It was the other shit that made it more complicated and messy.
Once we had a grasp on all of this, I planned on making sure Maya experienced so much more than the reality that she had been presented with so far. I wanted her to have lazy Sunday mornings where she could sleep in and spend the day relaxing at one of the many vacation properties that we owned across the Earth realm. I wanted to see her face light up as we explored each place that she talked about wanting to travel to, watching that stunning sense of excitement and wonder fill her face. I wanted to watch her move around our house in paint-covered overalls while she did whatever the hell she wanted to do all day long. I had the ability to give her that, and I would do my damn best to make sure she never thought that she had to do something again because it was ‘normal.’ I couldn’t express how glad I was that she wouldn’t be attending that stupid fucking school. I did, however, need to find a tutor. A female tutor, specifically.
That was one thing that I was glad Maya didn’t seem to mind. My overbearing sense of possessiveness and jealousy when it came to her. I mean, it wasn’t just me, but my dragon forced out my reactions far more than the others. I shook my head, thinking about our argument only the other day. I hadn’t been lying to her about ‘walking the walk’ and not just ‘talking the talk.’ I knew that a level of independence for Maya was essential after everything she’d been through.
Just because I knew something didn’t make it easier to accept in any way, shape, or form, though. It didn’t remove the urge I had to wrap her up completely and lock her in our house, in a contained, controlled environment where I could ensure nothing ever hurt her. It didn’t change the fact that every time someone threatened her happiness I felt a seething anger that had me acting in ways that I would normally be able to control. I didn’t like to make a habit out of killing people, but every time that someone hurt Maya? I was brought there. Partly because my dragon thought it was the easiest solution, and partly because I hated that someone would even question if they could hurt her, let alone do it.
I didn’t exactly take well to being questioned in the first place. Well, unless it was by Maya. Despite our continued attempts to dominate her when she did so, I found myself enjoying our back and forth, wondering how much of my dragon pushing forward it would take until she decided to listen to us. Somehow when it didn’t work, something that should have frustrated the hell out of me as an alpha, I found myself turned on.
Always fucking turned on around Maya.
A low rumble caught in my throat as I began imagining her on one of these many vacations that I planned on organizing. Immediately, one of the over-the-water cottages we owned in Bora Bora came to mind. I hadn’t even wanted to purchase the damn property when Sai had insisted on it, but the more I imagined being able to stare at every single inch of her golden skin laying out underneath the Pacific sun in a bikini? Or better yet, nothing? The more thankful I was for the purchase.
My cock hardened fully, imagining her naked on the water-level patio out back, laid out and napping, making it all too easy to just slide right between her silky thighs and spend my afternoon devouring her sweet heat until she was moaning out my name and her legs were trembling. Better yet? How easy it would be to roll her over and slam home inside of her tight pussy while biting down on my mating mark, making sure that the entire island heard those amazing sounds that came out of her perfect lips while I fucked her.
Shit. I honestly had no idea how I ever lasted inside of this woman. Even the thought of doing any of that shit had me feeling as if I was going to come in seconds. Although, if my cum wasn’t filling her up, I knew the action would feel hollow after experiencing the real thing. Despite my initial guilt, I was still far too pleased at the concept that I had come deep inside of her, marking her in such a primal and instinct-driven way. It also had me wanting to not only do it again, but to fill other parts of her with cum, specifically that mouth. I inhaled sharply, imagining my cum on her lips and how fucking good she would look on her knees staring up at me with my cock in her mouth.
This… I inhaled and tried to shake the overwhelming lust running through me. This was ridiculous. Why had I thought it would get easier after being inside of her? As if my frustration physically would have been eased in some way? No. This was far worse. Knowing what I was missing and not being able to justify waking her up to take just that. Because there was an instinct that rode me so much harder than my need to mate with her, and that was the one to take care of her. To protect her.
Which was why I would have to kill anyone outside of our flight that ever heard her soft, sexy moans or caught sight of her silky skin. They weren’t allowed to see or hear the small bit of heaven that I’d been blessed with and live. Honestly, not only was I a possessive bastard, but I knew that if they ever experienced Maya in that way, even in passing, they would try to take her from us. That alone was a death sentence in my mind. Our flight wasn’t perfect, but Maya was absolutely ours, and she had sealed that fate when she had accepted us as mates.
I just hoped that we were enough to make her happy. Most days I felt like we were, but the normal way that I would gauge that was skewed because the things that made Maya happy and were important to her were so different than what I could have been prepared for. I wanted to spoil my mate. I wanted to give her everything that she wanted and more.
If that happened to be ten more kittens, then so be it. As long as she went to bed every single night feeling loved and satisfied, I would give her the fucking world. I just wanted to find more ways to show the woman how much she meant to me, and while I think she knew it in theory, it didn’t remove the urge to do more.
I had the entire Earth realm at my fingertips, and I wanted to show and give her everything instead of being caught up in these goddamn politics that should have nothing to do with her to begin with. I knew the council was in theory a minor inconvenience, but that wasn’t including any of the shit we would have to deal with when we traveled to the Dreki realm.
Although, I really shouldn’t be that surprised by the council or anyone else’s reaction to her. Maya was a phoenix, and I knew some of the council members were from a time when they were more common than rare, rather than the generation we did, where the queen was the only one known to be a phoenix. So of course they viewed their value in a more traditional sense, especially when it came to making more fucking dragons, instead of seeing her as the priceless treasure that she so clearly was. One that they wouldn’t be taking away from me unless they also planned on killing me. An attempt I would have found funny at best and annoying at worst.
My brow dipped as I thought about the biggest issue with all of this. One that didn’t directly affect Maya but could, because if there was something we didn’t know about her species, it could have disastrous effects. I didn’t like being unprepared for anything relating to Maya, and I couldn’t stop thinking about the large question looming overhead.
If phoenixes couldn’t die, in theory, how the hell were they essentially extinct? I hated feeling as though I was missing something, and while Croy and Henry were doing their best to look into it, I found myself getting more frustrated and angry than anything else when it came to the concept of how interacting with humans and their culture could breed such dangerous results. Then again… we couldn’t completely blame the humans. No. There had been other realms and even dragons that had fought over the phoenix species rather than protecting them. Willing to get rid of them rather than to ever share them. Especially since mating with a phoenix came with benefits that I had only learned about in theory, but would sound appealing to the militaristic culture that we grew up in.