Warden (Elemental Paladins Book 1) (4 page)

An island bench cleaved the room in two, resulting in a clear distinction between the kitchen and the dining area. The island was made up of the same rich gloss as the cabinets with the lower section showcasing the same uneven grey stones as the feature wall. Max looked up, up, up, marvelling at the high cathedral ceilings and moaning at the thick cedar beams that arched overhead, promising both strength and grace. She was officially in love for the first time in her life. This kitchen, this house, was everything she had ever dreamed a home would be. The contradictions of stone and wood combined with the arches and bold deep colours gave the room warmth as well as complexity and made it one big interesting mix. Max just knew this area was the epicentre of the house; it screamed ‘lived in’. There were a couple of mugs sitting on the sink, papers and magazines strewn on the counter, muddy boots by the door, and were those …? Yep, there was an assortment of guns and blades spotted across the massive dining table. Max found herself sighing lustily at the thick table top. It would easily seat sixteen people and looked like it had been pieced together lovingly from old recycled wood. She had to see more.

Turning to ask her saviours … hosts … captors or whatever they were, for a tour Max found herself under the same scrutiny she had likely been giving the room. Only now there were six pairs of eyes staring at her rather than the original three.

“Good God! They were right. There
are
more of them!” She exclaimed loudly in automatic reaction to the appearance of not one, but two more walking orgasms. A knowing feminine chuckle was the rejoinder from the only other human in the room that had a pair of breasts besides her. Max wondered if this was the woman’s harem or something. If so, she was officially Max’s new hero.

She was certainly beautiful enough to garner the loyalty of any man, Max thought, eyeing the woman critically as all females did – whether they admitted to it or not! She was absolutely stunning with long legs, a slender torso and high pert breasts. She had golden blonde hair that fell in a straight curtain past her shoulders to sit dutifully over those perky tits of hers. Max barely caught her bottom lip before it could lower in a pout. This chick was almost her polar opposite; she was tall and willowy where Max was short and curvy; she had straight light hair where Max had a frizzy mass of dark waves; and she had those perky apple tits! Max’s own breasts were an extremely healthy handful. She’d never had any complaints but how she would love to be able to roam braless and free!

“Is this your harem? And do you accept new members?” Max figured it couldn’t hurt to ask. The pale Amazon gave a throaty chuckle – almost as pleasant as the green-eyed cutie. Wow. She had never been so tempted to switch teams before, you only lived once after all and Max was all for living life to its fullest.

“No. This isn’t my harem.” She eye-balled the men thoughtfully, “But it’s an intriguing idea. I’m Cali.” She smiled warmly, her brown eyes twinkling.

Max smiled in return, recognising a kindred spirit immediately. “Max.”

The other new hottie in the room dipped his head in greeting, “I’m Beyden. Welcome.”

Max waited in anticipation for the remaining male to introduce himself as Darius spoke to him in hushed tones. He was the biggest male she had ever had the pleasure of ogling. Six foot four or five easy and packed with solid muscle, the guy must weigh a tonne! She couldn’t quite make out his face as he was angled away from her, but his messy black hair had her fingers twitching with the need to smooth it out.

“We met Max at Dave’s and ran into a bit of trouble so I thought it best to bring her here.” Darius informed the room at large. The mountain masquerading as a man didn’t seem inclined to share his name.
Typical.
Max thought,
the yummy ones are always the jerks.

“Why don’t we sit down?” Darius suggested, playing the courteous host.

“Ah, sure. But why is the Warden carrying a sword?” Newbie Beyden asked curiously.

Max gazed down at Joy lovingly, “Duh. It’s my protection.”

Beyden’s expressive eyebrows rose disbelievingly. “Duh? Did you just say duh?” He turned to Darius, “Did she just say duh?”

Lark and Axel snickered as Darius gripped the bridge of his nose tiredly. She was beginning to understand these men a little, she realised. Lark seemed to be a genuinely nice and happy guy. Axel seemed nice enough too, but his sense of humour was clearly very wicked. Poor Darius seemed a little stuck up and a lot exasperated with the likes of her.

“Don’t ask.” Darius muttered, “She can keep the sword.”

Max batted her lashes, “Why, that is just so kind of you good sir.” Chuckles and shocked gasps met her sarcasm. She couldn’t really help herself. Sarcasm was kind of her thing. Half the room appeared to appreciate it anyhow so she wasn’t too concerned.

Darius.
The name really suited him, she thought. He had an old world charm about him and his manner was almost courtly as he held her chair for her so she could take a seat at that magnificent dining table. Max finally allowed herself to give him a serious study as he lowered himself elegantly into the chair next to hers. Where most of the other prime specimens present all had a rough edginess to them, Darius seemed almost polished. Although he was dressed much like the others in dark cargo pants and a plain tee shirt he somehow made it look almost … sophisticated. He sat with his back ramrod straight, black hair perfectly styled despite his earlier jaunt with the phantoms. His hazel eyes were serious but kind as they looked at her.

“What do you think you are?” His softly spoken question completely disarmed her.

She really had no idea how to answer that. She had a couple of theories about what made her tick but had never really come to any solid conclusions and every time she had dipped her toes into the ‘trust pool’ she had them bitten off. These strange, beautiful people in this strange, beautiful house acted like they had answers, but Max’s faith in humanity was seriously thin. She had no intention of saying or doing anything else that may incriminate her in any way. It was all about the plausible deniability –
Law and Order
said so.

“I have no idea what you mean. I think the better question is what do
you
think I am?”

Max paid close attention to those now either hovering around the large table or seated at it, gauging reactions and judging intents. She prided herself on her judgement and so far she judged a third of them were confused, a third were intrigued, and the other third? Well, they were quite obviously suspicious; the woman and the one who looked like a serial killer. He stood still and silent, arms crossed tightly over a thick chest. His scowl was epic as he eyed her with complete disdain and Max was forced to suppress a shiver at the derision emanating her way. Lucky she didn’t have self-confidence issues or she would have found herself melted into a puddle of insecurities on the floor. As it was, she had a rather healthy dose of self-esteem so was by no means cowed by the frigid stare. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Darius raise his eyebrows; clearly a silent question. The almost imperceptible nod he received came from the scowling murderer across the room. Was he in charge or something? Maybe their boss or Commander if they were in fact a military team. She couldn’t help scrunching up her nose at the thought of him holding a position of power –
Scary!

“I don’t need to think about it, Max. I know exactly what you are. You are by no means the first warden I have met. You are however, the first one I have met who seems to be completely ignorant of the fact.”

Max frowned, there was that word again; warden. In all her years of research she had never come across that word. If Darius was telling the truth, wouldn’t she have stumbled upon ‘wardens’ at some point? Google was pretty awesome after all. “What exactly is a ‘warden’? And why do you think I’m one of them?”

Darius leaned forward and steepled his long fingers. Even his fingers were elegant! “You have an affinity with nature, yes?”

“Affinity?” She made the one word a question. No confirmations, no denials.
Just
be cool!

“There’s no point playing dumb, sweetheart. We saw it at Dave’s,
felt
it at Dave’s. Besides …” Axel smirked, “… it doesn’t suit you.”

Surprisingly, Max wasn’t all that concerned about being caught out. She was more intrigued with the left handed compliment she had just received. He didn’t think dumb suited her – what a sweetie pie! Tall, built and ridiculously handsome he exuded strength in every line of his body. He must have been a whole foot taller than her at six foot three with broad shoulders tapering to a narrow waist. His dirty blond hair was cut military short and combined with his blue eyes, he should have looked like the classic boy next door … but he didn’t. The heat in those baby blues elevated him from pretty to
pretty hot!
Add to that, he was likely a charmer with a silver tongue and Max was doomed. Womanisers didn’t appeal to her; she wasn’t interested in a guy who would stick his dick in anything! But she was a sucker for a charmer. Max decided to reward him with an honest answer;

“I think I know what you’re referring to but I don’t understand why. I’ve always had an attraction to nature and somehow, I think it has an attraction to me too.” She wasn’t really sure how to articulate herself, but a quick glance around the room revealed she didn’t need to. They knew what she meant. Somehow, these people really did understand. A tiny ray of hope began to pierce through her cynicism. “Is it the same for you? Can you talk to the elements too?”

Darius shook his head, “No. It doesn’t work that way for us. We’re not like you.”

“But I saw you! You fought the phantoms! You know what they are and apparently you know what I am! What do you mean you –” Max’s steadily rising voice was cut off by an incredulous holler.

“Phantoms?” The woman, Cali, turned to Darius, “What the hell is she talking about? What phantoms?”

Max noticed Darius, Axel and Lark were struggling to suppress smiles. Were they laughing at her?

“I think that’s what she calls the chades. I told you we got into a spot of bother that involved her.”

“You didn’t mention chades though!” Cali admonished.

Darius shrugged, “I mentioned it to Ry. Anyway, we’re getting off topic.” He focused on Max once again, “Yes, we can see those creatures. They are called chades by the way, not phantoms.” His lips twitched once again. He
was
laughing at her! Max’s jaw clenched tight. She hated being the butt of someone’s joke.

“He’s not making fun of you.” The deep voice belonged to the one introduced as Beyden. He was as tall and as built as the rest of the Testosterone Taskforce with light brown wavy hair escaping from a loose tie and just touching his broad shoulders. He was seated directly across from her which afforded her the perfect position to peer dreamily into those magnificent eyes of his. She couldn’t recall seeing eyes quite that shade before – not on a person anyway. Possibly on a lion or a tiger maybe given the amber glow of his irises. Perhaps that’s why she felt almost immediately at ease with him – there was a kinship there. She couldn’t count the number of times people had commented on her own unique eye colour.

“No one here would make fun of you like that.” Beyden continued, “Darius just means that we are not wardens like you. We are paladins. We do each have empathy with one of the seven elements found in nature, but it is nothing like what yours must be.”

“Seven elements?” Max was no closer to getting answers than when she walked in the door! They just kept throwing more words at her with the expectation that she knew what the hell they were talking about.

“In nature there are seven domains, or elements if you will: Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Beast, Death and of course, Life. The domains must remain stable, just as balance between the domains must be maintained. This balance ensures each domain doesn’t become extinct, that each domain continues to survive and to thrive. Very simply put, the seven domains make the world go round.”

“Okay.” Max could kind of understand that. The fact that fire and water were elements wasn’t exactly news and most of her research suggested a link to Mother Nature and her elements. It was also big on balance.

“So you paladins keep this balance?” Max tried not to take offense at the multiple snorts of derision.

“No, definitely not. Keeping the balance is above our pay grade. We’re just here for the grunt work.” Axel’s low voice held no resentment even though the words held a hint and his teeth flashed white as he smiled her way.
Even his teeth were sexy!
Max thought.

“Grunt work? What do you mean?” Max forced herself to focus. She needed answers but there was just a little too much testosterone in the room for her to concentrate fully … and probably just a little too much oestrogen pumping throughout her body, she admitted to herself.

Axel crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the dark cedar benchtop – his biceps flexed prettily. “We’re the foot soldiers – at your service ma’am.” He gave a flippant salute.

Max had known they were military from the first moment she laid eyes on them but it was good to get confirmation, “So you’re soldiers. Is that why you call yourselves paladins? As in Charlemagne’s Paladins? Like the Twelve Peers?”

“You know who Charlemagne is?” Darius asked, surprise evident in his voice.

Max shrugged nonchalantly, “I’m a history buff.”

“And the Twelve Peers? I’m impressed.”

“Well, you shouldn’t be too impressed. My knowledge is rudimental at best. But I do know that the paladins were some of the first and most respected knights. They were the foremost warriors of their time renowned for their chivalry, honour and skills on the battle field. They form the basis of the romanticised knights in shining armour. Charlemagne was their liege.” Max sighed as she stared into space, picturing rough-hewn warriors mounted on mighty steads, riding fearlessly into battle to protect and serve. “The paladins were everything a man should be.”

Max was startled out of her mini daydream by several snorts and one very loud laugh that came from Lark. His name certainly appeared to suit him for his laughter was infectious and the numerous fine lines surrounding his eyes hinted at years of smiles and laughter. He was the shortest of the group and also one of the leanest. Just on six foot, he had that whipcord wiry look to him much like professional swimmers had, rather than the bulk and the bulging mass of most of the others. But he was just as appealing to Max. What could she say – she was big on equality. His messy auburn hair flared gold under the unnatural light of the kitchen and his piercing green eyes were warm and friendly. Hard to believe he was also one of the fiercest fighters outside the bar when the phantoms had attacked. He had been the most agile and definitely the speediest, leaping and spinning calmly as he fought off the foul creatures.