Ranger (Elemental Paladins Book 4)

by Montana Ash

  “It was over a hundred years ago. Although the chades were a persistent and troubling menace, they hadn’t yet reached the huge numbers we saw before the Great Massacre – or the numbers of today. Still, there were a great many rangers and wardens alike whose sole task was to determine why wardens were choosing to desecrate their elements.”

  “That’s not what –”

  Nikolai held up a placating hand, “I know, Max. That’s not what was happening. Chades don’t choose to turn their backs on nature – it’s an illness. But we didn’t know that back then. Well, I guess there were some who thought of it in that way – I know Blu did and Verity broached the subject many times too, Diana,” he said, looking at the death paladin and speaking of her former liege.

  “I never heard him talk about it. The majority of time I was in his Order, we were tasked with following human criminal activity – balancing the loss, reconciling justice, providing new life in the wake of tragedy. That’s how I became a consultant for the FBI and other law enforcement agencies,” she explained. “But I do know talk of the chades made him sad though,” she added, contemplatively, “I was always curious why.”

  Nik was nodding as she spoke, “He was quite the advocate for the poor beasts – in the beginning at least. I guess with him being a Life Warden and highly empathic, he wouldn’t have been able to block out the emotions and the plight of the chades.”

  Ivy saw everyone turn to look at Max upon hearing Nik’s last words. They all knew she was highly sensitive and empathic and was continually battered by the chades’ feelings and emotions – or lack thereof. Ivy saw her shift uncomfortably in her seat, never comfortable being the centre of attention, before she spoke;

  “Please continue, Nikolai.”

  Her Commander tilted his head in her direction, “He was from a renowned family and also a loving one. They wouldn’t give up on him – were desperate to find a cure. As such, they volunteered him for the research projects that were being conducted at the time to determine a cause, treatment, and the hope of a cure.”

  “What kind of research projects?” Dex questioned, jaw set.

  Nik gazed back at him dispassionately, “The kind of research projects recorded in the Warden Chronicles. These things were always documented.”

  “The same Warden Chronicles that were burned to a crisp when the chades attacked?” Lark asked.

  Nik nodded, “The very same.”

  “Convenient,” Max snorted, looking more pissed by the second.

  “I’ve always thought so,” Nik agreed.

  “Have you just?” Ryker arched a dark eyebrow, scepticism clear in his tone.

  Nikolai merely shrugged, not rising to the bait this time. No doubt, he felt the same as Ivy did on this subject; they didn’t need to justify their actions to anyone. They were soldiers just like sworn paladins and had a duty and a purpose to uphold. They might not always agree with their superiors and not like the tasks they were given but it was their job. Someone had to do it.

  Abruptly, Dex pushed away from the wall he was leaning against and advanced on Nik. Ivy tensed, ready to defend her friend and superior, but remained where she was when Nik simply lifted a finger in her direction, “Can we please stop calling it ‘research’ and start calling it what it was? Experimentation. Torture.”

  “Same thing really. It gets the same results in the end,” Nikolai sounded bored, cold even.

  Ivy knew he was anything but. Just like her, he felt for the chades and wanted nothing more than to ease their suffering and end their plight. Looking around the room, she saw the same disgusted and livid looks on nearly every face – other than Max, Mordecai and his Order. Max could no doubt see and feel Nikolai’s true intentions and emotions. And Mordecai and his men had been around long enough to know the way of the world. They couldn’t afford to be dainty with their methods if they wanted results.

  Ryker abruptly faced Mordecai, “Do you have anything to say about this?”

  Mordecai’s paladins stirred at the accusatory tone but the warden’s green eyes remained steady, “Like what?”

  “Gee, I don’t know. That you were aware of the torture of your own people? Maybe that you sanctioned it?” Ryker’s voice was laden with sarcasm.

  “How else were we to get answers? We’re talking more than a hundred years ago. Not exactly the time for medical or scientific advancement. Methods were rudimentary, techniques were raw and experimental. The wardens and rangers involved in the research were the leading minds in society. Besides, it was determined very early on that chades don’t feel pain,” he added, as if it justified his actions.

  “Don’t feel pain?” Max’s voice was incredulous as she spoke to the man directly for the very time that day, “All they feel is pain!”

  Mordecai merely shrugged and Max turned away in disgust as if she couldn’t bear to look at the man who had helped give her life. If Ivy hadn’t been watching so closely, she never would have seen the anguish in those cold, green eyes when his daughter turned away from him. Ivy rarely felt sympathy for people in situations of their own making. Everyone had to live with the consequences of their own choices. But she knew there was more to the Death Warden than met the eye.

  She had caught a glimpse of his left bicep the day prior when he had made his exit. Ivy had only seen a hint of black but she had recognised it for what it was. Mordecai was loyal, she was sure of it. So, why he seemed determined to keep painting himself as the bad guy, she didn’t know. Men were just idiots sometimes.

  “I think we should get back on track,” Diana voiced, breaking the thick tension in the room. “Nikolai, do you have any idea if the research yielded any results?” she prompted.

  “Oh, they yielded results all right. Just not the ones everyone was hoping for,” Nik shook his head. “The tests didn’t cure him. In fact, they seemed to make him worse.”

  “Worse? How can anything be worse than a chade?” Beyden asked, looking worried. Ivy didn’t blame him – she didn’t want to imagine anything worse than a chade either.

  “As we all know, men lose their humanity when they regress from warden to chade. They don’t feel anything anymore, they lose their conscience. They are like emotional blackholes – no joy, no fear, not even hate. They hunt down and feed off wardens based on pure instinct – not because they are evil,” Nikolai recounted.

  “Right,” Max nodded along with everybody else, “but I take it this chade wasn’t like the others?”

  “In the beginning? He was just the same as all the others I’d seen. I know I said they don’t feel anything and I’m still not convinced all of them do. But some of them – there’s a bitterness there, a disappointment, hopelessness. I guess those are the ones with their souls intact. The ones you’ve been searching for,” he added, glancing between Lark and Ivy before continuing;

  “But this one? He didn’t show any of those subtle signs and in the end? Yeah, he was different. Very different. He was angry for one – totally pissed off all the time. He was malevolent and malicious – vengeful even.”

  Max was frowning in thought, “Malevolent? How so?” she asked.

  Nik ran a hand down his face, “He liked to hurt people. And not just by sucking the vitality out of wardens either. He would hurt them just to watch them bleed, just to see pain on the faces of his victims. You’ve all seen prey animals take down their meals, right? They do it for survival and are quick, merciful killers. That’s what most of the chades are like. But not him, he played with his victims. You don’t ever see a lion digging around in antelope entrails for the joy of it, do you? This guy loved entrails,” he shuddered, “And he used to laugh.”

  Dex straightened again, “Laugh? He could speak?”

  “Not speak in so many words,” Nik seemed to hedge, “but laugh for sure. The sound was like nails on a chalkboard, only worse. It would send shivers down my spine and leave me feeling queasy. It was creepy as fuck.”

  “You said he couldn’t speak ‘in so many words’. W
hat did you mean by that?” Lark asked, picking up on Nik’s small capitulation.

  Nik seemed to hesitate, looking at Max and getting a firm nod to continue. He sighed, “Sometimes … I think he was communicating with the other chades who were in the same facility.”

  Ivy saw the colour leech out of Max’s face and Ryker’s arm immediately went around her. A quick change in pressure in the air told Ivy that Max’s Order was rallying around her and sending her energy, automatically adjusting to their liege’s needs. Looking at Lark, she saw his eyes were focused on Max as well as if she were the only person in the room. Ivy waited for jealousy to hit but it never did. There was no resentment, no envy that her man was bonded intimately to another and loved another deeply. There was just pride over him being a strong, valued member of his Order and fulfilling his duty. She had been worried that perhaps she wouldn’t be able to handle the dedication she knew all paladins had to their lieges. But it didn’t appear to be an issue they were going to face.

  “Communicating how?” Max asked, presently, her colour looking normal once more.

  “I have no idea. But it wasn’t verbal. It was almost as if he could get inside their heads. They would go from docile to crazed in seconds.”

  “So, it wasn’t just communication. He could also affect others, make them angry like him,” Max’s voice was a low mutter, almost as if she was speaking to herself but everyone heard her loud and clear in the tense quiet of the room.

  “That’s how it looked to me. And that’s what I put in my reports,” Nik assured her. “There was a series of instances where the chades got loose – even in our protected encampments where chades can’t manifest themselves as their elements – they somehow broke free. This chade wasn’t one of them but it looked to me like they were all heading in his direction.”

  “They were working as a unit?” Axel questioned.

  Nik nodded, “They were. I’d never seen anything like it. It absolutely terrified me. All the chades were beheaded on the spot. Research pretty much ground to a halt after that and we were ordered to kill on sight from that day forward. No more tests, no more research. The only ones who were to be imprisoned were those who had not yet turned fully or those wardens with violent tendencies, mental health issues and the like.”

  “What about the chade with the ring? Was he beheaded on the spot too?” Max asked, and the whole room seemed to hold its breath waiting for the answer.

  Nikolai looked at Max head-on, “No. He was still secure in his cage. But he was deemed too dangerous to live. He was slated for execution the next day.”

  “And was he killed?” Max followed up.

  “His father requested he be given the final rights to carry out the execution. He argued it was his duty and his burden,” Nikolai’s hand shook a little on his lap as he glanced toward Mordecai in the doorway. The warden of death looked positively green but his eyes were hard as they glared at the Commander of the Rangers as if daring him to continue. Never one to back down from a dare, Nik forged ahead;

  “And given the chade’s father was a member of the International Domain Council, he was granted such final rights. The chade with the ring was given into the custody of his father at daybreak the following day.”

  “You didn’t see him killed, did you?” Lark spoke rapidly, answering his own question; “Of course you didn’t. Because he’s still alive. He’s the one who amassed those chades and coordinated the attack that resulted in the Great Massacre. He’s the one unifying the chades now. It’s the only thing that makes sense. And who knows how powerful he must be now, all these years later … Mordecai, do you know –” he broke off abruptly when he saw the empty doorway.

  “Fuck!” Ryker yelled, jumping to his feet and palming his scythes, “That son of a bitch! It’s him. It’s been him all along. He’s the father of that chade – the one he let go.”

  “I’ll kill him,” Darius growled, chest heaving with his anger.

  “Get in line little brother,” Dex was pure menace, his eyes now black once more as they stared holes through the blank space where Mordecai and his paladins had been just minutes before.

  The ground gave a shake, causing Ivy to wince. Emotions were running high and she was worried about what could happen if they didn’t get a hold of themselves; Max’s paladins were mighty fierce and protective bastards. She looked at Max, expecting to see pain and rage on her face but all she saw was a puzzled little frown. Her eyes were locked on Nikolai’s and he shook his head as if they were silently communicating.

  Max blew out a breath before whistling sharply; “Everyone calm down. Don’t bother hunting Mordecai down. He’s not the one you want.”

  “What? Then who the hell is?” Ryker demanded.

  “Garrett,” Nikolai stated. “The chade was Garrett’s son.”

  EPILOGUE

  Mordecai’s rage knew no bounds as he drove recklessly fast away from the home by the sea … and away from his daughter.

  “Mordecai …” Aiden’s voice was soft but sounded like a gunshot in the tense silence of the car.

  “Don’t,” was Mordecai’s clipped response.

  “Mordecai, you –”

  “I said, don’t!” he yelled, his powers slipping free and weaving insidiously into the minds and bodies of the other four occupants of the car.

  As a Death Warden, he was unable to cause death or even sickness as his title implied. But he could see scars – both physical and emotional. His duty was to heal people of their burdens; grief, loss, depression, pain. He took it all into himself, just internalised the whole miserable shebang, to ensure humanity remained just that – human. But the flip side of seeing those scars? He could also tear them wide open, just like he was doing right now.

  The harsh breaths and shuddering bodies of his four paladins were loud enough to be heard over the desperate beating of his heart and he forced himself to dial back his powers. Closing his eyes for a brief second, he inhaled deeply and commanded the sticky, dark energy back into his pores. Aiden, Bastien, Tobias, and Madigan began breathing normally almost instantly. He felt no censure from them, nor any condemnation. Their understanding only served to fuel his ominous mood further. He would have much preferred their rebuke.

  ‘Sorry,’ he uttered, telepathically through the Order link.

  The four men had been with him since he was twenty years old – sixteen hundred years and counting. They were more than colleagues, more even than family. Their lives truly were symbiotic and he didn’t know what he would do without them. But if any of them tried to talk him off the ledge one more time, he wouldn’t be held responsible for his actions. The coldness he was known for was now flowing like black-ice through his veins as he thought about his destination.

  Other than his paladin brotherhood, he had told one person about his deal with Mother Nature. He had entrusted the world’s greatest secret to just one other; his trusted friend and confidant of over a millennium. Life Warden and head of the International Domain Council; Garrett. His fingers clenched on the steering wheel, causing the leather to creak in protest as he pictured those fingers wrapped around his best friend’s neck.

  “Nowhere to hide,” he muttered, “I’m coming for you, friend.”

  A NOTE FROM MONTANA

  Hi everyone! So, I know a lot of you are probably cursing my name right now; ‘Really, Montana? You ended the book there? You can’t end it there!’ Well … I did ;) But I wanted to take a moment to personally let you know what is coming up next for Max and the gang.

  Book five, Custodian, will be the end of Max’s story arc. Where she came from and why, who are the baddies? All will be answered in Custodian. It will be a bit of a special edition because there will be no new romantic couple. Instead, each and every character that you love will have a few chapters from their perspective – even those who are yet to have their own book.

  But don’t worry, The Elemental Paladins won’t end there. After all, someone has to tidy up the mess left at the end of boo
k five ;) And who better than our gentle giant, beast paladin? That’s right, Beyden will be book six. And what about that incorrigible flirt, Axel? Our fire paladin will be book seven. After that? Who knows …

  Until we meet again on the pages,

  Montana xxx

  Also by Montana Ash:

  WARDEN

  ELEMENTAL PALADINS: BOOK ONE

  PALADIN

  ELEMENTAL PALADINS: BOOK TWO

  CHADE

  ELEMENTAL PALADINS: BOOK THREE

  Coming up next:

  CUSTODIAN

  ELEMENTAL PALADINS: BOOK FIVE

  Meet Montana!

  Montana is an Aussie, self-confessed book junkie. Although she loves reading absolutely everything, her not-so-guilty pleasure is paranormal romance. Alpha men – just a little bit damaged – and feisty women – strong yet vulnerable – are a favourite combination of hers. Throw in some steamy sex scenes, a touch of humour, and a little violence and she is in heaven! She is a scientist by day, a writer by night, and a reader always!

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  montanaash.author@yahoo.com

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  http://www.montanaash.com/

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  @ReadMontanaAsh

  Copyright statement

  This is an IndieMosh book