Not wanting to ruin what small amount of time she had out of her blasted hospital room, Ivy pushed every negative thought and doubt out of her head. After all, if someone from within Stonefire was going to hurt her, they would've done it while she was sleeping.
So after the women tucked a blanket around Ivy's lower body, as well as placed a light coat on her upper body, the doctor wheeled her out of the surgery. As they rolled along, Ivy forced herself to look ahead and not at the ground. She had a lot to be ashamed of in her past, but she needed to be strong when facing the dragons.
Or, so Nikki and Jane had mentioned to her.
Although when they entered the corridor, she realized her small show of bravery was wasted—it was empty. But as soon as they wheeled her out a back door and into the afternoon sunshine, she forgot all about it and instantly tilted her face upward, reveling in the heat on her skin.
She did that until the others cleared their throats, and Ivy opened her eyes. She spotted some clan members walking around, about ten or fifteen feet away.
One in particular caught her attention—a dark-haired male holding a small baby glared at her. Nikki stuck out her tongue at him and said, "That's my mate, Rafe, and our daughter. Ignore him. He thinks you have some master plan to kill me when I'm not looking."
Ivy watched the man as they wheeled past. He was tall and muscled, and it was hard to tell he was human and not a dragon-shifter. "I can barely sit up in this wheelchair. So unless I can kill things with my mind, you're safe."
Nikki laughed. "I think taking you out of the surgery was a good choice. Because if this is the real you, we will get along famously."
Was it her, though? For more than five years, she'd pushed her personality deep down, trying her best to hide it so she could focus on her work, determined to rise through the ranks of the Dragon Knights.
She had no idea who Ivy Passmore would be going forward.
Maybe sessions with Serafina Rossi would help her figure it all out.
Jane pointed toward a large brick building as they went past it. "That's where the security building is. In case you're curious about where Zain spends a lot of his time."
The building didn't stand out from most every other brick building in the country. But then a dragon jumped up from
behind it and pumped its wings as it ascended into the sky, reminding her this was dragon territory.
Her first instinct was to huddle down and try to hide.
But Emily placed a hand on her shoulder and murmured, "Don't worry. That's Zain. He won't hurt you."
Finding out it was her dragonman, Ivy studied the deep red dragon. He was big, and his wings had to be extremely powerful as he effortlessly moved higher into the atmosphere. When the sun glinted over his hide, the red also revealed flecks of gold.
For the first time since she could remember, she thought a dragon was beautiful and not scary and abhorrent.
She truly was past the line of no return in her life. Unless she was personally attacked or threatened, Ivy didn't think she'd ever be deathly afraid of dragons again, let alone hate them.
Ivy watched until he disappeared into the horizon. "I guess he really wanted to get away from me for a bit, especially considering Bram told him to watch over me."
Jane was the first to speak. "Maybe, but not for the reasons you think. Besides, he trusts us to take care of you. Or, more importantly, Bram does and won't chew him out for it."
Nikki muttered, "It's still a little odd. I can barely get Rafe to trust others with our daughter, let alone me."
Jane replied, "I have a few tips I haven't shared yet on how to manage my brother. I'll share them later."
So Rafe was Jane's brother. That had to be the connection, the way Rafe had been allowed near female dragon-shifters in the first place before mating one.
As Ivy listened to the pair, it was clear they still didn't trust her as they spoke in vague statements. Not that she could blame them, but she desperately wanted to belong somewhere on this clan. And with more than a psychologist whose duty was to help her.
Which meant Ivy would just have to try to win over the children, starting with Freddie and Daisy. If she could manage that, then maybe the adults would give her a chance, or at least not outright despise her. Either way, she'd take what she could get.
As she tried to think of how to accomplish those goals, two familiar children rushed toward her—Freddie and Daisy.
Daisy ran faster and reached her first. "Hiya, Miss Passmore! We're your official guides for the day."
"Guides?" she echoed.
Daisy bobbed her head. "Yes. You're coming to school for a bit. And I wanted to make sure you had some friends to answer questions before facing all the other students."