Page 10 of M.A.Y.A (After the End #4)

Chapter Six

It had been one day since Maya showed up in his territory, and he already felt like his entire life had flipped on its head.

To give her some space, he left the clearing and the safe house with Sonya and Sergei standing guard.

His two Betas didn’t believe that Maya was an innocent party who escaped a horrific situation in her own world.

It didn’t matter though. They were loyal, and despite disagreeing with him about his mate’s safety, they’d still protect her.

He headed to Franz Ravine where he’d first found Maya and met up with Nako and Drayden.

The Betas managed to find a strange manhole covered with a metal grate.

It was unlocked and wedged open with a scent trail that was distinctly Maya.

As a temporary measure to protect their land, Nako, Drayden, and Isaiah had shoved a boulder on top of it.

Anyone in his pack could move it with enough motivation, but until they could find a more permanent solution, the boulder would have to do.

Afterwards, Isaiah intended to stay at his office for the rest of the day where he had copious amounts of messages and paperwork to complete, but he was drawn back to the safe house that evening. He wanted to check on Maya before he tried to get some sleep.

He sent a quick text to Sergei and Sonya that he was on his way, and they were relieved of their post. A few minutes later, he heard the wolves running through the trees as they passed him on their return to the central Den.

As he approached the safe house, a sense of calm washed over him.

Because it was so late, Isaiah would find a spot outdoors to sleep for the rest of the night, where he’d be able to hear her if she was in distress.

He’d spent many nights sleeping under the stars in wolf form, so it wasn’t a chore on his part.

His body and his heart wanted to get close to this woman, who had consumed his thoughts from the moment she arrived in his territory.

As he stepped into the clearing under a blanket of stars, his plans to sleep outside quickly changed when he spotted Maya on the top step of the front porch.

She was still dressed in his button-down flannel shirt, but she'd removed her pants, exposing her lean legs.

Her hair hung in frizzy waves down her back, and she crossed her arms over her chest as if to ward off a chill.

“What are you doing up at this time of night?” He asked as he approached her. “It's cold out here, and you can get sick.”

In the shadows and darkness, Isaiah saw her shake her head. “I’m fine. My body temperature is well regulated.”

“You should try to sleep.”

She looked up at him, her large brown eyes shining in the moonlight. “I did. I had a nightmare that I was back in the lab. That I hadn’t really escaped.”

His stomach knotted. Damnit, he should’ve realized that her trauma was going to haunt her. This was her first full night out of captivity. He should’ve been here, should’ve watched over her so she didn’t have to wrestle with her demons by herself.

“It might take some time,” he said gruffly. “But you’re strong. You survived. Even though you’ll be carrying those memories with you for the rest of your life, you’ll learn how to cope with them. If you let me, I’ll help you.”

She hugged her knees to her chest and squeezed her eyes shut as if blocking out visuals from her past. “Hopefully destroying the portal entrance will put my demons to rest. Until then, insomnia will be my friend.”

“I usually get my best work done at night,” he said. “The dark is…underappreciated.”

Her smile was hesitant, but it eased some of the tension he felt. “The best part about the dark is that I get to see the stars again,” she replied. “I don’t know the last time I was actually able to look up and trace the constellations.”

Isaiah slowly lowered himself to the top step next to her. Even though he was dressed in jeans and a clean shirt instead of his naked skin, he still felt the slight hitch in her breath and her elevated heart rate. Her arousal was a balm to his ego.

It’s only going to get more intense until our time is up, baby.

“Tell me about your world,” he said. “About your dimension. What happened that you all had to live in bunkers?”

“The wars.” She pulled the sleeve of his button-down shirt over her arm to cover the metal plate.

“I was a child when they began. First it was a fight for space exploration. A form of colonization. When that didn’t happen fast enough, then one country began invading another.

The largest democracy fell. Allies became enemies, and every civilian was potentially exposed to the remnants of a nuclear attack.

The government used funding that had been set aside for public assistance programs to build an intricate network of bunkers across the country, to protect humans from the war on the surface, and from the radiation and chemical waste that remained.

The only problem was that not everyone was guaranteed room in a bunker.

Out of hundreds of millions, two million people were selected. ”

Isaiah could feel her sadness radiating off of her in waves. All he wanted to do was take the feeling away, to fight her demons for her. Instead, he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and waited for her to finish. She instinctively leaned against his side.

“My family was one of the lucky ones,” she said quietly.

“We were all asked to submit blood tests to ensure we were disease free before going into the bunker. It was horrific. A culling process. What I didn’t know at the time is that a group of scientists funded by the government agency Coalition for Political Peace were creating a team of super soldiers who possessed a rare blood type. ”

“They found you because of your blood test,” Isaiah replied.

Maya nodded. “OQ+. It’s a mutation of the O blood type. They tracked me down just as we were getting ready to go to our permanent bunker. And the rest is history. I was captured, tortured, and stripped of my humanity.”

“Not all of it,” Isaiah said, his wolf in his voice.

“I feel the humanity in you. My wolf feels it and calls to you.” He leaned down to sniff her hair.

It had the fresh scent of the shampoo stocked in the safe house.

Underneath this scent was something uniquely Maya’s: crushed cranberries with the hint of a wet metallic taste.

She turned her head, and their faces were inches apart. Her eyes were filled with a trust and vulnerability that had his wolf itching to do something, anything to protect his mate.

“Tell me about your dimension,” she said. “How did you become Alpha of the largest territory on the West Coast? Did you inherit it from someone?”

“A part of it is lineage,” Isaiah responded. “I would’ve had to fight for my position and prove myself to the Congress, but I was uncontested.”

“The Congress?”

He nodded. “That’s our governing body for shifters.” He smiled as he remembered the day that he assumed the role of pack Alpha.

“What?” She leaned back to watch his face.

“Nothing.”

“Tell me, please?”

He slowly began rubbing a hand down her arm.

He couldn’t deny his mate. “I was just thinking about my parents. The day I became Alpha of our pack, they were prouder than I’d ever seen them before.

My father? He was…well, annoyed that no one wanted to fight me for the role, which meant I couldn’t prove my strength that day.

I’d never seen him smile like that before. ”

“Are you close with your parents? Are they alive?”

He pulled her flush against his side and wrapped his arm around her.

“Yes, we’re very close, and yes, they are also alive.

Right now, they are roaming the world and getting as much travel in as they possibly can.

There was always pack business when dad was Alpha.

Now they're taking advantage of their freedom.”

There was a long beat of silence. He wondered if Maya was trying to imagine what it would feel like to have a family in her life again. “Are your parents mated?”

Isaiah nodded. “They were one of the lucky ones. They found each other in grade school and have been together ever since. My mother always knew the responsibilities that came with being Alpha because my father was marked at a young age. And my father knew my mother was for him, so he trained for his leadership role with the understanding that he’d always have a mate by his side.

” Isaiah wished he could’ve found her when they were children.

Maybe then it would be easier to understand his responsibility to both mate and pack instead of feeling so divided.

Maya began fiddling with the hem of his shirt that she wore. “You never planned on mating?”

He couldn’t lie to her. He wouldn’t lie to his mate. “No,” he said slowly. “I know the man that I am. With a mate, my number one priority would no longer be the pack, which was always my goal.”

There was another long stretch of silence between them. Their scents mingled, the sides of their hips pressed together, and the sounds of crickets and nocturnal creatures rustled through the forest.

“What happens if mates don’t claim each other?” she asked. “Is that ever a possibility?”

A sick sense of dread pooled in his belly.

He had to consciously restrain himself from tightening his hold around her shoulders.

“Finding a mate is a gift, and the endless opportunity for happiness outweighs any fears. But if a claiming ceremony doesn’t occur at the end of a two-week period, the shifter half may become a lone wolf. ”

He heard the rapid increase of her heartbeat before her alarm went off with a warning that she was stressed.

“The choice is yours, Maya,” he said. The truth lay bitter on his tongue, but she deserved to hear it. “Don’t worry about me. I’m the strongest wolf in the pack, and I will always do what’s best for my people, mate or no mate.”