22. Maya
Maya
The man was an absolute teddy bear.
He was huge, like Atlas big, and had this really pretty tan skin and honey blonde hair that laid sort of messy over a pair of dark green eyes. I could hear his wolf right under the surface, and while I was on Marco’s lap, my magic was running loops around Henry and Croy.
I liked the name Croy.
“Maya,” Croy drawled, his thick accent reminding me of where I’d grown up.
“Yes?” I asked, looking up from the newspaper.
“I don’t even know where to start,” he muttered, while looking at Henry.
Henry, who was staring at me with an odd mixture of concern and heat. How did I know it was heat? He kept giving me that look whenever he wanted to kiss me. Don’t ask me how I knew he wanted to kiss me; I could just tell.
My eyes went back down to the headline about some political candidate for the upcoming election.
Hm. I sort of wanted to vote.
I also wanted more kisses and more of whatever the heck Marco did to me. Where Sai’s kisses tasted like cinnamon and had my heart beating super fast, Marco’s touch did something else, a weird mixture of feeling safe but also wanting his hands on every part of my body.
Very, very confusing.
“Marco, can you let go of her for like two minutes?” Croy bit out. “My wolf is having a fucking panic attack.”
I frowned as Marco shook his head and muttered a curse, setting me down next to him. But then I was on another lap, Croy having moved fast enough that I was across the room and in his arms in a blink.
Why did everyone move so fast around here? Maybe I really was a phoenix—I was more of a ‘glide’ type of girl myself.
“Croy, please be careful,” Henry said. “Maya has been through a lot. She was who we were talking about earlier.”
My eyes fluttered up as the southern man made a strangled noise. “How do you know she’s a phoenix? Has she shifted?”
“I died and came back to life,” I murmured, eliciting a snarl from his throat. It should’ve made me jump, but instead I just continued to lean into him, completely relaxed.
“Croy, cut the shit,” Marco growled, the sound making my toes curl. “You have no idea what’s been going on.”
“She fucking died,” he snapped. “Clearly there’s an issue.”
I really didn’t like fighting.
I began humming softly, thinking about how I sort of wanted pancakes right now. My humming stopped when the room went quiet and I found everyone looking at me. “Can we make pancakes? I’ve never had them, but they look really good.”
“Don’t, Croy,” Henry said harshly in reaction to whatever was on his face. “We’ll explain later. Maya, I’ll go make you?—”
“I’ve got it,” Ledger said, appearing on the stairs. Ignoring Croy, he walked over and placed a gentle kiss on the corner of my mouth, though he did narrow his eyes at the rumbling wolf before going to the kitchen.
I sighed. “Marco? Henry? Do you mind giving me and wolfie here a moment?”
“Wolfie?” Croy asked, sounding upset. I ran a hand through his hair, and he muttered a curse, letting out a soft rumble and leaning into it. Marco and Henry each gave me a kiss on the forehead, shooting the same narrowed-eye glance towards my wolf before leaving.
It was a bit hard to understand, let alone explain, but—unlike the owners of the six flames inside of me, my magic had simply decided his wolf belonged with us. Right in the center.
So here he was.
My wolf. All mine.
“Maya?” Croy asked quietly. I turned toward him and smiled. He really was very handsome.
“Thanks,” he muttered.
“Did I say that out loud?” I asked, blushing.
He chuckled and shook his head. “Yeah, you did.”
I nodded. “So, wolfie, Croy, sorry. You seem upset. Did I do something to upset you?”
His eyes flickered between my gaze and my lips, surprising me as he leaned forward and pressed his sculpted lips to mine, making a soft noise come from my throat.
Mint exploded on my tongue, and his hand came around the back of my head to hold me in place, shivers trailing over my skin.
When he pulled back, I shifted, feeling him very hard underneath me.
“That was the third kiss I’ve ever had,” I murmured, running my hand along his chest. “You’re a very good kisser, though.”
“Third kiss?” He rose a brow.
I shifted, and he groaned. I laughed, offering a tiny smile. “Sorry, Croy. I didn’t want to bring it up, but I’m pretty sure you find me attractive.”
His eyes darkened as a low rumble came from his throat. “Yeah, you could say that.”
“She means that.” Anani strode in, searching for something on the shelf. “Maya is new to all this, Croy. And I’m not enough of a dick to get in the way of mating shit, but please bear that element in mind.”
“New to all this?” he asked. I let out a soft hum and began to twist small pieces of his shiny hair in my fingers.
I could’ve sat on his lap all day long—he would totally let me, too.
His wolf was a sweet thing, and my magic and his were cozied up already.
He made me feel like everything was a bit slower, a bit more relaxed, like I was swimming in honey—it was wonderful.
“She turned eighteen yesterday, for one,” Anani said bluntly. I scowled, but he continued, “And she was?—”
“Locked in a basement for most of my life. This past week has been very different,” I noted in a cheerful tune.
Silence filled the space, and then I popped my eyes up to his. “Oh, and I died yesterday, so you could say it’s been eventful.”
“Eighteen?” Croy asked, his brow dipping in a way that made me a tiny bit nervous.
Anani finally found the item he needed and raised a brow. “Don’t try acting like that bothers you, Croy. You could damn well tell she’s young.”
“How old are you?” I asked him curiously. Anani’s chuckle followed him out of the room.
He grunted, shaking his head. “Been around for a bit. Wolves have different life spans.”
“Interesting,” I murmured.
“Marco,” Croy called out. The man appeared nearly instantly, standing behind me. I tilted my head up as my dragon graced me with a small smile.
“What?” He raised a brow at Croy.
“You can’t tell the Dragon Council about her.”
I frowned. “Why?” I didn’t like the idea of being hidden away anymore, especially not to people in my mates’ lives—I needed at least a reason for it.
Marco smoothed a hand over the back of my neck, a move that had everything turning warm inside of me. A shiver crawled over my skin as a flare of that dangerous boiling heat shot out, causing my breath to catch. Croy groaned, and his jaw clenched.
“Marco,” he snarled.
Marco chuckled. “I’m not about to stop touching my mate just because she likes it and you don’t.”
I did. I liked it a lot.
“She hasn’t hit her mating heat yet?” Croy asked, frowning.
“We think it may have to do with not shifting yet,” Marco explained. “But why regarding the dragon council?”
“I worry they might try to take her.”
Atlas rushed into the room then, his brow dipping at our position. He easily lifted me from Croy, his nose nuzzling into my neck. I instantly felt far more relaxed, and despite their protests, both men let him take me into the kitchen. The twins were cooking, and Henry was nowhere to be found.
Atlas sat me on the counter, bracing his forearms on either side of me. I settled in, running my nails through his hair.
“Sorry, angel, I don’t like hearing them talk about anyone taking you,” he explained softly as he sat on the barstool. When I continued to touch him, he added, “You’re so sleepy and cuddly in the morning.”
Cuddly? Like cuddling?
“What’s cuddling?” I asked curiously, although I was pretty sure I knew what he was referring to.
“It’s how you and I slept at night when you were living at…home,” he said hesitantly. I knew he hated the word ‘home’ in reference to that place—to be fair, I did as well.
I nodded because that made sense. I bit my lip slightly, grinning. “What if I wanted to cuddle with you when we weren’t sleeping?”
I really wanted to cuddle with all of them, to be honest.
He flashed me a dangerous smile. “Then you’d better believe we would fucking cuddle.”
“Well, let’s,” I teased.
“Pancakes!” Ledger offered me a grin as he laid out a plate in front of me. I immediately picked it up, Atlas pouring the syrup for me.
When he held up a bottle of whipped cream, I frowned. “Not sure I like that.”
The man squeezed some on his large finger and offered it to me. I leaned in and pulled his finger into my mouth, licking it before humming and pulling away. Anani let out a curse and stormed from the room as Atlas flashed me an amused smirk.
“Sure you don’t need a second taste?” he asked, his warm voice sending chills up my spine. His eyes were more amber than gold, and the flames in them made me feel like it was his dragon looking through.
“Maybe,” I whispered, because maybe I did. Or maybe I just liked the way he was looking at me.
Atlas’s grin grew as he squeezed more onto his finger and lifted it to my mouth, except this time he ran it along my lips. My breathing increased, my breasts were super tight, and that molten explosion of heat inside of me had everything speeding up.
I let my tongue dip out and he leaned closer, his eyes flicking between my lips and eyes. His voice was rough as he asked, “Taste good?”
A soft hum came from my throat. It did.
“Maybe.”
I had no idea what I was doing, but man did this feel exciting.
“Can I try?” he asked.
I frowned. “Yes?”
Then I understood what he meant. A content sound came from my throat as I received my fourth freakin’ kiss—and the second one this morning—that had my body exploding with heat.
My hands immediately sank into his hair, and I hesitantly slipped my tongue to entwine with his, causing a low, dangerous noise to come from his chest. A noise that had me tightening my legs around him.
“I mean, I’m all for this being breakfast…” Ledger purred. I jolted in surprise, pulling back and blushing. “But you did want to try pancakes.”
“Oh!” I scrambled down from the counter to sit right on Atlas’s lap, his laugh making his chest shake behind me.
The pancakes were delicious, but the whipped cream didn’t taste nearly as good on the pancakes as it had on Atlas.