Chapter 14
Sai
“Marco,” I bit out, “you need to relax. She’ll come down when she’s ready.”
Marco snarled, staring into his drink, as Henry shook his head going back to his laptop.
The others had disappeared through the house and I could tell everyone felt a bit off.
How could they not? Maya had never gotten mad, not like this.
The most complicated part was that she was right.
We couldn’t fight every battle for her, and that was coming from me. I was always a fan of fighting.
“She has a point,” I stated softly, “we can’t keep her sheltered forever.”
“Like hell we can’t!” Marco declared, his hands tightening around his glass. “Do you not remember how she lived when she wasn’t sheltered here? Or how about when we left her alone in the house once and someone fucking took her from right under our nose? She’s not leaving.”
Henry groaned, running a hand over his face. "I don’t think she’s asking to leave, Marco, I think she just wants to feel like we are listening to her."
And I’m the one who is emotionally dramatic. Right. These two looked like they were about to flip the fuck out.
“You were the one who literally gave Jordan the ‘go’ on handling it.” Marco offered him a dry look when Henry sighed but didn’t say anything. Because he had.
“Plus, what would she have done?” Marco asked, “Go beat them up in return? I’m sorry but I don’t see Maya punching someone.”
I frowned slightly because it wasn’t a complete lie. Maya had a lot of amazing qualities, but fighting wasn’t up there. Not that she couldn’t be capable but physical violence wasn’t something that intrigued her, at least from what I could tell.
“Let’s just let her cool down,” I concluded and left the kitchen, heading upstairs despite my words. I stared at her door, tilting my head and looking back to make sure Henry and Marco wouldn’t catch me essentially going against what I’d just said. I moved towards her door and knocked once.
I sort of figured she wouldn’t answer, but a meow sounded as a sleepy Maya opened the door. Clearly she hadn’t been sleeping for long because we’d only been home about an hour.
“Can I come in, kitten?”
Her eyes traced over me cautiously before letting me in, my eyes roaming her quiet and peaceful room.
Maya sat down on the bed. Instead of saying anything, I tugged off my shirt and shoes, getting into her bed as she crawled up and under the sheets.
Her head rested against my chest as I wrapped my arm around her, kissing the top of her head as she let out a sigh.
It had been a damn long day. Those long fingers began to play across my skin and I nearly groaned, trying to not get more turned on than I normally was around her. Already my cock was harder, wedged between the two of us, her leg tossed over me comfortably and without concern.
Almost instantly Maya fell asleep, Bella trotting over to the end of the bed before curling up.
As I looked over my mate’s peaceful expression, I found myself feeling really thankful for her.
I could be a total broody asshole, but she seemed to mollify every situation.
Even right now, despite her valid argument with Marco and Henry, she had let me into her room to hold her.
If I was her, I would probably be annoyed with everyone due to association.
Not Maya though. No, Maya was sweet to the bone and I loved the light and warmth that radiated from her.
Laying with her, I found myself wanting to do ridiculous shit like when I took her out for a day in Paris. I would have never thought of something like that before Maya, but with her it flowed perfectly, making me think of a ton of ridiculous shit.
My family and I had never been particularly connected.
I had been sort of lost in the crowd while there.
Always vying for attention that I never truly received.
Maya made me want to rewrite my past, she made me want to one day have a family so we could make sure that our kids felt loved and cared about. It was an odd feeling.
Next to me, Maya began to shift and she frowned, her small brow crinkled as a whimper came from her throat. I smoothed her hair but she only seemed to shake more, so much so that I considered waking her up. I spoke softly, “Maya, kitten, wake up for me.”
Instead of waking up she squeezed her eyes tighter and gripped my chest, her nails biting into me.
I hated that she was suffering, especially once she told me what exactly she’d been fully dealing with.
I mean, fuck, her mom had burned and branded her with a cross.
My temper spiked as I tried to breathe through it, my jaw clenched knowing now was not the time to get pissed.
“Maya,” I whispered, feeling my chest squeeze as tears dripped down her face.
The door opened as Henry stood there looking concerned as I continued to smooth her hair. I pressed my cheek against her head and hissed. She had a fucking fever again. What the hell was going on with her? This was really starting to fuck with my head.
“Her temperature is back up,” I said as Henry walked over, his eyes roaming over her critically before he shook his head, leaving the room to no doubt get his small at home medical bag.
“What’s going on?” Marco asked. Walking in, his voice was quiet and I knew he was avoiding waking some of the others up.
Through our bond I could tell the twins were passed out, Atlas would have been as well but hearing our concerned voices he was getting up.
Croy I had no idea because I had no supernatural connection to the guy.
“Her temperature spiked,” I explained quietly before looking back up, “I’m worried.”
“Yeah, no shit.” Marco muttered, sitting down as Henry came in.
“I really think this has to do with her magic.” Henry offered quietly. “Maybe it has to do with feeling extreme emotions.”
“Doesn’t explain Paris,” I remarked, frowning.
“We don’t know how she was feeling really, we were eating dinner. She could have had anything on her mind--”
“You weren’t paying attention?” I asked, realizing he was being honest about not looking into her head too much.
Henry sighed, “I do it too much as it is, so no, I wasn’t at the time. Plus, she is damn good at keeping me out of her head. Did anything happen earlier that day while you were out?”
“Yeah actually,” I nodded. “We were at Cartier and she saw a cross, totally zoned out and started crying. I’m not really doing the story justice but apparently her mother used to brand her with crosses and Maya had to cut herself with glass to make sure she healed.”
Henry’s stethoscope fell to the ground as Marco’s dragon made a deep furious noise making Maya whimper in her sleep. He stopped but Henry seemed still in shock as he grabbed his instrument and looked back down at her swallowing.
“What the actual fuck?” He muttered.
I inhaled nodding. “It's fucked up.”
“I’m going to kill her father.” Marco stated softly.
“After he suffers the same amount and time that she did.” Henry added for good measure. I didn’t disagree.
My vision blurred just slightly as I thought about killing her father. Blood lust hit me hard and I tried my best to not go there. I didn’t want her to get upset if my dragon started flipping the fuck out. She hadn’t realized it fully but she reacted a ton in reference to our energy.
“Her nose is healed.” I noticed in realization.
“Should have never happened,” Atlas said from the doorway.
“She needs to learn how to fight,” I declared softly.
She did. No matter how much we wanted to say we would be there for her…
she needed to be able to defend herself.
It was our fucking responsibility to make sure of it because I didn’t want Maya to rely on us.
I mean I did. But I really wanted her to willingly be dependent on us, but have the ability to take care of herself in case anything happened to us.
I worried that if we didn’t, she would either get hurt or go nuclear and kill people if pushed too much.
Not that I would care, but my sweet mate would feel guilty about that.
“I hate that,” Marco sighed, “she shouldn’t have to, she’s spent her entire goddamn life fighting to stay alive. She shouldn’t have to worry about anything.”
“That’s not realistic.” Henry said, looking disappointed by that fact. “Our life isn’t simple, Marco. She needs to know what she is dealing with.”
“I am willing to tell her anything she wants,” he sighed, “It’s not about her knowing, it’s about her coming in fucking contact with it.”
“Is she okay?” Croy asked, running a hand through his hair looking like he just woke up.
“Fever spiked,” Henry explained.
“When she’s feeling better we need to focus on shifting, her body isn’t going to have equilibrium until then.
” He frowned. I was actually really fucking thankful that he was around because honestly we knew a lot about dragons but had never given a fuck about other species.
Someone like Croy was something we needed without realizing it.
A meow had us all looking to where Bella was laying on her back at the end of the bed. I chuckled realizing that Bella had a new accessory.
“Is that a diamond collar?”
“I had been confused about what she’d been talking about with the woman so quietly when I stepped away,” I grinned realizing that Maya had chosen to take my ‘buy whatever you want’ and got Bella something. So fucking sweet.
“I love that,” Atlas chuckled, rounding the bed to pick up Bella who climbed up onto his shoulders.
Maya sighed, flipping over on her side in her sleep, looking exhausted. I shook my head and smoothed her slightly sweaty hair from her face.
“Let’s let her rest,” Henry stated softly.
“I don’t want to leave her,” I frowned.
Atlas’s phone beeped as he grunted and opened it, arching a brow.
“We'll let someone stay up here, but the rest of us need to go out front. The media trucks finally caught up from where we were and apparently the headlines are now running the concept that while she was in France she was avoiding the FBI.”
“Fucking wonderful,” I got off the bed feeling annoyed.
“How much do you want to bet those FBI agents are here soon?” Henry shook his head.
“Marco, do you want to stay up here with her?” Atlas questioned.
Marco’s eyes traced over her as he looked back up. “You guys have it handled?”
“We got it.” Henry squeezed his shoulder and I looked down at her as Marco took off his shoes and sat down.
“You good?” I asked Marco, he nodded.
I kissed her forehead and walked out of the room, closing it slightly.
As I neared the stairs, I pulled on a jacket then ran a hand through my hair.
My eyes narrowed at the cars attempting to pull into our driveway while others tried to pull out.
Atlas and his security members stepped outside causing some of the cars to increase their exit.
Honestly, it creeped me out a bit to have this many eyes on the property, but not enough to sacrifice her safety.
As I stepped outside, my eyes traced the eager and almost desperate expressions on their faces.
What was it about Maya that made humans act so irrational?
I mean really it seemed to be a pattern if you think about it…
Becky Ash, her parents, Jed, and the media.
Seemed odd to me. I stepped up next to Henry and voiced my opinion as his eyebrows went up.
“I wish I knew more about phoenix lore,” he muttered, “but that is an odd pattern. I wonder if Croy would--”
“What would I do?” The man in question asked walking through the front door, looking as though he hadn’t slept either. I was always envious that the twins could pass out so easily. It didn’t matter the situation, if they wanted to fall asleep they would.
I explained the pattern I noticed and Croy’s eyebrows shot up, his eyes scoping out the eager humans being practically herded from the property.
Luckily, the team that Atlas had watching the property were all supernatural of some kind.
Although Moretti Security Co. did hire humans, it just wasn’t as often.
I was glad there were no extra humans around right now considering our possible new discovery.
“It would make sense why they are so overly focused on her in the media,” Croy muttered, “it’s hard because most phoenix lore revolves around the cults and their fixation on them.
Of course, widespread media is fairly new, so for all we know the effect has always been there.
We could even go as far to assume that the cults were formed after finding out about them and the hold they have, causing that irrational type of behavior. ”
I could practically see Henry’s mind working as the two of them continued to talk, I zoned out after a few minutes.
I mean I’d come up with the damn concept, that was enough work right?
I hoped so because even my energy was drained right now.
All I wanted was a beach, Maya in a tiny bikini, and a beer.
Life shouldn’t be more god damn complicated than that.
“What did I fucking say?” Henry pointed at a black sedan that pulled through the mess of news trucks. I felt a growl build up in my throat at seeing the FBI agents looking secretly thrilled about this opportunity. We couldn’t exactly kill them with all those damn cameras.
“This is turning into the longest fucking day,” Croy muttered.
You could say that fucking again.