Dying in Flames by M. Sinclair
Maya
I realized very quicklythat my mates were on the exact same page.
Moments later, or maybe it was longer than that, I managed to open my eyes. I was on the ground, surrounded by the younger flight and my bubble of magic. Bella was licking my face, and I could feel the furious energy of my mates. Something in them had been uncaged.
Chaos had broken out, and I knew it was because Pastor Malcolm had hurt me. My mates were extremely protective, and I didn’t blame them. That same sense of protectiveness had me forcing myself to sit up, despite feeling absolutely drained. I had no idea what type of magic he’d used, but it had kicked my butt.
I wasn’t positive how many minutes I laid there, but eventually, I worked myself into sitting and then standing. It was hard to focus on my pain as I watched the pandemonium around me, making me feel a range of emotions that confused me.
I was impressed, for one. I think the younger flight I was with was impressed as well. The group of us all stood at the edge of the cliff, surrounded by my golden barrier of magic, stray hits of magic colliding with it. But most of the heat was off of us because of the absolute vengeance my mates were taking on the group of witches.
I wouldn’t lie…it was sort of beautiful. I never thought I would find myself saying that about violence, but considering the situation and how fuzzy everything felt, I found myself appreciating it.
I wanted to put it in a painting, that was how beautiful it was… But I knew there was no way to capture the savagery and the way they moved with lethal grace. I felt like I was looking everywhere at once. Bella was equally as interested, her head moving back and forth in my arms as we watched wave after wave of witches attacking my mates.
And they were attacking, for the record.
I saw my mates attempt to just stun or stop the witches, but when they started to turn lethal magic on them, I watched my mates decide to take a far more deadly path. I felt guilty for a moment because I didn’t feel bad at all. Instead, I felt like it was justified because they were hurting my mates, so watching each of them die only made me feel better. It was a side of me I wasn’t completely comfortable with, if we were being honest. Although, I had a feeling my mates would have tried harder to disengage if Pastor Malcolm hadn’t attacked first.
“He’s a hellfire dragon?!” one of the small boys next to me asked, his eyes wide and looking nearly hyper at the concept. It took me a moment to remember he was talking about my Marco as I looked up to find the normally refined man looking completely undone in the best way possible.
His white button-down was covered in ash as he met each witch that attacked him, his fingers lit up with black flames and incinerating anyone they came into contact with, adding to the ash on him. I swallowed, realizing how many bodies were on his neat shirt. His tan skin was covered in it as well, and his dark hair was messy against his forehead, a vibrant, vicious energy moving through his mint green eyes that had heat rolling over me.
I tried to not examine why I liked that so much.
“Yes,” I answered the boy.
“They are the group that has all of them,” a second boy next to him said. “Look at Atlas!”
Yes, I very much was looking at Atlas. I watched as he appeared right behind a witch trying to attack Ledger and snapped his neck, the man’s body almost instantly going limp. Ledger scowled at my massive mate, and I would have smiled at his reaction if I wasn’t so fascinated by what was going on right now.
Atlas had always had a bit of a wild edge to him, and right now he looked completely lethal. His huge 6’5’’ frame was moving in and out of space with ease as his normally gold eyes turned completely black and this smoky power came off his tan skin, making him appear like some fierce warrior… Which was exactly what he was. His long hair was whipping around his face as the ocean wind turned even harsher, something I knew was due to magic.
Specifically, Anani’s magic.
The twin in question was standing towards the left, near an outer edge of the cliff. He seemed to control the air itself, using it to push the witches together to easily be taken care of. A few were thrown off the cliff in the process, and the man’s smirk told me that it didn’t bother him in the least—rather the opposite. It was hard to look away from the dark-haired man, his tattoos moving as his muscles flexed while using his magic, and when those arctic blue eyes focused on me, my breath nearly caught seeing the darkness there.
I knew my mates had darkness, but I’d never experienced it like this.
“Oh shit,” the oldest kid, the leader, mumbled as I followed his gaze to where Ledger moved through each witch his brother herded together. Oh…oh wow.
I knew he had said he was a blood dragon, but there was no denying it now. His t-shirt was soaked in blood, and his arms were as well, the starkness of his skin making it seem that much more vibrant. The tips of his dark curly hair were normally orange but today were soaked in blood as he went witch to witch… I swallowed, trying to not feel a bit queasy at how easily he ripped their throats out, the tips of his fingers seemingly as sharp as knives. There were scales running down his forearm as I realized those were claws…
And why was I thinking about them against my skin? How would that feel? The light sensation was almost like a whisper… Nope. I couldn’t do this right now, especially not in the middle of a battle. Plus I was still watching Ledger, his dark indigo eyes filled with a predatory light that served as a reminder of just how dangerous my mates truly were, especially when their dragons took over.
I could feel their dragons and how worked up they were, how angry they were. They were out for blood because someone had hurt their mate, and my phoenix was nearly preening at their protective nature.
Suddenly, I could feel my nerves kicking in, because despite how well my men were doing, I could see that Pastor Malcolm had positioned himself in the back, looking pleased with what was occurring.
I didn’t like that at all. By all accounts, he should be more worried because he was losing.
“Don’t worry.” The kid next to me, who could only have been nine, squeezed my hand. “We will keep you safe.”
I swallowed at the sweet sentiment, realizing he had picked up on my fear, as I crouched down next to him. Someone this young shouldn’t feel the responsibility of keeping others safe, they should be kept safe, and it led me to believe it was possible that no one had ever been in charge of his safety. After all, that was how I’d felt about the cats that used to come down into the basement. How I’d felt about Bella. My fingers came up to her and rubbed her gently as she licked my face.
“How about we keep each other safe?” I added as he nodded bravely, focused forward.
When a cry sounded, my head snapped forward to find a witch that had been running towards us now stuck in the stone. The earth had opened up in quicksand before sealing once again. Sai stood next to him, offering me a smile that had my heart warming.
Then again, Sai always had that effect. The man was nearly a living flame with his dark eyes that always seemed on fire, amber skin, and rich onyx hair that hung to his shoulders. He seemed to almost be glowing, and when a fire lit upon his fingers, it quickly enveloped the man. I kept his gaze instead of looking down, knowing this was necessary despite it being so violent.
Why wouldn’t the witches stop? It was clear they were losing. It was almost as if they were being commanded by a different source, their eyes devoid of anything besides the malicious intent they had towards my mates.
A sense of helplessness invaded me as the witches continued to throw themselves at my men, making me wish that there was an easier way to handle this. One that didn’t make me feel like we were doing something so wrong. They just kept running towards us, trying to hit us with magic, trying to hurt even the young boys with me. This was such a messed-up situation.
I watched as Croy stepped back from a man that put his hands out in a clear sign for mercy. The guy sprinted away, making Croy shake his head before refocusing. My wolf-mate looked completely spotless, his massive frame dressed in a comfortable dress shirt and tailored pants. His honey-blonde hair was perfectly in place, and his green eyes kept meeting Henry’s as they worked together to fight the witches back towards the tree line, gaining traction and space.
“Give it up, Malcolm!” Henry called as he forced a group of witches to kneel on the ground, unable to move. How did he do that? My breath caught, realizing how powerful he was, as some of his residual magic slammed into my barrier.
Not that it surprised me, but Henry, with his blonde waves and freckles, sometimes gave the impression he wasn’t a vicious predator. I say sometimes, because once you got to know him, that went away. I mean, the man was sweet to me, but between the dark tattoos on his skin and the way I could often feel his soft gray eyes on me, I knew he had a far darker side to him, and I would be the first to admit I loved it.
“Never!” the man growled.
The attacks continued, but I could see their numbers dwindling as my mates worked flawlessly together, making it very clear how well trained they were. But more than anything, I couldn’t ignore the revelation that they…liked violence. They were enjoying fighting. I honestly didn’t know how to feel about that.
My chest began to squeeze as the violence suddenly became overwhelming, and the part of my brain that dealt with moments like this began to process everything. It should have scared me—all of this should have—but instead, the part of me that wasn’t human as much as animal found it attractive.
No. Now was not the time for me to have this sudden epiphany about my feelings towards this concept. Rationally, I knew that.
It was only moments later when the only ones left were Pastor Malcolm, pinned to the ground by Marco’s hand, and a few witches, forced to their knees. I blinked, trying to ignore all the bodies, as I pulled back my power. I edged forward, waiting for something else to attack us, but when I was met with nothing, I moved to Marco’s side. When the man looked up at me, I saw affection break up the darkness in his gaze, and I knew that despite tonight being a new experience, I couldn’t be upset about it. Wouldn’t I do anything to keep my mates safe? They were doing the same. The idea of someone hurting my mates made me feel violent as well.
I looked back towards Malcolm, his face red and sweaty as he gave me a manic smile. Something was very wrong with this man.
“Baby girl, don’t get too close,” Marco instructed softly.
“Are there others?” I demanded as Malcolm’s smile grew. “Are there others like me?”
“Why the fuck would I tell you that, girl?”
“Because they don’t deserve this fate any more than I did,” I immediately retorted, feeling anger run through me at how much pleasure he was taking in this. “What’s the point in not telling me, you’re caught—”
Suddenly, the cliff began to shake, and Croy had me in his arms almost instantly, holding me close. Marco easily moved back as Malcolm’s skin began to glow and the man cried out, looking both shocked and thrilled before an expression of pain crossed his face…and then he was gone.
I stared at the spot in horror, then looked at the others, absolutely confused. What the heck had just happened? Had he portalled? How could he do that? I clearly didn’t have enough knowledge of witches.
“That wasn’t normal witch magic,” Croy hissed. “I have no idea what the hell that was.”
“Not dragon shit either,” Henry murmured.
“Who the hell would want to save that piece of shit?” Sai demanded.
My words were a soft murmur of realization. “Someone who doesn’t want us to know where the other phoenixes are.”