TWENTY-ONE

They arrived at their first scheduled destination in a little over ninety minutes. The first twenty minutes had been very pleasant and Lark had enjoyed talking with Ivy. The woman was bright and calm and had a healthy sense of humour buried beneath the stoicism. He had been happy to realise she was passionate and stood up for what she believed in. And it was obvious she was quite well-read – another plus in her column. Too bad she was also as stubborn as the day was long.

As soon as they had developed an easy dialogue, she had shut the conversation down. He knew she didn’t have a problem with him as a human being anymore but she still clearly wanted to have a problem with him. And that amounted to the same thing in his estimation because the end result was the same; Ivy acting like a cold, closed-off bitch.

The car door opening and closing interrupted his ruminations and he looked over to see Ivy throwing her dark green ranger cloak on. By the time he joined her at the front of the vehicle she had the hood pulled up, obscuring her features. The damn cloak may as well have been a suit of armour, for it achieved the same purpose. Another car door shut and booted feet made their way over to them. Knox nodded at him but didn’t say anything as his dark grey eyes quickly scanned the wooded area they were in. Nikolai had told Ivy he had sent ranger units to this area three times in the past two months. For some reason, it seemed to be a popular location for chades. Although, Nikolai also reported the execution of all chades in the area the last time rangers were sent so Lark was unsure how many they would find.

“Knox?” he questioned.

Knox nodded, “Three.”

That surprised Lark. Maybe this was going to be easier than he thought. “Are they on the Dark Side or do they follow the ways of the Jedi?” he asked, wondering if Knox even knew what Star Wars was.

Knox looked directly at him and smiled and Lark could have sworn Ivy drew in a sharp breath. Because she hadn’t believed the guy could smile? Or because the man was undoubtedly good-looking? Even a straight guy like himself could recognise and appreciate male beauty when it slapped him in the face. Not that he appreciated Ivy doing the same right then.

“One Jedi, two Dark Side,” was Knox’s response.

“You sure?” Ivy asked.

Knox nodded and before Lark could even blink let alone connect with Max and the others to give them an update, Ivy had her sickle out and was striding to the trees. Sure enough, three chades appeared from the darkness of the leaves just as the air cooled and the earth rumbled beneath his feet. Swearing, he palmed his own weapon and ran for the chades who were already in a battle with Ivy. All three of them engaged her at once and Lark couldn’t determine which one was redeemable. At that moment, he didn’t even care. All he cared about was saving Ivy’s butt so he could kick it later.

A well-placed kick from Ivy sent one chade flying to its back but there was still two against one. Even as he watched, he saw Ivy evade a swipe of sharp claws by mere millimetres. Throwing his scythe, he sent it tumbling end over end, hitting its target precisely. The clawed hand of the chade sliced off in one clean cut. Lark took a running dive, sliding under the chade’s legs, picking up his scythe and decapitating it in three smooth motions. He remembered himself at the last moment and suppressed the dark glare he wanted to aim in Ivy’s direction. She wasn’t looking at him anyway, but at the two remaining chades – who appeared to be transfixed with Knox.

Knox was planted like a wall in front of Ivy and it seemed his appearance had cooled the other two down a little. One looked at him curiously, as if trying to puzzle him out. The other looked at him like it wanted to slice its fingernail across Knox’s belly, open his intestines, and watch them spill across the ground. No guesses needed as to which one was the evil one. Ivy must have arrived at the same conclusion he did because she promptly cut the now-advancing chade off at the knees. The miserable creature went down hard but uttered no sound and didn’t look as if it felt a thing. It continued to pull itself along in the direction of Knox – very Dawn of the Dead – and Ivy easily severed its head, causing a splash of putrid water to hit the ground. The chade had obviously once been a Water Warden.

The remaining chade hadn’t moved in their direction but it wasn’t looking particularly friendly now that its companions were dead. A quick flick of the wrist from Knox and the chade found himself immobilised by the same tornado shackles Dex had used.

Knowing the chade was secured, allowed Lark to feel the emotions he had steadfastly cut off the moment the fight started. It was something his father had taught him and a rule he still adhered to; don’t take emotions into a fight. And the feeling? Rage. Ivy had purposely put herself in danger. But before he could call her out on her behaviour, she turned to him with a look of arrogant expectation;

“Well, do you have Max on the line or what?”

Censoring his violent words, he closed his eyes and reached for the link; ‘Max? We have one that Knox says is cool,’ he notified his liege, trying to sound casual and calm instead of pissed off and frustrated.

‘Already? That’s good news. Just the one?’

‘There is now,’ he said.

She didn’t question him at all, just said; ‘Okay. Take two. Everyone ready? I’m going to balance the power through all of you this time. Lark, you just think happy thoughts and focus the energy at the chade. Capiche?’

Assent came from every member of his Order and Lark forced his body and mind to relax so he could focus on the important task at hand. Five minutes later, his butt was on the ground and his head was spinning but he was not unconscious and the chade was sitting a few feet in front of him with a look of awed peace on his face. Lark would consider it a success and light years better than last time. In fact, within only a few minutes he was back on his feet with nothing more than a niggling headache as he waved Knox and the new recruit off.

As soon as the taillights were out of sight, Lark wheeled on Ivy, allowing her to see his anger, “What the hell was that?”

“What was what?” she asked in that indifferent tone of hers. She didn’t even bother to look at him, just continued to examine her sickle as if she had never seen it before.

“Don’t give me that. You know what I’m talking about,” he knew his voice was a couple of octaves deeper – anger did that to him. Ivy obviously picked up on that too if her next words were anything to go by.

“What are you so pissed about? Did you want to try talking to them or something? Knox said they couldn’t be saved. Even Max agrees those types of chades need to be put down. I’m sorry if your do-gooder sensibilities were hurt.”

He was incredulous, “You think I care about the chades you put down? You’re an idiot! I care that you didn’t wait for back-up. I care that you were reckless and put yourself in danger,” he informed her, coolly.

She didn’t even spare him a glance, “I was never in any danger. I’ve been doing this before you were even born.”

He felt his hold on his control becoming wobbly as she blew off his concerns like they were nothing. He drew in a deep breath before speaking again; “I don’t know how you work within your ranger units but that lone-wolf bullshit won’t fly with me. We work as a team. If you can’t or won’t do that, we’re wasting time.”

“Really? You’re going to lecture me about how to work within a unit? You’ve been in an Order for less than a year! You’ve had, what, one battle together?” her voice held an insulting amount of condescension.

“Experience doesn’t override stupidity. And what you did was stupid,” he growled at her, pulling her arm around so she would look at him. That damn cloak was still blocking her face and he yanked it back. Her dark brown eyes were narrowed in anger and colour was high on her cheeks.

She looked deadly and so beautiful it took his breath away.

Ivy yanked her arm free, scowl deepening, “Listen kid –” she began.

And that’s what tore it for Lark. His famed control finally snapped and before he knew it he had Ivy pinned against the car behind her. Grabbing her hand, he forced it over his growing hardness, “Do I feel like a kid to you?”

He expected her to sucker punch him or at least push him away but the woman shocked him, cupping him firmly and causing him to stutter out a half curse, half groan. Ivy’s dark eyes actually lightened as her pupils dilated and her breath began to come out in short bursts. Unable to stop his body’s wild reaction to such a sensual display, he tangled his hands in her ponytail, forcing her head back and her neck to arch. He brought his mouth close to hers and felt their breaths mingle. But instead of slamming his lips against hers like he wanted to with every fibre of his being, he waited.