“Actually, Darius man-scapes,” Diana volunteered from where she sat, watching some of the partygoers play cards.
“What? No way!” Cali choked on the mouthful of juice she had been drinking, causing Axel to reach out and pat the mother-to-be on the back.
Although Axel was one of the people playing cards, he had been keeping a sharp ear on the conversation going on between the women. Their ‘girl talks’ were things legends were made of and he was proud of the way he had integrated himself into their secret, but not-so-secret conversation, due to the volume of their cackles.
“It’s true,” Diana was saying, nodding her head and sending her loose curls bouncing everywhere. “Seriously, his balls are as smooth as bowling balls.”
Unrestrained laughter came from Max, Cali, Ivy, Fawn, and – unbelievably – Cinder. The women had manoeuvred chairs in a horseshoe arrangement around the huge table where several games of poker were being played. A mixture of twenty wardens, paladins, chadens, and one lone hairy human, were bucking the party-poopers who had already retired to their rooms. It’s only four a.m. Axel thought in derision.
Diana leaned forward, “In fact, I think he’s probably drunk enough to tell you all why.”
Axel glanced at the air paladin only to find him studying his cards carefully as if they held all the answers to the universe. He looked as serious and as stoic as ever, but Axel knew now from personal experience that what Sir Darius portrayed on the outside was not always an accurate representation of what was going on the inside.
“It’s so you don’t get sac-rash, sweetheart,” was Darius’s casual reply. Completely oblivious to the absolute silence in the room, he threw a card down onto the pile. “Ha! Pick up four! Take that!” he crowed to the shell-shocked table.
“I got this,” Axel insisted, holding up a hand for silence. Not that he needed to – the whole damn lot of them had apparently been rendered mute by Sir Darius’s calm announcement. “I’m going to try to address all the things wrong with this conversation in order. Firstly, pick up four? Four what? Dude! We’re playing Texas Hold ‘Em, not Uno!”
Darius’s dark brows furrowed as he once again stared at his cards and Axel saw a stubborn look come into his friend’s hazel eyes. Axel decided to leave the man to his delusions for now, “Secondly, I’m going to have to insist you say the word sac again.”
Darius raised his head and gave him a droll look, pointedly ignoring the snickers around him as he threw out two aces face-up onto the pile of cards in the centre of the table. Axel covered his mouth so as not to laugh at the man. A drunk Darius was a true spectacle to behold. Outwardly, nothing much changed. His back was still ram-rod straight in the chair, his eyes weren’t glassy, pupils weren’t blown. His close-cropped hair remained perfectly styled as if the strands didn’t dare disobey gravity. Darius didn’t slur his words and Axel would bet he could even yodel the alphabet in reverse while hand-stitching a button back on to his shirt at the same time.
But on the inside? Now, that was a whole different kettle of fish. What Axel wouldn’t give to be able to see inside that complicated and regimented mind. He knew from experience that Darius’s internal dialogue when he was drunk was entirely different to his outside voice. Darius’s inside voice must be a real fun dude, Axel contemplated.
He knew he gave Darius a hard time but it was all for show these days. It hadn’t always been that way, of course. In the beginning, Axel had clashed with Darius more than anyone else in the household. Axel had always been a happy-go-lucky guy. He liked to have fun and relax. He was never one to follow the rules, especially rules he considered stupid. And Darius had been nothing but a pathological rule-follower. Pushing the very staid and strict Sir Darius had been an easy outlet for Axel when he had first moved into the camp. Luckily, over the years their opposing personalities had morphed into a comfortable working relationship. And Axel was now proud to say, a solid friendship. He had the lovely Lady Diana to thank for some of that – getting laid really did help one to relax.
Not that he would know, he thought, brooding into his own drink now. He hadn’t had sex in years. Yeah, he talked a good game and he flirted with just about everything that moved. But he wasn’t a user and he wasn’t a player and given he had no desire whatsoever to be in a relationship of any kind, it meant his options were pretty much zip. He now had a very intimate relationship with Mrs Palmer and her five daughters. Sad but true. Before his psyche plunged into places he wasn’t willing to go, he forced his attention where it belonged; on Darius’s sac.
“Darius?” Axel inquired, softly.
“Hmm?” Darius thumbed through his cards.
“Say it. Say sac.” Axel whispered.
Darius huffed, “You are unbelievable, you know that? After all my lectures about manners all these years, you still haven’t learned yet, have you?” Darius groused, and Axel flinched internally.
Hadn’t he just said that he and Darius were more playful than aggressive in their banter? Perhaps he had been mistaken. But then Sir Darius opened that drunk pie-hole of his once more;
“You forgot to say please.” Darius waggled his pointer finger, “Please, Darius, say sac again.”
Axel chuckled along with everybody else. Oh yeah, what I wouldn’t give to be inside Darius’s head when he was under the influence of alcohol, Axel wished silently. Out loud he said; “You are absolutely right. I apologise for being rude. Please say sac again.”
Darius sighed, bouncing his head from side to side as he sang; “Sac, sac, sac, sac. Annnnd … sac. Satisfied?”
Axel eyed his buddy and shook his head, “To be honest, I’m not sure what I am. This shit just turned creepy. So, moving on. You man-scape so Diana won’t get sac-rash you say. Care to tell us all what sac-rash is?”
Darius looked around, seeing all the curious faces, “What? None of you know what sac-rash is?”
Kai raised his hand, “I do.”
“Nobody asked you, pretty boy!” Darius snarled in the triplet’s direction.
Luckily, Kai, as well as Kellan, Kane, and their very protective father merely laughed.
Darius shook his head as if the whole table had failed him. “You know, when your lady friend – or man friend,” he added, tilting his head toward Caspian and Leo, “scratches up their face after showing some very appreciated attention to the boys down there. It’s only considerate to wax that shit off, man,” Darius added, eye-balling Axel sternly.
Axel opened and closed his mouth a few times, “I got nothin’,” he finally said, causing the entire room to laugh. After a few more good-natured jibes, and Darius insisting he was winning because he only had one card left, Ivy surprised Axel by joining in the conversation;
“Lark does it too,” she offered.
The man in question gasped, “Ivy!”
“What?” Ivy shrugged, looking far from sinister in an everyday outfit of jeans and a silky singlet. “They are remarkably hair-free.”
“I’ll have you know that my balls are au naturale!” Lark looked offended. “Not all of us are born hairy you know. Nor do all of us take hot wax to said hair.”
“Could never understand that myself,” Dave grunted, drawing everyone’s attention.
That much was obvious, Axel thought. The guy gave hairy a whole new meaning. He was covered in it from his shoulders to his hands and that mono-brow? Max had confessed to him that she had legitimate concerns it was actually a cognizant being. Axel had to admit, the same fear had crossed his mind.
“Max!” Ryker yelled.
“What? Like you all weren’t thinking it,” Max muttered, subsiding in a pout for about two seconds before Axel saw her eyeing Ryker critically. She opened her mouth only to have her man raise a finger;
“Don’t even.”
“But –” she began.
“Nope. There’s no way, woman. My balls are staying hairy and manly. Accept it. Live it. Love it.” Ryker’s words were final.
“Max?” Axel asked, touching her arm. His liege had gone deathly still.
Max’s eyes became a rainbow of colours as she looked at him, “He’s here.”
“What? Who’s here?” He asked, reaching for his scythe.
“Emmanuel,” Max intoned.
“Did I hear my name?”
Chairs were thrown to the ground and tables were pushed back as everyone spun defensively in response to the smooth voice. Max was already shoved behind a wall of bodies, but Axel didn’t think it would do any good. The waves of malicious power radiating from the deceptively handsome man in front of them were astounding.
Emmanuel cast ebony eyes around the room before pinning them on Max. “I heard there was a party, but I wasn’t invited. Be careful, little Custodian, you’re going to hurt my feelings.”
“Don’t. Nobody go near him. Hold your positions.” Max’s command went out telepathically to every occupant in the room when they all surged forward to attack.
Despite wanting nothing more than to kick Garrett’s son’s butt, Axel stood down. As a bonded paladin he could do no more than obey his liege.
Max raised her chin, pushing her way through the bodies. “You’re not welcome here,” she told Emmanuel.
Emmanuel wiped a fake tear from his eye, “Aw, like I said; my feelings are so hurt.”
“You don’t have any feelings,” Axel spat, wanting nothing more than to wipe the floor with the chade.
“Now, that’s just not true. Is that what she’s been telling you all? That I’m unfeeling? That I’m a monster? She lies.” Emmanuel hissed, his perfect visage wavering for a moment and a hint of the true creature underneath peeking through.
Butt-fuck ugly, Axel thought.
“That’s why I came; to save you from her,” Emmanuel was saying, “You are my brethren after all, my brothers. Only I can understand what you’ve been through.” His sympathetic gaze lit on all the chadens still remaining in the room, before he scowled, “But I see I may already be too late. You’re all, whole.” He spat the word out as if it tasted foul in his mouth.
“Leave now,” Max demanded, ignoring everything that came out of their enemy’s mouth.
Emmanuel laughed, “Or what? You’ll kill me? Do you even know how?” He taunted.
Max didn’t say anything and Axel could feel the uncertainty through their bond. Did Max know how to destroy the super chade? Was it even possible? Axel didn’t know but if there was one person who could figure it out, it was Max. He thought he caught the whisper of a word in his mind; supernova. He had no idea what the hell that was but Axel was going to be standing right beside Max if and when it happened.
“I hate to tell you, Max, but your party sucks,” Emmanuel stated.
Max remained silent once more – everyone else following her lead. Axel had to admit, it was an effective plan. He could see Emmanuel’s calm veneer wearing thin.
“I grow bored of your games, child,” Emmanuel’s voice turned deep and gravelly and he took a step forward, only to be stopped by Max’s raised hand.
“Now is not the time – and you know it,” Max pointed out.
Emmanuel’s black eyes looked like marbles in the artificial light as they gazed at Max with an intensity that had them all twitching. But in the end, he only shrugged, “I only came to bring these lost souls home, but it seems you have ruined them forever.”
Axel was thinking the whole thing was way too easy when Emmanuel stopped his progression to the door, “Max … I’m done waiting.”
“Soon.” Max’s voice rang with promise and Emmanuel’s mirrored it;
“Very soon.”