by Montana Ash
“I wish I could deny it. But I can’t. That is exactly what we did.” Nikolai’s voice shook a little and Ryker had no doubt it was in shame.
Ryker ignored all the horrified gasps and swearing around the room, pinning Nik with his dark stare, “What exactly happened?”
The ranger ran his hands over his face, “Instead of the custodian healing Emmanuel as we assumed it would, Emmanuel … consumed it. That’s when we started noticing the changes; the talking, the thirst for pain, the desire for revenge. It started after that.”
Max seemed to study Nikolai for a moment, her eyes narrowed and lips pursed. Ryker wasn’t sure what she saw, but it had her shoulders relaxing and she even reached out and laid a comforting hand on the Commander’s arm. Nikolai clenched his jaw so hard, Ryker could practically hear his teeth grinding into dust. He figured the man must have been harbouring some serious guilt over the years. With the one small gesture from Max, he had essentially been forgiven. He must have realised it too because he nodded his head and touched the circular brand on his arm with reverence.
“And the other custodians?” Max asked, presently. “Did they get fed to Emmanuel too?”
Nikolai looked genuinely shocked, “Other custodians? There was never more than one,” he promised. “We all knew the magnitude of our mistake as soon we saw Emmanuel’s gaping mouth hoover that poor soul. Unfortunately, there was no take-backs. But we could ensure it never happened again. That’s why his death was immediately ordered.”
“You think Garrett sought out others?” Ryker asked his woman.
“I do,” Max nodded. “I think he saw the effect one had on his son. I think he liked it. I think that’s why he started asking questions to everyone who knew anything about Custodians; Blu and Verity. I think he then decided to not only access the sole written information about the beings, but also made sure nobody else would ever be able to access it. He stole it all and burned down the records room.”
Nikolai shook his head, looking suddenly exhausted, “Do you think Garrett found other custodians?”
Max sighed, twirling some red strands of hair around her finger, “I can’t say for certain. It might explain why custodians stopped inhabiting the Earth; they were being captured and consumed. But I can say Garrett has been patiently waiting for a time when he could gain access to a custodian again.”
“You,” Nik stated.
Max nodded her head once, “Me. I bet he was overjoyed when Mordecai told him of my conception. No wonder I didn’t detect anything but genuine pleasure and welcome from Garrett and Autumn all this time. It’s because they were genuinely happy to meet me.” Max laughed a little, “They’re thrilled to have another all-you-can-eat buffet.”
“Don’t,” Ryker ground out. “Don’t you fucking joke about this, Max.” He wouldn’t let her make light of the situation. These evil, awful people had the power to destroy his entire world. No, he decided, it was no joke.
“I’m sorry, Ry. I wasn’t trying to make light of the situation. I know how extreme and dangerous this all is.” Max fitted herself easily against his rigid body.
Ryker pushed his face into her hair, inhaling the unique, fresh scent that made up his woman. As long as he could hold onto her like this, he knew everything would be just fine. His heart would keep beating, his lungs would keep filling with oxygen, and the world would continue to spin on its axis. Too bad Max was opposed to him being a human barnacle.
“I’ll let you be my barnacle tonight,” she whispered against his ear. “My naked barnacle.”
He grinned, pulling back enough to give her a smacking kiss on the lips, before addressing Nikolai once more, “As a Ranger, you have an affinity with the chades. Do you have any possible idea where Emmanuel is now?”
Nikolai shook his head, mutely. Ryker had expected as much but it was still frustrating.
“What about the encampment?” Axel abruptly asked. “Are there any chades left at the encampment from back then?”
Nikolai shook his head again, “None. They were all executed. Emmanuel was the only one not killed on the spot because he was Garrett’s son. I believed, genuinely believed, that Garrett had followed through and killed him. The man was a mess for almost a year before he joined the land of the living again. He was the very epitome of a grieving father.”
“Let me guess; he started to perk back up after the Massacre?” Cali asked, dryly.
Nik sighed, “Now that I think about it – yes. But I just figured he was rallying around his fellow wardens in their time of need. It didn’t cross my mind it was because he had stolen state secrets and was plotting to take over the damn world.”
“I think Axel is on the right track. I should go there,” Max announced into the silence of the room.
Max’s statement had Nikolai bolting upright in his chair, “I’m sorry, go where?”
“To the chade encampment,” Max chirped. “Who knows? I might be able to pick up on something. Feelings, echoes, premonitions. That kind of thing is happening to me all the time now.”
“Abso-fucking-lutely not!” Nikolai yelled, preventing Ryker from having to do the same.
Ryker had never been inside one of the chade prisons but he had been outside of them often enough. It was enough to make his skin crawl. He didn’t know how the rangers worked there day-in and day-out and managed to stay sane. The thought of such a sensitive being like Max with her extreme empathy and all those holes in her spirit, being in such close proximity to that wretched place made him physically ill.
“It’s not your decision to make,” Max informed Nikolai, primly.
“Like hell it isn’t! I am the Gatekeeper, the King, the Monarch and the fucking God of that place. What I say, goes. And you are definitely not going. It is not a place you will ever be welcome. I don’t give a shit how powerful you are. I’m not scared of your swirly eyes, either,” Nikolai added, obviously noting the power whirling in the coloured depths.
Max narrowed her eyes but didn’t attempt to command Nikolai again. Instead, she turned to her left; “Ivy –”
Ivy shook her head just as determinedly, “Nik is right, Max. There is no way I would allow you to step foot in that place.”
“Allow?” Max’s eyebrows rose to a startling height.
“Don’t get bitch-face with me, woman,” Ivy stabbed a finger at Max. “You heard me. It’s for your own good. Besides, Nik already told you; there aren’t any chades left from that time.”
Max pouted for a moment, before seeming to accept reason, “Maybe not, but there’s sure to be some chades currently imprisoned who have met the ones known to Emmanuel – or have even met the guy himself. They are being drawn to him just as surely as the curable chades are being drawn to me.”
Ryker wasn’t going to waste time asking Max how she knew that. The certainty in her voice was now very familiar to him. And judging by the looks on his fellow paladin’s faces, they knew it too. “You’re not going. Period,” Ryker stated firmly, cutting her off before she could argue, and offering an alternative. “But I’ll go.”
Max gasped and spun on him, “I’m not allowed to go but you are?”
He simply crossed his arms over his chest, “You bet your pretty little butt.”
“How is that fair?” Max demanded.
“Life isn’t fair, princess,” Ryker risked his head – and his balls – by saying.
“Not that your foreplay isn’t entertaining as hell,” Nikolai’s amused voice cut in. “But I can think of a better person than Ryker.”
Ryker narrowed his eyes, “Oh, really? And who do you suggest, oh great King?”
“Him,” Nikolai pointed at Lark.
Lark pointed at his chest, looking surprised, “Me?”
“Lark?” Ivy’s voice swiftly followed and she half-stepped in front of her lover.
“Yes, you,” Nikolai answered Lark first before turning to his best friend. “And yes, your boy-toy.”
“Stop calling him that,” Ivy hissed.
“Why?” Lark asked, easily ignoring the murderess next to him.
Nikolai didn’t look quite so sure or amused as he replied, “Because you’re Isaac’s son. You’re sure to be trained in advanced interrogation techniques.”
“Advanced interrogation techniques?” Lark snorted, “You mean torture.”
“Eh, tomato, tomato,” Nik shrugged.
“Ryker? What do you think?” Lark asked him.
Ryker was surprised when Ivy kept her mouth shut. But then, he supposed he shouldn’t have been. He knew Ivy loved and respected Lark and his abilities. She trusted in him the same way Ryker trusted in Max. Ryker was glad for his younger friend; Ivy really was the perfect match for him. Rather than answering, Ryker posed his own question instead;
“Do you want to do this?”
Lark scrunched up his nose in distaste, “Not especially. But if it means we get some more answers – maybe even a solution to get us out of this mess? Then you know I need to do this.”
Ryker nodded once, “Fine. But you take back-up.” He didn’t need to look in Ivy’s direction to know she would be accompanying Lark, but he was a little surprised when Dex stepped forward.
“I’ll go. I can still feel the chades and I have all those cool new abilities. Might come in handy.”
Ryker frowned, “That place is going to be just as hard for you as it would be for Max. Just for different reasons.”
Dex shrugged, looking unconcerned, “I can handle it.”
Ry grunted, “Darius will go too.” Although it was barked out like a command, Ryker had intended it to be supportive. Who better than his brother and ex-paladin to help Dex and back him up?
Ryker figured, he had been pretty subtle, but the whole room seemed to cotton-on to his intentions because he soon found himself the recipient of over a half-dozen pairs of goo-goo eyes. Ryker merely rolled his own, “Cut that shit out – the lot of you.”
“Softie.”
“Big softie.”
“Softie McSoftie,” came the influx of replies.
“I can and will hurt you all,” he assured them. “Especially you, Axel,” he pointed a finger at his blue-eyed friend. Axel just laughed, completely unfazed because he was more than used to such threats – he heard them on a daily basis. Despite the levity now in the air, Ryker still felt nervous. He hoped he had made the right decision. A warm palm against his own had him smiling … and hoping.
NINETEEN
Ivy was nervous as she listened to her four male companions talk and banter back and forth. The local chade encampment was a good four hours away by car from Max’s house. Because they had a late start, they were staying at Nikolai’s place for the night and leaving early in the morning. Right now, they were all seated around Nikolai’s dining room, having eaten some rather tasty Thai take-out. She wasn’t nervous about being forced into the social situation. She was surprisingly comfortable with inane chatter these days. No, it was the prospect of tomorrow that had her pad thai threatening to make a reappearance.
“You ever wonder why Ivy went for a more diluted version of me?”
The mildly posed question from her immediate superior and best friend, had Ivy gasping and her eyes widening at the ingrate. She was about to punch the prick in the arm when her man laughed;
“Diluted, huh? How did you figure that?” Lark asked.
“Well, we’re both easy-going, happy fellows,” Nik pointed out. “We’re also both geniuses and potentates. Although, I have a real eidetic memory whereas yours is merely photographic. You’re also not as pretty as me. Hence …” he trailed off.
“Hence, I’m the watered-down version,” Lark nodded. “I see where you’re coming from.”
Nikolai looked surprised, raising eyebrows at Ivy before glancing at Darius and Dex in an attempt to figure out where Lark was going. The two brothers just grinned, shaking their heads. Darius had known Lark longer than his brother, but Ivy knew Dex and Lark had forged a fast friendship.
“So,” Lark linked his fingers together over his stomach as he leant back in his chair. “How do you want to settle this? Whip our dicks out? Fight? No, wait! I know – Trivial Pursuit!”
Ivy was gratified to see Nikolai laugh out loud, giving Lark a friendly shove, “You really have no ego at all, do you?” Nik asked when they all quieted.
Lark simply shrugged, “Never had much use for one in the past. And I certainly don’t need one now. Because …” he leant in close to Nikolai and Ivy saw his green eyes turn hard and cold for the blink of an eye. “… I got the girl.”
He winked at Ivy, slapping her Commander on the shoulder as he began gathering up their plates. Darius and Dex helped too and Ivy soon found herself alone with Nik.
“Really, Nik? A diluted version of you?”
“What?” Nik blinked his eyes innocently but Ivy knew there wasn’t an innocent bone in his body. “Relax,” he then said. “I was just testing your guy. That’s what friends do. Wouldn’t you do the same for me?”
Ivy thought about that for a moment, before replying; “Test your guy? I’d love to.”
“Brat!” Nik lunged for her but she was too quick. “Woman. I meant woman and you know it.”
Ivy chuckled, of course she knew what he meant but this was way more fun. Some of her earlier nerves evaporated under the familiar teasing but she knew they would only return come morning. Speaking of which; “I guess we should hit the sack if we want to get to the encampment at dawn.”
Nik stood and stretched, “I guess you’re right. Good night, Poison Ivy.”
Ivy accepted the use of her nickname with an eye-roll. She actually secretly loved the moniker. Who didn’t want to be toxic and lethal with a single touch? She didn’t say so out loud of course and figured Nik needed some payback to ensure their relationship retained its normalcy. “Goodnight,” she said, stopping in the doorway. “I’m about to go have lots of animalistic sex in your guest room.”
She couldn’t hold back the chuckle that left her lips as Nik’s curses followed her down the hallway.
***
“Ivy, what is it?” Her ever perceptive partner asked as they got ready for bed.
She watched as Lark quickly shucked his shirt and pants, so he was left clad only in his black briefs, before he pulled back the covers and crawled in beside her. Pulling her close, he tangled his legs with her smooth ones and pulled her tight to his chest. Feeling warm and safe, made her feel even worse. “Nothing,” she muttered.
“Ivy …”
Ivy blew out a breath. Why is it whenever my brother or my lover use that tone with me, I felt like hunching my shoulders and apologising? Ivy wondered. She was a grown woman – one who removed heads for a living. And yet, one word said with the perfect inflection had her feeling like a naughty child. She allowed herself to be manoeuvred by Lark until they were facing each other. His eyes, shiny as green apples, gazed back at her expectantly.
“I’m scared to go in there,” she admitted to him, quietly.
Lark ran a comforting hand down her back, “I can take care of myself, honest.”
Ivy huffed and pushed against his chest, “Not scared for you, moron! I know you can take care of yourself. Scared for me. Scared what you’ll think of me after you see where I work and what I do every day. What I’ve been doing every day for the last hundred-odd years before you were even born.”
Lark scooted himself closer until their bodies were pressed against each other. “One: there is nothing – absolutely nothing – you could say or do that would make me think less of you. I love you, Ivy. What’s more, I see you. And I love, respect, and admire everything I see. Two,” he continued, not allowing her time to speak, “Are you still really hung up on the age thing? I thought you were over that.”
She almost smiled when she saw the pout on Lark’s face. The thought of seeing the slaughterhouse she worked in didn’t faze him, but one little comment about their age and he was glowering. At first, she had been really hung up on the differences in th
eir ages. Lark was just over thirty and she was closing in on one-hundred and sixty. Although, now she could admit she was only using that as an excuse to keep Lark at arm’s length. She had been terrified when she had felt such an immediate attraction to the earth paladin. But it was the deeper, more intimate connection she’d felt that had her keeping her walls strong.
Lark had been patient. He had actually taken the time to get to know her – the real her – and not some public perception. Sure, she worked hard to build and maintain that perception. She was a ranger. What else could she be but hard and cold and distant? It’s what her society had expected of her and she had therefore strived to become it. But Lark had seen beneath the surface. Somehow, he had seen past the reflection society had built up and had decided he loved the woman underneath the hardened facade. Sometimes she could hardly still believe it.
“The age thing doesn’t bother me,” she finally admitted. “Nothing about us bothers me. I just … I just don’t want you to be disappointed in me.”
“Not possible,” he said, fanning her hair over her naked shoulders and down her arms.
Ivy felt tingles spread in the wake of his touch but forced herself to stay on topic, “Are you really going to be able to go in there tomorrow and interrogate the prisoners?”
Lark shrugged, looking unconcerned. He asked; “Are you going to be with me?”
“Of course!” she promptly answered.
“Then, of course I am. I can do anything with you next to me,” he began nibbling on her fingertips.
“Oh boy. You slay me, you know that? Absolutely fucking slay me!” She gripped his face, holding it steady for her mauling mouth, and was gratified to feel his tongue duelling with hers.
He abruptly pulled away from her, divesting himself of his sexy, tight underwear and allowing her eyes free-range over his tightly muscled form. He was lean but not thin and his currently hunched back caused his shoulder blades to become more prominent, poking up almost like wings from his back. With the silvery moonlight filtering through the windows and the overhead beams, she could almost fancy Lark as her very own angel. She snorted self-consciously, the sound bringing Lark’s head up and ruining the quiet moment of whimsy. Or so she would have thought. But the look in his eyes – the look of perfect love and lust and faith, dragged her right back to that place where her heart beat frantically and her eyes teared up.