Rise (Elemental Hearts Book 2)

by Jayelle Morgan

  Walker half turned, hands on his hips, eyebrows raised. “Don’t you agree?”

  There was still a deep blue cast to his eyes, and Ajax wondered if somewhere in the compound, water was flowing the wrong direction. Or floating in the air. Or whatever water did when Walker got pissed. But he decided to risk pissing him off more by answering anyways.

  “We’re supposed to be fucking sterile. This shouldn’t have happened.”

  Walker nodded, his gaze thoughtful.

  “Ajax, if it was just you, I’d take you to the Premiers right now just for keeping it a damn secret, when that was very fucking pertinent information.”

  “You’re right.” He wanted to say more, to defend his decision, his thought processes. But he didn’t because he knew ultimately, he’d been wrong.

  “But…” Walker said pointedly. The ‘but’ allowed Ajax to take a breath, though Walker’s cursing, coupled with glow still in his eyes, told Ajax he wasn’t out of the woods yet.

  “But since it’s Levi too, it’s obvious something isn’t quite right.” Walker rubbed his jaw, swore, and looked between them.

  Ajax squeezed Emory a little closer. His heart flipped when she squeezed him right back.

  “I’m at a loss. The law is clear, but I also know this shouldn’t have happened. I can’t in good conscience, take you both back to be punished for something you had no control over. As far as I see it, it’s an accident,” he said, shaking his head. “Not a crime.”

  Ajax took his first full breath since he’d pulled up to Emory’s house. Was that just a few hours ago? Damn, the turns this day had taken.

  Emory sniffled and looked from him to Walker, hope all over her face.

  He wasn’t going to be imprisoned, exiled. He didn’t have to leave Emory and Jackson—

  “I am going to see the Premiers though,” Walker added.

  …yet.

  Levi must have had the same look that Ajax felt was frozen on his face, because Walker strode up to him and clapped a hand on his shoulder.

  “I’m not going to mention this. Not overtly anyway. But I do need to find out what the hell is going on, if this is a new risk we’re all going to have to face.”

  Walker looked over and met Ajax’s eyes next, a slight softening in the face that was usually so unreadable. “And if you guys are going to have families to take care of now, then I’m going to need more Warriors.”

  Micah walked through the doors at that moment looking a little dirty and windblown, nodding at him and Levi.

  “Micah, you don’t have any secret children that I need to know about do you?” Walker asked as the bigger man came up beside him. These were the only times Walker ever looked small, next to the huge mass that was Micah.

  “Not that I know of,” Micah replied, deadpan, over his crossed arms.

  Walker nodded, obviously deciding that his answer, along with the fact that Micah was a monk as far as any of them knew, was good enough.

  Ajax turned to Micah. “You’re late.”

  He shrugged.

  “He got here towards the end,” Walker said.

  That explained his disheveled look. Micah would’ve had to fight through the Chaolt and wind he’d put up.

  Emory’s head popped up from where it had been nestled against his chest. “I smell blood. Are you injured?”

  Ajax looked down at her, rubbed his fingers down her cheek just because he could touch her as much as he wanted now. “No baby, I’m fine.”

  Her head turned toward Micah. “Do you need medical attention?”

  Walker raised his eyebrows as he looked him over. “You’re injured?”

  Micah seemed to have used up his allotment of words for the day on the phone call, because he just shrugged again. Which drew everyone’s eyes to his shoulder, where the light glinted wetly off of what Ajax had first assumed was dirt.

  “Levi, first aid kit please,” Walker sighed, and stood there, hands on his hips as Levi rushed out of the room.

  “I’m a nurse,” Emory said. “May I take a look at you?”

  “I’m fine,” Micah said.

  “Micah,” Walker started in his long-suffering voice, “Just let her take a look at you, okay? I don’t want you to bleed out before the injury has a chance to heal.”

  Micah gave his standard answer, a shrug, as Levi came back in the room with the kit, but at least he moved to sit in a chair and uncrossed his arms.

  “Levi, Ajax. Let’s have a discussion for a minute while Emory tends to Micah. My office,” he said, and walked out.

  Ajax flexed his hands, wondering if he could afford to refuse and stay with Emory, but she gave him a reassuring smile as she walked over to Micah and put a hand on his shoulder.

  There was a lot for them to talk about, but he silently swore Walker would only get ten minutes tops before he flipped him the bird and came back to his family.

  His family. The phrase put a pressure in his chest that was now somehow pleasurable. He felt more grounded than ever, yet light as a fucking feather.

  A hard shoulder bump from Levi brought him out of his reverie. “Quit standing there with that dumb ass look on your face. Walker is waiting on us.”

  Ajax tipped his head. “That dumb ass look is the same one you’ve been wearing since you met Brooke.”

  Levi’s smirk faltered. “No shit?”

  “No shit.”

  “Damn.” Levi looked behind them, and Ajax could tell the exact moment that he and Brooke met eyes without turning around, because the other man smiled with his whole body.

  And now Ajax knew what that felt like. But he could still harass him about it.

  “That look. You’re so fucking soft now.”

  Levi looked back at him, a slight tint of orange in his eyes. “Don’t mistake happy for soft. I will still char your ass if you give me half a reason.” He settled his leather jacket around his shoulders, a sure sign that he was getting hot under the collar. “Emory won’t think you’re near as handsome with your hair burned off.”

  Ajax smoothed a hand down his hair as Levi sauntered away. He’d let him have this point, because he wanted to keep his hair. It was his son’s favorite toy.

  Fuck, he was soft too.

  For now, all his asshole tendencies seemed to have been buried by something downright giddy. But not forever. Happy didn’t have to mean nice, either. He was still going to enjoy harassing Levi at every opportunity.

  But then he thought of his plea to Harmony on the drive there. Okay, maybe he could be a little nicer.

  Ajax had barely taken his spot in front of Walker’s desk when his commander spoke.

  “First things first.” Walker leaned forward on his desk and pinned them with his stark gaze. “I am pissed that both of you hid mission-critical information from me.”

  Ajax and Levi looked at one another, but then Levi looked down. He wasn’t going to say anything.

  Fuck that shit.

  “I didn’t feel like I had a choice—”

  “No, I don’t want to hear it. You were both understandably concerned for your futures, but what the two of you hid could have had serious a impact on our mission here. What if the Chaolt had succeeded in getting your son before you made it here, Ajax?”

  He wanted to argue, to say it couldn’t have happened. But it almost had. And if they’d attacked in force while they were still at Emory’s house? Things would have had a much different outcome without the support of the other Warriors. A black hole opened in the center of his chest at the way things could have gone.

  “What if they had succeeded in kidnapping Brooke again, Levi, with your child inside her?” Walker asked, turning to him.

  Ajax had the satisfaction of Levi looking as queasy as he felt about those possibilities.

  “The amount of devastation either scenario could have caused is more than it would have caused you personally,” Walker continued.

  Ajax wanted to debate that point, but he couldn’t really. Even if his personal feeling
s about the matter were that Emory and Jackson were more important than anyone else alive, it was only true to him. Jackson, Brooke, and her baby had enough power inside them to devastate lots of families, to cause a lot of damage to the balance in this world, in this war. And if the world was destroyed from Chaos, they would be gone too.

  Ajax rubbed a hand over his sternum. Imagining the scenarios made his chest ache.

  Walker looked back and forth between them, probably expecting another argument, but he didn’t have one this time. Levi must have been drowning in his shame too, because he didn’t speak either.

  “I get it, you know, I do.” A slight squint appeared around Walker’s eyes. “I’ve been here a long time. I’ve seen a lot of shit. I’ve experienced many of the same things you’re experiencing. I’ve felt—” Walker stopped and looked away, out the window.

  Tilting his head to the side, Ajax studied Walker’s stiff posture. What had Walker been about to say? He suddenly had a burning desire to know. But he just filed it away for later, because asking now, when Walker’s eyes were beginning to glow, would be bad for his health.

  “The Chaos here, it affects everything, even us. But we cannot be effective if we don’t communicate, if we’re not prepared. And you both left everyone else in the dark with this.” The blue from his gaze seared into Ajax. “That’s completely inexcusable. And if either of you—ever—do something like this again, ever keep something critical to yourselves again, I will take you back to Elementium, and that’s a promise.”

  Walker’s last words were an icy murmur that froze Ajax to the core. Walker would still take them back, would still turn them in—

  “But, since I’ve seen the way the two of you look at your women…” Walker’s chest expanded with a big breath and the incandescence left the blue of his eyes. “I’m confident you won’t risk that. Am I correct?”

  “Yes, sir,” Levi said.

  “Fuckin’ A,” was Ajax’s response.

  “Okay, moving on then.” Walker stood straight and crossed his arms. “What the hell is up with the Chaolt?”

  The question on everyone’s mind lately. They were no longer acting with the same pattern of behavior as they had for the last several hundred years.

  “Why did they want Jackson bad enough to attack our base? He’s very powerful obviously, could cause a lot of damage. But they dumped another powerful Erratic in favor of him. Why? They could have caused a lot more casualties and destruction in even a small section of an urban area like Denver, than Jackson would cause in an old mining town in the mountains.”

  After a moment of quiet where they all were thinking, Levi offered, “Maybe they’re not just after humans anymore?”

  Elementals are the only ones who could kill other Elementals. It made sense. “Jackson is probably strong enough to kill any of us if the Chaolt were nulling out our powers,” Ajax offered.

  “But I have access to my powers now,” Levi said, “They can’t possibly think that would work.”

  “I do, too.”

  They both turned to Walker, who was shaking his head.

  “But would you risk Brooke if they had her, Levi? Or your unborn baby? And would either of you use force to stop a child? How about a child that is out of control, too young to drain, and too young to reason with?”

  Walker had a point. At his age, if Jackson really and truly lost control…there wouldn’t be much they could do. If his powers manifested in a huge cyclone for example, Levi’s Fire wouldn’t be able to change anything. He alone with his Air powers would have any chance of being effective. Meaning he would have to choose between the risks of draining his child and the lives of anyone affected.

  That wasn’t a choice he ever wanted to make.

  But how could the Chaolt predict he’d feel that way? He asked Walker just that.

  “I don’t know.” Walker shrugged. “We could be wrong. All I know, is that they have a new modus operandi, a new plan, and that we can’t be as effective if we don’t know what it is.”

  Ajax nodded while Levi murmured his agreement.

  Walker continued. “My suspicion is it has to have something to do with their portal. We’re going to have to work guarding that into our regular rotations.”

  Ajax’s lips twisted. This was going to be a hard time of adjustment for Emory and Jackson. He needed to go get the rest of their stuff, help them make a home as much as they could…

  Ajax looked over at Levi and saw the same sour look on his face. Walker leaned forward on his knuckles, pinning them both with azure eyes bright with heat.

  “You are Warriors first. The mission comes first. I will do what I can to give you time with your families, but this,” he said, tapping the desk, “comes first.”

  “Yes, sir,” Ajax said in sync with Levi.

  There was no use arguing, they knew Walker was right. It might be hard, but they would have to find a way to balance their own lives while fighting to balance the universe.

  Walker looked between the two of them again, and then actually rolled his eyes. “Jesus Christ. Or perhaps station Micah up there semi-permanently until we figure something else out.”

  Then Walker’s face turned more somber, and Ajax had to swallow again.

  “The Premiers are going to want to know why I need more Warriors than I already have for the small town of Topaz Ridge. What am I going to tell them?”

  Ajax shrugged. “Tell them the truth. Tell them we’re still doing our jobs, but things are harder now. Chaos is affecting us, our powers. There’s a chaos portal. Hell, tell them that the Chaolt are acting all fucky. We can’t be the only base having these issues, can we?”

  Walker shook his head. “I can’t speak for any of the others, but I suspect not. Silverthorne seems to be experiencing some similar things.”

  Ajax nodded, both glad to be validated and at the same time, not. “The whole world is going crazy.”

  “It’s because Chaos is winning.”

  Silence settled over the room at Walker’s words, his resigned tone.

  “Fuck, Walker. Isn’t it your job to keep morale up?”

  Walker came back from whatever internal place he’d been, and his eyes narrowed, voice hardened. “They haven’t won yet. And if we do our jobs, they won’t.”

  Ajax couldn’t miss the emphasis. “Point taken.”

  “Good. Now I need to know what could have happened, what was different, about when you got your women pregnant.”

  For the first time since Ajax walked into his commander’s office, he felt a grin spreading across his lips.

  Walker closed his eyes and held up a hand. “No. I don’t mean those kinds of details. Tell me everything that happened before that. There has to be some common factor that caused Emory to get pregnant a year ago, and Brooke more recently.”

  He and Levi ran down a list of everything they could think of that could have possibly been a factor before they got between the sheets. There was nothing in common linking them.

  “Ajax, is there any chance Emory could already be pregnant again?”

  “Nope,” Ajax said instantly, and then met two pairs of skeptical eyes. “No,” he said again, stressing the word. “I promised her we would just focus on Jackson, and then we were…” He ground his teeth, still chafing over it. “…Interrupted.” But at least he wasn’t getting exiled and imprisoned with blue balls. After things calmed down a bit, maybe they could try again.

  Looking forward to that was why he could just flip Levi off when the other man started snickering, instead of suffocating him.

  Walker stood straight, pushed a hand through his hair. “Well, good then. At least we don’t have to worry about any more babies for the time being.”

  Ajax raised his brows. Micah, he understood. If that Warrior had ever spent the night with a human woman, they didn’t know about it. He had some kind of vow of celibacy, or something. But Walker had been known to relieve his urges occasionally in the past, too. Not often, but still. Walker was talking
like he was never going to do it again.

  Walker spread his arms, encompassing his desk piled with maps and papers, knives, and enough energy bar wrappers to indicate he hadn’t left his office in a while. “I don’t have the time or the inclination. And you two are going to use protection from here until we’re certain you don’t need to.”

  It wasn’t a question, so Ajax didn’t answer. And as much as he loved Jackson, he was only now learning how to be a father. He wasn’t in any hurry to deal with the same issues with another child. Walker could be certain that he’d be using a condom from now on. And hopefully soon, but not if he kept standing here talking.

  “Walker, I’ll tell you anything else you want to know later. Can I go?” Ajax had just gotten a reprieve from the hell he’d been trying to avoid for weeks. He wanted to go hold his family, kiss his woman.

  Walker’s jaw tensed, but then he nodded his consent. Ajax gave him a salute, and turned on his heel to leave. But before he got all the way through Walker’s double doors, his feet slowed.

  He was only getting to go back to his family because of Walker. He stopped, hand on the door frame, and turned back to look at him.

  “Sir.”

  Walker paused in his conversation with Levi, turning his head toward him. “Yes?”

  Ajax met Walker’s eyes, held them. “Thank you.”

  Ajax felt the prickle of his powers across his skin from the strength of his emotions, knew his eyes were glowing, but he didn’t try to repress it. He wanted Walker to know the depth of his gratitude.

  Walker breathed deep, his chest expanding behind his crossed arms, and then nodded once.

  Ajax turned down the hall and went back to his family.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Emory watched Ajax follow Levi down the hall. Razor-winged butterflies fluttered in her stomach, but she had to convince herself that his commander wouldn’t change his mind and try to take Ajax away again. At least, not right this minute.

  She would have to trust, and focus on the task at hand.

  “Brooke, will you hold Jackson?” She couldn’t patch Micah up with Jackson in one arm, and Ajax wasn’t here to hold him.