Zain crouched down as much as he could and folded his wings against his back. When he tilted his head in question, Ivy shook her head to clear the momentary panic and said, "I'm fine, I promise, but just give me a minute to process it all." Taking a deep breath, she added, "Stay there, just like that, okay? So I don't hurt my neck as I look you over."
Zain's dragon f
orm snorted. The humanlike action made her smile. Yes, her man was inside there, too.
The reminder gave her the courage to walk around him, albeit keeping about ten feet between her and the crouching dragon. Even though Ivy had seen a few scales inside a lab, they seemed so much bigger on a dragon itself.
And for a split second, her stomach heaved, thinking of how the Knights had retrieved the scales she'd studied.
Stop it, Ivy. You can't change the past. And yet, as she glanced at some of Zain's talons, she recalled studying those, too.
All of those clinical situations had dismissed the individuals behind those bits and pieces of a dragon.
If only she had a way to convince everyone inside the Dragon Knights of just how wrong their information and fear-mongering was.
Then she remembered that her formulas to safeguard the dragon-shifters were far more important. If the dragons were immune to the Knights' drug concoctions, then they could fight and hopefully defeat the Knights in the near future. Only once the dragon-shifters were safe could she try to help the other humans like herself who'd been persuaded to hate dragons, all because of believing lies.
Ivy made her way around Zain's other side until she stood in front of the dragon's face once more. This time, however, she took a few steps closer and tentatively reached out a hand toward his snout.
When her fingers met the hard, smooth surface of his scales, Ivy stood still for a second, taking in the enormity of the situation. A hand that had once worked so hard to kill the dragons was about to caress one and maybe even scratch behind his ear.
Zain blew a quick breath at her, and she finally met the one eye she could see. It blinked slowly before staring back at her. She knew dragons couldn't talk in their dragon forms, so she sensed it was a form of communication, probably one of reassurance.
She needed to ask Zain more about dragon nonverbal communications later.
But his gesture was the disruption she needed to get out of her head. And so Ivy lightly ran her fingers back and forth against his snout, marveling at the warm yet hard surface of his scales.
Unaware of how long she'd been stroking the same small patch, Zain twitched one ear and then the other. She smiled. "That's right, you mentioned something about how you liked to be scratched behind the ears, didn't you?"
His beast grunted and lowered his head some more. Standing on her tiptoes, Ivy reached behind one ear until she found the tiny stretch of thick skin not protected by scales and then dug her nails in lightly. As she rubbed them back and forth, Zain leaned into the touch and hummed. The sound reverberated down her arm and throughout her body.
Maybe at one time it would've freaked her out or made her scream. But now, the sound and feeling calmed her bit by bit, almost as if the sound reminded her that this was her dragonman. And while she couldn't guarantee every dragon-shifter would do so, Zain would never hurt her.
When Zain lightly bumped his head against her body, she stopped and allowed him to raise his head again. He stood upright a little and motioned with his forelimb for her to stand back once more.
Even though probably ten or fifteen minutes had passed, she nearly pouted as she turned away. She wanted more time with Zain's dragon, to better know the other half of the man she was falling for.
However, Ivy knew Zain was being careful and following Dr. Sid's orders. After all, no one had known how Ivy would react to standing so close to someone who had shifted into their dragon form. Stress, fear, or any negative emotion could trigger her and send her health reeling backward.
So she gave him one last pat and returned to the edges to watch him change back.
The sight of his wings shrinking, his limbs morphing back into human ones, and the dragon face slowly becoming Zain's familiar human one, free of scales and pointy teeth, only solidified that the two halves were truly one.
And no matter what her fears had been or still would be with strangers, she accepted Zain for who he was, dragon and all.
The realization shifted something inside of her a little more. Ivy had been changing her views bit by bit over time, but when it came to her dragonman, she was no longer afraid of any part of him.
If she let herself, she could fall in love with him.
However, Ivy quickly pushed that notion aside. Until she was completely healthy, it was unfair to both her and Zain to think of or wish for such feelings.
So her determination to finish her work to protect the dragon-shifters grew even stronger because now she had more than mere acceptance driving her. She might, just might, even have love in her future, too.
Chapter Sixteen
Every day for the last two weeks, Zain had taken Ivy out and shown her his dragon. Each time the visit was a little longer, to the point he didn't think she had any fear. At least when it concerned him.
His dragon huffed. Of course not. She is our mate. When she's cured, she'll be begging for us to claim her.