My smile grew, thinking about the mark that was on the back of her neck. It was one that would fade into a silver scar but always be extremely visible to the wolf shifters around her, not even including the fact that she would always have my scent on her from now on. I was worried, though. Maya only had so much to her, and with the way we were marking up every inch of her perfect body, there was bound to be no space left soon. Although, at least then no one would really be able to miss it.
Just like no one could miss that massive ring on her finger.
I hadn’t been lying to her. I had always planned on marrying my mate, and while our situation was a bit more complicated, not having considered her having multiple mates, I planned on continuing forward with that plan. Call me old-fashioned or whatever the hell you wanted, but I needed to marry Maya. I needed to see a wedding band on her finger next to the massive flashy stone she was wearing. I needed to hear her promise to be mine forever as I returned the same sentiment. Just like a mating pledge, marriage was an ‘all in’ type of situation for me.
I could have married before now. There had been plenty of times where I could have married into the human world. It would have provided the perfect cover, and in the long span of years when I was especially lonely without a mate, the concept had been appealing. But I knew nothing would ever compare to the bond between two people who were meant to be together. So I waited, and when I woke up about a week ago, a ringing in my head feeling as though something had shifted, I hadn’t considered what it meant. I hadn’t considered the fact that after all this time, there was a possibility that my mate was now out there.
And I hadn’t been wrong, for the record. Having a mate and mating with Maya was like absolutely nothing I could have ever imagined. I let out a low rumble, glad that she hadn’t thought I was an absolute ass for taking her up against the mirror of the closet so hard and rough. I had wanted to take my time with her, devouring every inch of her, but I’d been waiting for Maya for far too long. I had been needing her this entire time, and now that she was mine, I could barely remember all the years that had passed.
They seemed unimportant now. Simply a passage of time before she came into this plane of existence. In fact, everything seemed unimportant before her, and while I would gladly admit that if she asked, I did know it came across as a bit unhinged. I ran my fingers over my wrist as I took a moment to consider what was to come.
I knew Maya was set on handling this Pastor Malcolm situation directly. I knew that she wanted to be there to see if there were others like her. I also knew that if his coven was as bad as I was imagining, they would take advantage of her presence and attempt to capture her once again. Something that I would never allow to happen. So how did we keep her safe without exposing her to the risk that she was set on surrounding herself with?
“I have no idea how to convince her to do this from afar,” Henry stated quietly as if reading my mind. His thoughts were elsewhere though, overall, his gaze on the horizon. I could tell that being here was messing with his and Marco’s dragons far more than they would ever admit.
“We can’t,” I admitted, hating that I knew this wasn’t something we could fully control. “You’ve seen how determined she is, Henry. We just have to do our damn best to protect her while we are there and fucking wait to go until we have backup.”
“I hate that we have to rely on them for anything,” Henry noted as I nodded, knowing he was referring not only to the crown princes but also the other teams they would be sending.
“It will be easier to focus on keeping her safe if we have more people,” I conceded as he let out a tired sigh but nodded.
Before we could continue our conversation, Atlas walked out onto the balcony, putting down two more cups of coffee as he drank his own. I don’t think he’d slept since we arrived here, and I honestly couldn’t blame him. We were all on edge as it was, and I was glad that Maya could at least get some sleep because it put all of us in a better mood to know that she was well rested.
While this trip had been more complicated than fucking necessary in my opinion, I was at least thankful that we had some information regarding her health. A ton of other shit as well, but now we knew that her fevers and magic overload was part of the mating process. I smiled down at the mark on my wrist as I tried to not let my thoughts stray down the path of how it had gotten there. More specifically how fucking great Maya’s ass had looked pressed up against me as my cock slid in and out of her.
Fuck. I had really lost it. I knew that bite mark on the back of her neck had to hurt, but she’d yet to complain. That wasn’t surprising, though. Maya rarely complained, but it did make me worry that I’d hurt her. Although, my wolf was also causing me to feel as though I had a split fucking personality, because he was goddamn thrilled we had marked her in such a savage way. Deep enough that she would always remember it. Always feel it. A low rumble nearly escaped my throat as I cleared my voice.
“When is the younger flight arriving?” Henry asked suddenly, drawing my memory to the fact that we were traveling back with a much younger flight of dragons. Ones that were, for all intents and purposes, fleeing the Dreki realm.
“That’s why I came out here,” Atlas admitted. “Marco said it should be any minute now. I didn’t want to wake up Maya, but we probably need to.”
I stood, grabbing my cup of coffee, and walked towards the door. Atlas put a hand up and handed his to me as well. I offered him a questioning look, and he shrugged. “She’s going to steal it anyway. May as well just give it to her.”
Chuckling, I walked back into the room and towards the large suite, Marco closing the door and offering me a head nod. Unlike the past twenty-four hours, all of us were dressed back in normal clothing, having no need to wear the ridiculously formal wear that everyone seemed to don here.
Slipping into the bedroom, my chest squeezed as I found myself stopping in the door, taken away as usual by how goddamn beautiful my mate was. Even laying spread out in bed, her hair messy and half in her face, she had to be the most beautiful woman on this fucking plane of existence. I swallowed down the heavy emotion I felt as I approached the bed and sat on the edge, my eyes trailing down the way her body was twisted in the soft blankets, the light purple lace she was wearing clinging to her frame. I let out a deep groan from my throat, unable to stop the way my body instantly reacted to how sexy she was, my cock twitching at the idea of pulling the lace off with my teeth.
Shifting slightly, Maya let out a small hum, stretching her body and rolling onto her stomach, causing me to nearly let out a growl. Her ass, a golden tan and covered partly by the lace teddy she was wearing, was extremely distracting, my fingers darting out to brush her skin, feeling like a creep but not able to help myself entirely. Her skin broke out into shivers at my touch and she let out a soft sigh of my name, unintentionally encouraging me more.
Hadn’t I told her that I wouldn’t be able to leave her alone after she let me between her legs? I would really just be keeping my word. My fingers ran across the edge of the panties she was wearing underneath her lace teddy as she pressed against my fingers, the arch of her back and the way she moved her ass against me causing me to move onto the bed with her, not giving a fuck about our time constraints anymore.
“Sugar.” I leaned down, caging her from above and nipping her ear. “If you keep moving like that, you’re going to get fucked.” I should have been surprised by the words out of my mouth, but I was finding that Maya pulled a side out of me that was more blunt and far darker than I could have expected. A small moan worked its way from her lips as she turned her head to the side, casting me a sleepy smile.