Page 54 of Custodian

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.”

TWENTY-SIX

Emmanuel had literally left in a puff of foul black smoke. When the super chade had poofed his rotten arse into their party, Ryker had wanted to take his scythes to the bastard’s throat so bad, but Max had firmly shut him down. For a split second, Ryker had considered defying her orders and launching himself at Emmanuel anyway. After all, the guy wasn’t infallible, as Ryker had proven when he’d punched the fucker in his good-looking head. But the words Max had whispered into his cerebral cortex, had him taking a defensive stance instead of an offensive one.

‘You won’t win. Now is not the time. There is only one time when success is possible. Two days from now. Just two more days, babe, and we’ll nail all their arses to the wall. We’ll right all the wrongs, balance all the scales.’

Ryker shook his head, Max’s words still ringing in his mind, even now. Her words had revitalised him and given him back the hope he had been starting to lose. Even with a new sense of purpose and optimism, he figured he shouldn’t waste a second he had with his little goddess.

Pushing himself up onto his elbow, he had the pleasure of watching Max sleep. It wasn’t often he had the chance. Although he was disciplined to be up early, Max still usually beat him up as a result of the nightmares which plagued her. Looking at her now, with her face softened in sleep, a crease from the pillow on her soft cheek, and her dark lashes forming a sooty silhouette against her cheekbones, he realised how incredibly young she looked. And vulnerable. When she was awake, Max was a force to be reckoned with. That mouth of hers was a weapon as surely as her short-sword was. But asleep like this? She looked fragile.

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