Chapter 12 #3
I frowned after a moment as my stomach felt like a pinched pain hit it. My nails dug into Marco’s arm slightly as my face flushed. The back of my neck felt very warm all of the sudden. I’d never been sick before. Whatever the heck was going on with me right now, did not feel good.
I think I touched maybe a bit of my food and not more than a sip of champagne before we finished and they realized I wasn’t feeling well. My symptoms had progressed pretty quickly and it felt like an odd flash of illness came over me like a wave. What the heck?
“You okay, angel?” Atlas frowned as Croy’s eyes snapped up from where they had been talking to Henry. The table focused on me as I swallowed, shaking my head.
“I’m not feeling very good,” I admitted as Ledger, who sat on the other side of me shifted my hair off the back of my neck, pressing a hand to my slightly sweaty skin.
“Shit, I think she has a fever,” he said, frowning.
Marco looked down at me alarmed as he pressed the outside of his hand to my forehead, my eyes closing as a wave of fatigue hit me pretty hard. Maybe I was just tired? That was possible, wasn’t it? I curled into Marco as they talked in low tones probably arranging for us to leave the restaurant.
“I would prefer to get back stateside, Marco,” Henry said softly, “especially if it’s something supernatural related, we don’t have nearly as many connections here. Getting privacy in a hospital could prove to be difficult.”
“I feel bad,” I mumbled under my breath as Anani helped me up along with his brother.
Croy kept offering me looks and I almost smiled as he decided to just pick me up, my head pressing against his neck as he mentioned how warm I felt. I realized we were taking a different exit, when the waiters led us to a small elevator that looked far more functional.
I sighed into his chest as the motion of the elevator had me whimpering and feeling like I was going to throw up anything I’d eaten.
It was so bad that when we exited the elevator I motioned for Croy to put me down before pushing through the glass door onto the service entry section of the Eiffel Tower.
I sat down on the pavement, putting my head between my knees as I tried to breathe through how awful I felt.
“We need to get her to the jet,” someone said as the warm body behind me let out a rumble.
Then Atlas was lifting me into his arms and I felt a bit better, my eyes fluttering shut as he rhythmically smoothed over my hair.
The nausea subsided but I still felt dizzy.
It wasn’t until we were back out at a dark SUV that I realized we weren’t at the hotel.
“Bella,” I looked up at Atlas.
“Already on the jet.” He assured me softly. “Don’t worry, angel. Everything is taken care of.” I believed him.
Exhaustion rolled over me as I realized that something might be seriously wrong. The fluttering inside my chest felt panicked and when I closed my eyes, they didn’t reopen. Sleep completely drowning me.
Marco
My eyes tracked her slow, even pulse as I ran a hand through my hair, her small elegant fingers wrapped around my own.
I ran a thumb over the pink diamond and rose gold bracelet on her wrist that somehow only made her oversized t-shirt and boyshorts appearance seem more attractive.
Her dark hair was pulled away from her face and the pale tone to her skin had my dragon freaking the fuck out.
Henry was taking her temperature every so often as well as her pulse, his medical kit on the bed next to him as he stared at her with concern.
Both Croy and Sai had been kicked out of the room because they’d been way too worked up.
Which was very surprising for the first, not so much for the second.
The twins looked worried and Atlas… I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.
Even now he sat in the corner of the room just looking at her with dark eyes making me wonder what he was thinking about.
I looked back at Maya and I think I knew.
I was terrified something was wrong with her.
For whatever reason, this would be the moment I would remember forever; realizing just how crazy I was about Maya.
I’d gone through a lot in the two and a half decades I’d been alive and I’d never felt panic and worry like this.
Any cool composure was gone, I needed her eyes to open because they hadn’t since she passed out in Atlas's arms.
When she had died, it had been horrifying.
When Lorn had attacked her it had made me beyond furious.
So I had no idea why this sudden illness scared me so much, every sign pointed to it being possibly the stomach flu or something similar.
But that didn’t stop me from worrying and every moment that passed made me want to try to wake her.
Henry’s advice was to let her sleep but what the fuck did he know, right? I looked at the temperature he had just recorded and I shook my head 105. That wasn’t normal. But she wasn’t human and I knew that sometimes coming into power could result in feeling sick and off balance.
I hoped that was all this was.
Henry spoke softly, “She’s going to be fine, Marco.”
I looked up at him and nodded, trusting his opinion.
Still, I kicked off my shoes and my jacket, moving into bed with her as she let out a small sigh and pressed her searing forehead against my chest. Running my hands through her hair I began to notice the dark red tones buried within the chocolate and gold pieces of her hair.
They were small but for sure there. I wondered if those were new.
I couldn’t remember her having them before.
When the door closed I realized Atlas and Henry had left, leaving me alone with our perfect little mate. My dragon let out a discontented sound, annoyed that he couldn’t shift and see that she was alright himself. Because apparently my opinion wasn’t good enough.
I placed a hand out, letting my magic out just a bit and had dark runes forming on my forearm and hand, in Dreki’s ancient script that was rarely used today.
My hellfire easily jumped from my darkened, almost black, fingertips as it swirled around and down my hand in an easy pattern.
I didn’t think it would hurt Maya but it still worried me, having it around her.
My lips pressed up thinking about her conclusion that I was too sweet to be the type of dragon that I was.
In a way that made me irrationally happy because it meant I was doing my job right.
Keeping her happy, safe. Keeping all the bullshit out.
It also made me want to show her how scary we could be.
Which was not going to end well for anyone, so I ignored it for now, knowing eventually it would make an appearance. Dragons were fucked up like that.
No really, especially when it came to mates. They wanted them cared for and protected, but my dragon also wanted her to recognize how scary we could be. I was a bit more confident in the situation than he was, to say the least.
“Marco,” Maya’s sweet voice had me snapping my head over to where her wide brown eyes blinked open and she looked around.
“Hey, baby girl,” I whispered softly, running a thumb over her jaw and letting my fire sink back down as her eyes darted back towards me.
“What was that?” she asked, her voice confused.
“That was hellfire.” I informed her, pulling her closer to me. “How are you feeling?”
Maya sighed wrapping her arms around me, “I’m okay but very tired. I still feel super warm, what the heck is going on with me?”
I wanted so badly to have an answer for her. There was an irrational urge in my head to not only protect her but to provide the answers for Maya. I wanted to assure her that there wasn’t anything wrong but I also couldn’t lie to her. Inhaling, I kissed her forehead gently.
“We aren’t sure yet, but we’ll figure it out,” I told her as she nodded and tried to sit up frowning and rubbing her head as if it hurt. I winced and my dragon rumbled as if we could physically feel her pain. Although that wouldn’t be very surprising considering how connected I felt to her.
My eyes trailed where my bite mark sat. As more of our flight bonded to her, I could feel the connection growing. I had a feeling once we were all connected it was going to alter some things with our magic. It just seemed to have enough force and power to do that.
“Henry wanted to give you some medicine but he worried you would just burn it off,” I explained, while handing her a bottle of water. She nodded and then frowned looking down at her wrist.
“It really wasn’t a dream?” She asked, blinking as I chuckled softly.
“What? Paris?” I arched a brow.
“Yeah,” she mumbled, shaking her head, “sometimes I wonder when I’m going to wake up from all of this.”
Reaching over, I took her hand and pressed a kiss to it gently, “Not a dream, but I do think we need to take it a bit easier. Between school, work, and traveling, I think I may have overestimated our ability to be in ten places at once.”
Maya met my gaze as a serious look passed through it. “I really don’t want to go to school anymore, Marco.”
“Alright,” I nodded, “I’m not going to put that on you if you don’t want to.
I never went and I turned out fine.” She grinned at that as I tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.
“The twins and Henry may continue until the end of the semester but they were really only doing it for the experience. After everything that went on in Los Angeles, they wanted something more normal and we just never made a change. Henry never wanted to be there, but he cared more about keeping an eye on the twins.”
“So I never have to go back?” She sat up after nodding.
“We will have to go in on Tuesday, I need to sign some paperwork. But more than that, I think you may want to grab some of your things. I heard your locker is fairly decorative,” I teased as she crawled forward across the bed.
My groan barely suppressed. I wanted her to crawl across the bed towards me before she… nope. I can’t even go there right now.
“Thank you, Marco.” She leaned forward and met my lips.
Despite her fever I could feel that her energy was back slightly and she wrapped her arms around me.
I easily turned her on the bed and caged myself over her, making sure she was still comfortable.
I didn’t want her moving around much considering.
“Anything for you,” I admitted sincerely and her eyes flared as she ran her leg against mine, my eyes narrowing at the coy smile on her lips.
“Anything?” She asked sweetly, her fingers playing against my jaw as I inhaled. Her sweet scent mixed with desire and making my head fucking spin.
“Anything,” I confirmed, leaning down to nip her jaw as she made a soft sound and pulled me to her.
My eyes flashed up to find her face a light pink, eyes hooded slightly with desire.
My hands trailed up her leg, the silky smooth skin breaking out into shivers as I traced the lace of her panties, kissing her neck and jaw in slow light movements.
I could practically feel her trying to figure out what to ask for but I wasn’t making it any easier, my thumb rolling over her nipple as she let out a soft needy sound.
“Marco,” she whispered, her pulse fast like a fluttering of wings.
“Yes, baby girl?” I teased as she squirmed, a whimper breaking through her lips.
“Please.” Her voice was breathless.
“Please what?” I pushed up her shirt easily as I kissed down her body, sucking one of her nipples into my mouth, biting down just enough that she let out a small moan.
“That,” she insisted on a slight gasp, “please, more of that.”
Good enough for me. My fingers worked easily down her body as I continued to lick and bite her delicate skin.
When my fingers ran over her lace underwear I let out a curse at how soaking wet she was.
And hot. Her entire body was hot and as I slipped my fingers past the lace, she moaned out my name making me irrationally fucking hard.
“I need you inside of me,” she breathed out, probably having no idea how fucking sexy she sounded.
I know she meant my fingers but…I wanted to be completely inside of her.
Couldn’t I blame it on a misinterpretation?
I slid two fingers inside of her incredibly tight pussy as I began to slowly pump in and out of her, my thumb grazing her clit.
“Maya,” I growled, “you smell so fucking good, baby girl.”
She did. Like fucking candy. I easily slid off her lace panties and wedged myself between her legs, needing to taste her fully.
I let out a low rumble as I buried my head between her thighs, my hands holding her legs open as she cried out.
I felt nearly fucking frenzied at how good she tasted, my hands probably digging a bit too hard into her soft skin.
I didn’t think she minded though, since her hands were buried in my hair keeping me against her sweet pussy.
I could feel how fucking responsive she was and I slipped a finger inside of her once again, working her up to climax easily as I sucked on her tiny clit.
She practically flew off the bed as her climax crashed over her and she let out a small cry of my name, her hands relaxing in their grip as her release flooded my tongue.
Despite her wiggling at how sensitive she was, I licked every fucking inch of her up, not wanting her taste to leave my lips as I kissed up her body and sucked on the spot my mating bite was.
The woman had a fucking candy flavored pussy.
I held her underneath me, thrilled that she was not only safe there, but also happy as she ran her hands over my back gently.
“I love orgasms,” she admitted honestly and I couldn’t stop laughing because I think I really did fucking love this woman. When I’d said it earlier? It had slipped out but in no way a mistake. I was fucking sure I was in love with Maya.