Reborn into flames, p.12
Reborn Into Flames, page 12
Once he had made sure I was buckled in, the handsome man rounded the car that had already been started and was fairly warm.
Marco spoke quietly looking at me, “she’s wrong, you know that right?”
“Wrong?” I frowned.
He grasped my hands and kissed the tops of them softly, “you are the furthest thing from trash, Maya. You are fucking perfect. Don’t let her words affect you for even a moment.”
I hadn’t even been thinking of her comments. Why? Because I knew that he wouldn’t think I was perfect for long. My secrets had reached their expiration date. I sighed taking just a moment to appreciate how good he smelled. How peaceful the car was, because I just knew.
I knew the moment that I started talking and told them everything, things would be different. So when Marco grabbed my hand, I squeezed it.
What else was there to do?
Chapter 13
Maya
I stepped into their house and wrapped my arms around myself, suddenly feeling as though everyone was asking for the same god damn thing from me. I decided to take a moment and went up the stairs towards my bedroom and no one followed. Not my bedroom. The bedroom they put my stuff in. I removed my school shoes and went to go put on a pair of leggings and a hoodie with slippers. What? I was a bit of a pleasure seeker. I didn’t bother unpacking my backpack, instead I brought it back downstairs, leaving it by the door.
Marco was already sitting in the formal living space and Atlas was leaning over a laptop with Anani. Sai was watching me and there was almost a nervous vulnerability to it while Ledger handed me a cup of tea. I really didn’t want one. Henry patted the seat next to him and I sat down crossing my legs in front of themselves before breathing in.
“Her father is claiming she was off her medication,” Atlas states, “she’s going to get the help she needs, but I am filing a restraining order.”
Oh yeah. Becky. I lifted a hand to the back of my head and could feel the dry flakes of blood on my scalp. I had to give her this, she knew how to do some damage I suppose. My mom would like her.
A nervous prickle went over my skin, but it didn’t feel like it had just to do with this damn situation. No, instead, it felt larger than that. Felt like a flush was overruling my skin and my center was heating up from my ribcage out. I tightened my hands on my legs as I tried to breathe through it because now was not the time to not feel well.
“Maya,” Marco opened his mouth, and instantly I was talking.
“I really don’t know what you want me to say Marco,” I whispered immediately. I didn’t.
He stilled as everyone watched my expression, tears filling my eyes.
“Maybe this isn’t a good idea,” Henry stated softly.
“We need to know,” Marco stated as frustration built in my chest.
“Why?” I asked for the millionth time.
“Because we are your god damn mates and you come into our town bruised and fucking battered. We need some answers Maya,” Sai snapped out, causing me to growl with frustration.
“You still haven’t even explained what this mate thing is!” I exclaimed sitting forward. “And don’t bullshit me about being just friends, because that’s a lie.”
The room went quiet as Sai rose a brow. “You swore.”
“Yes I did,” I blushed. Sai’s eyes infused with a bit of amusement before flashing dark again.
“We need to explain,” Ledger stated his body next to mine as he intertwined his hand with my own. I fought the urge to pull away because my frustration was misplaced, I was angry that I had to tell them the truth.
I watched as Atlas closed the laptop and Anani spoke, “who wants to explain?”
“Oh my god,” I groaned, “someone please explain.”
Henry snickered and then Marco began talking.
“Alright Maya.” He sat forward and I tried to give my best attention. “We are shifters, dragon shifters, and you are most definitely some type of shifter. One that we’ve narrowed down to two possibilities, but we can talk about that later. The point is, shifters have mates. Mates are your fated partner, or partners, that the part of your soul connected to your animal matches. Once you find them, you stay with them for the rest of your life.”
I swallowed nervously, “that makes sense.”
“Yeah, that was the easier part,” Sai muttered.
Marco frowned slightly. “Maya, you’re our mate. You would have realized it yourself on your eighteenth birthday when it fully sets in, but leaving you in the dark, I understand, is unfair.”
The first thing that hit me was the spark of joy in the center of my chest. Because holy crap. They really weren’t just my friends. Then that was run over by two bulldozers. One of them being the concept that this was fated. So in a way, it was an obligation. They don’t have a choice in how they feel. Secondly, they deserved better and fate was cruel. Fate was cruel for putting someone so damaged with them so perfect.
“All six of you?” I whispered.
Henry nodded cautiously as I nibbled my lip. “And you said this was fated? As in, there really wasn’t a choice on how you would feel about me?”
Everyone seemed to still at that as Atlas spoke, “it’s not like that Maya.”
“But it sort of is,” I whispered.
“Maya,” Marco started.
I shook my head and stood up walking to distance myself just a little bit. This was good. Which was why I wanted to cry right? Good one, Maya. No. This was okay. I just needed to tell them what was happening. Just needed to explain what a freak I was because they deserve so much better.
“I was locked inside a church basement from as early as I can remember,” I stated my voice sounded distant. Enough so that I didn’t really feel the serious shift in the room, my eyes trained on the forest greenery outside.
“My mother has never directly stated that I was adopted, but as I got older it became more clear that I wasn’t her or Pastor Malcolm’s biological child. She said they tried to baptize me, but that I set myself on fire because the devil didn’t want my soul cleansed. From that day forward, I was locked in the basement year round. My father, Pastor Malcolm, would come down each day and read scripture to me and provide me with school material. He said that one day I would help their religious organization move forward and possibly make more just like me. Once he died, my mother took me from there and she began calling it a cult, so I began to realize that my situation growing up was far from normal. Before that, I would have assumed the beatings were normal. She said that the reason I healed was because of the devil, because the devil fixed me. Whenever any blood would spill I would heal, so she began to bruise me instead.I don’t know why she keeps me around if she hates me enough to always want to hurt me.”
I inhaled and continued, “I’m a freak.” My voice sounded strangled. “I’m never going to be normal. I will always be playing catch up to where I should be in life. I can’t even say my mother was wrong because I do have the devil inside of me. Why else would I keep being friends with all of you when I know that I shouldn’t? When I know I’m not even good enough to have friends like you?”
I sniffed and wrapped my arms around myself, “I turn 18, this Saturday, and when I do, I’m gone. My mom doesn’t care where I go, or what happens to me. And I know you mentioned me staying with all of you, but I don’t think that's a good idea. I’m sure you understand now that… Henry!”
My back hit the wall as a pair of furious silver eyes peered down at me, the oxygen leaving the room as I shivered against his body heat. I had never felt more cold in my life. Especially because the man in front of me was vibrating with heat. Remember the other part of Henry I had mentioned sensing? It was very much out to play.
“I need you to listen to me, Maya,” he whispered softly, his voice sounded dangerous.
Tears welled in my eyes knowing that he was going to tell me to leave. I was shaking so hard that he had to hold my shoulders to stop the impending panic attack.
“You. Are. Not. Leaving,” he whispered softly, almost with venom at the idea.
What?
“What?” I echoed tears leaking down my face.
“I said you are not leaving. You aren’t leaving tonight and you sure as hell aren’t going back to your mother. I understand, sweetheart,.” he inhaled, a furious light in his eyes, “I understand that your mother has convinced you of some really fucked up shit.”
Oh, he swore.
“You are not leaving though. I won’t let you. You aren’t a freak and you deserve a hell of a lot more than we can probably ever give you. But you are not leaving. You belong here and if you want to be our friend…”
“Mate,” I voiced quietly as warmth filled his gaze.
“If you are okay with being with us,” he whispered, “then we want nothing more than for you to stay.”
I examined his face and voiced my last concern, “but what about the fated…”
“I don’t think that matters,” Henry stated softly, “I think if I was a human, I’d feel this way about you, Maya. You’re absolutely perfect.”
Perfect?
A small pained sound came from my throat and I buried my head in his chest. He soothed me a body pressing from behind as Marco’s voice spoke softly, “say you’ll stay Maya.”
So bossy.
“I’ll stay,” I whispered in a tortured quiet voice between raspy quiet tears.
I felt my knees break in relief and Henry never let go of me. I could hear the other men talking but I was losing my ability to think rationally, feeling so damn relieved that they wanted me. They wanted me to stay. With them.
“They are going to send for the police again,” Anani whispered as I looked up and found his gaze red and slightly glassy. I slithered out from between Marco and Henry, wrapping my arms around him, his nose buried in my hair.
“Screw Jed,” I muttered, “he’s a creep.”
“A creep?” Sai asked quietly.
I nodded, because at this point I might as well get it all out. “He is always trying to touch me and rub on me.” I cringed at that last part, but I had no other fucking word for it. The room might as well have turned into a tundra.
Atlas’s voice was sharp, “who hurt you the night I came to visit you?”
“My mom,” I whispered “because she saw me with you guys, but then the next morning, he left bruises on my neck.”
“Fucking shit,” Anani muttered.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Ledger asked roughly.
“I’ve known you all for four days. I may be naive, but sharing my abusive mother problems off the bat seemed like a bad idea,” I muttered.
“I want him taken care of,” Marco spoke softly, his body frozen with this dark tension.
“Not tonight!” I whipped my head back to look at him, “please not tonight, I don’t want to escalate anything until I can legally leave the house. Please, please, Marco. If I get sent back there, it is only going to be worse if we do something.”
He inhaled and searched my face before nodding. I rested my cheek against Anani’s chest as my dry and sore eyes sighed relief. A very small part of me was thrilled to be going to bed in the large, truly, massive bed upstairs.
∞∞∞
I woke up to a room bathed in darkness and I panicked for a moment, only to have a true sigh of relief leave me. My head was surrounded by the softest pillows and the blanket over me sheltered my freshly washed skin. I had stood in the shower for at least an hour before even washing my hair. I’d used this rosemary mint shampoo and then proceeded to shave, like everywhere. That sounds weird, but my mom had no reason to teach me how to shave, so before school started I’d done a botched job of it after seeing all the women in Cosmo. This time around everything was far smoother. Even down there. That’s right, Vogue called that ‘trimming the lady bush’ which I had to admit, made me laugh so hard I nearly cried. Who the heck came up with these titles? Maybe I needed to work for Vogue.
My body was cocooned in warmth and I was glad I’d asked the twins to stay. I wasn’t sure why, but something about what I’d gone through had really messed with them. Both were shirtless and laying facing me, their dark lashes brushing against their stark skin. I could see their tattoos now and Holy Christ, were there a lot of them. I wanted to touch them but I worried I would never stop, which was a problem because I was really thirsty.
I unwrapped myself and crawled towards the end of the bed, letting my toes press against the floor. Before leaving the room, I walked towards the massive panel of windows and looked over the thick forest area highlighted by moonlight. I was surprised my mother and Jed had yet to say something or show up with the cops. My mother didn’t really surprise me actually.
My feet barely made a noise as I walked downstairs and I was surprised to find, a figure in the living room. Was he having issues sleeping?
“Sai?” I asked softly as I tiptoed into the living room. I knew it was his dark head tilted down and a bottle of something sat in front of him.
I tried again, “Sai? Why aren’t you in bed?”
He groaned in a pained voice and looked up, his dark eyed red rimmed and jaw tense. I froze because he seemed angry and I couldn’t gauge at what.
“Maya,” he said softly. “You should go to bed.”
A shiver went through me as I stepped across the flooring into a plush rug, my arms wrapping around my center. I was glad I had put a robe on over my large shirt now.
“Are you okay?” I ignored him and approached carefully.
“No,” he admitted, “I had no idea you’d been living like that…”
“Sai,” I whispered, approaching him and looking down worried. “How could you have known? It doesn’t matter anymore, anyway, I’m here and I’m okay.” I felt the need to reassure this man, to make him understand that everything was okay.
He braced his arms on his knees and looked up at me, starting at my toes and up to where my hair laid in a messy bun. He grunted, “fuck.”
“What?” I asked, authentically concerned as I sat next to him, except he lifted me instantly to sit on his lap. He nuzzled my neck and took a deep breath, I looked down at him and grasped his face. I turned and found myself far closer than before, my chest meeting his. I felt my legs clench at how hard he was underneath me.
“This is dangerous,” he whispered softly, almost to himself. “You aren’t ready for any of this.”
I wasn’t 100% positive what he was talking about, but my guess was his physical form of hitting on me? I mean, his erection was pretty freakin’ apparent and a small shiver of something began to crawl through me. I could still imagine how freakin’ big he was and I’m sorry, but that was just interesting to me. I was curious.
“You don’t know that,” I spoke slowly as he met my eyes in disbelief.
“Maya,” he mumbled.
I cupped his jaw and spoke softly, “I don’t know a lot, Sai, and I’m not ashamed about it. I know I like you though and I just thought…”
I paused and realized what I wanted from him.
“What?” He asked softly.
I smiled softly, “will you be my first kiss?”
I mean they said we are mates, right? I’m assuming mates will want to mate eventually? Like how animals do? So I should probably get that kissing part thing down. I was really interested in getting to that other part, this was a good start, right?
An indecipherable look crossed his face as his eyes melted to a warm pool of midnight water. I waited for his answer and he hesitated for a moment, looking over my face and then my lips. I had no idea what I was doing.
“Are you sure?” His voice was husky.
I nodded, “please.”
“Christ,” he mumbled before pulling me closer to him so we were nose to nose.
“I don’t know how…”
But then I did. His lips met mine and a content sound came from my throat at how right this closeness felt. On instinct, I leaned in closer and he deepened the kiss, his hands grabbing my waist in a solid hold. I was very glad I had asked for what I wanted.
My first kiss was amazing. I didn’t have a comparison chart, but I could feel my entire body growing warm as that burning ember sensation grew and my body urged me closer. I wanted to taste more of him and my tongue swept across his lips as he let out a low rumble. I found myself tangling my hands inside his hair until he finally pulled away, his cheeks flushed and eyes dark.
“Shit Maya,” he whispered.
I blushed, “that was amazing, I mean, at least for me…”
He kissed me again for my answer and this kiss had a slightly different feel. I could almost feel the tension under his skin and I was shaking from the excitement in my own body. My body was keyed up for something and I had no idea what. It was like someone had filled my veins with gasoline and set fire to it.
“Sai,” a warning voice called from the kitchen. I blushed and looked up, unashamed, to see Marco leaning against the doorframe. Sai groaned and put his head against my neck, I brushed his hair gently.
“Maya, beautiful, I’m going to go to bed, I don’t trust myself right now,” he whispered, his eyes dark.
Trust himself? Well, I trusted him. If he thought that was best...
I kissed his lips in a barely there movement. “Thanks for my first kiss.”
He pulled me closer before placing me down on the couch and striding away. I could totally see how much he liked me from here. My lips curled into a smile and that was how Marco captured me.
“Hi,” I whispered as he lifted me up and I wrapped my legs around his waist. I could still feel the weird energy under my skin and Marco groaned in response to it.
“I feel…” I mumbled, not knowing how to describe it. It was an odd feeling, like heat was trying to burst from my stomach but at the same time, my core was tightening with need.
