Chapter 17
Maya
It was an odd night. I had fallen asleep around ten after the agents had left, wrapped between Marco and Atlas. Except…I didn’t wake up there. No, instead I woke up with the cold wind brushing over my skin and the sound of the sea in my ears.
What the heck?
When I opened my eyes, I assumed I was in some type of dream.
I stood on a rigid dark cliff edge, the forest rustling in the pitch black night.
The wind smelled like brine and my chest pulsated with an odd type of pain.
My hair laid in a crazy mess of waves and my oversized shirt did nothing to keep my skin warm.
I looked over the ocean and my neck prickled with awareness as I felt someone watching me.
Turning on my toes I faced the forest, watching as a shadow shifted and walked forward. I felt my lips pull back into a snarl as I examined Lorn’s face. How the hell did I end up here? I tightened my fists, glad to know Bella and the boys were safe at home.
“Lorn,” I growled, “what are you doing here?”
“Better question, is what are you doing out here all alone, Maya?” He asked, his voice rough and my eyes wide as he stepped into the moonlight, his entire face black and blue, maybe a bit of yellow and purple even.
I didn’t have an answer to that…because I had no idea. How did I get here? I swallowed as I stepped back, rocks tumbling behind me. He chuckled, stepping closer.
“You know, when I watched you stumble out of your house, I couldn’t believe my luck that you were willingly leaving the safety of those fucking dragons.”
I had not left on purpose. Christ.
“I’m not going to waste my fucking opportunity though,” he pointed out, and my breathing began to turn rapid as I considered jumping off the cliff behind me. I did not want his goddamn hands on me again, my throat still hurt a bit from his rough strangling.
A whistle through the air had me reflexively ducking down as a thud caused me to look up.
Lorn let out a pained groan and fell to the hard ground, looking stunned.
His wide eyes focused on me solely. Except his lack of movement didn’t make me feel any better, instead the rustling from the trees had me facing a far scarier opponent.
One that I knew hadn’t hurt Lorn to protect me.
“Maya.” My father hissed. “Good to see that my summoning spell worked despite the wards around their home.”
Summoning spell?
I must have echoed it because he nodded, his energy sparking dangerously as he rolled up his sleeves revealing runes that scattered his arms. I had never seen those before. His eyes darkened, he chuckled darkly.
“You didn’t think you stayed down in that fucking basement because of pure luck, right?” He grinned. “No, I'd been spelling that place with wards for years. I have no idea how that fucking human bitch finally got you out. Greedy bitch. She’d been wanting to get away with Jed for years now--”
Jed was from Louisiana?
He tilted his head looking amused in that demented way of his, “You seem confused. But that isn’t my problem, Maya. What is my problem? That you aren’t in fucking Louisiana, serving the only purpose that you had.” Maybe if I kept him talking…
“What purpose?” I asked quietly.
“Don’t act dumb, stupid girl,” he growled, “I know they probably told you everything. They aren’t wrong. Your blood and magic is going to fuel my coven for hundreds of years.”
Shit.
“I have been watching all week and waiting to get you alone. I’ll admit it was far harder than I thought, but this?
This is a fucking present, Maya. You practically walked right into my arms. It’s time to go home, where you belong, and then I am going to have the local witch coven, namely Earnest, take care of your fucking dragons. ”
I could feel my chest freeze at that. It was one thing to threaten me.
But my mates? I felt a growl build in my throat as he neared.
I had never realized just how much I hated this man, but every word that came out of his mouth further deepened the hatred.
I wasn’t someone that liked to hate others. But he deserved it.
This was the man who had kept me imprisoned my entire life.
The man who stood and watched my mother beat me.
The man who hit me himself while subjecting me to his religious ‘lessons.’
The man who knew what I’d been my entire life and instead chose to lie to me.
Told me the devil was inside of me.
The truth? If anyone was a devil, it was this man. I didn’t want him near my family.
I looked behind me, wondering just how bad it would hurt to hit that water.
If I was a phoenix…it wouldn’t be fatal.
Or if it was…I’d come back. My eyes strayed back to my father.
At least then I could escape. With him though?
With being back in the basement? That was a prison sentence that may have no end.
My mates would have no idea where I was. I swallowed and steeled my reserve.
Right as I stepped back, ignoring the insane words from Pastor Malcolm’s mouth.
My feet left the ledge and with a slight prayer, I let myself fall from the cliff.
I cried out as my body dropped, plummeting through the cold air.
Holy hell. A vicious growl sounded through the air above and my chest fluttered knowing it was Croy.
I didn’t even question how he had found me.
I just knew he had and my father screamed, his pain like a symphony that I shouldn’t have enjoyed.
I knew I was nearing the water.
I knew I was probably going to die.
I didn’t want to die.
I wanted to be back with my mates. I wanted to be back up on that cliff, just a moment later. Croy would have solved all of this. I had probably acted rash.
Tears streamed in my eyes knowing this was going to hurt like hell.
Croy
Sitting up in bed, my head began to pulse in pain.
I could barely hear the voices outside of my door because of how loud and angry my wolf was.
I snarled, squeezing my eyes shut as I tried to tell him to shut the fuck up so I could figure out what was wrong.
Pulling on a pair of jeans, I walked into the hallway that was in mid chaos.
“What the fuck do you mean she’s gone?” Atlas snarled as the twins offered him a stressed and tense look.
“I am telling you she’s not on the property, fucking anywhere,” Anani bit out.
“I have no idea how she would have gotten past our security,” he growled and was down the steps as I blinked, trying to process his words.
Maya was gone? I couldn’t even pay attention to the others arguing, but I could see how fucking furious Marco was as Atlas pulled him back from one of his security officers, clearly afraid for the poor man’s life.
As far as I was concerned, if Maya got hurt they deserved to die.
Instead of waiting, I shook my head and shifted immediately, hoping they would follow.
All I could focus on was Maya. My mate. Inhaling her scent my wolf let out a vicious howl and I was sprinting through the forest, feeling the others shifting and following me from above, their wings heavy and loud in the air.
Her soft scent was making me crazy as I sped up, finally locking onto where she was.
I couldn’t see her yet, but I could hear her voice as she said something.
Her quick heart rate letting me know she was fucking terrified.
As I broke through the tree-line, I let out a growl upon seeing Pastor Malcolm.
Fuck. I watched as Maya fell back and down towards the ocean, making me pray to the gods that the others would catch her.
Before I could even clear my head, rage like I’d never experienced filled me. At the thought of her hurt. At the thought of her dead. At the thought of never seeing that stunning smile or hearing her carefree laughter that fills the dark, lonely corners of my heart.
I leapt, my teeth clamping down on Malcolm’s leg making him scream as I tossed him towards the trees.
I moved forward as I felt him attempt to use his magic, but it didn’t fucking matter to me.
I had faced every creature on Earth realm, so his small parlor tricks barely phased me.
Nothing mattered to me except seeing his blood.
I stepped on his chest and gripped his hair with my sharp teeth, pulling back and forth causing his head to hit the rock and the tree trunk he’d landed between.
His scream was loud and high, his hair ripped out in my mouth making me realize that he was bleeding a fuck ton.
I could feel it coating my fur and it fucking thrilled me.
Malcolm’s laugh caught me off guard as my head snapped to the side, my wolf freezing for a moment…because HOL-Y SHIIIT?! The bastard under me grinned, his voice low and full of pain. “Fucking finally.”
My eyes widened seeing a flash of something moving through the dark skies like a comet.
So many thoughts hit me, but before I could react, I felt Malcolm pulse power through me.
I huffed at his minor spell and pressed my paw to his face, my claws digging in as I heard a snap from my weight on his nose.
I shifted almost immediately, and pulled his head back and punched him hard enough that he blacked out.
His blood was like a badge on my skin at this point.
His last words before passing out had me growling, “This doesn’t end here, I have an entire coven that will be coming for her. They know where she is now.”
I growled, my fury turning my vision red. I fucking believed him. For the first time in my long life, every drop of my calm nature was absent. The threat to my mate was enough to terrify me to my very core. I would kill every single one of those fucking witches before they laid a hand on Maya.
Maya