He found her in the hammock at the back of the house. The rainbow-striped piece of fabric slung between the two thick trees had become a favourite spot of theirs. He knew Max loved swinging in the cool breeze, with nothing to see but the stretch of golden sand and the endless blue of the ocean in the distance. He knew she could hear waves crashing against the sand as well as the retreat of the salty water into the depths of the vast sea. The air was always fresh, so with the sights, the sounds, and the smells of nature so close, Max was a happy little custodian. As for himself, his motives weren’t quite as altruistic and zen as Max’s. He loved how the stretchy fabric forced Max to sink against him so he could feel her shorter length pressed against his larger frame from head to toe.
Making his way over to the hammock with the hope he could convince Max some ‘snuggle’ time would be perfect just about now, he found himself stopping and staring. Despite his less than stellar hidden agenda, he was struck by the way the sunlight set her hair afire. Those thick strands of dark, rich hair that looked almost black when wet, were actually a very deep red and the natural light streaming from the sky made the hidden crimson depths come alive with flame.
Casting his eyes over her features, he ate up her beauty hungrily. He had once thought her eyes strange and otherworldly. And although the liquid pools of turquoise were indeed otherworldly and also odd given they swirled with pure power, they were now one of his favourite things to look at. He loved the way they darkened when she was angry – which was fairly regularly given her short fuse. And he adored the way they lightened in her mirth – again, a common occurrence given her wicked sense of humour. But what he liked most was the way her eyes turned into opalescent jewels of pure lust when she moved above him in the dead of night.
Damn, he was one lucky bastard, he thought to himself. He had been a miserable, temperamental, sorry excuse for a human being for years before Max had stumbled upon him and turned his whole world upside down. She had arrived and offered him everything he swore he would never want or need. He believed he had fought valiantly ... for a pathetic couple of weeks. Hey – he had tried, but she had pulled him in with her brutal honesty, her compassion, and her promise of hope. Now, almost a year later, she was his and he was hers.
She hadn’t turned his way or given any indication she was aware of his presence, but she knew he was there. Not only would the Order bond share everyone’s locations at all times with merely a thought, but she was just as attuned to him as he was to her on a purely primal level. And what a gift that was. Even from here, he could see the way her breath seemed to catch as his eyes roamed south to the swell of her generous breasts under the basic tee shirt she wore. He couldn’t help smirking as small beads appeared under the white fabric. Oh yeah – she knew he was there alright.
“Will you stop smirking and get over here already?” Bright, beautiful eyes of blue and green looked his way.
He grinned at the look of forced patience on her face – Max was not a patient person. “What makes you think I was smirking?” He crossed his arms over his chest and preened a little when Max’s eyes traced over the muscles of his biceps. Not that he would ever admit that out loud. He was a paladin. He did not preen. But damn if it didn’t fill him with pride to know this amazing creature desired him.
She rolled her eyes – a rather frequent habit of hers. “Please, you’re standing over there molesting me with those chocolate eyes of yours.”
He laughed at her choice of words, for molesting was definitely his intention very soon. And there was magic even in that too – that he could laugh and mean it. He had literally gone years without feeling any hint of mirth or even a small measure of happiness. Now, well, he laughed every day. Figuring his retrospection was now complete, he walked briskly to the hammock, giving it a decent uneven tug just to have the amusement of listening to his woman screech and clutch at his arms.
“Dammit, Ry! Why do you always do that?” She grumbled, punching him pathetically on the arm.
“Because you’re so sexy when you’re mad.” He smiled and ignored another eye roll and grumble as he leaned over and captured her lips with his own.
Perfection. She was pure perfection, he thought as he plundered her lips, groaning when her hands gripped the fabric of his shirt tightly, pulling him forward. So lost in the heat they generated within seconds, he forgot their precarious position, as he pushed her flat and attempted to follow her down. The hammock swung crazily, completely overbalanced, and he found himself cursing ripely as he forced his body under Max’s to cushion her from the ground as she came tumbling down. He oofed out a breath when a pointy elbow made contact with his sternum and a hard knee came dangerously close to his manhood.
Max was laughing freely on his chest, clearly not feeling as amorous as before. Smooth, real smooth, he thought sarcastically.
“Smooth moves, pal.” Max giggled, poking him in the chest.
He forced himself not to wince when she parroted his thoughts almost exactly. Although they could all communicate through the Order bond, Max also had the rare ability to read minds. Given she was essentially a goddess, it probably wasn’t that unusual. However, he knew for a fact that Max hadn’t read his mind just moments ago. She very rarely did so actively nor on purpose. She found it an invasion of privacy and she also didn’t fully understand how to control it yet either.
No, what he found disconcerting – along with the others, he knew – was the fact that she seemed to know what people were thinking, or feeling instinctively. That she didn’t need to tap into her powers or their vitality in order to access the ability. Such a thing was unheard of. Wardens were miraculous beings, having powers to control and communicate with the elements, and although it was inherent since birth, they still had to work at it. But Max appeared to come by it naturally, unconsciously, and completely ignorantly. She had come a long way in controlling and understanding her abilities – which was fantastic. But just when they believed they had her powers figured out, something new would pop up.
She was evolving.
For some reason, that scared the shit out of him. It was the same feeling he got when she mirrored his thoughts like a few seconds ago. Because such a thing, done with no effort and no intention, only added weight to the theory of a grander plan. Because if she could feel and know one’s thoughts without consciousness, then what did it mean for her other feelings that also seemed to come to her unwittingly?
Like the chades.
Like an uprising.
Like war.
Fate. Revolution. Providence. Many such words had been thrown around since they discovered Max and her Custodian status. Hell, he had been one of the first to suggest it. Now, with all those things hovering at the edge of their reality, he sometimes wished he could take it back. Not because he feared battle or violence. In fact, he truly believed their society was in desperate need of a good revolt. No, what he feared was what the whole thing meant for Max. Because she was pulling away from him – from all of her Order. Her old habit of blocking her thoughts and feelings from them was returning and it was something he was not going to tolerate. He knew she was scared, but he was damned if he was going to allow her to shoulder her burdens alone anymore. She never had to be alone anymore. Never.
“Hey, you okay? I didn’t really hurt you, did I?” Max’s concerned voice broke into his inner musings.
She had pushed herself up and was now straddling his waist, her hands checking him over for injury, even as her eyes shone with concern. Damn, he must have spaced longer than he thought. Capturing her hands, he flattened them over his chest and smiled when her fingers seemed to flex of their own accord, as if seeking as much surface area as possible.
“You didn’t hurt me.” He assured her, “I was just thinking.”
She cocked her head – much like that darn mongrel dog did – a gesture he secretly thought was the cutest fucking thing ever from the both of them. Not that he would ever admit it. If he did that, he would also have to admit that he adored the be-speckled dog almost as much as his master.
“Thinking about what?” she asked.
“You.” He replied, simply.
She narrowed her eyes, smoothing her hands over his chest in the direction of his pierced nipples. He barely restrained from bucking his hips and seeking some friction. His woman had an unholy obsession with his piercings and could reduce him to a quivering mass within minutes when she started playing with them. Not wanting to worry her – or himself for that matter – he decided to go with what he had been thinking when he had first seen her swinging lazily in the breeze, hair glinting in the sunlight like a living flame.
“I was thinking about how every time I look at you, I can’t believe you’re mine.”
***
“Ryker …” It was the only word her vocal cords would allow her to whisper.
The sheer emotion shining from his eyes and the reverent way his rough hands now rose to shape her face, clogged her throat. He loved her, she knew. With everything he was and everything he would ever be. The miracle of it swamped her, as it always did, whenever he allowed his poetic soul to surface. But she knew that wasn’t what he had been thinking – not completely anyway. She didn’t know how she knew – just that she did.
She wasn’t in his mind and the Order link was muted almost to silence. There was an awareness that she wasn’t alone, that she was connected to her paladins, but that was all. No words and no emotions were filtering through. Her shields, which had been non-existent when she had arrived, were now as strong as steel. She could dictate her thoughts and feelings through the Order with the precision of an expert marksmen. And yet, despite that iron-clad control, she couldn’t stop the rush of knowledge that continually battered her. It wasn’t taxing or painful and she often didn’t even realise when information wasn’t her own. It was just a kind of knowing. She didn’t know how else to describe it.
She knew it bothered the others. She wasn’t oblivious to the concerned looks she received every time she responded to a thought that hadn’t been spoken out loud yet. Or the lines of worry that would wrinkle foreheads when she inadvertently predicted something yet to happen. That last one was causing more than a wrinkle on her own forehead because foreseeing when the phone was going to ring or when the heavens were about to open up was nothing compared to the other things she was seeing.
“Max?”
“Hmm?” she jolted, looking down and seeing the familiar handsome features, even more appealing for their roughness. Ryker had neglected to shave the past couple of days and he had the makings of a decent beard shadowing his strong jawline. She wasn’t really a beard person – more of a scruff person – but even she had to admit, the softness of the longer hairs against the sensitive skin of her inner thighs was a nice contrast to the usual rasping.
The thought made her smile and she reached out a hand, stroking her fingers through the blackness, her heart kicking up immediately when his mouth captured her fingers and began to nibble. She squeezed her thighs, feeling his chest expand with his breath. He was wearing a plain white tee and something about the way the bland colour contrasted sharply with his tanned skin and the writhing black lines on his left forearm, really worked for her. It also didn’t hurt that it made the metal piercing through his nipples stand out more. She licked her lips and felt Ryker’s body answer in the sudden hardening beneath her butt. His pupils dilated, eyes narrowing, as she reached out a hand to play …
“Yo, Ryker!”
Ryker’s colourful response to Axel’s untimely interruption practically turned the air blue and Max had to muffle her giggles against her man’s chest.
“What?!” Ryker barked, anchoring her hips so she couldn’t go anywhere – not that she wanted to anyway.
“Oh, nothing. Just wanted to cock-block you,” was Axel’s laughing reply, before he wisely turned and ran in the opposite direction.
Cursing and bucking underneath her, Ryker flung dire threats after the blond-haired jokester as Max did her best to hold Ryker down through her own peals of laughter.
“He’ll meet someone one day and when he does, I swear, I am going to have my revenge against that blue-eyed bastard! His balls won’t know what hit them!” Ryker vowed.
Max sobered at that. “I hope so,” she murmured, thinking of the knowledge which had flooded her brain just that morning concerning her dear friend. “I do hope so.”
Shaking her head to remove the funk she was dangerously close to, she instead focused on the wet-dream beneath her. Feeling a little devilish, she sent her thoughts into the ground beneath Ryker. Small, brown roots promptly pierced the dirt and slowly began winding around his thick wrists. Dark eyebrows raised in question as he tugged experimentally against his bonds. Max smirked when the roots proved to be quite strong. She leaned down, placing a sucking kiss on his Adam’s apple. His whole body jerked as if it had been struck by lightning.
“Max …” came his strangled groan.
“Hmm?” she inquired, tracing a path over his cheek which had once held a vicious scar.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Ryker asked.
Max sat up once again, “What does it look like I’m doing?”
He tugged ineffectually against his bonds once more, “It looks like you’re trying to tie me up in order to have your wicked way with me.”
She grinned at him, “And they say you’re not smart …”
Ryker immediately scowled, “Who says that?!”
Max couldn’t stop her giggle; he was so easy to rile. She was just leaning down to capture one of those gorgeous metal bars between her teeth when he bucked, almost dislodging her. “Hey!” she pouted down at him.
“Not that I don’t appreciate the sentiment, but don’t you think we’re a little too exposed out here?” Ryker waggled his eyebrows at her.
Max looked around her, taking in the truly picturesque scenery of the sparkling ocean, native bushland, and perfect garden. A glance to her right had her laughing out loud; three human faces and one doggy one were pressed to the kitchen windows. Diana, Cali, and Axel grinned at her with their thumbs up, clearly unrepentant for spying. Zombie simply licked the glass. Max wasn’t an exhibitionist by any stretch of the imagination and she knew her man definitely was not. He was not into sharing. Feeling her mischievous side rise, she couldn’t help making fun of him;
“What’s wrong, baby? Not into outdoor sex? You know, Cali and Dex do it on the beach all the time,” she informed him.
Ryker grunted, “I know. Don’t remind me. And I have no problem with outdoor sex. We’ve done it outside before,” he pointed out. “I just don’t see the need to show my arse off to the world. And I certainly don’t see the need to show yours.”
Max laughed, “Ah, so you’re just a prude then.”
“What?!” Ryker yanked on his bonds, growling in frustration when they held strong. “I am not a prude!”
“Uh huh,” Max taunted. “I bet Darius wouldn’t have a problem with public sex. That man is seriously kinky.” The tales Diana told, Max thought, shivering a little.
Ryker huffed, “Will you please stop reminding me of all the sexual deviants living in our house? It’s very disturbing – especially about Darius.”
Max laughed again even as she felt warmth spread through her hearing him call the house, ‘our house’. Sometimes it still felt like a dream to her; the house, the family, the friends. And especially the man happily bound at her mercy underneath her. Suddenly feeling impatient, Max sent a silent thank you to the large eucalyptus tree next to her, and was gratified to see it pull back its roots, freeing Ryker’s wrists. Not that the man moved. No, he just continued to lay there, looking all sexy and smug and fuckable.
“Don’t mind if I do …” she murmured, quietly.
Ryker’s biceps flexed as he laced his fingers, resting his head on his hands. “Don’t mind if you do … what?”
“Fuck you,” Max answered bluntly.
Ryker’s brown eyes flared with heat as he reached for her in a snap, “Well then …”
She evaded him easily, jumping to her feet and heading straight for the water’s edge. “Catch me if you can!” she yelled, laughing as she splashed fully clothed into the ocean. She didn’t glance back. There was no point. She knew her man would follow.