by Alice Brown
Dominic wished horribly that he could reach out to her and kiss all her worries away. Oh how he desired to suckle upon that badly abused lower lip of hers until the sting from her teeth gnawing at it was gone. Sadly, there were two things keeping him from doing just that. First, he didn’t dare make such a bold move and take the chance of frightening her away. And secondly, he was already heavily strapped into an odd-looking machine. His feet stood on metal bars, which came up the back of his legs to the sides of his arms. Thick leather straps had him firmly locked in place. He couldn’t move in his human form if he wanted to, even with the extra strength that came from being a shifter, while being so tightly strapped down as he was. He wanted so badly to be able to lift one of his hands up to Meldamiriel’s face, tenderly brushing the stray strands of hair out of the way that had fallen into her eyes. For the first time since he walked into the room Blain and Natasha had set up as a make-shift medical room, he hated being strapped down to this god-awful contraption. He knew it was not only for his safety, but also for everyone else in the room.
Quinn, his doctor, stepped up to him. “We’re ready to begin, if you are.”
Meldamiriel jumped slightly at the unexpected voice, but quickly regained control over herself. Natasha had explained to her earlier the doctor was also a dragon shifter and had made the trip from Dragonose for the sole purpose of tending to Dominic’s injuries. He was the only one who could help him heal. Natasha had also explained that she had dealt with this shifter doctor when Blain lost his eye, assuring Meldamiriel that he could be trusted, that she had nothing to fear from him.
“I’m sorry, but what is it exactly that you will be doing to Dominic?” Meldamiriel questioned, her voice soft, but there was firmness behind her words.
All eyes turned to her, surprised she had spoken up so boldly. Dominic was momentarily shocked she seemed concerned for him. Did he dare hope this meant that perhaps she was coming around? That maybe she wasn’t quite so afraid of him? A small groan escaped from deep inside him. God, he hoped so!
“We need to reset Dominic’s spine before it’s past the point of healing. Once we have it realigned and fused together, his torso will be heavily wrapped to help keep his back straight.”
He watched her closely for a moment. “Though I might suggest, little elf, if you do not have the stomach for gruesome sights, that you leave the room now. We can’t put him completely under due to the severity of his injuries, though I will inject him with a strong pain reliever. I have my doubts the pain shots will do much good. Unfortunately, this is one hell of a painful procedure.”
Meldamiriel’s eyes were wide and filled with tears as she glanced over to Dominic. He nodded in confirmation to every word the doctor said. She started to shake her head as she held his gaze, tears sliding down her cheeks as she slowly started to back away. She was leaving. Dominic knew it. He could hardly blame her, though. Hell, if he had a choice, he wouldn’t be here. It still saddened him that she was leaving, even though he knew deep down she was only leaving the room. She wasn’t walking out of his life.
Seeing Meldamiriel’s retreat, the doctor nodded to himself. “It’s time we begin,” he said, holding up a rather large needle and filling it with medication.
“Wait,” Meldamiriel said, as she held up her little hands in front of her, stopping the doctor in his tracks from injecting Dominic with the pain medicine. They both turned their eyes toward her, Dominic’s shining with hope. “Could you wait for one minute, please?”
Love, I would wait an entire lifetime for you, Dominic thought.
“Sure,” the doctor replied with a shrug of his shoulders, moving away from Dominic to give them a bit of space.
She barely noticed Blain and Natasha, who had been staying silent this whole time, moving back into the far corner of the room, talking quietly among themselves.
Meldamiriel stepped up cautiously to Dominic, standing beneath his towering frame with her gaze cast down as she fiddled with her fingers. “I don’t want them to hurt you.”
Dominic smiled at her concern. “Don’t worry, little one, I’ll be fine. It’s something that has to be done.” He leaned his head down as much as he could, trying to be as close to her as his restraints would allow.
“What if you didn’t have to go through this long and painful procedure? What if your spine could be set in one shot?”
He chuckled a bit. “That would take a miracle.”
“What if I could do it?” Meldamiriel whispered softly so only he heard her, her eyes staying locked on his.
Dominic was shocked speechless. Was it even possible? King Thoran hadn’t been able to do what she thought she could do, and he and Quinn were the most powerful healers Dragonose had. Although, Natasha had recently discovered she also had some healing powers. Could his sweet and delicate little elf really heal his spine?
“Can you do that?” he whispered, almost afraid to hope that it was even possible she could heal him and have him and his dragon on their way to recovery faster than he ever thought possible.
‘Of course she can! She is the Omega Elf! Do not belittle yourself in doubting her greatness,’ Ivormantis snapped at him.
Meldamiriel didn’t answer him with words at first. Instead, she was already busying herself with unstrapping one of his arms while no one seemed to be paying them any attention. “It will be extremely painful, and for that I am sorry,” she informed him as she took hold of his arm.
“What are you doing?” Dominic asked.
‘She’s healing us, dumbass. She wants us to be free, to no longer suffer. She wants us to be with her.’ The more Ivormantis explained, the softer his voice became. He too, though Dominic doubted he would ever admit to it, was also in awe of Meldie’s tenderness and forwardness of her actions today. Big, softy dragon.
“Please forgive me, I don’t mean to hurt you.” This was all she whispered before stretching up on tip-toe and pulling his head down a bit more with her other hand, her lips kissing his softly at first.
Initially, Dominic was stunned at her boldness. Was this the same little elf who had been scared to death of him? Desire for this beautiful little elf quickly overtook his shock and soon he was taking the lead in their kiss. He tried to move his free arm around her to pull her in closer to his aching body, but she seemed to have a death grip on it. Although, she seemed to read his mind and knew exactly what he wanted when she stepped in closer to him, pressing their bodies tightly together.
Natasha happened to turn her head their way, her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water over what she was seeing. Her eyes went wide at seeing her best friend, the same one who had been scared of her own shadow a short time ago, now in a lip lock with a huge dragon shifter! And from the looks of it, this wasn’t your average kiss.
This was a kiss with flames. Literally. Natasha stood back and watched as flames soon broke out, running down Dominic’s spine. His eyes were shut tightly and it looked as if he was attempting to pull away and break off the kiss. He, along with everyone else in the room, soon discovered that for such a small elf, Meldamiriel was surprisingly strong and was somehow able to keep him locked in place. The kiss was no longer intimate as she squinted and just kept their lips pressed forcefully together. Flames soon erupted from between their lips, spreading their way across their bodies until it formed a dome surrounding them.
“My God!” the doctor breathed, as he turned and watched in amazement at what was happening.
“Meldamiriel!” Natasha cried and quickly took off to save her friend. Her mate easily caught her and held her back.
“No!” the doctor nearly shouted. “You can’t interrupt this, or you may harm both.”
The three of them turned their gazes to the dome fire, and Natasha watched in horror as both Dominic and Meldamiriel’s bodies caught fire. Meldamiriel no longer held Dominic in place. He threw his head back and roared in pain with a sound that was the combination of human and dragon. Meldamiriel tried not to cry out, but the
flames and pain from healing Dominic became too much for her to bear. Everyone watched as Ivormantis tried breaking free. No one knew for sure if it was due to pain or done to protect his mate. His struggle with Dominic caused the man to be able to break his other arm free of its bonds. The flames ceased and Dominic’s eyes flashed open, his sight immediately landing on his mate.
Meldamiriel looked up to him, her eyes heavy and her body swaying with exhaustion. She did it. She smiled weakly up to him before her eyes rolled back and her body went limp. Dominic jerked to catch her before she fell, gathering her small body up into his arms. He turned to face Blain and Natasha, a thousand questions on his lips. Yet, he kept quiet. The first question was why he and his mate didn’t have a burn mark on their bodies… No, now was not the time. He was shocked when he realized how fast he moved when he caught Meldamiriel before she fell. He had felt hardly any pain at all, even though his body jerked during the process. He glanced down to his mate. Answers would come later. Concern for Meldamiriel’s health and well-being were at the forefront of his brain.
‘She needs to rest and have a watchful eye over her tonight. She pushed herself too far for us today,’ Ivormantis spoke, sounding a bit breathless.
Dominic relaxed back in the chair as he watched his mate sleep. His back felt wonderful and he was in no pain at all now, although that had not been the situation earlier. No, while his mate healed him through a kiss of fire, he thought he would go out of his mind with the pain and heat. And that was saying a lot considering he was a dragon shifter. Ivormantis was even trying to force his way to the top in order to escape the lick of heat traveling through his body.
It worked. When Dr. Quinn examined him, he could find nothing out of place in his back. Still, Dr. Quinn instructed him to wait at least a day or two before shifting, just to be sure everything had healed.
‘You just wait until I can come out. I am going to woo our little mate until she is pudding in my claws.’
‘You had better be careful, Ivormantis. Remember she is still scared of big men, and I have a feeling that will translate over to you as well.’
‘And what makes you think that? She won’t be able to resist my charms, or my good looks. Besides, big men frighten her. As in you. If I were you, I’d try to come up with something that will shrink you, so you don’t keep scaring our mate.’
Dominic shook his head and sighed. Ivormantis could be a handful on a good day. Now that he was being forced not to shift since getting hurt a few weeks ago, well, his dragon’s sarcasm seemed to grow each day.
As he watched his mate peacefully sleeping, he hoped she would wake in the morning feeling better. What she had done for him had taken everything out of her, to the point she had passed out while still in the medical room and had only come around for a short time once Blain had carried her into her bedroom.
‘Blain had no right to touch our mate!’ Ivormantis growled from deep inside.
‘Quinn didn’t know if I was completely healed or not, and he didn’t want to take a chance by having me lift her. Blain was doing me a favor.’
‘Yada-ya-ya, you continuously make excuses! Just when are you going to get down to business and claim her as our mate? Or do I have to do that also?’
‘Ivormantis, go to sleep!’ Dominic growled.
At some point in time, Dominic fell asleep while sitting in the chair next to Meldamiriel’s bed. He felt a hand on his shoulder and jerked awake suddenly out of habit. He swung his head around to see Natasha standing behind him.
“Sorry to wake you, but I’m not sure if she is ready to find you camped out in here with her. Besides, Blain needs your help downstairs. I believe he wants another go at our guests.” She whispered everything to him so she wouldn’t wake her friend.
Dominic stood slowly and stretched. It felt wonderful just to be able to do that. He caught Natasha smirking at him.
“How’s your back feeling?” she asked with a grin on her face.
“Better than ever,” he replied as he stood and allowed her to take his spot in the chair. Looking back at her as he headed for the door, he whispered, “Send word if she wakes up and is not herself. I want to know.”
Natasha waited until the door was closed to let out a small chuckle. He had it bad.
“Speak, you filthy bastard!” Dominic growled, throwing the final punch into one of their vampire captives’ face for the moment. He turned, walking back toward Blain while rubbing his knuckles to get them to relax and ready for the next round. “These guys aren’t going to squeal,” he said, gesturing over his shoulder.
Blain nodded, pushing away from the wall. “Oh, they’ll talk or die; their choice,” he said in a low rumbling voice.
Grabbing a torch, Blain walked casually up to one of the two bloodsuckers hanging from chains and held the torch just below his arm. The vampire clenched his jaw so tightly Dominic heard his molars grinding to dust as the flames of the torch licked upwards to his flesh. The wicked flame started searing the skin with little delicate laps. Shortly after, it found a stronger hold and started feasting on the whole underside of his arm. Finally, the vampire cried out, unable to take the pain in silence anymore. Pleased at hearing his pathetic howls, Blain lowered the torch slightly so the flames were no longer touching the skin, but his victim could still feel the heat.
Leaning into the vampire’s face, he growled, “I’m going to ask you one last time before I end your worthless life. What are Bullock’s plans?”
The creature’s head hung low as he heaved every breath he took, sweat drenching his hair and face. He shook his head slightly before raising his head just enough to meet Blain’s waiting gaze and spat in his face. “I don’t obey scaly reptiles.”
Blain nodded. “Very well then,” he dropped the torch down in front of the bloodsucker's feet. Stepping back, he watched as the flames climbed up his legs and slowly devoured him whole. The vampire’s screams filled the closed in room, bouncing off the stone walls.
Dominic smirked at the sight of their last victim. His face was a picture of pure terror as he watched in horror as his fellow comrade burned to death not five feet from him. He turned his wide worried eyes to Blain and Dominic, silently pleading for mercy, shaking in the chains holding him up.
“Please, please don’t kill me,” he begged.
Dominic took a deep breath. “No, we won’t kill you.”
Blain looked to his friend with a raised eyebrow.
“You’re going to be my little messenger boy,” he stated evenly, grabbing one of the daggers on the table he passed by on the way to their pathetic last prisoner.
The vampire flinched away, shutting his eyes tightly, as Dominic raised his blade. A flash of a second later, there was the sound of metal on steel and the coward fell to the ground in a heap of fear. He tried to move away as Dominic reached down and yanked him up by his throat until he was at eye level.
“You’re going to live long enough to carry your sorry ass back to Russia and tell Bullock that he can bring all the vampires he wants to try to capture my mate. It will be all the more for my dragon to feast upon,” Dominic growled low in the vampire’s face, and then drove the dagger in through his middle. It wasn’t a killing blow for a vampire, but it was meant to be a painful reminder of what happens when you mess with a dragon shifter.
He then dropped the bloodsucker to the floor. Blain was already summoning a few of his guards in to help take the trash out.
Chapter Three
After lunch, Dominic found his mate curled up in the library reading a book.
“Would you like to join me for a walk in the gardens? You could even bring your book along if you’d like.”
She graced him with a gentle smile that had Ivormantis doing backflips inside of his head. ‘Did you just see how she smiled at us? She is starting to fall for us.’
He just barely contained his chuckle. He remembered Blain telling him how his dragon, Sapphamire, had been in a field of flowers in his mind’s eye, picking
them, all the while reciting, “She loves me, she loves me, she loves me!”
“Sure,” she replied as she stood and closed the book. “Just let me grab a jacket from my room.
‘What does she need a jacket for when she has me?’ Ivormantis growled. ‘I’ll gladly keep her nice and warm.’
‘Behave and stay back, Ivormantis. I know you want to show yourself to her, but you are going to need to be patient.’
‘Patience, smashience,’ the dragon grumbled in return. ‘I think you just want to hog all of her time.’
Dominic growled at his beast as he rolled his eyes. The longer Ivormantis was kept chained up, the grumpier his beast got.
Meldamiriel came sailing back into the room, jacket in hand, a quick moment later. “Are you ready?”
“Sure” he answered her. He held out his hand while holding his breath to see if she would take it. He let it out in a whoosh when he felt her tiny hand touch his much larger one. Smiling at her, he tucked her hand into his arm as they walked down the stairs, then out the back door of the castle. Dominic slowed his pace up considerably, realizing how much longer his legs were compared to his mate’s.
The two strolled out into the gardens. Spring had arrived, but in Iceland, that still meant a chill in the air. They had been lucky so far this spring and had experienced slightly higher than normal temperatures. Today’s high was sitting at a balmy 50 degrees with bright sunshine.
This was Meldamiriel’s first time seeing the gardens and the beauty took her breath away. Pristine and full of color, they walked through the paths that separated each bed of flowers.
Dominic and his beast were as content as they could be as they escorted her through the many different colors and scents. She stopped often, sometimes just to sniff the fragrance, sometimes to gently caress the foliage. He watched in amazement, because every time his mate touched a flower it perked up, became even more vibrant in color, and seemed to grow fuller before his very eyes.
She pointed out the bluish-purple Alaskan lupine, the bright orange, yellow, and white Iceland Poppies, the reddish-pink Alpine Catchfly, Wild Thyme, Rosebay Willowherb, and the Great Burnet. She also showed him the Thrift, explaining it was part of the Sea Lavender family, and then the white Glacier Buttercups, Lady Smocks, and Mountain Avens.