Rise (Elemental Hearts Book 2)

by Jayelle Morgan

  Two men stood there looking back at her, one with a hand raised like he’d been knocking. Neither were Ajax.

  He smiled and waved, motioning to the door.

  Slowly she shook her head back and forth. She hoped to god they weren’t here to tell her something had happened to Ajax, but no way was she opening the door for someone after Ajax’s warnings. At two o’clock in the morning.

  Besides, there was something wrong with his face.

  She squinted, blinking fast. It was like his features were constantly but imperceptibly changing. She looked away and rubbed her tired eyes. But when she looked back, he looked different. What on earth…? She must be more exhausted than she thought. He was still looking at her, still waiting, a strange static in his eyes.

  Her chest tightened, and she shook her head again, emphatically. They backed off from the door, leaving, and she turned away with a small sigh of relief, and a prayer that Ajax was okay.

  She’d only taken a handful of steps before the loud boom that reverberated through the floor. Jackson picked up his heavy head and started crying. It took one more for her to realize it was coming from the door.

  Oh god.

  They hadn’t left, they were hitting the door!

  She clutched Jackson to her, frozen in place as another hit rattled the door in its frame. When a large splinter flew off the door frame, her brain kicked into gear and she finally moved.

  She grabbed the gun off the table with a scrape and pointed it one-handed at the door. If they made it through, she would shoot them.

  When they got through. Light was coming in between the door and the jam now.

  The bathroom!

  It was the only other door in the house that locked. Jackson in one arm and gun in the other hand, she made a break for it.

  She slammed the bathroom door behind her as the other gave way with a crash, and juggled the gun as she locked the door. Jackson squirmed in her arms, his cries angry and loud. She bounced him, tried to shush him with desperate whispers, the tiny hope of them being able to hide evaporating.

  Emory backed up slowly and pointed the gun at the door. Cold sweat dripped down her back and her hand shook so badly she could barely hold it up. Would she even be able to aim if they got through?

  Damn it, she needed both of her hands!

  Her legs hit the cold tub as she backed away from the door and she knew what she had to do. She laid Jackson in his blanket in the bottom of the empty tub. No time to calm him, she turned around and pointed the gun with both hands.

  The door shook with the first hit.

  Safety off.

  She thumbed the safety off and re-pointed the gun, sweat beading down her back.

  The second hit opened a split in the wood. It was just a simple interior door, and wouldn’t take another hit.

  Aim for the philtrum.

  She took short shallow breaths as she aimed at the door where his head should be. She would do whatever she had to do to keep Jackson safe. When he got through the door…

  With a splintering tear, the door slammed opened, the lock giving way much easier than the front door had.

  Shoot.

  Crying, aiming for the space between his nose and smiling lips as he reached for her, she pulled the trigger.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Something was wrong.

  Ajax slammed his truck into park and rushed to the door. It was open, off the hinges, the edges of the door frame splintered. The sickening smell of burning plastic was thick in the air, and his stomach dropped.

  Son of a bitch.

  He pulled out his knives, ready to fucking slay whatever Chaolt that had gotten through the door.

  “Emory!” He rushed through the trashed living room, praying they were safe. Fuck, had they been taken? But no, he could hear Jackson crying further back, and the wind whistling through the house had to be from him.

  Systematically he checked the rooms for the Chaolt, calling Emory’s name as he worked his way back to Jackson. Dread made his steps feel too slow. Why wasn’t she answering?

  Jackson’s bedroom was empty, and he stepped back into the hallway. A rectangle of light from the bathroom lit the hallway carpet. And a familiar outline of dark dust.

  “Shit. Emory!”

  He burst into the windy bathroom and met Emory’s shocky eyes. She was aiming the gun right at his chest. He quickly stepped out of the line of fire. Her eyes followed his movement, but the gun didn’t.

  “Baby, it’s me,” he said, hands up. “Just me. No one else is here. You’re safe now.”

  With only one stain to step over, she’d been safe since pulling the trigger. But she didn’t know that.

  “Come on, honey, put the gun down.”

  It lowered by a couple inches. “Ajax?”

  “Yeah.” He walked toward her, hands up until he could take the gun from her grasp. Her fingers were ice cold and stiff. He clicked the safety back on and slipped the gun in his back waistband.

  Checking for injuries, he rubbed his shaking hands down her arms, across her torso. Over her face and head. “Are you okay?”

  Jackson was laying in the bottom of the bathtub, blankets mussed by his angry crying. Ajax wanted to run to him, to scoop him up and hold him close. But he was safe right now, and he would be safe another minute while he brought Emory back from her shock.

  She finally met his eyes, and what he saw there made his chest ache. Life was coming back into her eyes, and with it, the tears.

  “I shot him. They were trying to get Jackson, and I killed him.” Her voice broke and her lower lip shook. “I killed a man.”

  “Emory, no honey. No you didn’t. You killed a Chaolt. Chaolt are not men.”

  She just looked at him, lost in her misery.

  “He’s not human, Emory. Look.”

  She shook her head, tears falling unnoticed from panicked eyes. “I don’t want to.”

  “Emory, look.” Ajax gently grabbed her face between his hands and turned it to the floor. She blinked several times and he squeezed her hands.

  There was no body, only a pile of black ash absorbing the light.

  “They’re not human Emory, they’re Chaos. And when they die, there’s nothing to hold them together anymore. You see?” His hands smoothed over her hair repeatedly as she stared. “You didn’t kill anyone. You killed a thing. Okay?”

  She finally nodded and he pulled her close, his hand still stroking her hair.

  “He kicked down the door,” she said into his chest, voice muffled by his coat. “They were trying to take my baby.”

  They. That’s why Emory had still been pointing the gun when he showed up, she’d been expecting another one. But there was only one pile of ash, which meant the other escaped. Shit.

  “You did good, baby. It’s okay.”

  “Oh god, Jackson!” She pulled away to run to him, but he grabbed her back and sat her on the toilet lid.

  “You sit.” She was still way too pale, too shaky. “I don’t want you to pass out. I’ll get him for you.”

  He didn’t wait for her agreement, just turned and picked Jackson up, loose blankets and all.

  He gathered him close and sat on the edge of the tub right beside Emory, bouncing him and making soothing noises like he’d heard Emory do. But Jackson was still shaking with the force of his cries. The wind from his fear and anger whipped their hair, making the shower curtain flap loudly in the small space. He took a quick glance at Emory, still wide-eyed and pale.

  With a flex of his power, Ajax stilled the air, the curtain, everything.

  In the sudden silence, Jackson startled and opened his eyes, surprised out of his tantrum. Ajax met his glowing stare with his own.

  This was his son. His. Son.

  His throat squeezed shut, but when Emory held out her arms, he lowered Jackson into them and sat back, staring. He looked hard at Emory, with his powers as well as his eyes.

  Just as he’d thought, the crazy wind in the bathroom had been c
oming from two sources, not one. Somehow, Emory was getting Air powers. Just a tiny bit, a fraction of a fraction of what he had, but it was there. Like Levi and Brooke’s bond, Emory must somehow be getting Air powers through her bond with Jackson.

  This was not the time to tell her, however.

  Holding Jackson seemed to calm her more quickly than he’d been able to. She already looked better.

  The vice on his throat loosened enough for him to talk. “I’ll be right back. I’m going to make sure there are no others.”

  Her eyes flashed up to him, wide and dark. Scared.

  “No, I don’t sense anything. Just going to go check, see what I can do to secure the door. I’ll be back in less than five minutes.”

  He strode to the shattered doorway and stood there, panting while he reached out with his powers to see if anyone was out there, human or Chaolt.

  Nothing.

  He finally took a deep breath, his heartbeat slowing, the ache easing. Safe, they were safe. For now.

  But dammit, how much time did they have? If Brooke’s experience was anything to go by, they would be back to try again as soon as they could gather the forces.

  He pushed a hand through his hair. He’d fucked up. He’d said he would be here to protect her and Jackson, and he hadn’t been. She’d had to do it herself. And she’d done a mighty good job of it, for sure: one fatal shot. But damn, she shouldn’t have had to, and he never wanted her to have to do it again.

  Tonight made him feel something he wasn’t sure he ever had before; powerlessness. Because he needed her to be safe, needed them to be safe. No matter what it took, no matter what it cost him.

  He walked back to the bathroom, not even bothering to try to fix the door. “Emory.”

  She looked up from Jackson, her face still pale, her eyes dark and shiny. There was only one place where he could be sure of her safety, only one route he could take. But they were worth it.

  “Pack your clothes. We’re leaving.”

  He didn’t know shit about being anything but a Warrior. He couldn’t be a father, couldn’t be the man she needed. But he could make sure they were safe, even if he wasn’t around to see it. They would be safe at the base, no question.

  But there was going to be hell to pay.

  Emory held Jackson in one arm as she stuffed things into a duffle bag. Her ears still felt full of cotton, ringing from the gun blast. She could only hope she hadn’t done any permanent damage to Jackson’s delicate hearing. Only when he was asleep, passed out from the exertion of crying, could she let him go. She laid him in his play pen while Ajax packed a bag of things she’d told him she would need.

  There was still a tremor in her hands, a sick feeling in her gut. Her heart was still pounding, and she just wanted to collapse on the bed and close her eyes. Just the memory of the fear she felt when she realized the man was going to break down the door and she had to protect herself and her son was enough to make her break out in a cold sweat again.

  Every few minutes Ajax would go stand in the doorway, looking into the dark night. Each time, her heart pounded until he came back in and resumed grabbing things. Now he was in Jackson’s room with her, packing up his things with jerky movements.

  “Where are we going?”

  His jaw clenched. “We’re going to the base where I and the other soldiers live. It’s the absolute safest place in the world for you and Jackson right now. Probably for the foreseeable future.”

  She swallowed. Was anywhere safe? Jackson should have been safe here, in his home, but he wasn’t. She and Jackson were leaving their home, leaving any chance they had for a normal, happy life. Even with his powers, even with who his father was, she’d thought she could raise Jackson here with some normality. With lots of love, and happiness. But that dream was dead now.

  She blamed herself.

  Because Ajax had been so goddamn handsome that she couldn’t help herself, twice. The first night they met, the night they created Jackson. And last night.

  It would not happen again.

  Look what she’d done. She’d turned her attention toward Ajax the last few days, and she’d almost paid for it with her son’s life. She was worse than her parents. At least she’d never been in mortal danger from her parent’s neglect, like Jackson had been.

  Thank god he wasn’t old enough to realize what she’d done, to feel the disappointment of his mother choosing something, someone, else over him. Thank god he hadn’t been taken from her, been killed… What if they’d succeeded in taking him? Using his power to not only hurt him, but many other people as well?

  Oh god.

  She tried to inhale around the constriction in her chest. She’d almost lost her baby boy. Emory’s eyes stung and a sob tried to bubble out of her chest, but she pushed it down. If she hadn’t been waiting up for Ajax, she wouldn’t have been so tired. She might have heard something sooner, realized what was going on in enough time to call Ajax or the police. Maybe she would have had time to escape with him, or…or something. The fact was she would never know, because she’d been too tired from waiting up for Ajax to come back for them to have sex. They were leaving their home, losing any chance at a normal, happy life, simply because she’d wanted to get naked with Ajax again.

  She didn’t know what would happen at Ajax’s base, what it would be like, but it definitely wouldn’t be normal. And she couldn’t see how it could possibly be happy, with Chaolt after them and Jackson losing control, and Ajax always there testing her resolution to stay away from him.

  It would be hell, and no less than she deserved.

  She moved to the dresser and started packing Jackson’s clothes while Ajax re-checked all the windows and doors.

  She felt Ajax come up behind her, but couldn’t turn around.

  “Where were you?” Her voice cracked, but she kept her back straight, wouldn’t look at him. He was to blame for this, too. “I waited up for you. I fell asleep in the rocking chair holding him, and I didn’t hear anything until they were trying to get in the house.”

  Ajax closed his hands around her arms and turned her around to face him.

  She resisted, hands on his chest, when he tried to pull her closer. A hug was not going to fix this. “You said you would be here. You said you would protect us, protect him.” All the birthdays and events her parents had missed physically or mentally didn’t hurt as bad as Ajax not being here when evil came for them.

  “I didn’t mean to take so long. I did shift change, then went back to base for more clothes and things. As I was leaving, Walker asked where I was headed. I said I was going to the bar so he wouldn’t know I was coming here, and he insisted on going. Then when I was leaving the bar, Walker said we had a mission—There was an Erratic who was taken by the Chaolt, we left there to go save her.”

  A mission, an Erratic to save. At least he hadn’t picked up a woman at the bar, right? But Ajax had to go save the world, so he left her and his son to their own devices. She understood, really, she did. Saving the world was important. But there was no one in the world more important to her than Jackson, and she’d expected Ajax to feel the same way. About both of them.

  “You had an Erratic to save here.”

  She pulled out of his loosened arms, not caring about the look on his face.

  Emory left him standing there to get toiletries from the bathroom. She held it together even as she walked over the dark stain on the carpet.

  Chaolt. Not a man. Nothing but dust.

  When she shut the door, she lost it, sliding down until she was sitting on the floor, silent tears wracking her body. Trying to breathe, trying to cry without making the ugly sounds that wanted to escape.

  How silly of her to think they could all have a normal, happy life together. She’d been deluding herself all this time. Maybe she had been overly harsh to Ajax just now, his mission really was important. A disaster in Topaz Ridge would affect them too.

  But this was the way it always would be with Ajax in their lives. Secr
ets and danger and him always gone. Jackson would know the pain of missing him, of feeling like he was never there when it counted. Like today.

  She had to let Ajax go for him to do what he was meant to do, and so Jackson would only know love. Not the utter, crushing disappointment of only being half loved.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Ajax watched Emory leave the room, a strange pressure in his chest. He stared at the empty doorway, the truth of what she said settling around him like noxious fog. Her doubt wasn’t misplaced.

  It hurt him, in an almost physical way, to see that shadow in her eyes, to see her holding herself together on strong will alone.

  And to see her holding him at arm’s reach.

  Because right now, he just really fucking wished he could hold her. Pull her close and breathe her in, touch her until he was convinced she was safe and whole. That was all that mattered right now.

  But her rejection, her doubt, cut through him like an icy wind, making him bleed inside. He didn’t need the air to detect the ‘don’t touch me’ vibe coming off her.

  She was understandably upset. Scared. He was asking a lot of her, to give up her home and move into the base. And after being attacked by a Chaolt, she was still reeling.

  But there was more to it.

  She blamed him for this, for not being there when she needed him, for not giving up what he needed to, to make sure their safety was a certainty. And fuck, she was right. Even now, he was trying to find a way to keep the secret, to save his own ass. What he needed to be doing was guaranteeing their safety and trying to find answers.

  You had an Erratic to save here.

  He took a deep breath, her words making his chest ache in a way that had nothing to do with lack of oxygen.

  She wanted to have a normal, happy life with Jackson. And he wanted that for her. Wanted her happy. Wanted both of them safe and happy. He wanted to see the light come back to Emory when she didn’t have to constantly worry anymore. To see what kind of man Jackson would grow into. To provide for them, to hold them.