23. Sai
Sai
Iwas a fairly anti-social person.
That came with the fighting lifestyle in the human world, though. I wasn’t a fan of the celebrity status or crowds of people surrounding me. I wasn’t able to push it off like Marco did or enjoy it like the twins did. Well, like Anani did. It just felt manufactured for me.
What I did enjoy?
Watching Maya walk out the door and down the stairs to the beach as if she not only owned the place but didn’t care that four of the most important people in dragon society were watching her.
Just the way we liked it, for the record.
I swallowed hard, trying to not get caught up in how fucking perfect she looked, her dark hair pulled up and her curvy little body dressed in a pale yellow dress that tied with a bow at the top of her neck.
Other than that, she had bare feet and a big, excited smile.
Maya was a fucking vision, and everyone she passed couldn’t help but stare at her.
I tried to contain my growl at every other fucking dragon male looking at her.
“Sai!” She grinned as I pulled her into my arms.
I’d always been ignored in my real family. As the youngest of seven, I’d gotten everything secondhand, and it hadn’t bothered me. So when she’d asked me to be her first kiss…I had no words to adequately describe the level of joy I’d felt.
There were so many things I loved about Maya, and one of them was her curiosity.
I also loved her strength and her ability to keep positive despite not having a reason to be.
Sure, she was naive, but she was smart as a whip and able to catch onto things extremely fast. I was just crazy about the woman, and that didn’t even take the mating bond into account.
“You look handsome,” she said. The word sounded foreign on her tongue, like it was her first time using it out loud, but fuck if it didn’t feel good to hear a compliment coming from her lips.
“And you look beautiful,” I murmured, her eyes lighting up in pleasure at my words.
The twins then approached, and her smile grew. I knew she was excited to see them perform, and I could practically see the fuckers’ egos growing. I had zoned out for a bit, running a hand through her long ponytail, but quickly snapped out of it as two very familiar women approached.
Anani’s eyes went wide, and I shook my head. This was going to be a mess.
“Ledger,” Ainsley chimed from behind him as she slid an arm around his chest, making him still. Maya froze as Mercy also approached Anani and tossed him a grin.
“Hello.” Anani stepped back as Ledger removed Ainsley’s hand with a frown.
“Who is this?” Ainsely asked. “She’s so cute!”
Maya’s jaw clenched, and a truly frightening expression crossed her face. I rubbed her back but she stayed still, not even leaning back into it. Despite the pastel dresses and bows, I had a feeling that when Maya finally came into power, she was going to be a force to be reckoned with.
“My name is Maya,” she voiced, her eyes narrowing.
Mercy cooed. “So pretty. Is she your little cousin or something?”
Now, we were not supposed to announce we had a mate yet.
Marco had said that it was important that we try to keep it low-key because if we didn’t, the Council would ask what she was, and obviously we weren’t trying to advertise the phoenix element.
Unfortunately, Henry and Marco weren’t around to fix this shit—they were upstairs with the counsel and Croy.
I couldn’t even think about freakin’ Croy right now.
The point? We had no idea what to say in regards to Maya. Well, I did, but you could tell the twins didn’t.
“No.” Ledger scowled and rounded to stand near Maya.
“So who is she?” Ainsley asked.
Maya was uncharacteristically quiet, and I could almost feel her magic taking stock of the situation and evaluating the twins’ response.
“A friend,” Anani hissed.
I wasn’t sure Maya knew what Marco had instructed us to do, but the way her eyes flashed made me think she hadn’t. My mouth opened to stop her as she turned on her heel and walked toward the stone pavilion, Ledger muttering a curse.
“Sai…” Anani said, his voice strangled.
“Fucking fix this,” I snarled before turning to catch her.
Croy was there then, his eyes fixated on her expression. As I rounded to where she’d stopped, I could see her eyes were dark and a bit glassy. “Maya,” I tried to explain, “they didn’t mean…”
“What’s going on?” Croy demanded.
I think Marco and maybe Henry were the only two that were above him in rank in the food chain, you could say. Atlas and he were at about the same level, so as much as I wanted to punch the asshole, I couldn’t.
“Nothing.” She sniffed, avoiding Croy’s gaze. “I need to go grab something…”
She slipped past again, and Marco’s eyes darkened as he left their table mid-conversation. I could see the other council members frown, but he had Maya up in his arms in a moment flat.
“Sai, what happened?” Marco demanded. Maya shook her head, trying to hold back tears. I didn’t like seeing her try to control her reactions around us. I loved how authentic she was. It was refreshing as fuck.
“I’m fine.” She wiggled down. “I want to go inside.”
He let her down, Croy following as I opened my mouth to explain. “Those girls the twins went on dates with last spring showed up, and Anani, because of the direction he was given, called her ‘a friend’ when the girls asked.”
Realization dawned on his face, and he muttered a curse. “Go get the twins and tell them to fix this. I’ll tell the Council she’s our mate, but I need her down here for it.”
I nodded, going towards the twins, both looking up thankfully because the two girls were obviously trying to provoke a reaction from their normally calm facades. I could see both of them getting pissed, something none of us needed. Once they lost it, it was difficult to rein them back in.
“Ladies,” I said sharply. “I’m going to need you to get the fuck out of here.”
“What?” Mercy growled.
“I said get the fuck out. You upset our mate, so I need you to leave.”
“He said they were friends!”
“That was to keep busybodies like you away from the situation. Now get. Out.”
The girls sneered but walked away, and I turned to narrow my eyes at the twins, but they were both already walking towards the house.
This was a fucking mess.