“You know, I think you’re a bit old to be in highschool,” I teased as the others walked ahead.
Croy chuckled softly, “You calling me oldagain, Sugar?” Honestly, it was pretty funny and essentially the only thing I could tease him about since he was so flippin’ perfect.
“Never,” I shook my head solemnly. I squeaked as he turned me, walking me back against the locker as my breathing hitched and my wolf dipped his head down to brush my lips. I shivered as I gripped his forearms that caged either side of me.
“No, I’m pretty sure you did,” he said, softly nipping at my bottom lip as I dug my nails slightly into his arm. Before I could respond or do something crazy like climb up his large body to kiss him, a throat clearing had us turning towards the hall.
“Maya?” Malloy’s voice chimed as I peeked around Croy as my friend exited the library.
“Hey, you!” I offered him a grin as I tried to break away from Croy but he only tugged me closer. Malloy offered me a dry look as I at least turned to face him.
“Where have you been?” he frowned, looking concerned. “The twins said you’re leaving school?”
“Yeah,” I nodded, “I wanted to focus more on art.”
He blinked. “Man, that must be the freakin’ life. But really that’s awesome, Maya. I’ve been seeing you everywhere in the news, Seth and I were worried.”
“YouandSeth?” I arched a brow in excitement as Malloy’s cheek turned pink. This entire time Croy was rumbling behind me, lightly nipping at my shoulder and neck, making me shiver. I didn’t know what he was doing but it was very, very distracting. I felt the urge to rub against him and forget all about Malloy quite honestly.
“We’ve been hanging out.” He ran a hand through his hair.
“You, Jordan, and I should hang out because I feel like I’ve missed a lot,” I nodded as Croy growled slightly.
Malloy huffed and narrowed his eyes, “Listen, I don’t know what your name is—”
“Croy,” I noted.
“Right, Croy,” Malloy sighed, “I know that shifters are all territorial but let me assure you, I am not into your mate. Shit, Maya, I thought your dragons were bad...”
“You know about shifters?” I asked, intrigued because it was very clear that he was human.
“Yeah.” He nodded, “My family has been around for some time. But more importantly, Croy, I am not into your mate. I am into someone else. Someone that is literally nothing like Maya.”
“Seth,” I explained looking up at Croy as I felt him relax just a bit.
When the bell rang, Malloy sighed, quickly saying goodbye and I promised we would spend time together soon. I loved my mates but I also was starting to recognize how important it was to have other friends. Hadn’t I read something in Women’s Health about balance? I think they were referring to a different situation but the concept made a lot of sense to me.
Croy and I walked towards the back of the library as those around us started to quiet and my mate shook his head annoyed. We reached the back lounge area of the library where the twins and Henry were talking and looked fairly relaxed. I sat down and offered them an eager smile.
“Guess what,” I grinned.
“What?” Anani arched a brow.
“I was right, Malloy and Seth do like one another.” I pointed out and then tilted my head, “At least that's what I gathered from our conversation.”
Ledger hummed, “Still don’t like it when he touches you.”
“Agreed,” Henry grunted.
I shook my head and reached into my canvas bag, finding a dark leather notebook that I’d kept in case I forgot my sketch pad. Opening it up, I moved into a comfortable corner of the leather couch and tried to focus on the notepad rather than the eyes I could feel on me. I wasn’t really paying attention to what I was drawing until my eyes crawled across the page and I smiled. A dragon. Well, a full outline of one and the start of a second. Specifically Sai and Atlas. Whenever I let my mind wander I usually ended up sketching one of them.
“You really are very talented,” Henry pointed out as I jumped slightly, blushing while realizing that he was looking at what I was working on.
“Thank you,” I said softly, “I want to be able to draw all of your dragons.”
“I’ll let you see my dragon any time you want, Peanut.” Anani winked as I felt my pulse pick up at the heat in his diamond like eyes. I looked down as Ledger chuckled softly, not wanting to get caught up in his gaze. Because I would. He was nearly hypnotic to look at sometimes. Both of them were.
“We really should practice shifting, Maya. I am worried that your magic is going to end up getting frustrated and you may get sick,” Croy pointed out. A thought occurred to me and I wondered if that was why I’d gotten sick the other night. Then again, I suppose it could have been food poisoning as one of them suggested.