Dying in Flames by M. Sinclair
Maya
When had I fallen asleep?
That was the first question that popped into my head as I sat up slowly, the blankets falling around my waist as I looked around the room, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. And when the heck had I been put in my bedroom? I tried to recall what had happened after the Halloween store… We had come back home to the news crews still crowding the outside of the house, and all of my mates were fairly tense, so I had slipped into Croy’s bedroom to watch a documentary about sharks. I think I had been asking him about whether or not shark shifters existed when I’d fallen asleep.
I couldn’t blame myself completely since I’d essentially devoured an entire tray of cupcakes on my own, finding an assortment in a neat little package tied with a pink bow in the kitchen. They’d been from Jordan as a ‘miss you’ present, and I had immediately figured out how to call her, thanking her while stuffing my mouth full of a pink frosted, sugar-filled, vanilla treat. I had been a bit bummed that she hadn’t come over last night, but considering the security issue, I completely understood, and I could only hope that we had it solved by tonight so it wouldn’t affect our Halloween plans.
But none of this answered my main question… Where was Croy? A pout slipped onto my lips, wondering why he hadn’t decided to come to bed with me. In fact, why weren’t any of my mates with me? That wasn’t just unusual, but honestly fairly upsetting.
Slipping from bed, I grabbed a robe and wrapped it around me before walking out of the bedroom, immediately seeing that Marco’s office light was on. That wasn’t good. The man worked far too much and didn’t get nearly enough sleep. It was good that he had me, or else he would probably forget altogether.
Coming to the door, I was completely surprised to find Atlas at his desk instead, bent over a group of papers as he ran a hand over his face, looking exhausted. I frowned, briefly noting that he was still dressed in his shirt and jeans from the previous day, making me know that he’d yet to sleep.
“Atlas?” I called out softly, his head snapping up as he graced me with a gorgeous smile.
“Angel, it’s five in the morning, why are you up?” he asked curiously, motioning for me to come over to him. I circled the large desk and sat on his knee, melting against his large, warm frame.
“No one was in my bed,” I pointed out, my fingers brushing over his jaw lightly. He leaned into the touch, letting out a happy hum.
“I think most of them are outside.” He nodded towards the window, so I stood up and walked towards the large window that looked over the front of the house, my head tilting as I saw that he was correct. But it wasn’t just them. No, there were other men with them, and ones I didn’t recognize.
“Jordan’s mates,” Atlas stated easily. “They wanted to confirm and search the property before coming here. Of course, I don’t blame them, but I didn’t expect them to show up so damn early.”
“Does Jordan know?” I asked, wishing she had come by.
“Not sure.”
“Why are you not out there?”
He motioned me back, and I stood next to him, looking over the papers spread out across the desk. There were so many that my mind wasn’t processing fully what I was looking at at first…but then I realized they were maps. He nodded towards them. “I was waiting for these to come in.”
“What are they maps of?”
“Discover Haven Church.” He sighed as my fingers ran over a map of a large compound, a church illustrated in the center that had me feeling sick to my stomach. I tried to blink away the memories of leaving in the middle of the night, being roughly handled by who I had thought was my ‘mother’ as I had looked back at the only home I’d ever had, a church that looked startlingly similar to the one on the map. I knew it was the same place. I just knew it.
“Established in the 1900s in northern Louisiana by Todd Barber,” Atlas explained. “Clearly used as a cover for Malcolm’s family coven for god knows how long. This is the location that we’ve had eyes on, trying to figure out if Malcolm had either gone back or if there was anyone else being held prisoner.”
“Did they find anything?” I was almost afraid to ask.
“Completely empty.” His voice sounded distressed. “But there were signs of captivity. Not only in the church basement, either.”
“They went into the basement?” Tears welled in my eyes as he tucked me against him and turned the papers over, his dragon letting out a soft, comforting hum. Normally it would have erased any emotions like this, but I felt raw seeing this type of reminder after seeing Pastor Malcolm so recently.
“They did.” He immediately tried to change topics. “But don’t worry, baby girl, we don’t have to think about—”
“We do,” I argued. “I swear to god, Atlas, I know there are others. The more I think about it, the more it makes sense. We have to figure out where he went.”
“We will find him, and if there are any others, we will find them,” he assured quietly before his tone turned a bit more thoughtful. “Marco instructed them to search the coven in our area as well. It seems that their leader, Earnest, hasn’t been around lately, so there was no lead there. I have eyes looking out for Malcolm, but it concerns me that he just disappeared like that. That shouldn’t have been possible for a witch.”
“Pastor Malcolm is out there, Lorn is out there, even Anna…though she ran, I guess. I have to admit, I knew she hated me, but that type of betrayal? What have I ever done to her?” I felt my eyes prick with tears. I had been through so much, but something about her actions really hurt.
“It’s not you, Maya.” Atlas brushed my lips lightly, pulling me close. “It’s what you represent and the power you took away from her that she thought she could have access to. Anna has always been focused on amassing power, but I never would have expected her to go this low either.”
“What about the other dragon council members?”
“Larry is terrified, doesn’t remember anything past Anna knocking him out cold after a drink.” He shook his head and his jaw clenched. “Edmund is pretending like none of this happened. Lucas, though, is trying to keep a better eye on the two of them. If you ask me, even with Marco being on the council, I think the institution should be completely taken down. It’s unnecessary, especially on Earth realm.”
“And in the Dreki realm, my mom and dads are there,” I agreed.
“Yes. We have to send word back to them. I know they planned on joining us soon.” Atlas jotted down a note before he chuckled. “Not used to thinking about that, but I fear if I don’t, I might end up dead. Especially after the multiple threats about keeping you safe.”
“I would never let them kill you,” I promised.
He flashed a smile before cupping my jaw. “No thinking about killing for a bit, angel. Tonight I want you to relax. There is no point in thinking about any of this until we hear something. Plus, my dragon is convinced that with everything you’ve been through, you’re going to run and blame this shit on us.”
“Your dragon?” I hedged.
A flash of vulnerability moved through his gaze. “Me as well.”
“I am not going anywhere, Atlas.”
He inhaled and nodded, almost to himself. “Which reminds me, we need to talk about what you want us to tell the FBI. They have been asking around about your ‘disappearance,’ and I have a feeling that we are soon going to be earning ourselves a visit.”
“We can’t tell them we went to the Dreki realm?” I teased.
“We could, but it may just complicate shit more,” he mused and then shrugged. “I honestly don’t give a fuck about the FBI, so you decide and we can make the move to handle it however you want.”
When I didn’t have any ideas, he suggested, “What about Ledger’s idea? About Malcolm having taken you and that we were looking for you? We don’t have the best reputation, but we have always helped the police out in large-scale situations. Plus it would get more eyes on the lookout for him…but only if you are comfortable with lying.”
“If it gets us his location sooner, I am fine with it,” I murmured.
“Alright.” He nodded. “Let me make some calls. You should get more sleep.”
“I’m going to make us some coffee. I would rather be together,” I pointed out. The smile he gave me made it completely worth the sleepiness I felt.
* * *
Except that ofcourse I’d fallen asleep, despite the coffee and Bella sitting on my lap, batting at my hair enough that it kept my attention. Apparently I’d been more than sleepy. When I woke, though, I had found myself back in my bed and wrapped up in a fort of cool, fluffy blankets. That had been about an hour ago, and I’d been busy ever since.
Most of my mates had been busy all morning dealing with the reappearance of news trucks outside. They were further back from the house, but they’d still managed to push our security back. Add in the helicopters in the sky, and I was starting to feel very bad. The worst part was that I knew they had the ability to make them leave, but because the reporters were human, they couldn’t do any of their normal dragon stuff.
I was starting to see all the disadvantages of just being human.
Instead of going downstairs, I’d taken a bit of time for myself, roaming through my room and organizing stuff since I’d been gone in the Dreki realm. Obviously, not much had changed, but I was starting to feel the need to shift stuff around. I knew the costume person would be here soon, so I was taking full advantage of my free time.
I’d felt odd all morning. Not in a bad way, just a bit different.
I felt this weird surge of energy as I tried to organize things differently in my room. I wasn’t exactly positive how I wanted it set up at first, but I knew how it was wasn’t working for me. I had also snuck into the boys’ rooms and took a few shirts and hoodies from each of them, deciding that I wanted some of each of them around me while I slept. It should have sounded weird, but instead I just found myself loving the idea of having them close and currently had the clothing neatly stacked on my bed. Also, once I had gotten the concept in my head, there was no denying the urge to do it. I had started and hadn’t been able to stop until I had taken probably far more than I needed.
Oops. I honestly didn’t feel very bad about it though, because the mixing of their natural scents and colognes had my phoenix producing a happy noise from my throat.
“Maya?” A familiar voice had me turning towards my bedroom door, the early afternoon light filtering across the room and making Anani appear almost lit by sunshine.
“Hey you.” I offered a smile while straightening the last stack of clothes into a completed semi-circle at the end of the bed. I had a second comforter wrapped around the back of the pile so they wouldn’t fall off. Anani examined the setup as I walked over to him, letting my head drop back so I could get a kiss from him.
“Are you doing laundry?” he asked softly, his voice filled with curiosity. I eagerly met his lips as he brushed his mouth against mine.
“No, these are clean. I sort of went bedroom to bedroom to collect them,” I admitted.
His chuckle had me relaxing against his chest momentarily. It was truly only a second before that weird strum of energy had me breaking back away from him as I went into my closet and lifted up on my toes to pull down some extra pillows to add to the fortress of comfort I was crafting. I wasn’t positive why this felt so important to do, but it really did.
My bed was massive, and despite all my additions, there was still enough room for me and some of my mates. When I was done, I stepped back and smiled at how it turned out.
Perfect.
Turning back to Anani, I found him staring at me with amusement and something else a lot hotter. It was a look I hadn’t seen in his eyes before, and it caused a sound to come from my throat in surprise. The weird hyperness that had been running through me all morning came to a halt, his attention far more important than our mission.
“What?” I asked softly.
“Are you building a nest, peanut?”
What?
I snapped my head towards the bed, and my eyes widened.
Oh. Oh, wow.
“Am I?” I frowned as he came up behind me and slid his hands to my hips, causing me to lean back into him, his throat producing a low rumble.
“It appears like it,” he pointed out. “Why today? What made you want to start?”
I turned into him and tilted my head thoughtfully. “I’m not sure, I just felt this random urge to do it… This is so weird. Why would I build a nest?”
“For when you go into heat.”
I jolted slightly, peeking around Anani to find Croy standing in the door, smiling at my creation as well. My cheeks filled with warmth at the word ‘heat’ and what that would mean in all its context. My gaze moved to Anani’s neck, nearly frowning at the lack of a mark there.
I also knew what marking Anani would mean. My understanding, based on what the royal physician said, was that as a Blue Phoenix, I would have to mark all my mates in order to go into heat, so his lack of one was the only thing preventing it from occurring. Something that obviously hadn’t been on purpose, but now seemed like a massive obstacle my phoenix and I wanted to push past. I could practically feel the instincts roaring through me, and his eyes darkened on the way I leaned into him further, his dragon producing a low rumble. He seemed to steady himself before breaking away to walk along the window wall, causing me to sag slightly, feeling his loss despite Croy’s body heat suddenly surrounding me.
I knew Anani didn’t mean to hurt my feelings, but the idea of him walking away from me had me feeling a bit down. I distracted myself a bit by looking up at Croy. “Why would I start this now?”
Croy nodded towards my mate. “Because you only have one mate left to mark. Your phoenix and magic are probably preparing.”
“Preparing for heat.” I drew out the word on my lips, my excitement growing at the concept.
Then I felt my eyes widen, remembering Dr. Bates’s words about what the mating heat meant, ‘beside the obvious.’ It meant we could possibly create a child in that timeframe…that I could get pregnant.
I exhaled sharply as I felt my knees break, and I sat on the floor, blinking as I tried to process the reality of the situation. It wasn’t an upsetting reality, but I was hit both by feeling completely unprepared and feeling an instinctual amount of joy at the concept of creating life with my mates. My phoenix loved the idea, and I found myself entertaining the notion, loving it as well, even if it scared me a bit…
“Maya.” Anani was there then, cupping my jaw, looking concerned. “Don’t freak out. We can put it off as long as possible, as long as your health and life aren’t at risk. I want you to be comfortable—”
“I am not freaking out about the mating heat.” I grasped his fingers and smiled up at him. “Or marking you. None of that…I was just considering the baby part. Dr. Bates said that it was possible I would get pregnant during my first heat, and if not the first, then the second. That is the part that is causing me to…”
“Freak out?” Croy asked, crouched down with us.
“Not exactly.” I shook my head. “The idea doesn’t bother me. I love the idea of creating a life with any of you. I mean, you’re my mates…” I swallowed, feeling my cheeks heat. “It’s just a lot at once, and I didn’t even realize I was preparing this weird little nest thing until Anani brought it up. It’s almost like this entire other side of myself is in charge, and it’s a bit jarring.”
“The more in touch with your shifter side you become, the harder it will be to fight against it,” Anani admitted quietly. “It becomes essentially half of you. I have a feeling that the mating heat is one of those things that sort of steamrolls everything else.”
I inhaled, nodding as the door opened more. Henry stood there, looking at us in confusion, before glancing up at the bed. “What’s going on?”
Standing up, I shrugged and motioned to the bed. “My phoenix had me making a nest before I even realized it. Something about the mating heat, apparently.”
Henry’s eyes darkened as he seemed to consider saying something before looking at Anani and Croy. His voice was rough as he announced, “The seamstress for the costume just arrived.”
“Oh good.” I smiled. “Send her up.”
“Will you guys bring her up here?” Henry asked, keeping his gaze on me.
Croy walked out of the room, seeming amused as Henry kicked open the door further, Anani offering him a head shake I didn’t understand before it was just the two of us. Henry walked over to my bed and tilted his head, examining the nest before noticing that Bella was sitting on top of one of the piles, sleeping peacefully. His eyes were dark as he looked down at me, his hand slipping over my waist and pulling me against him, my breath catching at how hard he was.
“What are you thinking about?” I asked quietly, unable to help myself from teasing him a bit, as his lips kicked up into a smile.
“You probably don’t want to hear that right now, sweetheart.” He leaned down to brush his lips against my ear. “Especially since the seamstress is about two seconds away from entering.”
I blushed. “It’s something good then?”
Henry’s chuckle was soft and dangerous. “It is definitely something that would feel good.”
Before I could respond, the woman in question breezed into the room, immediately seeing me and plastering a smile onto her face. Henry kissed my forehead before introducing us, but I found myself distracted as I looked back at my nest, wondering just what would happen once I did go into heat.
* * *
“What doyou mean you went to the Dreki realm for a day?! You’ve been gone for almost a month!”
Only an hour or so later, Jordan’s voice was echoing through my room, the familiarity of it making me smile. Her eyes were wide as she sat at my desk, Bella on her lap. Patricia, the seamstress with the costumes, was mostly silent as she worked, except for some occasional humming. Honestly, her job seemed very cool. Because she already had our rough measurements, she’d brought along an assortment of costumes we’d been able to pick from that she could alter and could be paired and matched with a ton of accessories she had also brought along.
I was sorta glad we’d gone this route, to be honest, because now my mates would really be surprised by what I’d chosen to wear tonight. I couldn’t wait to see their reactions.
“Apparently time moves differently.” I shrugged, finding her reaction funny. I loved my mates, but I was really glad Jordan was here. I had missed her, and I was realizing that sometimes I just needed a bit of girl time. Plus, my mates and hers were downstairs hanging out, and they seemed to all get along well.
Considering how happy she seemed, I was eager to meet them. Aside from her first mate, Marcellus, I hadn’t had the chance yet. I loved the idea of maybe doing a double date… Although, would it really be called that? We each had a lot more than one boyfriend…
“Insane.” She shook her head before looking at the inspiration pictures I had printed off for Patricia. Instantly, she was scowling.
“What?” I demanded.
“You are wearing pants!” Jordan complained. “Pants were not in the plan, Maya. We always wear pants. Halloween is not for ‘always’ moments.”
“I have to wear pants!” I laughed as she shook her head with a disappointed look.
“Skirt. Spandex. Even booty shorts. But no pants. No jeans. Nothing like that,” Jordan announced. I couldn’t help but find her excitement for tonight infectious. Plus, it was better than the opposite. She had already expressed guilt about Malcolm and Lorn escaping, and despite my assurance it wasn’t her fault, she continued to apologize. I didn’t want that on her. Heck, if anything, it would be on her dad, and I still didn’t blame him.
“Okay.” I nodded and looked at the woman. “Skirt.”
Honestly, after that, it was a bit of a whirlwind getting ready, with music blasting and Jordan dancing around the room. Luckily, my friend hadn’t mentioned the odd assortment of things on my bed, so I was hoping she either didn’t notice it or knew not to touch it. It was an odd feeling, but the idea of anyone except for my mates touching it really upset me.
As I brushed my hair into a high ponytail, I straightened the long length so that it hung down to my butt before Jordan helped me clip in sparkly pink hair extensions near the base of my skull. I turned my head and smiled, loving the way they seemed to glow under the light. Nearly as much as the bright pink lipstick I chose to wear, applying it carefully after putting on some light foundation and glitter to cover my cheekbones and eyes. I felt like I shimmered with glitter every time I moved, and my phoenix nearly broke out in excitement as Jordan pulled out spray glitter. By the end of the process, I was sparkling like a diamond, and it was so freakin’ amazing.
That was all before I even got ready. Ready in an outfit that even I would classify as sexy.
The top was made of a pale pink corset with darker pink ribbing that Patricia helped put on, the material tightening around my waist as I slid on the skirt over a pair of pink lace boyshorts, the fluffy pink tulle skirt hitting right under my butt. A sliver of my stomach could be seen between the two garment pieces, and I grabbed a pair of thigh-high white stockings to pull up so that there was a similar effect between the edge of the skirt and the sheer socks.
I couldn’t help but smile a bit in the mirror, knowing that my mates were probably going to like this outfit a lot… Well, in some ways. They would like me in it, but that didn’t mean they would like it, especially since we were going out.
Finally, I slipped into a pair of stilettos with pink fur on the straps that went around my ankles and feet. It matched the cat ears and tail that Jordan helped me pull on. As I looked at the finished effect, I felt my eyes widen, realizing that I felt as sexy as I looked, and that was a new experience.
“Maya!” Jordan giggled. “They are going to flip.”
I couldn’t help but smile as I shrugged. As if it wasn’t a big deal, as if I wasn’t thrilled at the prospect. I turned towards the vanity and grabbed the ring I had taken off while shopping, slipping it back on.
Jordan was suddenly tugging my wrist, her eyes wide. “What is that?” she demanded. I knew she wasn’t talking about the stunning flight marking that adorned my forearm.
“A promise?” I hedged while my cheeks turned pink.
“Girl, that’s an engagement ring,” she insisted.
“Maybe a little bit,” I agreed.
She laughed and turned around so I could help her put a few more curls in her hair, the entire red mass a stunning, wavy mess. Jordan did her makeup way faster than I had done my own, and when she went back to change, I looked over the jewelry case on the counter, wondering if there was anything else sparkly I wanted to add. My eyes landed on just the thing, knowing it matched Bella almost perfectly. It was the gift that had actually given me the idea to buy her a diamond collar.
Except this was a diamond choker, and as I slid it on, I couldn’t help but tilt my head to the side, loving how the lights flashed over it. I let out a happy sigh as I walked out into the bedroom, letting Jordan have the space to get ready. My amusement jumped, finding Patricia helping Bella into an adorable little set of red and orange wings that buckled underneath her furry stomach. Upon hearing me, she let out a fierce little meow that had me knowing that she loved her phoenix wings. It felt only right that if I was going to be a kitten, she would be a phoenix.
“What do we think?” Jordan pulled my attention, and my mouth dropped open. Holy crap.
“You look gorgeous!” I squeaked, looking at the adorable green dress she was wearing with fairy wings and emerald green stilettos.
“I’m Tinkerbell.” She turned around before shifting her wings on her shoulders, the gold complementing her hair perfectly.
“Who is that?” I asked, wondering if it was someone important.
“We will watch the movie sometime,” Jordan promised. I felt like there were a lot of movies we needed to watch.
“Ready?” I asked after thanking Patricia and putting Bella on my shoulder.
“Oh yes.” Jordan smiled. “I can’t wait to see all their reactions.”
I couldn’t either.