Page 8 of Harper’s Renegades

“Not until after she eats,” Magnus stated, holding up the fork to Harper’s lips.

She rolled her eyes and did as she was told… for now. I had a feeling we would see a wild side to my angel sooner than later.

Chapter four

Harper

After I’d appeased Magnus by eating everything on my plate, I fell into a food coma and wanted nothing more than to go back to bed. When I voiced this idea, all of them shook their heads, and the next thing I knew, I was being hustled into a Jeep Wrangler with the doors and soft siding removed.

“Where are we even going?” I grumbled as Jaxson tossed a pair of flip-flops at me along with a sun hat. I had to admit, I was pretty impressed he’d thought of it and couldn’t help but smile.

Ghost hopped in next to me and pressed a quick kiss to my lips. “Trust, angel, we told you we were going to help you get a life, and that’s what we’re gonna do.”

“For some reason, I was thinking that was starting tomorrow. Isn’t there a rule about traveling internationally that you’re lazy for the first day?” I argued.

“Only if you’re boring,” Jaxson shot back over his shoulder. “Now buckle up and hold on. We don’t have real roads to get where we’re going.”

Magnus was once again driving and threw the car in gear, rocketing us down the dirt drive onto a narrow paved road. I held my hat with my hand as the speed of our travel wanted to take it off my head, and I was in desperate need of sunglasses without it on.

This was the first glimpse of wherever it was they brought me. Everything was lush and green, bursting with life as people worked in fields with oxen-pulled plows. Some areas were flooded and had little shoots coming out of them, giving no clue what it could be.

“Why on earth did they drown the plants in those fields?” I asked Ghost, leaning into him so he could hear me.

He glanced at where I was pointing before wrapping an arm around my shoulder so he could pull me closer. “They’re rice paddy fields. Those are young fields, so the sprouts are just pushing up past the water. Soon they will grow bigger and fill out until they look like those other fields right below that one.”

“I guess I never knew how rice was really grown. I just buy it at the store and go on with my day,” I commented as I watched men and women slogging through the fields planting their sprouts.

Ghost’s fingers trailed up and down my arm as he spoke, distracting me from his words, so I had to fight to pay attention. “That is the one thing about traveling around the world. You learn so much more about life and appreciate what you have in an entirely new way. I know that my brothers and I are far from normal, but we’ve seen enough of the world, good and bad, that we know what we want out of life. Hopefully, after we’re done with you, you will figure out what you really want.”

As we drove, we moved away from the hilly farmlands into the mountains, where I felt like I was being transported into another world. The trees were crawling with shaggy moss giving it a fanciful feel as if we were in some magical place where elves lived or something. Soon Magnus pulled off the main road onto a dirt track that took us deeper into the foothills.

I’d never been more thankful for a seat belt in my entire life as I was tossed all over the place, gripping the Jeep's frame for dear life. In one section, we had to crawl up the side of a cliff with shattered boulders strewn all over the place.

“We aren’t going any further, are we? I’m guessing we need to get out and walk the rest of the way to wherever we are going,” I reasoned as Magnus stopped and shifted into a different gear while pressing a few buttons.

He glanced at me with a wide grin. “Never gone mountain crawling before? This is a piece of cake. Once, we crawled all the way up a canyon shoot when I got us stuck in a ravine with no other way out but up.”

“Of course, mountain crawling, why didn’t I realize that was how this was going to work… maybe because I don’t have a death wish,” I yelled as Magnus started the slow, careful crawl up the cliff.

I watched as the right tire climbed past the Jeep’s hood doing something no car should do as it rolled over a boulder, pulling us upward.

“Angel, relax. The Jeep is built to be able to do this. It has a crazy customized suspension to handle things like this. Remember, this is all about pushing you out of your comfort zone but knowing we will keep you safe.”

My jaw dropped at this. “So for your first outing together, you decided it was a good idea to climb up a mountain in a Jeep? Nothing says you’re perfectly safe like knowing if that tire slips and we go crashing to the ground, we’ll all die.”

“Exactly,” Jaxson exclaimed, twisting to look at me. “Why would we do something so stupid it could get all of us killed, especially when we haven’t gotten a chance to taste that delectable body of yours. That alone should let you know how safe this is.”

“Mad, you’re all mad,” I muttered, closing my eyes, and gripped the Jeep's frame as we reached the top of the cliff, praying we would make it to flat ground and live to see another day.

Someone tapped me on the shoulder when the Jeep stopped moving, and I cracked open one eye to look at Ghost. “We’re here. You can relax now.”

Relaxing, I looked around and gasped at what I saw before me. We’d arrived in a grotto with a large pool of water and a waterfall cascading down the mountain. The spray mixed with the sunshine peeking through the trees made a rainbow effect that wafted around the space on a soft breeze. From where we were parked, I could tell we’d need to hike a bit to get to the water’s edge, but it would be worth it, that’s for damn sure.

“Guys, this is amazing,” I cried out in excitement, clapping my hands.

Jaxson opened the door, and Ghost hit the button for my seat belt so his brother could scoop me up. I let out a yelp as he swung me onto his back, tucking his arms under my ass, holding me in place. “Come on, Harpster, let’s go have some fun.”

“Yeah, I don’t know about that nickname,” I commented, scrunching up my nose.