Ranger (Elemental Paladins Book 4) Read online

  Carlos smirked, “Or what? Is the itty-bitty paladin gonna hit me?” he laughed.

  Lark heard the accompanying snickers from other paladins in the room and raised his head to make eye contact with each and every person who deemed this scenario okay. Many immediately lowered their eyes, shifting uncomfortably, while others seemed to be thriving on the supressed violence. He was relieved to see at least a handful of people looking upset by the display – even if they were too chicken shit to stand up and put a stop to it. Caspian was watching him avidly and he saw a small pocket of who he assumed were supporters all congregated around the water warden; Fawn and her four paladins, the triplets, Ray and his three paladins, and two new trainees.

  Lark dipped his head at the group, subtly asking them with his eyes not to move. To his surprise, Fawn nodded back, touching her upper left arm briefly. He didn’t react outwardly but he knew what the pretty, golden Warden of the Beasts was telling him; she carried Max’s loyalty brand.

  “What’s the matter, Larky-boy? Cat got your tongue?” Carlos taunted, eliciting another round of laughter.

  Now Lark was seriously contemplating if it would be worth the ensuing chaos to wipe the self-satisfied smirk off Carlos’s face. He had the information they needed; names and faces of over a dozen likely combatants, as well as some newly marked friends. He had just managed to talk himself out of it when he heard a voice in his head;

  ‘You totally have my permission. I love chaos just as much as I hate smirkers.’

  Lark grinned – his liege had decided to chime in.

  ‘Break his nose. I wanna see some blood.’

  The voice belonged to Cali and he chuckled silently; pregnancy was making her even more bloodthirsty than usual.

  ‘No, go for the throat. I’m sick of hearing this guy talk,’ Axel added his two cents.

  ‘Pfft! The throat? The balls – go for the balls!’

  Lark shuddered over Diana’s recommendation; the females in his life were damn vicious.

  “What the hell are you smiling at?” Carlos demanded, giving him a small shake.

  “My Order seems to think you need to be taken down a peg,” he felt satisfied when the arsehat in front of him paled a little, looking quickly around the room. The jerk may refer to them all as pathetic when they weren’t around but everyone knew their team was a force to be reckoned with.

  “Uh huh, nice try. I know you’re here alone. And the Order link doesn’t reach that far.”

  Well, he was finally right about one thing. The mental links within Orders were strong between wardens and their paladins over short distances only. It was never really a problem, given paladins were rarely far from their lieges. Those that did venture away from their wardens were from those Orders where the warden was very powerful. The greater the power, the stronger the link with their knights. Given he was a good forty kilometres away from his liege, Carlos was right in assuming the mental connection couldn’t reach this far – if he was in a normal Order, that was. Unluckily for Carlos, Lark wasn’t a part of a normal Order.

  Deciding to fuck with the man in front of him a little, he made another attempt to free his arm as he spoke, “Maybe your inferior Order link doesn’t reach that far but I assure you, my superior one does. And I gotta say, Carly, the females in the gang are rather unimpressed with you.” Heat infused Carlos’s cheeks as snickers now became directed at him.

  “It’s bullshit, man. Don’t let the twerp get to you,” Lance decided to join the party. He was in the same Order as Carlos.

  ‘Twerp?’ he questioned silently, ‘Do you guys think I’m a twerp?’

  ‘Twerp is so eighties. I would have gone with nerd,’ his very own Captain suggested, making him sputter his amusement via the link. Not many people knew Ryker actually had a wicked sense of humour. Most people just figured he was nothing but a stoic arsehole.

  ‘You know I can still hear you right?’ his Captain enquired, dryly.

  ‘Stop wasting your time with them, Lark. We have a better idea of who is against Max and who might be behind those rumours. Just get back here.’ The voice of reason belonged to Darius.

  He would be more than happy to but Carlos still had a hold of his arm, “Do you want a date or something?” he enquired, pleasantly.

  Carlos looked confused, “What?”

  “My arm,” Lark clarified, “You’ve been holding it for at least five minutes now. Didn’t know you swung that way dude.”

  Carlos snarled and practically flung Lark’s arm back at him. “I ain’t no filthy homo.”

  Lark narrowed his eyes now, “Watch your mouth, Carlos. It’s going to get you into trouble just like your brother.”

  Carlos snarled at the reminder, “The perfect example of how dangerous that woman is,” he said, turning to the room. “A well respected, noble paladin from an honourable family line … now imprisoned like an animal thanks to that fake bitch Lark is harbouring.”

  Lark shook his head, Darius was right; he was wasting his time here. There was no talking to people like Carlos. Their minds were closed and no amount of logic would expand their beliefs. “Whatever, man. You will all bear witness to the truth in time,” he spoke softly but knew his voice could be heard in the tense stillness of the room.

  When no-one said anything, he just sighed and turned to walk away. When Carlos began talking again, he had every intention to keep walking. But as Carlos’s vile words registered, he felt an unnatural stillness and rage building over the calm veneer he had honed over the years. He was across the room and on top of Carlos in less than a second. A swift right hook to the jaw floored the man and Lark had Carlos’s arms pulled high behind his back as he pushed all his weight into the back of his neck, smashing his face into the floorboards;

  “You just made a very big mistake. You think I’m a twerp huh? A miserable excuse for a soldier who let his father down by failing the Paladin Trials? Let me enlighten you; I flunked that test on purpose, you fucker,” he hissed the words into Carlos’s ear as he thrashed ineffectively in his steely hold, “Newsflash; I let your brother and his goons beat me up that time on purpose. Everything I do is deliberate and calculated. You know why?” Lark pulled roughly at the hair at the man’s nape, ensuring he had his full attention, “Because if I don’t think before I act, everyone gets dead. I was trained by the best – and the worst. I was my father’s best student. Do you know what that means, arsehole? It means I can hurt you in ways you’ve never dreamed of. When I stop thinking, I make Max look like a fucking kitten. Don’t threaten my family again, or I’m going to introduce you to Isaac’s son.”

  He released the hair he was holding, gaining immense pleasure when Carlos’s nose made harsh contact with the floor. He stood up, dusting off his hands, glaring coldly at the stunned occupants in the room. Cowardly bastards, Lark thought.

  Lark could still feel his temper seething as members of Carlos’s Order rushed to help the jackass to his feet. Looking down he found his fists still tightly clenched, wishing for nothing more than to slam them repeatedly into Carlos’s face. Making eye contact with Caspian across the room, the warden gave a small shake of his head. Taking a deep breath, Lark forced his tense muscles to relax. He nodded to Caspian, acknowledging his superiority and also thanking him as well. Caspian was right – now was not the time and he had well and truly achieved what they had set out to do. Time to leave before he killed the fucker.

  SEVENTEEN

  Lark seethed all the way back to camp and he fought the instincts that were pushing him to turn around and permanently remove the threat to his family. But he continued on, finally coming out of his rage long enough to notice that the closer he got to camp, the darker the sky became. It was close to dark – despite the midday hour – when he pulled to a stop in the driveway. Stepping out of the car, he realised the shadowy veil was the result of a swirling sail of wind high above the house.

  What the hell? he thought, staring in cautious wonder at the spectacle of the wind rushing fev
erishly some one hundred metres above his head. Looking around, he saw the ground and the trees were completely untouched by the fury of the air above it. It was almost like a reverse tornado.

  “Well, this is new, even for Max,” he commented to himself.

  ‘It’s not me,’ was the quick rebuttal in his head.

  ‘No? Then what?’ he asked, only to catch on in the same breath, ‘Dex. This is Dex,’ he stated, cursing himself even as he bolted to the house.

  How could he have been so stupid? Dex may not be in their Order and therefore unable to hear his thoughts, but his brother was and so was his fiancé. They would have divulged Carlos’s hateful words the moment they left his lips. He hadn’t thought to censor the link when he had been reading Carlos the riot act because he hadn’t been thinking at all. All he had seen was red. And that was precisely why he always strived to keep his shit together. He hadn’t just been blowing hot air back at the lodge – he was damn lethal.

  Opening the back door and racing into the kitchen, he saw that the entire household was occupying the space … and so was one pissed off ex-warden in full-on chade mode. The black in Dex’s eyes had completely swallowed his irises and they were now bottomless pits of rage and anguish. His feet were hovering off the ground and Lark knew the spectacle outside was a direct reflection of the man’s inner turmoil. Searching the room, he quickly found Ivy in her usual casual pose against the wall. He was surprised to see the woman was weaponless. He would have thought the ranger would have grabbed her sickle at the first sign of any chade-like behaviour.

  Sensing his scrutiny, she gave him a nod of acknowledgment. Feeling happy inside from that small token, despite the circumstances, he nodded back – adding in a small smile as a bonus. Moving cautiously closer to the action, he spoke; “Hi team. How’s it going?” His forced casualness worked for the most part, with the majority of his family looking in his direction.

  “Oh, it’s just peachy here, man. Good job acting as bait-boy.”

  Axel may have sounded flippant, but Lark knew he was anything but. There was a cold rage shimmering in the depths of his blue eyes. Looking around, he saw almost identical looks everywhere – except Cali’s. Hers just looked scared and worried.

  “Calm down, Dex. Don’t make me kick your arse,” Ryker threatened. But they all knew it was an empty threat. Ryker was just as pissed as everyone else.

  As for Dex, he merely snarled and flexed hands tipped with nails which looked alarmingly like claws. After seeing Dex in action when they had retrieved Knox, Lark knew and accepted that Dex still retained some of the more peculiar traits of the chades. But seeing him now, had him worried that maybe his new friend was regressing.

  “Dex … please,” was all Cali said from where she was wrapped securely in her brother-in-law’s arms.

  Dex seemed to soften when he looked at Cali but then he yelled; “He threatened our baby!” The words were practically roared out and although they vibrated with fury, they were also laced with fear.

  Yes, Lark agreed silently, and in a spectacular fashion. It was why he had lost control of himself and revealed some of his true strength to all the gawkers back at the lodge. Thinking about the hateful words made him want to gut the son of a bitch;

  “You think we don’t know about the abomination that whore of a paladin you live with is carrying? She’d best be careful, someone might do the world a favour and cut the little monster out.”

  “I know he did,” Cali swallowed audibly, cradling her distinct baby bump with both hands. “But he won’t hurt our son – nobody will. Right?” she asked Max.

  Surprisingly, Max was the only person in the room who didn’t look furious. She responded to Cali calmly but with confidence, “That’s right. Nobody.”

  Lark felt the tension in the room drop by a few degrees. Max’s voice had resonated not just with determination but also with power. He felt his coat of arms heat on his skin and although it wasn’t moving, he saw his druid symbol flare to life with light.

  Max moved around Ryker and Diana, who were partially blocking her from Dex. She simply walked up to the angry man and placed a hand on his forearm; “Dex … calm,” was all she said. But he deflated as if he were a balloon and Max had stuck a pin in him.

  The lashing wind immediately ceased, Dex’s feet hit the floor, his eyes immediately lightened to their now dark hazel hue. He didn’t say anything to the custodian who had restored his light. He just walked to Cali and swept her into his arms. She buried her face in his neck and Lark felt a lump form in his throat; the two were perfect for each other. Dex had saved Cali just as much as she had saved him. And the life they had created was a true miracle. There was no other explanation for the little guy other than a greater power being involved as far as he was concerned. Looking around and seeing all the shiny eyes and clenched fists, he knew each and every person in the room would fight to the death to protect their little nephew.

  “I would never let anyone hurt Hitch, Dex. I promise you,” Max repeated her words again and they were once more filled with power.

  Dex took a deep breath, sitting down with Cali held firmly in his lap, “I know, Max. Thank you.” He looked around, a little sheepishly, “Ah, sorry about all that …”

  “All what?” Ryker asked, patting the man on the back as he took his own seat at the table.

  Dex smiled and Lark heard Cali give a happy little giggle before she finally raised her head. Her eyes were a little red but she looked relaxed once more as she proceeded to kiss the breath out of her fiancé.

  Darius cleared his throat, looking pointedly away from the make-out session involving his brother, “Yes, well. How about we discuss what Lark kicked over?”

  “I’d say we have confirmation about who the instigators and perpetuators are,” Lark volunteered, going to the fridge for a bottle of water. Emotional drama always left him thirsty. “Carlos and his Order – very likely his Warden, although Victoria wasn’t there; Hades and his paladins; the two paladins from the Order of Aquarius; three unbound paladins; and definitely Violet and her Order, although she didn’t say anything. The look on her face said it all. In fact, I’m pretty sure she and Carlos are lovers,” he added. He had seen the look in the earth warden’s eyes when Carlos started talking – pride and lust.

  “That’s over a dozen, just in the one room,” Axel pointed out.

  “I don’t understand what I’ve done wrong. Why don’t they like me?” Max asked, sounding like the vulnerable, sick young woman they had all met eight months ago instead of the powerful, strong goddess they had grown accustomed to.

  “It’s not about you. It’s about their own insecurities. Get over yourself,” Ivy said in a bored tone.

  Ryker, Axel, and Cali scowled at the ranger, while Beyden just rolled his eyes.

  Max huffed at Ivy, “You get over yourself! Insensitive cow.”

  Max’s words sounded a little pouty but she was smiling, all evidence of sadness and vulnerability gone and Lark knew Ivy had handled the situation perfectly – even if most of the others couldn’t see it. Comfort would have reinforced Max’s insecurities; facts grounded her in reality.

  Lark cleared his throat, “Ivy’s right. Their opinions have nothing to do with you personally. They’re scared and easily manipulated. It’s the perfect combination for a mob.”

  “Dangerous,” said Ivy, nodding her head at him.

  “Very,” he confirmed, knowing they were on the same page.

  “But there was also as many supporters,” Beyden pointed out, optimistically. “And some we didn’t know about. Those two new trainees for starters …”

  “And Lake,” Lark told them.

  “Lake? You sure?” Ryker asked, looking unconvinced.

  Lark nodded, “I’m positive. He was revelling in the situation a little because he can’t help but thrive on drama. And he didn’t step up and put a stop to it but his frown was definitely directed at Carlos – not me.”

  “That’s good, I guess. We need
more wardens on our side,” Darius muttered, looking thoughtful. “Did I see Fawn hint at you about a brand maybe?”

  Lark nodded, “Definitely. Her paladins too.”

  “We’ll need to talk to them all eventually,” Dex pointed out. “But first, why does that Carlos guy have such a hard-on for you?”

  Lark snorted out a laugh, “His brother hates me. Now that he’s in prison, I guess Carlos feels like it’s his duty to carry on the tradition.”

  “Prison?” Dex’s wheels were obviously turning as he looked at Darius, “His brother is from the Order who almost killed you?” Dex demanded.

  Darius nodded, “That’s him – great family. Though to be fair, he was aiming for Max.”

  “Not funny. It’s not funny, Darius,” Dex scolded, “I can’t believe you’ve finally decided to get a sense of humour. It’s decidedly warped.”

  “It’s the company he keeps,” Max smiled warmly at her Order.

  EIGHTEEN

  Ivy felt the last of the tension drop from the occupants in the room as they continued to discuss the success of Lark’s little mission. She listened with half an ear as she thought back over the past hour or so. She hadn’t been privy to Carlos’s words firsthand but Beyden had filled her in when Dex had started to go ballistic. Her automatic reaction had been to grab her sickle from next to the back door. But then she had thought about everything she knew and weighed up the situation subjectively – rather than objectively. Even though it went against all of her training. She could never be subjective out in the field. But right now? After spending so much time with the motley crew? She knew Dex would never harm any one of them. And if someone had dared to threaten her child? Well, there would be no safe place in all the worlds for them to hide.

  So, she had stayed casually by the wall and let Dex rage. The power the man controlled with his combined warden-chade skillset was phenomenal. Nothing to equal Max of course but she knew Dex had been one of the most powerful wardens before he had gone off the reservation. He’d had twelve paladins – twelve! The number was unheard of. In fact, Max now had the largest Order with her seven knights. She idly wondered what had happened to his other paladins …