Well, one was a human woman—Jane. The other with black hair and light golden skin had the tell-tale tattoo on her bicep of a dragon-shifter.
The dragonwoman was a little shorter than Jane, which was rare since dragon-shifters were usually really tall. Maybe her mother had been human.
Not that she would ever ask that question and risk upsetting a dragon-shifter she'd never met before.
As Ivy tried to think of what to do or say, the dragonwoman spoke up, her accent the same Northern English as everyone else originally from Stonefire. "You don't have to look at me like I'm going to eviscerate you. Maybe before I had my daughter, I'd have been tempted, but now I need to set an example. Tolerance at first meeting, and all that. But only because you gave us so much useful information." The dragonwoman stepped closer toward Ivy's bed. "Do anything to hurt my mate or daughter, though, and tolerance is out the window."
Ivy had always been taught that female dragon-shifters were weak and did whatever the men wanted. However, first with Dr. Sid and now this dragonwoman, Ivy started to believe it was another lie she needed to throw away.
Jane snorted. "Be a little nicer, Nikki. She's about to mate Zain, which means she'll get more than her fill of threats and alpha attitude."
"Hey, that's her choice, not mine." Nikki looked back at Ivy. "Besides, I was the one who lobbied for Ivy to have a real dress for her mating ceremony. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want my arse hanging out for the occasion."
Since the pair seemed to be talking more to each other than to Ivy, she decided to jump in. "I don't care either way. It's not a real marriage."
"Mating," Jane corrected. "Regardless, I don't want to see your arse for the ceremony. And seeing as I'll be here, along with my mate, let's get you changed for my own selfish reasons."
Jane acted nonchalantly, but Ivy sensed the woman was pretending it meant nothing and wanted her to have a little normalcy for the event.
Ivy hadn't lied—she didn't care what she wore one way or the other. But as she imagined strangers staring at her backside, she did her best to sit up, albeit slowly. "Fine. Then let's hurry and get this over with."
Jane sat on the side of the bed. "Not quite yet. First, we're going to have a chat."
Bloody great. Everyone seemed to have a talk or chat in mind. Even the children had come prepared before.
Since remaining silent and nodding was the fastest way to get it over with, Ivy did so.
Nikki laughed. "It's almost as if she knows you already, Jane. Not even fighting the dictate."
Jane raised an eyebrow. "And a word of advice, Ivy—don't do the nod and smile routine with your dragonman. Zain is stubborn and determined, and quite a private person compared to most other dragon-shifters I know. If you don't attempt to roll over him on occa
sion—speaking your mind and not backing down—you'll never learn anything about him."
She frowned. "Why would I even want to? As soon as everyone gets what they need from me, he'll divorce me. I think dragon-shifters divorce, don't they?"
Nikki bobbed her head. "They do, but it's rare. However, if you end up being Zain's true mate, something he won't know until you're not pumped full of drugs and you're finally healthy again, he might not grant you one."
Ivy blinked. "Wait, what are you talking about? A dragon sees their true mate, claims them whether they're willing or not, and then takes the child and tosses the woman aside until he's ready for another offspring. I can't be Zain's since he hasn't done any of those things."
Nikki raised her brows. "Is that the rubbish they teach you? No wonder you lot hate us so much. My true mate is human, by the way. And if you ask Rafe, he'll confirm that I didn't rape him to conceive a child." She smiled secretly. "The conceiving a child bit can be the fun part, if done right."
She blinked. "Your mate is human? I didn't think human men could be with a dragonwoman."
Jane shared a glance with Nikki before the woman said to Ivy, "They did a real number on you, didn't they? I have half a mind to tell Zain to wait to mate you until Nikki, me, and probably Mel and Evie sit you down and tell you the truth about living with a dragon-shifter."
Ivy recognized one of the names. "Melanie Hall-MacLeod. She wrote that book, the fictional one to make dragons look good."
Jane frowned. "No, it's all true. I heard about the books they forced you to read, and after reading excerpts myself from the files you brought us, I can start to see why you fear dragons so much. But it's all rubbish, Ivy. Mel loves Tristan, and whilst Tristan can be a grumpy arsehole to the rest of us, he adores Melanie and his children. You should see it for yourself."
Ivy looked from Jane to Nikki and back again. Were they telling the truth? Had everything she'd ever learned about dragon-shifters from the Knights been a lie?
Closing her eyes, she placed a hand on her forehead and took a few deep breaths. Most of the people she'd met on Stonefire seemed so normal. And the majority of them were happy, and even liked to joke around.
Surely an entire clan couldn't be playacting and merely trying to deceive her.
Maybe the dragon-shifters and their mates were just like humans elsewhere in the world. They loved, lived, and tried their best to make it through the day.
But if that was the truth, then Ivy had hurt so many people under false beliefs, some of those people hurt irrevocably. After all, she'd been the head drug researcher for years before leaving the Knights. It was only because of her formulas that the dragons had finally started to weaken.