Page 35 of Dying in Flames (Reborn 4)
Maya
I wentin and out of consciousness for a few seconds, panic and fear saturating every bone in my body at the realization that the person carrying me was Lorn. This was so bad. So, so bad. My eyes were heavy, but I finally managed to open them, looking up into his determined expression as he kicked open a door and bright lights caused me to squint and curl in on myself.
Except that brought me far closer to Lorn, and I hated that.
I tried to move more, struggle more, but it was like my entire body had shut down. I couldn’t see more than a few inches in front of me, and any pleasure that had existed before was now ice cold. I could practically feel my muscles giving in, and my entire frame was shaky as I tried to call out, tried to scream, my voice producing nothing but a little whimper. His grip turned bruising as voices that sounded a lot like my mates’ yelled in the distance.
“Lorn?” My voice was choked, my mouth barely forming his name.
He snapped his head down to look at me, his eyes filled with a terrifying, manic light. “Do you know how fucking hard it was to get you alone?” he demanded. “I have been trying to get to you since I got out of that damn cage, only to find out you fucking disappeared for almost a month. I had to go into hiding because of you. I can’t see my family, my own fucking pack. All because of you, and Marco’s fucking obsession with you.”
“How did you find me?” I managed to articulate, my lips feeling almost numb.
“That doesn’t fucking matter,” he growled. “Let’s just say I found people who align with my belief.”
“And what’s your belief?” I could feel my body slowly coming to as my magic started to snap back into place, piece by piece, slowly but surely, like bones popping back into position. Still, this was so much worse than ever before. I would have felt terrified if I wasn’t far more horrified at the notion of being in Lorn’s presence.
“That you need to be taken care of,” he sneered. “You’ve been a fucking problem since day one. If they want you that bad, then there has to be something special about you—”
“Who are ‘they’?” I tried to struggle, my limbs unlocking, as he continued walking fast, the noise fading in the distance. Panic began to bubble up in my throat as everything in my power begged me to get back to my mates somehow.
“Stop asking fucking questions,” he snarled.
“No,” I snapped, his eyes narrowing on me.
“Fine. Then we are going to find out, right the fuck now.” He threw his shoulder into a door to the side, my head slamming against it, the surface giving into a dark space. “I am going to see exactly what’s so special about you, and then when you are tied to me, Marco and I will be on a level playing field. I will be fucking his mate, and you will be on your knees crawling to me.”
I tried to scream as everything began to sharpen, pain soaring through me as I was tossed onto a hard cement floor. I began to scramble away, only for his hand to come around my throat, pinning me to the ground as his massive body came over my own, tears leaking from my eyes.
I couldn’t see anything but the outline of his body from the light filtering in from the hallway outside. I tried to scream again, but it broke as bile came up my throat at feeling his body against mine. I began to choke on my own spit as I clawed at his hand, the smell of blood filling the space. I tried to not phase out…tried to remain strong.
My phoenix let out a cry from my throat that had Lorn letting out a ferocious sound that was more bear than man. Another cry escaped my lips despite his hardening grip, everything turning hazy around me as I felt my oxygen supply become nearly nonexistent.
I knew the sound would warn my mates. They would come and save me. I just had to keep struggling. Keep fighting. I couldn’t give up…it would just be a few moments longer.
Lorn’s hands began to push up my skirt, and when they tugged on my underwear, fear permeated through everything and I started to truly thrash around, refusing to let this happen. The numbness was gone, and I felt like myself…but more. So much more. There was something volatile in the space, something unlike my normal magic. It almost made me feel lit up, like I was plugged into an energy source and getting constant pulses of power.
My phoenix began to absolutely flip out.
This wasn’t one of our mates. He wasn’t supposed to be touching us like this… The moment his hands touched my bare abdomen, the world burned.
Flames erupted throughout the room and across my skin, a scream of agony filling the space as the scent of burning flesh had me closing my eyes. The blazing inferno of my magic lit everything up, and the excess magic inside of me almost leveled the entire space. The screaming stopped, and my magic whiplashed back into me as I fell back onto the cement floor, the pain of my head hitting nothing compared to everything else. Compared to the feel of the ashes covering my entire body. A tremble worked its way through my frame as I curled onto my side, tears sliding down my face as sobs began to wrack my body.
“Maya!”
My phoenix let out a soft cry at the sound of my name roared in the distance. A second later, a massive frame appeared in the doorway that had me flinching. A sob left my throat as I realized it was Atlas who knelt down in front of me, lifting my body against his.
He didn’t care about the ashes…didn’t care that the ashes were…
Bile rose in my throat.
“Angel,” Atlas’s voice filled the space around me as I tried to only focus on him.
It didn’t work.
“Lorn was here— this”—I felt my breathing spike as I looked at the ashes—“these are him—the ashes are him.”
Atlas’s eyes widened with fury, and not at me. “You mean…”
My mate knew exactly what I’d meant.
“I killed Lorn.”
