When we enter into the office Xander sits at is desk doing something on his computer. As we stand in front of his desk he continues to type as if we are not standing there. I look around his office not wanting to meet his gaze when we are addressed. I hear his typing cease and I feel Maximus stand taller next to me.
"What is the meaning of this interruption and why are you restraining Magma, Maximus?" he questions.
"I am here officially. She has broken our vow. I have delivered her to you as soon as I found out. You may do with her what you wish." He says in a strong voice.
"What do you mean she has broken our vow. Which one do you speak of?" he ask. I see his shadow rise on the wall as he stands. I close my eyes waiting for the truth to be heard.
"She has broken our most solemn vow. She has used her blood to heal a human." Maximus says.
"What!? How could you do this. You know what I will be forced to do. State your reason before you are banned. I need to know what trouble you have wrought upon us." He commands.
"I have saved my mate. If I had not done what my draikaina wanted she would have forced a shift in the clinic. I saved my mate." I respond.
"Look at me" he commands.
I lift my gaze to meet his. The ethereal light blue eyes of his change to a swirling gold vortex and the eyes of his dragon greet me. I feel a rush through the air that causes my skin to crawl and know that he is using one of his powers to see the truth. He was chosen as our Alpha because he had powers like no other. He could illuminate our path and show each person he met to the ways of success and prosperity. The unusual feeling left the air as fast as it had come.
"Fuck!" he said dropping into his chair. "Dammit Magma you have really done it now"
I stand there in silence waiting for him to speak. He is running his hand through his long golden hair as his eyes flash between Dragon and human. He and his beast are having a conversation on what to do about me. I know I will accept what they decide but I do hope they allow me to see my mate before I die. He folds his hands together atop his desk and his human gaze meets mine.
"What happens now will not leave this room. You have broken our vow. It is in place to protect us from the humans if they find out what our blood can do. But my beast has made me understand why you did what you did. There will still be consequences however" he informs me in a calm voice. "This human will be your sole responsibility. Everything he does will be on you. You will be taking time from your job as a smoke jumper to rehabilitate him to our ways. He cannot leave. Ever. Do you understand?" he commands.
"What!? You know what will happen to me if my beast cannot be around fire. You would risk my sanity that way!" I yell.
I feel his power rise to the air once more as the hairs on my arm rise to attention. "Remember it is your Alpha you speak to. You committed a crime so you will face the consequences. You will have to find another way to calm your beast. I cannot have a human spouting to the rest about our magic. It would be the end of our species!" he shouts.
"Fine." I say under his command. I know I must agree because no one can defy our Alpha. Unwillingly my head bows under the strain of his power.
"Now for your consequences. You will be assigned to help with clinic duty" I rush to reply but he lifts a hand in the air. "We call it a consequence for a reason. Three weeks of duty should give you plenty of time to think on your actions. We all know you hate the EMT part of your skills. This will allow you to keep a close eye on the human too. Afterall, we know our blood can do amazing things for them with healing, but we don't know what all it heals."
"Yes, Alpha" I say grinding my teeth.
"Lastly, you need to think about what this means. All of our dragons have spoken of mates. Many of us have believed it to be a falsehood because we have not been faced with our own. You will need to account for what you experience by writing it down so we can know what to prepare for. Perhaps it will bring answers to the other problems we all experience." He cautions.
I know what he is speaking about and why he didn't say it aloud. I squirm where I stand wondering if it will be a possibility. All dragons are faced by problems without libido. However, many of us have never experienced what it is like to be with another because our beast do not allow us to. Yet, we are plagued with dreams of making love to a mate we can never see clearly. We are cursed to feel the rush in our blood from these dreams as we sleep. When we awake however the feeling cannot be replicated and we all suffer greatly for it.
"I understand. I will report what I find in both cases." I agree aloud.
"Maximus. When she is not on clinic duty you will keep an eye on the male. If they leave the clinic you will keep an eye on the both of them. He is not to be left alone until such a time I say he is to be trusted. Do I have your word?" he questions.
"Yes, Alpha" he responds dutifully.
We stand once more in silence to see if there is anything else to be said. When Xander goes back to typing on his computer we know that we have been dismissed. Maximus finally releases my arm but walks beside me as we begin to exit the house.
"I have been kind today because we do not always understand the actions of our beast. Do not mistake it for a weakness" Xander says as we walk through the door.
You see the trouble you have gotten us in. I hope you are right about the male being ours. I say to my draikaina.
Am I ever wrong? She questions.
I huff a breath as I head on the path back to the clinic. No, she never is I think. So now I have a mate that I don't even know. I will be forced to work in the clinic where nothing hardly ever happens. Dragons are only injured at the talons of another dragon. We still heal faster than the humans, however. When working in the clinic you pretty much only clean wounds. The humans of this village hardly ever get hurt because they are used to our ways. Dr. Frost is the only doctor because as a human she knows best how to treat her people. She has a job of leisure considering no one here has ever been mortally wounded.
As we approach the clinic I feel excited that I will be seeing him again soon. I hope that he has progressed well in my absence. I look to Maximus to see if he plans to follow me the whole way. I know that soon he will be my shadow.
"You are extremely lucky for what happened today. I hope you know that." He says and then he disappears.
It used to freak me out when I first discovered he could do that. As kids he would always disappear and reappear to frighten me. Sometimes he still pulls the parlor trick out for fun. It is an amazing thing to see on the training grounds. The only other dragon to have beaten him in a fight is our Alpha Xander. Maximus is head of security because the stealth he needs is built in. I have grown used to it now and can feel him even when I can't see him most of the time. I enter the clinic and head straight for my strangers room.
When I walk into the room I pause briefly as I notice the nurse is attending to him. She has cut away the thick material of the Personal Protective Equipment pants so that she can bandage his leg. I stand off to the side waiting for her to finish. I can hear his heartbeat that now beats much stronger in my ears. The scent of blood that surrounded him has dissipated some also. I sigh with relief to know that he is getting better. I am momentarily distracted when I hear the sound of dripping water. I see that the nurse has a sponge in a bowl that she has and is lifting it to wipe him down.
"Get away from him!" I yell with the power of my beast.
How dare she touch what belongs to me!
The nurse drops the sponge and whirls around to face me. I see her human self-cower in fear before me as she raises her hands in surrender.
"I...I... only meant to wash him. He is covered in filth" she says quietly as she begins backing away.
"You will not bathe him. You will no longer touch what is mine!" I command her with strength.
"Yes... okay.. m-m-magma" she says looking absolutely terrified.
A hand touches my shoulder, and I whirls around ready to attack who has touched me. I drop into a fighting stance and growl at the shocked face of Maximus. He stands tall underneath my gaze not even flinching at the sound.
"Be calm Magma. I am not here to fight you. Put your talons away." He says slowly.
"Calm. She touched him. She meant to bathe him clean. He is mine" I grind out not willing to stand down.
"Okay. Okay. I will make her leave the room and she won't come back" he snaps his fingers at the human nurse, and I stare daggers at her as she runs from the room.
When she is no longer here I feel myself begin to relax my fighting stance. Maximus watches me wearily as he moves to block me from exiting the room to attack the nurse. As I come back to myself I take a long deep breath. I feel the bones of my hands form back into fingers. I feel a rush over my skin knowing that my scales are also disappearing. When I stand as a human Maximus comes forward.
"What the hell was that. The nurse was only trying to take care of him" He demands to know.
"I honestly have no idea. I was fine when she was bandaging his leg. When she was about to bathe him I felt my dragon take over as if we were being threatened. I barely felt myself partially shift in her rage" I plead for him to understand.
"Okaaaay. So, this definitely has to go in the report. No one can touch him. I will inform the rest of the staff of this. You however next time need to find some control. The humans already fear us. We can't have you kill one of them just because they touched their own kind" he informs me.
At a loss for words, I just nod at him and head over to the bed. I wet the sponge and clean the rest of the open area around the bandage. I survey his body once I am finished to see what I will clean next.
Clean his face. I will see what belongs to me.
I roll my eyes at her bossy tone but rinse the sponge and head toward his face. I brush the short strands of his black hair away from ash strewn face. I wipe the black smudge from his forehead first revealing his fair skin. When I lift the sponge away his thick eyebrows have pulled together in thought even though he is still unconscious. After rinsing the sponge once more I wipe his eyes and nose. He has long black lashes. The ridge of his nose is long, and the protrusive tip is rounded between his nostrils. Wiping the rest of his face I have to wipe twice over his stubble. I smile when I see his full lips have a bit of a reddish tint. I rub the back of my hand along his stubble as I try to memorize his handsome face.
I look at his eyes which have started moving behind his lids although the rest of him lies still. I move my eyes back to his lips wondering why I find them so appealing.
Kiss them. Let him feel that we are here. You know you want to.
My draikaina goads me. She is like always right I do want to kiss him. Since I have her permission there is nothing to stop me. So, I lean down and press my lips to his as my hair forms a curtain. The kiss is a brief peck, and he lies still as I pull away.
When I can see his eyes I startle at the darkest Green irises I have ever scene. His strong face moves to form a smile as his gaze meets mine and then his eyes close again.
"Holy Shit" I hear as I jerk my head up to the voice. "You already have a bond with him. I didn't believe it at first when you said mate. But, well you treat him as if he is no stranger. I have never seen you be this tender with anyone" Maximus says in amazement.
"I can't explain the feeling to you. I feel as if I have found someone I have known I needed but could never find. I didn't even realize you were still in the room." I tell him
I watch as his dragon eyes briefly flicker in his gaze. He seems to startle but quickly controls his self as he makes a swift exit from the room. I leave the bed and go to take a seat in the chair next to it so I can watch him. after everything I have been through today I suddenly feel really tired. I watch him as my eyes slowly drift shut as sleep takes me.