A Pet for the Dragons

2.

ZORGE

I was thinking about taking Ivret down in the training hall when I heard a small moan. I returned to the bars but was annoyed that Ivret was beside me, trying to get a glimpse of her, too.

I couldn't see much because her head was turned away from us, but her breaths were more rapid. She seemed to be stirring awake. I tried to tune into her mind to find out what she felt, but all I got were broken signals.

However, I felt intense pain and dread in her.

"Open the door," I hissed at Ivret, wanting to get closer to her. Ivret growled at me.

"I'm not opening the door while you're here," He told me sternly, and I cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Would you like a fist to your face then?" I offered.

"I'm not opening the door while you're here," he repeated. "I don't trust you,"

I growled at him. I wanted to knock him to the floor and wrestle the key out of him. The urge to do so was overwhelming, but I knew it would worsen my case. I needed to employ a more ingenious tactic.

There was another moan, but it was louder this time. It got our attention again. I closed my eyes and focused hard on her mind. My sensing capabilities were strong, and I could usually sense everything in people around me quickly, but there seemed to be some barrier with this woman.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't sense her emotions as intensely. It felt like a shield surrounded her mind, keeping me away. I wondered if this had something to do with her being a human.

I didn't have many interactions with humans before to know this. However, I was adept at sensing all the dragons' emotions, including Ivret, who was still standing beside me with his eyes solely focused on her.

I tuned into his mind to catch his feelings— curiosity, a covert interest in her that I shared, concern, annoyance (which I knew was primarily because of my presence here) and possessiveness. The last emotion made me growl out at him again.

I could sense that he was planning to keep her to himself, but I wouldn't allow that. I found her in the snow first. She was unconscious and covered in some blood, but there were no wounds on her. I'd called Ivret to check on her then, but now he acted like she was his!

"Open the door. She's waking up," I lied. Even though his dark feelings for her pissed me to a certain degree, I used it against him. And it worked right away.

Without wasting another second, he took the keys from one of the pockets of his thick bear-hide cloak and unlocked the door. I followed him inside the tiny cell like a shadow before pushing him aside and getting to her side.

A painful look dawned on her face, and her soft lips parted gently as her chest rose and fell rapidly. I tried to sense her emotions again, but all I got was more and more pain. That was the only emotion I could detect in her. I reached out to touch her to see if that'd help me read her feelings better, but before I could do that, Ivret grabbed the hood of my clock and pulled me away from her.

"I don't want you anywhere near her," He snarled at me. I bared my teeth to him over my shoulder, but it didn't affect him at all.

"I found her first," I reminded him, just in case he forgot that part. He glared at me, and I could sense his anger strengthening. He didn't like my reminder.

"You might've found her first, but I'm the healer. Without me, she dies," He shot back, and his words hit me in the gut like a strong punch. His reasoning was irrefutable. I didn't have anything to say to that.

A look of satisfaction filled his features, knowing well that I didn't have any comeback to that. It intensely irritated me that I couldn't do much for her now except sit back and try to sense her emotions. And even that, I wasn't doing well.

I grunted at Ivret and stepped aside so he could check her vitals, but I watched him closely. He glared at me, wanting me to leave him alone with her, but I wouldn't do that.

"I'm staying here, and you'd have to defeat me in a spar before I step out of this cell," I declared. Ivret's eyes flashed with an ire. He was about to challenge me back, but another moan from the human woman snapped our attention back to her.

He pressed his finger against her neck to check her pulse while I watched her face intently. She was so pale... almost like snow, but there was some colour in her lips, making them contrasting. I couldn't help but trace her unique lips with my eyes. I noticed how she parted her lips slightly as if gasping for breath.

"She's having trouble breathing," I snapped at Ivret, who was still reading her pulse and doing nothing more. His sluggishness in treating her was irritating me increasingly.

"I know," He snapped back and pressed his ear to her chest. I growled again, but he ignored me. I didn't like him getting that close to her because it made him more possessive. I could sense his smugness for having a good enough reason to get close and touch her. I didn't have such reasons yet.

All I could do was watch her, and that's what I did. I continued to take in the rest of her features. I studied her face—it was well-defined but had a feminine softness that made my hands ache to touch her again.

As a dragon, hard muscles and scales covered most of my body. In contrast, she had no scales anywhere in her body. I knew this because I had initially helped Ivret search for any wounds once we brought her here.

I remembered how smooth and soft her skin felt under mine. Everything about her was so supple, so delicate and plump. I wanted to touch her again. I groaned at the thought because Ivret was currently hunched over her, still listening to her breaths. He didn't show signs of wanting to move away from her soon. I wanted to push him off her already, but I restrained myself and went back to studying her features.

She had a dainty nose and not-so-thick eyebrows. Her long eyelashes rested against her high cheekbones. I wondered what colour her eyes were. Ivret had checked them, but he hadn't let me touch them—all I wanted to know was what colour her eyes were.

As if she could listen to my thoughts, she fluttered her eyes open gently and blinked several times. I watched her, breathless, as she looked around before fixating her bleary bears on me.

I saw her arctic blue eyes—the colour of the frozen sea with hints of grey—my favourite colour. She blinked a couple of times at me again to focus her vision before her eyes widened. I noticed those shards of melancholic grey in her eyes that matched the colour of my scales.

I decided then and there — she'd be mine.

~

What do you think of Zorge and Ivret? 

Read daily updates on Patreon. The link is in my bio. 

Thanks for reading <3