Ranger (Elemental Paladins Book 4)

by Montana Ash

  “Ivy?”

  She jolted, “I’m sorry, what?”

  “I asked if you’re okay to head off tomorrow? Lark is back to full health and my kiddies have the answers they need to fortify this place and start bringing in the good guys for some frank conversations,” Max explained.

  Ivy just nodded, “Fine by me.”

  “Great. Dex –”

  “I’m not going.”

  Silence met his harsh interruption and Ivy watched Dex clench his jaw so hard she wouldn’t be surprised to hear his teeth crack.

  “Dex –” Max began again but the irate man was already shaking his head;

  “I’m sorry, Max. I know how important the mission is and I know I’m yours to command but I –”

  “Dex! Will you shut up for one damn minute?!” Max finally yelled, interrupting his tirade. He snapped his jaw shut. “Thank you. Now …” Max continued, “of course you’re not going. Your place is here with Cali and your baby.”

  Dex stared at her for a moment before croaking, “Huh?”

  Max huffed, the noise sounding ill-tempered, “Do you really think I would ask you to leave Cali when there was a threat to her and your son?”

  Dex looked half dumbfounded, half contrite, as he stuttered, “Well, I …”

  Cali smiled sweetly at her fiancé, wrapping her arms around him. Ivy saw her mouth the words, thank you, to her liege and Max’s dipped head of acknowledgment in return.

  “So, what now? Ivy and Lark can’t go on their own. Not only is it too dangerous but how will they identify the chades they need to?” Beyden voiced the question Ivy herself had been thinking.

  “Two of you can accompany them and –”

  “No, Max,” Ryker interrupted. “I’m sorry but after what Lark discovered today, there’s no way I’m willing to lose more of your protection. I don’t even want to spare Lark and Ivy. The threat to you is very real, Max.”

  Max sighed and instead of getting annoyed or pushing the issue like Ivy expected her to do, she crossed the room to stand in front of Ryker instead, placing her palms on both his cheeks;

  “I know it is, babe. And that’s why we need to bring these wardens home,” her voice was soft and as serious as Ivy had ever heard. But the woman quickly ruined the moment by adding; “I need my squirrels.”

  The room seemed to relax with the exhalation of quiet laughter from its occupants. The moment of levity lasted about two seconds because a new voice spoke, startling everyone;

  “I’ll go.”

  Everyone spun at the same time, facing the intruder in the doorway. Max and Cali were firmly pushed behind a half a dozen paladin bodies and the sound of scythes singing from their harnesses was sharp in the air. Ivy had to give the guy credit, Knox didn’t even bat an eyelash at all the lethal steel pointed in his direction. He just stood silently and waited for a response.

  Ivy had to admit, the ex-chade looked like a whole new man. He was still lean but his six-foot-one frame had bulked out nicely and he was now carrying a decent amount of muscle mass – his previously emaciated appearance nothing but a memory. His hair was still black but Diana had given him a very nice haircut and the healthy-looking strands were now cropped close to his skull. His skin was also still pale but it flushed with healthy colour with his changing moods. He had sharp cheekbones, a straight nose, and square jawline. Even his eyes were no longer black. Although they were still a dark shade of grey, making her wonder if his original eye colour had been grey or perhaps blue. There was one thing she couldn’t deny; the man was very good looking.

  She couldn’t believe that sexily shadowed, chiselled jaw was the same one which had unhinged grotesquely, ready to kill, just weeks ago. He was like a whole new person and she realised Dex must have undergone the exact same transformation to get to where he was today as well. She hadn’t been here to personally witness the before and after that was Dex, only the end result. Seeing Knox’s redemption served to strengthen Ivy’s belief in Max. Knowing that, and realising Knox was the only way they were going to help others like him, she stepped forward and spoke up;

  “He’s right – he should come.”

  She knew her words surprised the majority of the group if their incredulous expressions were anything to go by. The only people who didn’t seem shocked were Max and Lark. The reason behind Max’s acceptance was easy; the darn woman knew every bloody thing. But Ivy couldn’t help but wonder why Lark didn’t seem bothered by her support of the chade. But then again, she had stupidly bared her soul to the guy, hadn’t she? Maybe he thought she had a soft spot for all chades now. That certainly wasn’t the case. Yes, she wanted to save any who could be saved. But she had no problem putting down any others who were solely bent on maiming and killing.

  Ryker shook his head, “No way! No offence, man. But I don’t know you. Not from before and not now. I’m not comfortable saddling my team – my family – with an unknown.”

  Ivy blinked at that; surely he was just referring to Lark? No way was Ryker including her as family. But his small nod in her direction seemed to belie her automatic thought. Instead of feeling uncomfortable by his inclusion, she felt … grateful. As for Knox – he didn’t say anything. In fact, Ivy was pretty sure those were the first two words he had uttered since coming back from the brink.

  “I’m with Ivy,” Lark said into the silence of the room. Ryker opened his mouth to speak but Lark held up his hand. And strangely enough, Ryker closed his mouth and let Lark speak. He turned to his liege; “Max? What do you think? Is Knox completely healed?”

  Max smiled in the ex-chades direction and Ivy saw him blush a little. Yep, seems no person was immune to the charms of the turquoise-eyed custodian. “His murderous tendencies have resolved, he can recharge normally, and he’s sporting some cool new ink. He’s as healed as anyone can expect him to be,” she vouched.

  Ivy thought Max’s last sentence was a bit off but she couldn’t put her finger on why. The important thing was that Max trusted Knox and as strange as it sounded, Ivy did too. The small pockets of time she had spent with the man, had showed her a man with true grit. He was much further gone than Dex had been and yet here he stood. She wondered what kind of motivation he must have to have held on to his tiny piece of soul for so long.

  “Max …” Ryker sounded aggrieved but also resigned.

  “Ryker …” Max mimicked, “Knox is good to go. He can sense chades the same way Dex can. He’ll be able to communicate with them to the same extent. He’s also the guardian of Air and will be able to travel swiftly in that form and cover long distances if needed. He’ll take the other car, so the chades can be transported back when they are found. And Ivy and Lark can move on to the next location in the meantime.”

  Ryker looked to the other members of his Order and one by one they all nodded. Ryker sighed, “Fine. You sure you’re okay with this? You two are going to have to provide Knox with vitality when you’re on the road.”

  Lark shrugged in response to Ryker’s question, “Won’t bother me. Ivy?”

  She kept her face blank, “Whatever. What’s one more chade-warden hybrid?”

  “Fine then – sold,” Ryker stated, seeming to gain a measure of satisfaction from her grumpy response. He walked over to Knox and held out his arm, “Thank you. You all look after each other out there and we won’t have a problem.”

  Knox eyed the outstretched arm for a moment before he clasped it in a traditional warrior’s grip, “I’ll look after them,” he promised.

  Before Ivy could assure the man she could look after herself, he was gone as quickly as he had arrived.

  NINETEEN

  Silence reigned for a few minutes, everyone lost in their own thoughts – including Ivy. Presently though, Axel spoke;

  “Looks like we’re all sorted – except for one small detail …”

  “And what’s that?” Max asked.

  “What are we going to do with all of these new chadey-wardens while they’re healing and becoming reaccusto
med to the land of the living?” Axel asked. “I mean, we’re going to need paladins for a start. And don’t volunteer us, Max. We’re already in an Order – your Order. We will obey your wishes if you command us to serve others but our priority and our duty is to you. We can’t be spread thin by sharing vitality with a bunch of recovering chades.”

  Max shook her head, “I’m not going to ask you to share your vitality with them, let alone command it. I’ve already considered the dilemma and have a solution.”

  “Oh, really? Who?” Beyden asked.

  “Well …” Max began slowly, “there are three of them and their names all start with K.”

  Ryker’s reaction was loud and very negative, “No. Hell no!”

  As was Darius’s; “I do not believe that will be necessary.”

  The reactions from the other two females in the room were quite different, however; “Hells to the yes,” Cali crowed. “They would be perfect.”

  Diana’s grin was huge as she chimed in, “I agree. Kane, Kai, and Kellan are more than … fit for the job.”

  Darius crossed his arms over his chest in what Ivy had come to recognise as ‘serious Darius’, “I know that look, Diana. You aren’t going anywhere near those three playboys.”

  Diana raised her eyebrows and widened her eyes – the very epitome of innocence. Ivy had to suppress her smirk of approval, she knew as well as the rest of the men that the females in their group were many things, but innocent wasn’t one of them. The curly-haired beauty was gearing up to fuck with her man.

  “What look?” Diana asked, voice dripping with virtue.

  “Don’t give me that. Those three revel in tormenting me about you – and vice versa! I think it’s time you told me just how well you know those idiots.”

  Darius’s tone was all ‘master of the manor’ and Ivy winced, no way would any self-respecting, independent woman put up with that tone. Even as she watched, Axel, Beyden, Dex, and Lark were edging their way backwards. The only male stupid enough to stay in the line of fire was Ryker. And that was clearly because he thought Darius was in the right. No doubt he was threatened by the undeniably delicious identical specimens of manhood as well.

  “Oh, you do, do you? Don’t narrow those hazel eyes at me, mister,” Diana quickly reprimanded, seeing her man’s changing expression. “I didn’t enter a convent any more than you entered a monastery in the years it took you to pull your finger out of your arse and finally touch me. I had me some sex – sometimes good sex, sometimes bad sex – so sue me. Besides,” she huffed, “you’re in no position to talk. I know you slept with Eboni.”

  “What?” Darius sputtered, eyes positively bugging out of his head.

  Diana waggled her finger at her lover, “That’s right. Eboni with the boobs made from the finest of silicon and the Venus flytrap masquerading as a vagina! I’m surprised your dick didn’t get frostbite after sticking it into that ice queen.”

  “I – I – I …”

  Darius’s stuttering was pathetic and Ivy somehow found herself standing in solidarity with the women. How she had migrated across the room to be standing in line with Cali, Max, and Diana, she wasn’t sure. But by the nervous looks on the men’s faces, she was pretty sure they made a formidable-looking team.

  “You, you, you … what?” Diana asked, archly.

  Darius frantically looked for help but received none. No-one was stupid enough – even Ryker. But Zombie chose that moment to enter the room. He stilled, cocking his head to the side and then padded his way over to Darius, sitting loyally at his feet. Ivy knew Darius had been the one to rescue the abandoned dog and no doubt Zombie remembered too. It seemed feminine pride was no match for two sets of puppy-dog eyes – Zombie’s and Darius’s included – because Diana huffed out a breath;

  “Fine, fine. You two look pathetic. I’m sorry for teasing you but you dug your own hole with your assumptions,” Diana wagged a finger at her man.

  Darius was looking relieved and he patted Zombie enthusiastically in thanks, sending the dog’s back leg kicking in ecstasy. “Wait? Assumptions?” Darius abruptly asked, finally computing Diana’s words.

  The woman smiled, twirling a strand of curly hair around her fingertip, “I said I had me some sex over the years. I did not, however, say I had sex with any of the triplets.”

  “What? But you – they –”

  “Were fucking with you, sweetie,” Diana pinched his cheek, grinning at the look of incomprehension on his face.

  “What did all of us girls agree on the first week you met me?” Max asked, “We don’t fuck our friends,” she reminded them.

  Darius’s eyes rounded, “You knew? And you let me think she’d had some kind of triplet orgy?!” Darius yelled at Max.

  Max didn’t even bother containing her laughter, nor did the others – including Ryker – who now found the entire scene hilarious. “Oh, I knew. But you needed a little extra push …” she trailed off, chuckling.

  “If you think this changes anything, you think wrong,” Darius informed Diana. “I’m still going to kill them – just for a different reason now.”

  “You’ll do no such thing. They did you a favour. Who knows? If it weren’t for their teasing, I could have been waiting another thousand years for you to make a move,” Diana pointed out.

  “So true, bro. That was just ridiculous,” Dex added his two cents, earning a glare from his brother.

  “No-one is hurting the brothers. And they will be helping us with the chades. They are loyal, honourable, and good fighters. What’s more, they are unbound and have no liege. They are perfect for the job,” Max informed the room at large, her firm voice leaving no room for argument. Although, Ryker gave it one last try;

  “They’re immature –” he began.

  Max rolled her eyes at him, “They are not. You’ve told me how much you approve of them as paladins. You just don’t like how pretty they are. Besides, they’re harmless. They just have a high play-drive – like Zombie.”

  Hearing his name, the playful pup looked up from his toy bunny and gave a happy yip. He stood up and began chasing his own tail until he ran into the centre island. Max winced;

  “Okay, perhaps not a ringing endorsement … But it’s decided. Full stop. I’ll contact them later. Now, as to the other problem Axel raised – where to put them? I haven’t figured that out yet,” she admitted. “I know they can’t stay here. If Ivy, Lark, and Knox are as successful as I hope they’re going to be, there’s going to be too many.”

  “They definitely can’t stay here,” Ryker confirmed, “But I know a place.”

  Max looked surprised, “You know a place? Really?”

  Ryker pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger, “Must you look so surprised? I have good ideas sometimes.”

  Max shook her head, “I didn’t mean it like. I –”

  Ryker grinned, tweaking her on the nose, “Relax. I’m just exerting my play-drive.”

  Max grinned in appreciation, grabbing his tee shirt to pull him in for a deep kiss that had the ambient temperature in the room rising by a couple of degrees. A few weeks ago, Ivy would have rolled her eyes at the display in front of her. Now she just felt … wistful. Unable to help herself, she sought out Lark. Eyes of sparkling green met hers and the zing she felt was almost physical in its intensity. Trouble, she told herself, big trouble. Perhaps he sensed her thoughts because a small crease formed between his eyes and he broke contact with her.

  “Okay, you two, break it up. Ry, about this place …” Lark prompted.

  Ryker gave Max’s arse one more decent squeeze before setting her free and facing the room, “Have you seen the old hotel behind the back of Dave’s?”

  Max looked positively horrified, “You mean the one that looks like the Overlook Hotel from The Shining?”

  “It does not look like … hmm, you know, it actually kinda does,” Axel acknowledged.

  “Anyway,” Ryker cut in, loudly, “I think Dave would let us use it.”
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br />   “Use it? I know these guys are used to living rough, but that hotel is completely abandoned, Ryker. Does it even have running water?” Max asked, still looking less than keen with the idea.

  Ryker was frowning, “It’s not abandoned. It still sometimes gets guests.”

  “What?” Max looked dismayed, “Guests? But what about REDRUM painted on the walls? Doesn’t it turn the guests off?”

  Lark laughed, the sound tickling something loose in Ivy’s stomach.

  “Funny,” Ryker replied, looking amused despite himself.

  “I’m not joking, Ry. Is it really still a functioning hotel?” Max asked.

  Ryker nodded, “It is. The same way the bar is still a functioning bar despite its outward appearance.”

  “Yeah, the place looks like a dive from the outside – and from the inside too, to be fair,” Beyden added. “But Dave runs a decent place. The drinks aren’t half bad, even if his usual clientele is a little … colourful. But it is super clean.”

  It was at that, Ivy acknowledged. Dave had a kind on unnatural obsession with glass polishing. She had frequented the establishment a few times over the years. She much preferred it to the other local watering hole; Lonnie’s. There were too many paladins and wardens there for her liking.

  “Question: if it’s a working hotel, how are we going to hide dozens of pale stick-men there? They are going to be a little conspicuous for a while,” Axel added.

  Ryker shrugged, “It doesn’t exactly get a lot of traffic. I’m sure Dave would close it down to the general public and allow us the use of it for the indefinite future.”

  Max was watching Ryker closely, “Why would he do that? And what is he going to think when his guests are a bunch of black haired, black eyed, phantoms?”

  Ryker shifted, looking a little uncomfortable. “He knows all about chades. It won’t be a problem.”