dangerous command squads in tow, claiming they are her mates—after she was imprisoned by a witch coven, mind you—and you are telling me that this is not the time to lose my shit?” He growled, fire lighting up along his fingers before it was snuffed out quickly. “You’re a goddamn piece of work.”
My eyes bounced back to the man with warm brown eyes as he approached us and let out a tired-sounding sigh in reference to Ignatius. “You aren’t solving anything. We need to figure out what happened.”
I found myself nodding in agreement as the man smiled down at me, a small amount of amusement jumping in his gaze before he continued. “Besides, I don’t think Sol—sorry—Maya cares what you want regarding her mates.”
It was true. I didn’t.
Henry made a noise of approval. Clearly I had been broadcasting accidentally.
“Let’s sit down,” the man continued. “I’m Pele, by the way.”
I nodded, watching as my mates passed Ignatius, he and Atlas having a bit of a stand-off as we walked around the throne to a large lounge area filled with couches and a table. Almost immediately, Cyra led me to a couch and sat down facing me, her hands clasping my own, her eyes running over my face.
“Please don’t worry. I promise you, we will figure this out,” she said softly.
I nodded, finding myself at a loss for words. I had confidence when it revolved around my mates, but outside of that, I felt a bit lost. When Ledger sat down right next to me, I breathed out a sigh of relief as I turned to look into his gaze. The calm and strength I saw there had me relaxing. In fact, I suddenly felt the others attempting to fill our bond with affection and softness that had me centering myself.
“When did you find her?” Con asked as the others spread out throughout the lounge area, my mates mainly staying directly behind where I sat.
“She arrived in Washington about two weeks ago. I ran into her at a gas station, and she ended up at the same school as the twins,” Marco immediately answered in a smooth, practiced tone as if he was reading from a report. I didn’t like that.
At the same time, I knew our moments together were private, but it had been so much more than just being in the same place at the same time. I realized that now. There had been a reason I ran into Marco that day, and I would have never guessed it would change my life, but it did and I couldn’t be happier.
“Where were you before that?” Cyra asked, drawing my attention back to her.
“I was locked in the basement of a church—well, what I thought was a church—for as long as I can remember,” I admitted. “Pastor Malcolm and the woman claiming to be my mother kept me there.”
“Someone was claiming to be your mother?” Cyra hissed, her eyes flashing with that same anger again.
“I suggest we stick to the larger facts. The details of Maya’s story are a bit hard to hear,” Croy admitted, causing all my dads to look up at him. Were they my dads? I mean, biologically it was becoming obvious that was how this happened, but did I call them my dads? Or should I call them by their first names?
“What the hell is a wolf doing with you?” Nuriel demanded of Marco.
I straightened slightly and let out a growl before stopping myself. “He’s one of my mates. I already explained this.”
I was even surprised by my tone, but I couldn’t help it. I had never been around people that questioned my mates, and I was finding myself not only protective but possessive over them.
Nuriel’s eyes widened as he muttered a curse and ran a hand over his face, clearly not knowing what to say. Croy let out a low rumble of approval that had me looking at him, his eyes flashing with heat, and I could tell he wanted to say something, I just wasn’t positive what. Hopefully he would tell me later.
“Let’s try our best to piece this together,” Pele suggested, his eyes running over each of my mates.
“You don’t remember anything before the basement?” Cyra asked hesitantly.
“No.”
Her eyes filled with sadness as she squeezed my hand. “When you were around five, we were on a diplomatic trip in the Earth realm. Blue Phoenixes shift early—very early, in fact—and while you were just a fledgling, we went on a flight together. That was when