His was the only power that was invisible. Only the effect of his powers could be seen, not the powers themselves. Words were like that, too, only visible by the effects of them. And sometimes those effects were fascinating.
But with Emory, it was perfectly satisfying to get a different kind of reaction. To see the way she blushed around him, the way she melted in his arms. Maybe that was why he had zero urge to poke at her the way he did the others. He wanted to see her flushed and breathless from arousal, not anger.
“But it doesn’t make me any friends.” And generally, he was okay with that.
She tucked her hair behind her ear.
“That must be awfully lonely.”
He shrugged. “I hadn’t really noticed. I like being a Warrior. I’m good at it, and I know I’m an important part of this mission. When I’m fighting, with my knives in my hands—” Ajax looked down at his hands, curled just as if he had a blade in each. “I feel every bit as powerful as when I use my powers.”
“I still say it sounds lonely,” she said with a shrug, “To be in an unfamiliar world with no friends.”
Emory was right, of course. He’d never considered he might need other people, even the other Elementals, for more than their role in the war. He could look at the man he was a year ago, and see he’d been trying to fill a hole with a hundred superficial interactions. A hole that Emory had filled in one night, and then when they’d parted ways, emptied again. Leaving a gaping hole that could only be filled with green eyes, red hair, and a tender heart.
“But at least you have some family now.”
He glanced at her and then at the trees, forehead wrinkling.
“I never thought I’d want any. Friends, or family.” Being a Warrior had been always enough. It was prestige, an honor. A sacred mission.
He’d never thought he would need anything other than to succeed at killing Chaolt and righting the balance.
“And now?” Emory was looking down at the ground as she pushed Jackson along, her forehead wrinkled and her mouth drawn.
And now…maybe being a Warrior was no longer enough by itself. Ajax sucked in a breath around the tightness in his chest and accepted the truth in that thought.
He put his hand on her arm and stopped walking. She paused in surprise, looking at him with expectation.
“Emory. Look up.”
She did, and then she blinked, jaw dropping in wonder. “What on—”
He pushed the breeze hard at the top of the trees to loosen the petals, but calmed it to a stop near to the ground so they would glide and float slowly to the sidewalk. The effect was a gentle rain of pink and white petals enclosing them, shutting out the rest of the world. Making her smile.
“Ohhhhhh.” Her soft eyes met his, and he knew his were glowing. “You did this.”
He just nodded, no words to explain to her why.
Her laugh was light and tinkling, her smile crinkling the corners of her eyes. She tilted her head back and stared upward. Petals fell on her eyelashes, her cheeks. Dotted her hair.
She laughed again, delighted.
Before he realized his hand was moving, he reached out and brushed petals off her cheek. Her skin was softer, and he couldn’t resist another stroke.
“Thank you, Ajax,” she whispered, something as delicate and soft as the petals there. It made him ache.
His heart squeezed, a pain like hunger burning in his gut. He wanted this. He wanted this to be real, to last. He leaned forward and brushed his lips across hers. Once. Twice. Just drinking in the moment and her scent and her sigh.
Whether or not he was able to eventually figure this situation out, he couldn’t just walk away again, couldn’t just go back to base and carry on as usual. Thoughts of Emory at night, and bitterness in his gut during the day.
There was a different feeling gliding through him, silky as the petals falling around them. Something deeper, softer, than the hot desire that had been hounding him since that very first night they spent together.
When her lips parted beneath his, inviting him in, he took what she offered. Tried to give her back everything he was feeling without overwhelming her.
Their kiss was gentle, slow, his hunger for her staying in the background behind whatever this other feeling was. He couldn’t identify it, didn’t want to. Just wanted to take this moment for whatever it was.
He pulled back at Jackson’s happy gurgle, watched him reach for the petals with grabby hands, and laughed. Emory joined in, giggling as she tried to coax them from the fist that he was trying to stuff in his mouth.
It was perfect, this moment.
He couldn’t see a path out of this shit-storm of a situation right now, but he wanted more moments like this.
Emory had plucked all the petals from Jackson’s hand and distracted him with his rattle. Ajax, bless him, was controlling the air currents to keep the petals away from Jackson’s reach. Though dealing with the petals gave her a moment to breathe. That kiss… There’d been something about it that had melted her to her core. Just a soft meeting of lips, but so much more. The air between them had practically vibrated, but not in a way that she thought Ajax had done it. With unspoken things, emotions she didn’t want to put words to. Emotions from him that she didn’t dare try to label for fear that she would be wrong.
It had made everything inside her go soft and pink and light and wistful.
And scared. Scared that it would end, scared that it wasn’t real in the first place. Wary that it was just part of his repertoire of tricks.
“If you can drain Jackson—” Which she wanted with all her being, for her son to be normal, to be safe, “—Are you going leave?”
She looked down at her hands on the handle of the stroller, afraid of what answer she might see on his face.
Her instincts said no, that he cared for them both. But she needed to know her instincts were right before she let her heart get any more involved.
Before she let Jackson’s heart get involved.
Warm hands landed on her shoulder.
“Emory, I…”
She waited, afraid to turn around. With gentle hands, he turned her to face him. But she couldn’t look up just yet, couldn’t meet his eyes. His answer was too important, too scary. It was hard to put that petal-soft feeling away, and she was afraid that if she met his eyes, she wouldn’t see it reflected there. Or that she would, and that everything she wanted would be in reach. Both options were scary.
“I know you think this, me being here, is just about responsibility. But it’s not, and I guess I haven’t done a good job of showing you that. Maybe…maybe now I can work on the rest.”
She finally pulled her gaze up to his, but she couldn’t decipher his look. “The rest?”
“Fuck.” He pulled back and pushed his hands through his hair. His eyes lifted to hers, and for once he didn’t have that little half smirk. “I don’t know what’s going to happen with this situation. I don’t know if I can be a father, Emory, I don’t know shit about that. I only know how to fight.” He motioned to Jackson in his stroller. She heard his doubt, but from what she’d seen earlier, he could be a father to Jackson with a little practice, a little teaching. A good one.
He scrubbed a hand over his mouth and then put his hands on his hips. “But you and I…”
Ajax came closer again, close enough that she could feel the heat off his body, and stroked a hand through her hair, cupped her neck. His eyes were zeroed in on her, and she was afraid to blink, afraid she would miss the next thing he would say. “I feel like I can make that work. I can make us work. I don’t want anyone else but you, Em.”
Her heart flipped in her chest, making her light-headed. She closed her eyes, afraid to “wake up”. He was finally saying what she’d been dying to hear, the words falling like petals on her heart.
“Ever since that first night, I’ve thought of you, dreamed of you. Wished for another chance, wished for more. I fought it, but I couldn’t forget about you, couldn’t g
o back to my old ways. And here you are in front of me, when we weren’t supposed to see each other again. I feel like I’m getting that chance.”
A gentle kiss on her forehead made her open her eyes again.
“I don’t know how things are going to work out if the other Warriors find out about Jackson But I know I want…more. More than just one night, more than a hundred nights. More than just your body, if you’re willing. I want…”
But then a sound of frustration came from his mouth as he thrust his hands deeper into her hair, pushed his forehead against hers. “I just want you.”
He was struggling for the right words, she realized. But the ones he’d already said would work, because she recognized in herself the same feelings. Recognized that her heart was already involved.
She turned her head an inch, seeking out Ajax’s lips, so close to hers.
Her heart ached as she kissed him with desperation. She wanted him. She wanted him in her life, in her son’s life, inside her body. Any and every way she could have him. It was a desire so strong that her eyes prickled.
It didn’t matter that he wasn’t completely human--neither was her son and her heart never had an issue loving him. Her heart was stretching like elastic to accommodate Ajax, too.
Emory kissed him with the petals falling around them, and felt her resistance to him diminishing more with every additional pink petal on the ground.
She walked out of the park at Ajax’s side, a carpet of petals under her feet and not a breath of resistance left.
Ajax and Emory had just finished dinner when he felt it. The tingle of another Elemental nearby.
Which meant whoever it was, felt the same tingle, knew where he was.
“Fuck.”
Emory looked back at him from the kitchen. “What is it?”
“We’re about to have company.” His jaw tightened until his teeth ached.
“What? Who?” Her eyes widened, alarm replacing the serenity their walk had put there.
“It’s okay. Another Warrior like me, but…” He paced away, fingers spearing through his hair. “Fuck. This is going to complicate things.” Who was on duty right now? If it was Micah, he might get lucky. Micah minded his own business, to a fault. But the feeling was getting stronger, which meant the other Elemental was coming closer. Whoever it was, was not minding their own business.
Not Micah. Hell, what if it was Walker?
For a second he wished he’d hidden his truck behind the house or something, but then again, that would only seem more suspicious to whoever had followed him here.
The knock he expected sounded at the door.
“Let me answer, okay?” But what the hell was he going to say?
Emory’s eyebrow went up and she crossed her arms, but then she turned away and picked up Jackson.
Ajax looked through the little window in the door.
Levi.
Fucking great.
He turned the knob and stared at Levi’s curious face.
“Hey Ajax. Fancy seeing you here. And why is that?”
“None of your fucking business. I’m not on duty.”
“Hey now,” Levi said, putting his hands up, “I’m not here to bust your chops. Just want to make sure nothing’s up. I was pretty surprised to sense you nearby. Chaolt? Erratic? Everything cool?”
“Everything is fine.”
Levi’s eyes glanced behind him and a sly grin split his face. “How do you do, ma’am.” He tipped an imaginary hat.
Ajax turned to see Emory holding Jackson, patting his back with a wary look on her face.
“Hello,” she said cautiously, bouncing Jackson lightly in her arms.
Ajax stepped in front of Levi and closed the door behind him, while the other soldier chuckled softly. Levi held his hands up again, mirth dancing across his features. “That’s all you had to say man. Hope I didn’t interrupt anything.”
“It’s not—She’s not—That’s not why I’m here,” he said, arms crossing. But damn, shouldn’t he have let Levi think it was, like Walker did? But Emory hadn’t been a fling, hadn’t been entertainment, since the moment he met her. It was different with her, always had been.
“Sure,” Levi laughed again. “Sure. I recognize her as the redhead that you left with the other night. You must really be hung up on her.” He grinned.
“I’m not hung up on her.” But he was. She was under his skin, in his lungs.
“And she has a baby, damn. You must be really hung up on her to take that on. Good for you, man.” Levi waited for a fist-bump, and Ajax had to resist the urge to give him a very forceful one.
To his face.
“Why are you here?” Ajax growled. Levi dropped his hand. “You’re supposed to be patrolling three miles that way,” Ajax said, pointing down the road.
Eyebrows raising, Levi said, “That’s what I’m doing. Patrolling. But since the Chaolt are playing peek-a-boo, I thought I’d be conscientious and expand the search a little bit.” He pursed his lips. “And then I sensed you nearby and wanted to make sure it wasn’t something ugly.”
“Well now you can leave. I said everything is fine.” A gust of wind accompanied his words, and Levi’s eyes narrowed.
“You sure man? You seem…touchy.”
“If I’m touchy it’s because you’re always putting your face in my business, and I’m fucking tired of it.”
All the mirth left Levi’s face, his jaw hardening. “Look, I’m not in your business. I didn’t ask why you weren’t there for shift change the other day, and like I said, I’m just checking that everything is okay. I’m not the asshole that tries to get a rise out of people just for the enjoyment of it.” His gave him a hard look. “If you’re worried about me mentioning this to Walker, don’t be, I won’t. I really don’t give a shit who you’re with as long as it doesn’t affect your job—” Awareness entered his eyes, and Ajax cursed internally. “This is where you were the other day, isn’t it? When you missed shift change? You got there too fast to have been any further away.”
Fuck, Levi was putting the pieces together. He kept his mouth shut. He didn’t want to give him any pieces he didn’t already have.
The other man squinted thoughtfully. “You’re a good soldier, Ajax. Why would you have been here, instead of there?”
Levi cocked his head and looked at him while Ajax clenched his hands and jaw, a burn in his chest as if he was holding his breath for way too long.
“You’re in love with her,” Levi scoffed, and then his face split into a grin. “This is the one, isn’t it? The one Brooke told me about. The one who’s had you tied in knots the last few months.”
Ajax gave Levi a tense smile. He didn’t know what Brooke specifically said to Levi, but as for Emory being the one… Yeah, she was. There was no other woman for him now. And Jackson owned a big piece of him too. He couldn’t give either of them up.
“Is she an Erratic?” Levi asked, eyebrows raised.
“No, she’s human,” he hedged, not meeting Levi’s eyes.
“Huh. Good luck with that, Walker’s not going to like it.”
“Yeah…” ‘Not going to like it’ was an understatement. And Emory being human was the lesser of his secrets.
“What’s the deal with the baby? She’s not trying to tell you it’s yours, is she?” Levi joked, smacking him in the arm with a chuckle.
Ajax’s whole body tensed as the wind inside him rose defensively, and he knew his eyes were starting to glow.
Fuck.
If it hadn’t been for that damn tell-tale sign, maybe he could have played this off somehow.
Levi didn’t say anything else for a moment, just looked between him and the closed door behind him. “The baby…” He turned away and pushed all his fingers through his short hair. “Fuck, Ajax.”
Ajax’s chest tightened. The cage was falling into place around him. No use denying it when Levi had already figured it out. “We had a one-night stand a year ago and I didn’t find out about the baby un
til I saw her again at the bar this time. It was an accident. You know it’s not supposed to be possible.”
“Yeah, I know.” Levi leaned back, looking up at the stars beginning to show. “Not supposed to be possible.”
Would this be where Levi forced him to go back to Walker? This is what he’d been afraid of the moment he’d sensed another Elemental coming his way.
He tensed, his powers whispering across his skin. Dust devils spun up around them. He actually had a hell of a lot of respect for Levi, but he would fight him if he had to. His first priority was protecting Emory and Jackson, and no one, not even Levi—
“Cool it, Ajax. There’s no need for that.” The other man let out a loud sigh as he turned back to him. “I’m not going to take you in to Walker.”
Ajax took a deep breath inward, trying to pull back on the power that was making the air restless, but he was still too tense.
“And I’m not going to tell Walker, either,” Levi emphasized, looking at him. Then he shrugged and stared off down the road. “I’m not going to do shit.”
Ajax stared at his profile. Why, after all the hell he gave this guy, would he keep his secret? Why would Levi go against Walker, against the Premiers, for him?
“Why?”
“Brooke,” Levi said simply, turning back to him. “Not even the Premiers themselves could take me from her. If you love that woman,” he said, pointing at the house and then himself, “like I love Brooke, then I can’t turn you in. And…” Levi shrugged. There was something else on Levi’s face, something shadowed. Shit, there was something Levi wasn’t telling him. And Ajax sure as hell didn’t want to know what it was. “This isn’t a freebie, you’re going to owe me. There might come a time when I need an ally with Walker, too.”
Ajax could only nod, because if being Levi’s ally in the future kept him from a world of shit right now, then they’d be best buds. Even though there was no scenario in existence where him and Levi against Walker would be good.
Rise (Elemental Hearts Book 2) Page 11
