Reborn into flames, p.7
Reborn Into Flames, page 7
Her brow dipped and she shook her head, “I don’t want you guys to get hurt.”
There was her protective nature again. Part of me was immensely turned on by it and the other part was terrified about her need for that amount of concern. I knew something had happened last night because Marco had said we needed to talk privately. Atlas had found out something regarding Maya, and my guess was that it wasn’t good.
My chest hurt thinking about her in danger. Maya didn’t know it yet, but her time in that goddamn trailer was at an end. She had officially four school days until she turned eighteen. Friday at midnight I was dragging her ass out of there. She didn’t have to stay with us, I’d put her up wherever she wanted, but I didn’t want her around Jed. Jed who had been arrested for drug trafficking and suspected sex trafficking. Somehow the fucker had gotten off and my suspicion was that he had connections in the human world to aid with influencing the system.
“Hey sugar,” Malloy winked while sitting across from us, “why the long face?”
I was able to keep my reaction to a minimum as Maya scowled, “I don’t have a long face, it’s perfectly shaped.”
Anani chuckled as Ledger shook his head. Malloy tilted his head and grinned, “you’re an odd one, aren’t you?”
“Maybe you’re the odd one,” she retorted, looking amused.
He snorted and nodded, “agreed, Maya.”
I felt jealous over their fucking interaction. The fact that I was nearly positive Malloy wasn’t even fucking attracted to women didn’t matter to my dragon. Possessive bastard. I tried to ignore it as a low rumble came from my chest and Malloy frowned at me. I kept my face neutral because this really did not need to turn into what happened with Lorn earlier. I’m surprised Maya didn’t lose it and run. Instead, she leaned her head against my chest and her eyes fluttered just slightly. My lips curled because I’d realized yesterday that the sound coming from my dragon actually relaxed her. It had been the same way she’d reacted to Marco. It didn’t surprise me completely because while Marco was alpha, I was his beta, so we would be the first two she’d feel the strongest attraction to.
Before anything else could be said, an odd sensation came over me. I frowned as I looked behind Malloy and realized who exactly was walking over. Shit. This could only go bad.
“Maya sweetheart,” I murmured as she peaked up at me. I heard the twins still as they watched evil itself walk its way across the cafeteria.
“Yeah?” She asked sincerely.
“I want you to remember that whatever happens next, I am not involved with anyone. I am only focused on our… friendship. Okay? It’s just the boys and you. Alright?”
This was such a fucked-up situation.
Her eyes examined my expression and she probably didn’t even realize that she was using her energy to search me for lies. She smiled right as a shadow of deranged awfulness covered the table.
“Hey boys,” a high pitched scratchy voice sounded.
Fucking Becky Ash.
Chapter 6
Maya
I looked up at the shadow covering our table and my eyes widened. She was so freaking pretty. Holy crap. When she looked at me next to Henry, her face turned violent and I found my heart racing. That menace and deranged violence reminded me of my mom.
“Henry sweetheart.” She leaned forward as her blouse opened and my eyes flashed to her… holy crap those can’t be real. Who is this lady? She had the body of a thirty-year-old and her face was very smooth. Like a doll. Her hair was a weird white color that was dark at the roots. I had to admit, I was confused about her, but she was beautiful in a very unique way. Why didn’t my body look like that? Was it wrong I was a bit jealous?
“Is this your new foster sister?” She asked curiously in a harsh voice, “she looks so little. What are you kid, like fourteen?”
Before I could stop myself, a snarl built in my throat at the way she was treating me. Ledger covered it with a cough but I turned my body so I was shielding my boys from her. Even Malloy was temporarily included. He was a goofy guy but I was starting to think we could be friends… just not the same type of friend I was with the other boys. I was getting really frustrated with not having a word to describe how I was feeling.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name,” I stated keeping my eyes and expression neutral.
Her face darkened, “that’s because I didn’t give it to you.”
“Well,” I frowned, “that is a bit rude, isn’t it? I get it though, maybe manners aren’t your thing or you didn’t learn proper introductions? Whatever the case, I’m Maya.”
I put out my hand and the woman’s face turned red.
Still, no introduction, but Henry was silently shaking next to me.
“Henry,” she growled, “sweetheart, are we going out tonight? My parents aren’t home so if you want to come over… the twins can join also, my friends don’t have plans.”
My lips pressed as a growl bubbled up. She couldn’t be their friends. They were mine.
Henry sighed and pressed a kiss to my forehead, “I’m not free tonight, Becky.”
So her name was Becky?
“With work?” She narrowed her eyes at me. I wondered what he would say.
“No.” He massaged my scalp gently. “The lot of us are busy every night for the foreseeable future.”
My skin shivered as I leaned back into him. Becky offered me a glare, before something flashed in her eyes, and walked away. Wow, her skirt way shorter than mine. It was sort of impressive. I sighed and looked back at Henry his eyes warm on my face as Malloy looked over the four of us.
“Thanks, peanut,” Anani winked, “you looked like you were going to tear off her head.”
“Sounds messy,” I mumbled softly.
“Firefly,” Ledger looked at my sandwich, “eat up.”
Malloy spoke and rose a brow with honest curiosity, “so I have to ask Maya, are you single?”
I jumped as a ripple of growls and low chest noises had Malloy swearing. Poor guy. He put his hands up, “alright fine. Nevermind. I’m just going to assume she’s with all of you.”
“Good assumption,” Anani bit out.
“So being single?” I frowned and asked Henry, “what does that mean exactly?”
The bell rang as Malloy frowned and all my guys made an excuse to stand up. I smiled as Ledger helped me up and the other two walked behind us slowly. I looked up at the orange-tipped hair of my friend. Today he wore a comfy hoodie and on the front was a bright neon design.
“Ledger?” I asked softly, “could I get a hoodie like yours?”
He flashed me a beautiful smile that had me smiling in return, “do you want it right now, firefly?”
My lips pressed together trying to suppress my hope. “But then you will be cold.”
Ledger stopped and my throat went dry as he tugged his hoodie up and the polo underneath rode up. I made a panicked sound because my body reacted, heating to the sight of his smooth muscular abdomen. He had tattoos as well. I wanted to see those.
“Maya?” He asked handing me the sweatshirt and snapping my eyes up.
I blushed at being caught looking at how beautiful he was. “Thanks.”
He helped me tug it on and once it was over he leaned closer against my ear to whisper, “never be embarrassed for looking at me, Maya. I’m always looking at you.”
Oh.
I really needed to find out the difference between friends and liking one another. This was getting confusing. I considered them friends, but there was this pulsating in my chest that told me they were so much more.
I couldn’t think about that though. I just had to make it to Friday night at midnight.
“I’m going to go use the washroom,” I said breathlessly and walked over to a door, practically closing myself in it. My heart was beating so fast. What was going on?
“Hey.” The red-haired girl from my first class stood in front of the mirror. “You’re Maya right?”
I nodded and pressed my hands against the counter trying to regulate my breathing slightly. If she noticed, she didn’t comment. Instead, she hopped up onto the counter and offered me a grin, “I’m Jordan McFury.”
“Nice to meet you,” I smiled softly. The woman was taller than me and wispy in stature. I could see a soft kindness radiating from her deep green eyes and it comforted me. I was terrible around women because of my mom, they made me nervous. Not her though. She seemed nice.
“I’m so sorry you had to deal with Becky,” she groaned. “She is the worst. Absolutely awful. You seemed to hold your own though.”
“She really didn’t like me,” I stated with a slight frown.
“That’s because you are with them.” She nodded as if motioning to my boys outside. “She’s been gunning for one of them since freshman year and now you are here less than two days and those boys are all over you. Actually, it’s worse than that, they are like straight-up obsessed with you. I mean that is probably dramatic, but also maybe not because they have been warning everyone off. I mean, of course, we’ve all heard how possessive dragons can be about their mates, but man, I don’t think any of us actually considered how bad it would be.”
“What do you mean ‘gunning for them’?” I didn’t like her doing anything in reference to them. It didn’t bother me as much when Jordan talked about them, but not Becky.
She kicked her legs while sitting forward. “So you know Marco, right? The older one.”
I blushed and her eyes popped open.
“It is all of them, isn’t it?” She grinned and clapped. “Shifter society is so much easier to deal with.”
“Shifter society?” I tilted my head.
“Oh, don’t act so naive.” She chuckled. “I’m a wolf shifter. Half this school is part of one shifter community or another. For example, that asshole Lorn is an alpha for a small bear pack ten miles from here...”
Okay, I would totally ask about shifters later. I wasn’t focused on that though.
“So what about Marco?”
“Well, they are rich. I mean, you probably know,” she exclaimed dramatically, “like I mean really fucking rich. Like his company is worth billions. Billions!”
“Wow,” I whispered, “I didn’t know that.”
“But she has gone after each of them,” Jordan continued with enthusiasm. “She’s the worst, besides Lorn. My pack is pretty cool though, I mean my dad is alpha so if it wasn’t, I would be pissed. You will have to come to our pack lands sometime. Wolf shifters can be a bit aggressive, but most of us are okay. Plus my dad loves Marco, so I can’t imagine it will be an issue to arrange.”
“Sounds cool,” I flashed a smile. How else was I supposed to react to what she was saying? Also, Jordan didn’t seem aggressive at all, but maybe she was different than the others in her pack? Wait, was she saying she was part of a pack of wolves?
“Oh, another question,” she bubbled out and I realized I was completely relaxed because of her excitement, “is your voice naturally like that?”
“Yeah,” I muttered suddenly feeling uncomfortable, “I had an injury a bit ago.”
“That is so cool,” she exclaimed. “I mean not that the injury, but it sounds so unique.”
The warning bell rang as she hopped up and hooked arms with me as she led me towards the bathroom door into the large hallway across from our classroom. “Here give me your phone.”
I handed it to her and she typed in a number quick, kissed my cheek, and waltzed into the classroom. I blinked a couple of times and sighed. Well damn. I scowled at swearing, I didn’t want to be like my mom.
“Maya,” Ledger snagged me gently into his arms. I blushed as the eyes of students still waiting in the hallway bore into us, so I turned into his warm chest. His hand came under my chin.
I noted softly, “I just met Jordan.”
“That’s good,” He flashed a smile before his expression turned serious, “but I need to apologize.”
I frowned, “why?”
“I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable earlier, firefly,” he whispered. “I would never try to embarrass you or make you feel bad.”
I pressed my lips together but my words came out anyway, “I wasn’t embarrassed, I just couldn’t think around you, my heart was beating super fast.”
A warmth spilled into his eyes as he tilted his head, “so you were looking at me.”
Something occurred to me and I spoke freely, trying to distract myself from the butterflies, “Jordan said some things and I’m a bit confused. She said she was the daughter of an alpha and part of these ‘shifter communities.’ She said Lorn was a bear and that Becky was ‘gunning for you guys’ because you’re rich. What does she mean by all that? And after hanging out with Jordan, I really don’t think the group of us are acting like friends. I’m just confused-”
“Maya,” Ledger put a thumb on my lips, “breathe.”
I inhaled and nodded before he answered, “for now, let’s wait on the shifter aspect until home, okay?”
I nodded.
“As for the friend thing, you’re right. Friends don’t act like us.”
I knew we would be late to class, but I leaned into him for comfort anyway as I asked, “how are we different? Why?”
Ledger swallowed while worrying his lip, “I think we should talk about this later. Just know that most people don’t act like this with their friends.“
“So this isn’t how I should act toward all my friends?” I rose a brow.
“Absolutely not,” Anani growled softly from behind me. I jumped a little, but his large warm hands smoothed my waist. My ribs were still tender, but honestly, it wasn’t terrible and his hands made it feel better. Those embers grew hotter inside of my stomach. Why did I only feel like this around them? It was like my chest was warming and a voice inside of me was humming happily.
“Huh?” I asked confused. “So how do I know then?”
Henry chuckled, walking forward with his hands in his pockets. “Yes Anani, how does she know who gets this special treatment?”
Ledger smoothed my hair thoughtfully, “only us six, firefly.”
Anani nodded. “Yeah peanut, just us six.”
Henry frowned. “But you can make more friends, sweetheart.”
Ledger grunted at the same time Anani made a distressed sound. Henry rolled his eyes and tugged me into his side. “Don’t listen to them, you can be friends with whoever you want. Just,” he hesitated, “maybe keep touching them to a minimum.”
I nodded and admitted, “I don’t really like touching other people, but it’s different with you guys. Plus, I sincerely doubt anyone else will want to be friends with me. Don’t worry.”
We walked into the door late as Henry made a concerned noise. I wasn’t positive what it was in reaction to.
“Class has started, please be seated.” Our professor raised a dark brow. The four of us scuttled to sit down as I found myself wedged between the twins once more. I shivered under the coolness of the window that was thrown open. A damp wind pushed through the room with a vigor that reminded me of my nights in the basement.
“Sinner.” Hit 1 from father.
“You kneel on the floor because you’re a sinner.”
“Sinner.” Hit 2 from mother. “Beat the devil from you.”
“Sinner.” Hit 3, father again. “On the floor like the beast you are.”
“Sinner.” Hit 4, mother again.
“Maya,” Ledger whispered with concern. His hands wrapped around my trembling ones as my eyes refocused back on the class. I could feel a cool wetness against my cheek that confused me. I moved my hand up to brush away the offensive moisture.
I blinked to refocus in the class. I tried to ignore the three intense stares and focus on the task at hand. I didn’t want them to know how broken I was. When I was alone, no one was around to see me cry. No one was around to see the freak I was. The absolute devil I was. For once, no matter how temporary, they made me feel wanted, and I was in no hurry to lose that.
“What the hell happened in there?” Anani whispered while we moved towards the gym. I swallowed and shook my head. Jordan tossed me a wave and I was starting to feel lucky that I had made a real friend, just in case the boys didn’t want me.
My lip tilted down without permission.
“Maya.” Ledger attempted to grab my hand.
“I’m fine,” I crossed my arms tight enough to hold myself together, “really. Just a bad memory.”
“What caused it?” Henry asked quietly, his warm hand touching my back gently.
I shook my head trying to gather myself. “Let’s focus on gym, okay?”
I heard three dissatisfied sounds, then Ledger muttered, “fine.”
Except as the twins entered the locker room, I was gently tugged back by Henry. His eyes were swirling with a dark shade and this warm shiver crawled across my skin from the energy that circulated around us. He spoke quietly, “you can’t keep saying you don’t want to talk about it, Maya.”
I licked my lips and shrugged, “it was just a bad memory, what is there to talk about?”
Henry’s eyes darkened as he kissed my forehead and nodded toward the locker room. He was right. Friends didn’t keep secrets and I was keeping a lot of them.
Once in the locker room, I changed and tied up my sneakers. I looked down at the second-hand shoes and wondered how I would even go about getting a job. There were so many things I didn’t understand and it felt like I had no time to catch up.
The boys were waiting for me and I almost confronted them about the friendship thing, but when Anani grasped my hand and pulled me toward the class, I just couldn’t. I should have told him to stop. I didn’t want to though. I didn’t want to tell him that no one could ever be anything other than my friend. They deserved to know though. They deserved better. I was selfish though.
I really did have a devil inside me.
Chapter 7
Sai
“This is fucked up, Marco,” I hissed as I paced back and forth in the bastard’s office. He worked from home most days and today was no exception. It was also due to the work being done in our seventh bedroom because everyone agreed Maya should have her own space.
