Dragon Hearts (Book 1 of the Dragon Series)

Chapter 10

~Elle~

I hurried down the hall and the stairs to the main floor. I wasn’t looking where I was going and bumped right into a tall back. I knew who it was before they turned around though. Elias quickly grabbed me by the waist before I could land on my butt on the last steps.

“Thanks!” I said cheerfully. He pulled me up and chuckled. I wrapped around him and hugged him.

“Ugh you really gotta stop doing that,” Everett grumbled as he appeared from the living room.

“What?” Elias said hugging me tighter. Everett’s green eyes started to glow, and the pupils turned to vertical slits.

“Stop touching my mate Elias,” he growled. I stepped forward and hugged Everett; trying not to stare at his eyes. He quickly wrapped his arms around me possessively.

I pulled away from him after a good thirty seconds and peeked up at his face. His eyes had stopped glowing and his pupils were normal. I squeezed him again then stepped back with a hand on my hip and the meanest pretend scowl I could muster.

“You need to stop that! I’m a hugger. I’m gonna hug my friends. I’m gonna hug you too. I’ve hugged your mom and your sister. I’m gonna hug everyone else here at some point or another so you’re just gonna deal. Elias is my best friend so he’s gonna get hugged a lot.”

Everett was shocked at my outburst. But his face fell the more I talked, and I felt guilty. I smiled brightly at him and hugged him again. “But don’t worry, for every hug Elias gets; you’ll get two.”

His smile brightened up his face and the sadness was gone in a flash. He quickly kissed my lips and pulled me away by the hand. “I’m the only one who gets to do that though,” he whispered to me. I rolled my eyes at his competitiveness.

Everett, Elias, and I walked out of the house and to the black car that had brought us here from the airport. Elias got in the driver’s seat and Everett took the backseat with me. Elias looked at us in the rear-view mirror and rolled his eyes.

“What am I your chauffeur?” He said with a snort.

“Mall, James,” I said in my haughtiest voice after snapping my fingers at him. That earned me a glare from Elias and a hard laugh from Everett. “Don’t worry I’ll make Everett the chauffeur on the way back!”

“What?!?” Everett exclaimed and it was Elias’s turn to laugh hard.

We drove for 30 minutes to a small outlet center just outside the territory. I was going to have to start learning what all that even means. I listened to Everett and Elias bicker as I stared out the window. The grey clouds hovered in the sky and released a fine mist that didn’t look like much but if you stood still long enough your hair would collect water droplets. Being from a sunny state it was weird to see so much green and wet. The hills look soft and plush and squishy. Even the trees were soft-looking.

“So, what do you think about Ireland?” Everett asked. I looked away from the window.

“It’s so green,” I said. “It’s beautiful. I can’t stop staring at it and wanting to squeeze everything to see if it’s as soft and plush as it looks.”

Everett chuckled at me and Elias pulled into a large parking lot as we entered the outlet. The plaza was shaped like a horseshoe with stores lining the large walkway. Thankfully half the walkway was covered by high ceilings so we could walk outside without the mist sticking to us.

I went into the first clothing store I saw. Everett stood close by while Elias browsed the men’s section. I thought Everett would be bored but I saw him checking out the clothes with me. He pulled a green top off the rack and held it up to me; his eyes drifted from the shirt to me and back down. He frowned a bit then placed it back on the rack. He picked up a pink shirt, but immediately placed it back when he saw the disgust on my face. I hate pink. I picked up a dark purple sweater that was soft. I held it up to me and turned to Everett. He stepped back to appraise it with a serious look. He nodded appreciatively.

“Purple looks good on you,” he said with a smile.

“Purple is my favorite color,” I said. “I prefer darker shades but really purple is purple.”

“I know, you told me the day we met. After calling me handsome” Everett chuckled at the memory and again at the blush on my face.

We continued to shop in the same manner; Everett would pick up something and appraise it. If we both liked it; he added it to the growing pile on his arm. When I had a good assortment of clothes, I took them from him and headed to the fitting room. Everett helped me with the sizes, and he did a really good job of selecting things I liked.

After almost 40 minutes of trying on all the clothes, I had made my selections and returned to a very patient Everett. It looked as though he had taken the free time to find some shoes, including sneakers and boots and some wedges.

“I wasn’t sure what size shoe you were so I kinda guessed,” he said. He looked at the few items I had chosen out of the pile we collected. “Are those the ones that don’t fit?”

“No these are what I’m going to buy,” I said. “I don’t need much.”

“But did everything fit?”

“Yes, actually this is the first time I’ve tried on clothes without feeling horrible body shame,” I laughed. I hated clothes shopping for that reason. It was hard to find jeans to fit over my butt and hide my stomach. But the clothes made here fit better than what’s made in the states. I guess they have a better understanding of body standards.

“You should never be ashamed of your body. You’re beautiful and a goddess. But if they fit, then you should get them. I promised you I’d replace everything we left. Clothes, shoes, books, anything you want,” Everett said. He walked over the clothes I had placed on the return rack and picked them up, slinging them over his shoulder with everything else.

“That’s not necessary Everett,” I said shaking my head. “I don’t need much honestly.”

He smiled and kissed the tip of my nose. “I will not take no for an answer, kitten. I’m going to take care of you every day of your life. Anything your heart desires, it’s yours.”

Everett handed me the shoes and told me to try them on. We measured my foot and found that he had gotten smaller sizes, so he took the shoes from me and hurried back to exchange them. They all fit and were adorable, so Everett insisted we get them all.

“Where’s Elias?” I asked after we finished checking out. Everett stopped and looked around, but we couldn’t see him. I looked up at Everett’s face and saw his eyes were unfocused and distant. Suddenly he snapped back to the present and looked at me with a smile.

“He’s at the video place getting Ginny that game she wanted,” he said. “He will meet us outside.” He chuckled at my baffled expression.

“How’d you know that?” I asked. He took the bags and we headed out the door. He held my hand and leaned down to kiss my head.

“It’s called a mind-link,” he whispered in my ear so no one could overhear.  “It’s like projecting your thoughts into someone’s head and having a conversation.”

“So, you can talk to each other in your head?” I whispered back remembering earlier when Ginny said her mom mind-linked her about a room inspection. Everett nodded.

“Can you do that with everyone?” I asked. “Or is it like a dragon thing?”

“You can only mind-link with dragons in your tribe or family members,” he explained. “Mates can also mind-link each other.”

I looked at him excitedly and his smile flattened a bit. “Once you’ve been marked and we complete the mating bond, we will be able to mind-link.”

“What does that mean?” I asked and his cheeks reddened a bit.

“I don’t want to scare you,” he said in a hushed whisper. “But being marked means that I let my dragon bite your neck. It’s not deep and it only hurts for a second; I’ve heard it’s very…. pleasurable almost immediately after. It usually occurs during mating.”

I stopped walking and stared at him. He was going to do what during when? I felt my hands start to sweat in his and I wanted to drop his hand and wipe it off, but I knew he’d feel rejected if I did that. He gripped my hand tighter as if he could read my thoughts.