2. Maya #3
My cheeks flushed at their attention, Marco letting out a low, defensive sound at my clear embarrassment.
It was different getting attention for my mates rather than myself.
I did feel a bit bad because the girls both paled, clearly recognizing the danger Marco posed, even if they were human and didn’t fully understand why.
“I am.” There, that would solve it. Right?
“Can we get a picture with you? No way will people believe this.” The first jumped slightly, clapping her hands in true excitement.
Luckily, I never had to give a sure answer.
Before I could form a response, the elevator doors opened and we were suddenly bombarded with a far larger issue than the two women.
I frowned, shielding my face as cameras began to go off in bright flashes.
I was extremely confused about what was happening until Marco wrapped an arm around me, tucking me against his chest as Henry’s snarl filled the space, both actions making me feel somewhat safer.
I still kept my face down, his words about keeping my head down not completely blocking out the voices that seemed to fill the foyer that we spilled out into.
Voices that were asking me invasive questions.
About what had happened with my mother and Jed.
My relationship with my mates.
Why I wasn’t in school anymore.
All of them felt almost rude, and I didn’t answer.
As we seemed to make it through the crowd, a sudden surge of magic let me know that Atlas’s security team had shown up.
I didn’t interact with them very often, couldn’t tell you what most of them looked like, but their energy was very familiar.
Like most of the shifters I knew. I was nearly out of the heavy grouping of people when one of the questions stood out to me.
It had me looking up and meeting the gaze of the reporter that seemed extremely eager and curious.
“Are you knocked up? Is that why the Morettis have taken you in?—”
“I am going to fucking kill them.” Marco’s growl against my ear was dangerous, making me realize how worked up he was, as Henry leaned in and said something blunt and sharp to the man, making him pale.
I looked up at Marco, confused in part by the question.
I obviously knew what he meant by being ‘knocked up,’ but I didn’t get what they meant by ‘taken me in’?
Why would me being pregnant change anything between my mates and I?
Maybe it was because the man was human and he didn’t fully understand the situation at hand?
I nibbled my lip, looking back at him one more time before we finally broke through the crowd, security forming a line behind us.
I let out an exhale of relief as we made our way down the hall towards the restaurant.
Thank god.
“Atlas is livid,” Henry mumbled, looking down at his phone.
“Someone tipped them off,” Marco growled. “Probably the Council.”
Would they really have done that? Why?
I tilted my head, suddenly wanting to know more than anything about the human reporter’s reasoning. “Why would me being pregnant mean you were ‘taking me in’? I don’t really understand what he was trying to get at.”
Henry shook his head and sighed. “Just ignore them, sweetheart. They were implying that you got pregnant from one of us and that’s why you are living with us.”
Oh.
I frowned and tilted my head. “Really? That’s an odd way of thinking about it.”
Marco chuckled, his hand tightening on my waist as it slid down from my shoulder that he had been using to tuck me against him. “Humans are odd. Especially when it comes to mating. I suppose shifters have it far easier, in a sense.”
I let out a soft hum at his words because I didn’t disagree with him at all.
Or maybe it wasn’t that shifters had it easier, but viewed things differently.
I felt like often people complicated things, playing this game of back and forth with their emotions.
Then again, I hadn’t had a lot of exposure to other relationships outside of my own and what I’d seen through the media.
My brow dipped, once again thinking about that article about ‘playing games’ in reference to keeping someone interested in you.
Somehow those games didn’t sound nearly as fun as the game where I continued to tease my mates.
Honestly, I was excited to see someone in the Dreki realm about mating. Despite what Jordan had told me and I’d learned on my own, I felt like I didn’t have a massive knowledge base, and call me crazy, but I didn’t exactly trust my mother’s words.
I mean, I hadn’t even known it was unusual to not have my period.
Which meant I had no idea if I could have children to begin with. Although I’m positive magic changed and affected that somehow. Honestly, it hadn’t been a topic that had ever occurred or mattered to me until meeting my mates. But now that I had? There was a large part of me that wanted that.
I wanted to be able to prove that I was a better mother than my own.
I wanted to see my mates being the fathers that I never had.
I wanted to build a home where our little ones never questioned if they were loved or not.
I never wanted any child that I had to feel like how I had growing up.
I wanted to prove that I could take care of others and not always be the one needing to be taken care of.
I absolutely loved that my mates did so, but there was a fierce sense of independence growing inside of me, and while I knew it would take time, I couldn’t lie that it would feel good knowing I could handle myself.
Plus, with how much I loved Bella, I couldn’t imagine how it would feel to have my own children. Creating a small being that was literally a combination of you and the person—or in my case, multiple persons—that you loved? It was beautiful.
“Maya?” Marco pulled me from my thoughts as I tilted my head up to offer him a questioning look as he pushed. “Where did you go?”
I blinked, legitimately about to ask him what he meant because I’d been walking next to him the entire time, but that was before I looked at Henry, who was offering me a curious look. Clearly, I’d been quiet for a bit too long. I shrugged, blushing slightly.
“Just thinking about children, actually,” I admitted softly.
Henry let out a soft rumble that I could tell came from his dragon. Marco offered him an amused look before looking back down at me. There was a soft affection in his gaze, but it was also dark with heat. “What about kids?”
“Just whether I can have them or not,” I replied honestly. “I mean, I assume I can, but I don’t know how any of that works with me not being human.”
Marco let his arm fall as he intertwined our fingers in a soft gesture, distracting me from something Henry said under his breath, sounding pained and making me worry about him briefly. When Marco spoke, his voice was a bit rougher. “Is that something you want, baby girl?”
“Kids?” I asked and nodded almost immediately. “I mean, one day, at least. I know Bella isn’t really our child… but she sort of feels like that. So I can imagine having more.”
Honestly, I was really glad she wasn’t around because I feel like the comment about her not being my child may have hurt her feelings. She really did consider me her cat mom.
Henry chuckled, causing me to look over at him. “Don’t let Atlas hear that, Maya. He one hundred percent considers himself Bella’s dad.”
I smiled affectionately at that, absolutely loving his words and the truth I knew to be part of that statement.
As we approached the end of the long hall, the voices from before going silent with distance, I realized we were reaching the restaurant.
I assumed this was where brunch was being held.
A young man standing at the podium greeted us, saying something to Marco as my eyes trailed the room in front of us.
Already, I found myself enamored with the space, making this meal that I wasn’t looking forward to slightly better already.
The entire room was filled with light that flooded the white and pale pink decor, the soft chatter of peaceful brunch meals being eaten and the smell of cherry blossoms filling the space.
I looked at each table that had a spread of gorgeous flowers and couldn’t help but want to reach out to them and touch their soft petals.
Instead, I walked through the restaurant as the young man led us ahead, the three of us drawing attention that honestly didn’t even fully bother me because it allowed me to see each unique face.
They seemed far more friendly than those outside.
We were led to a private room at the back of the restaurant, which faced out towards a massive, bright, sunny garden that featured large cherry blossom trees and a water feature.
It was clear this wasn’t the ‘normal’ seating area, but when Henry pulled out a chair for me at the circular table, I sat down immediately, my fingers reaching out and running along the soft petals that were scattered across the table. I think I found my new favorite flower.
“These are gorgeous,” I mumbled as Marco sat to my right and Henry to my left, their suits seeming to fit into the pale stone decor setting.
I couldn’t believe this was my life sometimes.
The old Maya… well, she would never have even known any of this stuff existed, let alone ever thought to experience it.
“I love this restaurant,” I admitted, looking at the garden.
“We could do an indoor garden like this at the house,” Henry offered, running a hand over my thigh as Marco put his arm around the back of my pale pink chair. “Like a green room.”
“Really?” I blinked up at him, smiling.
“Anything you want,” Marco confirmed, his eyes tracking my expression as I softened between the two of them, making me feel a flush of heat at the fact that they truly felt that way.
Before I could respond, feminine, light laughter filled the space, and my stomach dropped. The Council had arrived.