Page 25 of Dying in Flames (Reborn 4)
“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.
