by Jan Dockter
These flames represented Dain’s clan coat of arms. It was a huge red flame with a smaller orange flame in the middle. The silk of the gown had a luminous glow to it. The entire waist was covered with blue sapphires and the hem was surrounded by golden leaves. They represented the leaves on the Tree of Life. Tori was touched that Dain remembered her telling him about the design on Athena’s armor. The entire length of her veil was embossed with golden Trees of life. In the box was a small square jewelry case, in it were earrings made of pure gold. On them was a single leaf surrounded by more flames. They shimmered every time the light hit them when Tori moved her head. The flames were dancing and looked alive when light touched them. By the time the women were done with Tori she looked exquisite.
Her bouquet was made of white and blue flowers with tiny orange roses set in strategic places to make everything be noticeable. She was met at the door by six honor guards and she walked in the middle of them as they marched towards the glen. They were all dressed in the Kincaid colors, their shirts were red and their kilts were red plaid. They each had a sword attached to their waist with the Tree of Life etched in gold on their scabbards. They were all solidly built and you could tell they were soldiers from the way they carried themselves. Tori knew they would be formidable men to meet in a battle. Her family and Carrie walked behind the small procession.
Tori gasped as she arrived at the glen. There was a small gazebo in the middle of it with chairs surrounding it in a semi-circle. Canvas tops were above all the chairs and farther back were more tops above tables of food. In the middle of the gazebo stood the Kincaid minister, Aldain and Malcolm. Dain looked extremely handsome in his Kincaid uniform.
The sight of him took Tori’s breath away. When Aldain saw her his jaw dropped slightly but he quickly closed his mouth. She was beyond stunning; to him she was the most beautiful woman in existence. His dragon huffed and Aldain was having a very hard time keeping him at bay. “Hey, she will be ours soon enough. If you keep acting like this you will scare her away then all the patience we used getting to this moment will have been for naught. Behave!” His dragon made a mewling sound but was quiet for now. They both knew she would belong to them shortly.
The honor guard stepped back as they arrived at the gazebo as Tori’s dad then took his place beside her. He whispered in her ear. “You are beautiful sweetheart. I have never been so proud.”
Tori’s eyes brim with tears. “Thank you, daddy. I love you!” He cleared his throat at her declaration.
Music started in the background from the many bag pipe players which was the minister’s que to ask who was giving her away. With a look of pride and love Tori’s dad put her hand in Aldain’s. As they turned to face the minister, Aldain pulled a paper out of his pocket. He had written his own vows. Tori was surprised because he didn’t tell her he was going to do this. If she would have known she would have written her own also.
He looked deep into her eyes as he said in a strong voice, “Tori my love, until I met you I didn’t realize how lonely my life was. The love you have given me has taken away my loneliness and filled my heart and soul with love and laughter. Your smile is like sunshine, your laughter like the song of angels. You are the air I breathe; you are my life and the other half of my soul. You took a half of a man and made him whole, I tell you this day. I will love no other, I will be there for you in good times and bad. Forever I will love you and will do everything within my power to make you happy and love you unconditionally. I am honored to be your husband. I love you more than my life, forever I am yours.”
As he recited his vows, the tears were falling freely down Tori’s face. She couldn’t imagine loving him any more than she did at this moment. She felt his love fill her entire being. Her love for him poured out of her body, it overwhelmed the area around her. People close to her could feel it springing from her.
Tori thanked him for his eloquent and heartfelt words. She said, “My precious love; I have no words written on paper to tell you how I feel or what your love does for me. Each day I wake I find I love you more than the day before. I have experienced the love of your heart and your soul and for this I thank you. All I can do is return your love as deeply as your love is for me. I promise you, I will love no other, desire no other and I want only you at my side. I will love you during the good and bad times. I love you more than the stars in the sky, to lose you would be worse than death. I need you in my life; I am yours now and forever, in life and in death.” Aldain wasn’t expecting this from Tori. Her love for him humbled him like nothing else ever had.
They both looked deeply into each other’s eyes, sending each other their love and a promise of ecstasy when they were alone. They both turned towards the minister. He said very few words after the vows they had just expressed to each other and pronounced them man and wife. As he pronounced Tori his wife, Aldain lifted her veil, pulled her body close to his and assaulted her lips with a sensuous kiss. His kiss deepened as Tori’s lips matched his, her tongue curling in his mouth, showing him her heightened senses were just as strong as his. Both seemed to forget where they were until a cheer went up from the men in Aldain’s Clan. Tori’s face turned red, which Aldain thought was adorable. He had never seen someone’s face turn quite that shade before. He would have to see if he could manage to do that again, from a distance of course. His idea of having fun at her expense might not go over as well with her and he wasn’t an idiot. She might be small but she was dynamite when crossed. She was the true epitome of ‘watch out for big things coming out of small packages’.
As people from Aldain’s clan all stood in line to meet their Clan Lord’s new wife, Tori thought she saw someone at the edge of the tree line, standing where he could barely be seen. When she blinked, and looked again, he was gone. She must be getting paranoid or something. Maybe it was having so many people taking up so much space in her little glen; she loved the glen. It was the one place Dain and her would go to spend time together. Whether to sit under a tree and talk, fish, swim or make love. It was their secret gem and she wasn’t used to seeing it full of other people. It almost felt sacrilegious to her but she knew it was only for today.
The line seemed unending to Tori. Her feet were killing her and she was getting hot standing in one place. Aldain noticed his brides discomfort and to her surprise carried over her favorite recliner, the one she always liked to sit on in the castle.
She raised an eyebrow. He looked at her with a sheepish grin. “Well I knew eventually you were going to get tired standing on your feet for so long so I had some of my men hide it away out here for when you needed it.
Tori gave him a hug and pulled his head down to hers. “You are something you know that, I so owe you one for this.” She gave him one of her smiles that sent the blood rushing from his heart to his manhood. He felt it start to stiffen and engorge. The entire day he had been fighting with his body to behave. Tori looked so appealing all he wanted to do was take her with him to the place he was taking her for their honeymoon and devour that luscious body of hers. For most of the day he kept it under control, but it seemed as time went on he was starting to lose the battle.
Cade and Becca remained in the castle while the sun was high, using the excuse that they had to keep the food going for the hungry people outside of the castle. Becca had told Tori earlier about her being turned into a vampire by Cade. Tori wasn’t sure how she felt about her sister being a vampire, she worried about the fear of her having lost her soul. Cade assured her that this wasn’t the case. The only way a vampire lost its soul was if it preyed on humans and became totally evil, having lost the last of its humanity over time. Cade might have spent a couple of hundred years killing the descendants of the judges that put his first wife to death, but he didn’t feed off them. He just killed them because the thought of their blood in his body turned his stomach.
Becca had told her that they lived off animal blood or occasionally got blood from the blood banks from the hospital. They had a fellow vampire that
worked there and he could sneak out blood when they would get a surplus of it in from the occasional blood drives the hospital would have. Considering her sister would have died if Cade hadn’t turned her softened the blow for Tori. She was grateful her sister was still alive, in a manner of speaking, so was glad that Cade had saved her. She didn’t particularly care how as long as it didn’t turn her sister into some kind of soulless blood sucking monster. Finding all this out made her feel safe enough that her nightmares were almost non-existent now, not to forget that she was also the mate of a dragon. What human could even come close to winning a fight against them?
As the sun started to set and the light of the sun started to turn a soft yellow, Cade and Becca were finally able to join in the party. The rest of the food was being kept warm in warming pans; Becca had finally fixed the last of it. She was tired but had a pleased expression on her face when she saw most of what she had fixed had been eaten. It seemed there wasn’t going to be as much left over as she had thought. It gave her a feeling of accomplishment to see that everyone there seemed to enjoy the food she had prepared, Cade was just as proud of her. He sometimes wondered if a vampire could get fat from eating too much food. He could also eat human food but blood was the life force that kept a vampire alive. Eating human food, was just something that was enjoyable and helped them keep in touch with some of their human qualities.
Tori was glad to see them both, they walked over to her and hugged both her and Aldain. Tori’s dad thought it a little strange that his daughter Becca wanted to stay inside during the wedding service but he recorded the ceremony so Becca and Cade could watch it on DVD.
Chapter Fourteen
As the last rays of the sun disappeared and the stars lit the night sky, the lights set up at the glen lit up. They weren’t exceptionally bright, they were light enough to illuminate the surroundings in a soft glow.
Some people were starting to leave and some were dancing to the lovely Scottish tunes played on the bagpipes and portable organ. The haunting melodies traveled throughout the glen. Tori and Aldian sought the solace of each other’s embrace, both needing to feel the closeness that they shared together. It was getting harder for them to keep their hands off each other. It wouldn’t be long until they said their goodnights to their guests. They both refused to tell anyone where they were going to go on their honeymoon. They were only going to be gone two days but they were keeping their whereabouts a closely guarded secret. Tori would never admit that Aldain refused to even tell her where they were going; he wanted her to be surprised.
Aldain had turned the cave not too far away from the castle into a honeymoon suite. He got the idea when Cade lived in his cave in Yellowstone and he worked on it for days to crate the perfect hideaway. He had help when the regiment of his clan came early to see if they could do something that he might need help with, they were a godsend. In no time, he was able to put up false walls around the cave using redwood paneling. He put battery powered lights on the wall sconces and had a huge oversized king bed put inside. He used the softest mattresses he could find, because Tori loved to sink into her mattress at night. He had red silk sheets put on them with red silk pillowcases. The comforter was down filled and was also red, with a huge gold Tree of Life in the middle. He had blue lights installed in the slow meandering stream that went through the cave giving the water a beautiful soft blue glow. He put mirrors at the mouth of the cave and had them positioned in such a way that the reflection from them reflected off the mirror above their bed. Making it look like they were outside under the millions of stars shining in the obsidian night.
He had coolers that looked like a glass full of various kinds of fresh fruits; champagne with numerous other edibles and drinks in the glowing blue stream to keep them cold. The cave had another worldly look to it, he hoped Tori liked it. He did everything with her in mind wanting the time they spent there to be magical.
The guests finally dwindled down to a handful of people and Aldain was ready to take his bride, his beloved wife, to the place he had lovingly transformed for her. She hugged her family, and said good bye to the rest of the guests as Aldain took her hand and she followed him into the castle. Aldain told her to go upstairs and change her clothes.
He told her to dress casually, because they would be travelling for quite some time and wanted her to be comfortable. She had loaded up the car with her suitcase the night before. Aldain had taken it to the cave before she woke up, everything she needed was already there and put away.
She finished changing in record time, she was curious to know where they were going. He took her to the car, strapped her in, then went to the other side and got inside. He started to drive away in a direction going up the mountainside, away from any town or city that she was aware of. She turned her head and with a raised brow said, “Where are we going? I didn’t know there were any major roads in this direction?”
Aldain smiled, “There aren’t. You will just have to trust me.”
Tory scrutinized him. “I will always trust you.” As she reached over and squeezed his hand.
It didn’t take long before he came to a huge clearing by the side of the forest. He stopped the car, got out and went to the other side and unbuckled Tori. He kissed her softly on the lip, “We will have to fly to the place we are going. Do you mind?”
Tori’s eyes widened. “You mean you will have to shift into a dragon and I will have to ride you? Oh yes, I so want to see you in dragon form. I want to see the other part of you that belongs to me too.”
Aldain ran his hand down her face. He loved her so much that words couldn’t do justice to how deeply he felt about her. He slowly undressed and put his clothes in a back pack. Tori stood quietly enjoying the sight of his naked body, he looked like a God in the starlight.
He moved away from her and she saw him shimmer. Where a man once stood was a beautiful, huge, red dragon. Tory was looking at beautiful yellow eyes peering down at her. She slowly walked towards him. “Oh, my god Dain you are so beautiful.” As he lowered his head she slowly ran her hand down his face. She was surprised to feel that even though most of his body had beautiful vibrant red scales his face was soft to the touch. “Do you retain all your human memories while you are in this form?” she whispered. He slowly shook his head up and down. She realized she loved the dragon as much as the man.
He was huge and powerful, he was beautiful and frightening at the same time. He loved her and she could feel his love encompass her heart. The power of it made her knees weak. How lucky she was to have the love of both these creatures, the man and his dragon. Two halves that made a whole, both powerful in their own way. She had never felt more loved as she did at this moment. The dragon felt her love for him coursing through his body to his soul. She was his as much as much as she belonged to the man form. He bellowed his victory to the skies. She loved the dragon; she accepted him. His life was finally complete, for she completed them both.
Without hesitation, he knelt down so Tori could climb on his back. He nuzzled the back pack with his nose and Tori looked inside. Besides Aldain’s clothes there was a rope in there. Aldain lowered his head and Tori was able to take the rope and tie an end to one of his massive horns that went half way down his back. When he lifted his head up, she just hung on the rope until she could swing her body over and sit on his back. She tied the loose end of the rope to her waist. It might not be the ideal way to travel on dragon back but if she fell off, she would still be attached to him.
She wiggled around and tightened the rope to help keep her balance. When Aldain felt she was ready, he took off at a run and was shortly in the air. When he lifted off he heard Tori give a ‘whoohoo’as his huge wings waved through the air. It took only minutes for him to get to the cave he had fixed for them.
When they arrived at the cave Aldain knelt so she could get off his back. She gave a curious look towards the cave but she was going to wait for Aldain before she took another step. She backed away from him and watched him shimmer
back into a man. He grabbed the back pack and put on some casual clothes. He didn’t change at the castle like he had Tori do, he knew he was going to be taking his clothes off shortly anyway.
He had her close her eyes as he scooped her off her feet. She put her arms around his neck, as he carried her across the mouth of the cave before setting her down. Tori could hear water and smell the fresh smell of earth. She opened her eyes and gasped at the sight before her.
She looked around not being able to believe what she was seeing. The cave had been transformed into the most beautiful room she had ever seen. She walked around and noticed the beautiful walls, the gorgeous blue water in the stream. She saw the huge bed and couldn’t help herself, she ran and threw her body on it. She immediately sunk deep into the mattress, it felt like pure bliss. She lay there with her eyes closed for a minute. When she opened them she gulped as she realized she was staring into the most beautiful night sky she had ever seen. She studied it, realizing it was a mirror that was showing the sky outside. The millions of stars twinkling in the night was making the darkness come alive. She was lost in the beauty of it until she felt Dain sit on the bed. He had a look on his face she had never seen before. He looked anxious for her approval.
“Well do you like it? I tried to think of everything you would need while we are here.” He gave her a questioning look.
She reached up and pulled his head to her face so she could look into his eyes. “I think this is the most beautiful place I have ever seen, I want to keep it like this forever. I see everything I could ever need here, but the most important thing I need and want is you. Where ever you are; I will have everything I need. You went the extra mile making this for me. Words fail me at how beautiful and special to me this place is. I want this to be our retreat forever.”