Page 22 of Dying in Flames (Reborn 4)
More than anything, though, there was an edge to the energy around her that had my phoenix greeting it in a friendly manner, seemingly happy to interact with her magic. In a quick second, I realized I wanted to be this girl’s friend, and even though we were exact opposites, like the sun and moon, I don’t think it mattered.
“Maya!” Marco called out in the distance, making me suddenly laugh as I tugged her hand to follow me. We went down a few more aisles, and I found myself hoping she was like Jordan and didn’t mind me being so friendly out the gate.
When we came to a stop, I explained my reason for running, because she appeared so confused. “Sorry, trying to give someone the slip so I could find something for them as a surprise.” Specifically, a sexy Halloween costume. My mission, though, was being sidetracked by my attempt at friendship.
“A guy?” she asked.
“My mate.” I sighed happily before asking, “Do you have a mate? I have quite a few.” Maybe it was more common than I assumed.
“Sorta,” she admitted, her eyes jumping with amusement. “They are mages though.”
“Mine are dragons.” I then added, “They get very worked up when they can’t see me.”
And I loved it.
“Wait, like dragon shifters?” Her brows rose in surprise.
“Yep.” I nodded enthusiastically. “What are you? Also, did you dye your hair like that? I would love to color my hair like that. But I would probably do pink again. I don’t think blue would look as good on me.” I was very sad that my pink had faded; I needed to redo it. I had also seen purple, which I thought would look pretty. Once we stopped being so busy, I promised myself that was exactly what I would do.
“I’m a demi-goddess,” she stated, causing my mouth to drop open.
Was she for real? That was so freakin’ cool.
Suddenly, a large figure turning the corner of the aisle up ahead had me smiling. “Oh! They found me. Well, it was wonderful to meet you. What’s your name?”
“Nova.” Ooo, that was a pretty name.
“Maya.” I put out my hand as she met it and thunder cracked outside. Now that was cool. I wasn’t positive, but I had a feeling that she was responsible for this weird storm outside. It was just a feeling, though—it was completely possible that I was incorrect.
“Firefly.” Ledger sounded stressed as he approached me, followed by Marco.
“Please don’t run off like that, Maya. That scares the shit out of me.” Marco rounded Nova as I smiled up at them to assure them that I was perfectly fine. I didn’t mind teasing them, but I also didn’t want them worrying too much.
“I didn’t run off,” I pointed out, despite having done exactly that. “This is my friend Nova.”
They glanced at Nova for only a moment before looking back at me. When someone else joined us, a sound came from Marco’s chest that was dangerous and caused my breath to hitch in excitement.
Wait.What was going on with him? I didn’t like the idea of him upset at all.
My gaze moved to a very large man behind Nova, his dark wavy hair and silver eyes complementing her own, the two of them appearing almost like a matching pair. I had to assume this man was one of her mates, because the way that he was staring at her with so much possessiveness was a bit jarring. Mostly because I don’t think she noticed it at all.
Was now the time to bring up to her how cool I thought it was that we both had multiple mates?Probably not.
The man met Marco’s gaze and held it for a minute, some weird moment passing between the two of them that I didn’t understand, before my mate relaxed slightly.
“Maya,” Nova drew my attention back happily, “can I give you my number? I would love to hang out, but I have three more psychos roaming around this store, and well, you know…”
“You mean because they get all growly? Do yours do that also, or is that a dragon thing?” I wasn’t exactly positive what ‘psycho’ meant to her, but I had a feeling it was along those lines.
Handing her my cell phone, she typed in a number before giving it back while muttering, “I think that’s just a crazy dude thing.”
“That means both of you are crazy,” I offered, amused, while looking down at my phone, Ledger’s dragon releasing a noise that had my toes curling. That was before another energy signature joined us.
My head snapped up to focus on a rather intimidating man, his emerald green hair standing out against his completely black outfit and olive skin. His dark eyes barely focused on me before narrowing on Marco and then Ledger…who he smiled at? The tension almost immediately broke.
“Ledger?” He broke into a big smile. “What’s up, man?”
“Fox? Hey man,” Ledger replied with a grin, meeting his hand. “I would have come over and said hi if I’d known you guys were here. Is Cass around?”
