, and suddenly she was back her eyes were alight, and she looked gorgeous. Her perfume grew stronger, drawing them all back in. Energised again, Caitlin jumped up and moved around the table to chat with the women this time. Axon blinked hard to snap himself out of the daze she kept putting him in when near him. If she was doing this to him, he wondered what this power was doing to them.
Chapter Nineteen
Goodbye Delphinus Island
At the end of the evening, they said their goodbyes to their new friends and wandered back down the beach. ‘I guess we should go home.’ Axon held her hand.
Caitlin dropped down onto the sand and sat smiling up at Axon. ‘You know what I have always wanted to do?’
‘What?’ He humoured her. ‘Lie on the beach of a magical paradise, with the man of your dreams and gaze up at the stars?’
‘Yep.’
He eyed her. Why did I say that? He knew they should be getting back. ‘I was just kidding.’
‘I’m not! She lay back on the sand and looked happy. Not wanting to spoil the fragile innocence he saw in her eyes at that moment, he lay beside her. Caitlin rolled into him, comforted by an arm that held her protectively.
* * * *
Daylight shone in their eyes and woke them. They had fallen asleep under the moonlight sky. Sunshine had Axon sit up with a start. Caitlin felt his movement and scrambled to her feet.
‘What!’ She looked from left to right.
‘Hell, I fell asleep. Sorry Cait, I didn’t mean to startle you!’
‘Startle me! Geez, I thought we were under attack.’
‘What were you going to do; blow these up?’ Amused, Axon held up pillows someone had put under their heads while they slept.
‘Guess not.’ She looked around at the empty beach. ‘Where did they come from?’
‘No idea, but let’s find out.’ He glanced around.
Their new friends from last night sat out on their balcony far in the distance. A BBQ sizzled near them, and the aroma of bacon and eggs wafted in the slight breeze that blew suddenly towards them. They waved at Axon and Caitlin to join them. Without Caitlin having him under her spell as she had last night, Axon saw through their magic and realised who they were. These undercover gods and goddesses had fooled him last night, but not in the light of day. Careful to prevent confrontation, he waved back to them politely.
‘Can we join them?’ Caitlin’s puppy dog eyes he found hard to refuse.
‘Just for another hour and then I have to be at work.’ He fiddled with his watch, unsure why he didn’t just say no. Caitlin had given him no chance to think and had him by the hand. Her impatience to get to them made him feel uneasy. He suddenly realised Caitlin had no idea why, but she had to cement the relationship with these people before they left. Something more was going down here, and all he could do was support her until the mystery unfolded.
As with last night, Caitlin provoked the royal treatment with her cheerful mood. The perfume that was stronger today had Axon fight to control further thoughts as her strange mystic charm forced them all to forget everything, and just enjoy the moment. He shook his head and tried to remember if there was something else he should be doing. Forgetting about his work commitment, he took the coffee they handed to him and slumped down in the chair next to hers. His legs sprawled out, suddenly calm and relaxed.
‘Ah this is the life; woke on an island with a beautiful woman next to me and now, with coffee in hand, who could ask for more?’ he said to them when asked how he was this fine morning.
The father that Cait had named Ted Bear lifted his mug in a friendly gesture to him. ‘Coffee and br
eakfast are the least we can offer you both for so much entertainment. This has to be one of our best weekends here.’
They all agreed, and the conversation then turned to the mystery pillows and how Jett had gone to wake them.
‘He went to offer you two a bed for the night, but when he saw you were out cold, he put pillows under your heads,’ Ted said.
Jett came around the corner, tongs in hand. ‘Ah, you’re awake.’ He placed an arm around Caitlin. ‘Come, talk to me while I turn the bacon.’
‘Don’t get her to help you,’ Axon called to him. ‘I want to be able to chew it.’
‘Ha ha funny!’ She poked her tongue out at him and catching Caitlin’s cheeky retort, Jett smiled down at her. ‘No good in the kitchen?’
She shook her head.
‘Well, you can’t be beautiful and cook too.’ He said.
Her face lit up, and she glowed with the compliment.
‘Glow Girl, it suits you, lovely one.’ He touched her cheek softly.
Chapter Twenty
Mission Tragedy
Axon and Caitlin had arrived home and after a shower sipped coffee while recapping their time away. It was in there, in the kitchen, Rory finally caught up with them.
So what happened to one day away?’ He scolded. ‘Not a word from either of you and you turn up out of the blue and decide it’s okay to sit and have coffee. Neither of you thought to let me know you had returned.’
Axon looked over the rim of his cup. ‘Only just got back, I was just about to head up and check in with you guys.’
‘Doesn’t look like it to me. This cosy little huddle doesn’t seem as if it was about to break up anytime soon. Well, I have news for you two. You’re both on duty. It’s our time to have some R&R… seriously.’ He shook his head, his hands still on his hips until he pointed. ‘To the Tower!’ He was banishing them for their sneaky extended trip away. ‘Guess we can’t trust either of you. I should ground you both.’ He finally joked but was still insistent they do as he said as their punishment.
Both stood with their coffee and eyed him.
‘Now! Go!’ he ordered one last time. His strong jaw held fast, and there was no fun in those eyes that could light up a room.
Giving him a solute, Axon transported them up to the tower. He was surprised Rory hadn’t been overly angry, pleased to make amends by only having to do one shift. It was late, but both were far from tired and still energised from a couple of days away, and enjoyed a bit more time alone.
* * * *
On Zoren’s orders, Rory and the team stayed on Ara to continue monitoring the sky. It had been a couple of weeks since Caitlin’s weekend away, and after two more sessions with Woody, she felt much better. In fact, after the last one, she felt so good while on watch that she was sure the heavens reached out through a psychic message and cautioned her of imminent danger. She immediately woke Axon and Rory. Both raced up to the tower and manipulated the equipment to project a larger circumference as they searched the sky.
‘There!’ Rory pointed.
Axon punched heavily on the keyboard as he fed more data into the superior mainframe, and the object finally came into view.
‘Got it!’ He contacted Zoren while Rory hit the alarm.
The ear-piercing sound screeched through the castle.
‘That’s it mate, let’s get out there.’ Axon snatched up Caitlin in one arm and grabbed Rory by the elbow, and transported the three of them into the barn.
Rory began to bark orders. ‘The rest of the team will be here any second. I’ll organise the horses if you two can collect the bridles. I’ll meet you both out front.’
By the time Axon and Caitlin got outside, Rory had lined up the rides and was ready to help put the magic golden leather around the horses’ heads. The display of armour and wings always caught Caitlin’s breath.
Bree and Lisha arrived first and in too much of a rush to mount. They scrambled oddly upon their stallions and giggled at each other. ‘We need to work on this, hey stupid!’ Lisha pushed at Bree, which made her chuckle more.
Caitlin was tiny compared with Shargan, but the powerful animal had chosen her and no other would she ride. Because of this disadvantage, her mare lifted her hoof as she always did, which allowed Caitlin to step up on her leg and get up easily onto the saddle without assistance.
Zeke and Nathen ran towards them. They grinned at each other, somersaulted, gripped hands in mid-air and changed places before landed on their own horses.
Rory and Axon sideways glanced at each other. ‘So these are the cowboys I’ve hired.’ Axon crossed his arms. ‘Just hope Zoren never sees how this unruly bunch mounts their rides.’
‘I blame their horses.’ Rory tried to lighten it as he mounted his own horse to take the lead, pleased when he heard Axon laugh. He was glad his boss had a sense of humour but his face showed something different. Rory knew he had a lot more training to do with his team and had to shake it off. At least they are on their darn horses… But for now, they had work to do and he ignored the doubts of his superior.
Axon waved them off with a wistful expression. He wanted to go with them, but his position was on the ground. They needed a set of trained eyes to search the sky and pick up anything they hadn’t. The equipment was being tampered with and couldn’t be trusted. He worried this wasn’t the only projectile heading for them.
Rory immediately opened up the channel of communication, using telepathy to prevent outsiders who could possibly be listening in on their plans. Okay, riders, from the tower we spotted three comets. The gas coming from them alone, if ignited, could blow outwards and cause massive damage to surrounding Home Worlds. Caitlin you will need to focus and send them to the coordinates I give you, but be careful as a single spark could set off an explosion. Rory could see Caitlin’s concentration. He directed his question to her. Is it possible to gather the three targets and move them all at once?
Caitlin put both thumbs up. The no talking rule was something she wasn’t used to yet. Excited to try out her newfound powers on the three comets, Caitlin’s multitasking had her adrenaline at its peak. Already powered up and calculating the ratio, she was confident she could match the matter.
Rory split the teams into two. After placing them in position, he concentrated back on Caitlin. Steady now sparky, all I want you to do is push them off course. The team will take over once they are out of the danger zone. If we go out of sight, stay where you are so I can direct floaters to you if it gets too hot up there for us to handle.
Caitlin nodded, her eyes quickly spotting the three faint lights that came towards her. She targeted their location, closed her eyes, visualised, but still needed a bit extra. Using a new trick Woody had taught her, Caitlin nudged at Shargan and now had ample power. Her horse understood, and the spirited animal kept her steady as she opened her eyes, aimed and thrust her hand in the air. The boost of power that ejected from Caitlin’s hands split into three. The blue electrical bolts of lightning encased the brutal comets and, with little effort, turned them and sent the gas giant and matter into outer space.
Rory had his hand up to give her the thumbs up when he saw a dark mist settle around her and Shargan.
* * * *
From the tower, Axon felt helpless as he watched a faceless figure appear, arms enclosed around the woman he loved. He immediately transported to the spot but missed the mark as Caitlin and Shargan faded. The only sound was his own agonising plea as he got a glimpse of the captor. ‘Please Jett, don’t hurt her!’ And the captor’s curse as he swore when he saw who he had. Both vanished in an instant.
* * * *
Caitlin had been seized, and Rory, who had also raced to her rescue, picked up a devastated Axon. ‘Blatzing Hell, Rory, that was Hades. If he takes her to Pluto she’s either already dead, or he’ll keep her so deep in the Underworld, she’ll never be found.’ His hear
t bled, and his voice cried out for the safe return of the only woman he had ever loved. He knew only the gods could grant him his wish. How can it come true when it is a god who has taken her! His optimistic spirit sank, but he still had to try.
Nathen and Zeke had arrived to assist.
‘Rory, jump on with Nathen. I’m going after her. I should be able to catch up to Hades before he reaches Pluto. Talk some sense into him!’
A cloud with ear-splitting thunder and lightning darkened above them. ‘NO!’ a voice bellowed.
Axon knew only one archangel who could project such angry vibrations in the atmosphere surrounding them.
Zoren’s voice quietened. There was no sight of him, just the voice; firm, commanding and holding Axon to the spot. ‘Your personal feelings towards this peacekeeper must not prevent the predestined mission set before her. To live or die is now in the hands of Hades and the Heavenly Congress will come down heavy upon any who dare interfere with their order of impending proceedings.’
Axon sat motionless and stunned at the directive from above.
Rory leant towards him and using telepathy spoke so quietly only those closest would have heard.
I will know if she is hurt or in trouble and orders or not, if it happens, we go in!
Axon nodded. His features hid this new plan from Zoren; the only telltale sign was the fire that burned brightly in those eyes. If she was hurt, Axon agreed that the team were to ignore orders from above. Their mission would then be to save Caitlin, and he would be right by their side.