Ivormantis (8 page)

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.

They came across a bench and Dominic escorted her over to sit down. “Oh my goodness, I am so ashamed of myself!” She sucked in a huge amount of air as she placed her hands on her heated cheeks. “I should have asked you about your back. Are you in pain? We can go back if you want…”

Dominic stopped her there with a chuckle as he shook his head. “No, sweet thing, my back is not in any type of pain or discomfort. I owe you a huge thank you for what you did for me yesterday. I hated that it took so much out of you, but I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Because of you, I will be able to shift as of tomorrow, and that, my dear, is a very good thing,” he finished with a grin.

“And why is that? Do you have an antsy dragon waiting to escape?”

He chuckled before responding. “You have no idea. Ivormantis is hardheaded on the best of days. But when he has been locked up and cannot come out for an extended length of time, he becomes unbearable to live with.” He chuckled again and shook his head. “He just told me to tell you that he is not hardheaded and very eager to meet you.”

Meldamiriel’s eyes got huge. “D…does he want to eat me?” If she didn’t have the complete look of horror in her eyes, he would have gladly informed her that both he and his dragon would love nothing better than to feast on her sweet pussy, but the timing was all wrong. He would have to win over her trust before that was ever to come into play.

“No, love. He doesn’t eat people. Not elves, humans, or anyone else. I think someone told you a few too many fables when you were growing up.”

“Umm, that would be Natasha’s doing,” she mumbled.

“Hmm, interesting.” He was fairly certain Natasha had not told her friend yet that she had been gifted with a dragon of her own when she and Blain mated. This was something that occurred very rarely.

“If I only bring him part of the way out in order for him to speak with you, but maintain my human body, would that help ease your fears?” Ivormantis was pulling on his chains, trying his best to break free to the surface. He desperately wanted to prove to their mate that she had nothing to worry about, that he loved her and would gladly stand and protect her against the world.

Finally, after chewing her bottom lip for a moment in indecision, she nodded. Dominic allowed Ivormantis loose, but kept a tight hold on the chain.

‘Come through my eyes and a partial amount on the face, but that is all, Ivormantis.
If we push her too far, she will run, and then we stand a good chance of losing her forever.’

For once, his beast didn’t argue with him. He came through doing a partial shift to the face and eyes, but stopped there.

Meldamiriel’s eyes got huge as the transformation took place, but she forced herself to stay seated and not jump back in fear. “Um, hi?” Her voice came out as no more than a squeak.

“Hello, Meldamiriel, my little jewel,” Ivormantis greeted with a grin.

“You know what my name stands for!” she stated in surprise.

“Of course I do, sweets, you are our mate. I have made it a point to learn everything about you.” He cocked his head at her, which looked so weird. The head of a dragon on a body of a man. “I love your hair, such an unusual color, but beautiful just the same.”

She glanced down at her straight white hair, the length going halfway down her back. The coloring alone marked her as an Omega Elf. She had always liked the color herself, just because it was unusual and different, until she was old enough to understand what all it meant. It was why it was so difficult to hide away from other supernatural beings. She even tried the awful smelling human hair dyes in an attempt to hide what she was, only to have her own pristine white hair be back in place less than a few hours later.

Ivormantis watched her finger her hair with interest. “You do not like your hair, pretty mate?” His question was asked out of earnest, as if it was impossible for him to understand why she wouldn’t like her beautiful head of hair.

She looked over to him and smiled. “I like it, I just don’t like the trouble that comes knocking at my door because of what it stands for.”

“Oh, but, sweets, you won’t have to worry about fighting these beings by yourself ever again. Dominic is a powerful warrior and I can promise you that I will incinerate anyone who comes around causing you trouble.”

She wrapped her arms around herself, getting chilled from not moving and sitting on the hard, cold bench. “I think I like that idea, Ivormantis.”

“Now that you have met me and know I mean you no harm whatsoever, do you think maybe tomorrow night when Dominic can shift, I might fully meet you? I could even give you a short ride if you are comfortable enough with me. There is a beautiful waterfall only a couple of miles from here. You would be perfectly safe. I give you my word and Dominic’s as well,” he stopped and sighed. “I have to go back now. Dominic is pulling my chains. I hope to see you again tomorrow evening, my little jewel.”

The following evening after dinner, Dominic and Meldamiriel walked out to the gardens arm in arm. Dominic was happy to see the change just a few short days had made in his mate. She was no longer afraid to be near him. No, now she felt comfortable enough to walk next to him, even out to the garden by herself with him. As they walked, her hand rested ever so gracefully on his arm.

He walked them over to the same bench they had been sitting on the day before. “Sweetheart, I don’t have to change over while you are with me if it makes you nervous.”

“No, Dominic, I want to meet Ivormantis. He seemed so nice yesterday and well…” she hesitated for just a moment. “I don’t have anything to worry about, do I?”

He smiled down at her as he lightly caressed her cheek. “Of course you don’t, sweetheart. Ivormantis wants to meet you very badly. However, neither he nor I want to scare you. I was just concerned about you. You have absolutely nothing to worry about.”

She sat down on the bench and grinned up at him. “Well tell him I am excited to meet him, but I don’t know about taking any rides tonight. I think if we just stay here in the gardens, I’ll be okay.”

Dominic took a couple of steps back and turned around, his rear facing her. “Sweets, I don’t want to startle you, but I have to undress in order to shift.”

“Oh,
ooh
,” she replied as the full impact of his words hit her. “Would you like me to turn around and close my eyes?” she asked a bit bashfully.

“No, not really, but you do what makes you comfortable.” He would love nothing better than to have his mate watch him as he undressed and preened for her, but if she wasn’t comfortable with him in the nude yet, he certainly wasn’t going to push it tonight.

He stripped the shirt off over his head and then unbuttoned and pulled the zipper down on his jeans. He cast a look back over his shoulder at her and grinned. She had her eyes cast downward, but was sneaking peeks up through her eyelashes at him.

“Baby, you don’t have to be shy around me. I am your mate, you know.”

Her eyes flew up to meet his in surprise. “It’s just…just, you’re just so big, Dominic,” she whispered in awe, just as he turned around and let his pants hit the ground.

“You say the sweetest things, mate.” He chuckled as he kicked off his shoes and finished taking off his pants. His dick was standing at full attention, large and waving hello to her. He heard her gulp and glanced over to see her staring at his engorged cock. “He won’t bite, baby,” he teased.

Before she had time to gather up her thoughts, he took a step back, allowing Ivormantis full lead in breaking through the surface.

One minute Meldamiriel was staring at his huge member, the next she was looking at the prettiest sight she had ever seen.

Ivormantis was ivory in color, but with the moonlight hitting his scales, they seemed to take on an almost iridescent look to them.

She was still staring at the beauty before her when she heard him speak. “Hello, my beautiful little jewel.”

She only hesitated for a second. “Hel…hello, Ivormantis.” She smiled up at him. “You’re beautiful.”

“No, my love, you are an exquisite, rare jewel. I trust you are well this evening?”

“Oh yes, very. Thank you.” His old world charm tickled her. To some extent, Dominic had that same quality. Escorting her out to the gardens, opening doors for her when they were inside the castle, and always taking the time to ask about her well-being.

“May I touch you, Ivormantis? Would that be okay?” she asked a bit nervously. Just what did one do when they had a huge dragon sitting in front of them?

“By all means, my beautiful mate. You may touch me anywhere you like.”

She had just reached out and touched one of his scales, mesmerized in how smooth it was, when his voice came across agitated.

“Mate, we have trouble coming our way. Get on top of my back, now! Hurry!”

Meldamiriel gasped as he quickly laid his head on the ground, to make it easier for her to climb up on. She scurried up on to the back of his neck as fast as she could, his claw helping to support her journey upwards. Once she was settled, straddled over the base of his neck, Ivormantis rose up to sit back on his hunches and faced the forest line at the back of the garden. Her heart was pounding like powerful thunder in her chest as her wide blue eyes scanned the forest line. Who, or what, was out there?