Page 67 of Soaring in Flames (Reborn 2)
Maya had appeared in my view and like I said everything seemed to center in on her small, elegant frame. She had soared easily, naturally, through the space and filled my entire chest with a proud, awed, feeling that almost hurt. She was that fucking beautiful, it hurt. It was physically painful.
For a normal Earth realm bird, she was large like a massive raven, or something along those lines. Her entire neck and legs were colored in golden scales and her body was made of thick gold and red feathers that were ablaze with fire. But not just normal fire, no her wings were painted with red, orange, and purple flames. Her body a royal blue and purple inferno. She was like a blaze of angelic beauty. Now, as if it had never happened, she was resting in my arms with a smile on her lips, eyes closed peacefully, keeping me completely entranced in her beauty.
“Her father is a fucking witch?!” Sai exclaimed, looking panicked.
“Yes, he must have been one hell of a shielder for us to not notice,” Marco deemed, his jaw clicking, “We need to get him and Lorn back to somewhere we can contain and question them. I want them taken to the local wolf pack lands. Alpha Creed has cells for new shifters and I don’t want them let out until we know how the fuck she was taken from our house and how Lorn was part of this.”
Atlas looked up from his phone. “Marco the cameras show her walking out, like she was sleepwalking.”
“This is fucked up,” my brother muttered.
“He used magic then?” Croy demanded, but we all knew the answer.
I stopped paying attention though because Maya shifted in my arms, her face flushing pink as a pulse of magic rolled over her skin, causing a scale like pattern to shift underneath it in a gold and sapphire motif. My eyes widened as I ran a finger down her arm gently, the pattern appearing once again.
I’d seen that pattern once before, right before she had been reborn, but the blue was new. It was stunning and odd. I wasn’t positive what was normal for a phoenix but she seemed to have an unusually unique and beautiful air to her. Or and this was possible, I was completely biased when it came to her. That was no doubt more likely the case than anything. But maybe it was both...
Croy confirmed my original thoughts as he crouched down in front of me, grasping her arm and brushing where the scales had just been. Underneath Croy’s fingers it pulsated as well and his eyebrows shot up. “What color was that?”
I arched a brow, “Did you not just see that?”
“I just need fucking confirmation,” he stated quietly, the others talking behind him about god knows what.
My brother, who was sitting next to me, spoke, “Blue and gold.”
Croy made a worried noise in the back of his throat, snapping his head around to look at the others. “Marco.”
“What?” Marco’s voice was harsh and stressed. I didn’t blame him for his reaction. This was probably driving him fucking crazy having a situation so outside his control.
Henry already looked like he was about to blow a gasket, his eyes flashing between the others and Maya’s sleeping form.
Sai was pacing back and forth, running a hand through his hair, looking worked up as all hell.
Atlas was just scaring me a bit. His silence was unnerving as all hell and it was never a good sign. If anyone was liable to snap it was Henry, but I didn’t doubt that Atlas was close to that edge as well. I think with Maya, we all were right on that edge. I clutched her closer, not positive exactly how I felt right now as the awe fell away.
Fuck she had literally been drawn out of our own house. We hadn’t even started to consider shit like that when it came to her security.
“I think we need to get to the Dreki realm as soon as possible,” Croy answered, “I haven’t seen anything like Maya’s shifted form before. It is...unique, to say the least.”
“Is that not how phoenix are supposed to look?” Henry asked as concern trumped his anger.
“We can’t go until we handle this,” Marco countered.
“We have to,” Croy stated softly, “trust me. Listen, I’ll call one of my associates. I have a few people that owe me a favor and one of them used to do military...um, interrogation.”
Torture. He meant torture.
“Can he be here by the morning?” Henry asked, looking concerned, “We need to head to LA to go to the portal for the Dreki realm as it is.”
“Don’t forget about that fucking council event,” Atlas muttered.
“Event?” I asked, frowning. To be fair I wasn’t always updated on our plans until the last second. I had never minded my place in our flight because frankly, I didn’t want to be in charge, but right now I was sort of wishing I had been kept up to date more. To be fair, I could have asked though.
“Yeah, we have to meet the other dragons in the fucking area, introduce her to all the other flights,” Atlas explained.
“No,” Sai growled, “I fucking hate that.”
“We have to go out there anyway, it just makes sense,” Henry started with a grunt.
“Alright,” Marco sighed, “Anani, can you, Ledger, and Atlas all head home? We will take care of these bastards and then Croy will have his contact meet us there as soon as possible. You three can meet us there once she wakes up and is feeling better. Although, I would prefer for her to not show up at all, I need all of you there, just in case and I don’t want to leave her at home. Make sure the cat stays though.”
“Undetermined if possible,” Ledger chuckled, “but she will stay in the purse. None of the wolves will fucking mess with her.”
That was the honest fucking truth in reference to both Maya and Bella. Atlas jumped off the cliff, shifting mid air, and flying around in a large circle as his wings pushed air across the cliff side and the trees behind us rustled. I clutched Maya closer worried that she would get cold, although her body temperature didn’t make me think so. I stood up easily, as my brother kicked her father’s ribs, a sharp crack sound making me smile.
Ledger jumped off the edge and shifted, floating right off the side as I scaled his back and locked her between his neck and my body. We were off within a minute and Maya muttered a few soft words under her breath, making my chest warm.
The further we got away from Lorn and her father the better I felt. Now, if only we could avoid going back to that fucking hell hole I grew up in.
