turned over a new leaf. War will do that to a man, Mordecai acknowledged. Still, he asked his domain to check Slate out and was unsurprised to find the man in need of lots of healing. But that was no different to many of them – chadens, paladins and wardens alike. For now, he would give Slate the benefit of the doubt.
“Satisfied?” Max asked, nudging him with her elbow.
“For now,” Mordecai responded, not bothering to pretend he didn’t know what she was talking about. “Well, are we ready to begin?”
“Almost. We’re just waiting for one more person …” Max trailed off. “Oh, here she is.”
Mordecai didn’t need to look in the direction Max was smiling to know who was walking up behind him. Not only did the awed gasps give it away, but his whole body reacted as if she was physically caressing him. The Great Mother herself was making an appearance at their meeting.
‘Well now, isn’t this going to be interesting?’ Aiden said through the Order link.
‘You never did get a chance to apologise, did you?’ Bastien added, unhelpfully.
‘This is going to be awkward,’ was Madigan’s two cents.
‘Hella awkward,’ Tobias confirmed. ‘But, damn, she looks good, my lord.’
Mordecai gritted his teeth, ‘Will all of you shut the fuck up?!’ He heard a few snickers but his Order wisely shut their mouths – or their thoughts rather. Turning around, he felt himself begin to sweat, because, yes, she looked damn good. She walked the last few metres toward them and flashed him a tentative smile that went straight to his dick. As such, when he spoke, it was without the aid of blood flow to his brain.
“What are you doing here?” The sudden silence caused him to cringe internally. He really didn’t intend for that to come out so harshly. Nor so disrespectfully. The woman was just so damn beautiful and he hadn’t been expecting her to be there. On top of that, without having the chance to apologise for his actions three days prior, he felt a distinct disadvantage. Dana had stayed around but had avoided him at all costs. Something he didn’t blame her for in the slightest. And judging by the pinched look on her face he knew he had fucked up again.
“I asked her here,” Max answered, breaking the extremely awkward silence. “I want her to see what we’re doing here and give us her opinion.”
“Oh, Max. You do not need my opinion about anything here. It is wonderful. You are all doing a spectacular job. I am so proud of all of you,” Dana said, looking around and making eye contact with every single warden and paladin surrounding them.
Mordecai saw the way everyone stood a little straighter and how their faces flushed under the praise and focus of Mother Nature herself. It was strange, but he had never felt the urge for that himself. Perhaps because he was too busy being pissed at her to really comprehend that she was indeed a goddess. And before that? Before his anger and disappointment? There had only been lust. Watching as she placed hands on the people around her, smiled and laughed, and made everyone feel at peace and valued, he decided that the anger was dissipating. But the lust? He traced her full breasts, nipped-in rib cage and flared waist with hungry eyes. Oh, the lust was still well and truly there.
“My lady, you honour us,” Blu was murmuring as he took her hand in his and kissed the back of it like a true gentleman.
Dana beamed, “The honour is all mine. This place you are all building here, it will be the beating heart of society.”
“Thanks to Max,” Blu agreed. “Your daughter has wrought such beauty here.”
“Pfft,” Max responded casually. “The beauty was already here. I simply healed it. And all of us are helping it to reach its true potential.”
“Yes,” Hyde agreed, the quiet man speaking for the first time without being asked a question first. “It is a true garden of Eden – or so I hear.”
Dana smiled impishly at the Beast Warden and Mordecai wanted to shave the hairy man bald and rip out his beard. He wondered if the women would find him so appealing then. Laughter, that was poorly masked as a coughing fit from his Order, had him baring his teeth at them.
“Hyde, it is so lovely to see you again. It is true Max named this place after where she was raised for the first few years in Otherworld.