“So they are prized after?” Marco summarized and I knew he was concerned about the dragon council.
“Highly, considering we haven’t had any in hundreds of years. Puritan religious cults killed most of them off by draining their blood, believing the regenerative qualities were the same as that brought their Jesus Christ back to life or something like that. The concept became particularly popular during World War II when the Nazis were rumored to be looking for the Holy Grail and other religious items. You know humans, always looking for some type of immortality. They believed, and past down the belief that phoenixes were the Holy Grail of creatures, so of course like the destructive creatures they are, humans killed them off. Their blood, for the record, does not help humans at all. Or at least, hasn’t been shown to.”
Oh shit.
“They use to try to do it when they were younger, weaker, and sometimes it worked, sometimes not. Some would even just be reborn again and again under that torture. No one has found if there is a true way to kill a phoenix. When they stopped being reborn, the natural assumption was that they died. I’d imagine though, it was something different, after all they are considered the greatest survivors within the supe world.”
“I bet that the ‘baptism’ she mentioned was their first attempt,” I blurted out at Marco, thinking about how she said she’d burnt off the water during her baptism. Her mother must have killed her and she regenerated.This was so fucked up.
Croy went to ask what I was talking about when a soft voice chimed. A voice that was all Maya, but void of the vocal injury she used to have.
“Does that mean she tried to kill me that first time?”
Smart, brilliant Maya. My head snapped around to find her standing on the grand staircase foyer looking into the sitting room with just an oversized shirt and soft robe, her thick dark hair laying in waves around her head like a little halo. I was so caught up on how beautiful she looked that my response times were slowed. Several things happened at once.
A growl ripped from Croy’s chest and Marco tried to move to block her from him, but the wolf shifter had her pinned in a blink of an eye. I growled, jumping over the back of the couch and reaching them, where she was against the staircase with him leaning over her. At first, I was really hating that we were going to have to kill such a useful person, but then I placed a hand on Marco’s shoulder to stop him from moving forward.
Maya was completely and utterly unfazed by Croy.
Instead, she laid a hand on his chest that was producing a rumble and offered him a small smile. I watched in horror as Croy leaned forward to run his nose along her neck and she just seemed to completely relax, a bright pink blush hitting her cheeks. What the fuck was going on here?
“You’re a wolf?” She asked curiously as her voice seemed to snap Croy out of it, causing him to step back and mutter a curse. I’d seen the man experience a lot of different emotions but this? Never.
“Yeah,” he whispered, his throat still producing that sound.
“Neat.” She flashed a smile and walked past him toward the living room, picking up Marco’s coffee and curling up in the seat there. The three of us were still frozen.
“What the fuck was that Croy?” Marco was nearly vibrating with energy. It goes without saying, Croy was close, without being family. We didn’t let many people into our house outside of events. Outside of our flight he was probably one of the closest friends we had, but I could see Marco was not only confused but territorial.
Croy pinned him with a look, his eyes nearly black. “I could ask you the same fucking thing. Why is my mate here with you?”
You’ve got to be fucking joking.