Page 13 of M.A.Y.A (After the End #4)

Chapter Eight

It had been five days since Maya had arrived in Isaiah’s world. In that time, she’d been bombarded with information about their species, subject to additional tests from Cindy and Sergei, and sleeping every night next to a man she was finding increasingly difficult to resist.

Isaiah had never forced her to do anything she wasn’t comfortable with. In all their late-night conversations, and barely restrained kisses, she’d learned to trust him, to appreciate that as powerful as he was, he’d always respect her boundaries.

Instead of giving into lust, he patiently explained that he wanted to get to know her mind as well.

He wanted her to know herself. That’s how she ended up learning how to cook with real food, not the freeze-dried rations and canned goods she’d gotten used to.

Isaiah also made her watch his favorite TV shows, then lectured her when she didn’t understand what the big deal was when it came to superheroes with egos.

And he’d worked by her side, sharing that piece of himself, too.

God, he worked so much. He answered emails and was constantly on his phone.

Last night, when she was reading about his world, he laid his head in her lap while communicating with other Alpha shifters on finding a solution to closing the portal.

He held his cell with one hand while pressing her hand against his chest with the other, as if demanding that she feel his heartbeat.

Even though the last few days had been incredible, if Maya was being honest, she really wanted Isaiah to touch her again.

The thought of sex had been so far from her mind when she’d been in survival mode for so long, but now she craved it.

The memory of the orgasms he gave her left her hot and needy.

She trusted him, and she wanted him to be all of her firsts.

Maybe it had something to do with this mating-bond business Isaiah kept referring to. But then again, maybe it was just normal lust and attraction. Anyone would be turned on if they had a big, growly naked man with washboard abs and tree trunk thighs in their bed.

Her arm began to beep again, an outward indication of her arousal.

“What’s on your mind?” Cindy said, her voice laced with amusement.

“Nothing.” Maya slapped at the display window, effectively shutting off the alarm for a twelve-hour period. She’d learned how to do that the previous day.

“If it makes you feel any better,” Cindy said as she tapped her tablet, “Alpha Isaiah is as frustrated as you are.”

“Really? I mean…I don’t know why. Maybe it’s ah, pack work? Pack business? Whatever it is shifters do for their day jobs.”

Cindy snorted. Her chin-length, pin straight black hair swung in a sleek bell as she shook her head. “It’s the mating bond. You haven’t committed to each other yet. You better get used to feeling…uncomfortable.”

Maya ground her teeth. “Why can’t it just be sex?”

“Mating is so much better than sex,” Cindy said. Then she sighed, her expression going all soft and dreamy. “I can’t wait until I find mine. Someone who is so devoted to you, whose soul recognizes yours? That’s a gift, Maya.”

“But I’m a robot,” she insisted.

Cindy’s hands fell away from her keyboard. She turned in her chair to face Maya head on. “You’re human with some additional hardware. Think of it like a metal rod in your leg after an accident, or a metal filling in your mouth.”

“You said yourself that only one quadrant of my human heart is the same,” Maya insisted. “Everything else is computer chips.”

“Sometimes, only a part of your heart is all you need to stay human.”

Maya pulled her sleeve down to cover her arm control panel.

“Let’s say I believe you. I still may not be the best fit for Isaiah.

Two weeks isn’t enough time to decide if I want to tie myself to a man for the rest of my life.

Hell, that’s how long it should take to arrange a first date.

Universal magic is…unpredictable, and I really want some predictability in my life. ”

“Well, you’re in our world now and may have to change the way you think,” Cindy said with a smile.

She motioned to her laptop. “Based on the information we’ve gathered, the metal in your heart, your brain, and your spine has a lifespan of at least eighty years before it’ll show signs of deterioration.

Your arm plate is going to need to be regularly serviced every twenty years.

It’s a closed circuit, so no signal going out or coming in.

You aren’t being tracked. Like I said at first inspection, the technology is deceptively simple, but very effective.

Whatever they’ve done to fortify your muscles and bones is still a mystery, but we’ve sent blood samples to a private shifter lab that we trust. Maybe that will help give us some answers as well. ”

“Does that mean the testing can stop now?” Maya grumbled.

Cindy laughed as she closed the lid on her laptop. “Yes, for now. Unless Isaiah starts pestering you and I for more testing to ensure your safety.”

“See?” Maya burst out. “If we mate, he is going to get even more possessive—”

The blow to her chest had her gasping for air. She felt like someone sucker punched her, and all that was left was a strange ringing in her head.

Isaiah.

“Maya? Maya!”

She heard Cindy’s voice like it was air through a tunnel. Then she felt another blow and instinctively knew that Isaiah had been hit. Maya stumbled to her feet and ran through the safe house toward the front door, with Cindy hot on her heels.

Thankfully she was already wearing the Chucks that Isaiah had brought her the day before. With her heart pounding, every instinct in her screaming to get to Isaiah, she ran through the clearing and into the trees.

“Maya, where are you going? What’s happening?” Cindy said as she kept pace.

“Isaiah’s been hit,” she called over her shoulder as the wind whipped through her hair. “I’m following my instincts on where he is, but if you know—”

“This way,” Cindy said, her voice sharpening like a scalpel. She veered left and increased her speed to a brutal pace. Maya felt her lungs burn, but she kept up until they reached a cliff wall.

Cindy didn’t waste any time as she slipped through a crack that was barely visible from a cursory scan of the area. Maya followed close behind, and they entered a wide tunnel illuminated with light panels that created a warm glow.

“Come on, I think I caught his scent,” Cindy said as she raced down the tunnel, past archways and doors. Maya followed, mentally cataloging injuries. Isaiah’s side was aching. Was he okay? He had to be okay. She’d just found him.

Her breath hitched as Cindy pushed through a set of double doors and entered what looked like a large gym.

The floors were yellow pine, and metal beams stretched across a thirty-foot ceiling.

There, in the center of the space, surrounded by a crowd of people, was Isaiah in human form, fighting a wolf with a coat of deep black that almost shimmered blue.

“Sparring,” Cindy said as she gasped for air. She rested her hands on her knees. “Isaiah is just sparring with Alex. God, Maya, next time don’t be the little boy who cried wolf.”

At that moment Isaiah’s head whipped in their direction, his eyes locking with hers, and the wolf attacker pounced.

Maya bolted across the gym. Before she could think twice, she punched the wolf in the side. There was a soft whine and yelp as he slid across the gym and slammed against the far wall. The crowd snarled, the sound of aggression thick in the air, and all of it was directed at her.

Maya spun in a circle, looking at the unfamiliar faces, hatred and anger painted on each and every one.

Oh god, she thought. What had she done? She couldn’t fight them all off. Then what would happen to Isaiah? She’d only meant to protect him. Belatedly, she realized that she’d made an epic mistake. She didn’t know these people, didn’t know this world, and she’d just attacked one of them.

The crowd inched closer to her, threats of violence ratcheting up tenfold. Isaiah’s voice cut through the noise.

“Enough!”

Like a light switch, the snarls stopped, the aggression died, and every single person bowed their head at the power that vibrated in that one word.

Maya’s arm began to beep in an erratic alarm.

There was an override signal that only sounded when her body was going into shock and it was currently blaring loud enough to make her ears ring.

She didn’t belong, and Isaiah’s pack knew it. They looked at her like they wanted her gone, and she was once again an outsider, someone who was taken away from her home and thrust into a different world.

“Maya?” Isaiah said quietly.

She spun around to face him. “I-I’m sorry. I thought you were hurt, and I felt the hits, and Cindy brought me to you—”

He crossed to her in a few short strides before lifting her up and into his arms. Her legs wrapped around his waist, and she buried her face in his neck. “It s-scared me,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry.”

“I should have told you that was a side effect of the mating bond,” he said as he stroked a hand down her back. “It’s okay. I was doing a sparring demonstration. I’m completely fine.”

“You took a hit to the ribs and then the chest,” she said, and was appalled at herself when she heard her voice hitch.

He pressed a kiss behind her ear. “Shh, it’s okay. Just a scratch. My Beta hits like a toddler.”

“It looks like your robot is just as protective as you are, right, Alpha? And I do not hit like a toddler.”

Maya didn’t look up from where she was tucked against Isaiah’s throat, but she recognized that voice. Alex, the one who brought her food, had shifted back into human form.

“Get out,” Isaiah said gruffly.

“Come on, Isaiah,” Alex said. “We still have an hour left to—”

“Everyone out!” Isaiah roared.