13. Maya
Maya
This was a situation I absolutely never expected to find myself in.
My face was bright pink as I stood, tucked against Atlas, my eyes anywhere but the group of men that were apparently my dads.
Luckily, both Pele and Fuji seemed to be able to continue the conversation they were having with Marco despite the tension running through the room.
The tension that even I couldn’t ignore.
Sai sat on the arm of the couch next to where we stood, his body tense, but soft affection rolled through our bond. I could sense the slight caution he had in regards to the other men in the room, and honestly, I couldn’t completely blame him because they were rather intimidating.
They also were no doubt aware of what had happened in the bedroom between Sai and me…
which was awkward. I had never felt true awkwardness until that moment, and now all I could focus on was my embarrassment.
I mean, health-wise, I felt ten times better, and I completely think it had to do with the orgasm, but I was embarrassed.
Maybe if we did more of that I would be less embarrassed.
It seemed to fix everything else, so I think it would be worth a shot.
Henry offered a small chuckle, making me look over at him. I couldn’t help but smile back. I was finding that the closer Henry and I became, the more access I involuntarily offered him into my thoughts.
Outside of my dads knowing what had gone on, no doubt, Cyra seemed to be upset.
Not at the situation with Sai but at what the others had informed them of, which appeared to be everything I had told them in terms of how I’d been treated.
There was sadness in her gaze, but more than that, there was fury. She was really mad. Pissed, actually.
Although, she did seem to also find half of her mates’ reactions amusing as they traded off glaring at Sai.
My hand snuck out to squeeze Sai’s arm. His eyes darted up to mine, a small smile pressing onto his lips as his eyes flashed with genuine amusement. Alright, maybe he wasn’t truly as worried as I assumed. Why did I find that so attractive?
“I mean, that is an act of war, no matter the time that’s passed,” Pele said, his eyes flashing with anger as Nuriel let out a frustrated sound, his temper seeming to fill the room.
I wasn’t exactly positive who was in charge within their flight, but I was going to guess one of them, despite being so drastically different in temperament.
“I don’t disagree,” Marco stated. “We have her father imprisoned at a local wolf pack for questioning. Marcellus and his brothers were called in to do the interrogation.”
My fathers seemed to know exactly who they were, which had my brows raising in surprise. Call me crazy, but I had sort of just thought they were Croy’s friends, but apparently they were well known. My eyes widened and panic caught in my throat, a recurring thought coming surging back.
“Wait.” My voice had all of them looking at me, including my mother, who seemed deep in thought. “What is the possibility of there being others like me? I don’t want to destroy the entire coven if they are there…”
“Likely,” my mom answered, her eyes soft.
“Unfortunately very likely. The phoenix population as a whole has gone into hiding, so it is impossible to get exact numbers on Earth realm, but I can tell you the chances that they have more there are high. If they were able to coordinate an attack on us, pull it off, and keep you hidden, then we are dealing with a much larger threat than I think any of us are addressing.”
“We don’t know much about Malcolm’s coven,” Croy admitted. “In fact, we only found out he was a witch a couple of days ago.”
“Why did you decide to return?” Cyra asked sincerely.
“We had questions for Doctor Bates,” I admitted. “I keep getting sick and passing out like earlier. Plus, I shifted for the first time… well, obviously since I was younger. Croy said it would be important to see her because of that as well.”
“You knew she was a Blue Phoenix?” Cyra directed.
“There isn’t really a way to ignore it unless you haven’t seen a phoenix before,” Croy admitted. “I was around when they were still a fairly large and viable part of the Dreki and Earth realms.”
His words seemed to make my mom sad as she nodded.
“How long have you been around?” Haco asked, his eyes narrowing.
“Over two hundred years,” I answered immediately, straightening myself and drawing attention away from my wolf mate. I didn’t like the way they kept questioning his place here, and I felt defensive over him. I met Haco’s gaze head-on, and amusement flashed in his eyes before he nodded.
“That’s the look,” Fuji pointed out.
“Same one as when she was younger,” Pele agreed.
“And the same one Cyra makes,” Ignatius muttered as my mom offered me a small, amused smile.
His words had Con smiling for a minute before looking down as if it had never happened, his entire attitude nearly as grumpy as Nuriel’s.
I had to wonder how I had come from such large, grumpy people, considering I didn’t consider myself either.
Even so, there was a softness towards me that even I could recognize, and it made me hopeful that despite the obvious gap between us, maybe we could fix this relationship. Eventually.
“We need to see if there are others,” I voiced.
“And we can’t let this slight stand,” Nuriel admitted. “It may be years later, but if they were still actively holding prisoners, that means they have continued to act the same.”
“So what do you suggest?” Con demanded. “Send units to Earth?”
“Yes, actually,” Nuriel responded and then looked at me. “Any information would be helpful when we send out?—”
“I’m going back,” I responded immediately, my mom looking at me with wide, panicked eyes.
“No.” She shook her head. “We just got you back, Maya.”
I could see the raw pain there, and anxiety closed up my throat for a moment, knowing that my decision wasn’t going to change but hating that I was going to cause her pain. I hadn’t been lying to Sai. I would always choose my mates and go where we decided as a group.
“Let’s talk about this later,” Pele suggested, his eyes flashing with sadness. “I think there is a lot to decide, but I also know that we have all night to talk about this.”
I didn’t disagree with his plan, but I also knew I would need to be firm, eventually, about how I didn’t plan on staying.
Would I return? Yes. Did I want to stay and learn more about my family?
Of course. But this would never truly be my home.
My home was with my mates and always would be.
I knew that as much as I knew my name… which wasn’t the best analogy, clearly, since my name was apparently Sol, not Maya.
I did appreciate that my parents had managed to correct themselves on that so far.
Plus, until Pastor Malcolm stopped hurting others, I wasn’t positive that I would be able to focus on anything else.
“Okay.” Cyra nodded and then smiled. “I want to make tonight about your return, though. We were holding a celebration in honor of the fall harvest out of the Water Lands, but I want to make it also about you finding your way back to us. Are you comfortable with that?”
I nodded, not wanting to tell her it made me uncomfortable because I could see how much the concept meant to her.
“Amazing!” She hopped up and flashed a smile.
The next few minutes felt like a bit of a blur as they left our room, my mom pulling me into a hug and my fathers offering a range of goodbyes, from Pele’s hug to Nuriel offering a grunt and something that I couldn’t fully hear but made Cyra laugh.
When silence filled the room finally, I turned to look at my mates with wide eyes.
“Well,” I managed, “that was… something.”
Atlas chuckled. “I honestly thought they were going to kill Sai.”
Sai flashed a smile. “Would have been worth it.”
I blushed as Henry appeared next to me, wrapping an arm around my waist. “How are you doing with all of this?”
Inhaling, I tried to answer honestly. “I don’t really believe it. Like I know they aren’t lying, obviously, but… it’s just a lot.”
“Maya,” Marco’s voice was softer as he approached, “they are going to want you to stay. We need to talk about?—”
“I am not staying,” I answered confidently and evenly, holding his gaze. “I already told Sai that you guys are my home now. I want to go back home. I do not want to stay here.”
Since leaving the confines of the basement, I had been confused about a lot of things, but this wasn’t one of them. I wanted to stay with my mates, and I knew they were uncomfortable here. That was enough of a reason for me.
“Thank fuck,” Anani rasped out.
I felt the tension of the room ease as Croy approached, his eyes tracing my expression. “And you know they are going to go after the coven? That isn’t in question.”
“I just want to make sure there aren’t others like me. I… I don’t care what happens to Pastor Malcolm after that. I just need him to stop hurting people.”
“We can be as involved with it as you want,” Ledger said, his voice soft. “It’s up to you, Maya.”
Nodding, I looked over all my mates and then frowned, my nose wrinkling.
“Where is Bella?”
Atlas walked over towards one of the doors and opened it, Bella immediately sprinting out as I knelt down and picked her up.
Her purr was immediate as she began to rub against my cheek.
I pressed my head to hers as the others around us talked, and my eyes widened slightly, realizing that I had no idea what the event tonight consisted of.
More so, was I ready to spend an entire night with my family?
That wasn’t a concept I was positive I would ever get used to.