Croy, despite his elegant disposition, had a side to him that was very...well, wolf-ish. Animalistic. Just like my dragon mates, I found myself wanting to poke at it a bit. Encourage it. Wasn’t that terrible of me?
“Can I see you shift?” I asked as his eyes snapped up to my gaze from my neck.
“Absolutely.” He answered, and then his green eyes lightened, “Tomorrow morning I wanted to help you with trying to shift and maybe catch you up with any questions you have about all of this. If you are interested in that of course...”
“Yes!” I nodded immediately. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to work on it with the others but I was worried about disappointing them. Croy just had this patience and calm to him that came with...well, if I had to assume,age. “I am nervous though, what if I can’t shift? What if I’m not actually a shifter?” I could feel the rambling of anxious feelings explode within me.
“Hey,” Croy shook his head, running a thumb on my jaw, “you are absolutely a shifter, we just have to figure out what makes you tick. We will figure this out. Together. I promise, Maya.”
“Okay,” I squeezed his hand before we left Marco’s office, closing the door as we neared a room that had an amazing smell coming from it. My eyes went towards the closed door of the conference room. I really hoped what I’d said earlier hadn’t made Marco’s life more difficult. That was the last thing I would ever want.
***
AROUND AN HOUR ANDa half later, after eating a fantastic Italian meal, I was curled up against Atlas as something called a ‘food coma’ took cover. Well, that was what my dragon had explained it as. With my eyes fluttering shut, I was sort of believing him.
The doors to the conference room opened, breaking the silence. Both Alex and Michael kept their eyes down as they practically ran from the building, Henry followed after with that Edmund guy. Chuckling about something.
Marco gripped the top of the doorframe, stretching. His eyes immediately zeroed in on where I sat in the small lounge area with Atlas. I didn’t try to hide the way I looked over him, my eyes snapping up before I strayed too far down.
What? Come on! After I’d seen Henry naked I was beyond curious at seeing everyone else without clothes on. I bit my lip thinking about how muscular they were and wondering...well...about how big they were.
I mean obviously, I could feel how hard they were whenever I was cuddled up with them. Whether in bed at night, or pretty much any other time we were close. I wasn’t completely naive, I knew each of them would be different. I wonder if it would be weird if I just asked to see it? You know what, I think that could actually be really fun.
It was weird because when my mother had used sexual slang, I’d found it upsetting but now that I had experienced all of this? Well, the concept of seeing Henry naked again...especially specific parts of him was frankly very appealing.
Even now, Atlas was hard underneath me making me wet. Squeezing my legs together trying to not let on just how turned on I was. I was a bit of a mess because I was also blushing at the images and words that popped into my head.
“Maya,” Atlas warned quietly, as I looked at him with wide eyes. My breathing caught as his gaze turned nearly black and I swallowed nervously. His hand gripped my thigh tighter in a firm hold. My eyes snapped down to how appealing it looked for his massive rough hand to be holding me so possessively.
Trying to distract myself, I looked around. I wasn’t positive where the others had gone off to but I think everyone was getting a bit bored. On my lap Bella slept quietly, her purrs entertaining Atlas considering he kept commenting on it. Honestly, considering how scary Atlas was supposed to be, it was pretty cute that he found her so adorable.
“Done?” Atlas asked as Marco nodded.
“Yeah, let’s get out of here, I’m done with these assholes for today. Alex and Michael are officially ‘resigning’ and Edmund is going to be in charge of hiring the new replacements.” Marco explained, his jawline slightly darker than before as if he needed to shave. Was it weird that I liked it?
I frowned, “I didn’t mean to get anyone fired.”
Atlas chuckled, “Trust me, angel, they deserved it.”
“I had a feeling for a while that they were doing something shady, but the numbers didn’t tell us anything, so it appears they were waiting to make their move,” Marco explained as I nodded before standing with Bella in hand.
As we locked up the office, Cecile long gone, I breathed in the fresh rainy air. Happy that I was able to spend so much time with the boys today despite the boring setting.
I nibbled my lip not knowing how to approach this school situation. How to approach the fact that this wasn’t for me. School? A business office setting? I didn’t feel comfortable there. Would they be upset that I didn’t want to attend school anymore? I didn’t want to disappoint them. But I also didn’t want to spend time doing something I didn’t love.
The ride home was somewhat of a sleepy blur to me, my eyes half shut from where I was tucked between the twins. Ledger’s hand in my hair and Anani using his thumb to rub a rhythmic pattern on my hand. Felt like I was in a waking dream. My eyes continued to flicker shut again and again.
When we reached the house I frowned realizing that we didn’t have a very kitten friendly house. Ledger offered me a smile as I asked him what we would do about food, where she would sleep, and the litter box. Without explaining he led me upstairs.
My eyes lit up at the new addition to my room. A large white and blue mini house sat in one corner. Upon inspection, I found cushions inside of it as well as two attached sections. One appearing for litter and the other for food and water. I was so excited when Bella eagerly approached it and went back to sleeping, leaving both Ledger and I watching her. I think I could spend all day watching her. It was so fascinating to see what she did.
“I am so sleepy,” I mumbled against his chest as he wrapped his arms around me.
“Let’s go to bed,” he offered quietly and without complaining, I slipped into my nest-like bed. His warm bonfire scent surrounded me as I fell into a deep sleep. I was out within minutes.