A dark flash filled Maya’s gaze making me consider whether we’d been sheltering her too much. She didn’t seem upset by the notion of him dying. Or maybe that was my wishful thinking. All of this flashed through my head before she nodded and looked down at Bella, “So where are we going?”
“Paris,” Sai groaned, stretching his arms.
“Really?” She shot her head up as Bella rolled to the ground after jumping in surprise at her quick movement, and Maya tried to hold in a laugh.
“Sorry, baby,” she cooed and Bella huffed, crawling up on the bench. Maya refocused trying to be a bit quieter. The twins and Croy were sleeping nearby but I didn’t think very much would wake them up. Everyone was exhausted despite not admitting to it.
“Paris?” she asked again smiling, “That’s so exciting!”
“We are going to spend the day there, but then I want to stop by our property down on the coast. We haven't been there in a few months,” Marco explained, offering her an affectionate smile. My hands twitched to pull her against me but I also didn’t want to overwhelm her. Maya stood and she ran a hand through her hair looking a bit unsure suddenly.
“Is there a shower on here?” She asked quietly, rubbing her neck as I saw the slight panic hitting her as everything flowed back into her memory, like a trickle.
I could see it which means that she was worked up, way more than usual. Her emotions were always very apparent but there was definitely a range, and I was worried she was going to work herself into a panic attack. Standing up, I offered her a hand as she gripped it, shaking slightly as I led her towards the back cabin of the jet.
“Everything including your bag is in here,” I whispered as she closed the door behind her, nodding as she sat down on the bed.
“What happened?” she asked quietly with her eyes wide and worried.
“He almost choked you out but I stopped him,” I whispered kneeling down in front of her, “he won’t be a problem anymore, Maya.”
Her pulse fluttered as she gripped my shoulders, “I feel really off, Henry.”
Pulling her against me, I ran a hand through her hair gently as she let out a small sound and I felt tears against my neck. I tugged her closer so that she was wrapped around me as I leaned against the bed, her crying softly as images floated through my mind. Reflections of her thoughts, of Jed mixed with Lorn. Panic and sadness filtering over her as she seemed to dip deeper and deeper into that hole.
I pulled back and spoke, “Maya, sweetheart, you’ve got to breathe. Come on. You have to pull out of this. I promise you are safe.”
She hiccuped and continued to cry but she was slowly calming down a bit. I made the decision to stand her up and led her towards the massive marble bathroom, an actual tub waiting for her. Turning on the hot water, I turned to find her looking in the mirror with a furious and upset expression. I smoothed my hands over her shoulder and turned her from looking at the bruises that covered her throat.
“Don’t look at those,” I said softly. I easily lifted her silk tank over her as I tried to not tighten my grip on her. I looked down her curvy frame, her breasts tight and nipples hard. My mouth practically watered and I resisted the urge to kiss, bite, and lick every inch of her body. Last thing she needed was for me to mark her body anymore than it was.
My dragon let out a frustrated noise in the back of my throat, insisting that not only was it not the same but that we needed to find a way to replace his marks with ours.Because that was a logical and healthy mentality, Henry...
I eased down her jeans and then her dark purple lace panties, unable to resist the urge to run my finger along her wet heat. I could feel her panic dip as I stood and tilted her head back, kissing her while slowly running my hand along her silky body.
“Are you going to join me?” she asked quietly, her pupils dilated. A brief sense of victory fused through me at her confidence and comfortability with me already. I loved that. I loved that she was becoming less worried and jumpy. I would be damned if Lorn ruined the healthy progress she had made to removing the shackles from her previous life.
I urged her into the water and stripped off everything but my boxers, not trusting myself not to screw her senseless to make sure she really did forget about all of this. Instead, I sunk into the water behind her so that her back was against my chest, the hot water running over her skin as I massaged her shoulders gently. I tried to not look at the bruises too much myself, because let’s face it, my control wasn’t very good right now. I didn’t trust myself to not fly back across the Atlantic and kill Lorn.
“I feel bad the party got ruined,” she mumbled.
I chuckled softly, “Maya, people were there for you, plus people were already pretty drunk by the time we were ushering them out, so I doubt they noticed.”
“Still,” she sighed, looking up at me, “I can’t believe you guys held a birthday party for me. I mean that was amazing, you guys are so...perfect.” I tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and noted how that almost sounded sad.
“Trust me, Maya, we are only this sweet because of you, we are sort of all assholes actually.”
She shook her head. “I disagree.”
And that was perfectly okay with me. I took off my glasses and instead of putting them down, Maya stole them from me, putting them on herself. Now, my eye sight wasn’t awful, but they did help, especially when it came to long distance stuff. It was easy to see her though, and I found myself groaning because somehow glasses on her looked sexy as fucking hell.
“Do they look good?” she teased, wiggling against me.
I growled and nipped her ear as I pulled her against me. “Stop wiggling or else I’m going to be inside you so fast it will make your head spin.”
Maya paused and then looked up at me under her eyelashes, before wiggling purposefully. I growled and locked her into place before wrapping a hand around her leg gently, making her shiver as my thumb ran over her mating mark.
Instead of fighting me on it though, she relaxed and I smiled knowingly as she closed her eyes, completely comfortable with me. I felt honored that she trusted me that much, if I were being honest, and I could feel her breathing even out. Any desire was greatly outrun by the exhaustion that seeped through her mind. No, it wasn’t the time to slide right into her...but hopefully soon or else I was going to lose my mind. I kissed the top of her head as her breathing evened out and I eyed the bruises on her neck.
I’d officially decided. Lorn was going to fucking die.