Ivormantis (7 page)

“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.