10. Maya
Maya
“Oh. My. God,” I muttered at the massive crimson dragon in front of me.
I tried to categorize every feature, from the thick armor-like scales to the wingspan the width of the entire house.
A pair of dark eyes watched me from above as I stepped forward, because I needed to see this as close as possible.
“Maya,” Marco warned. I waved him off as the dragon in front of me snorted.
“This is so cool!” I let out a laugh. I mean, I knew these men were spectacular, so it shouldn’t have surprised me that they were more than just humans. After all, where else did all those fairytales come from?
Sai’s massive head lowered so that his gaze was eye-level with mine, his chin resting on the ground.
I was shaking slightly, mostly from excitement, as I reached forward and felt the heat emanating from his scales, sending chills up my skin.
Something inside of my chest fluttered restlessly, forcing me closer until I had my face pressed against his massive snout.
“Do you fly?” I asked as the world zeroed in on this massive creature and me.
Sai snorted as if amused, the action causing my clothing to ruffle, then nodded.
“That is so cool,” I murmured. “Can you take me up sometime?”
Something lit in his gaze as a deadly tail wrapped around my waist and lifted me to his back with ease.
“Sai, no,” Marco said gently.
“I get it,” Henry said, his voice tense, “but you can’t take her up. She doesn’t even know how to hold on properly.”
“I do too!” I scowled. “I’m fine, Sai, really. Bunch of Negative Nancys.”
I came across that phrase as well while online. You can’t even imagine all the fun stuff your phone can find.
Some of the stuff was more confusing than others, though.
For example, I was trying to figure out if it was normal for Atlas and me to sleep in the same bed, so I typed in ‘friends who sleep together,’ and let me tell you, Atlas and I were not doing what they were.
I exited out of the site so fast I nearly dropped my phone.
I had to admit…I sort of wanted to look it up again. It seemed like something I didn’t know enough about.
The dragon underneath me let out a rumbling snicker at my words, making me grin?—
Then we took off. I let out an excited cry as his magic surrounded me, something I hadn’t had a name for before, and held me to his form.
My eyes closed as the cool wind whipped past me, a feeling of peace and contentment settling over me.
Something about heights really did it for me.
I could feel something inside of me beating very fast…
something other than my heart, which was racing.
Or maybe I was imagining that because I was so clearly envious that I was human while Sai was something spectacular.
The coastline opened up for us before we made it above the safety of cloud cover, only enhancing that feeling of absolute freedom and uninhibited joy.
We flew up and down the coastline until the sky began to darken, Sai eventually taking us down with ease.
I laughed as we landed right in the back yard, and before I had time to prepare, the dragon under me disappeared.
I let out a squeak as a pair of muscular arms caught me and I looked up at the ridiculously handsome shifter.
“That was amazing,” I breathed out, a huge smile on my face.
Sai’s eyes were heated as he pressed his nose to mine and rubbed gently. “Yes, you are.”
Huh?
“Maker, Sai,” Anani bit out, the back door nearly slamming in Ledger’s face as he rushed out behind him. “Get dressed.”
My eyes took greedy attention of Sai’s chest, which was dark and colored in stunning patterns of gold. I let my hand trace across it as a soft hum came from my throat, frowning as I got plucked from his arms.
“Bad idea, firefly. Sai is on edge right now.”
I frowned at Ledger’s words, looking at Sai’s serene face…but those eyes were dark, and I almost felt like I could see his dragon looking back at me. When he spoke, it sounded tri-layered. “She seems to be just fine to me, Ledger.”
I nibbled my lip, freezing as Ledger towed me away and I got a full view of Sai’s naked body. My mouth popped open because holy crap, it was huge! So that was what the equivalent of physically hitting on me looked like without clothes. I sort of really liked that. Was it bad I wanted to touch it?
I really needed to talk to Jordan more—she could just bubble those answers right out.
Sai barked out a laugh, and I squeaked at being caught, Ledger covering my eyes with a shake of his head.
I couldn’t help but want to look again, though. How had I missed something so hard and large when I’d been standing right next to him? A burning inferno spread through me as we entered the house, and Ledger muttered a curse.
“Please, someone take her before I do something dangerous,” he ground out as my feet touched the floor. In a flash, Marco had me wrapped up, his nose buried against my neck.
“Henry,” Marco bit out, “tell Sai I expect to see him in my office later.”
“Worth it!” Sai called out in passing. I totally tried to see if he was still naked, but Marco stilled my head from turning.
“Don’t give me that look, honey,” Marco drawled.
“What look?” I asked, my voice coming out different than I expected.
“Fucking shit,” he muttered, lifting me up and carrying me away. Apparently they’d all forgotten I could walk. This time he took me down a set of stairs to a movie room, where I fell into the soft cushioning and sighed in relief.
I loved soft, fluffy things.
Atlas was already stretched out and motioning over to me, so I crawled over to him. Marco had distanced himself, and Henry and the twins looked like they were in pain. I smiled as Atlas lifted me into his arms, and I wiggled in his lap, getting comfortable.
He chuckled. “Gentleman, this is nearly disappointing.”
“Oh yeah?” Anani bit out. “You have no idea, Atlas. No fucking idea.”
“I do,” he drawled as I hummed out a soft song. “I slept next to her all night.”
“It was awesome; you should sleep next to me every night.”
Was this a good time to tell him that the internet said we should be doing other things during our sleepover as well? I needed someone to freakin’ tell me if that was normal or not.
Henry barked out a laugh as Atlas’s eyes grew dangerously sharp. Marco came to sit next to him, pinning me with a look as I tried to consider what was odd about what I’d just said.
Nothing came to me.
“Oh! I just remembered. So, shifters. If you can turn into dragons, does Jordan turn into a wolf?”
“Yes,” Marco confirmed.
Interesting.
“I’m jealous,” I announced. “I’m a boring human, and you’re all dragons.”
“Well, about that…” Henry began. “I don’t think you’re just human.”
I raised a brow. “Henry, I feel like I’d know if I could turn into a dragon.”
The twins chuckled softly at what I’d said as Sai joined us. My eyes eagerly ran over his body as I tried to not look at his erection.
“I don’t think you’re a dragon,” Marco noted softly. “I think you’re something far more unique than that.”
“Marco, you’re a flippin’ dragon. That’s pretty unique.”
He tossed me a cocky smile that had me blushing, then Ledger said something that confused me. “Is it wrong that I want to hear her swear?”
“Yes,” Henry scolded.
“I can swear,” I pointed out.
Sai’s eyes lit up. “Yeah? Do it.”
“You don’t have to,” Atlas stated.
“I want to hear it,” Anani encouraged.
I nibbled my lip and thought of what my mother would always say to Jed. “What do you want me to fucking say?”
I squeaked at the end because it sounded so harsh and mean.
Sai burst out laughing, the twins staring at me in shock.
Atlas sighed. “I don’t even want to examine why I found that attractive.”
“It was the ‘fucking’ element,” Henry noted.
Marco hummed. “It’s true.”
“What about fucking?” Now I was curious. I mean, I knew what ‘fucking’ was. My mother used a bunch of slang that differed from the biology textbook I’d read.
“Do you know what fucking is?” Sai asked, looking like he was on cloud nine.
“Of course.” I frowned. “I had the whole ‘making babies’ conversation. Mother used a bunch of different words than what the biology book had, though. Like, she used the words fucking, dick, cock?—”
Marco covered my mouth with his hand, looking into my eyes with an intimately intense gaze.
Atlas was hard underneath me, and Henry was muttering curses to himself.
The twins laughed harder as Sai moved forward, crouching in front of me.
He took my hand and spoke with a huge smile.
“Maya, you’re the most perfect creature on this entire planet, did you know that? ”
Huh? I opened my mouth to ask Marco to remove his hand from my mouth when a knock sounded on the door. All seven of us froze.
“Go get the door, Sai,” Marco said, helping me off the couch.
“You know it’s the police, right?” Sai asked.
“I’m aware. Her mother and Jed must have called.” Oh no. “Can you please delay them while I talk to her for a moment?”
My heart was strung up tight. I couldn’t believe I’d brought the police to their doorstep. I knew I’d bring them nothing but trouble. “I’m sorry.”
Marco shook his head and looked down at me. “No worries, honey. I need you to be honest with me, alright?”
I nodded.
“Is your house safe for the night? If I let you walk out of here, will you be okay?”
Oh, I hated lying. I swallowed. “I think so.”
He growled softly and shook his head. “You turn eighteen on Saturday, right?”
I nodded my head, and he spoke quickly and quietly. “I don’t want you staying in that place a moment longer than you have to. I want you to come to stay with us. Are you comfortable with that?”
Was I? I flicked my eyes around the room, and the feeling in my chest grew warmer. “Yes. Yes, I’m okay with that.”